The Mr. and Mrs.: June 2013

If you thought March's post was random, April's post takes random to a whole new level. Let's begin, shall we?

Christian started perfecting the art of feeding oneself

Grace Art in the making. Still my favorite.

One day when I was tired and Christian was napping I told Grace to play while I rested for a bit. Thirty or so minutes later I came out of my room and noticed that Grace had been using the scissors. I had one of those Mom moments where your stomach drops and you panic over all of the "what ifs" that could have occurred because you weren't aware of something potential dangerous happening, like your three-year-old wielding scissors for the very first time without any adult supervision. I was surprised by a few things: 1.) That Grace located the scissors 2.) that Grace knew how to use the scissors and 3.) that all of her fingers were in tact.

It was probably better for her "maiden voyage" with scissors to occur without me there. I'm kind of a stress case about things, like, my kids doing something for the very first time. When Grace wanted to feed herself yogurt with a spoon for the first time I micro-managed the beejeezles out of her. I was constantly at the ready to wipe her mouth or any spill she made, reminding her to a nagging degree to "be careful." I adjusted how she put the spoon in her mouth to get the optimum amount of yogurt in her mouth and not on herself. I guarantee you she was more than capable of handling that yogurt on her own, even with the mess, but I made it a huge overly stressful occasion. Thank heavens for the second kid and for me mellowing out a lot (okay, well not completely.... but I'm working on it). But, it is no wonder that Grace took the liberty of figuring out scissors on her own without Helicopter McGee hovering over her and sweating from the stress. I just wish she would have chosen a less dangerous activity to do while I slept. Amazingly she was great with scissors and was cutting things just fine. We have since gotten some more child appropriate scissors and they are stored really really high up.

Mid-afternoon crafting.

More Grace Art

Snuggles with my boy

Grace came down with a high fever. This isn't abnormal for her. After almost four years with this kid it has become very apparent that her body reacts to any virus or ailment with a fever. It is usually her only symptom. I have taken her to the doctor so many times and have had them say "It's a virus, have her get rest and drink lots of fluids," that I have become tainted when it comes to taking her to the doctor. So we hunkered down at home with lots of rest and fluids and planned on riding this one out.

After a few days we hit the cabin fever phase pretty hard and were desperate for any activity to keep up preoccupied. Dominoes became a favorite. And by Dominos I mean using dominos to make roads and then driving small trains down those "roads."

After 10 days straight of fevers of 100 and higher I finally decided that I needed to take her to the doctor. The strep and flu tests came back negative, since she had the fever for so long they sent us to do a scan for pneumonia. After all of the testing Grace needed a win, so we ran through the red box and snagged a barbie movie and had a movie night.

The very next day her fever broke and did not return. The doctor called and told us the pneumonia scan came back negative, and, I quote, "She just had a virus." I'm so glad we paid tons of money for testing and scans when, as it always is, it was just a virus. My poor kiddo.

General conference weekend. Always a favorite.

We hang out

Practicing standing. And shoe are everywhere.

I was driving behind the Chick-Fil-A truck (the license cover said "Honk if you love Chicken")

This is the issue you have when your baby sleeps in your closet

Grace developed a love for Pride and Prejudice (the long version) and wanted to watch it all the time. One night after her bath when Christian was asleep she asked if we could watch it together. It was a proud Mom moment for me. Why yes we can watch the epic love story of Mr. Darcy, and Elizabeth Bennet.

Christian's mobility led to him becoming the most destructive little babe.

And then he'd randomly appear out of nowhere to check in and say hi, and slap the table multiple times.

It's hard work waving and destructing, so some Man Naps were in order.

Grace loves hard-boiled eggs, which reminds me of my brother who always loved them. I took a picture to send to him and Grace gave it a vibe of "I'm having a love affair with this egg and we are going to run off together riding horses into the sunset." She must really love them....

A rare family dinner in downtown Dallas

I always wondered when Grace would figure out that she could wheel Christian around in her play stroller. With dressing him up and now being able to stroll him around Christian achieved "The Best doll ever!" status.

Gettin' my scripture study on.

I love these kiddos

Me and Grandpa's Little Buckeroo

Liv loves Christian. We love Liv.

The months of May, June, and July were going to be insane. So we had a very in-depth planning session. We had 3 calendars, a computer, an iPad, two iPhones, and a notebook to assist us.

In preparation for "Baby Christian's" arrival, Grace practiced with her baby dolls. Finally the day came that she got to put all of her practice to good use.