big boy bed at last

Three month photo op.  It might have been a little bright for him

Whit asked for a pic with her and Ethan.  He started to fall forward, so the blur is her catching him with her legs

Whitney talking to Ethan

Helping him sit up

Looks like Halloween come early.  This is the face painting they let the other twins do for them.  Tucker asked to be a meow meow.  Whitney must have asked for a racoon

One way to play with dump on the playground

Another way to play with dump on the playground

dump swings on the playground

Water, sand and sunshine

Cute Tucky

Ethan chillin' at the beach

"Dump is in prison with lots of keys.  He's a bad one"

Recipe for hours of entertainment

Floor time

Floor time with Tucker's toe

My three happy cheerful kids

Milli!

Thomas has a flashlight so there are no monsters

Tucker got his big boy bed at last.  He has had his sheets and bedspread, but it hasn't been off the floor until now.  He was soooooo excited, I felt bad about putting it off.  All we needed was the box spring, just had to actually go out and buy one.  But the best part?  It is a slightly higher frame than Whitney's.  He was very excited about that.  He said "Papa put even higher wheels on mine!"

Today we did "expeerments".  That's how Tucker says it.  We have a science book that has experiments after each little section.  We've been doing a few.  We did the same amount of water, but in different containers.  Hands down.  Every time.  The container that looks higher DEFINITELY has more water in it.  I showed them that it was the same amount of water.  They were very confused about that.  Whitney grasped the concept that liquids are the shape of the container.  She pointed out the square water and the round water.  But that something could look more and not be more was way beyond their comprehension.  So.  Four pennies is definitely more than 1 dollar.  duh.

Tucker has a serious issue with just randomly hitting Whitney or randomly squashing her.  She has zero tolerance for it, especially when she is sick.  Like the past couple of days.  So there has been a lot of whining and complaining about Tucker being "the mean one" or "the bad one" when he walks by and pulls her hair or pinches her. But today she had total reason to whine and complain.  I actually couldn't believe how tough she was.  Tucker picked up his metal Tonka Truck and hit her on the side of the head with it.  I gasped because I thought for sure I had a head injury on my hands.  Nothing, just a headache and whining.  Tucker knew he had been bad because I didn't even tell him to go in time out.  He ran to it right away, saying "Dump is a bad dump.  That dump is a bad one."

Today the original plan of Jeremy's was put into action.  Jeremy always has these trying to convince me lines.  When I came home from the hospital and it had looked like Christmas in June with the amount of new toys, Jeremy had everything all planned out.  He told me he was thinking the kids could load up their wagons with the chips and help him move them to the back.  Whatever.  That would last for no more than a couple of trips.  But today it worked.  They stationed their wagons for me to shovel chips into over and over to help me move the wood chip pile.  Notice, it's not my hubby moving it.  No comment, but really, I would have been surprised if Jeremy did something that tedious.  And Tucker and Whitney are cheerful helpers.  They made themselves dirt pile mountains for their dumps to perch on.  Whitney's was higher, so Tucker plopped his truck on top.  Just to bother her, of course.  They each had their own "mountain" for their dump to be on.

Cleaning up the outside toys today Tucker commented on something that made me laugh.  He insisted that the sled he was cleaning up was Evan and Noah's, not his to clean up. Then he said, "Evan is practicing to be king, just like Jake."  It cracked me up because both of those boys ran up to the top of the pile and yelled "I'm king of the mountain" several times when they were here playing.  Tucker doesn't get why that is a necessary comment, only noting that they both did it.  The only way he could make sense of it was that they were practicing to be kings.

We were invited to a block party this past weekend.  They had a very small bounce house, but it was perfect.  Tucker and Whitney LOVED it.  They played on it for a good two hours.  It was a little tikes bounce house, smaller than a trampoline, but perfect.  There was a guest speaker at the party and the bounce house was turned off so we could hear the guy talk.  Tucker thought he broke it by "making a mole hole" with his hand.

The best part of the block party was that T and W played with the other twins.  I couldn't believe it.  These twin girls are 11 and loved having a small child each to play with.  They were holding hands and playing chase games that ended bouncing on the bounce house.  Tucker and Whitney both kept holding the other twins' hands the rest of the night.  Tucker let her paint his ENTIRE face.  He was so still while she did it. Whitney was so enamored she almost had an accident, dancing like crazy while the other girl was painting her face.  Whitney must have been thinking she wouldn't finish if she had to go potty.

