I like my birthdays every one!

Each brings a special joy to me... but I can't wait until I'm 25, for then my car insurance will go down :) Ha ha.... just kidding (but seriously... )
I thought I was just keeping it low key until I made a sum total at the end of the day and man! I did not do too bad! Jesse surprised me with a wheat grinder (It had been beautifully wrapped and sitting in our closet for 3 weeks just staring down at me, my best guess was that it was Rosetta stone, a computer program for learning Spanish) so now I can make wheat bread with freshly ground wheat (it's the healthiest way to go!). My Mother in law, Monique, brought me balloons and flowers (It just doesn't seem like a valid birthday without balloons!). We went shopping for some new clothes, ate lunch at Fish Rock Grill at the Ledges, and Annie gave me a whole new compact of Mary Kay makeup (wahoo!), 2 new lip colors, a new set of makeup brushes, and a Mary Kay travel bag for makeup. My mom had done some investigating and found out that I really needed a lemon juicer (I have been doing it by hand up until now) and found me a really nice one that strains out all the pulp. When I got home from all the festivities I found that my friend Kelsi left me a box of chocolates and some lavender scented soap and lotion... ah... nothing like chocolate on your birthday! I really can't think of anything that could have made the day better, I LOVE days like that. So now I'm 25 and I don't feel much different, but every so often I think "Whoa, wait, I'm 25? What the? When did THAT happen?"

I have all these cute pictures of the kids on my camera and I NEED to share them (or else why even take them?) This one is of Cooper using his cow as a cape because Leila was using the superman one. They both ran around in their "capes" being super.
Here is Marshall and his mad face when he wouldn't go to sleep one night.
And here is Cooper with Annie and Dave's new puppy (which is now Becca and Alan's new puppy).

Remind me again what kind of stuff that guy says.

if you want to know what kind of stuff that guy says click here.Enough of that, here's the pictures from the veteran's day parade in Washington:
They just came for the candy

Marshall borrowed Grandma Wendy's visor, it kept the sun out of his eyes so he could enjoy the parade like a normal human.

Kids don't care about your mental health

They really don't. I learned this at a parenting class on Sunday. They'll drive you out of your mind just to get a piece of cake. They don't care if you're ripping your hair out and running down the street stark raving mad... as long as they get thier cake. This makes perfect sense to one who has children or has been around them for very long. I snapped these pictures this morning as they sieged my bed (a common practice), they really are not so bad once they stop pinching my eyelids.

'cept for this one... gotta watch out for this guy.

I traded Mexico for the four seasons... it worked out.

Wednesday morning we woke up excited for our departure to Mexico city for 3 days to attend the wedding of a former missionary companion of Jesse's. As I was throwing in last minute things and putting our passports into my meticulously labeled folder Jesse, watching me, said "Don't we need a passport for Marshall?"
Ugh. No! There's no way! Do we?
We frantically called Dave (our advisor on all things flight and travel related, and, incidentally the one who kindly procured our buddy passes for us) and the airline and both confirmed our dread. A baby, no matter what age, does require a passport to leave or enter the country. Now we had a problem. The shuttle was to leave in a half hour. My first instinct was to just take Jesse to the shuttle and pity myself for the next few days for missing out on our vacation due to my own oversight (the martyr, of course).
Jesse, the wiser of the two of us, knew that neither of us would have a very good weekend if he just left then and there. He called Dave and asked if he could refund the tickets and book a flight for the next day. He then instructed me to book a hotel in Vegas (any one I thought looked good) and we dropped the kids off as scheduled at my mom's. I was sad as we drove to Vegas, knowing that it would only be for one night and then I'd have to cope for 3 days alone without him. But as we checked into our hotel (the Four Seasons) and caught a glimpse of our spacious room, I knew I was completely spoiled and it would be worth the 3 days alone! I find that I really like the sound of "Mr. & Mrs. Callahan" as we were called by the hotel staff. I also like this crib they put in our our room, complete with diapers, wipes and baby soap (and complimentary teddy bear, which he loves to shove in his mouth). I also loved that they turned down our bed at night, and we came home from dinner to dimmed lights and soft music playing.... and slippers next to the bed. I probably don't even have to say that the whole thing was completely relaxing and luxurious. That was the richest I have ever felt and I thoroughly loved it! The pool wasn't bad either. Perfect tempurature, lovely gardens.
I suppose I could go on like this forever, but I just want to hold on to this kind of an experience... it doesn't come around that often. To Mexico: I will visit you at some point. To Four Seasons: I will never forget you :). To Jesse: Thanks for spending time with just me (and Marshall) and thanks for not getting the swine flu in Mexico.

