Waaaaaaaahhhhh

This is our new toothbrush holder. I think it's really funny. "Hiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!"

He wants long hair.

Micah so desperately wants long hair. He finds blankets, washcloths, burp cloths, or his favorites, Dylan's jammy shirts, and converts them into makeshift wigs. He'll flick his head around to feel his "hair" swaying on his back. Sometimes he'll pull it back into a "ponytail" with both hands for a few moments. It's more than a little disturbing.

I was telling this gal in my ward, Colette, about Micah's "wigs," and she told me that her daughter, Melissa, used to do the same thing. I guess Melissa's hair was kind of thin and wispy and short when she was little, so she compensated by making pretend hair out of damp washcloths. One day, she went to a clothing store with her folks, and she disappeared. They looked all over for her and finally found her wearing a wig that had been on a mannequin. I guess she had gone up to the mannequin and shaken it really, really hard to get the wig to fall off so she could put it on her head. I think that is the funniest story ever. So cute. It's especially cute becuase she's a GIRL. Micah's a BOY. I don't think it's cute that he wears shirt hair. I think it's weird and worrisome. Also weird and worrisome - his penchant for playing with girl toys, and his preference for wearing Sadie's shoes. Weird, worrisome Micah. WWM. Be a man, Micah! Throw a ball around! Make truck noises! Convert any toy into a gun! Please!

Troy's Boithday

My sweet nephew, Troy, turned four a couple of months ago. He doesn't look like he's four, because he's a very tiny man, but he acts like he's 20. Very mature. He has always liked hanging out with the adults when we get together. It's really cute. He also has crazy strong stomach muscles and can scale any vertical thing. He's freakishly strong. My favorite Troy story - Like a year or two ago, Troy was kind of grumpy, whining and whatnot. Nat said, "Troy, are you tired?" "No," he wailed, "I'm just AWESOME!!" That makes me laugh so hard. He's adorable.

We had a leetle get-together to celebrate. Mom and I (obviously, I was still pregnant):

That shirt is so stained. I gave it to Megs, along with all the rest of my preggie clothes. Megs, you can just throw that shirt away. Or use it to sleep in or something. I'm kind of embarrassed I put it in the maternity clothes box that I gave to you. I'm also embarrassed that a couple of maternity garmies got left in that box, too. I really thought I had taken them all out and disposed of them properly. Sorry about the awkwardness you felt in having seen my maternity skivvies. :)

I took a pic of Dad when he walked in. He was a few minutes late - I think he had been golfing:

Me, Dylie, and Mom:

Ivy was mad about something, and my dad is really, really tan:

Troy opening his presents:

Ivy got a Littlest Pet Shop at McDonald's that day. (Sadie still calls them "Littlest Ketchups," "Ketchups" for short. Yesterday, she told Megs' husband, Mark, that she got some Ketchups for her birthday. He was thoroughly confused.) She was sooo excited:

Troy's new bike:

I cannot get over how much Troy looks like Nat when she was a kid. They are children twins, just like Dylan and I are children twins.

Dude, I still haven't gotten Sadie a bike yet, and she's FIVE! That's on the agenda for next summer, for sure.

Happy Birthday, Stumpy!!

Le Picnique

If I recall correctly, "picnique" is French for "picnic." I may be totally off-base with that. And I can't remember if it's feminine or masculine. I took a stab at it with "le." I had to take all of this French in college, and as soon as I was done with that last, horrible essay test, I expelled all French from my brain, except for really unusable sentences, like, "Il y a beaucoup de fourchettes aux Etats-Unis dans le frigo avec le bier de fromage." That means, "There are a lot of forks in the United States in the fridge with the cheese beer."

About a week before I went into labor, my sweet ma took my kids and me on a Kentucky Fried Chicken picnic. Ohhhh, how I love their biscuits. I could eat them for every meal.

We sat just inside Lilac Circle in Tautphaus Park. Have I told you that lilacs are my favorite flower? True story. They were finished blooming at this time, unfortunately.

Dylan was REALLY hyper:

That's him, doing a backbend on the bench. Fun times. Dylan? Hyper? you ask. Yes. Yes, he was. Mom gave him a chore to occupy himself, telling him to pick up the garbage around Lilac Circle. Apparently, someone had a birthday party there, and they left tons and tons of garbage on the grass. Mom paid Dylan one cent per piece of garbage picked up. Pretty nice wages, if you ask me. He got tired of it after picking up about 20 things. If I had been in his place, I would have been running around, picking up garbage and counting, for hours. I like having money.

There was a lady mowing the lawn in the distance:

And Micah kept a very, very close eye on her. He's scared of lawnmowers, if you recall:

He is so cute. I love those cheeks of his. So soft and kissable.

Mom and Mikey:

Sades, using her spork:

I think "spork" is fun to say.