By chance Tucker talked Whitney into wearing her thing one shirt that day.  Usually it's his first shirt of choice after laundry is done.  That one or Thomas shirt.  Usually Whitney's first shirt pick of the week is a "magenta" one.  But Tucker pointed out that morning that her thing 1shirt was clean and he wanted her to wear it.  She agreed. It was a hit at the party that night.  During the day, though, Whitney was bossing Tucker around for play time.  He didn't like her idea.  She came running to me, crying, "Thing 2 isn't LISTENING!"

I've been teaching them to put their "decoration" pillow somewhere else and to not use it at night.  Whitney commented to me that she would put her decoration pillow "behind her fence".  I have to admit.  Her headboard does look like a fence.

We bought some diapers at a mexican store last weekend.  They smell like adobo chillis.  I kept smelling this odd smell whenever I changed Ethan's diaper.  I thought it was because I had eaten the meat and it was coming out in his poop.  But no.  It was the actual diaper.  I also had a laugh because it was the costco diaper pack opened and divided by the plastic inside bag and sold separately.

Jeremy commented that "whitney is smart for her own good" after I told him this.  We were driving back home after a long day of errands at the store, ending with me getting my hair cut.  Whitney said "Mom.  We've been really patient while you have been doing all your stuff.  Can we go to the park?"  Good point.  We stopped at the park.  Not for too long, though.  She got hungry and I didn't really have a good snack prepared for them, so we had to go home.

Milli came over to play.  I got out the dress up stuff for them.  Tucker decked himself out in all the blue stuff.  Blue butterfly wings and skirt and owl purse. The only thing that wasn't blue was the bright pink heels.  That made the other girls jealous.  They both wanted to wear the shoes.  Whitney came whining to me that Tucker wasn't letting her wear her shoes.  He came out fully dressed with this look on his face like I'm cute AND I have all the good stuff and am not sharing.  But then he quickly started to share, saying "I don't want those shoes.  I don't like those kinds of shoes."  I have to agree, Tucker.  Milli loved them, though.

I gave them snack outside one day.  Fish crackers of course.  Tucker dropped one and the ants swarmed within seconds.  Tucker and Whitney were squatted down, watching intently.  I told them not to feed the ants any more crackers or I would take away their fish crackers.  Tucker looked at me and said "But Mom!  The ants are HUNGRY!"  According to Tucker, poor, poor ants.  I have no such sympathy.  They made a nest in our wall.  Ask my mom how she helped discover this nest.

Jeremy loves to have a large supply of glow sticks.  He bought 300 of them on Amazon.  Amazon is not something he should be shopping on too often.  That's another story...  Anyway, back to the glow sticks.  He likes to give them each a glow stick every night.  It is his bribe weapon.  If they don't stay in their beds, their glow sticks get taken away.  On the box it says it is for children 4 and older.  We may have learned one reason why it says that.  Whitney was bending hers in half repeatedly.  And it suddenly exploded.  All over the bed, her hair and the blinds and the wall.  It actually looked kind of cool.  Like stars.   Thank heavens it was a glow stick that had no dyes.  Apparently this happened and I didn't know when it happened because one morning I went in and Meow meow (whitney's Hello Kitty pillow case) had a green, glow stick colored cheek.

When Jeremy left for his trip to Japan, I told Tucker that Grandma was coming while Papa was gone.  So as soon as his truck was gone, Tucker turned to me and asked where Grandma was. Here's how the conversation went: "where is she?   Is she at the beach?  Is it Thursday? (Yes, Tucker it is Thursday).  Oh.  We can go to the beach.  Is Uncle Scotti coming?  Long pause as he watched the thunderstorm outside.  I think the plants aren't thirsty anymore.  They don't need any more water.  Then we can go to the beach.  My dump's wheels turn in the sand at the beach.  I like the beach with the rocks."  Yes, Tucker.  We need to go the beach while we still can.  Sad will be the day when we have to quit that practice. 

A little bit of translation.  The last time my mom came, we went to the beach.  The last time we went to the beach happened to be a Thursday and happened to be a day when they asked me what day it was.  There are only two days to them.  Sunday and not Sunday, aka Thursday.  I often tell them that the reason it is raining is because the plants and trees are thirsty.  Tucker is pretty convinced that all plants turn into trees.  Tucker might have asked if Uncle Scotti was coming so he would know if he needed to hide Meow Meow from him.  Tucker has taken to hiding toys from friends before they come over so he doesn't need to share them. 

