Monkey Shiner Babblings

H - I see a water tower!

J - I see another one!

M - You should count them and see how many you can find. How many do you have so far?

H - That's one, two. We have two.

J - Mom! Did you see that one?! It was a HOLY BIG ONE!

M - I must have missed that one.

H - It was bigger than dad!

J - No, it was bigger than a giant!

H - Have you even seen a giant?

J - Yeah....on Peg & Cat.

H - That was a dragon. 

J - Oh. Well it was still bigger than dad...

H - *nonchalantly in the middle of dinner* So mom...When Charli's done being a baby, can we get another one?

J- Hahahaha! I'm so funny I crack your head up!

H - *rubbing my belly* Mom, I see your tummy is getting bigger.
M - That was rude Hunter.
H - You must have another baby growing in there or something...

M - Have we decided what we're going to do tomorrow?
D - Hunter don't you have something to ask Mom?
H - Uh. No.

M - Do you want to go fishing?
H - Can we go craw-dadin'?
M - What's a craw-dadin'?
J - They live under rocks and in the night they come out and eat and play cards and stuff.
M - Oh they do? Where did you get this knowledge of crawdads playing cards?
J - Uh, I don't know.
M - Did you make it up then?
J - No, dad told me. Dad do crawdads come out at night and play cards?
D - I don't recall that I've ever seen a crawdad play cards.
J - Well...then no, he didn't tell me that...I must have made it up...

A Few Things From the Round House

We've been visiting the Round House for the last few days. Hunter found Nanny's iPod Shuffle and has been listening to one song on repeat. Can you tell which one?

Little Kiki is slowly growing into a busy busy waddler! Look at her go! At the beginning of our vacation, she was only doing a couple at a time! They sure do learn fast...

Family Sunday: Fishing at Rock Creek

For Family Sunday this week, we took a little drive to Rock Creek. (That was after we dressed up for church, and realized it was an hour earlier this week after getting there...ooops!)  The river is about half an hour away and is the same place we went last year this time. This year however, we didn't drive way back in the mountains. We stopped at the same place we found last year and had enjoyed so much, except when we got there, the wooden bridge was washed out...

 Perry found a similar spot in the same general area, just up the creek a little ways. Again, we had to hike through a jungle with our cooler full of dinner and drinks, a cooler of ice in case we caught a fish, the pack-n-play for Charlotte, the umbrella for shade, the fishing poles...So much stuff to pack around!

 As soon as we got to our spot, Hunter was very eager to get in and swim. JP didn't even want to get his feet wet at first because it was too cold. Unfortunately for him, we set up camp in the middle of the river, so he had to cross over a couple puddles...can you say meltdown?

 Charlotte spent most of the time in the pack-n-play because she kept tasting the rocks... Yuck!

 In the picture above, Hunter waded out into the river on the right until it was about waste high and then decided he didn't want to swim any more and came back to shore. Meanwhile JP is exploring on the shore and throws out the comment, "Oh-pa. It's getting pretty deep over here!" as he's standing in ankle deep water... While Hunter dried out, Perry got the poles together and then then five of us crossed the river at the end of these rocks. I had Charlotte in my front carrier and my camera strapped onto me. I took it *very* slow as the water was up to Charli's toes, but according to Perry it wasn't very deep... Yeah, because you're tall!

 Once on the other side, the boys spent some time casting their line into the water. Hunter is getting pretty good, but JP could use some work still. 

 Charlotte and I had fun watching. I was just thinking about what would happen if Charlotte dropped her snack cup and then a minute later she did, and as soon as I realized it, we were running after it. It floated up the river instead of down so it was a pretty easy retrieval, but still, I panicked for a second.

 After eating dinner of lunchables and sandwiches, Perry took Hunter and JP up the river to do some more fishing while Charlotte and I played. She LOVED playing with Hunter's hat. She's getting such a personality and it is so adorable. In fact, last night, she played with one of Hunter's shirts for 2 hours! Who needs toys?!

I suspect we'll be back soon. It was so peaceful there and everyone had a wonderful time, until it was time to go, then things got ugly pretty quick! But overall it was an afternoon well spent, even if we didn't catch anything!

We're Staying Put...For Now + Charlotte Can Walk...But Not Well

The past few weeks have been full of ups and down for us. I feel like I'm on an emotional roller coaster! 

A few weeks ago, Perry found out his boss put in his notice. We were both super excited at the possibility that he could potentially be the new district manager, after all that's what his boss had been training him for for the last 9 months. Although there were a few other center managers, like Perry, who applied for the job, Perry was the most qualified to take the position because he was the most familiar. And then another current district manager applied for the position. Since he was the only district manager to apply, he automatically took the position. I think I was more upset about it than Perry was. While the guy ties up loose ends in Chicago and moves over to Spokane, Perry will be the interim district manager, which he's excited about. (His first day was today!) 

The district manager from Chicago applied for the transfer a few days after Perry interviewed for it. The whole time the position was open, it seemed as if Perry was a shoo-in. Because he was very confident in getting the job, he became very stressed about the house and getting it ready to sell, which is why we started to fight about family time. Every minute of every weekend, and week night, he was busy working outside to finish up miscellaneous projects. They needed to get done but...    

