School Pictures!

Yes, my Tyler has been in school long to enough not just to already have his school pictures taken, but to actually receive them! Isn't he cute?

It took my utmost skills in bribery and cajoling to get him to wear what he calls a "button shirt." He is ADAMANTLY opposed to them in every way and refuses to wear them on anything but the most special occasion. But I managed--and even managed to convince him not to bring a t-shirt to change into after the picture was taken. Although the first thing he did when he got home was to run upstairs and change his shirt. It's too bad--he looks so handsome in them!

He also has a crush on his best friend Emma. It is so funny. I certainly don't encourage it (he is only 7 after all--girls should still have the cooties to him) but apparently there is no stopping him. He is head over heels. Tyler and Emma have grown up together here as both of them have lived here for the past 3 1/2 years. He is always making pictures or cards for her (usually Star Wars related--I'm sure she is swept off her feet) and bringing her stuff. They have a mutual arrangement that they can get married because Emma loves horses and we plan on having horses someday (you should've heard that conversation between the 2 of them), even if Emma did have some doubts about their relationship seeing that she is 3 months older than him. But the funniest thing was the other day Tyler runs in the house home from school and says, "What is Emma's phone number, I have to call her!" I asked why but he wouldn't tell me. I told him the number, figuring he wanted to ask if she could come over but he runs upstairs. I called him down (I was ignored) and after a minute he comes down and hands me the phone. I asked him what it was all about and he says something along the lines of, "Well, I heard that Emma liked this other boy and he has a crush on her and I wanted to know if she had a crush on him, but she said she doesn't have a crush on him." Ummmmm.....I know Tyler isn't a "fighter", but a "lover" at this age? He's got me worried a little until he pauses and says, "Mom, what's a crush?" I had to giggle. So concerned and he doesn't know what about! Mindy (Emma's mom and my best friend) calls me later and says on her end she hears Emma saying adamantly, "NO, Tyler, no, NO, no, I don't, no.....no." Then looks at her mom, rolls her eyes and sighs, "Boys!" Tell me about it, Emma. Tell me about it.

Where has the time gone?

I swear, it feels like we just moved here a few months ago and already we are in the final stretch. Assuming Eric doesn't deploy (fingers crossed) we will be out of here the very beginning of April! I am a little behind--here is the picture of the boys' first day of school...Tyler in 2nd grade, Jacob in Preschool...To those who don't know when school actually started this probably seems about the right timing, however, school at Fort Irwin starts INSANELY early, as in OVER A MONTH AGO! We are no longer in the phase of getting going in school, we are talking math, spelling, writing tests, etc. I am just a little behind in posting the picture. Both boys are loving school...as is mom.... I refuse to post pictures of myself because I look, well, 9 months pregnant. Which I pretty much am so I guess that's okay. Here is a look at my belly...
Okay, okay, so that's not really my belly. But I feel like this little boy is kicking that hard. He is so active--he is ready to come out! If I come as early as all 3 of my other kids, that means this little guy (still unsettled on a name, can you believe it?) will be born on Sunday, THIS Sunday! As in 6 days from now! Holy moly. Didn't I just find out I was preggers anyway? It has ZOOMED by.

No doubt the "zoom-iness" comes from just being busy with the three other kids and life in general. A week or so ago Maggie tumbled off the edge of the trampoline and landed on her head (yes, we do have a net but it doesn't work very well when your kids are outside of it--mental note taken). She cried and Eric and I didn't think much of it, Eric picked her up and after a minute he took his hand off her back to look and see if she cut her head or not. As soon as he did her eyes rolled around a bit and she started collapsing backwards. FREAKED ME OUT! I took her to the ER to make sure she was okay. Long story short (too late) she is fine, was probably just seeing stars. Phew! Here Mags is in the ER. Not a happy camper. And yes, she was in her pj's when she was playing on the trampoline--don't judge me, it was 7:00 in the morning. Hey, if your kids got up at 5:30 a.m. you'd try to fill the time before school too!
On a good note, Tyler won a special award at school for exemplifying the character trait of the month, "cooperation." I was very proud of him. He is such a sweet boy and is always thinking of others...Jacob excluded, of course.
We spent the long weekend at my mom's, as one last hurrah get-away before freedom disappears for a fourth time. The kids had a blast, as always. I didn't take any pics, but my mom took a few when she took them to feed the ducks. They loved it.

My mom also took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese while she let Eric and I go out on our own...pretty sweet deal! Thanks mom! My mom found out that Maggie loves salad, or, more accurately, loves to lick salad dressing off lettuce. What a mess!
Well, I know I missed tons of fun stuff, but this will have to do. I will try to be better about pictures and posting, who knows, maybe next time I post we will have a new addition!

Out of the mouths of babes...

Do you ever hear yourself out of the mouths of your children? Yesterday I told Jacob to put his plate in the sink. He proceeds to heave an exasperated sigh and say, "Do I have to do everything around here?!?"

Famous Daughter

People keep telling me that Maggie looks like one of the Pitt/Jolie children. Seriously--like 3 people have said that to me since yesterday. I don't follow the Hollywood scene too much so I looked it up and actually I have to say I agree...they do look pretty similar. This is Shiloh slightly older than Mags is now...

I guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise though, considering the fact that Eric and I DO bear a striking resemblance to Brad and Angelina...

I mean, really, I feel like I am looking in a mirror....it's almost eerie....

Princesses and Parties

I've had a few requests to put up some pics of Maggie's new big girl bed. It is an adjustable bed so I can be this length, a couple feet longer or twin size. So she can grow into it. It looks so cute in her room. She wasn't too sure of it at first but now she loves it.
She loves the little light we put by her bed too--she turns it on to read a book and then off to go to sleep. Of course it takes a little prompting from me or Eric but she gets excited to do it!