We've had this conversation, too.  Whitney wanted to send Aunt B a picture to "cheer her up".  So they both drew her pictures.  Tucker informed me that "Aunt B gets two pictures and Uncle Scotti and Uncle Ryan get no pictures.  They are bad ones.  Uncle Scotti took meow meow".  It's true.  Scott took Meow Meow from Tucker for a bit and hid him.  It obviously left a scar.  Not really sure why Uncle Ryan is in the mix.

I'm starting to feel really ghetto lately.  I keep insisting that Tucker doesn't need flip flops because it's going to get cold soon.  Apparently it's not getting cold enough fast enough.  The other day one of the Hello Kitty flip flops broke.  But lucky me (or lucky Tucker) it's the opposite foot from the one he lost in the blackberry bushes.  So now Tucker wears one Hello Kitty and one Mickey Mouse flip flop.  People just think he dresses himself.  No.  It's because his mom insists on not buying flip flops at the end of the season. 

just us hanging out

I was tired the other day.  I usually start yelling about how I have to clean up another mess. Not sure why...... but Whitney commented to me in the car that "sometimes you forget to be nice, Mom."  I had  a good laugh about that.  Yep.  You're right.  So we went to the park after that comment.  We all needed some fresh air and sunshine.  And not think about the messes to clean up at home.

Toy explosion in one day.  I really don't like cleaning these up.  neither do they. They solicit Papa's help every night

Whitney being cute

drying Tucky off

This pic is for you, Stef!  I love this outfit!

Eating snack in dump

Summer snack in dump

Ethan playing with the big kids

Ethan chillin' in Tucker's wagon

Paint chalk explosion.  They ran through the chalk paint they made and had a blast.  Pretty cute effects!

Tucker really wanted his own pic with Ethan in the box, but they were kind of big to both fit in together

Whitney and Tucker's favorite slide at this park

Three kids in a box train

Running through the heather bushes

Daddy and Ethan.  Daddy was checking out how well the new camera worked.  He got one using a credit for camera supplies.  He figured they didn't plan on him getting a whole new camera with the credit.  Another Jeremy way of thinking to help us out. 

With all this nice weather, the last thing I want to do is face reality.  Like clean the house or go shopping or cook.  So I've started to get a little inventive in our snacks and dinners because I don't want to lock us inside in a store.  Jeremy has been getting a little desperate with this great idea of mine and has started going random shopping, which means I've had to get more inventive with random stuff to cook with.  Tucker loves it.  He could totally eat goldfish forever, every meal, but I was trying to get him to eat some produce. I started offering him the usual fare of fruits one afternoon snack . He said no to all of them.  So I started offering veggies.  I started with bok choy.  He was really frustrated by then I hadn't offered goldfish yet and said "Bok choy is not a snack!  It's a dinner vegetable!"  I laughed pretty hard at that.

Ethan loves baths and to be tickled.  I was tickling him during his bath, which made him really start splashing.  Then I could tell he realized he really likes splashing, so he went crazy with his arms and legs like only a three month old can do.  His facial expression of "this is awesome" and his little legs pumping at such a rapid rate made me laugh.  Then he realized he liked making Mommy laugh and splashed some more.  What a cutie!

He talks a lot.  I don't remember Whitney and Tucker talking much until 4 months or later, and even then, mostly Tucker.  Whitney has always been quite an observer.  But not Ethan.  He loves to coo and chat up a storm.  He tells us about all sorts of stuff.  Not sure exactly what, but all sorts of stuff.

We haven't seen fiery flynn for four days.  Jake came over to play.  Tucker and Whitney were playing with Thomas and Fiery Flynn right before he came over.  Tucker started listing off all the toys he didn't want Jake to play with, so I told him he needed to put away any toys he didn't want played with so no one could play with them.  Whitney decided to take turns with toys instead of confiscating them.  But I don't know where Tucker put away Fiery Flynn.  So he hasn't played with it for four days because he can't remember, either.  But yet he still wants to confiscate toys when friends come.  I don't get it.

One day we had  great day at home.  Of course it was the day after I cleaned house.  Listen to all the great stuff they did. 

About 9 in the morning they decided to "play smoke".  This means throwing fine, powdery dirt at their wagons .  It makes their wagons smoke.

Since their wagons got all dusty from playing smoke, they needed a bath.  Giving them a bath in the bins brought on the idea of making chocolate cake with the dirt they previously used to play smoke.  Once the "baths/bins" cooked the cake, Tucker noticed my car was kind of dusty so he and Whitney washed my car with the dirty water while the car was parked inside the garage.  All this was going on while I was nursing Ethan.  I could see it all going down from the living room. None of it was life threatening, but seriously!  The day after I just washed all the floors!  I told them they had to stay outside the rest of the day.  As soon as they wanted to come in and play for any length of time, they would have to go straight into the bath. 

