Little Mother

I think I've mentioned it before, but Abby is becoming quite the little helper with Delayna. She likes to take her to play, gets her out of bed, and rescues her from other family members who shall remain nameless. Today she was playing with her and carried her into me and said, "Mom, I think she's starting to like me more than she likes you." I began the happy dance and said, "good maybe she'd like to see you in the middle of the night" :0) It's fun to watch her natural instincts as a caregiver. Not that I really think I'm in for much help at night, but it is really nice to have a little helper during the day. I'm not sure what we are going to do when school starts. :0(

Well Done Thou Good and Faithful Servant

Ryan returned from El Salvador at 8:52 p.m. yesterday. I think it is safe to say that he was very happy to be home and we were all exceedingly happy to have him home. We staged a "Happy Everything" party to celebrate all the holidays we missed having him home for, thus the very cool headgear :0) It kept us all busy while we waited and waited and waited for him. Mike had meetings in Portland and we thought he would miss the homecoming, but he one uped us and flew fro Portland to Seattle and met Elder Bell at his gate and they flew to Pasco together. We were all so excited to see Ry that we didn't notice Mike walk out a few people later. He sat and watched the reunion until we were taking a group photo and then he popped in. Fun times. We stayed up too late talking and they are already at the tennis courts this morning. I expect us all to be fully exhaused by Friday. And for those who are concerned, he is still totally Ryan. No worries, he's been fun since he walked off the plane!

Halloween Preview

Grandma is cleaning house and the Halloween costumes were up for grabs. Here's a preview of exciting things to come. Do these bring back any memories?

Cailahisms

Cailah: "Do you know why I'm so precious?"
Alyson, Mom, Kris, Randy: Why?
Cailah: "Because I can count to 70"

"Kids have to grow up so they can become parents. YOU GOT THAT RANDY?"

"Are you ready for my Kung Fu!"

The Facinating Washing Machine

Pictures of the washing machine are not normally facinating material, but I had to capture the moment. I think all of my children have at one point during their infancy been found staring at the washing machine go round and round. When Abby was little she'd sit in her carseat and watch happily for a long time. That was a life saver some days. This being my last little one I wanted to capture the moment so I didn't forget. (Quit snickering, I'm serious about this being the last one.) It's fun to walk in and see them engrossed in spinning clothing. I have to admit I found myself doing the same thing when we first purchased the washer.

Lullubies

Delayna has not been a great sleeper, but she's made some huge improvements lately. She's slept though the night quite a few times now and it's awesome. She still doesn't like to go to sleep and last night she was being a real turkey. I was trying to sing to her and get her calmed down so she's go to sleep without all the crying, but she was having none of it. Mike is out of town again and I was getting a little frustrated. Braydon was trying to go to sleep and said, "I know how to get her to stop, Mom. Just put her in bed." So I did and left the room. After a couple of minutes I went and listened at their door. He was singing "Hush Little Baby" and at the end of the song she started "talking" to him and he stareted singing again and a few minutes later all was quite in their room. What a sweetheart and a great helper!

Happy Bread

I forgot to put this picture in the last post. Kristin was making sandwiches and pulled out this happy face. Cool Eh!

The Nampa Stop of the Cross Country Express

We finally got our turn to have Randy, Kristin and Alyssa stop on their way to the west coast. There was much excitement when they finally arrived. Normally they come through the garage and we get some warning when we hear the door opening, but this time they came through the front to view my nicely repainted door. I was surprised when Randy came peeking around the bar and gave a happy yell which scared Baby D who was sitting on the floor and she screamed and screamed. But all was well and they became very good friends by the end of the visit. We had fun playing tennis, shopping, relaxing at the house, having a belated birthday breakfast for Alyssa, trying new rides at Roaring Springs and playing Mario Party. Good times. Of course the kids were SAD when it was time for them to leave, but the good news is we'll see them in a week when we head to Hermiston because RYAN IS COMING HOME!!!!

Happy Birthday Hugs for Alyssa

We're happy to report that D loves Randy

It's a sad time when everyone leaves.

Saturday became Roaring Springs day. Took a few twists and turns to get there, but we made it and the kids had a BLAST. Thank you Auntie Barbara. Delayna and I met them for dinner and there were smiles all around. After two last trips down the Carpet Slide we headed home to crash. We've had so much fun we're all exhausted.

Happy 4th

Mike's sister Barbara flew up for a visit this weekend. We've had fun having her here. Last night we decided to forgo going to see the fireworks because our neighbors put on such a good show it's fun to just stay and watch. We also bought a few of our own to set off, the first time we've done that. Abby was a little nervous about the fireworks this year, and came in and out of the house. But she got brave and held a Roman Candle. Her take "it hurts my arm to hold it." Braydon and Cailah had a blast. Braydon's only complaint was there were so many fireworks going off he "didn't know which one to watch. AHhhhhh."

8 Months Old

Yep, it's that time again. The Delayna baby has turned 8 months old. She is becoming more and more fun all the time. This month "D" has cut her second tooth and is learning that she can't bite people anymore cause OUCH! I have had to admit she is mobile as I watched her crawl across the room for a toy. She normally does a mixture of crawl/roll/strech but you definately can't leave her and expect her to be there when you get back. Yesterday we were talking in the kitchen and everyone left her alone in the living room for a few minutes. When I headed back to the living room she was sitting in front of the entryway closet pulling out shoes. We headed to to the store that afternoon and before bed Mike had the gate installed at the top of the stairs. She still growls all the time mixed with some nice baby sounds on occasion. She sometimes cries ma ma ma, and in the morning when she plays with us we usually get the da da da's. Why he gets the fun sounds is a mystery to me. Whatever. She loves to eat anything she can feed herself. Abby has become a little mother hen and is really helpful. I even got a short nap the other day while she was "in charge." It's great fun to watch.

The Songbook

Cailah's new hobby of late is singing songs from her songbook. She created it all by herself and to most adults it looks like lots of vertical wavy lines, but to her and those with open minds, it is a magical songbook. If you ask nicely she is always happy to share one of her songs with you. They are all on the theme of "Everybody is a Child of God", "Everybody is Special" "I love Heavenly Father and Jesus" and nearly all include the chorus of "And I Like Them." The coolest part of the book is that is it constantly changing. It never has the exact same song twice :op I decided to figure out how to get one from my phone to the blog. Alas I have failed and my alotted blog time is over. Here are the words.

"Everybody is a child of God, and I like them, I like them. Everybody is a child of God, and they are very special. They are very, very special."