The 4th of July

Joel and I were both looking forward to the fourth of July. Joel couldn't wait for a day off of work. It has been hot here in Boise and Joel has not enjoyed working out in the heat. Joel got so hot at work the day before that he had to lay down and he fell asleep in the middle of the shop while he was laying on the creeper. I think he might of had heat stroke because he felt miserable. Joel loves all of the fourth of July activities and he really needed a day to relax and have fun.

On the fourth we all woke up super excited for the parade. Except for Joel. He was sick. He had another really bad headache. He spent the whole morning laying on the bathroom floor. He was still determined that he would go to the parade with us. I didn't see how that would happen but I got everything ready and then went to ask Joel if he was coming. He insisted that he was going to go but in the end, he couldn't even get up off the floor. I know he was disappointed that he couldn't go and I felt bad for leaving him home but I didn't want the girls to miss out on the festivities so I took the girls by myself.

When we got to the parade I ended up sitting with my dad and Alesha and Joel's brothers and their families, plus Joel's sister Janeen. The rest of my family sat somewhere else. They wanted to sit closer to the beginning so they could get more candy. We sat over by the park so my kids could play before the parade started. It worked out really great for us because my dad bought a huge plate of french fries and he shared them with us. Annalyn got ketchup all over her hands right away. My sister Alesha, who was holding her, begged for a wipe; but I wasn't fast enough. Annalyn got ketchup all over Alesha's pants. Alesha was not happy that she had to walk around with ketchup on her white pants.

Once the parade started, the candy started to be thrown. Annalyn got really into getting all that candy. She was so funny. She kept trying to eat whatever she found while the wrapper was still on it. Eventually I would take the wrapper off and she would try to stick the whole thing in her mouth. She would have a mouth full of candy and both hands would be full but that would not stop her from going after more candy. I tell you, that girl really likes candy. She got a lot more candy than Brynlee did. Brynlee had fun watching the parade with her cousins Madison and Celeste and she collected lots of candy too.

After the parade we had planned on going over to Joel's brother Jake's house for a barbecue. Luckily Joel felt better and he was determined to go. I went home and picked him up. Joel's brother had made a huge slip n' slide out of black plastic and the kids had a blast playing in the water. The food was great and we had a fun time. I wish I would have taken some pictures while we were there.

After that we went to visit my family and see what they were doing. We really wanted to go see the firework display in Melba but Joel still wasn't feeling that great so we decided to skip it. Luckily my dad bought a whole lot of fireworks so we just lit them off at grandma's house instead. Both of my girls really enjoyed the night's festivities  Annalyn started clapping as soon as the first firework went off and she clapped pretty much the whole night. They had a blast. Although, I think Brynlee got kind of bored with it because when the show was almost over, she started to watch a show on grandma's ipad. She is still talking about the fireworks and has asked to do it again so I know she had fun. The best part about doing fireworks at home was that we didn't have to worry about fighting traffic and we got home before Melba's fireworks even started. It was a great night. I am glad Joel felt well enough to come and participate. And I am glad we got to celebrate our country with our families.

Our Crazy Month of June

June started out with some really nice weather and we enjoyed playing outside. We got a little kiddie pool from a garage sale and the girls had a lot of fun playing in it. Although, Annalyn would much rather watch Brynlee play in the water than actually get in. Joel bought us a trampoline and the girls really love jumping on it. We just need to get a net on it because Annalyn keeps trying to climb down on her own and it makes me really nervous. We also had the little four wheeler train over here for the last month and both of the girls love riding in it. No ride is ever long enough for them. It has been fun to take family rides together. Brynlee always sits in the pink barrel. Brynlee will be really sad when we have to return the train to grandpa's house.

We celebrated Brynlee's third birthday this month and we celebrated Father's day. The day before father's day; Joel went and played golf with his dad and his brother and we went to see IronMan 3 at the theater with my dad and most of my sibling. We brought Joel breakfast in bed on Sunday morning, some leftover birthday cake, and we gave him a movie and a card.

We went to a few garage sales this month. Joel watched the girls one day so I could go with my mom and grandma and another day we both went together. It is the best way to get clothes for the girls. My mom and my grandma go to garage sales and buy things for the girls all the time. When Joel and I went we found a bike trailer for $20. We took it on a bike ride to grandma's house. It is so fun!

