June 28 - Missing Daddy

Went to run a couple errands this morning and didn't notice what a good job Nora did with putting her own shoes on until we were loaded back up in the car ready to come home.  Didn't seem to bother her one bit!

We're missing Daddy around here.  Day three without him and we want him back!  Had to send a quick "Hello Daddy" picture to him!

And then...Grama & Shennie arrived at our house!!  We went to the new park with them, Bryce came over, and we went to "Finding Dory" at the movie theater!  Then we had some DQ for dinner at home.  We love having visitors!!

Meanwhile in Orlando...

June 27 - The Mall

Gave Andlie a little trim this morning.  Took about an inch off just to get the dead ends.  Her hair is very shiny and bouncy now.  Yay for our own hair cutting cape & scissors (and YouTube)!

Found the girls just relaxing in the tub this morning.  They're super sweet sisters.  Andlie is very mindful of Nora and I often the two of them playing cute little games or visiting.

We went to the mall today!!!  The kids got lost in Dory's fish bowl for a minute!!

Meanwhile in Orlando...

June 26 - 1st Time Making Cookies

Bryan left this morning for his conference in Orlando.  This is HIS conference - his baby.  He is the lead for this conference.  This is only the second annual CertifiED Conference, but attendance has more than doubled since last year!  Proud of him and the work he does.  He arrived safe & sound in Florida this afternoon.

Meanwhile, back at home, we went to church without him!  Went really well!  Sacrament was hard, but only at the end when everyone started getting bored.  And then Haze refused to poo at the church so I had to bring him home.  And then Nora peed on her diaper rash and needed some Butt Paste so I had to bring her home.  But other than that half hour, we had a great block!

"Mom, I color a tiny bit.  But.....it's okay!!!  No problem!!!"  "Where did you color?"  [Lifts up shirt...]

While Andlie & Hazey were busy playing outside, Nora helped Mommy make some cookies!  It was her very first time being so involved and she loved it!

Haze had a couple crashes on his bike tonight.  Nothing that broke through the skin, but he did get some road marks.  He told me, "Mom!  I got some smoke on my legs!"

June 25 - Beads & Blocks

Hazey has been LOVING Perler Beads the past couple days.  We pulled them out on Tuesday and he hasn't really stopped playing with them since then.  So far he's made a flower, a butterfly, a bear, and a dolphin and is showing no signs of stopping!  He's so proud of his work too!  He's carried his works of art with us wherever we've gone for a couple days.  I snapped some pics at WalMart today.  I think he's pretty cute and I'm proud of his work too!

I also snapped a picture of Bryan.  I don't get many of those so I had to share.  Proud of all the work he's been doing to prepare for his annual conference - CertifiED - at work.

During Nora's nap today, Hazey asked me if I would play with him.  Of course!  So we built a house out of blocks and then he built a man all by himself and we played for a while.  Cute little boy.

June 24 - First Owlz Game

Nora's morning routine goes a little something like this:

Wake up & change her poop.  (She seriously poops in her sleep every night.)

Spit bink out & immediately start chatting to Momma.  Usually about princesses or the previous night's activity.

Get clothes on while continuing light conversation.

Bring baby (recently named Rebecca) in to Living Room and request a milk bottle.

Request to watch "Cinderella."  (We watch the short "summary version" on YouTube - 10 minutes.)

Sit very happily and fully content on the couch with warm bottle, clean pants, baby in tow, with pink toe nails and watch "Cinderella." 

Hand her bottle to Momma.

Announce that she is ready to play now!

Andlie & Hazey made a 62" line out of mini blocks!  We thought it was about 305 blocks!  They were very proud.

(Side note: Nora has been flashing us all day & yelling, "Nip slip!" and then walking away giggling.)

During Nora's nap time this afternoon, I thought I could also sneak a nap in.  So I put the big kids in my bed and turned on a show.  I rested.  But it was very short lived.  Maybe ten minutes.  I'll take it!

Like I mentioned yesterday, it is H.O.T. outside!  Today's afternoon activity was painting!

Andlie made us the cutest painting and taped a note & some gum to it for us.  We really, really lucked out in the parenting department with her.  She's the sweetest.

Dear Mom & Dad,

I love you Mom & Dad.  You guys are funny.  Mom you are a good Mom.  Dad you are a good Dad.  I love you guys.  You guys are nice.

Love,

Andlie

And.....Allen Summer 2016 has officially began because tonight was the opening game for our Owlz!  We love baseball games and had a great time tonight!

June 23 - HOT Summer

Braylee & Cambrie got their tonsils out today!  Even though we're far away, we wanted them to know we were thinking about them.  Took a few tries, but we finally got some good ones!

Nora's hair was in two pony tails today & it reminded me of a picture taken of myself when I was about her age.  I think we look fairly simliar.  Definitely not the skin color.  Ha!  But maybe the nose & mouth & face shape a bit...

Baby Chandi

Guys, it's only June 23 and it has been SO HOT for at least a week now.  Upper 90s already!  So we play outside for a bit in the morning and sometimes in the water, but other than that, we spend our afternoons inside playing with play dough or reading books or today, we made some bead crafts!

Sea Turtle Necklace

Andlie & Hazey thought of making something for Daddy all by themselves!  Then they executed their ideas and then thought to wrap them up all by themselves!  They were so thrilled to give Daddy a picture frame (WITH a school picture inside) and a flower when he got home!

This afternoon, Andlie came up to me in laughing, giggling tears & said, "Look, Mom!  I'm pregnant!"  Complete with boobs & everything.

Still hot after dinner.  Cooled off with some popsicles before heading to the new park again (third night in a row) after the sun went down.

June 22 - 24 Weeks

Took the kids to my 24 week doctor's appointment this morning.

Bryan wasn't able to come, so it was me & 3 kids.

We waited in the waiting room for 35 minutes before being called back.  Kids were total troopers and reminded me that we have such wonderful, happy, obedient, respectful kids.

Waited another 10-15 minutes once we were back in a room.  Kids kept themselves pretty busy.  Nora was kind of nervous about being in a doctor's room.  She was also sure to point out the "big nipples" on the pregnancy diagram in the room.

As soon as the doctor came in, Nora freaked.  She ended up sitting on the pillow by my head during the checkup while I laid on my back.

The doctor left the machine on my stomach for quite a while to be sure & let the kids all hear the cute little "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" of baby boy's heartbeat.  They were all pretty amazed and really sweet about it.

The doctor let Andlie wipe off the gel from my tummy when he was done.  She didn't love it because  it was "all slimy."  But she giggled nonetheless.

For the rest of the day, Nora kept saying, "Mommy, I heared your baby.  He goed, 'Shoe, shoe, shoe.'  That was fun huh.  Thank you for coming to the doctor with me.  I love your baby."  And the other two talked about it a lot too.  It was kind of fun to have my other babies hear our baby's heart.

After the doc, we went & got donuts as a reward and then ate them at our new park.  That new park is a huge hit in our house!  Andlie's favorite new park toy is the zip line!  She goes forwards, backwards, sideways, zig-zaggy, standing up, sitting down.  She loves it!  Haze loves the "spinning flower" as he calls it and can be found spinning himself fast enough that he zooms out and lands in the mulch laughing his head off.  Nora just loves being at the park.  Today she made some teenage friends.  I went to take her picture & she told them, "My Mom had to take my picture really quick."  She's two going on seventeen.

Snapped a few "24 week" pictures this evening.  It was hard to know which hand to make a "two" on and which one to do a "four" with.....  I eventually got it figured out.

Freshly bathed kids in their jammies and relaxing with milk.  Not many things in this world are cuter than that.  Especially if it's our wonderful kids.