We've got ourselves a Rugrat

Emma is officially on the move, and she scares me to death. 

 Her first order of business is to climb the stairs, yikes. 

 Oh, and did I mention her bottom two teeth are in as of 2 or 3 weeks ago? I swear there are more coming very soon. 

I'll need to figure out what to do at the top of the stairs, or bottom rather, wait, both. She just wants to do everything Brother and Sister are doing. She cries when they leave the room to remind them that she wants to keep up. 

(I just had to share this picture because Ty's face is so funny, he is in the middle of telling Maylee she needs to get him some more Tortilla chips.)

It's time for your check-up

I hear these words daily, from my young sir. I ALWAYS sing this song to him when he says it. It's probably why he likes to do it so much. 

Checkin' my ears, Checkin' my eyes. 

Taking my blood pressure. He actually does it right, he must have been paying attention at the Dr's last week. 

Taking my temperature. He said I had a sad face which meant I was sick! Oh no! 

So I asked him to fix me up and he changed the thermometer to the happy face and said I was better again. Whew. 

Right after my bandage went on my wrist, Dad walked in the door home from work and in that instant I turn into chopped liver. Daddy gets all the attention. 

I asked Ty since he likes check-ups so much what he would like to be when he grows up. He told me that he wants to be a Fire Fighter... so no correlation.  Oh well Fire Fighters are good too :) 

We be jammin'

Since our new TV streams Pandora, we seem to have it on non stop. Our favorites are our Disney Music station and the Laid Back Beach Music Station. On the Beach station they play A LOT of Jack Johnson and Bob Marley. It's pretty nice and relaxing when we have all the windows open letting the breeze fly through on a beautiful day. 

Also, I've been doing a lot of Jammin' myself! We hit up BiZi farms on Monday morning and it took me 2 days to finish it all. I did a whole flat of strawberries (12 pints) and I think it took 6 packages of Pectin. I ran out of containers the first day. It takes me a lot of time to do all this BUT when my husband and kids like it SO MUCH MORE than the store bought stuff it makes it worth it. I still don't think we have enough to last even 6 months. Hopefully I can get on some Raspberry or Blackberry jam too. That would boost our supplies. 

 Maylee still likes to "hold" Emma. The time has come that they share most of their clothes. There are a few dresses and outfits that differ but for the most part I grab PJ's and pants from the same drawer for both girls. It's tough to fold their laundry and put it away since I didn't know who should have what BUT now I've realized to just put it away and draw from either dresser for either girl. So funny. I think once Emma has hair we'll hear a lot more people asking if we have twins. We all ready do when they are both in the stroller. (mostly men- I think women can see a year and a half difference in kids haha) The girls play with one another  all day and Maylee makes Emma laugh all the time, even when it's nap time and they are both supposed to be sleeping. 

 Ty has been Jammin' too. He's doing his finger dance and spin move. He tells me all the time that he is my "best boy" and really he is. I forget all the time that a 4 year old shouldn't have to be as responsible and grown up as he is. Because he has two little sisters, some of the mom jobs fall to his shoulders because I only have 2 hands and 1 is usually holding Em. He rarely complains though and really is my right hand man when Matt isn't home. He is very thoughtful and careful making sure Maylee doesn't stray too far, he makes sure she stays in the kitchen with her food, he lets me know when either girl needs a diaper change, and follows Emma around while she army crawls to make sure she isn't eating anything that she shouldn't. 

My favorite thing happened the other day. Ty wanted a certain snack and it was gone so he wanted to go to the store. We only have one car. Matt had it that day so I told him that we could go but he'd have to ride his bike while I put the girls in the double jogger. He told me that was too far on his bike but I could go by myself and HE would "keep an eye" on the girls while I was gone. HA! So tempting but I don't think he's quite ready for all the duties babysitting requires. Love those kids, before I know it he WILL be old enough to watch his siblings. 

Special Edition Matt Post: Father's Day

I’m sure Mickie would have blogged about Father’s Day, but I will attempt to do it for her.  She would have commented about how great dads are, “especially hers” and I agree dads are great.  She would have also said how awesome I am, how lucky she and the kids are, and how good looking I am.  All of which I agree with. I was actually going to attempt to be romantic today.  I was going to turn the tables this Fathers Day and make the day about her.  I was going to get her a present and attempt to show her that everything I do as a father is all because I love her and the kids so much.  After all, she is the one that makes coming home and being with the family so great.  But, as is my custom, I am not a very good romantic; I did not plan as I should have. All I really wanted to show her was being a good father is often times a byproduct of having a great spouse.  The kid’s birthdays, activities, feeding times, and names, are all easier to remember when your wife tells you what they are.   

