Poor daddy

I'm just curious as to how my kids see the world. Not even "the" world, but their world more specifically. At dinner time Meny has an internal clock that says, "time to scream my head off because I smell something that doesn't smell like what I'm getting." (or something to that effect) So, almost every dinner I sit at the table, the baby propped precariously on one knee, foot propped on something else so I can raise the baby enough to the exposed feed bag so she can eat while we're eating. I've already made the meal, usually put it all out on the table, set the table and everybody just has to come in, serve themselves and eat the slop. A couple of nights ago I made my most excellent homemade flour tortillas and greek style hamburger meat- complete with all the toppings to make gyros. (it sounds weird, but homemade pita bread required a 500 degree oven and that ain't happening) I get everything and everybody settled and the mooks starts her little song. Since I was already eating and he had not yet sat down Jeebs scooped her up and tried to soothe her. She wasn't having it so he slipped outside into the heat because that's where she likes it. As soon as he closed the door Taylor pipes up with, "poor daddy."

Today we sit down to eat. Jeebs had put some chicken and bbq sauce in the crockpot- one of Taylor's favorite things. He made rice and heated up frozen corn and rolls to go with it. He seems to always make Sunday lunch because he has more time in the morning to throw something in the crockpot or I usually have to sit down and nurse a baby directly after church and nobody wants to wait for that. Soooooo, after everyone had filled their plates and the prayer had been said, he got a "thank you daddy" from Taylor and Cagey. I didn't pay much attention (because I wasn't sure what they had thanked him for) until Taylor says, " isn't anybody going to thank daddy for this delicious meal?" Somebody knife me...please. Oh and Jeebs, thank you for that wonderful meal.

ps I really am grateful to Jeebs for his Sunday dinners

I tried and I tired hehehe

Meny mook looks so cute in her new gymbo outfit complete with red bow stuck on her head with karo syrup. She was not happy about it though. I tried and Tates was a good sport to pose with her screaming little sister. I forgot how fun dressing and accessorizing little girls is. Tates does not let me accessorize her.

Dollarsssssssss

Cagey lost his first tooth the other night and in true Cagey form he just popped it out and calmly said, "my tooth came out." Also in true Cagey form after examining the hole in his gum I could see his permanent tooth already peeking through behind the tooth next to the newly lost tooth. I guess he'll be losing another one very soon. He kept talking about the tooth fairy bringing him "dollarssss" and slurring his s through his newly made hole. Then he asked "Wouldn't it be cool if I had a thousand teeth and they all fell out at once and the tooth fairy had to bring me a thousand dollarsssss?" Yes, Cagey it would be nice.

Baby's super closeup

courtesy of Ezra. Every once in a while there are some gems on the memory card waiting for me.

pink petal dress

Over six years ago when I was pregnant with Cagey I found this dress on sale at Gymboree in Provo. I didn't know if I was having a boy or girl, but it was so cute I couldn't pass it up. They had the little hat that matched as well, but it is still way too big. I bought the socks, but there were no shoes in a new born size so my mom got online and ordered both a 00 and 01 size shoe. Obviously, my baby, Cagey, turned out to be a boy so I packed it away with other baby clothes. We moved to North Carolina and 3 years later I was pregnant again with a baby due in the spring. I dug this little dress out complete with hat, socks and both pairs of shoes and ended up having to put it back away. Now, six years later I finally got to put it on my baby!! I was so excited and she got so many compliments on her little dress and shoes. The shoes, you must look at the shoes. They look like shoes Thumbelina would wear. This outfit just makes me so happy. I can't wait for the hat to fit as well, she'll probably be 5 years old.
The outtakes, Mooks was tired and I was making fun of her. She actually looks a lot like me before church on Sundays.

What we're doing

We're pretty boring around here these days. We still haven't gotten into a routine and I let the kids play with the camera way too much. I did, however, get up and workout for the first time in 8 weeks and I am feeling it today. After working out I took the kids to Jacksonville (45 min away) to Sam's club. It wasn't near the disaster I thought it would be. We packed a lunch and sat at a park we had never gone to before to eat our lunch. As we ate (in the car, it was 92 degrees) the kids were looking at the playground saying they wanted to do this and that and "can we go play yet?" We finally got done, baby nursed, changed and wrapped up snug in her Moby. After 10 minutes of playing they were ready to go. I tried.

There was a trail at the park and after threatening to take away video games Cagey finally got out of the car. Taylor was all about it until she saw the "Beware of snakes" sign. She kept grabbing Ezra and yelling at him to "get away from the woods!" After 5 minutes of walking in the heat I decided to turn around and then we heard thunder. Awesome. We made it back to the car and back home...where I feel like staying forever.

Fireworks in your face

I spent the whole night before the fourth smelling brisket tenderizing in the oven. I even half woke up to switch the baby from one side to the other and said to Jeebs, "that brisket smells so good." Yes, I love brisket, I need another one all to myself. We put Meny down for her nap around 10:30 and everybody headed outside. Jeebs set up an awesome baby monitor by skyping his cell phone through to his computer. So we could hear every sound she made and and see her little head in her crib. We don't do baby monitors, it's just another one of those things that I ask Jeebs if he can rig something up and he does. We spent a couple of hours outside in the pool and Taylor said it was the best 4th of July ever. (Five minutes later she was crying because she couldn't go under the water with her earache.)

After our ultimate nap time FAIL we headed over to the McCollom's house. After we stuffed our faces with some dang good food we had our own firework show in their backyard. I'm just gonna say, I've never seen an artillery shell explode at eye level. Scary. But, we had a blast and no one caught fire. (Ezra did not like the fireworks.)
Jeebs was taking pictures with his phone in one hand and Ezra in the other. We were too lazy (again) to get the big camera out.