Grandma and grandpa Hirtle had a whole bunch of tadpoles in their little pond outside and all of the grandkids had a lot of fun catching them. Including both of my girls. Brynlee kept calling them "frog pools" and she loved them. One day while we were over there grandma Hirtle caught us a whole bunch of tadpoles and we took them home to watch grow. Most of them already had front legs so it didn't take them very long to change into frogs. Annalyn loved those frogs. I had a hard time keeping her away from them. She has no fear around animals and holding them was a lot of fun for her. We brought home 11 frogs and gave 4 to my cousins. In the end we only had four frogs that successfully turned into frogs and hopped away. Although there is one that is still a tadpole. Hopefully that one makes it. Most of the ones that didn't make it were eaten by our chickens. I didn't know they would eat frogs, but I guess they do.

I also learned that chickens really like to eat flour and water mixed up with some food coloring. I made paint with it and set the girls up with a big piece of blue paper to paint outside but we couldn't keep the chickens away from our paint. The girls kept spilling it and the chickens would pounce on it and devour it. We can't have food outside at all anymore because they will try to take it from us. It was a fun project but I wouldn't recommend it if you have chickens.

Towards the end of the month I took the girls to JCPenneys and got their pictures taken. My sister Alesha came with me and I met her at my sister Heather's house. Heather fixed Brynlee's hair all cute and she cut her bangs just a little so that they weren't covering her eyes anymore. Both of my girls were fairly cooperative while getting their picture taken, which surprised me.

The next day I got another surprise when Brynlee tried out her hair cutting skills on Annalyn. I was in the kitchen making dinner while the girls were both happily playing in the other room. Right before Joel got home Annalyn walked in the kitchen and started crying at my feet. When Joel walked in the door he took her back in the other room for me and he asked me "what happened to Annalyn's hair."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I mean, It looks like someone took a razor to the top of her head," he replied.
I just looked at Annalyn's head and gasped. Then I yelled at Brynlee to get in here and I asked her what had happened to Annalyn's hair.
"I cut it with my little blue scissors" she told me.
It is a good thing Joel was home to discipline Brynlee because I was so mad at her. I just held Annalyn and cried. Joel couldn't believe I was so upset about hair. And in hindsight it really isn't that bad. Most people haven't even noticed. Still, Annalyn had such a nice little long section of hair in the back that is totally gone. I was so happy that she had as much hair as she did. Her little hair cut still makes me sad. Oh well. There is nothing we can do about it now. I am just going to keep the scissors up really high so that we don't have this happen again.

I sure have enjoyed having my family around and I have taken advantage of it. My mom watched the girls several times while I went to Zumba. Brynlee would much rather be at grandma's house than at home any old day. She is constantly begging to go over there. I try to make our house fun but it doesn't compare with the company at grandma's house. My sister Alesha has come over many times and played with us. It has been so hot the last few days that we have spent lots of time playing in the water. One day we turned the sprinklers on and we jumped on the trampoline. Alesha also took Brynlee to the pool to go swimming. My sister Heather and her boy Jakobee were there with them and it sounded like they had tons of fun.

I have been trying to spend more time doing crafts with Brynlee which has been lots of fun. Our biggest project for the month was our pinata. It sure was a messy project and in the end we never could get the paper mache to work. After having two balloons pop I was done with that idea. Brynlee and I tried to do it when Annalyn was asleep but it took a long time to do. As soon as Annalyn was awake, she was right up on the table and into my paper mache. She was a mess.

We went to the library for the summer reading program they have and Brynlee threw the biggest temper tantrum ever in the middle of the library during a presentation they were doing about animals. Brynlee kept moving and talking so I told her she needed to be good or we would have to go home. She didn't want to go home. She wanted to go to grandma's house. That's when she threw her pencil and almost hit someone in the head. So I told her we were leaving and she threw herself down on the ground and started screaming. I didn't expect that kind of a reaction from her. Luckily someone who works at the library helped me by carrying Annalyn to the car. Brynlee screamed the whole way home about wanting to go to grandma's house. There was no reasoning with her. She was so worked up by the time we got home that I put her in bed and made her take a nap. It was super embarrassing. We are not going back to the library unless I have someone to help me. The day Brynlee turned three my mom warned me that all of her kids were much more difficult to handle when they turned three. It is looking like she is right, three is going to be a lot harder than two. And Brynlee has only been three for a few months.

