For the argument that Dads are cooler.

I can't remember what I had going on, but the other day I had Colby help me out and feed Macy her cereal.  

She's kind of a take charge personality...

I loved her silly face covered in cereal.  

She was so proud of herself for getting herself fed and she surely preferred Dad's method over mine.

Summer of Swimming

Our family is loving our pool time this summer.  I would bet we've swam more this summer than we did all last year!  I'm going to have to get some better pics of the boys swimming, but for now I'll just write all about it.

Marshall is a little fish that can swim just about anywhere.  He loves to dive for things and has gone as deep as about 7 feet, so far.  Swimming on his back is still a little tricky, but he'll get it I am sure.  He's such a solid kid so he naturally sinks more than most, which is what makes it so difficult for him on his back.

Tyler has no fear (never really has...) and has figured out how to really travel in the water.  On the day I snapped these pictures, Tyler figured out how to swim under water without any coaching from anyone. He just jumped up and said, "Mom! Watch!!" and next thing I knew he was swimming like a frog.  It was really fun.  

Macy Girl LOVES the water.  She just smiles and laughs and kicks her feet like crazy when she's in the pool.  She also doesn't really mind the water on her face so I'm feeling really happy about my little fishy-kids right now.  I made Megan take this picture because Macy was loving this version of swimming... funny, I know.  But if she loves it, she loves it.

Big Things for Macy

Macy is growing by leaps and bounds these days!  And she's still as sweet as ever.

This week she turned 7 months, started crawling (ugly army crawling but she's mobile), and cut her first tooth all within a few days.  Teething has been a little rough on the poor girl... she went from sleeping entirely through the night (for months now) to waking up at least once or twice and she fussed a lot.  Actually, probably not a lot in regular baby terms but compared to her usual nature it was hard on all of us.

She's a busy, busy girl.  I call her my little tornado because she really never sits still.  She goes from thing to thing allowing only a couple seconds of attention for each.  She loves being outside, loves animals, and loves getting smiles and attention from everyone.  She's not too wary of strangers, but she definitely prefers Mom or Dad.  The only time she really sits still is when she watches TV with Daddy. At nights she will just lay by him or cozy up on his lap and just be so content.  It's sweet.

She has arms like Elastigirl.  She can seriously reach anything and is quick as a cat- even before she figured out the crawling thing!  She's always grabbing at cups, utensils, pretty much anything big people use.  One day I was sipping out of a straw and right before I got it to my mouth she had snagged it and whipped it into her own mouth.  It was pretty alarming and funny.  Now that she can get around on her own we have to be so careful about what is within reach.  Especially paper.  She loves to eat paper.

She has a happy-go-lucky, fun personality.

She likes to laugh to herself while we drive.

Getting put in her car seat makes her really mad.  That's the only time she does her super dramatic squealy, screechy cry.  It's annoying but still adorable.

She wears mostly 12 month size clothes, but for some brands it's 18 month.

At her 6 month check up she weighed 18 lbs and was 26.5 in tall.  That's the 86th and 77th percentile.

She loves to eat solids, Little Puffs and peas are her current favorites.

She is still nursing, but tolerates formula from time to time, the last few weeks it has been almost once per day.

She LOVES to swim.  Just the sight of water makes her kick and giggle and get totally excited.  She really doesn't even mind it on her face either.

We love this little lady!

Such A Great Brother

A couple of weeks ago I caught Marshall being the sweetest brother ever.  We had been outside reading and I can't remember what pulled me away, but I saw this out the window and had to grab my camera.  I can always count on Marshall to step in and help me out when I need it.  I love the way he gets creative to keep her happy and entertained.  One of his go to solutions to a fussy sister is to set up a laundry basket with a pillow and toys and pushes her around in it like a fancy car.  Or he will sit with her on the trampoline while I water the garden.  He rocks at singing to her and talking nonsense to get a smile out of her.  He's just so great.

Some day to day stuff.

It's official. School has changed my life. This is the first time I can think of that I've had to work at keeping my kids busy and happy. The first two weeks of summer vacation I was teaching swim lessons so we were gone all morning, tired so we took naps in the afternoon, then we made dinner and played in the backyard and BAM! the day was done. But not now. The days start early (for some reason school gets out and all three kids want to be up by 6:30am) and that means there's tons of time to fill. Here's a look at our day today.

Kids slept until 8. It felt weird.
I announced we were going on an adventure in our jammies. We went to a local coffee shop and had sticky buns and Italian sodas for breakfast.
We stopped at the nursery for some squash, melons, and flowers.
Got home, changed our clothes, and headed to the splash pad before it got hot.
Came home just before 11 and got dressed before our friends came over.
Emily and Erica (our bffs during swim lessons) came over to play for a while. That was a perfect time for me to deep clean the pantry.
After they went home, we went to Grandma's for a little bit. We snapped a picture of the four little boys with their summer haircuts.
Went to show choir.
Came home and watched a little Magic Schoolbus. The boys just discovered it on Netflix and it makes us all so happy.
Ate pizza.
Went to YW.
Came home and prepared for tomorrow's adventures.

Phew. That was a busy day. And it didn't feel rushed at all.

P.S. Happy seven month birthday, Macy!

Memorial Day 2013

I have got to do better about staying up to date with blogging.  This is totally my journal and I need it to document our lives!!!  I am determined to make it a priority again.  I feel like a while ago it seemed like I would blog before I would wash the dishes or fold the laundry or whatever and I was feeling guilty.  But if I were to sit down with my book style journal in my lap and write about what was going on in life I don't think one person would judge me.  I've got to get back to that again.

So now here I sit, and I'm going to finish this before I get in bed.

We were up at the cabin for Memorial Day (big surprise!!!) and one of the highlights was our little fishing adventure.  It seems like it is a "must do" activity and Grandma & Grandpa always spoil these boys with some fishing time.

I love this picture.

Marshall was a very diligent fisherman.  The other boys wanted to run off and explore but Marshall didn't want to leave his pole... It was up to him to watch it every minute so he could catch a fish.  Most everyone had gone off doing something else and Carly's pole was sitting unattended (she had already caught a fish and just threw another one out there for fun) and Marshall noticed there was a fish on it.  Grandpa let him reel it in and he worked hard for it and was very happy with his accomplishment.

See how hard he was working and how focused he was?

Cute!

  

He didn't want to touch this one...

Of course Tyler wasn't shy and showed off the horny toad he and Karter had caught.  

That must be where everyone was when Marshall caught the fish...

I didn't get many pictures of Marshall's second fish of the day because I was taking video too, but all of his patience paid off when he caught one on his pole right as we were cleaning up.  I was glad, because he had been positive that if he sat by his pole the whole time and watched it there would eventually be a fish on the other end.  I was so proud of him. I guess because this one was really HIS fish he held it for a picture.

*Notice Tyler's face in this picture.  He was not entirely thrilled for the fish to be that close to him.

In the middle of all that patient waiting, Daddy rigged up a pole to try to catch crawdads.  Macy was having a great time with that little game.

If I remember right, this wasn't even the big one they were trying to get.

It's always a good time on Kolob and we are so grateful for the memories and fun times we have up there with family.  In fact... I feel another little visit coming on.  The kids are always asking to go so I'm determined to get them there soon.  I'll make sure to take some darling pics of my kids so they can be blogged along with the other fun thing we did on Memorial Day.