Can someone please tell my kids, especially Elliott, to slow down?! They are getting too big too fast.

In a week our little man will be 9 months. In the last couple weeks he's really grown. He's babbling up a storm, no mama's or dada's yet. He's been trying real hard to be mobile, trying to roll, scooting on his tummy backwards, occasionally up on his knees, and walking/cruising holding hands. We are also working on drinking from a sippy cup. A few more months and no more bottle (and no more formula, hallelujah) And finally, his first tooth (bottom, right) has broken through. During the teething he refused all baby food, which was a little stressful. What table foods do you feed a baby with no teeth!? One night he had eggs, toast, and a banana for dinner. Big boy!! He watches like a hawk when you eat and will even giggle... he wants real food so bad! I was naughty and gave him some guac today, no worries, it wasn't spicy.

Maddy is just huge, in opinion and size. She knows what she wants and she's not afraid to yell, cry and pitch a fit to get it. Yikes! We also made another one of our countless potty training attempts. Maddy kept asking to wear underwear, so I let her and told her she needed to use the potty. Of course she didn't and peed all over herself, which she was not a fan of. By about 3 in the afternoon she was bawling and saying no more potty, no underwear, I want to wear diapers. She no longer even asks to wear underwear anymore. I've royally screwed her up. Sigh.

I know this not the cutest most amazing pic, but something about it makes her look like such a kid now. My toddler is gone.

We continue to venture out of the house, even though it's getting hotter than Hades outside. There's even been heat advisories suggesting not to even go outside. They've even called the scouts back early from camp! And July is just starting!!! We took a trip to a splash pad. Elliott immediately was not a fan and opted to sit in the shade. Maddy, who doesn't like them either, kept cool by playing near the shooting water. The best part of the splash pad were the big kids who took turns sitting on the drains so that the water could make a little pool. Maddy was a fan of that.

Freedom festival

> So the fourth of July festivities are beginning! We attended the parade downtown. To be honest it was a little lame and at times terrifying for Maddy. But we survived and escaped with candy, necklaces, and even some rubber duckies! More festivities to come!
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Happy Fathers Day! Ethan enjoyed a brief breakfast in bed, then we zipped off to stake conference. Elder Scott spoke, so there were tons of people there. He spoke about the importance of righteous families. We ended up watching him on TV in the primary room. It actually worked out well cause the kids we able to have space to roll around, eat, play, and not bother the entire chapel. We then had a fabulous dinner of steak, shrimp, ribs, and pie at Ethan's parents house. It was delicious. I'm so grateful for Ethan. He is an amazing father and husband, thank you for all you do!

Summer keeps flying by and we are sweating the days away. I am not looking forward to August! I try to spend as much time at parks as possible. One day we went to 3 parks. I know, ridiculous... no wonder I never get any house work done!


In some Elliott news... He can now hold his bottle on his own when laying down. We both think it's pretty awesome.




Keep enjoying your summers!!!

Yes, I am updating my blog again. I know you can't believe it. Don't look out your window, pigs aren't flying...

I finally uploaded a ton of videos to you tube, so here they are for your viewing enjoyment.

Testing
Liz

Being the "super mom" that I am, I'm ignoring the dishes and disaster around me and I'm updating my blog. And not just because I talked with my mom today and semi guilted me into posting more pics of her grand babies.

As for me, life goes on. I'm in a constant state of trying to clean, cook, and keep my kids happy. None of which I feel successful at. What can you do but keep trying every day, right?! I was successful at fixing my flower garden. After being completely ignored last year, due to pregnancy, it was a wreck. So I dug up all 17 plants, rearranged, and replanted them. After some TLC they are now starting to bloom. Hooray!

Zmoos Chiropractic is keeping Eth very busy. Besides having a fancy laser, which is totally awesome, and attending seminars, the newest most exciting thing is they are now using iPads. He does all his "paper work" on it while conducting his exam. It is saving him tons of time and of course nothing beats just holding an iPad!!!

