22 weeks old

22 weeks old...

It is really getting hard to remember which week I'm on anymore (especially since it's almost a week later when I finally post these.) I don't think he really changes as much week to week as he did in the beginning either but I want to do it all year so bear with me. I hope to eventually be able to show a photo montage of all the weeks lined up together...we'll see. I have just been too busy lately to put it together. This is about the extent of my efforts for now.

This might be my new favorite photo of him...such a cutie!

He is sitting more and more...getting more steady all the time but still will occasionally throw himself backward, necessitating the use of the old Boppy.

And he's mastered the technique of toe-tasting.

As much as I love brand-new little newborns, I so much prefer this stage and all those that follow when their little personalities bloom and they begin to explore this wonderful world around them! Babies are SO fun.

Cirque du Soleil!

This seems like it was forever ago already but it was really just a little over a week ago that we went to see Cirque du Soleil--the Kooza show--here in Portland. We took the entire family...4 of the boys were completely fascinated and one poor little bewildered fellow was startled and scared beyond anything he'd ever experienced in his short little life.

Zachary would rather not have gone to Cirque du Soleil, but I managed to keep him calm, snuggled tightly on my lap while he sucked the life out of his pacifier, all the while with his eyes bulging wide and darting from side to side as lights and noises went off here and there and everywhere...poor guy!

Cirque du Soleil did an impressive show as always--we've been lucky enough to see them three times now since moving here...they come here every other year it seems.

My favorite memory of the night was this--as we were walking out of the venue, Aaron said to me, in his very gruff serious manner of speaking, "It makes me want to do gymnastics...it sort of inspires me and stuff." If only I could write it exactly how he said it since it doesn't have the same effect written...it still makes me chuckle to remember.

Afterwards, we went to Chevy's for some tasty Mex-y food. We had to wait to be seated...so what better to do than take photos?

A much relieved little boy...he's not a fan of the circus, yet.

The more contemplative, serious side of him. Really, I just love those beautiful blue eyes...I could gaze at those forever...

Once we were finally seated & food was ordered, a guy came around making balloon animals (or swords, whatever the case may be)...I felt bad that when I finally fished out a little cash to tip the guy, he had vanished and didn't reappear for the rest of the night.

Man, looking back at these photos...I miss the SUN! We had gorgeous weather that weekend...and now it's NOT. It's like winter all over again with no end in sight, blah!!!

FIT GAME: Week 1 check in!!!!

Hey all you FIT Gamers out there--report your point total for week 1! I've created an email account just for that purpose so you don't have to post it here. I'm going to compile all the scores into a chart so you can see the competition and gauge yourself against it, but I'll assign you each a number privately so that you have a little anonymity if you don't want the whole world (or all 20 of my blog readers) to know your score.

What did you think of the first week? Easier/tougher than you thought? Any progress or improvement to report?

I can tell you that I started out really great on Monday...and not so great by the weekend. And boy, that 'bad habit' is a tough one. I think it's going to take me all 4 weeks to rid myself of that one. (And I am not about to divulge what that is.) I am not ashamed of my score though--my total for this past week was 112! Way better than I ever did in one week the first go around! And there is still plenty of room for improvement. ; )

So please send me your point totals at this address: fitgamers@gmail.com

And only a small handful have paid their $5 yet...please do that (and if you can possibly pay without a credit card, that'd be appreciated as Paypal takes a fee out from credit card payments, eating into our 'prize-pot') There's a handy Paypal button there to the right to send your $5.

Good luck with Week 2!!!

2nd Grade Weather Show

Last week was the big 2nd grade program at school, and I got to see it twice. This is my new favorite program at the school. It was about the weather and was really cute.

So I went during the day when they performed for the whole school.

Aaron is in red on the bottom row just to the right of the piano (assuming you can spot the piano).

I loved this little number to "Singing in the Rain" with all the umbrellas:

(And we happened to be sitting very close to Anthony as he watched with his class--that's him right in the middle of the frame in his dark blue shirt sitting at the end of a row.)

There were a bunch of cute numbers in the show...one about the wind with scarf dancers, one about thunder & lightning in which someone flicked the lights on & off, and the one that brought the house down was the kung fu lightning dancers--all the schoolkids were singing and clapping along (to the tune "Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting").

Aaron got to have a speaking part in this program. He did a wonderful job! (I took video at the 2nd show but Blogger doesn't like my videos anymore. I have to find a new way to post them. Not that anyone else is really that interested in it anyway...I liked it.)

I caught a cute little moment between the littlest brothers while we watched the show.

So now this is later on when we came with George to see the evening performance and had better seats. And there's Aaron in his red shirt.

