Color Festival

I ended up taking Truman and Tacy to the color festival at the Washington City rec center last Monday night. Jer stayed home with the little boys since Cardon was still feeling a little sick and Jer doesn't love this type of stuff anyway.  It was really busy and I had to get out of my comfort zone a little, but the kids had so much fun it was well worth it. 

Both the kids got to climb the rock wall.  Truman was working so hard his little arms and legs were just shaking.

We started by just painting on paper, but after not too long the temptation of the paint got too great and they ended up painting each other and then me.  It all seemed fine until it dried and we had faces with cracking and itchy paint.  We came home a mess and went right to the shower to clean off.  Luckily it came off pretty easily but we found a few spots in our hair the next day that we had missed.

July 4th weekend

Leading up to the foruth we all got colds which was not fun (mine ended up being strep throat), but we still managed to do a few fun things.

The day after the 4th we headed up to my parents with fireworks (they ended up being mostly sparklers, and poppers) except for the exhobent amount of money Jer may have wasted on 2 really amazing ones that shot off into the air.  All three of the older kids had a lot of fun just playing with the sparklers.  We had done a barbecue earlier in the evening and tried to stick with a fourth of July tradition.

On the actual fourth of July we decided to get out of the house since we had been cooped up with being sick and head downtown to watch the St. George fireworks for the first time.  We ended up on the grass in front of the old courthouse and were enough outside of right downtown that we missed a lot of the traffic and chaos that can accompany the big night.

We got a pizza for the kids and picked up Cafe Rio for Jer and I.  We had the area mostly to ourselves until it got closer to dark.  It actually started to rain pretty hard right after we got all our stuff set up and started eating our food so we had to sit in the muggy car for a while until it stopped.

We were so close to the fireworks that they were directly above us and a few times some of the cardboard pieces would fall down on us.  Chambers slept through the whole thing in my arms.  Tacy thought it was a little loud at first but ended up enjoying it after we didn't give her enough attention for being scared.  Ann was the most scared and tried to hide under our legs for most of it.

Here are more pictures of the kids hanging out at Grandpa's and Grandma's and doing fireworks.

July so far

 Truman has been reading most everyday.  I still have to persuade him sometimes to get it done, but not when it comes to his "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series.  In this picture it was drizzling outside and it felt so good to all of us that I found Truman reading outside in it.

 Jer made some homemade almond balls (like almond bars) and Cardon thinks they are a treat so he asks for them all the time and ate the majority of them.  At least he doesn't know they're healthy yet.

So excited and thrilled that Cardon is officially potty trained.  It actually wasn't that bad and he picked up on it pretty fast considering he's only 26 months.  I also just assumed that he would be harder since he was a boy and everyone says they take longer.  I was dreading it even though I thought I could do it because it takes so much time and monitoring.  Luckily we are home a little more with the baby and because it is so hot to do a lot else, so it worked out.  I still don't trust him completely, but he rarely has an accident and even tells me when he has to go.  Sometimes he doesn't even tell me and just hops on and does it himself. 

 Cardon has spent plenty of time getting things out and unloading things to play with.  He loves to play in the kitchen and I find myself cleaning up his creations multiple times a day.  He really does like to organize and be creative with things.

 In other big news, Tacy lost her first tooth.  It was a long time coming considering I think she talked about it every day since she was 5.  She was so anxious to lose a tooth.  She wiggled and worked at it for about a week until it was loose enough.  She surprisingly handled it really well and begged Jer to pull it out. 

So glad I was able to take the kids to see "Mulan" at Tuacahn.  I left the two little boys home with Jer and had a great time with just the older ones.  Truman had won 2 of the tickets in the Halloween costume contest on Halloween night. 

Jumpin Jacks

We are trying everything we can to beat the heat here in St. George and keep us all entertained and out of the house.  We decided to head to Jumpin Jacks on one of the hottest days of the year.  It took the kids about half an hour to really play, stop teasing,  and get rid of a little attitude, but after that they had a lot of fun.  Even Cardon was jumping and sliding.  Monique and Grandma Debbie were nice enough to come with us and we had fun hanging out as well.  We were there for almost 5 hours and got home just in time to welcome Jer home from his work trip to Salt Lake.

I don't think I'm the best about joining in and really playing with my kids, but Monique and I actually had a lot of fun and laughs playing as well.  We were hot and tired by the end.

Cooling off in front of the huge fan.

Having a snack.  We had a good laugh because a little boy that had attached himself to Truman just joined right in and would come over and drink the slushee right along with the kids.  He helped himself to the treats and drinks without a second thought.  Kids are so different.  My kids would never dare do that and we could tell in made Truman feel awkward but we just laughed about it and told him not to worry.

Truman had a blast playing dodge ball, playing hide and seek, and sliding.  We will have to head back before summer ends. 

Chambers at 3 months

Already? Are you joking?

I love this age.  He isn't mobile so he isn't into everything in the house.  He doesn't talk so he can't talk back or give me attitude.  He only drinks milk so he doesn't whine about the food I feed him.  He thinks I'm awesome still and smiles at me all the time.  He will let me cuddle him and won't struggle to get out of my arms.  He has hardly any hair so getting him ready is a breeze.  He is sleeping through the night and taking at least one good nap a day so he is well rested and happy.  Doesn't play in the dirt or get all hot and sweaty so he only needs a bath every other day.  What's not to love?

At 3 months you:

smile and talk to us
coo and laugh
kick your feet when you're excited
love to suck on your hands
are getting more blond "fuzz" on your head
getting chubby!
like a blanket by your face and a pacifier to sleep
smell like a baby
like to be played with
staring to grab at things
stare at your hands
take naps in my bed to escape the noise and chaos of the other kids
sleep in your own crib at night (about 9-7:30)
got in the pool for the first time
kick and splash in the tub
have the most expressive big blue eyes
grown out of most your 0-3 month clothes
wearing size 3 diapers
drink about 5oz. every 2-3 hours
doing better about tummy time
rolled over about 6 times on accident from front to back
got your first scratch from Cardon

Post Birthday Celebration

Prentice wanted to go see Mary Poppins at Tuacahn for her birthday. They didn't play the show on the actual day of her birthday so we went a few nights later with her friend Kelly. It wasn't one of my favorite plays they've done, but was still fun to be with Tacy without ano other kids. I don't think the girls knew the show as well as some of the other Disney shows so they got a little lost in the story, but they still had fun hanging out with each other. Prentice actaully fell asleep for about the last 20 minutes she was so tired.

Fun with cousins

The kids were so excited to be able to hang out with their cousins for a few days. They even forgot about how hot it was they were having so much fun.  Dorian, Aiden, and Brielle were so cute and they all got along great.  Even the 2 year olds seem to actually play together.  It is the first time we had met Brielle so it was nice to finally get to hold her.  I think Chambers is almost as big as her even though they are 3 months apart.

We spent a lot of time at the pool, did water activities in the backyard, went to lunch, and played in the water at a reservoir.  We ended the weekend with a barbecue at Grandpa and Grandma's house which included roaster marshmallows and fireworks.