Easton and Blair

The other night when we were watching BYU play (Yeah they won!!!) Easton brought out a pillow and his blanket and laid between Nathan and I. Blair seemed a little sad that she didn't have a place to sit.

Easton: "I can share with Blair!"

Blair sits down and says, "Thank you Easton!" And they both giggle together.

Easton: "You're welcome! You're my best bud!"

This is coming from the same boy who just a couple days earlier basically disowned his sister.

Easton: "Blair's not part of my family anymore. "

Me: "Blair's always going to be part of your family."

Easton: "No, Blair's not my sister anymore."

Blair tends to bring food out of the kitchen even though she knows she is not supposed to. Today she grabbed a chicken nugget and was heading for the stairs. I told her that she needed to go back to the kitchen and eat it before she left. She of course ignored me and started heading up the stairs. I told her that she needed to listen or else she was going to get a time out. She stopped, looked right at me, and then shoved the whole chicken nugget in her mouth. Then she continued up the stairs. I guess in her mind she didn't have food in her hands anymore so she was good to go!

Dexter

On the 17th we adopted a 9 week old kitten from the animal shelter. We named him Dexter. The kids seem to really like Dexter (Blair loves Dexter) but I can't say Dexter loves them back.

Blair is definitely Elmira from Looney Toons. She never seems to leave the poor kitty alone. Along with not leaving the kitty alone Blair seems to like to play with everything Dexter. She plays in his food by putting it in his water. She plays in his litter box (yes I know it is disgusting). We have a kid gate up but unfortunately she just climbs over it when she wants in his room. The first time she played in the litter box she came upstairs with poop on her hands. The second time she was playing in it like a sandbox. We try telling her that it is disgusting but either she doesn't care or she doesn't understand. I'm basically convinced she doesn't care.

Easton plays better with Dexter but he can be too rough with him. Easton seems to like to play lion with him. He'll get on all fours and roar right in Dexter's face which scares Dexter. Also Easton will chase after Dexter which Dexter isn't a fan of.

Video of the kids playing with Dexter:

Dexter basically has two favorite spots: the computer room which the kids can't get into (that's a no brainier why that would be) and the living room window sill. The kids haven't figured out that hiding spot yet and I'm not about to tell them either.

We got Dexter on a Saturday but then we had to bring him back a couple days later (Tuesday) so he could, as Easton tells everyone, "get fixed so he can't be a daddy cat." The kids were sad that Dexter had to leave but were very excited to pick him up last Friday.

Dexter absolutely hates the vacuum as I found out today. He hisses at it when it turns on and even when I walked past the vacuum with him (it was turned off) he started hissing at it.

Dexter loves the fish tank though. He spends part of his day everyday trying to get those fish.

Video of Dexter in front of the fish tank:

Dyer at 3 months!

Dyer turned 3 months on the 13th of this month. It is crazy how fast they grow.

Dyer loves to suck on his fist. I almost think he loves his fist more than his pacifier which of course has its positives and negatives. I really hope that he doesn't become a thumb sucker because I'm convinced that habit is extremely hard to break.

Dyer is sleeping through the night now (well he did get up at 3:30 this morning but besides that he has been sleeping through the night since we got back from vacation). He generally goes to bed between 8-9 and then gets up right around 6:30. Last night he was asleep right before 7 so that probably explains why he got up earlier than usual.

Dyer is starting to grab for things. He likes to look at his hands and he just recently found his feet. He hasn't gotten them yet but is definitely trying.

I've put Dyer in his bumbo chair a couple times. He seems to like to sit up more than laying on the floor but he can only handle it for small periods of time because he gets tired.

Dyer loves to give smiles. He has giggled a few times but we haven't gotten a full blown laugh out of him yet. He must be a pretty serious person. That or we just aren't funny people. I can tell that he is a little ticklish but even tickling him won't get much out of him.

Dyer does better than the other two with tummy time but he still doesn't like it much. He can handle it for about 10-15 min before he gets really upset. I have found that if I give him his pacifier to calm him down it almost instantly puts him to sleep.

