Fun and Trouble

It has been hot and muggy here, but until this weekend, there has been no rain. The grass was so dry and dead that it crunched when you walked on it. It looked like it had been freshly mowed when we came back from our 2 weeks away in Florida. Yep, it was so dry and dead it hadn't grown at all while we were gone! To assist the grass is growing I let the girls play outside in the pool and they did a nice job of watering the area around them. And the next day we got rain. We've had rain off and on for the past few days and it is joyous to see the grass turn green and grow! I never thought I'd be happy to see rain, but I am.

Here are my swimmers. Delaney was so funny with her sunglasses. Marian wanted me to take a picture of her while she was swimming. She didn't understand that I want to see her face.

So, here is Marian, swimming. See how well she puts her face in the water? It comes in handy now that we're going to the base pool twice a week or so!

Callie played in the pool and then she was off with the tricycle making me laugh.

And I did mention that there is trouble brewing in the house, didn't I? Rylee is 9 1/2 months old and she is moving! Joshua and Marian count her steps whenever they see her walking and her record is currently 37 steps. Today I watched her stand up without help, toddle across the room, crouch down to pick up a toy and stand back up again. She is big trouble!

She's also a wee bit blurry. Its hard to get a picture when she moves so fast!

And her dress is too cute. I think Marian got it as a gift from my in laws and all the girls have worn it. I love it.

Check out that face. She is looking so grown up and adorable here.

I think I am going to have to start stalking Joshua, paparazzi style I don't have many pictures of him......

Pull my hair out vs. laugh at it all

The most common phrase around the house right now seems to be "Duh-LANEY!!!!" That kid. I swear she may be the death of me. She is such a crack up, and then she just does things that make me crazy. Last Sunday, in the middle of sacrament meeting, she threw her shoe over the pew in front of us. Since we sit in the second row, it rebounded off the podium with a thud. It was not my proudest moment.

This past week has been even more fun. The other night, all the kids were sent to bed and it was quiet up there. I went up to get ready for some shut-eye myself and discovered that Delaney was not only NOT asleep, she was not in bed. She was in the bathroom making the toilet water pink. Pink with what, you ask? Pink with the Dora toothpaste that was also smeared all over the counter and floor. She was stirring it in the toilet with her hands when I discovered her. And yes, the water was pink.

Another night, Joshua came to tell me Delaney had thrown a towel away. I wasn't paying attention, and thought he just meant that she had thrown the hand towel on the floor. When I went to the bathroom later, I saw that there was, indeed, a towel in the trash. When I picked it up, I noticed it was coated with lotion. My very expensive moisturizing lotion. Delaney had poured it out and wiped it up with the towel. Since there was so much on the towel, she thought it needed to be thrown away. Aaack!

Delaney likes to be independent. This means that this week alone she has spilled 3 cups of milk that she poured herself, dumped a can of pineapple on the floor as she tried to drain the juice, nearly clogged the toilet as she used half a roll of TP and 40 flushable moist wipes when she went to the bathroom like a big girl, and she smeared peanut butter all over the counter as she scraped the jar with a spatula so she could make her own sandwich. Did I mention that she is 3? Not even 3 and a half? She is a full time job!

She does make up the most fascinating stories. Today I was informed that her grandma gave her her "skirt" for Christmas. Since I had just given her the scarf (not a skirt) 2 days prior, I know where it came from, and from whom. She told me her daddy didn't like her to go to bed, and she related a very elaborate story about chasing kittens out of the tree tonight. I really need to just strap a voice recorder to her to catch all this stuff. There was something that had me in stitches and I was going to remember it to share with you, but of course I have forgotten it. My favorite one is still when she looked at me, then looked at her empty hand, and in that sweet voice said, "I don't have a cookie in my hand!"

Watch Out World!

Last week Rylee was getting comfortable taking one step at a time. Tonight, with much cheering and encouragement from her big brother and sister, she demonstrated that she has become much braver. Marian claims it is because she (Marian) has been teaching Rylee to walk. However it may have happened, Rylee is on the move! Here she is at just over 9 months!

Every good thing comes to an end

Our time in Florida is over. We had a marvelous time and it was even better than my wildest dreams. To be honest though, my wildest dreams really just had us surviving the 2 weeks there. The fact that it went so well, that everyone had fun, and we all got along was a bonus. Fabulous weather and wonderful memories was the icing on the cake. I was actually sad to leave! I thought going home would be a relief (due to my children, not so much the extended family!), but the time went so well that I did not want to go home. But we did. We got home yesterday evening after 2 days and about 13 hours of traveling. The kids were surprisingly great for the drive as well. So I declare the Great Florida Vacation to be a success!

For the most part, I haven't got anything new to say, except that with all these cranky kids, I'm wishing I was still in Florida! And I don't really have pictures of us doing anything new, but I'm going to put some up anyway!

This is us. This is all of Dan's side of the family that was there. These are all the people that were squeezed into a very large beach house for a week. And these are the people I had a wonderful time with!

And they did not spend all their time at the beach! Joshua was thrilled to have cousins who had Nintendo DSs. He has wanted one for a very long time, but I refuse to buy something so expensive that I really don't want him playing anyway. He was happy to spend his free time playing on the DS while he could.

Here are all the kids on the balcony of the beach house. Aren't they great?! And yes, that would be my child, climbing on the railing.

Delaney said, "Take a picture of me with my eyes closed!"

The kids and and adults spent a lot of their beach time over the course of the week digging holes. They dug one up high enough that it lasted a while. It lasted until Marian climbed into it and Callie and I helped to bury her.

After Marian climbed out of the fairly deep hole. Callie lay down in it and we buried her! I love, love, loved that the girls played nicely together. There was so much less unkindness going on last week. It was so nice to see my girls getting along.

And these 2 had a lot of fun too. I don't know how many castles were built and then stomped on. It was about as much fun as the water itself.

I am grateful to have a wonderful family. I am so blessed to have wonderful in-laws. I think it was my sister-in-law who said she kind of imagined that the Celestial Kingdom would be like the beach house. We would all be together and having fun and enjoying each other. I hope it will be like that. I am so blessed!

Hanging with the Family

I don't know if I mentioned that we are now at a beach house with all of Dan's family. This is the first time in 8 years that Dan's entire extended family (okay, minus one) has managed to all get together at the same time and place. It has gone better than I expected and the kids are having a marvelous time. I am not a fan of sand, and the stuff is EVERYWHERE! It doesn't bother the kids at all. And they have had so much fun at the beach. We were able to get everyone together for family pictures and a big group shot yesterday morning. It went surprisingly well.

So, we have played on the beach. We have played in the water. We have played in the house and it has been wonderful. In completely random order, I will now document the experience in pictures:

Rylee made it to the beach once. It was not fun. She did not want anything to do with the water and she only wanted to eat sand. Then she only wanted to be held.

This was last night when Dan took the kids for a "walk" down the beach. They were not suppose to get wet.

Right, just a walk down the beach; no going in the water!

Yesterday Delaney spent 90 minutes playing in the sand. She would not go near the water. Just as I was ready to start collecting the kids for the 50 yard walk back to the house, Delaney suddenly became brave.

And here is Callie, with her lovely attitude at Family Pictures. Such a grump! But oh how cute she is.

Yesterday morning at the beach. So much fun for Callie!

Silly shot after our family picture. Delaney was done and ran behind me, so she's not in this one. We are so funny.

Joshua had a great time in the little waves.

Delaney has had a great time with her cousins. She has 2 cousins the same age as her and she's having so much fun with them.

Callie cracks me up.

Sunday morning with my crew. One of the very few pictures with me in it.

I love this picture of Dan and his dad.