We got ourselves into some trouble at Costco this weekend when we stopped to watch the Vitamix blender lady do her thing. We got sucked in and stood there for probably 30 minutes and had 4-5 different concoctions that she made. Anyway, we ended up buying one! We were excited to bring it home and try it. I love smoothies!
So this is just some random stuff that we had. Some fruit juice concentrate, frozen grapes, strawberries (you don’t even have to take the green part off!) a banana, a whole apple (I told Neil to cut the apple in half at least but he threw the thing in there completely whole) and a load of ice.
Blending!
Delicious. Smoothies are so good for you so this really is going to be a great thing to have. Jamba Juice will not be getting any more of my money.
I have also made baby food, soup, playdough, many smoothies, and ice cream and we’ve only had it for 4 days.
Even Lucas approves!
You can tell we are boring people when we get excited over a kitchen appliance.
Our little guy is 8 months old already! He has a lot of different nicknames (Junior Dos, JD, JR, Lukie) and also Thunder Buns because he is packing around some serious thunder! Look at that fat thigh.
I just love his chubby carcass.
8 month milestones: He is trying wanting to crawl but just can’t figure out how to get those knees to work for him. He rolls and rolls all over though. When he gets somewhere he likes he will sit up and play for a while, then go back to rolling. He eats really well and likes most fruits and veggies. Doesn’t like applesauce or pears though. Loves to feed himself crackers and those Mum Mum crispy cracker things. Just recently started using his pincer grasp to pick up little pieces of food. Loves watching Baby Einstein movies and will sit completely still in the bouncer while watching.
And just for fun- buns from left to right; Bethany 4 months, Julia 4 months, Luke 8 months.
Julia has finally gotten to the point where she is used to having Luke around and they play together pretty well. She used to smother the heck out of him and he would cringe when he saw her coming near him. It was a really annoying phase.
She likes to play with him in his crib when he wakes up from his naps, and he likes it too. Julia brought her blankets this time and they played in there for quite a while.
Lately we haven’t been doing anything exciting…same old, same old. The only difference is that we are adjusting somewhat to Neil’s new calling in the bishopric. So far it has been great, he is gone a little bit more during the week and Sundays are hard on my back and feet (a 21 pound baby + high heels = no bueno!!) but we are feeling the blessings from it so it’s all good!
I was clearing off the table the other day and came across this letter that Bethany wrote to Kevin. It is a little hard to decipher so I thought I would just put it here. He checks the family blogs so he’ll still see it.
It says: Dear Kevin, I really miss you. We have been growing. Love, Beth. We really do miss you Kevin and think about you every day!!
Luke is definitely growing! He is rolling all over and wants to crawl but can only manage to stay on his hands and knees for a few seconds before falling on his tummy. He also likes to make this fake coughing noise all the time that is so cute…it gets even louder when he is super excited.
He likes to bounce so he has been enjoying the jumper:
The above picture is actually Bethany. Just wanted to see if you would notice. They look a lot alike!!
He has been sleeping SO much better lately. He used to wake up every 2 hours so he usually ended up in my bed at night. A few weeks ago I got tired of having him in my bed but he would not sleep in his crib, so I put him in there anyway and just let him cry himself to sleep since there was nothing else I could do. He has slept like a little angel ever since! He sometimes wakes up once at night now but usually he sleeps all night and Neil brings him to my bed when he leaves for work in the morning. I took this picture the other morning just to demonstrate what a bed hog he is!
Also this year we have started a rotating date night with Clint and Krista’s families. Every Friday someone watches all 9 of the cousins while the other two couples go on a date night. Last Friday it was our turn to watch all the munchkins.
What is funny is when Laken finds some chapstick and smears it all over her face when you’re not looking. :)
Neil’s grandpa Adams passed away last month. He was a great man and will be missed very much. His funeral was on Wednesday the 18th of January. This was the ONE day this winter that it snowed, and Julia was outside playing in it before the sun was even completely up.
Bethany went to school for half a day and then we picked her up and headed to Emmett for the funeral. It was a beautiful service and Grandpa should be proud. I brought my camera along to take a few pictures but forgot to bring my camera battery (duh blondie!) so I got this picture off of Heidi’s facebook of the pall-bearers at the graveside dedication (all grandsons).
A few things that I want to remember that grandpa always said: ”Why go to bed angry when you can stay up and fight?” (Which must have been a popular comment from him because it was mentioned several times, even by a speaker at his funeral), and “Never wake up grumpy…just let her sleep in.” I loved his humor! Goodbye grandpa, we love you and we will take good care of Grandma. ♥
About a month ago I bought myself a ticket to Portland to visit Becky with some Southwest points that I had. I left the girls at home with Neil for the weekend and had myself a nice time with my favorite sister.
Here we are leaving the Portland airport and heading to her place.
My little Luke in the backseat. He slept for the entire flight and just woke up as we were getting off the plane.
Becky and Klayton have a little townhouse/apartment that backs up to a big hill and lots of greenery and WILDLIFE! Just a few minutes after getting to her place we looked out the door and saw an opossum! I have never in my life seen a dang opossum but there it was, just eating an orange peel. It got scared when we tried to take it’s picture but I snapped one right before it got away.
But that’s not all! They get a nightly visit from these three…
It’s like a zoo back there or something. Anyhoo, we didn’t have a whole lot planned except for two things, The first was a visit to IKEA which is the greatest store ever. I brought an empty suitcase with me in anticipation of filling it with goodies from this very cool store.
Excited to be at IKEA!
Luke got bored in the stroller so I moved him to the wrap and carried him for the next several hours that we were in the store. He loves the wrap and is always content in it.
