Tay @ 9 months

Taytum hit the 9 month mark. She is sitting much better these days and we keep thinking she's going to start crawling any day now. We have thought that for well over a month. She spends the majority of her time on her hands and knees rocking, rocking, rocking. Her knees will get some forward progress every once in a while, but the hands haven't quite figured out what to do.
She is much better at grabbing things and can now feed herself finger foods. It's so nice that she doesn't whine every time I stand up from feeding her and leave her in the high chair because now she can feed herself. She has also just learned how to wave. It's pretty cute.
This poor girl has had two double ear infections within a month of each other. She also just got her first tooth on May 1 (bottom right). So, she's been a bit crabby. Actually, really crabby. We've had a few rough days where nothing will appease her. She's had Tylenol and doesn't want to sleep, eat, be held, or be on the floor. She's on a stronger antibiotic this time around, so we're hoping that does the trick. We can also see that she's cutting a second tooth, which isn't helping matters.

We finally put her in Andi's room this past week and they have been doing great. Andi leaves Tay alone and they both go right to sleep. Taytum has talked a few times in the night, but it hasn't disturbed Andi at all. I love seeing my girls in their room together at night. As Andi would say, "They're da girls!" Just before that we stopped swaddling Tay because she would just get so twisted up in her blanket and it would just make her mad. We discovered all she wanted to do was sleep on her tummy. Don't you just want to nibble on those chubby legs?!

The rest of April...

My girls in their matchy matchy.
That was a particularly warm spring day (not sure where spring went after that) so we had the Corrigan family over for BBQ and let the kids run through the sprinklers:

Pirate Party Numero Dos

Since Jefferson wasn't with us on Carter's actual birthday we decided to throw a little birthday bash at home and invite some of his friends and cousins. Here is my second try at a fondant cake. It is not at all what I had in mind when I started out, but when Carter came down the stairs the morning after I made it and just said, "WOW!" I didn't care so much that it wasn't what I had in mind. He loved it.
When the kids first arrived they made pirate dog tags decorated in pirate stickers. Then we had to complete their pirate ensemble and give them a gold earring and eye patch. Then they just played pirates (and soccer) in the backyard. Whose idea was it to let a bunch of one eyed preschoolers run around together? Why don't we just give them sharp pointy sticks too?

Next we played pin the treasure chest on the map. Anywhere on the map will do. Anywhere in the vicinity of the map will do too. After they hit the target they got their own treasure; gold necklaces and a diamond ring (pop).

Then we had dinner... hot dogs and the works.

Teage & Andi:

Bostyn & Carter:

Ben & Alec:

Bailey & Ryker:

Ty:

Zach:

Cake time:

The present swarming:

A little post party pirateering:

Andi with her cousins and aunt. (yes, that is her aunt Sophie in the middle)

If there is a purse around, Andi will sniff it out! This is Carla... Grandpa Jon's new gal and Andi's new best friend.

Everyone had a swashbuckling good time! Thanks to all our little pirates who came to celebrate!

Sanity Saving.

After a fun filled Easter weekend in Utah, we made the trek to Klamath. My mom rode with me and helped me toss snacks and activities back to the kids. It's a brutal 12 hours, but the kids did AWESOME! They were so good. I looked back at one point to see Carter and Andi sleeping like so:

To say we had an amazing time would be an understatement. It was such a great trip and was life saving; or at least sanity saving. I was in desperate need of some time away from real life and I left feeling rejuvenated and ready to take on reality again.
We did just enough activities to keep the kids busy and entertained, but managed to have enough down time and time to relax. Just a day after we had made it to Klamath, my mom was playing for three choirs over at district choir festival in Medford, which is an hour away. We definitely wanted to head over and spend the day. Taytum was not very happy to be back in her car seat, but she managed to get over that and the hour drive flew by. We were sure glad we made it over when we were greeted by mid 70 degree weather. It was scrumptious! The kids sat so quietly during the performances. They loved listening to the choirs and see Gramzee playing the piano up on stage. (During her first number the piano starting rolling across the stage...) Between choirs we headed outside and let the kids run around in the grass and pick dandelions. Did I mention how yummy the weather was?!

