Picture Overload

So, when I don't blog often enough, I end up with piles of pictures to update with, and sadly little story behind them.  Oh well, the pictures are cute.

The biggest thing in our lives lately has been my little sister Lacy's wedding and everything leading up to it.  Yesterday was the big day, and while it was possibly the longest day of my children's lives, it was awesome.  I'll have another (couple) posts about the wedding, but for now, here's a picture of Lacy and Uncle Benj (as my kids love to call him).

Owen's sitting up well now (which is good, being that he's over 6 1/2 months old), but is still the laziest baby on earth.  I know he can roll and get around a bit, 'cause he ends up on the other side of his crib with his head where his feet used to be, pretty much every morning.  But, set him down on the floor and he'll play with a toy for a minute, then throw himself to the ground sobbing until someone comes and picks him up.  He's quite needy :-)  He's so sweet and cuddly though, that I almost don't notice that I'm either holding him, nursing him, or putting him down for a nap, all day long.

 Annie started school -- a couple times!  Last Friday she got to go meet both of her teachers (Mrs. Barton and Señora Bailey) for an hour and a half, to learn about how their Dual Immersion day is going to be structured.  Then Wednesday was when Greg and I went and met with her teacher -- except unlike most first graders who go and meet their teachers for the first time then, Annie had to wait out on the playground so we could meet Señora Bailey, so she could speak English to the parents (her Spanish classroom is supposed to be English-free at all times, so she can't speak English in front of the students).

Annie last week on Friday's 'meet your teachers' day for Dual Immersion students

Then last Saturday, we drove up to Logan because Aunt Lacy was going through the Logan Temple that morning to receive her endowments before the wedding.  So, I have a bunch of pictures outside the temple before and after the session.  

After the Temple, we went to Ben's Grandma's house, and enjoyed a great luncheon.

Owen's not super interested in solids, and we haven't really pushed it yet.  We've offered 'em a couple times, but he's pretty weirded out by the whole experience . . .

After a really good run of fairly well children (we've had a couple sniffles here and there (and the accompanying ear infections), but nothing major).  Last week Isaac started to get sick, and ran high fevers off and on for three days, and hasn't had much of a voice since then.  He's been congested and ornery.  Owen followed a couple days later with fevers and has has been getting increasingly congested and snotty ever since.  Annie started fevers this week, then coughing and congestion, and on Wednesday we took her to the doctor to find that she had double ear infections.  Thursday we took Ellie to Instacare 'cause she was getting sicker and had pink eye.  So all four of my kids had various degrees of snotty, green goobery, grossness going on (most with coughs) for the wedding.  Ellie had two freakishly red infected eyes.  Gonna be the BEST pictures ever :-/  During the luncheon Ellie started just sobbing and freaking out about her ear hurting, so we rushed off to Instacare (our third doctor's appointment in three days!), and she has an ear infection too.  The kids did fairly well yesterday with the wedding stuff -- from 6AM-10:30PM, they really were troopers.  But, I don't think Isaac smiled for an entire picture, and poor Owen was dripping snot from everywhere.  Then last night, Owen was up with high fevers again.  Sigh. 

Anyway, Thursday morning was Annie's first full day of school (and she was going to be missing Friday for the wedding), and originally we weren't planning on her going. She'd been on the antibiotics for a day by then, but she'd seemed pretty tired and lethargic the night before.  In the morning though, she had a miraculous recovery (I think it was sheer will), and she insisted she was well enough to go.  I don't know if I should've sent her, as I'm usually someone who makes a real point to not send sick kids out in to the world, but she seemed SO much better, and she was so upset about the idea of missing school.  So, we threw her in the tub and washed hair about 15 minutes before the bus was coming, thus the wet hair in her 'first day of school' pictures :-)  I actually went at lunch to check on her, and she was feeling great, and her teacher said she hadn't been coughing or seeming sick.  

After school, I had the girls try on some new dresses I'd gotten at a yard sale for $5 (they're both size 6's, and large 6's, which is why they're a bit big, or a lot big in Ellie's case.)

Facebook updates:
July 26th:
Packed my first ever school lunch for Annie -- half of a peanut butter sandwich, a pudding cup, carrots, grapes, a fruit leather, water bottle and some almonds. She ate the pudding cup, and drank her water. I feel like I should learn from this experience.'


While making lunch for the kids, I informed Ellie we were having grilled cheese sandwiches. "OK," she said, "ONLY if you make them like Daddy though!"
"Um, I do make them like Daddy."
"Nope, not like Dad."
"How, then, does Daddy make them?"
"Well, first he takes a pan . . . then he gets cheese, that he puts on bread . . . um, I think that's about it. Then he cooks it."
Well, good thing I've now tapped in to Greg's super secret grilled cheese sandwich recipe . . .



Ellie, "Hey Mom! You want me to draw a picture of you?!"
"Sure Ellie."
"Um, except that you'll have longer hair -- 'cause Rapunzel's hair is WAY prettier than yours!"

July 24th:
Greg and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary at the Cheesecake Factory. The couple next to us kept apologizing for their noisy kids, and even though we kept insisting that we hardly noticed the kids, the lady felt badly about it and had the waitress bring us giant slice of their Anniversary Cheesecake after the family left. I felt bad that the poor Mom felt so guilty, but I really enjoyed the cheescake :-)

July 20th:
Isaac refers to the vacuum cleaner and the carpet shampooer as "Mommy vacuums" . . . the shop vac is referred to as the "Daddy vacuum". I feel like I should correct him or something, explaining that we're equal opportunist vacuumers in our family. But then again, I hate operating a shop vac with a passion, and let Greg be the one to do such things, so I don't feel like I have a leg to stand on . . .

 July 14th:
Annie has informed me she wants to be a scientist when she grows up (thanks Aunt Liz & Aunt Andrea for the Christmas & birthday science sets -- and Aunt Talina the molecular biologist, for teaching her science-y stuffs). Ellie is pretty sure she wants to be a basketball coach. (For a four year old she has a pretty amazing shot). Isaac is still undecided, but is pretty insistent he will be 'an Isaac' when he grows up. Owen hasn't chimed in on this topic at all.

 July 13th:
I think my favorite time to sit back and listen to my kids play is while they are in the tub -- they are so creative with their play and ongoing narrative. Tonight they were world travelers, and Annie would translate into the various languages for Ellie as they met people in new countries. At one point, after visiting Mexico and eating some food there (water in tea cups), they landed in China. Annie politely explained to the mermaid they met their that Ellie wasn't hungry, she'd already eaten in Mexico, plus she didn't like China-can food. "Chinese," I called out from my room. "Hmmm," she said as she pondered, "So why is it called Mexican food, but not China-can food?" Um, good question, Annie. Just trust me on it though.

Cutting off the top inch of each of their Otter Pops and keeping it for myself is a right of motherhood . . .

July 12th:
Note to self: when starting the Nutrimill to grind wheat, and then walking away to take care of kids -- make sure the bowl is firmly back in place, or else you may come back in to a kitchen where everything is covered by a solid coat of flour everywhere within 5-6 feet of the wheat grinder. 

More Pictures from Lacy's Reception