So we had a huge wind storm a couple days ago. I heard the wind picking up and me being a crazy person ran out side to try to save Maddy's 99 cent ball. That's when our kiddie pool flew off the deck and I saw our swing set being lifted off the ground. I called for Ethan (scaring the crap out of him) to come help. We literally caught the swing set in the the nick of time as we saw our neighbors shed explode. The next day we saw more carnage... destroyed trampolines, broken signs, and smashed trees. Maddy tried to climb into one of the broken trees and quickly turned around freaked out.

Elliott is growing too fast, and soon will be 8 months. His favorite things to do are splashing in the tub and jumping in his jumper. He actually scared me one day because he was jumping so crazy it made a loud noise and I though something broke. I'll post a video next blog entry. He'sgotten a lot better at chewing and swallowing and we are expanding what he's eating. Our little champ is now standing on his own and is starting to take steps while holding hands. I bet he's going to pull a Maddy and not crawl and go straight to walking.

Maddy continues to be our little drama queen, literally. She acts out scenes from her favorite movies. My personal fav is from Bugs Life. Where the little ants are putting on a play and they pretend to die. Maddy will say in a dramatic tone, "Die, Die" and then collapse on the ground. Videos to come... Since Maddy is such a big girl, she has now upgraded to a twin bed. She picked out the bedding and loves her bed. She's been sleeping better and I'll occasionally find her just sitting and cuddling in there. BTW that's our friends dog, Maddy is in love. Maddy has now stopped taking naps. I'm trying to adjust and I'm getting even less done around the house now. One perk is she is going to bed around 7:30 now!!! Sweet!

BTW... In attempts to be more tech savvy and current with my blog, I'm going to start mobile updating. So get ready for more (and shorter) updates!!!

Testing mobile posting

So to catch up...

It seems spring and summer have been a little confused. Some days are beautiful and some are already hot and sticky! We are trying to enjoy the good weather as much as possible.

I just really like letting maddy go crazy outside and hope she exhausts herself, so that bed time is less of a battle. She loves her bathing suit. She begs to wear it and then looks at her reflection and talks about how much she loves it. Not a good sign for the upcoming teenage years. Since turning three Maddy as seriously kicked the crazy up a notch. Gotta love it when your kid is screaming in the middle of target... I'm trying not to go crazy, we'll see how long I hold up! Probably the hardest thing is now she refuses to go to nursery, which is weird because she used to love it! I bring her into primary and try to deal with it... Last sunday I had to do sharingtime, Maddy snuck up to the podium and started saying a prayer into the mic. The kids died laughing. It was cute, but my lesson was shot! There's still a sweet little girl in there who loves to paint, act out scenes from Tangled, draw letters, and wear dresses.

Elliott is as sweet as ever. Please never change! He sleeps great, rarely cries, and is full of smiles and laughter. All you want to do is squeeze and kiss him.

For Memorial Day weekend we went to Des Moines with Ethan's parents. After cleaning up Maddy puke in the rain (car sickness), things started getting better! It was great and went by too fast. We enjoyed the mall (Ethan enjoyed the apple store!), the science center, and the pool. While at the science center we got to see body worlds, so amazing. The human body really is a work of art!!! Maddy begged every day to go to the pool. She LOVES it. Unfortunately, she thinks she can swim (aka flailing) and has no fear. She'd just jump in even if you weren't there to catch her. Yikes!!! You'd think she'd learn after repeatedly choking on water, but no. All in all, the kiddos did really well. We packed as much in as we could, a few times Maddy and Elliott just literally passed out!

Our last stop was the Blank Park Zoo. It is the perfect zoo for kids. We fed animals, fish, went on a camel ride, train ride, and saw lots of animals. I think Maddys favorite was watching the otters swim. The animatronic dinosaurs, however, scared the crap out of her! It was a great morning filled with lots of fun, and only a couple Maddy meltdowns. It was a hot sticky day... so enjoy pictures of us red and sweaty!!!

After all that fun, we finally got home and enjoyed a memorial day burger, courtesy of Mc Donalds. What's more american than that?!