July

kittens have been so fun for the kids!

Esther always wants to finish Tyson's baby food! haha It is homemade and mostly fruit. But still. Funny girl. It has baby cereal mixed in.

this boy is sooo cute!

Annika made a necklace for her 4th of July outfit. We love going to O-town parades!

Annika's note to the tooth fairy

Janelle and Brandon came over on 4th of July. They're moving to MT soon and we're bummed about that. Esther and Tyler have become good little friends.

fixing her own messy bun!

we went to see the reptile guy at the library! I couldn't believe Esther was ok with him putting this little alligator on her head!

pea harvest!

epic water fight at the Gerber's for Crystal's birthday! It was sooo fun! Garbage cans full of water and so many water guns and buckets. We all had a blast.

Stephen and Alainna came to visit! They stayed with her family or maybe Nathan in Pasco. They came over for the day and we played games- the skittles and straw game. Heather and Alainna and I had fun going to walmart together to get bbq and game supplies. They baptized Jonathan in Pasco while they were here.

Hayley and Tyson at Jonathan's baptism

Colson and Tyson

swimming brothers!

kinetic sand tea party

rinsing off after swim lessons

we had a 24th of July Pioneer day ward dinner and parade. The kids got to be in the parade!

walks with my babe

Frutaletas!

matching in Farmer Terry t shirts!

we love playing in our (Grandma and Grandpa's) yard!

he loves sitting right on this big step going into the living room

Annika teaching school :) She's going to be a teacher someday.

The house we're going to buy! We felt like we should start looking at houses even though Glenn and Kathy won't be home for a year. We looked at a few in town. Then one day David was getting Mosquito Co. checks signed by MarthAnn Olsen and he mentioned we were looking at houses. She said there was a house nearby for sale. When we found out it was the Bullis' old house (one we had walked by several times when living at my parent's house) we made an appt to look at it that same day. The owner was moved out so Donna Ruttan let us in. It wasn't on the market. When we walked through we were very impressed. Definitely needs some painting and new carpet. I went downstairs for a second time by myself before we left. And I found myself smiling and saying out loud "this is the house!" It just felt right. We made an offer a few days later, still unsure why we were buying a house when we didn't need to yet. We thought maybe we'd rent it out while we renovated parts of it. But we found out a few days later that Adam and Emilee got a job in Moses Lake and needed a place to live. So they're going to move into Glenn and Kathy's the end of September and we'll move into our new house!

our last days playing with the Nygard's before the move to Montana :(

Our first year of swim lessons! I just put Benson and Annika in. Esther really wanted to be in there with them. She wore her suit most days and I would let her walk through the edge of the zero depth pool at the end of their lesson. Seemed to be enough for her most days. :) 

It was so fun chatting with these ladies at lessons every morning! (Wendy Spinelli, Charity Miller, Martha Harder, Rachel ?, and Brandy Stutz)

another little boy (and his mom) was so sweet to give Esther his donut on the last day of classes. All of the kids teachers brought them something and she was bummed she didn't get anything. 

Tyson turned 6 months old on the 16th! He weighs 14 lbs 10 oz (5th %tile). He's petite, just like our other babies. He is starting to sleep better again. He had a virus and was congested for a week or so. But he's getting back to just eating once a night now. He wakes up between 5:45 and 6:15. Early mornings around here. But that's not such a bad thing. When he's not sick, he falls asleep on his own. I just lay him in bed, zip him up in his muslin sleep sack (he loves the texture), and put his binky in. I often have to go put his binky back in once or twice while he winds down. He is loving baby food purees. Since we're not on WIC this go around, I've been pureeing lots and putting it in the freezer. Peaches are his favorite. He likes apricots, with banana or prunes mixed in to sweeten it up. He often gets really distracted while drinking his bottles, which makes for an entertaining feeding time. I still hold his bottle, but he's getting close to holding it himself. He is rolling both directions now, but still not using it as a mode of transportation. He loves to hold and play with toys that have a rattle or bell in them. He also loves when we put our face right in his so he can grab hair and faces. He still growls, but not as often. He has recently started to discover the joys of bath time. He kicks his legs and then seems a little startled at the sound and feel of water splashing. But he smiles and keeps doing it. Tyson is the sweetest little guy. He has a ready smile and is generally a content little guy. We all adore him!