Tyler had his birthday party a few days ago. It was a "Mad Scientist" party (no, I am not a party genius--I got the idea off the internet). I decorated with green crepe paper and tablecloth. Then for the centerpieces I had a green jello mold filled with bugs, jars of colored liquid with weird things in them, spoons, jars, frogs, etc.
As each of the kids arrived they got to put on their own "lab coat" with their name and radiation symbol in it, goggles and blue lab gloves. I even had green pray paint for their hair but decided to pass on it.
We spent most of the party doing fun experiments. We made bottles bubble over using vinegar and baking soda, made cool milk food coloring designs (below)...
tye-dyed t-shirts for them to take home....

made a coke bottle explode using mentos...
each kid got to make their very own "flubber" using borax, water and glue (it actually bounces!)...
and a few other smaller experiments. The kids all had so much fun. Then they got to decorate their own cupcakes making their own gross colors of frosting (most of which turned out brown). I was a fun party and all the kids loved it, especially Tyler. It was nice to have a fun party since he only invited 3 kids (all his friends have moved away and one was on vacation). So with so few kids I was able to do something a little more involved. It made him feel special. After all, they are only young once, get ONE party a year and even then only get them for a few years. It was fun to plan anyway.

Lastly, I tried to do Maggie's hair like Aunt Jessica did. Mine didn't turn out nearly as neat or cute, but it was a valiant first attempt. I will just have to keep practicing!

It's officially summer.

Summer is officially here! I know that because every time I walk out of my house I feel like I am going to melt! It hovers around 110 everyday so I thought we'd get out the pool and sprinkler... The kids loved it and it is way less effort than dragging everyone to the pool, which we do anyway at least 3 times a week.
We got wet (I kept telling the boys to splash me on purpose so I could stay cool) and ate popcorn and popsicles. Can you guess what color Maggie had???
We took our second trip to Utah. Sadly I took ZERO pictures, so for the following you all can thank Eric. He and Craig took the boys camping/fishing. The boys thought they had died and gone to heaven. They did NOT want to come home.
They were so into it they even wanted to sleep outside under the stars. So they did even though Eric wasn't sure about it--of course, this decision was aided by the fact that the tent bag did not contain the necessary equipment to set it up. Lucky boys! Eric said that he found each of them at one point in the night curled up at the bottom of their sleeping bags. Must have been cold!
They spent a lot of time on Grandpa's boat fishing. Apparently Jacob outfished them all. Of course, that is from his own account and Jacob has been known to tell a few "stories."

They kept a couple of the fish because the boys were insistent and wanted to cook them up. Here they are examining the trout at the gutting table.
The men with their spoils....
Back at the Swenson's Maggie loved all the attention. She drove us all crazy getting into everything in the kitchen so Grandpa used a bunch of ropes to tie everything together. That only made it so no one could get any food. Looks like he and Mags made up.
So now we are home, getting back to life, boys in swimming lessons, keeping cool (or trying to at least). Tonight in the bathtub Jacob decided to give Maggie a new hairstyle...
A little too punk for me!
But it is good to be home where everything has a place. But did I mention our house was 93 degrees inside when we got home!!!!!!!!! I have never been so grateful for air conditioning in my life.

Surfin' USA

We went to my mom's for a couple days last week just to get away, you know, after being gone for 2 weeks in Utah. No really, there isn't anything to do at Fort Irwin except go to the pool, literally, and the temp was hitting almost 110 so we took off for a bit. We spent one day at the beach. My kids had so much fun I think they would live at the beach if they could. Maggie loved it too and she surprisingly wasn't too much trouble, though I did have my mom there to help watch all the kids. I couldn't have done it by myself. Besides the fact that I am beginning to slightly resemble a beached whale.

Maggie enjoyed playing in the sand and water--she was fascinated.

The boys were in heaven--not only was it a beach, but this beach also has tidepools and we happened to arrive just at low tide. It was perfect! They found all kinds of crabs, hermit crabs, little fish, anemones, urchins, mussels, limpets, etc. Ty Ty the Science Guy was in his own particular kind of paradise.

The kids were so good I wish we could have stayed longer but it was starting to get cool so we had to get going.
The boys ran the whole length of the beach for a long time, poor Jake was so cute trying to keep up with Tyler. Below you will notice Tyler in the water...does it look familiar? Think '80's movie.......action........got it yet?
For those of you who can't figure it out--he is trying to do the "crane" move from "The Karate Kid." Pretty awesome skills. Jacob didn't practice his karate (it is pretty amazing that my kids can learn karate from watching a movie once--or at least in their minds they know karate) but he was so excited he couldn't contain himself.
He yelled like this several times. Almost as though his excitement were too much for him to handle. It was so funny---so Jacob. The boys found a hole someone had dug and abandoned. They took it over as their fort. The eventually filled it with seaweed they drug from all over the beach, thus ruining it for any future potential users.
Maggie decided to lay down on the sand despite my promptings for her to not to. She realized pretty quick it may not have been the best idea.
Back at my mom's the boys worked with Andrew (Dick's son, my mom's step-son, my step-brother, call him what you will) in the garage. This garage, by the way, has probably every tool you would ever need. It is a boy's paradise. Andrew was so nice to let the boys "hang out" with him to do guy stuff. They felt pretty cool hanging out with the big guys.
The next day we played in the hot tub and my mom bought a slip and slide that was a hit. My mom kept telling me to get one but I don't know how I could fit it onto my 6' square patch of grass. I'll reserve that fun for her house. The kids would all lay on their towels to warm up--even Maggie. She did that all by herself, she loves to copy her brothers!
All in all it has been a fun summer so far--and we are off again to Utah next week! Busy--but that is the best way. Well, I guess we will head off to the pool again today!