They were pretty good about this.  I brought them picnic lunch, snack and dinner outside.  After dinner, Whitney dashed into the house.  She remembered.  After her potty break, I heard the bath turn on.  She was getting straight into the bath, just like I told her earlier in the day. 

My best memory of that day was during lunch.  Whitney slung her arm around Tucker's shoulders like he was her best friend and they were just hanging out.  Tucker didn't slug her, but just sat nicely with this small grin on his face like "Yeah.  My sis and I are best friends"  One of the very few times they were touching each other without fighting.  It was so cute!  Of course the moment was gone in a flash.

Tucker pulled out a random Sammy memory.  Sometimes I think they don't remember the dogs, but they do.  Tucker explained to me the reason why he doesn't sit with his legs forward on the chair is because Sammy would lick his legs and "bite" him to eat the food.  Oh yeah.  Good point.

They've also got some memories of my dad.  Like repeating "Meow meow goes GULP!" which is what they played when Grandpa was helping get them ready for church.

Tucker is very sweet and loving with his brother.  He knows exactly how to comfort Ethan and loves the fact that he can do it for his little brother.  He offered to hold Ethan's hand today in the car when Ethan was screaming about having to be strapped in.  Only problem is Ethan can't reach over to touch Tucker's outstretched hand.  Bummer about being a baby and not being able to even touch the top of your own head.  As payback, Ethan shows how much he loves Tucker.  The other day when he was talking up a storm it totally sounded like he said Tucker.  We'll pretend it was his first word.  Tucker was plenty excited and considered it the real deal.

Tucker can also be sweet to me.  He likes to put lotion on my arms.  One night I put my feet in the bath and he "washed the sugar buggies off my knees". Apparently all germs are called sugar buggies.  That's what they call tarter, by the way.

And they are also sweet to their toys.  They gave shark a bath.  In the playroom.  Where there is lots of carpet.  Used almost the entire contents of the Hello Kitty water bottle.  Grrrrrrrr.  Dumb me.  I forgot I can't use the bathroom during the day.  Duh!

When we were at the beach they found some sticks and small logs to play with.  They got a Papa log, a Mommy log, and a baby log.  The baby log got to snuggle alternating with Mommy and Papa log.  The baby also got lots of rides on the log. I thought that was pretty inventive.  Along with inventing the fact that the pop beads are keys for "primary dump".  Primary dump got it's name from the primary colors it has on it.

I found out why they love nursery so much.  The larger version of Thomas and Fiery Flynn.  I heard them talking about it.  "Hey Whitney.  Let's get to nursery fast so no one else takes it first.."  Yeah.  They play Thomas for almost the entire length of church now.  Thomas is real.  Next is mostly likely to be My Little Pony.  Whitney said thank you to Jeremy the other night when he let her watch it.  While I was gone, obviously.

Whitney pointed out to me the other day that the big toe was a thumb and the little toe was a pinky.  I would like to pretend she is making good observations about anatomy.  Hah!  Right.  My artistic pink loving daughter.

grandparents in town!!

Grandpa Anderson, Scott, Dad, screaming Ethan, Bishop after Ethan's blessing.

Dad, me and Tucker playing music.  Dad was playing Tucker's one dollar plastic thrift store recorder.  Tucker was amazed and amused.  Meow meow is also present for picking out songs

All of us there for Ethan's blessing.  Dad, Mom, Scott, Whitney, me Ethan, Tucker, Jeremy, Paul, Cathy, Hannah

Our first five of us photo.  You might be seeing this again in December...

Ethan in his blessing outfit

No tie.  Much, much better

The next time someone comments on who Tucker looks like, I will show this picture of Uncle Scotti, I mean, Tucker

Grandpa Anderson and Ethan enjoying the summer evening

Aunt Hannah showing Ethan some of his favorite things to look at.  Trees

Grandma Kim, Grandpa, Uncle Scotti, Grandpa Anderson, Grandma An, and Hannah were all in town this weekend for Ethan's baby blessing.

Saturday we went blueberry picking, to a birthday party of a neighbor, to the beach, to get ice cream and Whitney went with Grandma to the store to run some errands (and get a treat snack) all in one day.  That night Ethan slept from 10:30 to 5 am.  Mommy and Ethan were tired, even if the big.
 kids seemed to do all right with all that running around.   I feel like I got hit with a hurricane of fun.