We spent the afternoon shopping and eating and shopping and eating. Yeah, it was nice.
We had to head up to see where Grandpa Paul worked and of course hit up the scrub sale. Funny story: Every morning that my dad wasn't home when we got up, Andi would state, "Grandpa Paul's not here. He's at work." One morning I said, "Yeah, he's gotta bring home the bacon." Well, later that day Andi says, "Grandpa Paul's not here. He's getting.... He's.... getting..... He's getting the bacon." It was super cute to listen to her try to figure out what she was trying to say. And so yes, my dad gets bacon for a living. And we also call Jefferson's adjustments "getting popcorn" because of the sound it makes. So my dad gets bacon and my husband makes popcorn. We're a very food oriented family. I digress. Here we are visiting Grandpa Paul's office:

We went and saw "How to train your dragon." Super cute show. My kids loved it. I was slightly worried that some of the dragons would scare them, but as you can see by the faces, they were unfazed.

My mom, little sister, and I decided to try our hand at fondant. It was really fun and highly satisfying. It was also super sticky and actually much easier to make than we had all anticipated. Easier to make, not easier to make look good...

Not horrible for our first time out:

My sister and BIL moved into a cute new house and hosted a BBQ while we were in town. Ben, Sharon and their boys drove down for the weekend and were able to make it just in time. This is the best pic I could get of the kids. What can I say, they were too busy enjoying the delicious food to pose for the camera.

Isn't my mom gorgeous? I love this picture.

My kids also got to experience their first real trip to a bowling alley. No more of this fake Wii stuff. Carter thought he had died and gone to heaven. While all the other kids petered out after a few frames, Carter filled in for whoever wasn't up for their round. After the kids game was over on one lane, he hopped on over to the adult lane and finished up a few frames for the rest of us. In heaven. Even though it was a Saturday morning, the alley turned on their "cosmic bowl" with the black lights and music. While the kids were waiting for their turn they danced around.

I also have to add an honorable mention for our McDonalds Meltdown. It won't be near as funny for anyone else to read, but I just have to remember, because it was seriously quite the sight. We had gone to McDonalds for lunch one day to let the kids release their wiggles. It all started when Carter was up in the middle of the playplace crying hysterically. I thought that maybe he had lost a limb or an eyeball or something; which would have been less than surprising seeing the caliber of kids that surrounded him. Anyways, I yell up to him to see what's wrong and he just sobs out, "I want Andi to play with me!" Really? That's it? Anyways, he finally comes down to where Andi is sitting and asks her so sweetly, "Andi, will you please come play with me?" I lean over the table and go to say, "Carter, thank you for asking Andi...." When mid sentence Carter pulls Andi right off her seat and splays her out on the floor. Andi starts bawling. I grab Carter and set him onto a seat for a little time out, so he starts bawling and yelling that he wants to be nice. That's it... time to go. I tell Andi to go grab her shoes and put them on. She walks over and gets her shoes and then lays down on the floor, flopping around, crying and screaming that she doesn't want to go. I try to put her shoes on and she just kicks and flops some more. Carter is still sitting on his chair sobbing. In the meantime, my parents are loading up all of our garbage onto a tray and a bag tips over with open cups of ketchup that spill all over my mom's white pants. She cleans up as best she can and we head out the door. Andi won't come so we just walk out the door to the main dining room where she finally comes screaming after us. I grab one hand of both my kids and seriously start laughing so hard, we're talking tears down the cheeks laughing, and just walk them out to the car. My mom was just behind us and overheard one of the workers say, "What else could she do, but laugh?" You may have had to be there.

Every evening was games and delicious treats. My mom cooked tons of divine meals: lobster mac and cheese, a new pot roast recipe (in her beautiful new pots), home made spaghetti noodles with homemade sauce, oatmeal crispies.... We were spoiled rotten and were quite tempted to stay firmly planted in their basement. If only we could have convinced Jefferson to come on over, we would be there still.

I cannot thank you mom and dad enough for the perfect trip! Sanity saving.