Dishwasher

Ian loves the dishwasher. Anytime he sees it open he makes a beeline for it. Sometimes I indulge him a little, but this morning he only wanted to take everything out at a rapid pace, which was frustrating because I was trying to put dirty dishes in. So I barricaded him in the living room with a box of diapers, a plastic tote, and a large basket of laundry. Usually this approach works and he just stands there voicing his displeasure, but today he felt a little more motivated and climbed over a basket of diapers and the box of diapers and the small tote all in one go. He then put his crawling into overdrive and just to spite me dumped out the fresh dish of cat water all over the floor and then proceeded to pull things out of the dishwasher all while yelling at me baby gibberish that I'm sure translate into obscenities of some sort.

So Long Summer

Summer has always been fleeting. And this summer was no exception. We had an eventful summer but it came and went too quickly.

I survived my summer classes, barely. One thing I learned, I am Not a technical writer. I took a tech comm class and really struggled to keep out all my "loaded language" as Michael referred to it. But lucky for me Mike graduated with a technical communications certificate, so I had my own personal tutor. And he was Fabulous.
Other classes I took were a Coun 494 workshop and Engl 401, advanced nonfiction writing. I enjoyed them all and earned straight A's. I was really proud not only of my grades but that me and the kids and the house all survived 8 weeks of craziness.

Ian is 9 months and still growing like crazy. Some days when I see my kids after they get I up swear that they grew over night. It's a little bittersweet. I love seeing them grow and become their own person but I get a little sad. I enjoy my babies.
Sorry for the sidetrack...
Ian is cruising along the furniture. I am sure it is only a matter of time before he is brave enough to take off walking. He is the happiest little boy. He rarely cries and loves to play. He truly adores his big sister and gets giddy with excitement when he sees her.
Abby is 4. We celebrated her birthday at Lake Lowell with family this year and had a fun time. We barbecued and let the kids swim and play. Abby was pretty stoked to turn 4. She is a beautiful little girl. I'm not sending her to preschool this year because to be quite honest it costs a LOT of money. So I am going to do it at home with her. Which will be interesting...

We went to 2 family reunions this summer, both my mother and father-in-laws' families and had a fun time. We also spent a week in Wyoming visiting Mike's sister's family and had a lot of fun.
My mom is recovering from her illness and we are so grateful she is feeling better. She really gave us a scare. I am grateful for blessings and amazing doctors.

I start school tomorrow and am kind of nervous. I was going to take 9 credits but I dropped one due to the books required for the course and the inevitable arrogant comments that would arise due to the contents of the books. I don't know if I have the patience for it right now.
I am getting close to finishing my degree, it will take a while though since I am going part time.
Mike wants to go get his Master's of Fine Arts after I am done but unless he gets into BSU's program it will probably be a while since the housing market is still crappy.

We are all doing well and staying busy. And for now we say so long to summer. I know Abby will miss the hot days and the slip n' slide in the backyard, the free movies at the theater, and free lunches at the park. Hopefully we can slide a little more summer fun in Labor Day weekend...

We've been a bit busy...

So life has been a bit hectic around here. Mike's hours got bumped up at work since he is done with school and so we are getting used to him actually having a real job that requires full-time hours. But we are so happy he is working there and he seems to enjoy the job and the people he works with. I have started taking summer classes and they require a lot of work. They are only 8 week classes so we are cramming a whole semester's worth of work into only 2 months.
Drum roll please........

Ian is crawling. Yes hes started crawling everywhere! And he loves it. It forces me to keep EVERYTHING up and the floors really clean, which is hard with Abby sometimes but we are surviving. Let's just hope he doesn't figure out how to walk for a while because we all know walking leads to climbing and I would prefer to keep my sanity for a little while longer.

Ocean

This is the view from the house that we rented. It was beautiful and we all loved it there. We had a great time even though we had a few snafus. The stairs in the house were a bit treacherous and as I was running down the stairs to help get our luggage I slipped and landed on the inside of my arch. Needless to say I screwed up my foot and had to ace bandage it and walk on crutches for a few days. It made it really difficult to walk on the beach but don't worry, I got down there and built a sandcastle with Abby. It did rain and even hailed on and off even though it really wasn't too cold. One night we braved the wind and tried to enjoy the hot tub but the wind was so cold it blew the mist off the hot tub and sprayed tiny bits of ice mist in our faces. But it was fun. Thursday we said so long to the beach and went to visit my friend Sarah and her family. We had a great time playing games and hanging out. Too bad they don't live closer.

Me and my kiddos on our last day at the beach.

We went to Tillamook!


Abby thought this was funny.

Us.

Graduation!!!!

After a lot of hard work Michael graduated today with his bachelor's in English emphasis in writing. We are all so proud of him.
He plans to continue working on his writing and he hopes to eventually obtain his MFA.

The Zoo! and other news...

We went to the zoo yesterday. It was such a beautiful day. Mike turned in his vary last paper and is completely done with his undergrad career. Then we had a picnic in the park. Mike thought it would be fun to feed the birds, but then the geese thought they deserved a few grapes too and came over demanding to be fed. Mike tried to scare them off but one hissed at him and raised it wings. They are not very friendly. I forgot the memory card for the camera, so I only got a few pictures on my phone...

The Zoo was a lot of fun. Abby loved seeing all of the different animals. Her favorite was the goats! Plain old goats :) She got to feed them and some sheep. Ian stayed awake the whole time looking around at everything. As a result, they were both very tired last night.

