Lagoon, Cousins, Swimming

The title of this entry makes me smile because it's so perfectly summer. I'm really enjoying this summer because the kids are just blossoming like crazy. Atticus finally has a schedule day and night, Stella is starting to write letters and is dancing like an angel, and Emerson is figuring out how to spell words on his own and playing number games.

We've had a fun and busy month in July, starting with our stake's Lagoon (local amusement park) day a couple of weeks ago. Despite the hundred-degree temperature, it was really fun. Emerson and Stella rode all kinds of rides with their church buddies and even got to go in the water park with Tad. Atticus and I spent the afternoon in search of slightly less roasting locations where I could attempt to nurse him semi-covered as I literally dripped sweat on him. But he was a champ and the older kids could have stayed all night.

Last week Tad's brother, Tim, and his family came into town. Caroline, Tad's sister, was also able to come in town with her darling little baby, Afton, to enjoy the fun. We had a fantastic time, hitting up the zoo (with Dalan, Tim's brother-in-law as our family photographer), the dinosaur park in Ogden (an awesome experience I highly recommend to all with dino-enthusiast kids), the local pool, and the mountains for a fun hike. We also crammed in a LOT of eating, both at favorite restaurants and family barbecues to celebrate Pioneer Day. The barbecue we hosted at our house was capped off by a neurotic Crosby attacking the largest firework, picking it up in his mouth, and running around the yard with it as we all screamed and dodged. All of the kids got along superbly, switching off playmate combinations in fun and flexible ways and Emerson was so sad to say goodbye to his cousins that he literally broke down sobbing. Three days after their departure, Stella is still asking if our cousins will be there whenever we go anywhere. Cousins Karina and Sullivan were so sweet to Atticus, kissing and holding him at each opportunity. What angels!

Swimming is our new favorite activity this summer. I say new because until this summer Emerson and Stella loved our little wading pool more than the big real pools and neither would ever allow his or her head to go under the water. With the beginning of our swimming lessons, they both decided, for some as yet undiscovered reason, that they were ready to go for it. Now Emerson is jumping in, going down smaller slides, and bobbing all the way under. He's constantly giving me the thumbs up sign during swimming lessons. And there is nothing cuter than Stella furiously kicking her little legs as the swim teacher guides her around the pool.

Twirly Tutu Party

Three years ago last month, our sweet Stella arrived. Her bright, beautiful eyes and natural inquisitiveness captured our hearts right away. She is an amazing sister to her two brothers, endlessly cooperating with Emerson's imaginary scenarios and forever giving love to Atticus. We feel like she has arrived at her third birthday suddenly and are constantly surprised by all she can do. When she tosses her head just right so that the curls fall back from her face, looks into our eyes and demurely says, "Sweetie, we're just going to do dress-ups now," our hearts

just melt. We celebrated her third birthday Saturday with a twirly tutu party in preparation for the dance lessons she started the following week. There is little in this world more adorable than watching six little girls assemble tutus, put them on, and then join hands and dance. Stella was on cloud nine as she danced with friends, at pizza, opened some truly special gifts, and blew out candles on her Princess Aurora birthday cake.

Emerson had his last day of preschool last month as well. He'll start kindergarten this fall and after being at the same preschool since he was two, he's a little nervous to leave his buddies behind and venture to a new school. To help him maintain some continuity with his buddies, we had Emerson do another soccer session with them and with Tad as the coach. For some u

nknown reason, Emerson decided that he's completely excited about chasing the ball this time. He gets multiple kicks each game and cheers his teammates when he's on the sideline. Tad is, as expected, an awesome coach. The kids all love to give him five after scoring a goal and they are somehow undefeated after six games.

Atticus is a perpetual motion machine, with his left leg being the driving force. When he's nursing, he kicks his left leg; when he sits in his bouncy seat, he kicks his left leg to bounce; when he's lying on a blanket, he thumps the floor with his left foot. But when he's in the bathtub he uses all four limbs to splash with such intensity that the parent bathing him ends up soaking wet. The other night we let him have some snow cone ice (his first solid experience) and he absolutely adored it, smacking his lips and grinning like a cheshire cat.

Tad's biking development continues. He's now become the canyon master, climbing at least one canyon per week in addition to his daily ride to and from work. He also finally proved his manliness in the automotive arena by successfully replacing the starter motor on his car in just over an hour. In May he and a friend also turned lumberjack and sawed down the giant dead maple trees in our front yard. The transformation is really great. Tad's also been assigned to a homicide case at work and is learning new things all the time.

