Whistler

Sierra learned how to whistle on Friday. She was trying to show me in the car on the way home from school, but I was trying to drive so I couldn't really see what she was doing. Every time I got a chance to glimpse back at her she had her mouth wide open, like she was trying to yawn, but a few seconds later I'd hear a whistle sound and I couldn't figure out how she was doing it with her mouth open so wide. Finally when we got home and was able to watch her I realized she was pursing her lips after doing the wide mouth thing. I think maybe she had yawned at some point and whistled by accident so she thought that was how you do it,just a guess. She's figured out now how to do it correctly, but I managed to get a video of her doing it the silly way before we showed her how to do it the right way

Big Boy Bed

Reece has been doing really well since moving into a big boy bed. I was nervous about bedtime because we've had such an easy bedtime up until now, but I shouldn't have worried. Everything is going great. The first few nights I sat on the floor until he fell asleep and then I realized that I didn't want to be doing that forever so the next night I laid him down and left the room to see what would happen. He got out of bed and cried at the door (he's too short to open it) for maybe a minute and then got back in bed and went to sleep. The night after that he cried in bed for less than a minute and went to sleep and tonight he didn't even cry at all. I saw the look on his face like he wanted to cry right as I was shutting the door, but he didn't make a peep. What a big boy, I'm so glad it worked out as easily as it did because I love my sleep.

Music To My Ears!

I love how the kids play together sometimes. Right now they are running up and down the hallway, Reece isn't as fast as Sierra, or as coordinated so he keeps falling, but he thinks it's hilarious. He's trying to keep up with her and laughing the whole time. I love the moments when they're getting along nicely and playing together, even if they are short lived.

Why I Love Them...

Reece:

1)I love the way you call your belly button your "butt". :)

2)I love the way you say "yes" now instead of "yea" when I ask if you want something.

3)I love the way you're attached to your silky, You ask for your "silk" all day long, and forget sleeping without it.

4)I love when you get an owie and look at me with those lips pursed out and say "ooh,ooh".

5)I love snuggling with you when your upset or scared.

6)I love how excited you get when it's bath time.

7)I love how you think you can run or jump just by exaggerating the movements of your arms.

8)I love how you sleep in until 7 on the weekends.

9)I love when you fall asleep while you're eating.

10)I love how you love me, no matter what.

Sierra:

1)I love how you like me to tickle you gently all over while your trying to relax.

2)I love how you cry when Bubba gets upset or hurt.

3)I love when the sun gets in your eyes and you ask me to tell him not to do that.

4)I love listening to you sing.

5)I love when you play with my hair.

6)I love how you go to bed like such a big girl.

7)I love when you show me letters you've written.

8)I love napping with you on the weekends and getting to snuggle.

9)I love your curls, it makes me happy to see your ringlets.

10)I love how much you love me, no matter what.

Big Boy *UPDATE*

Well I moved Reece out of his crib today. He'll be sleeping in Sierra's toddler bed and Sierra will be sleeping in his crib with the side removed so it's like a toddler bed too. I had to put Sierra in the crib bed because it's a little bit taller than her toddler bed and he struggles to get on it. Plus her toddler bed has the railings at the head of the bed, so hopefully I wont have to worry about him falling out. I'm nervous about bedtime now because he's done so well at night up until now and I don't want to completely throw him for a loop. And I like getting my sleep too. One thing that should go to my advantage is that the kids don't have any toys in their bedroom (they're all in the playroom) so I wont have to worry about him getting up to play with toys like Sierra used to do. I'll keep you all posted, we'll be trying it out for nap today.

UPDATE**
Well it was a good 15-20 minute struggle, but he's down for his nap in his big boy bed. I tried laying him down over and over again, but he just kept getting back up. I probably did it a good 30 times. Finally I went in and sat on the floor with my hand on his back, I wasn't holding him down just making sure he knew I was there and that I was going to lay him down if he tried to get up. He cried for a minute or two and then shut his eyes and he was out. Now we'll see how long it lasts.

***
So that nap lasted all of 45 minutes, if that. i tried to get him to go back to sleep in his bed, but he wouldn't. I planned on just taking him and Sierra into my bed for a nap (Sierra and I usually nap together on the weekends anyway), but my Visiting Teaching companion called and said she'd made appointments to meet with the sisters we visit at 2:30, it was 1:30. So I quickly threw myself together and the kids and we headed to our visits. I'd never met either of the ladies before, they were both nice, but the second one said she'd forgot we were coming and didn't even invite us into her house. Needless to say we got home at 3:10 and it felt like a bit of a waste to me, not to mention the kids are going to be cranky because they're napping routine got ruined. Oh well, hopefully next time we'll plan a little better.