While Whitney was running errands with Grandpa and Grandma, Tucker and I got some serious one on one time playing.....  Thomas of course!  We played trains for an hour and a half.  One time he put the green eggs and ham eraser he got from Stefanie in Thomas's wagon and it pulled it around the track while I said "A train! A train!  Would you could you in a train?"  Then, suddenly he realized he hadn't seen Whitney in awhile and went looking for her.  That was another traumatic moment for him.  He realized she was gone AND he had been left by Grandma Grandpa.  He didn't really settle down about it until they got home.  Even though they got home late to go the birthday party with a bounce house.  Even the bounce house was not enough of a distraction for him to realize Whitney wasn't with him.  He didn't jump until she showed up with Grandma at the party.

Another day they were here, we went to a beach.  Tucker and Whitney had a great time trying to catch up to Uncle Scotti, who was in the lead.  Tucker exclaimed "Uncle Scotti escaped!"  They decided to bring their wagons and made up the game of baptizing them in the water.  Then they watered about a third of the beach pulling out their wagons each time.  The next day, this translated into baptizing them in their bins in the driveway.  As well as filling up their wagons with gas with the hose and cleaning their dumps until they were "clean and shiny".

On the way back from the adventure, my dad was driving to get home.  I made the mistake of saying to my brother that he was driving hungry.  So what does Whitney ask a few minutes later?  "Mom.  Why is Grandpa driving hungry?"  Ah yes.  My little parrot.  How could I forget?

Tucker didn't want to be left again, so he went and got into Grandma and Grandpa's car as soon as dinner was over and buckled himself in.

We were invited to a friend's house for swimming one day this week.  Tucker threw his flip flops high in the air in play during this time.  One went over the back fence into the greenbelt full of black berry bushes.  Hmmmmm..  We were unable to retrieve the flip flop.  It was very, very traumatic.  He was still upset about it when Papa got home 3 hours later.  I had already told Tucker that I wasn't going to buy him any more flip flops (only 3 weeks or so of summer) and that he could wear his shoes.  Jim wasn't too keen on the idea.  He wanted to buy flip flops due to the speed of leaving the house.  And for how sad Tucker was when he got home.  Whitney ended up solving the problem.  She generously gave Tucker her Hello Kitty flip flops to wear.  What a great idea!  He loves kitties!  Now he goes out with those things all the time, wearing them the "manly way" as someone commented, with the straps pulled up in front instead of in back of his ankles.

Tucker likes to call soba noodles "mistake noodles"  They are made from buckwheat, so they are really dark when they get cooked, but I still haven't figured out why he calls them that.

Whitney has exclaimed a few times "It's so much fun to have a baby!"  We are really liking our smiley happy and chubby baby.

Ethan grew out of the 0-3 month size.  It's taken me 2 days to switch over to the new wardrobe.  He was 13 pounds and 11 ounces at his 2 month doctor appointment.  He is 25% in height and 75% in weight, which makes for a cute chubby baby.  He is 88% in head, but I don't see his head as being too abnormal.  He has really started taking up talking up a storm.  He likes to talk with his mouth full already.  Hmmmm

Tucker and Whitney like running barefoot in the grass at the parks.  We've been having fun playing mommy cheep cheep and Tucker meow meow while chasing each other in the park.  We also play "capture" and "escape".  The other day Ethan was awake during one of these times and we played escape and capture with Ethan.  Tucker and Whitney initiated that play with Ethan.  It is so cute how they want to include him in their play already.

Whitney was playing that Tucker was her meow meow that was hungry while on the playground.  She told me to leave him alone, that she had to feed him, and for me to come back later.

They love to say good morning to Ethan already, too.

Whitney was learning how to be a good hostess when some friends came over.  She opted to take turns with her dump truck with the other kids while Tucker suggested that he hide his dump truck so they couldn't play with it.  He sat in his fort in it.  He eventually took it to the backyard so no one could play with it.  But they could play with his wagon.

They got out the tents again.  Amazingly, though, Whitney was able to pull Tucker around the hardwood floors with it as long as the tent was around her hips.  They also opened it and stuck their heads through some of the holes.  They asked me to put Ethan's head through the third hole

Whitney is pretty good at creating and designing.  She made Thomas a hideout out of blocks and likes to create train tracks that work.  She is good at it, too.

