too many social networking opportunities

(Corrected grammar on the title...that's what I get for editing without proofreading.)

I'm figuring out the fastest and easiest ways to keep my friends and family informed about what's going on in our lives. There is so much stuff out there it's easy to get bogged down with posting and blogging, etc.

We've been watching a lot of "Thomas" lately.  That show is my favorite!  The show's values just ring true to my heart.  The highest compliment is to be Really Useful, and the worst thing possible is to cause Confusion and Delay.  Sir Topham Hat even said to one of the engines, "Really Useful Engines don't argue."  Ha.  I love it!

I feel like I haven't expressed any of my own thoughts for a while.  I'm always just thinking about how cute my kids are.  They have more interesting and funny things to say than I do.  Honestly, I'm enjoying not having any really big goals right now.  I feel like I have worked hard to get to this place and now I can just enjoy my life.

I've been thinking a lot about my health lately.  I don't necessarily want to lose weight (although that would be a nice by-product), but I do want to feel more healthy.  My work causes my arms and wrists to ache all the time, I don't eat very healthy and I think that makes me feel more tired and fatigued than I should be.  However, I have a strong tendency to rebel against dieting.  I have all these grand, life-changing ideas, but when I really think about it I feel strongly that I just need to find balance.  Moderation. So that is my big goal in every aspect of my life.

I need to blog like this more often.  Or start writing in my journal again.  It helps me to organize my thoughts.

Now for the babies!  Here are a few recent pictures that I haven't posted on facebook.  I have started doing most of my kid show-and-tell there: pictures, videos, and funny sayings.

Here's Rayen after eating an Oreo.

Race car shoppers!

I was trying to get Ethan to hold still for a photo.  He kept running behind me to look at the picture (that I hadn't had a chance to take, yet).

We got him some puddle hopping Wellingtons. His pants only got a little bit wet and he was doing some big splashes! 

 Rayen eating rocks and dirt, as usual.

I need to get the kids outside more often, especially on these beautiful days.  It's better for everyone.

the sweetest and the best

I've been posting all my pictures straight to facebook since I joined up a week or so ago.  It's so easy to upload photos from my phone camera to facebook and it takes so long to post them to the blog.  When I get the big camera out, I'll post those photos here. For now, I'll just post all the funny/fun things the kids are doing.

Ethan - Something's hurting me. I need some medicine!
Me - Where is it hurting?
Ethan - Um...I'm sick! I need some medicine!

Ethan - (calling down the stairs) Are you doing ok?
Me - Yep, I'm just taking stuff down to the basement to clean up the house.
Ethan - Oh...so that Amy and Jamison can come in the house!

Ethan - Ow! Something's hurting me in my tummy! Maybe it's a hiccup.

Ethan (after a loud high pitched shriek) - What was that!? It was me?

Ethan -  My ears itch! I need Ear-tips!

Recently Brett and I were talking about something.  We weren't arguing, but the conversation was a bit excited.  Ethan ran up between us with a picture of Jesus and yelled, "I LOVE JESUS!"

(I've been noticing Ethan's reaction to other people more often lately.  He is very sensitive to what is going on around him.  I'm realizing that I need to be so careful with my emotions and what I say around him, because it affects him so much.)

Whenever Ethan sees his reflection or his shadow lately, he comments "My hair looks funny like Daddy's!"

He's grown several inches taller in the last month or so.  It's funny to see him running around in his too short pants.

I sing songs to the babies before bed at night.  It feels like neither of them are listening, because they both like to read books while I sing.  But recently I wasn't paying attention to the songs and I sang one wrong word.  Ethan was labeling pictures in his animal book but surprised me by correcting me, without taking his eyes off his book and barely missing a beat in his naming of the animals.  Sweet little bossy multitasker.

Rayen pushes out her tummy when I put a clean diaper on her.  She reminds me of a horse puffing out it's stomach before one tightens the saddle straps. She doesn't want a too tight diaper, I guess!

Rayen has wanted to cuddle sleep the last few nights again.  She cries piteously when I put her in her bed, but as soon as I pick her up she snuggles down on my shoulder and falls asleep instantly.  I notice she tends to be more clingy when I have plans for after she's in bed.  She senses that I'm not focused on bedtime, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do next.  She senses it even if she's asleep, as well.  Once I was nursing her for a nap.  She was done eating and had fallen asleep.  I was shifting my weight to stand up and put her in her bed and she reached up her little hand and grabbed onto my shirt in a death grip. 

I close the gate at the top of the stairs after the bath, so that Rayen won't fall down the stairs.  Recently she was standing next to the gate, banging on it.  Ethan was at the sink brushing his teeth.  He turned out to her and yelled, "Rayen, NO!"  She turned around to look at him and giggled, rattling the gate again. 

Rayen came over to Ethan and sat right next to him, leaning on him to look at his toys.  He said, "I love you too, Rayen. And I love Amy. And I love Johhun and Colette and Rob!"

featuring rayen (and some farm pics)

Last night, Ethan and I were singing the alphabet song (I was signing it too) and Rayen started singing and moving her fingers like she was signing with me.