As I thought about Father’s Day and what Mickie might do to show her appreciation for me, I realized how lucky I am.  I love coming home from work (afternoon or night) and having my wonderful kids race to the front door screaming “Daddy” with great big smiles on their faces.  Those smiles on their faces are always there long before I ever walk in the door.  So my job of coming home from work is exponentially easier.

I will share a quick story from a day last week which should sum up how much I love being a father and how easy it is when you have a wife like mine.  The kids were not allowing me to sleep the night before this day occured, as the kids took shifts screaming late into the night and early into the morning.  I also had a bad dream, which revealed an unfavorable outcome to a situation I was looking forward to.  The next day started slow and then picked up to the point that I was not able to make it home for lunch.  Getting no food and having a lack of sleep was the foundation to my negative attitude.  Then the prophetic dream came true and I received some disappointing news.  Fortunately I had something to look forward to.  That night I had a team dinner with my co-workers.  This was supposed to be a relaxing night out with good company, laughs and a bit of praise from our manager as she would recognize us for all our hard work. 

My work day came to a close and I rushed home to change.  I was anxious to get to the team dinner because I was starving.  I walked in through the front door and, as they always do, my kids ran to the door and quickly began telling me about their day.  Before I knew it, I was waiting in the parking lot of a grocery store for a carpool with some of my co-workers.  The longer I waited for the ride, the more I wanted to go home.  The more I thought about it the more I thought I might be crazy.  Here I have a chance for relaxation from a long day.  No crying, diapers, fighting, or exhausting horse rides.  I was going to be served, waited on, and recognized for my hard work.  Seems like a no brainer to most people. 

However, I realized that regardless of how hard it was to do what was required of me at home, I did not want to spend time with anyone else.   I don’t like puke stains on my newly dry cleaned suit, accidentally touching poop, or negotiating the same bed time every night with an unreasonable four year old.  I don’t like those things, but they come with the honor and title of being a “father.”  Mickie called me and said that she was having issues with our cable company.  I used that as an excuse for why I could not go with the team and rushed back home.   I just wanted to be with my family. I cared more about being with them, than any level of comfort away from them.

After an hour of dealing with the stupid cable service people on the phone, I packed the family up and went to a local Mexican restaurant.  Just to rub it in, the restaurant only had one cook so it took another hour to get our food.  

Even if every day were like that day for the rest of my life, I would still make the same decision every day to come home, just to hear “Daddy!” as I walked in the door. It makes sense why our Eternal Father, with all the different titles he has, still prefers to be called Father.  I’m so grateful to have this experience and feel what He feels as our Father in Heaven.  I guess when He says that we need to be as little children to inherit the kingdom of God (Matthew 18:3), He doesn’t want his children to grow up and leave home either. 

Cinema!

It's that time again folks! Here are some lengthy and not super exciting but still worthy to be posted videos for your viewing pleasure! Mostly of the Babe in her journey to learn how to crawl.

She was thinking about crawling so I got the camera, then she stopped all operations and just watched Matt and Maylee. But she's so stinkin' adorable that I had to post the video of her cute little face.


Matt took the kids upstairs to put them to bed... yeah that didn't happen instead they played catch over the stairs then after I turned the camera off they started slinging balls at me, it was an all out boys against girls war! I beat soundly, they had all the ammo AND the high ground.
Emma beginning to Army Crawl.
Full on army crawl. She is a ton faster at her Army Crawl now and right on the cusp of real knee and hand crawling. She does a lot of planking right now, she must have the strongest abs ever.

Ty's 4th Birthday

A few weeks ago I asked Ty what he wanted to do for his Birthday. He told me he didn't want to have a friend party (I asked him quite a few times) but he just wanted Dad Mom Maylee and Emma to be there. 

So on the Saturday before his Birthday we asked him if he wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese or if he wanted to go to a new place that just opening called Dizzy Castle. We showed him pictures of both and he said he wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese, the place with the Dragon... soooo we took him to the place with the Dragon (Dizzy Castle) 

It was really fun for all of us! They had a little 3 and under area where Em and Maylee spent quite a bit of time.  