I asked Tucker once what his Papa does at work.  He didn't know.  I asked him what he does all day and what he does for work.  He informed me that I work really hard all day to take care of plants.  I give them lemonade." He did.  He spent a good part of an afternoon emptying out his plastic bin of water with a small bucket watering the plants.  The primroses mostly, but some rhododendrons, too.  He was hoping it would help them grow bigger and bigger until they were trees.  He made them lemonade by smashing up yellow chalk into the water in the bucket to turn the water yellow.   They also discovered that scribbling pre soaked chalk on the driveway and then put their hands in it, it's like finger paint.  He had a blast with that.  And it took two days to get the dye out of his hands.  So Tucker was Blue Chalk Tucker.

When I asked Whitney what Papa's job was, she said "Papa's job is to get glow sticks and watch movies".  I told Jeremy and he liked her answer.  I'm hoping she was talking about what Papa's job was to help the family.  I told her Ethan's job is to cheer us up, so she has been figuring out every one's jobs.

I had them stay with a friend while I went to Activity Days with Ethan.  When I picked them up Tucker informed me that "we shared the trampoline together".  Phew.  We've been having some discussions about how to take turns with toys when people come over or they go to play.

Tucker has been having fun with all the hair clips he finds throughout the house.  He says that the orange and blue ones are boy ones.  Whitney informed/screamed that no they are NOT!  He put a clip in his hair and said, "Look!  Now I'm a girl!"  Can't win with three year old logic.

One of the hard things about living here is that when it finally warms up enough to enjoy swimming, it is almost fall.  So my solution?  Go swimming every day we possibly can.  We've been to the beach at least twice a week, even though it is a major outing.  I know soon I won't want to be outside. 

One day we went to a beach that has a long walk to it, probably about a half mile one way.  No worries.  My big kids have plenty of energy to do the walk.  They usually do the walk no problem, but one day they needed to teach me some lessons. 

I had some major epiphanies on this particular walk.  I had asked them to pick the toys they wanted to carry to the beach.  They only wanted their dump trucks.  Tucker wanted it because the wheels turn in the sand, unlike the wagons.  However, these trucks are a bit on the heavy side.  Especially going up hill.  Like back to the car.  They both screamed and cried about how hard it was, how mad they were, etc all the way back to the car.  This is when I realized that the reason why God probably doesn't answer some of our questions or give us encouragement is because we are screaming too loud and are too mad to even consider the answer.  Like, wasn't it fun while you had the dump truck on the beach?  That makes zero sense to say when in the moment you are feeling the pain of walking the whole way bent over.  Or how about the option to leave the dump on the side of the trail?  No siree bob.  Another dumb thing to say.  They both kept repeating over and over that I should be the one to carry the dumps.  Hmph.  I told them in the beginning I wasn't going to carry any toys there or back.  Boy was it hard to stick to my guns about that one.  Or any answer at all to any screams?  Talk about a waste of my breath to try to talk over the screaming.  Hmmmmmm.  Something to think about the next time I wonder if God answers my prayers when I want.  It wasn't until we were at the car that any learning could happen.  Whitney decided next time we go to that beach she is definitely bringing her wagon instead.  Tucker was still convinced that dump is the best toy of choice because the wheels turned in the sand.  Sigh.

We went to Jeremy's company picnic.  We thought our kids would like a variety of things this year.  Hah!  Nope.  They just got stuck at the bounce houses LONGER this year than last year.   I think they played in those things for 2 hours straight.  They only took a break because we wanted a change of scenery.  It was warm for us and Tucker was sweating and red faced, but they kept laughing and running and playing.  During the forced break, they had a spray paint station, kind of like face paint.  They could pick out a stencil and have the colors sprayed on.  Tucker insisted on picking out the Seattle city sky line.  Whitney went for a turtle.  They wash off fairly easy.  Tucker's city faded to just yellow after the bath and Tucker showed Whitney: "Look at my city!"

Ethan waking up the morning after lots of late night crying.  Papa had put the glow sticks up for him to look at in hopes of calming him.  He's happy now!

Snuggle nap

Happy grandbaby Ethan

Dump.  At the said beach

Ethan loves to take a bath with his siblings the best.  They love to cover him in bubbles

Whitney with said dump

ahhhh..... summer

Whitney put Tucker in his pillow case.  He was her baby

Ok.  I can't figure out why I can get the text to start only here.  Whatever.

W:  The picture they colored in nursery had an Adam and Eve on it.  The entire picture was green, except for Eve.  She was completely pink, "because she loves pink, Mom".  She also made pictures in church and put them on Ethan's car seat "to cheer him up".  During the week she was thinking of people she could give her pictures to to cheer them up.  One of them was Stefanie for sending them a package full of Dr. Suess booty.