I'm excited for him to have a temporary promotion, but I feel crummy too. I just wish we could catch a break! We have been waiting and waiting for the center manager position in Spokane to open up so Perry can get a transfer. I mean, I don't want to move, but it's inevitable. The current center manager over there has been wanting to move now for close to a year, and as far as Perry knows, he's just waiting on his house to sell. We're hopeful that once Perry's new boss gets settled in here, he'll put the pressure on the guy to get out. I'm discouraged, but still hopeful...

And then there is my little Charlotte. I *cannot* get this girl to crawl! I wish our pediatrician would have said something along the lines of "when she starts moving around, make sure she uses both sides of her body" or something to make me aware that her scooting could potentially be bad for her. We've been going to physical therapy now for about a month and a half, and I've been working with her at home, and I can't get her to crawl. PT has helped her out a little bit though, or maybe it would have happened at the same time without it, but she can bring herself to standing without holding on to anything and can take steps on her own. Both are far and a few between, but she can do it. 

At her appointment on Wednesday, which was supposed to be her last one until she's walking, we discussed how her back isn't straight up and down when she's sitting. Her physical therapist is hoping that when she gets the hang of walking, her back will realign. Because of how she crawls, with her right leg curled in and her left leg used for pushing, the inside of her right foot has begun to curl in, and her left foot is pointing out. If they don't straighten out when she starts walking, we'll have to tape her leg for a while in the position it needs to be. But if her back doesn't realign, she'll be at risk for developing scoliosis. So much to take in! We're going to do one more session this week to see if taping her legs might get her to crawl on her hands and knees. In the meantime, Charlotte has been working her muscles doing plank to build up her shoulder muscles, pushing things around the house and the yard to get used to walking, and working her core while sitting on a ball. Yay for baby exercises!

Since we're not moving, at least we'll be able to enjoy our patio more, JP will be able to go to school with a few of his friends from last year, Hunter will start kindergarten at the school we visited, and get on the bus at the end of the lane, and Charlotte can get help from her physical therapist as needed. As much as I don't want to move, I am sad that all that house browsing was for nothing. I found quite a few homes I liked... Maybe this next spring?

Family Sunday: The Beginning

Even though I blog about the good stuff happening in my life, it's only fair for you to know that my relationship with Perry isn't perfect, nor with my kids. I fight with my kids all the time and I fight with my husband about stupid things that don't need to be fought about. I try not to dwell on it so I tend not to blog about it but...

A couple weeks ago, Perry and I got into a pretty heated argument. Every weekend Perry would spend all his time working on the house. Yes, things needed to get done, but to me they weren't pressing issues. Water dripping from the light fixture in the laundry room? Yes fix that! Dirt pile under the deck? That can wait... and so it started. I cried, I yelled, I cried because I yelled, I cried some more... Sometimes I think I just need a good cry. I don't recall how it started but all that matters is that we were able to come to an agreement. I wanted him to spend more time with the family and he wanted to get stuff done. After a lot of venting and a lot of "this is how I feel....", we came to the agreement that Sunday's would be reserved for family.

Isn't it supposed to be anyways? I mean after all, one of the Ten Commandment is to "Keep Holy the Sabbath Day." For all of my working life, I my job has required me to work on Sunday's so it became just another day of the week. Same for Perry. When I had Charlotte, I was lucky enough to be able to quit my job and stay home, but that didn't necessarily mean going to church was automatically put on the schedule. Although it seems like it, it doesn't mean that we would get more family time either. And so we fought.

As I said, we did come to an agreement. Sunday's are now reserved for just doing stuff as a family. Sunday morning we sleep in a little bit (or not at all, depending on when Hunter wakes up because once he's up, the other kids are too...), and then we have family breakfast before going to church. After church we do stuff as a family. It doesn't matter what, as long as we're all together focusing on each other.

Last weekend was our first weekend with our new system in place, except the day were a little flipped. Saturday we took the kids (how many times have I typed boys and had to change it to kids?!) to hang out with Grandma while Perry and I golfed 18 holes in the rain. We had a lot of fun on course even though the weather was a little chillier and wetter than we would have liked. But after church Sunday morning, we worked around the yard and did laundry. In the late afternoon, we surprised the boys by taking them swimming at the hotel. They had SO much fun!

Watch out for JP...make sure he doesn't judo chop you when you come out of the slide....!

4th of July in Seeley Lake

It's clearly a tradition now! I don't recall one 4th of July in the past 5 or 6 years that we haven't gone out to Seeley Lake. This year was no different! 

We headed out to the cabin around 10:30, a little behind schedule, but since Perry and I stayed up until 1:30a the night before playing Dominos, we opted to sleep in a little bit. Can you blame us? When we arrived, we had a quick bathroom break before we piled back into the truck with Grandma to head downtown to reserve our spot on the side of the road. We were in the same area that we were last year, but on the opposite side of the road. Since we still had about 2 hours before the parade actually started, we walked to The Ice Cream Place for lunch, and ice cream of course! Like usual, the place was swarming with people so it took about half and hour just to get our food, if not longer! We made it back with a few minutes to spare. It was a super long walk with 3 kids...