This is the part of the store where Keaton always likes to look up at the Big Ass fan on the ceiling.
See…it literally is a Big Ass Fan! Ha ha.
The babies had a bath when we got home.
Six months apart in age, but the same size jammies.
“Gimme that foot Keaton!”
“Here Luke, you have something in your nose. I’ll get it.”
The next thing we planned was a trip to the Clackamas mall. It turned out that I wasn’t in much of a shopping mood so we mostly just checked out the stores and I got the girls a few things and browsed around for a while. Luke was in the wrap again and he eventually fell asleep in it.
On our way home from the mall we stopped to look at the river. Becky’s actual town is Oregon City, and I think it is beautiful. There is gorgeous scenery everywhere; the river, old bridges and buildings, tons of greenery, cobblestone and such.
Later that evening we went to dinner and then spent the rest of the evening watching funny youtube videos and practicing the PartyRock Shuffle. The next morning it was time to go home, boo hoo.
I got a window seat this time, which I love!
And I am not kidding I saw my own house from the sky. I first saw lake Lowell and from there I traced the railroad tracks and spotted my neighborhood. I wished I had my camera in hand at that moment. Luke was a good boy again on the flight home and flirted with the lady next to us the whole way. That boy is a charmer.
I forgot to mention in the Christmas post that the big gift from us for the girls was that they were going to get their ears pierced. They have been wanting real earrings for a long time, so they were thrilled to find out that it was actually going to happen. We set a date for Friday to go and have a fun day at the mall.
They were stoked. The plan was that Bethany would go first because she is the oldest. In the car ride over she says to Julia, “Julia, do you want to go first?” and Julia said yes. I could tell at this point that Bethany was scared! It was quite funny hearing her talk her little sister into going first.
So, we headed to Claire’s to pick out earrings!
What a tough girl! I could tell that she wanted to cry but she was being strong. Looks like it hurt to me!
Bethany was up next:
Nicely done. Two little girls got their ears pierced without even crying. Next, we took them upstairs to Build a Bear. They got some money to spend there from Grandma and they had never been there before, so they were excited. Bethany chose the confetti cupcake bear and Julia wanted Hello Kitty.
And let’s not forget about little Luke! He was a good boy during all of this fun stuff. (LOVE the outfit Syd.)
Adding the stuffing:
Adding their hearts and heartbeats:
And then we had to wait FOREVER for this little girl to finish “washing” her bear. Seriously she was taking forever on purpose and I wanted to kick her in her little bratty butt. (This machine blows all of the fuzzballs off of your bear while you brush it.)
Finally! Geez! I wanted both my girls to go at the same time so I could get a picture of them both washing their bears together.
And then I went to Bath and Body Works. The girls rode the escalator 10 or so times probably, that’s cheap entertainment right there!
But wait, we aren’t done having fun! Next up was ToysRus to spend the gift card money that they got from Neil’s bosses.
It is interesting to watch my girls in a toy store and see how different they are from each other. Bethany headed straight to the babydolls and ended up getting another version of a Baby Alive. Julia headed to the dress-up clothes and play makeup stuff. She ended up with a fairy outfit, a new hobby horse, and some glowing stars for her room. She really really wanted a makeup kit but I put the kibosh on that one.
We were going to finish off our fun day by going to the O.G. for dinner, but my stomach felt funny and so did Neil’s. So we opted for some quick Happy Meals for the kids which Bethany threw up on the floor later that night. Darn you Christmas stomach bug!
“I loved going to Build A Bear and getting my ears pierced and going to ToysRus!” –Bethany
“I love my earrings so much because they are glittery!”–Julia
Christmas Eve this year was at my mom’s. It was nice to be able to actually spend some time there this year instead of only getting an hour or so on Christmas morning. We started off the evening with a delicious lasagna dinner and then a holiday sing-a-long! It is so weird that my mom plays a musical instrument.
Then we got to open some presents which the girls were thrilled about.
They got these cute outfits from Grandma which they wore for the next two days straight. I kept telling them that they needed to change but “they weren’t dirty!” according to them.
After that, we headed home and tucked the kids in. When we were sure they were sound asleep, Santa came! This is what the living room looked like in the morning.
I’m telling you, those houses are great. Cheap, fun entertainment! The only problem is that they are huge. They have been playing with them constantly since Christmas. Santa also left a nice pile of presents under the tree.
We had to get ready and go to church on Christmas this year, so the girls woke up and saw their cool houses and then opened one present from us (new dresses for church). They also got to check their stockings. Here they are in their new dresses.
We finished opening presents when we got home from church. Here they are with their presents!
And a picture of the cute boy just for fun…
They got all kinds of good stuff! Definitely their favorites have been the houses, and these bouncy balls. They have been bouncing all over the house non-stop it seems!
After presents at our house, we headed to Grandad and Fonda’s for a traditional turkey dinner and gifts for the kids. Right before gift opening, Luke had a blowout in his cute Christmas outfit. I’m SO glad I remembered to pack an extra onesie!
Thank you Grandad and Fonda!! Next stop was Grandma and Grandpa’s where…you guessed it, more eating and presents!
Grandma made all of the grandkids capes, which they all were chasing each other around the house in and it was really cute. I also still feel really badly about forgetting the presents for Oakley, Cannon, and Laken…seriously that will never happen again! How awful.
We had a great Christmas and hope our loved ones did too. The girls were very tired when we got home and slept in their houses that night.
These are all of the past Christmas card pictures. I like to get them out every year and line them up and compare so I thought I’d put them up here too. We started sending out cards our first Christmas with baby Bethany.
The next morning it was time to go home, boo hoo.