One day Tucker was beating Whitney up as usual.  I wasn't putting Ethan down fast enough for Whitney.  She told me "Mom!  You put Ethan with his toys and I'll take care of him while you put Tucker in time out".

She is also good at the art of distraction with Tucker.  He started taking over her rock at the playground one day.  She started listing off all these other activities Tucker could do at the park that didn't involve him being on her rock.  He didn't go for it, but I thought that was pretty resourceful of her.

E:  Starting to fit tightly into 0-3 month size clothes.  On to the next wardrobe.  Getting more predictable with his eating and sleeping schedule.  Sleeps from 10 pm to 2 am fairly consistently, which mommy loves because waking up between those hours is the most torture for her.  Had one night of sleeping from 10:30 to 5 am.  But he sleeps like this only if in his swing.  It doesn't have to be on, just he needs to be in it. Hates the bed. 

Lifting his head up from the floor quite nicely.  Making even more cute cooing noises.  Still loves being outside more than any other place.  Likes to be with people.

His favorite baths are when he takes them with his siblings.  He never cries during those baths.  Tucker likes to cover his whole body with bubbles.  I think Ethan loves it.

T: I've started assigning Tucker and Whitney parts for family home evening.  I apparently should have done that a long time ago.  Tucker LOVES being in charge of the activity.  We all played "in the closet" as he called it.  We all sat in the closet, Whitney, Tucker, Ethan and I, in the dark closet.  Tucker and Whitney got in and out to go "to the ice cream store" that was on their bed.  Tucker and Whitney fed Ethan and I pretend ice cream.  It sounds simple and lame but boy did we have fun together. 

W and T

They went to the dentist again.   They couldn't wait.  For the past two weeks they've been recounting to me all the details of the last dental visit, like the chocolate toothpaste, the toys, the prize they picked out, etc.  Tucker points out the dental office location whenever we pass it. 

Whitney told me to "go be with Tucker" when I went in to check on her.  She didn't have any cavities this time, but the dentist said she is close if she doesn't start seriously brushing her teeth correctly.  Hmmm.  Chewing on the toothbrush doesn't count??!!  This means I'll be doing it.   Whitney picked out a pinwheel. 

Tucker did really well at the dentist with the check up thing.  Since he has better teeth, better tooth brushing skills and less of a sweet tooth, it was faster.  He wanted to hold my hand during the whole thing, so good thing Whitney let me be with him.  He loved the cars in the waiting area the best and picked out a plastic flower ring out of the treasure box.

They also had their first play date separate.  Blue Chalk Joe's mom suggested we trade kids.  So Whitney got to stay with her friend while Joe came to our house.  I asked Whitney if she liked playing at Aisley's house.  I got a very enthusiastic YES!.  She came back with her hair braided.  When she walked into the house she said "I'm not happy with this mess" as they had gotten out all "her" toys, too.

Things at my house were strangely quiet.  I think both boys missed their twin sisters.  Joe doesn't talk much.  At least, he didn't talk much while he was checking out all the toys and the dirt pile in front.  Tucker sang to himself a bunch, but pretty much just flopped around on the floor.  A few times he played with Joe, trying to start a game of stinky diaper.  But Joe just looked at him and said what are you talking about.  He tried to make sense of Tucker by asking him if he was being a baby,  but Tucker just said no, and Joe was confused.

Lunch time was eaten in complete silence.  Joe commented he missed his sister during that time. When I asked Tucker if he liked playing with Joe, he said yes, then said, "Joe took my train and I took his.  We traded."  That's all.  No comment about trying to play frisbee, kick ball or golf together.  They did chase each other for a few minutes while jumping on shark and whale.  They were also confused about why the other uses the potty so differently and had a big discussion about that together.  Joe got tired of trying to convince Tucker to join in games, that he started asking me to play kick ball and frisbee.  Hmmmm.  I guess Tucker needs more practice in the games boys play.

Tucker played "catching crabs" with the cooler that Jeremy uses to transport his crab.  I think Tucker put a bunch of rocks and pine cones in. 

Now that Sammy and Rocky aren't around, we get deer and rabbits in our yard.  Apparently we also get ants, too.  Tucker found them first in the kitchen in the morning.  He grabbed his one last flip flop (more on that later) and "got it with my flip flop, Mom" smashing it good and dead. 

Tucker was having a hard time going to bed.  He has started asking for a specific number of songs, usually "11 songs".  Jeremy went in one time to help settle him down.  One of those days I had had it and just walked out of their room.  Jeremy rarely sings, but he'll do anything for his kids, including singing songs.  When Jeremy came back out from singing his "11 songs"  I asked him what 11 songs he  picked.  He told me he was glad Tucker didn't know how to count how many songs.  He only got through Twinkle Twinkle Little star and This Old Man.  Tucker requested "temple" (I love to see the temple), but Jeremy commented he didn't know the tune.  Either way, Jeremy sings for Tucker.  So cute!

