Sound Asleep

My favorite thing in the world is to watch my kids sleep. Especially when Dutch falls asleep in funny spots around the house. Today Dutch was eating some lunch and I was sitting in the office. He said that he wanted some water, so I went and got him a cup and I noticed that he only had about four more bites and then he would be wanting to wash his hands. (I guess I've trained him well because he hates to have his hands dirty from eating, he's really good about finding me to wash his hands.) Anyways I went back into the office and I was just going to wait until I heard him ask me to wash his hands. Pretty soon I realized that about 10 minutes had gone by and he hadn't called for me. And it was dead silent in the kitchen, which can mean one of two things, he's sleeping or he's getting into trouble. So I quickly ran out to the kitchen and I found him sound asleep at the kitchen table. It just melted my heart into a puddle. He looked so precious. So before I cleaned him up and put him in bed, I got a picture and I even video taped it. He just looked so cute! He was even still holding onto his fork with Mac & cheese on it.

Climbing

Maylee loves to climb up on her toys and sit on them. She just started doing it pretty recently and it is so funny. The kids have this little toy barn house and yesterday it got knocked over and Maylee just kept climbing on it. And she was finally able to get up all the way on it so that she could sit on it, then she would fall off and then start again. It was just so cute to watch. And yesterday she started pulling herself up to the couch again. I know that I said she had already done it and she had, but she only did it that once and until yesterday she had not done it again. Well now she is pulling herself up to the couch all the time. She isn't content to just sit by the couch, she has to stand by the couch. But of course that means she is falling backwards a lot onto her head. Her balance still isn't very good.

Dutch loves to pull the middle cushion off of the couch and sit on the springs. Why he likes to this, I don't know, the springs are so uncomfortable but it is his favorite way to watch a movie. So tonight he pulled off the cushion and was sitting on the couch. So of course Maylee crawls over to the cushion and climbs right on up. I was pretty surprised because it is the tallest thing she has been able to climb up on. So of course I got a picture. I was just so proud of that crazy little mobile girl. Now I'm sure everyone knows where this is going but I didn't even consider it. I was so surprised. I was standing in the kitchen doing dishes, watching her play on the cushion. Then she decides to go back and stand at the couch. So I walk into the living room to watch her, as she is trying to climb up onto the couch. And she did. She pulled herself all the way up onto the couch, all by herself. Granted the cushion wasn't on the couch so it was the low part but still that is insane to me. Dutch had been walking for at least a month before he could climb up onto the couch, which made him 15 months old, Maylee just barely hit 7 months last week. Anyways once she got onto the couch, she climbed up the next cushion and then onto the arm, about to dive off. She has no understanding of danger. So now I am going to have to be very aware of Dutch pulling off the cushion, so that she won't be climbing onto the couch when I'm not in the room. She was just so proud of herself though, she was so excited to be playing on the couch. I didn't get many pictures because I mostly video taped her but I did get a couple.

Here she is climbing... And now she's up...

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I love the age when kids start talking and they just say the cutest things. The other morning Dutch woke up crying so David went to get him. When we got Dutch, Dutch said "eat", so David replied, "You want to eat?" and Dutch says, (in his adorable little voice) "Sure!". He has never replied with "sure" before. Up until now, he only replies with 'no', whether he wants something or not. So it is so stinking cute for him to have a positive reply . Now any question we ask him, he replies "Sure". I just love it. I am going to be so sad when he grows out of that. When he use to say thank you, he pronounced it "T, tu" it was so stinking cute. And now it is started to sound more like thank you and his little "t, tu" is gone. It makes me so sad.

New Callings'

David and I have both recently received new callings. We were both serving as the 12 & 13 year old Sunday school teacher, which believe it or not we loved. At first I was really not liking that age group at all, rowdy and immature. But I quickly learned to love them and I was really sad to be released from that calling. However I am very excited for our new callings. David was called to be the Gospel Doctrine teacher, I laughed when he received that but only because he kept teasing me that it was going to be my new calling and then he got it. I think we were both shocked when he got that calling, we really weren't expecting it. But I think that he'll do really good. Although I am a little worried about how sarcastic he can be, hopefully the people in the ward will learn to appreciate his kind of humor. As for me, I was called to be the Young Women's Secretary. I am so excited to serve in the Young Women's. A little intimated, I mean it's only been six years since I have been a young women myself, I don't know if I have gained enough wisdom in those six years to truly benefit the girls but regardless I am thrilled to be in there. I forgot all about the activities that go along with Young Womens, like mutual and firesides but I so love going to those activities. Especially since I now have one night a week that I get to leave the kids in Davids care and get out of the house, even if it's just for an hour. I am really excited that I still get to be involved in the 12 & 13 year olds lives that were in our class.

