two months old

this little angel turned 2 months old last week.

the time is flying by.

i honestly feel like she has been without family forever ( i guess in reality she has :) )

she seems so much older than 2 months.

i feel like she had about 2 weeks of new born stage.

when she is awake, she is so alert and looking around, she doesn't want to miss anything.

AND the cutest thing of all,

she started smiling.

we saw the first glimpses of a real smile in utah, especially in the mornings, now she smiles all the time, it is so sweet.

at her two month check up she was

10 lbs. 5 oz.

she is such a good baby.

she only cries right before she goes to sleep and then she wails for 2 minutes like a jet airplane taking off, then it's quiet and she's asleep.

one more thing, she HATES baths. i have never seen a baby so terrified of the bath. she screams like crazy. i always feel so bad.

we love having a little sweet new one in our family. they have such a sweet spirit.

funny thing,

the doc asked me how she did with being on her belly. i quickly realized she had NEVER been on her belly. with little b crawling all over, he is like a tank, so she doesn't get much down time. even in her swing, he can get to her. so needless to say, she still has not received much tummy time.

First day of school

So, for some reason, the first day of school seemed to creep up on me. I felt like I was trying to still find back packs and lunchboxes the night before.

To be brutally honest, the boys were not excited to go back to school. Not their favorite place. They both do amazing, but neither love it.

J still has 9 days until she starts preschool and she can't wait!!!!!!!!

K will be in fourth and G at a private kindergarten. He is CRAZY smart but barely turned 6 so we decided to give him another year to let him be the oldest (we hope he isn't bored)

Some funny things about going back to school.

me and kellen: hey, k, how bout we go get you some new school clothes.

K-no.

me, please.

k-no, i have enough clothes.

me, please. at least one new shirt.

k-i would rather be dropped in the amazon rain forest than go school shopping

question of the year-did he wear new clothes to school. nope, just new shoes.

me and J-

me, are you going to miss me when you're at school.

j-no.

me, really, not even a little.

j-no, mom, i'm coming home every night.

(She has NO apprehensions about starting school)

k- mom, i can't believe what a great reader G is.

me-i know.

k- i mean for his age, it's amazing

me- i know,

k- how did he even know how to read the word 'smock'. i don' t even know what a smock is

On a side note. This has not been my favorite summer. I feel like we have been stuck inside and we are going crazy. It is so tricky going anywhere with two little ones, neither who are walking. I almost feel like the older 3 kiddos got ripped off this summer. Usually I try to keep them pretty entertained going to the beach, park, splash park, friends over, this summer couldn't have been more different. Other than going to Utah, we really didn't do much.We did go swimming a couple times at a friends house, and one day a bunch of girls from our church went to hershey, I mentioned I would love to go, but its too tricky, they offered their help so we went. I ended up carrying B in a front pack and a friend of mine carried little C the whole time in a sling. I felt a little bad, but was grateful for friends who were willing to help. I was shocked when the kids said they weren't excited to go back to school. I thought they would be dying to get back into things, but they weren't.

Hopefully next year summer will be fabulous!

really, another mess

Does it ever feel like all you do is clean up messes?

These were our latest.

I was trying to hurry and vacuum these up before they got spread ALL over, so B started frantically shoving them in his mouth. He knew he didn't have much time.

G came in the other day looking....um, guilty. He timidly said, ah, mom, I kinda made a mess, I was trying to get watermelon...and it spilled... all of it.

It wasn't so much the water melon that was a pain, but the juice. it was everywhere and so sticky!

C said, I bet he was ticked because he loves watermelon and didn't get to eat any. Fortunately for G, he ate his watermelon BEFORE it spilled!

a day you could bottle up

Monday was an AMAZING day. It as the kind of day you wish you could bottle up and release EVERY day. It would be the most amazing day, everyday!

When C got home from work we took the kids for ice cream and then to the park.

G finally got to ride his scooter at the skate park. Until he and a 'real skater' almost collided and both kids ended up jumping off the scooter and skateboard and G tumbled to the ground scraping his knee. But all was good.

The kids finally got to play at a park. Between a new born and a 1 year old its hard to get out these days.

Jane was finally able to have me give her an underdog. (Hard to do when you're pregnant)

I LOVED IT!