We got together with some friends to go the beach park, eat dinner and go kayaking together.  We had a blast.  We picked up Milli and Emi around four, got to the park and ate pizza that they brought for all of us.  Then we played in the water and the playground until the husbands arrived with the kayaks.  She is 6 months pregnant and I'm not about to do really heavy lifting as of yet.  Still out of shape in some regards.  My friend liked kayaking, so maybe I'll have a buddy for next summer.  She is probably done for the summer.

I got this great idea to get the carpets cleaned the day before my family came into town.  Not sure it worked out like I thought.  The plan was for carpet cleaning to take out the dog smell, but all it did was make our house smell like wet dog.  Grrr.  Now I believe everyone.  You just plain have to replace the carpet.  Sigh.  I'll wait for Ethan to potty train and then do it.  I had moved all the furniture around to get it off the carpet, so no spot would be missed.  Whitney asked me several times "why does it look weird in here?" 

We decided to go on a road trip a bit to the Olympic Pennisula.  I had no idea how far away it was.  I was thinking like, the Alpine Loop up Provo Canyon.  Nope. Beautiful but long.  We didn't get very far once we go there, either.  It was really late.  And I made the mistake of reading with Whitney on a windy road.  We ended up stopping at a beautiful place and Whitney and  Tucker were amused with how Papa lifted the entire car seat and Whitney in it to do the clean up while I fed Ethan.  It actually turned out to be a beautiful day.  We stopped at some random playgrounds for Ethan feedings and that was really fun.  We found a cool see saw that was an arch in design.  And another cool playground overlooking a clam bed in the Sound that was very quiet.   We looked for whales (apparently there is a traveling clan in the Sound that has been close to the beaches) while we were on the ferry.  No whales, but the lights from the ferry revealed some jellyfish.  Very cool summer day.
 

Tucker dutifully buckling Meow meow in.  It's like having four kids in car seats.  I have to wait for four buckles before driving

Ethan at the beach while the rest of us ate pizza, swam and kayaked

A picture that Ethan is being somewhat still.  2 months old

Me trying to get a two month old photo op.  This camera requires the people to be completely still, otherwise it blurs the object.  Really annoying when taking pics of babies and toddlers.  This is one of the best ones

It was the grocery store courtesy clerk's idea.  He told me I had plenty more room in the car for stuff and that I should continue shopping.  So I bought a plant and pretended the van was a truck.  We had the plant, plus all the stuff that was in the trunk (stroller, froggy, swimming ring that was left in there, you know) and all the groceries, plus three kids in car seats

Tucker let Ethan snuggle Meow meow

Papa practicing skipping rocks with the big kids. Whitney's outfit is a result of Mommy forgetting that Whitney gets motion sickness on windy roads.  We were reading. In the back seat. Oopps!

Mommy and Ethan at the shores of a lake that reminds me of Lake Tahoe a bit.  Freezing cold, but clear water.  The mountains were more spectacular, though.  Felt like summer.

More results of McKinnley playing.  They have been making tea parties and setting tables.  This one was quite the spread of food.  The empty spot was my spot.  Even Meow Meow had a spot.  Another creative use for Whitney's ever growing rock collection

Whitney painting.  She is getting the hang of painting her smiley faces.  She also painted a whole bunch of fences.  Like literally tons.  About 30 of them all on different pieces of paper

Putting hair bows on dump.  That's what they told me. After stripping the yucca plant flowers.  Good thing I'm not a particular fan of the yucca plant flower as a whole.  It was a hot day.  Probably 85 degrees. 

The three burritos.  Amazingly the last kid on the right is 1.5 years younger than them, but weighs the same as Tucker.  She's really cute, though, and they absolutely love to play together

Their friend's dad hydrating the children, one by one.  I took a picture of it because Tucker and Whitney loved the attention of being fed water, something I won't do.

blurry photo op of ethan at two months

Miss Stefanie sent them an awesome package in the mail.  Complete with bubble wrap.  Couldn't be cooler.  It was all Dr. Seuss stuff.  They stuffed their bags with bubble wrap.  Tucker using the bag in a very practical manner.

Whitney creating the stilts for Thomas, Fiery Flynn and small bus.  Car and James are too big

Two boys and one girl playing

Ethan trying to be a big kid