Soon to be butterflies

On one of the first days out of school, I sat down with the kids and we made a list of things we wanted to do this summer.  Finding caterpillars and watching them turn into butterflies was at the top of the list for Allie.  We've been out searching almost every day and the other day, Allie and I hit the mother lode of caterpillars.  We have five!  The big one in this picture is already in its chrysalis and the others range from this tiny guy (who is now at least 3 times that size) on  up.

Since we have five, they are going through the milkweed like crazy.  We have to get a few fresh leaves a day.  As Allie and I were riding up the canyon the other day on the 4 wheeler, we both agreed that it was one of our favorite activities to do together.
Nate is good at spotting milkweed too and shouts "days one!" (there's one!) every time he spots a plant.
I find myself staring at the caterpillars every day and am amazed at how much they eat.  The book The Very Hungry Caterpillar wasn't exaggerating on how much they eat, and how fast they grow.  We'll have to keep you posted on the butterflies later...

Summer

Jake's got a summer hair cut,

 

 

and some beat up summer legs. 

Boy in a bowl of cereal...

Remember how I did this with Nate?

Well, now it's Jason's turn.

I dare you to show me a cuter baby than this.  I promise, I'll be objective.  Jason will still win.

Derby Car Boom!

Nate has a new favorite game.  Derby car boom.

 He drives one or the other of these toys and gets them to crash.

If he succeeds in knocking one over, he cheers for himself.

Occasionally, he is able to talk someone into playing with him.  He asks to trade if the other truck seems to be winning the battle.

I think it's more fun watching Nate play than going to a real demolition derby.

The Bottle Thief Strikes Again!

There's the saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  In our family, Nate is the squeaky wheel.  He has the loudest cry I have ever heard.  He is also just like any other 2 year old and has about as much patience as a bunch of hungry baby pigs.  He demands things and I have been known to give into those demands.  As you can imagine, it is just getting worse.  But, that is another story for another day.  

Today's story is about Jason's feeding time.  Feeding Jason is a bit of an ordeal.  It takes more hands than I have.  He flaps around so much that you can't leave the baby food anywhere near his arms or legs.  Then you have to hold his arms in with one hand (the same hand that is trying to point his face to the spoon) and then use the other to try and get through his shaking and excited head and into his mouth.  All the while, my friend Nate is right there requesting a bite.

 If I abandon the spoon to try to clean up Jason, it becomes "no...not Jason's.  Thas Nate's poon.  Thas Nate's food...mmm!"

Puffs are slightly easier to feed the boy and Nate likes to play the "I'll give you one and take 5 for myself" game with him.

You can see why feeding Jason anything but milk is just not my thing.  Clearly, the boy is wasting away :)

8 Months!

Jason,

You are such a cute boy!  Right now, you are in having a snooze and it’s 8:10 in the morning.  I haven’t seen you since midnight!  What a good boy.  We need to work on consistency, but for the most part, you have been improving on the nighttime sleeping.

You are 8 months old now.  You can sit up really well, roll really well (that clicked the day before you turned 8 months), and are eating like a champ.  You like everything I put in your mouth.  You aren’t a fan of baby food though, and that comes out almost as fast as I put it in.  So we just give you chunks of food.  You love to gnaw on pizza crusts.  You are also finally getting the hang of a big graham cracker, but just get flailing frustrated when you see a pile of cheerios on the table.  The little ones are hard to get in fast enough.

You say “dadadada” a lot and have some pretty shrill shrieks.  You are most vocal when there is food around that you think you need.  It's pretty obvious that it takes some serious calories to keep up your handsome physique.

You don't have any teeth yet, but I think they are just a few weeks away.  You bite your gums together a lot and I can tell it bothers you.  Not enough to make you too crabby though.

I love that you are content to sit on my lap and watch the world around you.  You snuggle your face into my neck when you are tired and fall right to sleep.  

I say it over and over that you are a wonderful baby and a perfect note to end on.  Thanks for being my sweet boy!