My favorite things about Marshall

1. The intimate little conversations we have when our faces are 3 inches apart and he has his little chubby hands pulled up clasping each other under his chin. It usually goes like this:
Me: Agooooo
Him: Agoooo
Me: OOOOO
Him: OOOO
We find out so much about each other this way.

2. How when he's upset and crying he has enormous tears that slide down his chubby cheeks and no matter what the problem is, the look on his face says that you've betrayed him to the bitter core.

3. How I can calm him down by brushing my cheek against his cheek and cooing at him.

4. How he puts himself to sleep :)

5. How he gets so excited when he's "talking" that he sticks out his neck like a little turtle and his upper lip gets pointy.

6. How he head bangs my uh.. self when he's really hungry and can't wait to eat.

7. How when he wants something in front of him he just glares at it and clasps his hands very tight and the more he wants it the harder he glares and the tighter he clasps his hands.

8. How after he's done nursing he pops off, looks up at me and coos with milk dripping down his chin.

And we got a flat tire...

Everyone who knows absolutely anything knows that we love camping. We even took Cooper out when he was 3 weeks old! Well, these last few times we haven't been able to get things right. Last weekend we went up to cedar mt. with the Callahans and it rained... pretty much a lot. We did have fun, thanks to aunt Yvonne taking care of us in the cabin, and our tent and sleepingbags kept us warm and dry... but the kids didn't have as much fun because any playing led to them being cold and wet. Sorry kids. Maybe next time.You can never really tell what this guy's thinking... he has perma-grumpy face, but every so often he breaks out a huge, uncontrollable smile (complete with chubby dimples).


We weathered the storm pretty good under our umbrella :)

Fast forward to this weekend when we went to North Timp Point (on the Grand Canyon) with the Syphus and this is the order of catastrophe:
-I get sick, but we pack up and leave anyway
-outside of Fredonia Cooper gets sick
-We stop in Kanab at the ER and for $100 they tell us he has the flu
(we probably should have just gone home at this point, but we had the breakfast for the next day so.... )
-we have to stop so many times to adjust and re-adjust the 3 kids crammed in our car that we don't get there till dark.
-In the morning we find our rear driver-side tire is completely flat. (though we did have a nice spare!)
-Leila fell on a log and scraped her beautiful lips and got them all bloody and swollen
-We had to cut out one whole day and night from our trip we've been waiting MONTHS for! Ugh! That's the worst!

Whatever. I think the camping gods must be mad at us for having too much fun on other camping trips, or as my mom says: "sounds like you're having a syphus camping trip!", since the dawn of time apparently Syphuses have been cursed with forgotten items and flat tires. We always seem to have fun though because none of us can wait to do it again!See how Logan is reaching out for little Marshall? So Cute!

The boys had a horseshoe tournement with a bag of double stuff's as the prize, that got Jesse in :)

Annie's New House, and Marshall's Chubby-ness

Annie and Dave closed on their house and at last it it theirs! To celebrate we started painting :)

Annie was a very meticulous home-owner :)
At our friday park/cafe rio weekend starting celebration Marshall showed off his chub to all the ladies :)

All the ladies meaning Leila.

My mom the blogger

My mom's on the bandwagon :) check her out on "what it's like to be a syphus"

So you think that you're chubby.

