Mini Trip

A couple of weeks ago Jess had to go to a board meeting in Havasu.  It was in the evening for some reason, so he asked if we wanted to go along.  That way we could make a quick stop to Hobby Lobby first, to look for a few things for a project we have going for the kids.  So we picked Paige up from school, and headed for Havasu.  First we stopped at Hobby Lobby, then for an early dinner at Red Robin.  Then we had to drop Jess off for his meeting.  I had no idea what I was going to do to entertain the kids, and I was nervous we were going to end up driving aimlessly around town for 2 hours.  Instead, we grabbed cookies from Carls Jr., and looked for the park.  We pulled in just in time for a beautiful sunset. 

The kids were so excited running down to the water.  

They tore off their shoes and socks.  

 

It was so nice out, just cool enough.  Reed and I watched them having fun.

The sunset got prettier and prettier, and we were there at the perfect time.  

 We only saw one or two people out, so it was quiet and peaceful.

 

 I love this one of Neely.  Wish it hadn't turned out blurry.  She'd just thrown a rock as far as she could, in that toddler way, with the hop at the same time, and a nice big yell for good measure.

We attempted a couple pics of all of us, and quickly realized it wasn't happening.

 Then the kids made sand angels.  We all, but especially Cason, cracked up at how Paige's kept turning out tiny. She kept trying again, and would stand up to check it, but even though it looked like everyone else's, it was by far the shortest.  She was frustrated.  

 

Then we waited for their sandly little feet to dry, so they could get shoes and socks back on.

 

They played a while at the playground in the dark, while Reed tried out the baby swing.

 

The swings didn't work out too great for Reed yet.

So he had a nap on me on the bench instead. 

 We moved over to the big kid swings, closer to the water.

 They played in the sand.

Finally we decided to head toward the college to wait for Jess.  He ended up stuck in there until like 9:00, much later than we expected.  We entertained ourselves in the car for a long while.  Luckily we had goodies from Hobby Lobby.

 

 It ended up being such a memorable time with them.  I don't know why, it was just so quiet and peaceful and pretty and I felt really aware of how lucky I am. 

Gamer Cards

 Paige is used to things being pretty easy for her, and will tend to take the easier route if she has a choice.  So we are always trying to encourage her to show people she cares by taking her time and paying attention to detail when she does something for them.  So when she said she wanted to make her own Valentines Day cards instead of buying them, I was really happy about it.  She wanted to make half of them flower cards, and half video game cards.  We decided on controllers.  She wanted some to be Playstation controllers, some Wii u, and some xbox.  We had fun.  She came up with some cute gamer puns, with a little help from us.  They're so cute and nerdy I can't handle it. 

 

This next one might be my favorite.  Haha!  We thought about "Let's take this friendship to the next level", but Jess thought it might be taken the wrong way when the parents saw it, so we reworded it a bit.  Haha.

 

 

She worked hard, and I told her I was proud of her for thinking of a thoughtful card to make (She'd chosen them because the boys in class are always talking about video games apparently).  She said "Thanks.  But this is a lot more work than I thought it would be."  Haha!

 

4 Month Old Reed

Reed turned 4 months old last Saturday!  So crazy. 

He slowed down on the weight gain this last month a little, and was 50th percentile for both height and weight.  15 lbs 5.6 oz and 25 1/4 inches long. 

His favorite new skill learned in his 4th month of life is blowing raspberries.  January 18th was the first time we noticed he was doing it for SURE with purpose.  He did it constantly after that, with lots of drool.  :)  No teeth yet, but you can see on the bottom where they are under his gums, and he drools and gnaws on his hands a lot. 

Right at the end of January he started to get REALLY good control of his hands.  Especially this last week now he just grabs what he wants and pulls it right to his mouth.  Sometimes a toy, and a lot of the time it's our hands, or hair, or faces-for a nice big kiss/bite. 

On January 31st, so the day before he turned 4 months old, he grabbed onto his feet for the first time, while I changed his diaper.  He'd been close before, grabbing the end of his sock, but hadn't quite had a hold of his foot until then.  Now he does it pretty regularly.  :)

Here's one of him displaying his favorite new skills at the same time-the foot grab and the raspberry.

 He's really proud of all the sounds he can make, especially those raspberries, and we're discovering there's a bit of a temper beneath all that sweetness.  :)  Cason was the first to be yelled at.  We were hanging out in our bed a few weeks ago, and Cason was really cuddling up to Reed, who was getting hungry and a little frustrated by me taking a long time to get in my pajamas and feed him.  He squirmed a little, and when Cason still kept cuddling up to him, he whipped his head around SO fast, and with the angriest look on his face, and really yelled at Cason.  Poor guy's feelings were a little hurt I think. 

This last weekend he started yelling for fun.  Sometimes when he's frustrated too, but I think mostly he likes the sound of his voice, and to see how loud he can get. 

He's such a sweet, happy boy.  Every single time he wakes up, in the morning or from a nap, he does that big stretch, with the arched back, arms above the head, eyes closed, and big puffy lips, and then as soon as he can focus his eyes and see us we immediately get a sweet smile.  

The biggest change in him this month is how active he's become.  He suddenly seems like the kid I thought was in there when I was pregnant, always wanting to be on the move.  

He seriously wants to crawl.  When I put him down for tummy time he either rolls onto his back or tries to get his knees up under him.  He can get them up well, but can't support his upper body with his arms yet, so he won't be crawling as early as he thinks he should be.

He loves to hang out with daddy, who helps him be active like he wants, instead of just wanting to cuddle all the time like his boring mom.  Haha.

He will NOT be held facing us anymore unless he's very tired.  If I try and hold him against my chest, he will squirm and twist and practically turn himself around on his own.  That doesn't mean he doesn't want to be close to us though. In fact, he won't let me put him down at all the last couple of weeks.  So I'm a tad behind on dishes and laundry.  Ha.  

He loves his siblings, when they aren't forcing their cuddles on him TOO hard.

 Still so sweet.

He sleeps much less.  I swear he already naps less than most toddlers.  Our kids do all their sleeping in the first 2-3 months, and then they're set apparently.  Haha.

 He is working on rolling the other direction.  He's been SO close a few times, but hasn't quite made it.  He has a new playmat which he loves, at least for 5 or 10 minutes at a time.  :)

 Just because it makes me laugh, here's a succession of pictures showing him listening to Adele with me, and deciding how he feels about her passionate singing.

 So thankful for this sweet boy.