Love, 

Mom

Click HERE to check out the other kids at 8 months.  I have to laugh when I look at what Nate was doing at this age.  He was/is a wild man!  I have had the hardest time not thinking that Jason is slow to doing things.  I was glad to see that they are both clapping at the same age :)  When you follow a kid like Nate, I guess normal behavior does seem slow, but still...

Yellowstone

Mike was out on the road working one day and he called me up.  He asked what we were doing that weekend and when I said we didn't have anything going on, he said "I rented a motor home.  I'll be home in a few hours.  Pack up some stuff and let's go to Yellowstone."  My first instinct was to object, but then I thought about it for a minute and couldn't find a rational reason to object.  "I don't have enough time to plan out all the fun details of packing a motor home in my head" didn't sound like a rational reason, so I just packed up some stuff as quickly as I could and we were off.

We had a motor home growing up and I loved going places in it.  I'd sit on the bunk above the cab and watch the yellow stripes on the pavement fly by.  There was always a red cooler in between my mom and dad in the front and I'd often sit there and chat with my dad, or sit behind him and scratch his head.
I loved it when we'd stop for gas and he'd get a drink and a piece of jerky.  I'd take a sip of his drink and choke over the carbonation bubbles.
We'd listen to Hank Williams, or The Oak-ridge Boys.  My dad seemed to know the words to every tune.  But enough about that, you are here to read about our fun little vacation to Yellowstone.
It was so much fun!
You all know that Jake is a total science kid.  He loves to read about volcanoes and watched all the videos from the library that had anything to do with natural science.  So, he has heard a lot about Yellowstone and it has been a dream of his to go see it all.
Allie has watched those same videos and asked me over and over if the volcanoes at Yellowstone will get lava all the way to Grandpa Joe's house.  She was terrified.  I think her fears are put to rest now that she has been there and believes me when I say that there won't be lava flowing down the streets of Smoot any time soon.
The ride to Yellowstone was a dream.  Nate sat in the front and had a beautiful view.  The motor home had huge windows and we were all drawn to the view.

There were seat belts for the rest of us too, but I gotta be honest, this is how we traveled for most of the way.
It was also super nice that the boys could do this on the bed in the back...

It was pretty chilly the first day we were there, and I forgot a jacket for Jason...

 Here's Nate watching Old Faithful.  He thought that was pretty cool.  The guy next to me said "I've waited 60 years to see that".  He had tears in his eyes.  I guess these kids don't know how lucky they are to be able to watch it.

Allie wanted a picture of her acting like a geyser.

Nate's new thing is to stand in front of the camera and say "cheese".

Jake was in heaven.  He stopped to read all the signs and spouted all sorts of facts that I had never heard of before.  I guess he knows what he's talking about.
We walked around the boardwalk and came upon this geyser as it was about to erupt.  It was so cool!  It went off for a long time and sprayed the boardwalk (and everyone on it).  It wasn't hot water and it was such a neat thing to see.  That was Jake's favorite part of the trip.  He got pretty wet.

 One of my favorite parts was the grand canyon of Yellowstone.  It's so amazingly beautiful.
I took the kids on a little hike and was scared to death to have them go anywhere near the edge of the cliffs. Notice, I carried Nate on my back.  Oh, the worries of a momma.

The next day, we went to Teton National Park and went for a hike near Jenny Lake.  So beautiful!  

 Allie...acting as a mountain this time :)

I have to laugh about this one.  Nate was getting bored on the way home.  He wanted to "det out!"  I knew if I released the beast, we wouldn't have a moment's peace.  I found this magazine and handed it to him.  He spent a long time looking at each and every page.  Lots of monster trucks and motorcycles.  We might have to subscribe.

I have mentioned before that I feel a bit trapped sometimes lately.  I have to work around an every 3 hour feeding schedule and lots of naps between two kids.  If I want to go somewhere, I have to really plan it out.  Sometimes I get jealous of Mike and his breeze in and out of the house privileges.  I'm sure he'd rather be home with the kids than working some days, but still.  This trip filled my bucket.  The weather was perfect.  You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful setting, and everything went so well.  Thanks Mike for having a hair brained spur of the moment idea!  It was a blast.