Black and White

I was experimenting with the settings on my camera the other day and I set it to black and white. I love the look of black and white pictures. The kids were already in their jammies for the night, but I thought some of the shots turned out really cute. Of course Sierra's hair was wild, but what's new.

I love his smile in this picture.

She's just fallen of the couch and thought it was hilarious.
She looks so sad, she wasn't really, but it looks like she was.
Fuzzy hair.

At the Water Park, Again

We took another trip to the water park in town today. This time my sister, Melanie, and her 2 daughters came, and my brother, Marshall, and his family. The kids all had a blast. Sierra wasn't as chicken this time, she actually wanted to spend most of the time in the deeper water (2 feet).

I wish we'd found out about this p[ark earlier in the summer, we definitely would've spent a lot of time there. It's perfect for the kids and a great way to spend a Saturday.

Getting ready

Sunscreen hair.

His favorite spot, barely in the water at all. He saw sissy doing this in the deeper area so he was copying her.
Every time a plane flew over she stopped playing and plugged her ears.

Her favorite spot was in these little jets.
Sierra and cousin Tanner love playing together.

Tag, I'm I't

Here is another cute tag, from Shannon.

Four random things I love about my husband :
1. He lets me sleep in most Saturday.
2. He loves to wrestle with the kids.
3. He tries to surprise me on my birthday (even if I usually figure it out).
4. He can always make me laugh, even if I don't feel like it.

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Deli girl/ China Cook at Safeway
2. Medical Records Clerk
3. Hostess at Denny's.
4. Infant Caregiver at Giggling Guest and Giggling Guest Too.

Four movies I have watched more than once:
1. Hairspray
2. Enchanted
3. All Harry Potter movies
4. P.S. I Love You

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. House.
3. Heroes
4. America's next Top Model

Four random places I have been:
1. Punxitawny, Pennsylvania
2. Born in Anchorage, Alaska
3. Yellowstone
4. Oregon Coast

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chicken Alfredo at The Olive Garden
2. Steak
3. Mom's fried chicken
4. Cheesecake

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Australia
2. Texas (To see my best friend)
3. France
4. Hawaii

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Sierra starting Kindergarten
2. David getting to take his first paid vacation.
3. Trying for another baby, hopefully
4. Getting in shape

Four people I tag:
1. Melanie
2. Morgan
3. Nicole
4. Nicole

Swimming

We took our first trip to the new aquatic center in town. We went with David's friend Noel and his family and it was a lot of fun. They had a little swim area for the kids with the climbing toy in it and the big bucket of water that dumps. There was a lazy river and one big water slide. It was perfect for the kids and they both had a great time. Sierra even went on the big water slide twice, once with daddy on an inner tube and once with me without one. She definitely liked going on the inner tube better because we went under water when I took her down. She didn't cry about it, but I think she got water in her nose (I did). Reece went down the little water slide lots of times with mommy and daddy and really liked it. All in all it was lots of fun and we'll probably try to go back soon.

Bubba fell in the mud outside while we were eating lunch. He walked over with his hands out saying "Uh-oh".

Dirty fingers.

Movin' On

Well Reece is officially finished with physical therapy. We went to his last appointment today and his therapist said he didn't really need to see him anymore. Reece has done so well since starting therapy and I've really loved seeing him progress each week. I'd never realized what a big help it was, and what a difference it could make. When he started therapy in March Reece was barely able to pull up to standing and now only 5 1/2 months later and he's a walking machine. He's still going to be checked up on every few months for evaluations to make sure he's on track, but other than that we're done. Here's some shots from our last day.

He's loved climbing up onto these couches since our first day (actually on our first day he couldn't even get up, but he wanted to really badly, and now he's doing it with ease.)

Standing outside of the building after our appointment.

Here's the pictures of the damage Sissy caused. It really isn't noticeable when I do her hair in that comb over style (which is the way her hair naturally falls anyway). I think she might have got a little bit of her bangs on the right side, but you can definitely see the sections that are missing when I pull back the front.

Take a Guess!

