Vacations are Awesome--Sickness...Not so Much

We went to Yellowstone while we were out west. Here is Andrew at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.


Andrew, Eric, and their cousin Jonas spent the whole time that we were in Yellowstone climbing. Everytime we got out of the car we had little boys climbing half way up a cliff. Here is a "cave" that Andrew and Eric found.

Here we are at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.


We wore Eric out while we were walking around Old Faithful.


We had a great time while we were on vacation. Unfortunately at least one of us was sick the entire time that we were there. That part really stunk. But we really did have a great time. We miss everyone a lot!

And Baby "Tank" Makes 5!

Here he is lying on his side.


Here is the proof that he is a boy.


Here is his foot.

Yes world. We are expecting baby number 3...and boy number 3! We are so excited! Andrew wants to name the baby "Tank," so we told him that we can call him that while he is still in my belly. Eric wants to name the baby "Boy." So those are our 2 options: Tank and Boy! What do you think?

The baby is due December 4th. We are about 21 weeks along. So we are past the halfway point. I definitely look further along then 21 weeks though. I guess the 3rd time around my body is not putting up any resistance to stretching. At this rate I won't be able to move by December! Oh well. It is worth it!

Our Bird Sanctuary

Andrew is so excited about birds right now. He and the neighbor set up a bird sanctuary in the front yard. Most of the time we have 10-30 birds in the front yard. Andrew and the neighbor made habitats for birds, frogs, rabbits, and lizards. They set up buckets with a sign next to them asking for donations for the SPCA and the Giant Panda. They also both called family members asking for donations. They ended up raising around $80. We are so proud of him. Reed and I have learned a lot about birds in the past couple of months. Andrew has a list on the door with all the birds that we have seen. Everytime we see a new bird he gets so excited. We love his enthusiasm. What a good boy!

Andrew's Big Day!

Andrew graduated from preschool last week. I figure if he looks this cute in cap and gown in 13 years, we will have to beat the girls away with a stick! He is a crazy man. For most of the year, he was nervous to downright terrified to go to school. Then about 2 weeks ago I told him he only had 2 weeks left and he said, "I wish I had 900 left because I love school now." In fact he cried for 2 days after this graduation because he was so sad that preschool was over. He just refuses to be satisfied!!!

Our camera was acting up during the ceremony. It decided to not focus and go as slow as molasses. So that is why I missed the first part of this song. Then, since Andrew uses our camera and fills up the memory card with his animal/nature pictures, we ran out of room before the song was done. So anyway, here is the middle part of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Andrew is the 3rd from the left, holding a yellow bell. I really wish we had gotten the whole song because after the bell part was done, then the kids sang the song. It was hilarious. There were about 3 different tempos going. Andrew and his friend Jacob finished a whole line before the last group finished singing.

Eric is 3!

How did our baby turn 3? He won't even let us call him baby anymore. He says, "I not a baby mama, I a big boy." But like I tell Andrew, both of them will always be my babies. Even when they're 50. Andrew doesn't seem to think this is very cool.


For Reed's birthday, we put a car on top of his birthday cake. So ever since then Eric told us about 50 things that he wanted for his birthday, and then he would say, "And I want it on my birthday cake". Seriously, if we would have put everything on his cake that he wanted, that cake would have had to be HUGE. One of the things he asked us to put on his cake was a full size basketball! The thing that he talked about the very most though, was blue Thunder. Thunder is a character from the movie Cars. In the movie, Thunder is green so we didn't think that they made a blue one. But Eric never lost faith. Whenever he talked about his birthday he would talk about his blue Thunder, and how Grandma was looking for it for him. Ah, the faith of a child. Grandma did not find it (though she gave a very good effort), Reed found it. It ended up being the only thing that we put on his birthday cake, but he didn't seem to care. He was so excited.

Eric caught on pretty quickly that he was now 3 instead of 2, but it is pretty hard to learn to hold up 3 fingers as opposed to 2. Especially if your fingers are short and chubby. So cute!

Wild Flowers

Andrew found a few wild flowers (aka weeds) growing in our backyard the day before we mowed. He picked them and brought them inside for me. He got really excited when I put them in a vase. Later we went on a bike ride. Well, Andrew and Eric rode while Reed and I walked. Well there were a lot of "wild flowers" along our route, so every 30 seconds or so, Andrew would screech to a halt to pick more. This usually caused Eric to ram into the back of him but no one was seriously injured. When it started to get dark Reed and I finally had to say, "Okay, I think we have enough flowers." When we got home and put them all in the vase, my boys were so proud. It was very sweet. They both gave me great big hugs.

From Ahh to AUGGHHH!

So often our boys go from something that is so cute and awesome and quickly it turns to something crazy. The other day we decided to do pillowcase races. The boys thought that this was just the funnest thing ever. Andrew was a lot faster then Eric, so he would wait for Eric at the end and then shout, "It's a tie!" and they would both laugh and laugh. As shown in the following videos, this game quickly digressed.

One day we were outside cleaning up bikes, balls, etc. and Eric went into the house. When I went in, I said "Eric, where are you?" He said, "I going poops." I was so proud. I hear the toilet flush and then I hear Eric's sweet voice saying, "It's cold." Yup, he stuck his foot in the toilet. My one consolation is that he flushed first.

Again with the potty. I was trying to make dinner and Eric had to go potty. I usually stay in there while he washes his hands, but this time I was in a hurry so I left. I said, "Can you wash your hands by yourself today?" He says "Yes Mama." Well he's in there singing and talking and generally sounding very cute. Then I hear, "I can't turn it off." I ran in and Eric had plugged up the sink and flooded the bathroom! As I was cleaning Eric just kept saying, "Mama I sorry I did dat. I sorry I ruined the band aids."

Eric and Andrew wanted to be my chefs for lunch one day. So cute. I had bread, apples, carrots, an entire dinner plate filled with crackers, a whole gallon of milk and a whole container of apple juice...and a HUGE mess to clean up afterwards.