B had a great time hanging out with dad and getting pushed on the swing

The boys played tag and took a time out for a picture

It was our last final hoorah before the kids all go back to school.

home built prison

the kids made themselves a make shift prison. nice.

how to debone a chicken, not for the faint of heart

So, the following pics are disgusting, at least to me. read no further if you are squeamish.

I must start by saying I am not a lover of raw meat. I can't touch it. I make hamburger patties with spoons, pick up chicken with forks, get a roast into a pan using knives and forks. I have a hard time with it.

The other day I was trying to get the meat off a cooked rotisserie chicken. Once again, and although it's not raw, its hard for me to touch it. I was using two forks and a knife when necessary. While elbow deep in meat, J walks into the room and says, 'ooooohhh, can I help, I want some'. I said, give me a minute and pulled the rest off that I was getting. Then I gave it to her and said have at it.

She tore into that chicken like nothing I've ever seen.

She was loving it. I guess you can say she is very tactile.

She found the ribcage and was ecstatic! She kept saying, look mom, I found the scales. i was silently dry heaving to her side.

She was tearing off the wings and legs and eating the meat she could find (even now, I am throwing up in my mouth a little just re-typing it). She was finding bones and asking if she could save them in a bag. (me, barf) I said um, no. You don't collect bones. Then she said, 'can I save 'em and show them to the elders.....' they were grateful I said no.

At least I know who to go to if i need help shredding chicken meat.

I LOVE THIS GIRL!

Ithaca and Buttermilk Falls

We met some friends at Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca NY, it was a gorgeous day and an amazing hike!

The whole gang

J and her cute friend

B enjoying the view

This pic makes me laugh. K was checking the depth of the river so they could safely cross! love this kid!

ps. first thing he packed in his camelback, bandaids!

G found the perfect hiking stick

Lots of craziness on the trail

The whole gang, the dad super eager for this picture :)

We were planning to swim at buttermilk falls, but the water was too cloudy and it wasn't allowed, so we headed to Cayuga (i think that's the lake) and had a refreshing swim.

B and Chief checking each other out

G relaxing after a nice day

It was such a fun day and so good to see our friends from NY. The kids had a blast!

birthday girl concert

The second day we got to utah, it was close to my friends birthday.

Her husband never does things half way.

So, for her birthday, he decided to give her a great surprise.

David Tolk and Peter Brienholt are local musicians in utah. Peter was their first date and David Tolk played at their wedding. He decided to hire them for a private concert for his wife's birthday.

He invited her friends and family.

and, might I add,

IT WAS AMAZING!

Who gets to go to a private concert with two great musicians, who I both love.

She was so surprised, he pulled off a great surprise!

enjoying the fesitivies

there had to be delicious treats!

J even got to go up and help sing a little song, she did great!

What a great surprise for my sweet friend!

candy parade

The first of the two candy parades.

The kids love them!

B and C just hanging out, enjoying the noise

the candy scramble

not only do they throw candy, but the throw otter pops too! BONUS!

my old high school marching band, not to shabby

blessing day

what a sweet day today was for our new little one

it was a very emotional day for me-having all of our family there and being in a ward we loved being in, knowing that this was most likely our last baby blessing..it was a sweet/hard day for me

but c was so sweet.

when i put this hat on her, k said, 'mom, why are you putting an amish hat on her? only a true pennsylvanian would ask :)

a couple pics of our fam before the blessing

all of c's fam-the other reason we miss utah so much!

i love this picture!

so sweet and perfectly content

she is so perfect!

Family time

One of the best things about visiting home is getting to play with cousins and grandmas and grandpas.

this was after C's blessing.

we went to my parents house and had a monthly b-day celebration. g and b both got to celebrate their birthdays there.

look at this glorious chaos!

g helping b open his present

all the grandkids, minus g, in all the commotion, we didn't notice he was quietly playing inside

people are constantly asking me, 'why do you want to move back to utah?

the reasons are all seen below :)

we love our cousins!

the kids made a make shift zip line at my moms house

snuggling little c

when we got back, this hummingbird had flown into c's parents garage and couldnt fly. we tried to help it and get it back outside and in a safe spot. hopefully it worked. it was so cool to get to hold a hummingbird!