It's a What?

Me: What is it?

Lynneah: A pi-na-ta!

Me: A piñata??

Lynneah: Yeah, a pi-na-ta!!

Me: Nooo, it's not a piñata. What is it?

Lynneah: What is it? (When she starts parroting she doesn't understand.)

Me: It's a scarecrow.

Lynneah: Yeah it's a scarecwow. {pause} Poooor scarecwow he so sad.

Me: Why is he sad?

Lynneah: Because he scared. {pause} He has a fwower on his weg.

The fact that I was able to have this funny conversation and she didn't sound like Boo from Monster's Inc is huge!

Hmmm, is she growing up in the southwest? Funny girl. I didn't even know she knew the word piñata.

We've still got *so* much cognitive ground to make up with her, but she's finally making progress, and we're so happy to see it. Her speech therapist can't believe they didn't find anything on her MRI considering what she displays in therapy sessions every week. 

We were able to get her into a gold-plated language development pre-school that has her immersed in language development activities 5 mornings a week to try and get her receptive language up and running. Even after they were able to find some scholarship money, and allowing me to do volunteer work around the school for an additional small reduction; it's making our budget cry its self to sleep every night. The placement is working though, in addition to once a week one-on-one therapy, so our accounts will just have to cry themselves to sleep till she goes to Kindergarten! I'm so glad she's young and gets excited to see Mom at school rather than older and embarrassed that she's the poor kid whose Mom is doing a work trade to keep her in the good school. Again I'm humbled and have deep empathy for another group of people in the world. You'd think I'd learn my lesson already, so I didn't have to keep finding myself here!

Once kids start school there is no wiggle room for "catching up". She has to be ready when she goes in. Her October birth nearly killed me going through the ENTIRE summer pregnant... *now* I am so grateful she's a fall birthday and has to wait an extra year to go to school. Any time I'm feeling picked on/overwhelmed/lost/unsure of how to proceed/hesitant about if "it" (whatever it is) will work out/that screaming voice in every mother's head chanting "you stink and a complete failure" gets too loud, something comes along to remind me that He has a plan and knows what He dropped on us. It doesn't make it easier at all, but at least I'm reassured that there is a master plan. She was a really tough timing surprise...then I found out she was due in OCTOBER (busy time of year, usually still HOT as...well we'll leave it at HOT) and I felt very picked on. Well, our Heavenly Father also knew he was sending her to us with her insides not quite assembled correctly, unbeknownst to us, and that she'd need an extra year of early intervention before she started school. He also knew that if He threw in one more *seriously?!?* surprise really close to her she'd be able to grow up buffered between her big brother and little sister. 

Yes, there is a plan... 

"WOW, AAAWWWEEE-SSOOMMMEEE"

Some Monsoon storms are just way cooler than others.

Although, I'm pretty sure the owner (not us) of this trampoline disagrees. This one neighborhood had a ton of damage. Two houses down from this a huge tree what laying ON the house. The kids thought this was a great detour to take on the way home from school. :)

Nursery!!

 

Guess

Who

went to nursery??

MEEEEE!!!!

In all the years we've been having these cute little things Stephen has had heavy duty Sunday callings...which meant I was doing heavy duty baby wrestling. It wasn't pretty on a lot of Sundays and I was defeated on numerous occasions. *But* they all made it to nursery eventually and were dang cute doin' it too. In this new ward Stephen has a...how shall we describe it..."light" calling. As in they took the summer off kind of calling. It's gotta feel completely foreign to him; I know it's weird for me to see him on Sundays...and during the week for that matter. He was NOT the Bishop thank goodness. This sweet little girl is so content to cuddle she allowed us to attend Sunday School and R.S./Priesthood for much longer than the others. But, these last few months she tapped into the family energy and the wrestling commenced. I get to teach the Sunbeams now so was the first baby wrestling experience for Stephen. It was a mild wrestling match, but still entertaining for me.

This last Sunday she was officially over the 18 month mark! I did the whole go with the kid and stay with them for the 2 weeks before they started...ONCE. It backfired so bad when he assumed I was supposed to stay every week we declared never again. Now we wait till 18 months, drop them off, kiss their head and walk away...no crying involved thank you very much. It works SO much better. 

I was helping out at the ASL Branch so Stephen sent me 1st day of nursery pictures of her cuteness I was missing. THAT'S how you know he loves me. Aunt Sassy was there to help him out with the other four. I guess Kenzie was a bit of a wild child during Sacrament so Stephen took her outside for her photo shoot. Those ADORABLE piggy tales are courtesy of Aunt Sassy...Stephen doesn't do hair, combs it, but doesn't do it. ;-) He does make some super cute kids though.