Her new trick is to wave her little hands and say "bye-bye!" I'll work on getting a video of the waving and the alphabet song, but it's hard to record the babies when they're climbing all over me. Maybe we can get Brett to record it some night.

I've been in some kind of funk the past week (or month--you'll have to ask Brett how long it's actually been). It's so weird because I don't feel sick, but I am so exhausted that all I can do is come home and sit on the couch until nap time, then I pass out on the bed while the kids sleep. I think it's because I'm nursing. It is so interesting to me how much energy nursing requires.

Rayen is a cuddle-bug. She needs a certain amount of snuggle time every day, or she's not happy. And if she doesn't get all the cuddling done during the day, then she's up at night wanting it. That happened last night. She woke up at 12:30 and wouldn't let me put her down in bed again until 2:30. She didn't need to nurse, she just wanted me to hold her and snuggle under the blanket with her. I'm mindfully enjoying those moments (hours) with her. She's such a sweetie.

Ethan, Rayen, Amy, and I went down to the farm to help with the apple pressing. It was a lot of fun! It was nice to see the family. Amy played with the kids while I cut apples. It was nice for both of us--I felt productive and industrious and Amy got to snuggle with Rayen and listen to Ethan's stories!

beautiful autumn

Brett found this baby owl in our tree. It stayed for a long time and was very cool. The kids (Blythe and Ethan) stayed watching it for about 2 mins (which is a long time for 2-year-olds)!
One thing about Rayen is that she knows how to relax! Maybe she'll teach the rest of us how to slow down and enjoy life in the moment.
We went up the canyon to take band photos of Brett. But these two are cuter than any of the band members!
Beautiful girl playing outside. I love this snowsuit thing because I can cover her hands, so that she can't pick up the leaves and eat them.
Here's Ethan at about the same age in the same snowsuit thing. He's one month younger than her in the picture. I forgot how he always used to stick his tongue out! I have to say, too, he's cute--but Rayen is beautiful.
I actually got him to sit still for a picture with her! It's a good thing I have a nice camera that takes photos quickly because I got these just before he yelled, "I'm done!" and ran off.
Ethan, in theory, wants to play golf often. However, as you can see by the next series of pictures, he loses interest fast. It's hard to maneuver giant clubs! (My camera snaps pictures off quickly, so this all happened about 5 seconds.)


"This is too hard, Momma! You do it!"


A few nights ago, Ethan came up to me and said, "I want to cuddle with you." This is unusual coming from our boy who is all elbows and knees when you try to grab a hug from him. I was looking forward to a good snuggle! (I'm not a very physical person, but my baby girl is teaching me how nice it can be.) We got under his covers, but almost before my head even touched the pillow, he was up again! "I'm done! Let's read stories!" -sigh- At least I got a millisecond of a cuddle, I suppose.

We've been talking about families and how we're related to certain people. In the bath last night, Ethan started talking about it again. "Remember your sisters? Grandma Laurie and Grandpa John. And remember Daddy's brothers? Blythe and Lizzy."

Ethan is very much a 2-year-old. I read recently in a potty training article that if the child's first response to anything you say is "No!" then they are not yet ready to train. Yesterday, I got tired of all the no's and said, "Please don't just say no to me." His response? "No...okay?"

fun days

This is what we like to look at when we go to the zoo!
Our beautiful girl just sat in the stroller, eating, for the whole zoo trip.
We got fingerpaint recently. Ethan had a lot of fun painting suns. "And here's a 'pot for a blue sun! And there's a 'pot for a lellow sun!" If a word starts with 2 consonants, he doesn't say both sounds.
The other day Ethan woke up and said, "I was thinking about going to the store and getting some donuts. I was planning on that." He's a smart boy, using my own words and phrases to convince me to do things. Heh.

At one point when he was being naughty, he said, "I'm fighting you!" Then his eyes lit up with an idea, "We're fighting till the end!" He's been listening to Queen a lot.

round two

I thought Ethan was lucky enough to not be sick with the rest of us, but last night he started thowing up. Wow. A barfing toddler is way worse than a barfing baby. It requires way more cleanup. At least I'm over the sickness myself, so that I can handle taking care of him.

a new milestone

Ellie had real, big kid throw up last night. Poor baby.

e squared

We went to the zoo in beautiful Fall weather recently. But Ethan got tired from walking, so I had him hold Rayen in the stroller. He's a good big brother (when he's not torturing her!).
Ethan gets so dirty so quickly! This was just going from the house to the car--I don't even remember him touching anything on the way.
We have a new family tradition--eating In-N-Out in the back of the van. I won't take the babies inside to eat when Brett isn't with us, so we go through the drive-thru and eat it in the van. It's a fun little picnic.
My beautiful little girl.
And my handsome grown up boy. He's so big!
Rayen has added a new sign to her vocabulary, it's a combination of MAMA and MILK. It looks kind of like she's signing ORANGE to the side a little. And she says "go, go, go!" Brett thinks that's her name for Ethan right now.

smartest.children.ever.

