YouTube Babies...

Lily is so close to walking for good and never looking back. Also, please note the crazy Morgan arm flailing run at the end. Sooo cute!





Morgan loves the AC unit upstairs. He likes to pretend he is blow drying his hair like Mom does except he uses manly tools instead of girly brushes! hehehe




He likes to dress up in all sorts of weird weird stuff.



He is totally a baby Mozart. Look at him rock!

ramble ramble ramble

Today marks Morgan's 6th day with no pacifier. The first night was rough, but after that it has not been bad at all. We bought him a lovey (a little frog with a mini-blanket coming out of it) that is special for bedtime and at first he threw it on the ground, but each night I cuddle with it and treat it special so he has started to do the same. Our new bedtime routine is diaper, teethbrushing, pj's, reading, then sleep. On a sidenote, I swear if we let him he would brush his teeth 10 times a day! He is obsessed.

This week is going quite well. Today is Steve's work from home day so I get the luxury of sleeping in on Wednesday mornings. Today Morgan would not take his morning nap so we just let him run and play. At lunch he was doing pretty good and when he said all done I looked over and his head was bobbing back and forth and in a circle with his eyes closed. He said all done again with his eyes closed! It was so sweet. I took one for the team and went upstairs and cuddled him on the aerobed and took a nap with him. It is such a luxury and a blessing that I am able to stay home with them that these little moments like naptime with Mom are so precious to me. He wound his arms through the straps on my dress and held tight and went to sleep (and so did I).

Earlier in the day he ate a green crayon. It was a non-toxic washable crayon so it basically disintegrated into this green slime oozing out of Morgan's mouth. When Steve found him he screamed! Steve was yelling for help and I came in to find Steve's hands cupped under Morgan's mouth with a handful of green ooze. =) It was hysterical. We took him into the bathtub and sprayed him off and brushed his teeth until it was all gone. It was a very strange experience. I would never have guessed a crayon would do that.

Breakfast in diapers

I am still working on the Thomas and Lake pictures, but wanted to share these photos from breakfast this morning. Around here we eat in our diapers and well if you are Morgan you eat in a diaper AND a fireman hat!

Yes, that looks like alot of food, but it's primarily fruit salad with two scrambled eggs and a 1/4 of a croissant. =)

Two front teeth Smile

I have no idea...

Peek a Boo with the Camera is FUN

Updates...

I updated the 4th of July/Father's Day post below with a bunch of new additions. I am going to start updating the Lake McMurray post as well and then work on a new post about our Day out with Thomas The Train last Sunday. My new goal/resolution is to post an update at least once a week about what's going on around here. So, check back again soon!

Lake McMurray

Today was the best day of Summer so far! Steve's Uncle Per and Aunt Terry invited us to their Son's of Norway park on Lake McMurray for the day. We BBQ'd for lunch and then swam in the lake and played with the kids. Morgan loved the water and all the kids splashing and jumping off the dock. He desperately wanted to jump off the dock too, but it was too high so he had to settle for me throwing him up in the air and splashing down in the water. He spent a lot of time digging in the sand with some other kids and running around a big grassy field. Terry got him to go down this huge slide and he was so into it he started climbing the very tall ladder all by himself and going down the slide by himself too. (Of course Steve and Terry were right there)

Lily slept for the majority of the time in her carseat in the shade, perfectly content. =) When she woke up we played in the sand on the beach and put her in her lily pad floaty and pushed her around the lake. She had such a good time she eventually got tired and layed her head down and went to sleep right on the lake in the water! It was sooooo sweet! She was the perfect little lady all day. Not one complaint. Morgan is definitely closing in on 2 fast. He is in and out of tantrums lately.

Per and Terry brought their canoe too and Steve and his cousin Devin went around the entire lake. I even got in the canoe with Steve for about 5 minutes until I freaked out and made him go back to shore. I was not used to the tippy feeling of a canoe and was freaked out of falling in out in the middle. There are Pike fish in the Lake. Pike fish have big sharp teeth and bite like a baracuda. Next time I am going to be more brave and go for a real paddle around the lake shore though.

The best part of Norway Park is that it is a private beach/campground with a private swimhole and dock. That means all the people were very nice and it was not packed at all. Unlike all the state parks around here. Per and Terry are going to sponsor us for a membership which is only 40 dollars a year. We would be able to go there anytime we wanted with friends and family for picnics or camping. They have a pavilion there too for events like weddings and birthdays and whatnot that we can use and really nice bathrooms. I can't wait to go back. It was just the perfect family set up for great lasting childhood memories. It is just gorgeous.

Oooh and right when we got there I spotted a deer with her two fawn going down a hill to the lake shore to take a drink and they then wandered along the egde of the lake for a bit. We also saw two Bald Eagles and Per and Devin saw a beaver while they were out in the canoe as well.

Now for the pictures...

The Lake from the dock

A lily for a Lily

Lily clapping

This is when we were leaving. If they were Snow White's Dwarves they would be Grumpy and Sleepy.

I am adding the pictures as I finish them...

Strawberry Festival, Father's Day and the 4th of July Oh my!

Where has all the time gone? I am still cleaning up from the 4th and it's already the 9th. I have been in a sort of photography funk. It's hard to explain, but alot of photographers go through it. I am not happy with the level I am at. I know what I need to do to get better, it's just hard finding the time and subjects to do so. Hopefully, once I get the downstairs cleaned up and set up as a working studio my spirits will lift. I am also going to reserve a corner for my oil painting. I feel more at ease when I have a painting in process.