Happy Anniversary

Today David and I celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. I can't believe we are already hitting the four year mark. It seems like it has gone by so fast and at the same time it seems like we have always been married. David and I have had a crazy four years and I am proud of how far we have come in all of our trials together. We've had a crazy ride and have been through a lot together so I'm happy to say that we've made it and we're still together and stronger for it. I'm excited for all the adventures that are about to come our way. I'm so grateful for all the things that David does for me and our children. He is such a good person and we are blessed to have him in our lives. We won't be able to celebrate today because of David's very busy schedule to provide for our family, but we have some fun plans for next week. Happy Anniversary to us!!!

THE PAST FOUR YEARS!

Printer

So yesterday when David got home for school and work he started working on his homework in the office, about 10 minutes later he comes out to the living room and informs me that the printer is broken. I said, I'm so sorry, to which he replied, it's not your fault I'm sure Dutch had something to do with it. (If the office ever gets left open he heads straight for the printer.) So then I had to inform David that it actually wasn't Dutch, it was me but it was a complete accident. I was hanging something on my cork board and a tack fell off. I thought that it had fallen into the printer where you load the paper but I couldn't see it, so then I figured maybe it fell behind the printer and I forgot about it. Well David really needed to print off some homework so he spent about a good 3 hours taking apart the printer, finding the tack , fixing what it had jammed and then putting it back together. I felt so bad for him, all that wasted time that he could have just been working on homework. But he got the tack out and it still works. So yeah!!! It's a little blurry but here is the very destructive little tack that caused the whole problem.

Family Home Evening

My mom bought me a cute little FHE help book called, 52 Weeks of Family Night. So David and I have now been a lot more diligent in having FHE. Sad but true, we weren't doing very good at all but we are on the ball again and enjoying Monday nights as a family. This book just gives very short and sweet lesson for little kids. We have like a 5 minute lesson and try our very hardest to keep Dutch's attention. Last night we learned about the important of prayer and how to pray. Dutch has always been pretty good about prayer time. He bows his head but he doesn't fold his arms. So last night we got him to kneel down, fold his arms and bow his head. He lasted about 2 seconds that way but hey he's got to start somewhere. He is really good when we pray at the table about bowing his head and not eating until we are all done praying. And he starts off excellent with our evening prayer. He gets so excited for our evening prayer. He runs to the couch and bows his head and then he lasts about half way through and then he runs squealing out of the room because he knows that when prayer is over he has to give kisses and then go to bed and it is a big game at our house for David and I to chase him down and cover him in kisses before bed. So we are trying to shorten our prayers so that he can last all the way through them. So anyways I am trying to be a lot more faithful about having FHE. And really I don't know why I let us go with out some times because we always have such a enjoyable time when we do FHE and I love inviting the Spirit into home and singing songs. Also I have decided that I will make a desert every Monday night for FHE. And this is a pretty big thing at our house because we don't have desert very often, I try really hard to keep the junk out. But I am excited to have Dutch help me make a desert every Monday during the day to be enjoyed that evening for FHE. Last night I made a Raspberry pie, it was very yummy. After we had our lesson we spread a sheet out in the living room and had a little picnic for our desert. But I think Maylee was the one to enjoy the desert the most, she just dove right in and ate as much pie as she was able to get away with.

Sick Baby Girl

Well Maylee got sick for the first time. It started Sunday night at about eight. She puked and puked until she had nothing left in her. Then she dry heaved a few times. The dry heaving ended around midnight and then she slept through the night. And on Monday she was feeling better no more puking but she was just sleepy. She took a two and a half hour nap, which is unheard of for her. My kids don't sleep, that's just something that I was not blessed to have. Neither one of my kids are good sleepers. I was hoping Maylee would be better than Dutch but no such luck. So even though she was sick and I felt so horrible for her, it sure was nice to have her sleep so well. Notice the towel she is laying on. I think I went through five towels Sunday night. I really hate cleaning up puke. I sure hope that she doesn't end up being a sick child like Dutch is. I get really worn out of having sick kids.

Side note- on Thursday Dutch kept asking for a shake (aka chocolate milk) right before dinner was done, so I finally gave in and just gave him a shake. Well after he was done drinking it, he was laying on the kitchen floor while I was making dinner crying. So I picked him up and right then he puked all over me and the kitchen. It was everywhere. I realized after that, that the milk had gone bad. And you know how bad sour milk smells and how bad puke smells, well just combine the two and that is what my kitchen smelled like. I felt so bad for the little guy. But once he got the milk out of his system he was all better. The problem is I freeze my milk so I can't go off of the expiration date and I was even thinking the day before that I should probably check the milk because it seemed like that gallon had been in my fridge for a while, well I guess I forgot to check the milk.

So I made my first post today at about four this afternoon and I said that if something was low enough and Maylee could get a good grip then she could stand herself up. Well five hours later she has discovered how to pull herself up and stand at the couch. We were laying in the living room watching a movie and Maylee saw Daddy laying up and the couch and she decided to say hello. This was done with absolutely no help from Daddy.