Can you guess what happened at our house this morning? Lets start from the beginning.
I went to bed really late last night because I couldn't stop watching the Olympics, they didn't get over until 1am and I get up at 5 to get ready for work. I knew I was going to be tired, but I couldn't turn off the TV. When I finally did wake up it was to the realization that I'd hit the snooze button 4 times and was now running very late so I jumped into the shower and started getting ready as quick as possible. Sierra came into the bathroom before I was out of the shower and sat on the toilet while I was getting ready. I sent Sierra into the other bathroom to bring me my comb and it took her a little longer than it should've but I figured she just got sidetracked. I finished getting myself ready and I got her dressed and we headed to the bathroom to do her hair. She wanted to wear a particular bow so I was going to pull her hair up into a single ponytail, I wetted her hair and started combing and it all went downhill from there. As I combed her hair there were huge chunks of hair coming out in my comb. Of course, I immediately started freaking out, I couldn't see anything that looked like it had been cut, so it seemed like her hair was just falling out. I was near tears and there was obviously panic in my voice because David came in to see what was up. I showed him the hair and he asked Sierra if she'd cut her hair. She said yes and showed him a little pair of nose hair trimmers that were in the flip down drawer in front of the bathroom sink (I didn't even know we owned a pair of those). I cannot believe that my daughter cut her own hair. luckily her hair is curly and it's not really noticeable at all unless your looking for it, but she wont be able to wear her hair up for a long time probably. It didn't help that I was in a huge rush to get to work either so I didn't have a chance to really sit down and examine her head until I got there. The damage could have been a lot worse. It was her first haircut, too.
Pictures of the little hairstylist to come.

Thanks A Bunch

A big THANK YOU to my best friend Shannon for the new blog design. She made my header too and I love it. She's really talented with digiscrap too, I think I should take some lessons.

Skyfest 2008

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES


The kids and I went to the Air Show at the Air Force Base today with Michelle, and Mel and her family. We only made it to the last few hours so we missed the parachuters, which would've been really neat, but we got to see the Blue Angels which was what I was most excited for. I wanted to get some pics of the kids in an airplane, but there were really long lines so I settled for some in front of the planes instead. Sierra was not impressed at all by the noise so I had to buy some earplugs for her. She started screaming immediately whenever a plane came near us. They were actually really loud, but Reece didn't seem as bothered with it as she was, she inherited her Daddy's sensitive ears.

Sierra leaned in and kissed him right before I took the shot, it was so sweet.

A rare glimpse of Mommy, this is where Sierra was loosing her mind, hence the fingers in the ears, she would cling tighter to me anytime she heard the planes nearby.
She spent most of the day like this, even after the earplugs.
Inside one of the planes, looking out.
Sitting in the plane withe cousin Faith
Bubba was such a good boy the whole time.

A sweet little snuggle with Auntie Melanie.
I don't think Sissy could hear me very well with those plugs in.
Blue Angels.


Cargo plane, I'd never realized they opened both from the front and back, it was pretty neat to see.
A closeup of the front of the cargo plane.

It was really hard to get good pictures of the planes in flight. This is one of the times the Blue Angels crossed by each other.

Quick Update

I haven't had a chance to blog for a while, my Internet was down this past weekend (very irritating). Not much new has been going on here. Reece is walking up a storm, I can definitely say now that walking is his preferred method of travel, he's even wanting me to put him down and not carry him everywhere when we're out. I don't always let him down out in public because he still falls quite a bit and has to put his hands down on the floor to stand back up, so he can't be down in an icky places. Sierra is doing great. Not much change with her actually other than that I found out she isn't the greatest listener in class and is a bit of a class clown. I think she's going to take after her Daddy on that one, always wanting to be the enter of attention. I've had a few words with her about her behavior in class though and I'm hoping the teacher will start laying down the rules, I think they let her get away with too much because she's cute and I work there, they probably don't want to be too strict with her, but I'd rather she be well behaved.

Sierra got a package in the mail today form her friend, Natalie, in Texas. It was a birthday present and she loves it. It's a little dolphin family, Thanks Shannon! She's played with it all evening, even wanted to take it in the tub, but I said NO.

I got the kids these little long johns from the Dollar Store today. Every now and then I get some really good finds and this was one of them. I couldn't find a matching pair in a girly color for Sierra so she ended up with Navy blue, but that way Reece can wear them when he's a little bit bigger, so it worked out. I took some pics of them together in their new Jammies.

This picture is so adorable, I love Reece's squish face. I couldn't get him to cooperate and give his sister a hug, so she had to force him.

Another forced hug, but very sweet results.

Big walking boy, he's so proud of himself.

Can you tell I was tickling them to get real smiles?