Ian turned 6 months last week and is growing like crazy. He is 19.55 lbs and just over 28" tall. He loves to eat and play. He is a happy baby and such a joy in our lives.

After a year hiatus, I am returning to school. I start Monday with 3 online classes this summer and then 2 regular classes next fall. I really want to accomplish this but I am going to stay part time so I can still be a mom and not be too stressed.

Tomorrow is a BIG day for us... I will share more about it after it happens!

Almost there...

Ian is on the verge of crawling. I know I shouldn't really want this to happen, but he will be so much happier when he can finally reach the toy and/or other inanimate object he wants. And that's what really matters!
He gets up on his tippy toes and precedes to do push ups into downward facing dog. He is one strong baby. He will be 6 months soon and has been sleeping through the night (most of the time).

Flying on Unicorns

Today Abby and Ian went to visit Grandma while I went to see my advisor at BSU. On the way we had a wonderful discussion about unicorns:

Abby: Mom, I want to ride a horse. Have you ever ride a horse?
Me: No, I've never ridden a horse.
Abby: Have you ever fly on a horse?
Me: Horses don't fly Abby.
Abby: Oh what about the ones with the horns on their heads?
Me: Unicorns?
Abby: Yeah Unicorns. Have you ever flied on a Unicorn?
Me: No I haven't ever flown on a unicorn.
Abby: We should go to the farm and fly on unicorns.
Me: Unicorns don't live on farms.
Abby: Where do they live?
Me: In the magical woods.
Abby: Oh... I want to ride a horse. I need some big black boots so I can ride on a horse.

Looks like we need to find a pony ride this summer :)

In other news today, Abby was supposed to be taking a nap at Grandma's and instead came out with bangs! Good thing her hair was in a braid. Who knows how much she would have cut off!

On the way home we then had a wonderful conversation about farms. Abby really wants to visit one and pet the horses, cows, and the pigs (including the blue ones, pink ones, and rainbow colored ones)!

Good Buddies

They really do adore each other.

Two beautiful kiddos!

Mmmmmm!

Ian turned 5 months last week and we celebrated by giving him squash. Yummy!
He loved it. He has since tried sweet potatoes but doesn't like them as much.

Easter and General Conference

I love it when General Conference lands on Easter. A match made in Heaven. Eating jelly beans and chocolate while watching conference in your sweat pants, whats better than that? Abby came in at about 8/8:30 in the morning with chocolate on her face and a piece of candy in her hand. She was all excited there was candy in her room and around the house! The Easter Bunny was generous this year and even regifted a few toys that were never opened and forgotten about :)
We watched General Conference all weekend and enjoyed several of the talks given. We love to listen to the Prophet and other Church leaders teach us and inspire us to be better and more like our Savior.
Sunday we went over to my mom's and spent time with her and my brother and sister. We had a DELICIOUS dinner. And fabulous Angel food cake with berries and Key lime pie for dessert. So good!
We spent the weekend before celebrating Easter with the Cluff clan and attended one of our nephew's Baptism. Great weekend.
Next year though we will severely limit the amount of candy brought by the bunny. Abby has been sneaking it and when she gets caught she shoves whatever is unwrapped in her mouth then chews and swallows it as quickly as possible. She is so stubborn.

Ian the roller baby

Ian turns 5 months tomorrow. Can't believe it? Neither can I. He now rolls all over, although he often gets frustrated because he gets up on his tummy and then tries to (you guessed it) put his knees under himself. While I am somewhat dreading his mobility he will be so much happier when he can move himself around without all the rolling effort. He is a big baby, almost 20 lbs and he wears 9 month clothing (at least).
He is a happy little man who has recently decided to show even more love to his parents by sleeping 11 hrs at night. Yep it has happened 3 times! So happy!

Little Artist gone wild!

Give Abby a crayon and a new drawing appears. Unfortunately they always end up on non paper items. The wall, an outdoor ball, her bathroom vanity! Her new drawing is a dinosaur on the wall next to her bed. And it is big. The Dinosaur comes complete with spines down his back, lots of sharp teeth and many legs. While I love her creativity and ingenious method of sticking small drawings (on paper) to the wall with spit, all of her art supplies have been confiscated.
She has no remorse for drawing on things and even told me once as she shrugged her shoulders that "oh well, its done. Its ok". Her logic which is (I hate to say it) pretty sound frustrates me and also makes me kinda proud. She is a really smart kid.

Hurray!!!

We are feeling very blessed today. Michael has finally landed a full-time job that works with his school schedule. We are very excited. He is a teller at Wells Fargo. They consider you full-time at 30 hrs a week and we will be eligible for benefits in May.
It has been a long time since he has worked full-time. (The economy has not been kind) He starts his training on Friday the 19th. Yay!

In other news, Ian is now rolling all over the floor both directions from front to back and back to front. It keeps him entertained longer and uses up all that energy he has!

4 months old

Ian turned 4 months old a few days ago. He is super happy baby and although he came as a surprise to us he is a wonderful blessing in our home. Abby and him are good buddies and get along great. He is 16 lbs and 13 oz. And is already 26 1/2" tall. He is a big baby! Michael is a very proud daddy and will go on and on about how Ian is rolling over from his tummy to his back, how strong he is, and show you how he laughs when you throw him in the air (he's got a proud mommy too!). He really is a good baby.

New Blog

So we started a blog where we can brag on and on about our wonderful kids and keep everyone up to date on the awesomeness of our lives.