As you can see in that pic, Sadie is wearing her hair down. Sadie has been asking me to keep her hair down a lot lately. She always says, "I want my hair smoove." (Meaning "smooth." She can't make that final /th/ sound.) Speaking of Sadie's hair, she gave herself a haircut yesterday. Just one chop, in the front, up to her chin. I told her we might have to cut her hair all to her chin, and she cried and cried. So I said that we could probably get it layered. Next month, when Ben gets paid again. I'm glad it wasn't a horrible hack job. My friend Lyndsay's daughter just cut her own hair (with the help of her brother), and mama mia. There was some major damage done. :)

Anyways. Thanks, Ma. Going out to lunch every now and then really makes life feel a little less hard.

We gotta stick together.

I grew up with all sisters, so I really don't understand little boys. I'm often staring at one of them, mouth agape, thinking, "What on earth is your problem???" I once asked Pooh something like that - "Why does Dylan DO these things?" She said, very sensibly, "He just figured it was a good idea." Pooh grew up with two brothers - she gets it. I went on a camping trip with her family when I was in high school, and her brothers made fun of me the whole weekend. I was so offended and hurt - "Why won't they leave me alone? Do they hate me??" She was like, "That's just how they communicate, Kar."

I totally understand Sadie - the ultrasensitivity, the quiet, by-herself playing... this is stuff I get. It's fun to do little girl bonding things together. If I had money, we would go get mani-pedis together. Go clothes shopping together. Maybe someday.


I hardly ever get the time to do my hair and makeup. Whenever I do have a moment to throw on a little, Sadie and Micah are so mesmerized by the whole process. They both always ask me to put makeup on them. I tell Micah that he is a boy, and boys don't wear makeup. Sometimes I worry about that kid. On Sadie, I only do a little bit of mascara and eye shadow:

Some things from the above picture worth pointing out:
1. I was still pregnant.
2. We were baby-sitting Daisy - she's in the far right of the picture.
3. There is a sheet on the couch. This is because I slept on that dang couch every single night of my pregnancy. My bed felt so hard and flat. I'm now, happily, back to sleeping with my hubby again. Except for two nights ago. He had something with tons of garlic in it for lunch that day, and he STUNK. I had to sleep on the couch. I couldn't stand the smell. I swear it was oozing out of his pores.
4. Look at how messy my living room is. Those are piles of folded laundry on our ottoman. My ottoman looks like that right this very minute.

Here is my beautiful little girl, sporting some makeup:

I love her hair that way.

Handlebar

Dylan is a total scrounge. He is always picking junk up off the ground, from parking lots, from behind restaurant benches, etc. It's really gross. His eyes are constantly scanning the ground for dropped pennies or other treasures. He came upon these lovely items in the Winco parking lot:

They're pretend sideburns. They actually were still in their little package and hadn't been opened yet. I told Dyl what they were, and where they go, and he didn't believe me. He swore up and down that they were two pieces of a pretend moustache. I let it go. Some arguments are just not worth getting into.

Tinian's Beginian

My friend, Megs, had her baby a couple of weeks before I had mine. I was so happy for her! She was one miserable preggo lady. We were in the Miserable Preggo Ladies' Club. I was president. She was vice president. Patty was secretary.

They named him Tinian - he weighed a solid nine pounds. It was the summer of the big babies, I guess! (Except for Gage. But he was big for his earlyness. The biggest one in the NICU, by far.) I visited Megs a couple of times in the hospital. I saw her the day after she had Tinian - I was quite literally in the neighborhood, since I was still getting my weekly ultrasounds at that point. Which we will be paying off for roughly one million years. And then I think I either visited her later that night with sno cone in tow, or maybe the next day. I am of the opinion that when one visites someone else, they should always, always bring a sno cone. Can I get a what-what??

Marky-Mark holding the little man:

We should call Megs' family Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Yep, I've decided. That is how they will forthwith be known.

Megs, radiant and smiling:

I'd be smiling too, if I was pint-sized, yet successfully pushed out a nine-pounder. I'm proud of you, Megs.

Tinian is be-a-utiful. He smells amazing and has the softest hair this side of the pecos. He always sleeps and rests with at least one arm up over his head. He loves, loves, loves being held and snuggled. He is the identical twin to his brother, Brynnan. Jonas and Brynnan take wonderful care of him. They are fantastic brothers. Tinian eats like a champ and is pleasingly plump. He has held his head up almost from day one. He's a strong little tyke.

Hooray for baby boys!! Have you noticed how many boys people are having lately, versus girls? Is it just me, or are there wayyyy more boys than girls being born these days? A gal in my ward thinks this is because the second coming is soon, and Heavenly Father needs more boys to fight. I don't like to think about that AT ALL.