Gage's Birthday

I can hardly believe that Gage is already a year. Was it really a year ago that he was just so new? It only takes a few days to feel like you have known them forever, and that life is hard to imagine without them. Time has sailed on. Time sometimes goes by in such a hurry, that it becomes a blur to me. That is one reason why I love pictures. It helps me to remember. Looking at pictures of my kids and Steve really brings me joy. In a year's time, my baby boy has grown up. It is so true that babies don't stay babies long. Rock them while you can!

He can walk and talk.
He can make a kissing noise and blow kisses. He likes to play peek a boo.
He says "Thank you" and "Love you" (they sound the same). He says "mama" and "dada" and occasionally it sounds like he is saying "Zac". He is repeating more and more things.
He is a great eater and has been from early on. He is still nursing. It's my thing that I do to compensate for being away some days at work. It's my time with him, and we both love it.
Anyway, he is trying to keep up with Trevor and is adored by Jenna and Zac who are always good  to him.  He loves his mommy and his daddy. He is always happy to see us.
He kind of growls at the dog in a playful way.
He is a magnet to the stairs.
He loves to play with his daddy.
He loves the park, esp the swing.
He loves french fries and almost any fruit, especially raspberries and grapes.
He is now forward facing in his car seat. He looks so big and has become more demanding now that he can see me.
He is at least 23 pounds and has at least 8 teeth... which reminds me, he needs a well visit!

"St Fun"

When we lived in Indiana, Steve's family flew to Florida, and we drove and met them in Destin. It was a great time. We talked last year about going back, or as a more realistic alternative, going to Disney this fall and renting a house. Well the year passed, and there were not enough funds for Destin, Disney or a beach house. But, we still wanted to get together. In fact, Steve considered having a reunion shirt made that said, "We couldn't afford Destin, so we came here" or something that that effect. We did get together, and with Christian's connections, rented a sweet house that was way underpriced and had a great time in Sunny Southern Utah.
The house had a grill, a pool, a basketball court, enough comfortable beds for all, big tvs, and lots of fun extras, like a park across the street, castle and princess beds to play on and sleep in, and a fusbol table to boot. It was very nice.  We were there Sunday night thru Thursday morning. We had 3 full days, and we were all assigned a day or some portion of the day to plan.
 Sunday: Jenna and Zac rode with Lissa and Christian. Kevin, Anna and Hayk rode with the rest of us in the van. We caravaned down with Lissa and Christian and Jeff. The vehicles were loaded, and we left Orem around 3pm. We arrived about 7pm. We ordered pizza when we got there and cranked up the cooler because it was hot in St George.
Monday: We played catch, some kick ball and had Carne asade meat that Christian made for lunch- that happens to be one of my favorite things ever to eat. We also swam. I even was able to lay out for a time and read! Amazing, I know!

Uncle Kevin. Who, btw, has a wicked can opener!

BFF

Daddy + kids= throwing!

That night, we had an Iron Chef. That was really a fun activity. Liss and Christian, Kevin and Anna, and Steve and I were the teams. We had 2 chicken breasts and 10 dollars to buy ingredients to prepare two meals for our 3 judges. We had 1.5 hours to shop and 1.5 hours to prepare. The $10 was a challenge and although it was initially annoying, it ended up making it more fun. We had to be creative and frugal. The meals were all unique from one another and very good. Christian and Lissa won and rightfully some. Mamita gave them the recipe to a soup and an other pasta dish t hat I loved. I still need to get the recipe. Anna and Kevin's food looked good too. Steve and I had fun and presented food that really was food that we like and eat. Tex/Mex and Italian. The judges (Scot, Julene, and Jeff) were fun and generous. The kids were somewhere during all of this. Occasionally crying, but safe and fending for themselves. Somehow those 6  chicken breast seemed to feed us all. 

Tuesday, we went to the park across the street and played. The kids had fun. The big guys played some kickball. We also played with some waterballons.We had delicious sandwiches for lunch on french bread and the kids swam a lot. Liss also had a fun painting craft for the kids.
Lissa and Anna and I went to Target that night and had some respite from the chaos and spent a little fun money. Book #3 of the Hunger Games. 

Kick ball

Bubbles!

"here kitty kitty!"

Lissa's sponge painting fun!

Wednesday, we went to a public park with a splash pad. We have been here years ago. It is an awesome park! It was nearly the last day that the water would be on. It was hot enough that the kids played in it and had a great time. There was also a sand volleyball court the kids played in. There was the awesome playground equipment too. Somehow Gage slept. We threw the Frisbee and played a little 3 man kickball. It was fun. We could have stayed there a while, but hunger got the best of us.

