I can't believe I forgot to post this!

A few weeks ago Owen and John headed out on their second father/son's outing. And this time they even made it overnight! (Probably because they stayed in someone's camper, which might have been a one time occurrence for them because I heard John won the snoring award!)

I'm sure they did all sorts of manly things. They came home dirty and tired, so I'm assuming a good time was had by all.

This is a picture of Owen with his little friend Jaron.

And this picture just cracks me up because of the look on Owen's face. Maybe he didn't have a good time! :o)

While the boys were away the girls had a cleaner sort of fun. Although I have no photographic proof because John had the camera so I have no pictures.

Ains was in charge of the night. She chose to go to dinner at Cafe Ole'. Then we dropped in for a visit at a girl party that our friends were having. Then we came home and ate ice cream from the carton while we watched "The Princess and the Frog." The next morning we slept in and then gave ourselves manicures and pedicures. We actually had a lot of fun!

Change of Plans

Right now I should be posting pictures of the fun we had at Bruneau Sand Dunes with the kids. Pictures of the kids climbing and sliding down the dunes. Maybe a few shots of kids covered in sand or playing with their friends. Perhaps a family picture. Maybe a shot of the yummy food we packed for a picnic.

But instead I'll spare you and not post a picture of what we did instead today. Poor Ains woke up at 6:30 throwing up and didn't stop until 2:30. I think we were all a little disappointed that we were home bound with sickness instead of out on a fun day trip.


But we'll have to take a rain check and head out to the dunes another day. And next time I might not invite anyone to go with us so I don't feel so lame when we have to cancel. And I'll post the pictures then.


On the other hand, we have managed to cram A LOT of wii and 2 movies into the day so far. Just as fun, right?

For Documentation Sake

Last night John noticed Emmie had 2 little teeth poking through on the bottom of her mouth. I would say that this officially makes her a third child whose milestones go unnoticed. However, I remember the same thing happening with Ainsley when she was about 10 or 11 months. All the sudden one day I looked in her mouth and there was a tooth. At least I was the one to notice Ainsley's first tooth. Instead of having someone else point it out to me.

The funny thing is that in the past 2 weeks I've had two complete strangers look at Emmie drooling and chewing away who said, "Oh, she must be teething!" I dismissed them immediately in my head thinking, "Whatever, my kids don't get teeth this young." And what do ya know? They were right!

I would post a cute picture of Emmie's new teeth, but I'm lazy, and I'm sure even if I did try I wouldn't get a picture of them anyways.

Ains has yet to see the teeth due to Emmie's gift for keeping them hidden. So she just likes to feel them. In fact, tonight as Ains was putting off going to bed she asked if she could feel Emmie's teeth one more time. Kind of weird.

And since I'm too lazy to take and post a new picture, here's an old one that was sitting in our picture folder....

Maybe in this picture she's thinking, "Hey Mom! Why won't you just feel the teeth in my mouth already?!"

Conversation in the car

Owen: "Mom, I'm in charge of myself."

Me: "Well guess who I'm in charge of?"

Owen: "Who?"

Me: "You!"

Owen: "No, I'm in charge of myself!"

Me: "How about I'll be in charge of you until you're 18, and then you can be in charge of yourself? Does that sound fair?"

Owen: "Ya! How old is 18?"

Me: "Too late Owen, the deal's already been made."



*****I just had to add to this that 2 days later while Owen was doing his best at avoiding going to bed he informed us that we weren't in charge of him, Jesus was. Because Jesus made him. Clever kid...

Emmie's Quirks

1. She's a bit like a bird...in that she flaps her arms a lot. A LOT. She flaps when she's tired, hungry, happy, or any other emotion. This has proven to be a bit frustrating when feeding her food. She flaps so much she has, on more than one occasion, hit the spoon and sent it flying. It's getting to the point where I need to wrap myself in plastic when I feed her, because somehow I'm always the one that ends up covered in food.

2. She spits. A LOT. She's always drooly and wet, but now she spits when she eats. Kind of like an excited spit. And once again, it's me that ends up covered in food. Once again making me think I need to invest in some sort of plastic covering for myself.