. 

Before the parade started, Hunter and JP sat eagerly in their chairs with Grandma waiting and waiting for the parade to begin. 

Charlotte was a trooper! It was 2pm before she finally had a moment to take a little snooze! Knowing that she would be exhausted, we brought the swing for her, and within minutes she was out. I wanted to join her!

  The forest service handed out frisbees again this year. The look on JP's face was priceless when they handed him a yellow one, as the guy had an armful of green ones. He went from excited when he saw all the green frisbees to a solid pout when he was handed a yellow one and then right into pure excitement when he realized it was a frisbee. All within 10 seconds. He is so animated!

 This was his face when the *green* Shriner's cars were racing around in circles. Excited they were green, but what are those old guys doing on those small cars?

 Hunter kind of kept to himself during the parade and wasn't too keen on picking up candy. But JP loved the majority of it. The Blackfoot suburban had their back wipers going so the flag was waving. JP thought this was HILARIOUS! And "Look! Santa is strapped to that truck carrying the watermelon!"

 When Hunter and JP (and mom, dad, and Grandma) saw this coming, we ALL took shelter so we didn't end up soaking wet like last year!

 The adults stepped back by the truck, Hunter climbed into the back of the truck, and JP hid behind my chair. One of the first entries in the parade was a fire truck, and he hid behind me when he first saw it, 2 blocks away... Needless to say, no one got wet on our side of the road this year. Woohoo!

 The boys came out of hiding when they saw "Mater". 

Charlotte woke up around the time the boys were fussing about the fire trucks. But she woke up just in time to be thrown popsicles. How did she she get away with two, and the boys only one? Easy - green popsicles were the *cool* thing.  

 I was so glad to get back to the cabin because I was exhausted, and so was everyone else. The boys napped for a little bit, Grandma had a short nap, but Perry, Charlotte and I didn't get up until 6:30! At that point, we all headed down to river to have a campfire. JP was excite that his hot dog actually had his name on it! Charli ate a ton and I somehow caught her mid-blink...

 The weather was perfect for a campfire. Not too hot, not too breezy. Just perfect. 

 Once the boys finished eating, they went down near the river to whack some stuff. They would do this all day if you let them. 

 We pulled the jeep out of the shop for the first time this year to take down to the lake to watch the fireworks. Charlotte had fun playing in the front seat as we gathered up everything we needed.

 Before we left, I insisted I get a *decent* picture of the 3 of my kids. I was thrilled one turned out!

 This is how they usually turn out...

Why can't you all look at the same time?!

 Before marking our spot on the lake shore, we hit up The Ice Cream Place again and bought a few fireworks for the boys for when we got back home. 

 There were TONS of people there! I think this is the 2nd time we watched the fireworks over the lake. The boys spent their time before the show running up the hill and rolling down. Hunter could really get rolling! JP could also get rolling pretty quick but it took him twice as long to get down because he would end up rolling across the hill instead of down. More in a zig-zag pattern than anything. They were fun to watch!

Hunter is in the green jacket, and JP is at the top of the hill in the grey jacket. It's a little fussy because I couldn't see the screen on my camera very well, but you get the picture!

The boys snuggled in with Grandma to watch the show. I was nervous about Charlotte not liking the fireworks because she typically doesn't like loud noises. She surprised the heck out of me! She laid between my legs and talked and giggled the whole show. It was adorable!

 The boys were *very* eager to light off fireworks at the cabin once we got back. They were thrilled about sparklers!

 And were very good about shouting cautions to dad. "Don't touch it dad! It's on fire!"

In the morning they did a few more sparklers before Perry lit the snake, also known as the "snakeler". Hopefully we'll be able to carry on our tradition next year!

An Afternoon with Aunt Kim

Hunter and JP love when Aunt Kim come over to visit! I'm starting to wonder if they love it because she's more willing to take them to the Carousal...But whatever the reason, we welcomed her company last week!

 Just before lunch, we packed up the kids and went downtown. Our first stop, of course, was the Carousal. And we came at the perfect time! Free rides! JP was eager to show Aunt Kim how he could ride by himself. After that we took them next door to the Dragon Park, where they normally love to play. They instead played for about 5 minutes before they decided they wanted to go. I was fine with that because I was getting hungry!

 It worked out perfectly too! Wednesday was Out to Lunch in Caras Park so the five of us ventured across the parking lot to the people-fill pavilion to grab some lunch. We lucked out and found some shade under a tree.

 Often times I look at Charlotte and wonder if she's really my kid, or if she's Aunt Kim's because she's starting to look a lot like her auntie!

Before leaving, Hunter insisted taking a picture with Aunt Kim. She has a better one on her phone, but this is a picture taken with my finger-printed camera of her and Hunter taking a picture on her phone. If that makes sense... Once we finished up eating, we scurried back to the hot car and headed for Dairy Queen where we picked up some Dilly Bars for a treat at home. I think she got them hooked on Butterscotch Dilly Bars....I'm a cherry girl!