After his speaking part, he got to hang out on stage for the remainder of the program, so he had to wander around with a clipboard and tape measure and look like he was hard at work in the weather factory.

My cutie....he did a great job! Fun show!!!

George's Birthday Bonanza!

So maybe it wasn't exactly a 'bonanza,' whatever exactly that means...

But it WAS George's birthday!!!

Happy 37th, my George!

(That was a very yummy frosted brownie...we've sorta gone non-cake lately...nothing against cake. We just really like brownies.)

George might've thought he'd been shortchanged in the gift dept when he opened one gift & discovered some (recycled) fake flowers inside (from Bub. He's so thoughtful.)

Christopher even made George a very nicely decorated card and enclosed one of his very own hard-earned dollars!

Spend that wisely, George!

And last, but not least, he got to my gift...which he opened to find this:

What IS that?!? you ask...

That would be wax for his brand-new.....

.....SKIMBOARD!!!!

I drove all the way to Seaside by my little self for that beauty.

We can't wait to try it out at the coast over the summer! Should be lots of fun. I want to get a smaller one for the boys so they can do it together.

Happy Birthday, my George! Ti amo!!!

21 weeks old

21 weeks old...

Some days I can hardly stand the cuteness! Love this blue-eyed boy SO much.

The major milestone this week was this: A FULL NIGHT OF SLEEP!!!

And I mean he went to bed at 9pm that night and wasn't heard from until 7am the next morning!!! And for once I went to bed early enough that I got a full night's sleep for the first time in I can't remember how long!

And he gave that to me on Mother's Day.

What a thoughtful child he is.

(Of course he was back to his usual up-once-a-night routine the next few nights but I'm still celebrating that one night.)

The FIT GAME is ON

...starting Monday morning!

Our Contestants are: Carol (me!), LeAnn, Candy, Laura, Ben, Clara, Heather, Ashlee, Julie, and Katie and maybe Lori?? Anyone else want to play still???

Be sure to click on the points chart at the right there & print it out to start tracking your points. We'll all report in our points next Monday for this week, ok? And every week after, ending on June 14th.

Also, I've added a Paypal button there for you to add your $5 (and if you don't, no matter how many points you earn, you won't be eligible for the prize.) If you live here, you can just hand me your $5 and not mess with Paypal. Let me know if there are any problems with that Paypal thing...sometimes I have trouble with those.

Also, by request, here are some resources for portion sizes for the fruits/veggies & food in general:

• My Pyramid.gov
• and this I'm stealing from the same place I found the original game (thank you to whomever you are that put it together first).

Any questions? Good luck!!!

It's FIT GAME time again!!!

Calling all willing participants for the new & improved FIT GAME!!!

I toyed with the idea of playing along with the big Game On thing that a ton of ladies in the ward are taking part in, but that is one incredibly INTENSE game they've got going on...too much for my crazy hectic schedule at present...but I DO have time for the FIT GAME and I'm inviting all my great family & friends to take part in it with me this time!!!

I took a couple things from what I learned of the Game On thing to improve the FIT GAME, so let me explain some of those (I've added them to the points chart already which you can find conveniently located in the sidebar at right...or here too.)

1st, I added sleep. Getting a good night's sleep is essential to good health, so had to have that. You need to get at least 7 hours to get your points (so if you, like me, are nursing a new baby, you just have to make sure you get in bed early enough that even with the interruptions in the night, you'll get at least 7 hours total!)

2nd, this I really liked--"New Habit/Old Habit"--choose one new habit you'd like to develop for the week (and it has to be the same habit every day that week) and do it each day to earn your points. An example might be decluttering, so spend at least 15 minutes each day cleaning out junk drawers or revealing the buried surface of your desktop. And then for old habit, choose a bad habit you'd like to get rid of...like picking your nose. Each day that you don't pick your nose, give yourself a point. And those can change each week, but you must do those things all week and not change your mind midweek.

3rd, I've decided how we're going to work in a prize. Everyone who's participating is going to throw $5 in the 'pot' here and the winner will take all in the form of a gift card to somewhere fabulous, like Amazon. : )

Now to reiterate some rules:

• No half points. You either get the point or you don't. (So if you only drank 30 oz of water, no point...if you drank 60 oz, just one point--just drink another 4 oz & you'll get the 2nd point!)

• You have to eat a full serving of the fruit/veggie in question in order to count it toward your 5 fruits/veggies for the day. (If you need a guide on serving sizes, I can point you to one.)