June really was a fun month for our family. Joel put the pink castle into a playhouse for the girls and they have had a lot of fun playing in it. They still love dress-up and making big messes. Brynlee is still into all kinds of her usual mischief. Things like spilling bubbles all over the carpet and spraying my basket of clean clothes with a water bottle are things that have happened this month. Right before I had to take Annalyn to the doctor for her check-up Brynlee knocked the red finger paint off of the fridge and Annalyn got it all over the place. Annalyn thought she was pretty funny. After I got her changed and went to brush my teeth and get ready for the day. Brynlee stood up on the toilet to look in the mirror and the toilet lid broke and my poor little girl fell right in the toilet. I couldn't help but laugh as she ran off crying that her dress was wet. She was changed right away. Brynlee also wrote all over Annalyn's shot record. It was still readable but I had to hand the nurse a shot record that had Brynlee's scribbles all over it. Brynlee used grandma Verna's bathroom one day while we were there and I went in to find her playing in grandma's sink. I made her get out and I didn't think anything of it until later when grandma realized that someone opened up a bottle of Tums and ate several of them. She must have thought she found candy. I don't think they hurt her because she acted fine. Annalyn is still a little climber and she is starting to follow in Brynlee's footsteps and be just like her. Good thing I love these girls because they sure are busy.

A Day at the Zoo

Brynlee has been begging to go to the zoo for weeks. It rained on the days that we wanted to go and it was hard to find a time when someone could go with me and the girls. Joel didn't want to go so I turned to my mom and my sister Alesha to come help me out. We finally decided to go last Wednesday. It turned out to be a hot day but we decided to go anyways. At the last minute my mom couldn't come but Alesha was game and we were able to convince my brother Josh to come too. It was fun to spend the day with them and I really appreciated their help. It took all three of us to keep track of my two kids.

As so as we saw the first animal Annalyn was thrilled. She wanted to get down and try to hold every animal she saw. I am not sure why I even brought the double stroller because neither of my kids would stay in it.  Annalyn would get really mad when she wasn't able to hold those animals. When it was time to leave each display she would throw herself on the ground and cry. It was pretty funny.

As soon as my kids saw the carousel they started begging to get on it and I gave in and paid the dollar so they could ride. They both really liked that and were not ready to get off once it was over.

Before we went to the zoo Brynlee kept talking about seeing dinosaurs at the zoo. I kept telling her they didn't have dinosaurs. I was shocked to find out that just for the summer, the Boise Zoo had all of these mechanical dinosaurs all over the place. Brynlee was so excited. Even though she said they scared her; she said the dinosaurs were her favorite part. Brynlee also loved the slides they had. I think both of my girls would have played on the slide all day if I would have let them.

We did get to go to the butterfly exhibit which is really neat. One of the butterflies kept landing on my shirt and Annalyn really wanted to grab it. We also got to feed the goats. Annalyn would throw a fit to feed them but I couldn't get her to open her hand all the way so the animals kept biting her finger which would make her cry. It didn't stop her from wanting to feed them some more though. Funny girl. She was getting really tired at this point and I ended up letting her have her soother so she would quit fussing. Alesha bought an Icee to share on the way home and it cooled us all off for the card ride home. Then we stopped so we could each get a sno cone since it was so hot.

Overall we had a lot of fun and I am glad I got to spend the day with my siblings and my girls having fun at the zoo.

Annalyn's 15 Month Update

Little Annalyn sure is growing and her little personality is really starting to shine through. And boy does she have personality. She can understand almost everything I say and she is starting to communicate the things she wants. She is quite stubborn already and very persistent. It is hard to distract her from the things she wants. It is crazy to me how fast she figured out what she likes and what she wants. Here are a few more facts about little Annalyn.

Height: 29 3/4 in (22%) It looks like she isn't going to be tall.
Weight: 22 lbs 9 oz (68%) She gained several pounds in the last few months.
Head: 18 1/4 (69%)

Teeth: 8 - On the day she turned 15 months She had 6 on the top, including two molars that just barely broke through, and only two on the bottom. Since then she has gotten three more on the bottom and she is working on another bottom molar. That makes 11 teeth that have broken through so far.

