Chillin'

We hung out at home today and had a really nice relaxing day. In the afternoon I dropped the kids off at my parent's house and went to Kohl's all by myself. Very fun. I found Emrick a beautiful Christmas dress for $6.40!! I love finding great deals. We went to Megan's house for dinner and enjoyed taco salads and chocolate milk. Owen and Jacob played trains and had a lot of fun together. That is, after they decided to jump off the top bunk of the bed a couple times, leaving Owen with a badly swollen ear and lip. When we came home both kids went right to bed and I am now enjoying a little bit of alone time. How often does that happen?

Saturday

Today is Emrick's seven month birthday. I can't believe it. Seven months! She's a little person now, not just a blob of a baby. She is a very funny and particular little girl. And I'm kind of happy to share that she obviously prefers me over anything else in the entire world. I used to get annoyed the my kids are so 'clingy' but one days it hit me. They like me, they enjoy my company and feel safer when I'm near them. Isn't that what moms are supposed to be for their kids?

On a different subject, we got a Jacob a new swim instructor. He did not enjoy going to swimming lessons and kept telling me he didn't like the instructor, he was scared of him. I'm very lucky I work at the YMCA and know some of the other people that work there. A very fabulous swim instructor that has worked there ever since I can remember has a daughter the very same age as Jacob. And on Saturdays she takes her daughter in the pool and has fun showing her how to swim. They sing and play games and have a grand ole' time and she told me that if Jacob was not enjoying the other lessons that I could surely bring him to their 'lessons' on Saturday mornings. Jacob loves her little girl and they had so much fun today playing and learning in the water together. I was fun for me to see him enjoy being there. After swimming we went to the CFU energy fair and ate hot dogs and soda and Jacob played in the bouncy things and rode the little train. He had a blast and I think today was a very enjoyable Saturday.

Burger leaves for school tomorrow. He will be gone for our anniversary which is kind of a bummer. I'm getting over it. But when he comes home his hours should be back to normal. I say 'should be' because he hasn't been told where he is working when he comes home. We are hoping they have somewhere for him to work.

Escaping

The girl is learning fast. She can crawl pretty well now and gets herself around. She was attempting to find Burger in this picture. This morning I put her in the living room and she came and found me in the bathroom. Slowly, but she made it! Jacob loves that she can move now, but he is getting greedy with his toys. He used to like to share with her but now that she can help herself he doesn't want her to have any! And, yes, the wood flooring in that picture is disgusting. We had to pull the carpet up out of the hallway because it kept snagging and ruining the vacuum cleaner. We are thinking of fixing the wood or, most likely, putting new carpet in the there.

Monday

Today is Monday and my family is not looking forward to this week or next week. We are all sick of the long work days and short weekends. And next week Burger will be gone at school in Des Moines. September has been kind of hard on all of us and I'll be especially happy when October gets here.

Yesterday we enjoyed our time as a family by running errands together! We went to Toy'sR'Us so the boys could look and then we went to Cattle Congress. We didn't know when they closed and we got there too late so we only had 45 minutes to play. But that was just long enough! Jacob had fun on the rides and got to play the fishing game. He won a teddy bear. Emrick sat in her stroller and watched. We all had a pretty good time. I forgot my camera so there are no pictures.

The kids and I have no plans this week or next week so they will be long and boring. We are trying to stay sane and I think we're doing a fairly good job. I'm hoping to be able to upload some pictures later and am still working on getting a video of Emrick scootching! Enjoy your Monday!

My Baby can Crawl

Ok, so not crawl, but scootch really well. I have been trying to get it on video for days now but she is very uncooperative. And she only does this in Jacob's room and only if I lay the Batman blanket out on the floor. Did I ever mention how particular this child is?

Hanging In There

Sorry I left all of you (what, three readers now?) waiting for over a week for an update. There really isn't much to update, to be honest. Burger is working crazy long hours and the kids and I are just trying to keep ourselves sane. We are out of the house a lot! Jacob started swimming lessons on Tuesday. He goes Tuesdays and Thursdays. His first session was interesting, and I'm hoping tonight goes a little better. He has been having a bit of a hard time adjusting to Burger's new longer hours and it's been rough on both of us. Emrick is her usual smiley little self. Her personality has really blossomed in the past month or so and she has been a joy. She is starting to crawl or scootch herself around quite a bit but doesn't like our hardwood floors. She stays on the rug or the carpet in the bedrooms. I'm sure it won't be long before she gets a little better at this crawling thing and then nothing will be safe!

Wednesday

This is Emrick today. I loved the writing on her butt and had to get a good shot! Smiley little girl! If anyone wants a copy, just let me know!

Recap

OK, so the long weekend went nicely and we all enjoyed ourselves. Well, except Burger, who had to work a ten hour day on Saturday while the kids, my mom, and I went visiting people out of town. I think he's over it. We went to a family picnic on Sunday and had a great time. Jacob got to swim in the freezing cold pool with my dad. We went to a car show and bike riding and picnicking and grilling all weekend. Fun stuff.

Tomorrow Burger start working twelve hour days. You heard me right, twelve hour days. Seven in the morning until seven-thirty at night. Working. Sounds like a really long day for him. Sounds like a really long day for me, too. At the end of September he will be going to school. So I get to go from him working twelve long hour days to him being gone for a whole week. So September is a really busy month for him and a long boring lonely month for me. I figure it will work out in the end.

The kids are doing great. Jacob is obsessed with puzzles. And rocks. He found a rock on Sunday night and named it Piglet. It sleeps with him in his bed. Today while leaving the YMCA he found another rock and named it Chophib and said that it will also be joining him in his bed. Funny little boy. No wonder he doesn't like to sleep in his own bed anymore. I wouldn't like to sleep in my bed either, if it was full of rocks! Emrick is just the same little girl we have all gotten to know and love. Grumpy little lady, but we are working together better and getting along. I don't know about crawling but she was standing holding onto me the other day and when she let go she balanced all by herself for about five seconds! She might skip the whole crawling thing and go straight to walking. I doubt it, really she's just lazy. But I will definitely keep you posted and if my 6.5 month old baby gets up and walks away we will all be equally surprised.

Emrick's Favorite Thing!

Emrick loves to sit on my bed with a pile of clothes surrounding her. I think she likes the feel of all the different fabrics, but that's just a guess! Here is a slightly boring video of her doing her thing.

A Day in the Park

This is Emrick at the park. We went last night to wear Jacob out. That kid has boundless energy. We do what we can, but at bedtime he's usually still full up. So last night we walked to the park and played. Emrick was cute in her little baby jeans and hat so I decided to photograph her. She refused to look at the camera. Not for one single picture, so now I have a bunch of profiles of her. At least you can see her chubby cheeks! Both of the kids have stuffy noses and Jacob has a bit of a cough. He's starting to feel better, I think. But Emrick has been sleeping in her swing because when she lays down she can't breath. I'm hoping it doesn't turn into a habit. I'll let you know how that works out for me!

A guy just came and fixed our dryer and now we are getting ready to go to an appointment. Emrick is sleeping and Jacob is on the couch almost asleep. Great time for an appointment, huh?