Busy Little Bees

Natalie started cereal. Brenden took this picture of her first few bites. She wasn't sure what to do with it at first or even if she liked it. Now I hear nothing but screaming until I give it to her at night and she eats it quickly. Of course now she reaches for all of my food so holding her and eating is out.


Does this count? She stayed up long enough for me to grab the camera AND take about five shots. I think it counts.

This past Saturday we had another Ward Temple Trip. This time after it was over we stopped by and saw Ken, Michelle and Tressa. It was FUN to see family.
What to do with a pile of leaves Grandpa just made?
HAVE FUN!!!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Trevor!!

Natalie's 4 (and a half) Month Stats

11 lbs 14 oz
24 inches

After a quick (haha) doctor's visit I took Natalie back to the NICU and we said hello to a few people. It was fun to see everyone and talk to them again. They loved seeing and holding Natalie.

(This picture was taken a few weeks ago when she was happy. Since her doctor's visit she's been cranky. Four shots will do that to a girl.)

Favorite Sunday Quote

After conference a few people posted their favorite sayings. Today I'd like to add one our 1st counselor said in a talk today.

"In our house scripture reading is a howling success. Sometimes there is more howling than success."

His children are about my children's ages. I can totally relate.

Tales Legends are Made Of

Or at least great family stories.

The boys had Thursday and Friday off school so Jeff took vacation and we headed down to southern Indiana to do some camping. We planned this back in April and it's all the kids were talking about. So even though it was raining when we left and forecasted to rain until Friday we still set off.

We managed to get the tent up and the sleeping bags in while the rain was stopped. We ate dinner in the rain. Roasted marshmellows in the rain. Walked around in the rain. We were wet and Anna went through every pair of socks I brought for her on Thursday.

The hard rain hit when everyone but Jeff was in the tent. He ran around putting everything back in the van and making hot chocolate. We had hot chocolate in the tent and told the kids it was time for bed.

Now what could make this situation worse? A LEAKY tent. Yes, that's right. We spent the night in a leaky tent. In 37*. The kids were cold in the morning so we ate breakfast in the van with the heat on. We ate lunch in the van. Then....


Around noon the sun came out so we decided to attempt a hike. It was a rugged trail so we put Anna in the backpack. We practically had to bribe her in, then she cried and refused to walk when we were done and took her out.

The trail was certainly rugged. It's a good thing both Jeff and I are working out.


A beautiful waterfall we saw. All the rain made for fast rapids.



Brenden and Jeremy ran all over the trail. You'd never guess it was rugged watching them.


Anna enjoyed her perch once she figured out she had it made.

One of the many uphill parts of the hike. Going down was a fun expereince.
The working mill. We finally saw it working when we returned from the hike.
The colors were vivid and bright. We did the hike to get to a cave only to arrive and discover that all you could do was look at the entrance. You couldn't go in. Jeremy and Brenden climbed around the fence and told us to follow them. We called them back. Water was rushing out of the mouth of the cave.

The boys tried stilt walking, those pictures wouldn't post. Brenden got pretty good, Jeff must have done it in the past. Jeremy finally got the hang of it at the end. It was a fun trip. I'm glad we went, but if it's ever raining again when we leave I think we'll just stay home.

The Best Form of Flattery...

A little of Betsy's idea gave me this idea. Jeff fell in love with it. I do believe one will be put on the wall. The question is which one. The originals are the third and second to last pictures on the post below.

3 Yr Pics

I'm considering these the first attempt. We were at the park for two hours taking pictures. By the time it was her turn, the sun was down a bit and she was cold.
To make it more fun somewhere along the way she lost one of her ribbons. I'm considering that a lost cause.

This one is my favorite, but I'm not sure I want it on the wall.

ATTENTION ALL MOTHERS!!!

My friend found this and emailed it to me. Click on it so that you can read it. I think it's great. Remember to look at the date on the top.

Brenden Picked a Peck of Yummy Apples

Brenden's preschool class went to Anderson's Apple Orchard today. The day dawned sunny and bright... Brenden climbed a tree - signs were posted NOT to climb trees. He was in it before I realized what he was doing so I took the picture and then made him climb down. The little monkey went up higher before he complied.

Did I mentioned that even with the sun it was 30* outside? Natalie went with us - she's in there somewhere... Anna had preschool herself so she wasn't with us.
What she looks like underneath everything I put her in. I believe she was the WARMEST one there.
Brenden got cold (surprise!) and hung out in the van at the end. Since we had our own mode of transportation with us (Natalie couldn't ride on the bus) and every child had to have an adult we left a little early.
Unlike the last orchard field trip with Jeremy who was allowed to pick 1 apple, Brenden picked two bags (1 peck) of apples. Enough for apple pie, apple sauce(?), apples to eat and whatever else I can think to do with apples. I wish I had paid for three bags. (I paid the same amount for Jeremy to pick 1 apple at Beasley's as I did for Brenden to pick one bag (1/2 peck) of apples at Anderson's.)

I'm not ready for this!

Tonight when I put Natalie down on her tummy she dug in with her knees. While she wasn't moving forward she was managing to scoot herself in a circle. Then her foot pushed against mine and forward she went - happy as a lark.

When she was as forward as she could get I moved my foot so that she could push off of it again. She moved about a foot forward before she was exhausted and put her head down.

She was so proud of herself, smiling and babbling the whole time. I can't imagine her moving yet!

Four Funerals & a Baby

That is unfortunately how I will remember this year. This year we have been to more funerals than we have in the past four years.

Jan - Traci's Great Aunt (dad's aunt)
Mar - Jeff's Great Aunt (mom's aunt)
July - Jeff's Uncle (dad's brother)
Oct - Jeff's Grandma (mom's mom)

June 9 - Natalie born

Please no more funerals for awhile. I don't know that this family can take anymore hits. Jeff's dad was diagnosed with two different, unrelated cancers this year and has had multiple surgeries and procedures on top of all of the other illnesses and deaths we have dealt with. This year has been rough.

Roll over, roll over...

...so they all rolled over and one fell out...




Sorry about the quality. Our video camera is so old that we can't connect it to a computer so we used Jeff's Motorola Q to take this shot. Then we realized that my very nice still camera takes video - we've just never done it. I'll play with it and see if the quality is better.

Enjoy Grandma Mary!

Hungry?

Natalie enjoys eating her hands. How about you??







Just trying a different way to post pics. Blogger is driving me crazy so I'm giving dropshots a try. If this works I'll try some video.