If you're down on yourself and think you have lots of chub... just take a look at this guy and he'll make you feel better :) He weighed in at 14 lbs. 12 oz. at his 2 month check-up and was 23 inches long. Leila's almost 20 lbs. so another 6 pounds and he's as heavy as she is! (btw, he's wearing clothes that Cooper didn't wear till he was 4 month old!)

Cooper asks to hold him a lot and after a while he realizes how heavy he is and says "you take him momma, he's heavy!"

This is Cooper's "Breathing". He has to use a nebulizer for a few weeks because there were spots in his lungs that were still weak from when he had pnuemonia and he kept getting this residual cough. He just has to do these breathing treatments 4 times a day for a few weeks and he should be good!

He hates it, but he'll do it for candy :)

I know he's ready for Preschool, but is Preschool ready for HIM?!

I think we were both excited for him to start preschool today. Usually I hear mom's say how heartbroken they were when their first child goes off to school, I dunno, maybe that's when they go to kindergarten or something? For us, this just seemed natural. He loves structure and meeting new people, I love having some time just with Leila and Marshall - we both win! The question remains... is the world ready for this guy?Doubt it!
He picked out his own outfit... it matches (yes!), it goes with his backpack (does he know that?), and it's on frontwards (I didn't check his underwear though, that still might be on backwards.)

I think Leila's just glad to get rid of him for a little while. I signed us up for a mommy & me music class that starts next month. It goes for a half hour during the time that he'll be in school so me and Leila can get down with the eensy beensy spider.

After this picture in front of the preschool he didn't even pause, he just ran right in. I almost called to him to ask him for a hug, but I decided against it. If he doesn't need it, I don't want to ruin his moment :) We took him to lunch after so he could tell us all about preschool. He loves it and he wants to go everyday... I don't know how I'm going to tell him it's only 2 days a week!

The Fair 2009

I live for fair food. It's always the most sinful, divine, and glorious assortment of foods around (except for Christmas when there is so much chocolate EVERYWHERE!). While I went for the food, the kids went for the bright lights and colors.

Funny, there was a bride there while we were riding the merry-go-round getting her bridals taken at the fair! I hope she didn't eat the food... she might not fit into her dress anymore!

it was pretty weather though, nice and breezy and we walked on to every ride!

Leila did not enjoy this one, it was too jerky for her. Towards the end she was crying so they stopped the ride.


She liked this one though :)

Froggy Hike

I think this hike was... who knows... it was sometime this summer. It's all been pretty much a blur of hiking, camping, and hoping we'll have a company by the end of the year. Who cares? Our kids rock and we love having them!

Leila was hesitant at first

Marshall had to stay covered, but you can see his arm peeking out.

Annie helped with Leila (who love love loves Annie)


A froggy!

Twenty-Fourf of July

What an adventure that day was! Jesse had to work so I strapped Marshall into the baby carrier and put Leila in the stroller and trusted my 3 year old to somehow stay near me in the crowds of people when we went to the parade. I've never seen so many people there! The kids liked the horses and candy and saw aunt Amanda being a clown! After the parade she asked me "did I look like a funny clown or a stupid clown?"

Marshall mostly slept.There was a dunking booth and little kiddie games, but why spend money on those when the kids are perfectly happy for hours on a free slide? The only problem was that Leila would go up...

Then come back down....Thankfully we met up with Annie and she showed Leila the fun way to work a slide:
They picked up a few other kids who needed help at the top too... apparently.
Cooper got stuck a few times on this thing and bumped his head, but he kept going back!

I think it's cool that Washington City still does the big 24th celebration, I saw a lot of people I grew up with and haven't seen forever. I also love that my kids get to play on the same toys that I did when I was little... except the swings are gone :( Anyway, it was an adventure for sure, but I still don't think I'm up to the challenge of taking 3 kids to an event like this on my own. I would not have survived (or the kids wouldn't have anyway) if Amanda, Sara, and Annie hadn't have helped me till Jesse could come. Happy 24th kidlets!