Milwaukee

First of all, note that this is my third post today, so to see the others you have to click "older posts" at the bottom of this page.  There is just too much for me to tell in such a short space!  :)

The last week of September the kids and I took a trip to visit Jessie’s family in Milwaukee.  It was SO fun.  There are only two things that could have made it better: 1) if my wonderful husband was there and 2) if it would have gotten above 50 degrees the entire time we were there, or at least stopped raining for a full day.
Here are the three musketeers.  They were so good together!  They played, played, and played.  They also made HUGE messes constantly.  It would have been great if the weather was better so we could have them play outside, but, they had fun anyway.  I think these two pics are of the only times they were sitting still!
This what happens to Jessie after eating two full pumpkin rolls.    Really, this is what happens if you leave your camera sitting out at Jessie’s house. 
Kevin and Julia’s preschool teacher let Lucy come along for the week, which was so fun.

Sam and Lacey really had some bonding time, as they were toted every where.
They were the lucky ones that got to go with Jessie and I to the Brewer’s game.  It was just the four of us, Jessie, Lacey, Sam, and me.  We got several comments with the two of us toting our two babies to a Major League baseball game.  We had AWESOME seats and didn’t get beat up (which is a rare thing lately, especially since Sam was wearing Chicago Bears colors, a big No-No at a Brewers game!). 
Yes, we are both nursing at the game! 
This playpen really got used and abused during the week.  No, we did not make all three kids sleep in it, they just LOVED to play in it.  Every time I went to put Sam in bed I had to pull out tons of toys. 


Of course I love all three of Jessie’s kids, but Julia and I have a special bond.  I would have brought her home if I could!
Jessie was the maid, cook, etc. 
If you want hilarity, watch two three year olds boxing on the Wii.  So FUNNY!
Sam was snuggling with her so tight, his face was smashed. 
Although all three kids played together very well, Lucy and Kevin have a special connection.  They are at the same stage in their playing, which really helped.

Jessie had a bit of a spider problem.  Those in my family will know that I do not like spiders and had an “incident” while vacuuming like this.  I found out, Jessie is no braver than I!!
We went to the zoo in the rain, it was great because there were very few people there!

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. We couldn’t decide which kid needed which at the time.

This was a hilarious night.  I don’t know that Jessie knew this was going on.  Poor Lacey probably doesn’t have any head bands that fit her anymore, but I was laughing so hard that I let it go on.  Kevin started the whole thing by wanting to put them on Lucy, and it progressed from there.
 
Julia and Sam connected for some reason.  She was so sweet to him.  When I came out and saw them she said “I am massaging his hand”.  So cute!  Look at his face, he is smiling at her!

Lacey loved to stick out her tongue.  If her tongue was not sticking out, she was spitting up.  She is a beautiful baby with adorable hair!  She was a very good baby the entire time!

We took the kids to get their pictures taken together in outfits that my mom bought for the kids.  We hope to one day get all the grandkids at the same time, but this time it will happen in shifts.  We went to JCPenny Portraits, and I cannot recommend them enough!  They were awesome and very well priced.

It was a great trip, but it went by much too fast.  We are so excited for Christmas to come we can all get together again, and have our other siblings join in as well.

A kid update

It is amazing how fast kids change!! 

Lucy

I am constantly amazed at what Lucy is doing or saying.  I keep thinking that she should still be Sam’s age, but she is 3!! 

Some things that she has been up to lately -

She loves to swing and go to the park.

She has been practicing riding her bike that she got for her birthday.

She got to go with me to Cub Scouts a few times, and was spoiled.  She got to go to the fire station, which was a bit of a let down as her Grandpa Anderson lets her actually go for a ride in the fire truck at his fire station, but they gave her this adorable teddy bear that sings obnoxiously.  She also got to go bowling for the first time with the scouts.

 

She is a great big sister.  She loves to hold and play with Sam.  She is a great helper and will get his binky or a toy for him if he starts to fuss at all. 

One night Dillon and Lucy slept out on the tramp.  She thought it was the coolest thing EVER!

(She has a tendency to close her eyes or to look stoned in pictures so he was telling her to open her eyes wide, I guess it didn’t work  .)

The most exciting development for Lucy is that she goes to preschool! 

She goes two days a week, and loves it!

Lucy is ALWAYS going.  She LOVES money and will hit anyone up for quarters, although she will take “diamonds” (dimes), pennies, and “cash”. 

  We were changing the door knobs on our doors and she seriously unscrewed this one entirely by herself!  She loves to work with her dad in the garage and use a screw driver and a hammer.

Sam

Sam has had quite the 4 months.  Since he was born he has been to Blackfoot River, twice, been to two family reunions, been to Cherry Hill, Cub Scout Day Camp,  Stake Youth Conference, Girl’s Camp, Uncle Tyrel’s wedding reception (and he sat outside the temple during the wedding).  He has been to a mission farewell, two family reunions, he has gotten a haircut, and flown on four airplanes (to Milwaukee and back), and he has been a trooper through it all. 

  First haircut (3 mos) At day camp

Sam is a very happy and social baby.  Throughout our trip to Milwaukee tons of people in the airports would stop to talk to him, would acknowledge Lucy, and ignore me.    It made me laugh.  Many people commented on the airplanes how amazed they were about how good he was (about Lucy as well), several said as we were getting off that they didn’t even know he was there, which is definitely preferred while flying!

We decided to tape back Sam’s right ear as it stuck out further than the other one.  We looked into ear splints and other options, but this seemed to work the best for our situation.  At the last doctor appointment the doctor was very impressed with the progress and that I had done it by myself for 50 cents.  Hopefully it will stay back as he grows.

At Sam’s 4 month appointment he was 15 lbs 12 oz (49%) and 26 inches long (71%).  I was surprised he is average weight, as we often get comments about how big he is, particularly his cute cheeks.   

We are so grateful for our two little kids.  They keep us busy and wear us out, but they also keep us laughing and make us happy beyond belief. 

Family Pictures and Family Pictures

As I have done a horrible job blogging as of late, I decided to do a major dump today.  We’ll see how far I get.

First of all are the family pictures we’ve had taken.  We did some family pics with the Anderson family in August.

We also had some taken at Walmart.  I am putting them on from the website, so it has the studio name on it.  However, I wanted it here, so I am posting them anyway. 

My sister-in-law, Sara, sent Lucy and Sam the cutest shirts that say “Big Sister” and “Little Brother”, so I tried taking their pictures in them.

Sam was not impressed with the idea of sitting on the grass, hence the furrowed eyebrows (which is a common thing for him).  Unfortunately, the pics outside did not fly.  We moved indoors -

which worked a little better.  You can see that it wasn’t the same day, as Lucy’s hair is about 3 inches shorter in the second pic.