Visit with Cousin Ryan!

While we were in California earlier this year Michael made a new best friend with his cousin Ryan. They are about 2 years apart in age but they play great together! They chased each other around the living room for a good 15 minutes without stopping, they played in my mom's backyard in the pool together, taking turns running and jumping in and going down the slide. Adam, not to be left out lifted both kids up and would spin round and round while both kids laughed and screamed their heads off! So fun! Ryan was even nice enough to let Michael ride his bike for a couple minutes. Before we left my mom's house I had taken Michael outside to the car and Ryan came running out saying that he wanted to say goodbye to Michael. When they caught sight of each other they ran straight at each other and had a big hug and waved "bye bye". I wish we lived closer but I'm so glad they had so much fun!

Riding Ryan's bike

Playing in the pool
Getting ready to spin

The running splash!

Getting ready to jump back out and do it again!

Uncle Brandon

Brandon got home from his mission last November and it didn't take long for him to become best buds with Michael. After Emma was born Brandon clearly fell in love with her (who wouldn't!?!) and he has been just wonderful with them both. He is heading out of State to college soon and we will miss him terribly and look forward to visits! We are very proud of him and wish him luck on his new adventure! Love ya bro!

Splash Pad Fun: Part 2

The other day Michael and I were telling Adam how much fun the splash pad is! Adam decided he wanted to come and spend a family afternoon at the splash pad after work one day. Michael was so excited to show his daddy how everything worked and all the fun stuff! Adam and I didn't plan on getting wet but we both ended up getting involved in a little water fight fun between the three of us while Emma looked on and laughed at us. So we both got soaked to the bone right before we all went grocery shopping. We were quite the sight! haha!

Michael swimming!

Michael made another accomplishment during swim lessons on Monday. The teacher puts these pool rings on the steps under water and has the kids dive to pick them up off the steps. Well on Monday his teacher put the ring all the way at the bottom of the pool and Michael dove down, grabbed the ring, and pushed his feet back up! I couldn't believe how great he did! He swallowed a little water but did great. He normally does great with his "airplane", where he lays on his back and floats for 10 seconds by himself. He is a pro at it really, but whenever he figures out he is being filmed he won't do it right. So anyways, check out the video! We were so excited! Also at the end of each lesson he gets time to float on a noodle. He loves it! He just grabs onto the noodle and floats all on his own. He thinks its great and of course can't stop talking about it all the way home. :-)

Emma Standing!

If anyone has been around Emma for any period of time they know that she is not a fan of laying down. She wants to be sitting up, or standing up. She has incredibly strong legs and can get herself pretty much whereever she wants to go during tummy time. I can never keep her in the same place. Today I was standing her up next to her jungle gym so she could play with the leafs like she enjoys and she grabbed onto a bar on either side of herself and was holding herself there all on her own! It was incredible! We were so proud of her and blown away! She was obviously very proud of herself as well. Michael also clapped cause I'm sure at some point or another he is the one who taught her to do it. He seems to teach her everything these days. :-) They are two peas in a pod!

Backyard Buddies!

For the past few weeks Adam has been getting our backyard prepared to plant grass. His goal is to have it done before Michael's birthday party, and so far he is right on track! He has been working so hard digging ditches, putting in sprinkler lines, getting electricians out to run lines to the backyard, and putting everything back together again to put the grass on top. We have had help from Adam's dad and brother, which we are very grateful for! However, I think Adam would agree that his biggest helper is little Michael. Michael so looks forward to his daddy coming home so they can head out to the backyard, just the two of them, with Michael's little yellow shovel and help daddy dig. He follows his daddy around and tries to do everything exactly the way his daddy does. It's so adorable to watch!!! I had to capture a few photos.

Splash Pad Fun!

Every Tuesday we have a play group that meets at the community splash pad. This past Tuesday had been really windy so Michael and Emma were the only two there. We didn't let that stop us from having fun! Emma rolled around on her blanket with some toys and watched her brother. Michael ran around through the water and then went exploring! He took his shovel and a large stick he found and he would go to one side of the splash pad, dig up the biggest rock he could find and run it back over to me. Each time we did a big show "Oh wow! That's the best rock I've ever seen! You're incredible!!! You must have worked so hard on that! Great job!" So he kept going back and would run back over to me with the biggest smile on his face to show me the next rock he had found. It was a fun morning! We all had trouble leaving. But lucky for us....we can do it again next week! :-)

Checking out the lay of the land

Getting wet

Searching for rocks

Smiling watching her brother

Running to me with the next rock he has found Smiling as he sets the newest rock down into his pile.

The rock stash and the stick used for digging

Visiting Papa

Awhile ago my grandpa was put into the hospital for an infection. He has since been moved to a rehab center to help him gain strength in his legs and arms so he can get around better. He is a great facility that Adam and I tease and say we would love to live there! It's truly like a resort! But of course Papa is sad and wants to be home with his family. We try to visit him as often as we can. Taking his only great grandbabies in for a visit lights up his world! Of course our two little ones tend to please the entire crowd of people as they gather for meals. Michael is a huge ham and just runs around making indian noises and Emma smiles at everyone as if they were her best friend.

Emma's Crib!

Emma has been sleeping in her crib for about a month now, but recently my mom finished her bedding. My mom and I picked out all the material we wanted to use for her bedding and bumper. I cut the squares and my mom quilted everything together. It turned out just beautiful! Tonight was her first night in the crib with her new bedding and she seems to really love it. Great job mom! Thank you!I know it was a true labor of love. :-)

We will soon have more photo's of Michael since his birthday is just weeks away! :-)

Emma is growing so fast!