Ethan spelled his first word today. He took his foam bath letters and found the G and the O and stuck them up on the wall, "G-O, go!" What a suitable first word for him.

Rayen says 2 words now: Momma and book (she actually says "gook," but she crawls over to the bookcase saying it over and over.) She's also does one sign, but I'm not sure what it is. It seems to be something like HELP or MORE. Or a combination of the two.

Ethan has been on a Queen kick lately, singing cute medleys all day long. When he sings Bohemian Rhapsody, he sings "Mama, ooooo! I mean to make you cry. Is that a dune buggy? Mama..."

When he plays with his cars, he likes to organize them. He organizes them different ways each time: sometimes by color, sometimes by type (convertibles, trucks, etc), sometimes by make. One time I went into his room after he'd been playing and he had all of his cars (more than 100) set up in one big line. "They're all set up!"

Rayen is busy busy busy. She moves around so much I can barely keep track of her. Except she's so noisy I always know where she is. Especially if someone isn't doing what she wants. She and Ethan get into yelling tug-of-wars over toys.

more Ethanisms

He put Brett's motorcycle helmet on and said, "Bye, son! I'll see you later! I'm going to work with Daddy's friends." Then he turned to Rayen, "Bye, son-baby-Ellie!"

"Let's go on a drive, Momma! We'll turn left and we'll see the Del Taco and then on the right side will be the In-N-Out!"

"Elayna's riding on the potty train!"

Brett- Do you want a Ferrari or a Porche?
Ethan- I want a Ferrari AND a Porche. And my Audi. And a Nissan!

"Momma," pointing at my Dr Pepper, "I want to share some of your Dr Seuss!"

Happy Birthday to me!

I turned 30 on Sunday.

Tomorrow I'm going to meet Rob and Johnathan for a birthday picnic in the park. Sunday we went to the Kocherhans' for a dual party for me and Anabelle. Last Friday night we went down to Mom's house and had a party with Amy, Jamison, and Grandma Gene.




I'm excited about this new chapter in my life. Brett and I have both worked really hard to get to the place we are today. We're a good team. I am happy.

i have a small grasp on my sanity this week

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time adjusting to my life lately. We've just got a bunch of stuff going on, I guess. But I'm getting closer (to what? Less chaos?) every day; I can feel it.

I told Ethan I was exhausted last night. After I explained what it means, he responded "I'm exhaust-tired, too, Momma!" Everything is cars with him!

He walks around talking to himself a lot now, pretending all the time. Recently, he was making introductions to himself (or to whomever he was pretending to talk). "And this is my son, Ethan. And here's my son, Rayen. And here's my son, Blythe. And here's my son, Momma..."

He is starting to do some small chores himself. One thing he does is get the mail. And he reads the mail. "And this mail says, 'I love you, from Grandma.'" Hint hint, Grandma Karla. He loves getting your postcards!
Wow! Something clicked with Rayen today and she's on the move! She's unplugging my laptop, pulling herself up to grab stuff off the couch, chasing Cordelia around the living room. I keep being too slow with the camera.

She's started mimicking everything she hears. She sings on the same pitch as the sirens outside, Ethan whining, a beep from the microwave, or songs from the Disney movies.

She's starting to do all kinds of big kid things: holding her own drink, stealing toys from Ethan, eating a whole banana for lunch, and responding in very loud and dramatic ways when she falls down, or Ethan steals something from her, or I do something she doesn't like. She's so determined and headstrong. I need to start meditating and doing yoga, so that I can have the presence of mind to not get into power struggles with either of my children.

make-up photos

You can take the momma out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of her genetics, right? (He dressed himself that day.)
I came home from work one morning and noticed that Ethan had gotten a tattoo just like Daddy's. Hmmm.



She loves dirt. I sat her down for just one minute and she looked like this.


Aunt Christine got Rayen these cute sunglasses.


We had a bbq with the Sinners and the Burkharts on Sunday.
The 3 "big" kids: Lucas (16 months), Blythe (almost 3), and Ethan (2 and a half).
Ethan had been playing in the same dirt Rayen got into (see earlier photos). I think I'm going to get one of those covered sandboxes. So they will at least look clean after they play (I'm sure there's all kinds of nastiness in that dirt that I'm trying not to think about, too.)


As we were eating dessert, the wind started up and knocked a giant branch out of our trees. It landed right on top of us! The pictures show the branch after we rolled it off of the blankets (and people). Thankfully no one was hurt, just a few scrapes. And my delicious chocolate cake was ruined. But we're grateful the cake was the only casualty. Especially with the little babies around! Rayen was inside napping, and little Norah (Jackie's new baby was born Sept 1) was inside her carseat behind Jackie. Blythe was the only kid under the branch and she got a few scrapes, but nothing serious.


Ethan has been learning his letters like crazy! There are only a few he doesn't recognize now. And, he's started figuring out what sounds the letters make. We play a "what words start with..." game. When ever he sees a letter, we list off all the words we can think of that start with that letter. And he's starting to come up with his own! Normally he just recites the words that I've already told him, but yesterday he said "dinner" and "Duke" start with D.