Over the last several crappy financial years as I've worked LOTS more than what our master plan had on it, I've loved that we have picture phones and that Stephen would take cute ones and send them to me. I've missed a substantial portion of Lincoln and Lynneah's baby/little hood, but we managed to beat the stupid bank trying to take our house. I always loved getting a cute picture on break at work...or across town at a different Stake. 

Cute Little Critters...

I'm one of the those mean mom types...and I have kids that completely forget everything they learned during the school year...each big boy has gotten to do homework over the summer. 

They. did. not. like. it.

But it's good for them. I let off for a couple weeks and was a little shaken at how quickly they'd forgotten their beginning of the summer information. Sooooo, back to work they went. Garrett is the master of making it take forever, truly, it's an art. 

While "grading" their papers I found this little gem...

I'm beginning to understand what that cute boy is doing instead of his math. ;-)

When he has lines to follow his handwriting is so nice and neat. As he grows I think it'll become the precise, engineering type, writing that Stephen has. So appropriate since Garrett is Stephen's little mini-me. 

He's got the cutest teacher ever for next year, I'm excited to watch him grow even more with her.

9!

CanNOT believe he's nine... n i n e !!

He started his day with a call and Happy Birthday song from his cousins. Oh, the huge smile on his face and shining happy eyes were fantastic! What a great start.

We were baptized by fire into parenthood with this little man. There was a groundwork of preparation laid before he came, not readily recognized, but at each breaking point something would come to light. It took time to connect all the dots, but once we did, the hibernating Mama Bear woke up and went to work (supported by the Daddy Bear). There were two paths we could have taken with him and self contained classrooms wasn't the one we picked. His sweet heart of gold warms my soul. He's SO SO SO cute with his little sister! He's tenacious beyond belief! He knows the frustration of missing the mark, getting up, and trying again till he gets it...and he DOES succeed. It's inspiring. His testimony is so pure and strong. He's gotten really good at seeing a problem and taking care of it without being asked. He has the most amazing imagination (thanks to the superb training from the "Peter-swans") and teaches the younger kids all he knows.  As more diagnoses come (he has waaaay more than one kid should have to deal with) he takes it in stride, discusses it matter of factly, and makes a management plan for himself. When he works, he works hard. Can't make himself fall asleep for a nap to save his life. Within 2 weeks of his mean Mama declaring we were a snack/toy/entertainment free family for Sacrament Meeting he was sitting quietly and listening for the most part. He gets the jokes during the talks, makes appropriate comments, and asks good questions about the things he hears. It blows me away. I hope the others are seeing his example and will follow suit soon. He's the little sibling protector. He's doing so well in the sports he participates in and works hard for his coaches. He readily apologizes for mistakes and works to do better. Looked at my senior picture on the wall, then at me (after Garrett was born) and asked, "Mom is that you?" "Yes" "Did you get a new body?" Hmmm, something like that... It is SO fun to watch he and Garrett "read" together. Garrett can read anything but usually doesn't pay attention enough to know what he read. Gabriel would rather do just about anything than claw through a written text; as a compensation mechanism he's developed amazing auditory comprehension skills. So now Garrett reads it and Gabriel succinctly summarizes it for him and then they're off and running. If they could just go through college that way. :) He always gives generously to fast offerings when he earns money. Nearly brings me to tears each time. Strong, stalwart, good, kind, loyal, empathetic, and an all around fabulous kid! The monumental effort put forth on his behalf by himself and everyone around him has been worth every minute. He's not allowed to get any older...ever again...the thought of having to let any of them go out into this nasty grown up world gives me heart palpitations. I just want to keep him away from it all.

He came home this evening and said, "I turned 9 during basketball camp...I don't feel any different."

He just smiled wryly when I smiled and said, "Yeah, that's getting old for ya."

They did sing to him at swim team practice though (I missed it :'( due to being at speech with Lynneah) and that was exciting for him. Summer birthday kids don't get that kind of stuff very often. Wish I could've been there to record it...maybe next summer.

It's amazing how fiercely we love these little people that come into our lives!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!!

Sunsets

We've had some pretty sunsets lately. The sun sets at the back of the house, so we're often eating dinner facing the back as the sun goes down. The kids usually notice first and exclaim how pretty it is.

For years when I'd see a pretty sunset I'd run over to my favorite place to take pictures of it...then they built a dang neighborhood on my favorite place!! I happen to now be living in one of the houses in that dang neighborhood and have a balcony that faces the sunsets. The twists in life are sure interesting...

Curly Top

 Love it when their eye lashes really start to show.

She loves buckles right now.

 She, also, happens to be the only one with curly hair!! What fun times it's been. Neither Stephen, nor I, have any experience in the curly hair department, but we both agree it's adorable. The humidity has been making it  REALLY curl lately...along with also making her asthma flare up like crazy...I'm pretty sure Shirley Temple hasn't got anything on this little cutie.