Sleep: Annalyn still takes two naps a day and sleeps through the night. Her bedtime is at 7 and she wakes up around 6-7 on a typical morning. Then she takes a nap in the morning (usually 1-2 hours long) and one more in the afternoon that is about the same length. She falls asleep in her bed on her own and most of the time she goes to sleep without much crying, if any. This has been a huge blessing.

Eat: Annalyn is still a pretty good little eater. She especially loves sweet and I would have to say that her most recent favorite food would have to be popsicles. Every once in a while she will use her spoon or her fork but not very often. She loves to drink out of big people cup and she would much rather eat or drink whatever Brynlee has. As soon as I put food on the table, Annalyn crawls up there and helps herself to whatever she can find. She still likes to be held and cries most of the time while I am cooking so I would almost rather have her up on the table than crying at my feet.

Talking: Annalyn can say several word and do some signs. She will sign "please," "all-done," and she can sign and say "more."She says mama and dada and she has said all of these word a few time : "hot" "Te" - (teeth) "wawa" - (water) "ba" - (ball) "baba" -(bubble) and shoes. When I try to get her to say something she can usually say the first syllable. There are a few more words she has said once or twice but she would rather point and grunt until I get her what she wants. She can scream really loud so she is kind of hard to ignore. She will sign "please" if I don't get it for her right away and then I usually give in. She makes the funniest sounds. And she is really loud. She loves to hear herself. There have been many car rides where Annalyn "sings" or blow raspberries or babbles the whole way home. It is quite entertaining.  

Favorite Things: Annalyn likes to find her belly button and show it to people and she will show me her tongue. She runs away when I try to get her to identify any other body part. She loves to play "peek a boo" and she will try to walk around with blankets or buckets over her head so I will play it with her. She laughs so hard that I can't resist playing the game with her. She likes it when we sing to her and she likes to play "Ring-Around-the-Rosies." She loves balls, bubbles, balloons, babies, and stuffed animals.  She also loves real animals and she doesn't hesitate around them at all. She likes to chase our chickens and catch them. (she has caught them a few times but she doesn't really know what to do with them after that. It is pretty funny.) She gets really mad if the chickens run away from her. She really likes the little four wheeler Brynlee got for her birthday and she has already figured out how to make the thing go. She loves to play with Brynlee and do whatever her big sister is doing. She loves to put on Brynlee's necklaces and carry around her purses.

Things she can do: Whenever it is time for the prayer, Annalyn is quick to "fold" her little arms. She is a serious climber. She can climb to the top of our slide and slide down it all by herself. She loves to be on top of the table. Earlier today, she even climbed into her high chair while Joel was in the process of cleaning off the tray.

Annalyn really wanted some of the pictures on my fridge ( a picture of my sister Alesha and a picture of my cousin Jakobee.) so she kept whining at the door. I didn't want her to ruin my pictures and the alternative ones I tried to give her didn't cut it. The next thing I knew she had pushed a little chair over to the fridge and she was trying to reach up there to get those pictures. She was really mad when she still couldn't reach. I kept distracting her but as soon as she was in the kitchen, she would head right for the pictures. Eventually I gave in and she packed that picture of Jakobee around all afternoon. She also kept putting it in her mouth.

Annalyn loves stuffed animals. It is funny because she tends to pick one or two that are her favorite and she will pack it with her wherever she goes. Whenever we go to visit grandma Verna she searches through her bag of animals and finds the mom and the baby zebra and she will pack them with her everywhere she goes. She also likes to wrap up her babies and Brynlee's barbies with blankets and wash cloths. Today she kept wrapping her little bear up in napkins. It is the cutest little thing.

Annalyn goes to Relief Society with my mom every week now at church while I teach primary. A lot of the times she will sleep for my mom. I am just glad she goes to her and doesn't cry. It is a big improvement for her.

Annalyn still gets eczema on her cheek all of the time. It is mostly on her left cheek where it is the worst. It will go away for a few days after I put Vaseline on it and then it returns a few days later.

The day after Annalyn turned 15 months, her big sister gave her a haircut. Poor little girls now has several little bald spots on the top of her head. I guess it is a good thing she didn't have a lot of hair up there to begin with. We bought her several hats but she is not really liking them that much. She did keep one on all day at church so I am hoping she will get used to them. They look really cute on her.

Annalyn is so fun and we all love her so much. She really makes our world so much brighter. We are mighty grateful that this little girl joined our family.