Esther is so darling (and also becoming more defiant). We just love her. A month ago, she stood on the pool ladder, supervising David as he cleaned out the pool. At one point she exclaimed, while standing on the ladder, "I'm World of the King!" We started having her sleep in the twin bed this summer. I really wanted Tyson to be in the crib and I figured she would be ready to be in a big bed. She is three after all. When she slept in her crib, we would just do her bedtime routine and close her door. She never came out. It was wonderful. Now, in the twin bed, she comes out of her multiple times after we put her in bed ("I need water" "I need to go poop/potty" "I need a cheese stick" "Is Tyson asleep") We try very hard to be patient with her. Her adorable factor definitely helps me be more patient. One night, she came up at 2 AM and I woke up to her standing on my night stand and hovering over me, asking for milk. Another night, she brought a bag to David and said "I want one." She had gone to the fridge and brought out the bag of carrots. What a goofball. My favorite thing she does right now is "cook" and "sell" food to me downstairs. At least once a day, she calls to me as she's walking down the stairs to play saying "Mom, I'm selling food!" And I always say something like "Oh good! Let me know when it's ready." Then she gets the play food together and calls up to me a few minutes later. I come and sit on the steps and she hands food to me. I eat it and pay her. One time she told me "thank you for coming to my restaurant." She amazes me. Another time she said "Mom I have food to sell." Then a minute later, "Mom, the food isn't ready yet. But I'm putting my baby to bed, so come down here."

Benson has had a lot of rough days lately. He just gets so upset when he doesn't get his way. And it's hard for him to recover from that. I've tried a lot of incentive ideas to help him. They work for a few days sometimes. Right now, he has a punch card to earn a gatorade. He gets a punch every time he chooses to calm down when he's upset or doesn't freak out at all when the potential is there. It's working well for now. He is so kind and pleasant when he's getting plenty of attention. That's just not reasonable though. I know he will turn out to be a wonderful boy, hopefully he turns a corner soon. His greatest qualities include being helpful (he loves to work and be recognized for work), caring (he's so sweet with Tyson and all of his siblings when he isn't upset about something), funny (I love it when he tells jokes and the way he says things, like "and then what do, mom"), and fun (he's so fun to play card games and sports with. He's competitive and getting better about having good sportsmanship). We love our Ben burrito.

Annika has been organizing preschool lessons for Benson and Esther. They usually go along with it pretty well. She loves to teach. She has done a lot of creating this summer. Her latest are duck tape creations- hair things, money holder, rings, bracelets. For her birthday, she said she wants to go to the beach- "Either California or Hawaii." haha I told her about the Secret Beach on the Columbia River, accessed by the loop trail. We're going to check it out. She also wants to do something with her cousins, maybe a pinata party and Pam's Playground or swimming at the pool. I think we're going to have to choose either Wenatchee or a cousin party. For her birthday she wants a science kit, magic kit, LOL doll, and shirts for school (the last one was my idea, but she picked out some really cute ones that she's excited about). Papi said he will surprise her and get one of those things on her list. She and Benson did swim lessons for the first time. She LOVED swim lessons. She was bummed when they were over. They were each in one of the beginning classes, Annika in the higher one. She gained a lot of confidence in the water. I'm so happy that we did lessons. Neither one of them is remotely close to swimming. But they definitely made progress. Benson didn't love lessons as much. But he was very well behaved and didn't complain to much to me. Annika is also doing a gymnastics class twice a week. A 10 year old girl is teaching a little class. Annika loves it. Honestly, she loves pretty much everything she does. I'm so glad that she wants to try new things. She is a good example to her siblings and me.