The boys busted up giggling the first time I did her hair because it looked like "whale water". They think it's pretty cool and talk about it all the time when her hair is done.

And then there were girls...

Last year we were hot upstairs and just sucked it up. The boys got fans for Christmas and it's helped a ton in their rooms. This year it's been REALLY hot upstairs, illustrated by the sweaty headed little girl that emerges from nap/quiet time everyday.

She's DEFINITELY settled on pink as a favorite color. She still can't remember it's called pink, and can't recall the word pink if you ask what color she wants, but if you dare give her a bowl, spoon, cup, bib, etc that ISN'T pink she completely melts down. On days I'm up for the challenge I give her purple and we work through it in the pursuit of flexibility in life...the tired days she gets just gets pink.

While looking for a fan for "Aunt Sassy's Room" she spotted this little beauty displayed overhead. She was in an excited tizzy. She was going wild about something, but we couldn't figure out what. We finally let her out of the stroller and she ran to this fan at mach speed and stood there "talking" 100 miles an hour. She was super excited and 98% of what she was saying wasn't understandable. She was in love...

In addition to Aunt Sassy getting a fan...so did Lynneah.

 Cuddling it...

 Helping dad install it...

 Cheering dad on as it comes together...

 Almost done...

 "Look! It a vvvvvv fffffan!!"

"I like the 'fi-Yers' (flowers)!!"

"I see a bu-fwy!!"

Thanks dad!

And all is well in the world of Lynneah.

A Little Gem

We have a tough dynamic with these two.

They are separated at the table for meals.

They are separated in the van for rides.

They are in separate bedrooms.

They go on separate outings with Grandma and Grandpa.
They are separated on the bench at church.

They're just tough, so cute, but tough.

We decided they don't have to be best friends, but they do have to be civil and polite to each other...easier said that done we're learning.

By keeping them as separated, and out of each other's space, as much as possible the whole be polite and civil thing actually happens once in a while.

Lincoln's noggin gave Garrett a black eye so, of course, I had to get pictures of it.

Look what a gem I got!!

I'm in love with this shot of them. 

Their eyes are happy.

Their smiles are real.

It makes me want to smile back.

It's getting printed nice and big, framed, and placed prominently in the house for us all to see everyday. 

Somethin' Fishy Around Here

Garrett loves fish! 

So, of course, we have a fish. Much to my dismay we learned that the goldfish sold in stores are no longer air breathers, but must be in an aerated aquarium environment. That leaves only Betas as an air breathing option. Betas are not the rugged manly kind of fish I wanted, but we let Garrett get one anyway. When my brother left we were given his Beta to fish-sit till he got back. Rather than have two tanks on the counter I bought one of those fancy dancy divided deals. Garrett's fish tried to be tough, but ended up dying from Pansy Syndrome. Rob's feisty fish was still going strong, but I needed to clean the tank and get Garrett's little friend out.

I always catch the fish in a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl for safe keeping...

 Something went wildly wrong on this day. The dang thing swam THROUGH the hole half way and got stuck. THAT'S when I realized I had the wrong scoop!! Dang it, now what the heck do I do? I couldn't pull the darn thing out or he'd drown. He couldn't get the rest of the way through. I couldn't leave him sitting there till Stephen got home or he'd die. I muttered my  favorite word, that my kids aren't allowed to repeat, under my breath and sent a picture to Stephen followed by a phone call. 

We were in luck he was at the office about 5 minutes away; and came to the rescue!!

I'd already decided the best option was to break the spoon off from around him, but I wasn't strong enough to do it without killing the fish. He held the spoon with some kind of grip thingy and slowly cut it away with some other manly tool that I probably know the name of but can't remember...while mumbling something about only my wife could manage to get a fish stuck in a spoon. I'm positive I'm not the only cool wife out there though...

It WORKED!!

The darn thing was free, and obviously traumatized. I figured he'd be dead within a few days.

Wouldn't you know it, he's still going strong and feisty as ever. Seriously tough little cookie that fish is.

I just want an old fashioned, low maintenance, goldfish.

A Little Diva in Training...

but she'll be a super sweet one of course.

Oh, this girl loves...

sparkles

dresses

P I N K

ruffles

nail polish

"fiii-yers" (flowers)

bows 

all things she deems pretty

and fancy shoes!!

Curly and Cute!!

Love this curly headed girl!!

And she LOVES the water!

Just found this cute picture.

Lynneah's first dance!

She looks so teen tiny in it. She's pretty sure all the males in the world love her...especially if they happen to be a "Pedro-Nino".