The kids are getting so big. Morgan is turning into a little two year old temper flaring boy and Lily is turning into a smiley giggly pre-toddler. We are trying to make the most out of the nice weather and plan lots of fun events yet it is so hard for me to handle both kids out in the real world by myself. I know other people do it all the time yet I can't wrap my head around the schematics of it. I really need a baby wrap to carry Lily on me and that would help a bunch. Even going to the park seems impossible. Once I get there Morgan would want to run around and I couldn't leave Lily in her stroller and I couldn't carry her in my arms and help Morgan. I don't know...blah blah blah.

This is going to be the super post with several events crammed into one update. I will do better with it from here on out. I made a resolution to post at least once a week about our lives.

On Father's Day weekend there was the Strawberry Festival in Marysville. We went to the fair with my Mom and tried to see the kiddie parade, but missed it by one block! Grr. We walked all over Marysville though going from the carnival to the fair and then to State AVe for the parade. It was a lot of fun. This year I found out you can see the grand Fireworks show from the upstairs window through the trees which is pretty cool.

We got to the Fair and saw a kid train so here we are waiting for it to come back.

Here is Morgan on the train before it took off.

He looked pretty excited...

And here he is when it got back...not so excited anymore! Steve said the driver was crazy, so I think it was a bit much for the poor little guy. He gets sensory overloaded quickly.

We headed over the the carnival to play games and we bought Morgan a blow up Spongebob. Once we got it home Lily became obsessed with it. She gets so happy when she sees it.

Morgan got to play several games while we were there. Here he is at the duck game.

more ducks...

Steve helping him fish...

Victory!

This is Morgan looking over all his prizes. He doesn't look too impressed. =) We actually won quite a bit! My Mom did really good at skiball and won a ton of stuffed animals too. I think we walked out of their with 8 or so prizes.

Here we were waiting for the kiddie parade a block down from where it was happening. Sad.

Father's Day we were going to stay home and relax which is what Steve wanted to do on his day, but mid-morning we were inspired to go to the Mountains and hike Big Four as far as my back would let us. We were trying to catch up with Kathy and Fred who were also there, but it sounded like we just missed them! =( We had a really good time even though it was misting on and off. The one mistake was taking Lily in the umbrella stroller because Morgan decided it was his sole purpose to push that thing everywhere! Next time she is going in the Kelty pack. He was so enthralled in pushing the stroller he barely noticed where we were or what we were doing.

Father's Day:

Morgan was chasing Steve down the trail towards me so I could get a picture. It was raining though so I wansn't able to get in the spot I wanted.

This is pretty much how the rest of the hike went...(Morgan in charge of Lily)

Lily had it the hardest, y'know, being pushed around in a stroller scoping the pretty views. No effort required.

Steve and Morgan watching the fern float out the other side down the river.

It was a Team effort.

The 4th of July was fantastic. We went to Steve's sister's house for a BBQ with her fiance's family and ate some really yummy salmon and salad and desserts in the afternoon. Morgan and Lily were pretty enamored with the Kiddie pool so they wound up in their diapers in no time. I was so tired from lack of sleep I felt like I was in a daze most of the day which sucked. After the BBQ we came home to do our traditional annual fireworks show on the side street with the neighbors. This year my Brother and Sister-in-law came with my nephew along with my sister Kristine, my Mom, Tracie's Mom and a bunch of our friends. We got this really cool firepit for our backyard and we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows on sticks for dinner. It was perfect! Nothing beats a campfire or the smell of one for that matter. Once it got dark we lit up our tiki torches and moved the party to the side street and lit off a TON of fireworks. We got this GIANT peace lantern you light up and let it fill with heat until it floats up and away. It was so fun to watch.

Every year there seems to be a heart stopping moment and this year was no different. One of the mortars we let off didn't go all the way up in the air instead it got just above our heads and went off scaring the crap out of all of us as sparks of fire landed all over our party. Amazingly, while I was screaming and holding Lily under a blanket she didn't even flinch. =) Oh and we thought this year Morgan would stay up for the show, but right as we started he fell asleep in our friend Katrina's arms. I took pictures at Fred's, but never got the camera out when we got home, there was just too much going on to take pictures, which I regret now. Hopefully some one else got some. We all had a great time!

4th of July afternoon @ Fred's
Fred's other Sister-in-law Melissa made these yummy little Eagle treats. They are marshmallows dipped in chocolate and coconut on top of a oreo with a cashew nose. I had two; they were so good!

Matt's nephew and Morgan. Morgan is pointing at him and telling him very important things.

Fred and all the kids

Morgan, Lily and Fred

Fred and Lily

This was actually the weekend before the 4th at Steve's Uncle Chuck's retirement/Birthday party in Granite Falls...

Fred and Matt looking lovable.

Fred keeping Morgan entertained.

They had a Taco bar there. It was the best party food idea I have seen and it was so good. Lily had beans, cheese, and Avocado for lunch. :)

Steve's Uncle Chuck making a speech. He is a really nice, funny guy.

Since Photography is important to me I feel it is my duty to say these pictures are just snapshots and in no way represent my real work. =)