I'm finding life as the mom of three really great -- not to say it isn't challenging. I just feel more confident and like I can find ways to make things work pretty well most of the time. Emerson is frequently my little helper and his help is essential. In June I had some varicose veins surgically removed and so have much less pain than I've had in six years. And after a bout of food poisoning, I'm loving running again and can't wait to get up to longer distances. I'm also enjoying our garden so much. It's such a challenge to figure out how to solve the various pest, water and sun problems presented by our various plants and I love going out in the morning to find a new zucchini or butternut squash has seemingly appeared over night.

We also celebrated the Fourth of July as well. It was so much fun to participate in the Millcreek bike and family parade, play at the park afterward, and have a great barbecue at our house that evening. Tad's brats have never tasted better and it was so delightful just to take time to talk to everyone and see the kids run wild in their bathing suits around the back yard. The highlight was definitely when Stella stripped off her suit and peed on the big pine tree in front of everyone. Ah, that's my girl.

Whirlwind

This past month or so has been a fun, albeit busy one.  Do I even need to say that, though?  Aren't all of our months busy?  Anyway, we made a crazy dash down to St. George.  It all began with a decision reached at about 6:30 p.m. to leave at 8:30 p.m. rather than the following 8 a.m.  The theory was that all of the kids would of course sleep in the car the whole five hours and we would have the whole next day to explore and have fun.  Well, Atticus cooperated beautifully, sleeping the entire way, allowing us to drive straight without any stops.  Emerson and Stella, however, decided that sleeping in the car was only cool for about an hour and a half.  While Emerson simply stared blankly into the darkness surrounding the car, Stella decided to lead a revolt from the back seat of the van.  The steadily rising whine threatened to rouse Atticus, so I spent the last hour and a half of the drive literally in Stella's car seat with her on my lap, telling her stories.

But this did allow us a full day of fun the next day.  We headed out on the paved trail next to the Virgin River and counted 27 lizards in just over an hour.  We also discovered a wonderful free splash park in the middle of downtown St. George and proceeded to go there every day of our vacation.  The kids could splash, cool off, and burn off energy while we sat in the shade watching all of the fun.  We went for lots of walks, Tad did some good biking, I ran a little, and we caught up with some old friends, Dan and Angie and their adorable kids.  

While we wished our stay in St. George could have been longer, it was fun to come home and check on our garden.  We went a little crazy this year, relocating the garden to a sunnier spot and more than doubling its size.  Tad built an awesome redwood barrier around it to keep Crosby out and we planted lots of seeds: cabbage, cauliflower, watermelon, cucumber, beans, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, zucchini, and tomatoes.  So far everything has sprouted and we've even got little green tomatoes already!  The kids love to check it every day, closely inspecting the plants and making sure the ladybugs we released are keeping the aphids off.

Emerson finished his first soccer season on a positive note.  When he started soccer, he cared very little and didn't quite understand that the ball was his friend.  When the coach spoke, Emerson generally ignored everything, and sitting on the side meant grass wars with his buddies.  By the final game, however, Emerson was totally engaged -- kicking the ball several times, throwing it in bounds when asked, nearly scoring a goal, and cheering for his team even when he sat out.  His team even finally won a game!  But the true prize for Emerson was that he got a "real trophy," which he proudly displays on his shelf.

Stella has decided that singing in the car is her true passion.  No matter what song we listen to, she can sing along (or in a call and response style at least) at the top of her lungs.  Her personal favorites: Clash City Rockers (The Clash), These Days (Nico), and 1234 (Feist).  Life is an endless series of questions for Stella.  "Why did Maleficent make Aurora prick her finger?"  "Did Jesus have long hair?" "Is that guy being stupid?"  "Why are you wearing a ponytail?"  When I take her and Atticus running in the stroller, it's question time for Stella because she knows she can talk to me then entire time and I must answer.

Atticus is the jolliest little guy!  At three months he's smiling and laughing like crazy, grabbing toys and trying desperately to get them to his mouth, and nearly fitting his entire fist in his mouth.  He already wants to see everything Emerson and Stella do and thrills them when he smiles at them.  I've lost track of the number of rolls he's accumulated and he continues to adore nursing to the exclusion of bottles.