Emma is already over 4 months old! I can't believe how fast time is flying! Michael and Emma are opposites, and yet they both love each other so much. Emma is very laid back and smiles constantly! We rarely ever hear her cry. She rolls all over the place and scoots backwards and army crawls forwards. She is constantly moving! I put her on her little quilted blanket in the front room while I change Michael's diaper and before I know it, she's off the blanket and halfway across the room trying to get to where we are. I look down at her and there she is smiling up at me with that knowing smile. :-) She is also a typical girl. She is already talking constantly. She will just go on and on and giggle and smile. It's the most adorable thing to sit and listen to all of her coo's and wonder what in the world she could be talking about. She is precious and we are enjoying every second of her! She will smile at anyone, but the person that gets her to laugh most often, simply by being in the same room, is her big brother Michael. He just has to look in her direction and she busts up laughing. I love the bond the two of them share. He wants to show her everything and teach her everything. He always makes sure that we don't leave without her. Too cute! How blessed we are to have such a beautiful loving family. I am so grateful that my kids have each other so close in age. They will be able to hold on to that for the rest of their lives and lean on each other. Sure there will be a period of time when they hate each other, but that will pass. :-)

Trip to the Lake!

Adam has been complaining that he hadn't gone to the lake much this year and when he does go, how much he misses his kids. Larry had been telling me how he hadn't gone to the lake much this year either so I put two and two together and we planned an outing. It wasn't Michael's first time to the lake, but he didn't remember the times before because he was so little. This was Emma's first time though. They both had SO much fun! Michael did not want to leave. We had to pull him out of the water with promises of coming back again soon. This morning when he woke up all he could talk about was the lake and telling me that he wanted to go back to the 'wa wa'.
:-)

Visiting Cousins!

The other morning my wonderful mother in law called me while I was out for a walk with the kids. She said that some of our cousins were in town and staying with her for the night. So we rushed home, took our showers and baths and headed over for a visit. It was so much fun to visit with Kami, Stephanie, Brie and Kami's newest little one, Bella. Bella and Emma are just 4 days apart in age, but you wouldn't know it by looking at them. Bella was in the 9 pound range when born (Bless you Kami!) and Emma was just barely 7 pounds. They were so adorable together though! Michael was having a blast showing off for his cousins. We had a great time visiting with them and hope they will visit again soon!

Swimming Champ!

Michael has been taking swimming lessons for a couple of months now. He is doing great! He loves his teacher and the water. He looks forward to going every week and showing off what he has learned whenever he is in the water (even the bathtub). He has recently passed his first level of swimming! To do that he has to be able to float on his back for 10 seconds, use his hands to shimmy on the side of the wall over to the step, go under water holding his breath, and blow bubbles. He did it! I was SO proud of him that I teared up like a baby. To celebrate, first they let him go ring a bell in the swimming area and the manager comes in and says "Can I have every ones attention, Michael has just passed level 1 swimming lets give him a HIP HIP" and then everyone in the room yells "Hooray!" and cheers for him. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on but he loved ringing the bell and the guy had a hard time getting him to let go and get back in the water. haha The second part, is after I get him dressed we go to the front and they play the Olympic song while he stands on a podium and is presented with a ribbon while everyone cheers. It was great! He was totally confused as to what was going on but I was still beyond proud of my little man. :-)

Beautiful and growing

Our little girl is growing like a weed. She had grown out of several of her 3 month outfits already. She is just barely 3 months old! She is beautiful! She coo's and giggles all the time. She smiles at anyone that will give her a smile. She is sitting up almost by herself. She hates laying down. She is very curious and wants to be up and looking around all the time. She is usually perfectly content as long as she isn't alone. She wants to be with the crowd and fights sleep so that she won't miss any of the action. Michael and her get along great! He can always make her smile and he loves to help take care of her. The only problem is that he wants her to be able to run and play with him. He never leaves her behind. If he goes outside to play he won't step foot outside until I agree to take 'sister' with us. Even when he sits up at the dinner table he has to have his sister in her Bumbo chair right next to him. It's adorable! :-)

Michael's First Black Eye

A couple weeks ago I was taking the kids to Cabela's sporting good store. It's a great place to take the kids cause they have a huge mountain in the center of the store with running water and a bunch of mounted animals all over the mountain and walls to make it look like real life. They have every animal you can think of! Elk, deer, bear, mountain lion, eagle, elephant, wolf, moose, etc. Michael LOVES it! They also have a huge fish tank with fish, sea turtles, and even mini sharks. So anyways, I was taking the kids for a trip to Cabela's. I got Michael out of the car and had him walk to the other side of the car with me so we could get Emma out. Michael saw his sippy cup on the floor of the car under Emma's seat so he reached in to grab it, tripped over my foot, and slammed his eye in the bottom part of the car. He cried for a fraction of a second until he saw the statue of the elk out front of the store. I thought everything was fine because he didn't make a big deal of it. While we were walking through the store he said "mama mama!" so he could show me the eagle he had spotted. He turned around and I saw it...... his eye was black and blue, swollen, and practically shut. I went and found a store clerk and asked for a bag of ice. They were nice enough to give me ice and a towel for it. He wanted to eat the ice more than hold it on his face but we got the swelling down and it was black and blue for probably 2 weeks. We couldn't get really good pictures of it but we got a few.