3. She is proving to be the blow out queen (and no she isn't ready for the next size of diapers). She only poops every few days. And when she does, there is no diaper on earth that could hold the explosion. Today her blow out went up the back and out the arm. We just threw the pj's she was wearing away...they had a hole in them anyways. And it was late at night. One of those moments where you just aren't sure where to begin, so we didn't.

4. Emmie is super talkative. She has recently discovered her upper register. So now she talks in cute little screams.

5. Emmies drool smells like yeast (although this has faded a bit lately). And somehow the drool turns her clothing yellow. Like really yellow. I have soaked her shirts in all sorts of cleaners and haven't found one that gets rid of the yellow. If I were made of money we would just be throwing these out as well.

6. And this one might sound a little crazy, but the other night John and I swear she was dancing. There was music on and John was patting something on his leg. When he would pat she would bounce and flap one arm. When he would stop she would stop and wouldn't start again until he patted again. It was weird. But I remember Ains dancing before she could walk. She would bounce excitedly to an Elmo toy. But she was like 11 months, not 6!

Ice Skating and Ribs

The newest game at our house is ice skating. It looks a little painful to me, but the kids don't seem to mind.

(I think the lego blocks have been the best toys in our house. They have been everything from ice skates, to a wii (John made me feel guilty when the kids were playing on their block wii), to houses, musical instruments, and tons of other random things under the sun. I guess that means it's a good toy!)

Also, John wanted me to do a post dedicated to the ribs he made on Sunday. He's been wanting to make them since he brought home special rub and bbq sauce from Memphis.

Ains and Owen were scared to eat them at first because of the bone, but after they manned up and tried it, they both decided they were awesome! Check out Ainsley with her pinky all proper and popped up, while the grease and sauce runs down her hands and face.

The rub and bbq sauce were great, but I thought the ribs were a little fatty. But that's my bad. Maybe there is some trick to buying good ribs that I am not familiar with.

My NEW most truamatizing moment of my life....

This past week, as Owen, Emmie, and I were on our way to Emmie's 6 month check-up I had another terrifying moment with Emmie. And because of that, I will now forever be fearful for Emmie's life.

So here's the story....

While were driving (getting on the freeway to be exact) I noticed that things didn't sound right in the back seat. Emmie was flailing around and making choking sounds. I asked Owen what was wrong and he said Emmie had thrown up. I started panicking and simultaneously swiping her mouth and pulling to the side of the road. I had the car in park before we had stopped. I was desperately trying to get back to Emmie, because it was very apparent to me at this point that she was choking, and not getting any air. I couldn't feel anything in her mouth. I couldn't get out of my door because cars were flying by at 50 mph. I got between the two front seats and was trying to get her unbuckled when Owen reached in her mouth and pulled out a water bottle lid. Way to go Owen! I don't know how I didn't feel it in her mouth. I'm thinking that I bumped it one of the times I swiped her mouth and then Owen could see it to grab it out.

She started coughing and crying and I got her out of her seat. Then I started crying and asked Owen why he had given her the lid to his water bottle. His reply was that she had dropped all of her toys and so he gave her that to hold on to. Poor kid. His intentions were good. And I think Owen was a little scared too. He was sitting in his carseat with his hands over his ears (he does that when he knows he in trouble and going to get yelled at). But I think he and I were both too scared for him to be in too much trouble. So, after a long discussion about objects that can and can't go in Emmie's mouth, we finally made our way to the doctors office where we got to share our story. I really like my doctor because she is so laid back. Her response was just to say that Emmie looked fine and that things like that happen while raising kids and then recounted a couple of stories from when her children had either choked or nearly choked.

I just can't wait until Emmie is no longer in her infant carrier and is in a front facing car seat, because those seem a lot safer choking wise. And then I can see her face and know if something is wrong, instead of her being completely hidden from me.

And here's why I'm grateful...
I had tried to call a friend who was in the middle of a move on our way there just to check in and see how things were going. I'm so grateful that she didn't answer the phone so that I was more alert and aware of what was going on in the back seat.

I'm also grateful that Heavenly Father has been aware of and a protector of my children. I know that it's due to divine intervention that my children are all alive and well.