Farewell Shea...Hello Summer

We said goodbye to Uncle Shea for 2 years while he serves his mission in Raleigh. We will all miss him but we did enjoy a great weekend together before he left.







My thanks to Chels for cropping out my belly in this photo. I have a strict "No pregnancy photos" policy but for certain events it can't really be helped. It's actually not so much because of my rotund belly, it's more just that my face tends to fill up the entire lens. Thanks for working your magic Chels! Maybe next time you could give me a tan and airbrush a few inches off my cheeks...





Brent's parents came down for a HOT 4th of July and brought the boys a wading pool. It took some getting used to, but once the water was warm, they loved it! Cole kept climbing up the slide, turning around and then sliding down. He didn't want to waste time getting all the way out of the pool. I wish they had liked the fireworks as much, but they didn't like the "pop!" "pop!". Keith kept calling them "flashlights." We had to finish our home fireworks show after they went to bed. Maybe next year...



Both boys are little monkeys. They climb on everything! I keep turning tables and chairs over to discourage them from climbing but they somehow find a way. Whenever I hear them telling themselves, "nooo." "nooo." I know they are climbing on something that they know they are not supposed to be climbing on. At least they give me a heads up, I guess. What thoughtful young men.

Meanwhile, we are awaiting the arrival of our little girl here pretty soon. If this pregnancy were anything like my last one, she would be born tomorrow. Thankfully, it's not. It's been nothing but smooth sailing and I'm relieved that she is showing no signs of coming early. I still have a lot of work to do and I'm just not mentally prepared, yet. I'm not sure I ever will be, but here's hoping...

Fashion a la Manly

Keith and Cole have been severely lacking in summer clothing. To avoid our hot house, I ventured out to find the boys a new summer wardrobe. Besides the challenges of finding closed toed sandals small enough to fit Keith that were not intended for a newborn, and then buying and returning 3 different pairs of shoes for picky and hobbit-footed Cole, I felt proud of my purchases.

At least I was proud until I realized that the Fashion Chief for all things Manly, aka, my husband, would need to approve all wardrobe decisions for his "manly sons." Two of the t-shirts I bought were vetoed.

The first shirt was light blue with a large orange fish eating a shark. The Chief's response to the shirt: "That shirt looks like a girl shirt. Maybe you could save it for our little girl."

Hmmm...call me crazy, but that doesn't exactly scream feminine to me.

The second shirt had cartoon fish on it. The Chief's response: "That shirt is just too corny."

The Chief went on to explain that a good guide to purchasing clothing for our sons is to buy things similar to what the Chief would wear. Hmmm...I did my best to take him seriously as I eyed his current ensamble which included a ratty and very wrinkled Polo shirt I bought for him in high school over 11 years ago.
Forgive me for not recognizing a fashion guru when I see one.

Sigh...Gotta love him, along with all his manly opinions.

div>

Can You Moo?

The boys and I attended our weekly "Fun for Ones" class at the Library today in great anticipation for the usual singing, dancing, and reading rituals. When we walked in, I noticed a very familiar book propped up on the display shelf. "Can You Moo?" was a favorite we checked out a few months ago. I literally had to sneak it back to the library because the boys loved it so much. I didn't think too much about it because they only had it for a few weeks and it was after all, at least 2 months ago. There's no way they would remember that silly book. Wrong.
As we marched in a circle and shook colorful noise-makers shaped like eggs, we neared the display table and I swear at the exact same time, both boys broke the ranks of the marching circle and started jumping and pointing and of course screaming for that book. "Quack! Quack!" "Moo! Moo!" They both started making all the animal noises from the book. I attempted in vain to bring them back to the circle. The librarian turned on some marching music for the express purpose of drowning out my screaming children, I'm pretty sure. Apparently, 17 toddlers singing and shaking noise-makers wasn't quite enough to tone out my offspring.
Finally, I grabbed the book and we sat in a corner of the room where at last, Cole and Keith could see the familiar pictures and make their animal sounds for the 100th time today. We continued reading the book until the toys came out at the end of the session and I could distract them long enough to stash "Can You Moo?" behind the lyric easel. I hope the instructor found it later. In my haste, I neglected to tell her that I hid her book. I would have checked the book out again, but of course I didn't have my library card. Lucky for me, Amazon had a used addition of "Can You Moo?" for 90 cents. Guess who's in for a real treat in 5-7 business days?