Tad was the recipient of one lucky birthday present this month.  He's been riding an old road bike to work since last fall and as he was riding it one day, a defense attorney he knows pulled up next to him in his car with a super fancy road bike on the back.  The next time Tad saw him, the defense attorney asked if Tad would like to buy his "old" road bike.  Tad responded that $3,500 for the three-year-old bike was completely impossible for him and the defense attorney said he'd let Tad have it for under $1,000.  So a few days later, Tad rode home on his new sweet ride at a final cost of only $750!  This has completely changed his biking life and he's now obsessed with riding the canyons around our valley (he's already done two).  Lucky guy!

Blessed

Here are some pics of Atticus and the two other babies blessed on the same day he was, Ruth Snow and Elana Mayer.  Oh, it's fun to have this little chubby guy around!  He coos and "talks" to us while smiling.

New Roof!

When we moved into our house two years ago, we knew we eventually needed to replace the roof.  After two years of debating how to do it, trying to come up with the money, and dreading the expense, we finally got our roof redone last week.  And despite having to go all the way down to the rafters and put on new boards, the crew we hired did it in only a day and a half!  Sometimes it really helps to have a small house.  What's more, they did an awesome job, leaving us with a beautiful new roof with good venting and totally cleaning up after themselves (I only found a few nails after they left).  We also got our gutters done, which only took two hours total!  So, if you need referrals for roofers and gutter guys who are really good, reliable, and inexpensive, give me a call.

More importantly, we also had a lovely Easter weekend.  The kids did a really fun egg hunt with Grandma Baker's ward in the huge, beautiful yard behind a neighbor's home.  Everyone loved it, especially since they divide up the kids by age so no older kids get to hog all the eggs.  Emerson, it appears, is moving out of the simple belief in holiday characters stage.  At the egg hunt, a member of Grandma's ward was wearing a big, fuzzy Easter Bunny costume. When we said, "Look, Emerson, it's the Easter Bunny," he replied, "No, that's just some guy in a dumb suit."

  Later, he observed a zipper on the back of the imitation bunny's costume and said, "See, you can see it's a suit right there.  And look, he has shoes!"  Oh, dear.

We also blessed Atticus in our church on Easter Sunday.  It was an absolutely beautiful day and I take it as a miracle that we were able to all get decked out in our Easter finest and make it to church 15 minutes early!  Atticus was one of three babies being blessed that day -- I and two other friends of mine in our ward had babies within 19 hours of each other.  Since Atticus was the youngest, he was the last to go, but miraculously none of the three babies cried.

 Tad was able to convey some special words from our Heavenly Father in his blessing and it was truly a spiritual occasion.  We had so many friends and family come to the blessing and our little gathering afterwards and we want to thank all of them for sharing our special day.

Atticus continues to grow like he's in a contest.  By his two-month appointment last week, he weighed in at 13 lbs. 4 oz. -- after getting down to 7 lbs. 9 oz. in the hospital.  He generally sleeps pretty well and is truly a mild, smily guy most of the time.  He especially likes to smile at me at 4 a.m. when I'm trying to handle our feeding session in a businesslike, though bleary-eyed manner.  I can't resist him and each time I get sucked into a smiling conversation back and forth.  Magical!

Stella continues to love all things princess, particularly her Cinderella cell phone, on which she pretends to have long conversations with Dad, Uncle Tim, and others.  She truly is Tad's little girl, completely sharing his sense of humor.  She calls everyone silly names like "Duckhead."  The other day, she, Tad and Emerson were in the back yard doing some cleanup.  She crossed the yard to the sandbox and upon reaching it triumphantly pumped her arms up and down above her head while 

shouting, "Yes, yes, yes!  I didn't step in any dog poop!"  And she loves to push Emerson's buttons, deliberately messing up a word in a song just to get on his nerves.

Emerson is currently immersed in the worlds of Bionicles (Lego-made gladiator creatures that can be reconfigured several ways) and Magic Treehouse books.  No, he's not reading the books on his own.  We read to him after he reads the chapter headings.  He starts soccer next week and loves his uniform, number 11 on the maroon team.  He's excited to start Kindergarten but is starting to realize his preschool friends won't go there with him and his Grandma won't be there to check on him (both realizations frequently accompanied by tears).

That's the update for now!