• The bonus/scoring on fruits & veggies consumption is as follows: If you eat 10 fruits/veggies, you get an extra 1 pt for the 5 additional, plus you get the 3 pt bonus for 9 or more, which gives you a possible total of 5 pts. If you just eat 9 fruits/veggies, your total is 4 pts.

Anything else to clarify? Any questions? It's pretty straightforward, and it's all under the honor system so BE HONEST!

So I'm going to give you this weekend to polish off any ice cream left in your freezer or other temptations lurking around your house before we get started again on Monday, May 17th, for another 4 week round of the FIT GAME.

Now who's IN??? Let me know if you're playing and we'll figure out how to collect the $5 from everyone for the pot.

BIG weekend!

The BIG weekend finally arrived and has passed...

We planned to give Zachary his baby blessing the same weekend that Aaron was baptized so the family could be here for both in one trip. It was so fun to have everyone here! Just wish the visit could've lasted longer. We'll see them all soon enough though...summer is just around the corner!

Saturday morning, we drove everyone out to the Columbia River Gorge--Grandma, Steven & Benno overlook the amazing view eastward from the Vista House.

And Darlene & my Dad on the other side, looking west from the Vista House.

We continued on down to Multnomah Falls...a definite must-see for anyone visiting Portland! The boys & 2 of their cousins pose below.

Saturday afternoon was Aaron's baptism and confirmation. That was a special occasion...so many good friends & family came and filled up the room. My Dad gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost. Another family was there that day too for their daughter's baptism and their son gave a sweet talk on Baptism. My sister Katie sang "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" with George accompanying on piano & Anthony on violin & me on flute. Both our Bishop and the Stake President were there presiding as well. Truly a spiritually memorable day.

After the baptism, we came home to have a little 'birthday party' celebrating all the birthday boys--there are 5 birthdays within 2 weeks in the family (actually there are more but those other family members weren't here. Busy birthday weeks!)

Following morning was Zachary's big day (and Mother's Day too...that got a little overshadowed this year amid all the events.) He's wearing a little knit hat, sweater & booties knitted by my great-aunt Betty. She sent me those when Anthony was a baby & I've used it for every one of my babies' blessings. Aunt Betty has since passed away, so it's extra special to me now. My babies are usually 2 months or younger when blessed so you can see it looks pretty small on Zachary!

So sweet all dolled up!

Then it was time for family photos with our 2 special boys (ok, all of them are special but you know what I mean!) And Aaron isn't that short...he's slouching here, silly boy.

With my side o' the family:

Zachary & his great-grandmother! He's got just 2 of his great-grandparents still living and the other great-grandmother would have been here too if her health was better.

And with George's side o' the family:

And all too soon everyone departed to go home...and life returns to 'normal' around here.

Thanks to all who came! We missed those who couldn't make it. Love you all!!!

20 weeks old

20 weeks old...

Big week for this lil guy...more on that later.

He's become so roly-poly this week. Playing with his toes...rolling this way and that. He frequently cries when he's supposed to be napping because he's rolled himself over and needs help back over. He pivots too...

District Science Fair

Well, we went to the District Science Fair, and that was that. I don't know what I expected but both Anthony & I were a little underwhelmed by the whole affair. We just went, waited around for the judge, he talked to the judge, picked up his prize, and left. It was fun to see some of the other projects there but that's it. The principal from the school was there and I wanted to get a pic of him with Anthony but he disappeared before Anthony was finished with the judge, oh well. Until next year...

Happy Birthday Aaron!!!

Aaron is 8!

The one thing he asked for for his birthday was a 'gear bike'...so George & I scoured craigslist until we found the perfect candidate...it ended up being nearly an hour away & we were so afraid we wouldn't get there in time since the guy selling it said someone else was on his way over to check it out...but we succeeded, phew!!!

George hid it away in the garage and the morning of his birthday, I moved it out into the open in the garage...and that morning before he left for school, I said, "Aaron, do you know where your bike lock is?" and he answered, "It's somewhere in the garage." So I said, "Well, I think you're going to need it...go out there and find that lock." So he sauntered off to the garage and came back a few minutes later. I asked, "Did you find the lock?" and he answered in his gruff, hesitant way, "No, but there's this bike..." You should've seen his eyes light up when I told him that was HIS new bike!

So he rode his new bike to school that morning (and has every day since.) When he came home that afternoon, he didn't come inside right away...when he finally did walk in, he said with a big smile plastered across his face, "I wanted to just ride it and ride it...it was so hard to park it!"

I love this shot where he ponders his wish for a moment before blowing out the candles:

Happy birthday, Aaron!!!

And his birthday festivities aren't quite over yet...big events to come for this 8 year old!