Baby "Doll"

Right after we moved last summer I was ran across a yard sale with some good little girl stuff.
This doll cradle was one of them. It's got really sturdy construction...a much needed feature in a house of boys and scrappy girls...and I thought it was so cute. Every girl needs a cradle for her babies!

Kenzie was 4 months old and still just a little thing. The kids were pretty sure this should become her new bed once they saw she fit. :)

She's gotten to be such a big girl now. I can't believe how she's changed since we moved. She's gone from my little, cuddly, armful of an infant to a walking, climbing, into EVERYTHING little toddler.

She's one of those special people put on the earth to bring joy to the souls of those around her.

Just oozes sweetness!

Dinner, Mammoth Style

"Hey Mom, I'm a Mammoth!!"

We went out for my birthday way back in January. He made me laugh out loud with his gummy mammoth face. 

Funny boy.

Notice the striped plate under his food...he was so excited about earning the striped for being good he brought it with him to the restaurant.

Gotta love this funny kid.

Busted! Now Confess!!

Setting: Lincoln in Timeout

Timer chimes it's bell of freedom.

Me: Come talk to me. 
(If they don't remember why they're in timeout and need a reminder they, go back for another 2 minutes.)
Lincoln: I'm sorry for tackling Garrett.
(Not what I was going for, but thanks for the confession.)
Me: And.
Lincoln: Sorry for squeezing Garrett really hard like this. 
(Again, not what I was going for, and another confession.)
Me: And.
Lincoln: Sorry for spilling water on your couch. 
(For the love! Uh, no still not what I was going for. These confessions are certainly piling up.)
Me: And.

Pause....Thinking really hard so he doesn't have to go back for 2 minutes...face brightens up...


SORRY FOR NOT LISTENING TO WHAT YOU SAID AND DOING IT THE FIRST TIME YOU TOLD ME! Yeah, sorry for not listening. 
(Like when I told you to put said spilled water on the counter so you wouldn't spill it on the couch.)
Me: It is NOT OK to ignore your Mom. Now, go tell Garrett you're sorry for tackling and squeezing him.
Lincoln: Right now?
Me: Uh, yes my dear.

(I'm pretty sure timeout is lost on this kid, but "they" say he'll get it eventually.)

(At least he's good at looking remorseful.)

Another whole year before he can get into the structure of a Kindergarten setting....
I think we might die. That boy is so ready. Have to stay one step ahead of him or he'll run circles around ya like a little Tasmanian Devil.



Saturday on the way home from the first soccer game we dropped the car off to get new tires while we went to the next two games. Apparently cracked tires aren't good to drive on in the summer when you live in the desert....and since summer is ALREADY here, figured we'd better get it done.

While waiting outside for Stephen...

Gabriel: Mom, call dad I have to go to the bathroom.
Me: I already texted him and told him we were waiting outside.
Gabriel: I have to go baaaad!
Me: Sorry, gotta hold it.
Lincoln: Why don't you just pee outside?
Me: No, we don't do that.
(Despite your brothers' example in the back yard.)
Lincoln: Why? Is it pee littering?

Ummm,yes, we'll go with that if it keeps you from peeing in public.

Lincoln was "Stinky Linky" for a long time. 

Then he became Linky-Poo. 

Lynneah, in her efforts to say Linky-Poo calls him "Wimpy Poo".

 IT IS THE CUTEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD!! He's usually pretty good humored about it. 

Sunday "Stroll"

We've started taking the kidlets for a walk every Sunday. 

They LOVE it. We love that they love it...someday maybe it'll be leisurely.

We look really cool with a double stroller, THREE dogs leashed to the front of it, Dad steering it, and the three boys...well...being boys. 

They're usually in jammies. I have enough laundry so they come home from church and change straight into jammies, reducing the number of outfits I'll have to wash from that day. I'm willing to bet the cranky neighborhood we live in is aghast, but I don't care one snit.

Even superheros need exercise!

Lincoln lived in these superman jammies this winter and I thought it was SO adorable watching him walk down the street in his little cape.

Always busy

Wish I had video of her first time in a ball pit!

She'd had an especially cooperative speech day so her therapist let her play in the ball pit for a few minutes. She took a flying leap into it, then swam around and around under all the balls. It was seriously funny to watch.

When she's not being cute in the ball pit at speech, she's busy making mud with the water in the fridge...

After a long day of wild mayhem there's nothing left to do but chill out with your bottle.

She still gets two a day. Her weight is ok, but not stellar (she and Kenzie are within 4 lbs of each other) so she gets a bottle with formula mixed with whole milk rather than water and a couple jars of baby food mixed in.  One of those bottles at nap and bed have been enough to maintain her skinny little self. I predict the two girls will be sharing clothes at some point....that'll seriously streamline laundry. :)