Great Expectations

As a precursor to my sister Syd's wedding festivities, Brent and I decided to take a family vacay to San Diego. We had high hopes for the boys at the beach and especially for Sea World.

The first night at the beach, the boys cried every time we tried to get them to walk on the sand in bare feet. At least by the 3rd day, they were running all over the beach and having a blast. We couldn't get them off the beach or keep them from tasting the sand.




Sea World didn't exactly thrill the boys like we anticipated. They love animals, especially sharks, turtles and fish, so we thought it would be a perfect way to spend a vacation day. Well, after dropping $200 for entrance fees, parking and lunch, the animals that excited the boys the most were the seagulls in the parking lot and the ducks eating the lunch leftovers under the picnic table. I'm confident we could have managed those thrills for free, but at least Brent and I had fun.






The pinnacle of our day, the Shamu show, "Believe" was sure to be a crowd pleaser. Sadly, Cole fell asleep and Keith was mostly unimpressed with jumping, splashing killer whales.

At least it was fun to have some family time before we met up with everyone for Snick's wedding. I didn't get any pictures because Brent and I were literally running ragged for 3 days of festivities. We came home thoroughly exhausted from chasing the boys around fancy restaurants, the temple grounds and the reception hall. But everything was perfectly beautiful and I can't wait to round up and post some pics!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Grandma and Grandpa Smart came down for an extended weekend stay to spoil Keith and Cole. The first major outing was to the Zoo. C and K LOVE animals and LOVE to make animal sounds. It was especially exciting for them to see some of their favorites in the flesh. The growling, pointing, wrestling and ooohing wore them out.
I was pretty tired, too, so I was glad to have Aunt Darel and G and G to help entertain all weekend.

Even Great-Grandma and Grandpa Hague came down for a night.

Grandpa H was nice enough to read stories and even lend his cane to the boys. The cane was put right to use as a weapon, complete with machine-gun sound effects. I seriously don't know where they get this stuff. I guess boys are genetically engineered for combat. Shouldn't I know that by now?

3 under 2

As in 3 children under the age of 2.

As in 3 children in diapers for at least 1 year.

As in my future--my very near future, apparently.

Funny story...

3 weeks ago I went in for an ultrasound to determine my due date. Sadly, I honestly had no idea when this little miracle might be making an appearance. I had recently discovered I was pregnant (yikes!) and assumed that I was at most 12 weeks along. The ultrasound tech laughed when I told her how far along I thought I was. The conversation went like this...

Me: Wow! That baby looks big.

Tech: You said you thought you were how far along?

Me: I think about 12 weeks.

Tech: (laughs) Hmmmm...you're a little further than that.

Silence...

Me: Really? Like how far along? How far is 'a little further'?

More silence while Tech calculates the measurements. After what seems like FOREVER...

Tech: (more chuckles) You're almost 17 weeks. Would you like to know the gender?

Me: (In my head: WHAT?!! How could I not have known?!!! I must be some type of serious bonehead.) Outloud: Uhhh. You can tell me that already? Right now?

................................

Obviously, I was dying to know but Brent wasn't with me since I had no idea we would be able to find out the gender. So, like a good wife I decided to wait until my next ultrasound so the father of our baby could witness such a momentous event.

Yeah, right.

The thought of waiting for him flitted through my brain, but honestly, I had to know! Plus, Brent is really good about stuff like that and I knew he would have wanted me to find out. So, we're having a girl! She should be here sometime in mid-August.

Surprise!

While, we obviously did not plan this, we couldn't feel more blessed. When life is a little hectic these next few months (and years), I must remember that at one point we weren't sure we would have any children. So, we're incredibly grateful to be able to have 3 (even if they are all under age 2.)

.................................
Introducing (in no particular order)...
Big Brother #1


Big Brother #2


Dedicated Father:


Cool, Calm and Collected Expectant Mother:


HELP!!!!!