 I sat in there with the girls for about 45 minutes. They liked it but I felt like that part in Finding Nemo when Marlin suggests that Nemo go play with the little fish instead of the fish his age. I kept looking over to see this, Matt and Ty having a blast. 

 We finally switched so Matt played with the girls while I chased Ty around with the camera for a few minutes. He would HARDLY hold still. The slide he is about to go on was deceptively fast. 

 There were 3 or 4 levels, on the second level they had these ball shooters to shoot across the way or down below.  

 Going down the big swirly slide. 

 More slides! The thing I liked about this place is it is designed so adults can comfortably play with their children there too. 

 There was a area where a game was projected on to the floor and it changed every few minutes. This game you ran around and stepped on the balloons to pop them. Maylee loved it. 

 Matt and Maylee. 

 Maylee ran back to the little kid area and played while I sat with Emma who was sleeping by that point. 

 Ty was jumping and grabbing- it was pretty impressive that he could grab and hold on. 

 Finally a quick Dad and Ty picture. I barely got this one, Ty was going so fast! I love the photo bomb kid in the background

 Sliding!

Emma slept for a while, until some kid hucked a ball out of the little kid play area and it hit her in the head. I wasn't thrilled with that kid. 

 Races. 

 Ty and I finished together, Maylee got a late start. 

After about 2 hours I told Matt we should probably get going. So Matt went to go tell the kids... about 15 minutes later I went and found Matt, Ty and Maylee. They were running around collecting balls and were in a fire fight with 2 tweens across the away. I was hearing things like FIRE IN THE HOLE and HURRY WE NEED MORE AMMO! From Ty and Matt. Eesssh it was another 20 minutes after that before I could drag them out of there. It was a really fun place! 

Ty's actual birthday was Monday. I woke up and blew up a bunch of little balloons. Little did I know Ty liked to jump on them and POP them! I hate popping balloons. 

 That morning we walked to the park to play with some friends (really I had a Primary Presidency Meeting there) After lunch and right before naps Ty helped me bake his funfetti cake. I turned the Rainbow chip icing blue and got it ready for Ty to put the Sprinkles on. These specifications were per his particular requests. (blue circle cake with sprinkles and candles) We put a #4 on his cake made out of sprinkles.

 For his Birthday dinner he requested Chicken, Watermelon and Broccoli. Pretty typical dinner for us. It was the first Watermelon we bought of the season and it was TASTY!

 We had FHE with Jordan, Michaela, Calin, Capri and Kyla's mom Joni on Skype. They even joined us in singing Happy Birthday to Ty! He love, love, LOVED seeing them on his Birthday.

 There they are, on Skype! 

 Ty devoured his cake and Ice Cream. 

 Breyers makes Lactose Free Ice Cream now too, it's fantastic for Maylee.

 After cake he opened his presents. 

 We got him a Dog Dream Lite Pillow. He had been asking for it for months. He really likes it. It still doesn't keep him from sleeping in our bed each night however.... haha

 Also we got him a giant Thomas puzzle and look and find book set (Costco) he really likes that too. Oh and a Happy Birthday Balloon, kid loves balloons and he even took it with him to the Dr the next day for his 4 year well child check up. 

 While we were at the park on his Birthday the Postman tried to bring this present to Ty. We missed him so after Ty's appointment the next day we went to the Post Office to pick it up. Ty was SUPER excited about such a big package for HIM!

 It was a water table from Grandma Kay and Grandpa Harvey! Matt and Ty put it all together tonight, unfortunately it has been cold and rainy the last few days but he'll be able to play with it outside when it is in the 80's again. He loved that too. 

Ty is 34 lbs (25th percentile)

39 inches (15th percentile) 

I didn't think he was THAT small for his age, but I guess so. Looks like he'll be a shorty but I guess we'll see. 

He has 20/25 vision, which is good for his age and knows all the things he should know by now. I didn't know they asked all these questions to kids during check ups by Ty knew all the answers so that is good too. He is developing learning and growing just right! 

As he was going to bed on his Birthday he told me it was the best Birthday ever. I had a really hard time doing exactly what he wanted instead of throwing him a big party with all his friends and making a huge deal of his he kept telling me exactly what he wanted. I followed through and he loved it, go figure... kid knows what he wants. He did say that he wanted a friend party next year though. That will be good.