Brandon and Steve throwing football

We headed home, ate and swam. That night we went to the Cracker Barrel. The food was sooo good. The kids as a whole did awesome. It was a good time! That night I stayed up late, reading.

 Thursday morning it was time to clean and pack. We loaded up and headed home. Jeff still beat us to Orem, despite a flat tire as he was pulling away. The kids were over tired, and it was sure a long drive home. But we made it. The kids had a great time with the cousins! Jenna said, "It's not St George. It's Saint Fun!" So funny.

2 peas in a pod. Love them. Trev and Kaiden

Dry cereal and Tangled- aren't they cute? 9 of them 8 and under!

 Left to Right: Zac, Gage, Reagan, Trevor, Jenna, Roman, Hyak, Kaiden and Christian.

 Thanks to Liss for the pictures. I was careful to pack my camera, but did not bring the battery. Ugg.

"That's not my cat!" by Eric Carle

A few weeks ago Trevor became somewhat obsessed over this book. He just loves it. .

 Trev is 2 years and 6 months old.

School Carnival

School is now into full swing. Things are settling into a routine. I am no longer lost with just the 2 little ones at home. I got used to that real fast and enjoy the time with them in the mornings and early afternoon.
When the kids come home at 2:50, they like to veg for about a half an hour, then it's on to chores and homework. After that, it's time for dinner, and the night time routine. There are often break downs from fatigue and a long day. I keep thinking we need to get the kids enrolled in something...girl scouts, tumbling, art, swimming, karate...something...but when is there time, energy, or patience?
 Oh well, we'll figure it out.

Last week was the school PTA carnival. The kids were so excited. They scraped up money, and were happy to spend it on games, treats and popcorn. We could only stay a while before my childbirth class, but they had fun.

And he's off....

Gage started walking last weekend. Now it seems to be his preferred mode of transportation. Oh, they grow up so fast. He will be 1 year old next month! Yeah Gage!

He is getting the stairs... going up...but is pretty chicken to go down. Don't his legs look long? 

Now, that is a cute bum!

Happy Birthday Zac

Zac's Birthday is Aug 29th. He went with Steve hunting over the weekend, and then his birthday was Monday. I was so pleased that I was off. While he was at school, the little guys and I went and got a few things for Zac. Zac is not particularly hard to please. He is pretty grateful and excited about any gifts, but I still wasn't sure what to get him. He likes baseball and camping. He likes guns and video games, but he isn't way into any one thing. He doesn't have a favorite toy, a favorite movie or a favorite game really. When mom came to visit in July she brought puppets, and he was surprisingly into his monkey. So, I thought that I would get him a pirate puppet. I asked Jenna what she wanted to get him, and she said a "treasure map" because they like to pretend they are hunting treasures together. So that is what he got: a laminated map that cannot be ruined barring scissors, a puppet and a night out- Bowling and dinner with Lobsters.
 I hope that he had fun. I think that he did.

We had been talking about going to Fat Cats bowling for his birthday for a little while. I debated on taking some of his little boy friends, but he really doesn't have many yet. So I thought we would just take him and Jenna. I was unable to pin down a sitter, so when I tried to talk him out of it because I didn't want to take the whole crew, he protested, saying "can't we all just go as a family? You can hold Gagey, and Daddy can help Trevor." So, "of course we can go, Bud!" was the response to that commercial. We met Steve at Fat Cats in Provo. We were just about the only ones in there at first. The kids did great, really. Once the 1 game was over, we all had enough. The timing was perfect- Near meltdown, but still holding onto smiles. It was fun. I was the best bowler, but Steve won, no surprise. He pulled ahead at the end to win. (I still think it would be fun to be on a bowling league with some friends.)
Anyway, after that, we let Zac choose where we would eat. He debated between Olive Garden and Red Lobster! What can I say, he has good taste! He knew that this occasion was better than McDonald's or Betos, even Chuck-a-Rama. He couldn't resist the idea of shrimp, and so we splurged and went to Red Lobster. It was not Florida quality seafood, but it was good. The kids were really pretty good minus occasional outbursts and belching. Plus, the service was nice, and they were good to the birthday boy.

After dinner, we came home to blow out candles before bed and promised cake for breakfast (oh what's the difference between that and a donut?). It was too late and we were too full for cake and icecream after dinner. I had the kids close their eyes while I got set up to have a "special visitor" sing Happy Birthday. He loved the puppet! Yay!

Also thank you to all the family that send gifts and cards and spoil him rotten. He was a happy boy!

Cart Walkin'

Gage is now 10 days shy of 11 months. In no time he will be walking, and this will be old news. Just because we think it's great and gush over every milestone...here he is. You know you love it too!