Video of Dyer with tummy time:

Easton's First Day of 2nd Year Preschool

Easton has started preschool again! He seems to be enjoying it but it is probably because he is back with his friends. Ms. Valerie and Ms. Laurie seem really impressed with Easton. They keep telling me how smart he is and that he is really the only one in his class that can "read". Easton is starting to read some words and for other words he doesn't know right away he knows to sound them out. We've been practicing this summer but he would hardly ever do it for me (remember my son's stubborn) so I was a little shocked when his teachers told me that he was reading for them. I finally got him to read some to me this afternoon.

Swimming Lessons

A few days after we got back from vacation Easton and Blair started swim lessons. BTW the kids did great on the trip home. I drove back by myself and only Dyer had a hard time with the last 30 min of the trip. It took us a little over 11 hours to get home (10 of which were driving) so I think Dyer did really well for such a long trip.

The kids had swim lessons for 7 days (it was supposed to be 8 but the scheduling people messed up) for 30 min. Overall I would say the kids really enjoyed it. I was a little worried that Blair wouldn't get in after the ocean incident but after just a few minutes she decided to get in. Easton passed and can move on to the next level. I was going to sign him up again but the last day of swim lessons he got out about half way through because he was so cold. The weather is just going to get cooler so I guess we will just wait until next spring/summer when the weather is warmer. Blair didn't pass because she wouldn't put her face under water (I don't exactly blame since the last time her head was under water she probably thought she was going to die). Also they said that she couldn't front float with assistance. Again it probably has something to do with her face being too close to the water. It's okay that she didn't pass because there aren't any other classes that she can advance to until she is 3.

Video of Easton jumping in:

I just missed Blair jumping in

Got a picture this time

Video of the kids swimming:

Hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma

Grandpa aka fish papa was there too but I only got pictures of the kids with Grandma Sharon before my camera died. Jacqui's kids call my dad fish papa because he has a fish pond in his backyard. After this trip Easton now calls my dad fish papa. Apparently Easton didn't like it when fish papa tried to get him and me wet with the sprinkler when we were walking through the grass. Easton still brings this up. haha!

Video of Blair dancing:

I don't get why all my video's are so dark. Does anyone know if there is a way to fix that?

Oregon Zoo

I'm glad that we went to the zoo because I've been missing a big zoo (DC Zoo). We have the Sacramento Zoo but it is really small and I haven't been brave enough to drive to the San Francisco Zoo or Oakland Zoo.

The kids roaring

Apparently Gma wanted in on the action too!

This was about the time that Dyer started sucking on his fingers.

Looking at the bears.

Eagles nest

Bears again

Picture with Gma. Blair wasn't really cooperating.

At the zoo they had a dinosaur exhibit. I'm glad that we decided to go through it because Easton loves dinosaurs a lot! Blair unfortunately was pretty scared of the dinosaurs and I think she thought they were going to get her.

Easton with some random kid. I wanted a picture of just Easton but the kid just wasn't getting off.

Video of the first dinosaur we saw:

Picture of Blair scared.

Video of Blair scared:

Aaron and Easton

Video of T-Rex:

Digging for some fossils

Lion ride

Playing on the drums

Sexy Gma!

Cute little Dyer

Park and River

We spent the morning/afternoon with my mom, sister, and nephews. We had a picnic at the park and then afterwards we went to the Columbia River to swim.

We had hornets attacking our food while we were eating so it made it a little difficult to eat without worrying about them attacking us.

Dyer looks awake here but for a while these two were just snoozing away.

This picture reminds me of a couple days ago (nothing to do with our vacation). Easton wanted some pickles with his lunch but I was feeding Dyer so I told him he had to wait. He didn't listen of course and went to the fridge to help himself. I told him that the jar was heavy. Easton says, "It's okay, I've got muscles." A soon as he puts the jar on the table he shows me his muscles and then says, "These muscles!"

I don't think Jana was impressed with Easton's muscles and had to show hers off.

Of course blackberries were involved because we can't ever make a trip to Washington in August without picking blackberries (actually I didn't pick any this year but Nathan took Blair and Aiden with him).

Jana made some blackberry jam and let us take some home with us!

Easton with Auntie Jana.

Nathan and me before we decided it was too hot and needed to get our swimsuits on to cool off.

After the river we went to my dad's to have dinner.