Aunt Mar's visit

The kids with my mom's sister, Aunt Mar.

Our zoo has penguins. The girls posed by the statues outside the exhibit.

This was our first visit to the zoo.

A few weeks ago my Aunt Marilyn visited from California. It was great fun having her stay with us for a few days. We went to the Zoo and to a waterpark. She did awesome with the kids--playing, reading, helping out, etc. And Josh and I enjoyed our conversations with her about cows, sports and politics. We made a lot of fun memories that week. Thanks again for the visit Aunt Mar!

Enjoying time with Zani

We have been spending a lot more time with the horse lately. The girls are getting to the ages where they can safely (well, we're still working on E. She gets a little excited and still runs around a bit. Good thing Zani is used to it.) be around the horse. They love to brush her, lead her around and ride her. Little J even had his first ride. (You can't seem him in the photo, but Josh is right there holding on to him).

Emma talks about "brushing my Zani cause she's dirty, dirty, dirty," all the time. She wants to give Zani oats in her pan. And she asks, "my Zani home?" which means "Is she standing next to the gate?" in Emma terms. We have the horse in the pasture right next to the house. We've had great weather for it and I hope we'll have more days of riding through the fall.

Just a moment in time

I grabbed a few quick pics of the kids on Monday. Not the best photos, but that wasn't the point at the time. (Sometimes I find myself getting so into getting the "perfect" shot, I miss the moment.) Anyway, the point was to capture this moment in time--an afternoon of fun. 

The weather was gorgeous! I mean absolutely beautiful. Warm, sunny, not windy. The kids and I had spent the day outside working on the yard, getting sprinklers and hoses working, weeding, etc. I do feel a little overwhelmed as it's a big yard and a lot to do to get it looking nice, but it was really good being outside and the girls were having a great time. Back and forth from the playhouse to the sand area, then to the patio, then to help me weed, then to set-up tball, then finally to sport bathing suits and run through the sprinklers. At first, they were just going to drag the hose around and water the grass. That worked for awhile, then they began to chase each other with the hose. Then the began to chase me. Oh the giggles we shared. Two little girls running around in bathing suits laughing hysterically as they chased their mother with a water hose. Can you just picture it? 

No, I was not in a bathing suit myself, which made it more funny as they were getting my clothes wet. Me in a bathing suit at this point would be scary. I can still here the laughter and see the mischievous look on Emma's face as she charged at me anytime I got close to her. And MJ was in the background egging her on. I look forward to more fun times this spring and summer. After they tired of playing in the water, MJ wanted to warm up on the patio. She asked for popsicles, but we made do with apples and crackers instead. I think we went through about 3 boxes of popsicles last summer. Oh, the childhood memories that brings back. Gota love pop ice. Good times. 

Jayten slept in his carseat outside so I could keep an eye on him. Plus that was the only place he would stay asleep for more than 5 minutes. His naps during the day are a little predictable. Some days he sleeps really well; other days not so much. Usually he is awake for awhile in the morning then sleeps on the way to preschool, then sleeps again in the afternoon. Sometimes he'll take really good naps then other days he is up about every 15-20 minutes. I have not pushed to get him on a real schedule, as the first 10 weeks have already been somewhat of a blur. If he needs me to hold him while he sleeps, then I would love to oblige. Although I feel I don't accomplish much during the days either, but I have to just let them be little. Soon they will all big so big. He did sleep from 9:30 p.m. to 5:30-6 a.m. a couple more times, including last night. That is definitely welcome. 

Last week the girls started swimming lessons. Emma was quite timid at first, but last night she walked to the teacher and got right in all by herself. She didn't even look back at me. She's doing much better. And Mackenzie is like a fish; she has always loved the water. Last night she kept going under and swimming underwater from one end of the little pool to the other. Her lessons are in the big pool, but they get to play at the end of it in the little pool. We have two more days this week and four days next week. There is a park right outside the pool, so I promised the girls a picnic dinner tonight before swimming. We have done lessons in February in the past and it was always cold and dark when we left the pool. It's nice to still have daylight when we leave now. 

Josh left this morning for Reno. He'll be there through the weekend for the Angus show. This is our first time without him since J was born, but I think we'll be fine. We'll, I need to keep getting ready for the day. Looking upward and forward to it!

Jayten's check-up

 2 days old
 1 month old
 2 months old

Yesterday was J's 2 month check-up. Our little guy is definitely growing! He weighed 13 lbs., 2 oz. and is 23.8 inches long. His pediatrician said he was just perfect. I don't worry too much about percentiles or anything as long as the kids are healthy. But just to compare, his sisters were only in the 10th for height and weight each of their visits. He's in the 75th! Looking back, MJ weighed 10 lbs., 4 oz. at her 2 month check-up and Emma weighed 9 lbs., 14 oz. Neither hit 13 lbs. until about six months old! 

He is smiling all the time now; it's so much fun! He is also starting to find his hands and sucking on them more. He had a plugged tear duct, but it must have opened because he woke up with no goopies Wed. morning. He also slept from 9:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. Monday night. Tuesday night he was up twice again, but last night he slept from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.! I kept waking up though to check on him. He received his shots yesterday, so I don't know if that has something to do with it. Hopefully he's just getting big enough to get through the night. He is taking a really long afternoon nap today, so I hope he still sleeps well tonight! Well, he just woke up and wants to eat. 

Yum, Yum, Yogurt!

I just had to get photos of Emma eating her yogurt tonight. I've pretty much given up trying to feed her even messy stuff like this. She's really getting pretty good at using utensils. Although, I cringe when I hand it over, I know she's got to learn. And she did make it to her mouth quite often. Luckily, this was dinner time, so afterward she went straight to the bathtub. Besides, who doesn't need a little purple yogurt on their walls every now and then?!