I had the best morning today. I told David about 9 o'clock last night that I wanted to hike Camelback Mountain in the morning. So he agreed to watch the kids for me. Maylee luckily slept through the night and didn't wake up until 5:20 this morning to eat. So after she ate, I put her back to bed and then I got ready and left. The wait to park was a little long but so worth it. I haven't hiked the mountain since I was about six months pregnant with Maylee, so it's been about nine months since I've been. And I have missed it so much, I can't believe I have stayed away for so long. Since it's been awhile since I have been, I was thinking that it was going to be pretty tough and take me a while to get up. But I felt so great. I got up in 34 minutes, which is longer than what my average use to be. My best time on the mountain is 28 minutes and after I had Dutch I was averaging 29-30 minutes. So I did really well considering I haven't hiked in nine months and the six months prior to that I was pregnant. I told David when I got home that I felt like a million bucks. I just felt so wonderful after hiking and getting a really good cardio workout. And I was so glad because not a single person passed me while I was hiking but I was passing others just like before, so I was feeling really good. I know I have been doing P90X and that's a tough workout but it's mostly weight lifting and I love cardio. Cardio is my favorite type of exercise. Anything that works up a good sweat and kicks my butt. I know I can't hike as much as I use to. What I would give to be able to hike three days a week again but I am definitely going to make it a goal to hike 2 or 3 times a month until David is done with school. I just can't stay away now that I've gone back once. If anyone wants a butt kicking good exercise, hike Camelback, you'll love it (well you'll probably hate it the first couple of times but then you'll love it). Anyways it was just such a great morning. I love to exercise.

Standing Tall

So I had my sewing machine out in the living room on the ground today. I walked into the kitchen and when I walked back about 5 seconds later this is what I found. She is really starting to figure out this whole pulling herself up thing. If something is low enough for her to get a good grip on she just pulls herself right up and she can stand there for a good minute or two.

Bath Time

So Maylee is now big enough to sit up in the bathtub and play with Dutch. And she just loves it. She lasts longer in the bath then Dutch does now. She just loves to splash and play. Dutch actually does really well with her in the tub, it's usually the time when he is the most gentle with her, thankfully.

Baking with Mom

The other day while I was making bread I pulled a chair up beside me and let Dutch "help". He loved it. He loved to be able to see what I was doing and he had such a great time pretending to stir something in a bowl. Then all that baking must have worn him out because I then found him all snuggled up with the couch asleep. Such a cute boy!

Mrs. Brandi Jo

This post is going out to Brandi. Apparently you have set you blog to private and now I can't see how your cute family is doing. I would love to see your blog. My email address is girlee2002@yahoo.com

It's so crazy!!!

I have to quickly post about this because I certainly want to remember all of my kids big milestones. And I haven't been super great about keeping up with their baby books lately but at least if I blog than I can remember when things happened. So last night we were over at my parents house for dinner. Maylee the little crazy mobile thing that she is crawled into their kitchen where their barstools are and grabbed the bottom bar and pulled herself up and stood their for about 10 or 15 seconds before I got to her. She is still so unsteady that I didn't want her to fall over and bang her head on the tile, but holy cow, the girl is crazy. She is six months and has for the first time pulled her self up into standing position.

Dutch is the only one around our house who can get Maylee to laugh so hard. She absolutely adores Dutch. If he would just be softer with her, life would be great. Well I figured out the other day what can get a big belly laugh out of Maylee every time and Dutch of course thinks it is the best thing ever. I put both Maylee and Dutch in her crib and Dutch jumps up and down and makes Maylee fall all over the place and she just thinks it is hilarious. Of course it usually ends in tears once Dutch gets to excited and jumps on her but they usually lasts for about 10 minutes. And it's so cute.

Children's Museum of Phoenix...

My friend Jenny was telling me the other day about a great place to take the kids to give them something to do that is just way fun. The Children's Museum of Phoenix. Most of you have probably heard of it before but I never had. It's an old high school redone into an awesome play house for kids. So Jenny and I took our kids there today to get them out of the house and let them play. The place is awesome. They have a bunch of different rooms and each room has a different activity for the kids to do. The first hour Dutch was being very whiny and not really enjoying the fact that there are other kids there that he needs to share with and be nice to. But after about an hour he finally started to get things figured out and he had a lot of fun. And Maylee of course had a great time. I just put her of the floor and let her play with the toys and she was good to go. And that girl is so mobile. She is already starting to climb up on things. Anyways the place is great. And I talked it over with David and we decided that I should just go ahead and get a annual pass. That way it will give me something that I can do once a week with Dutch to get him out of the house and to interact with other kids and play and not be so bored. I'm very excited. It was so much fun and I can't wait to take Dutch back.

Cute outfit!!

Check out Maylee's outfit. I thought she looked especially adorable on Sunday for church. I love the shoes she is wearing.

So Bored!

I think Dutch has hit complete boredom and it makes me feel so bad for him. This morning I found him sitting in front of the garage door crying, "Bye-Bye" and saying, "Mimi, Grandma, Jace", over and over again. All he wants to do is go bye bye and not stay stuck inside our house all day with just Maylee and I. It's still too hot to play outside and he is just plain bored of me. I feel so bad for the little guy. So now I am trying to come up with different activities for him to do. Any advice?