at least they're funny

it's not easy to raise kids, but at least they're funny. here are some funny stories:

maria had a check-up yesterday. she knew she was going to have shots. before her appointment she was pacing around the house saying, "i don't want to have shots. it's so saturating!" i said, "do you mean frustrating?" "it's so frustrating," she continued.

i love what hudson says when he want us to move or scoot. for example, we will be at church sitting on a bench and hudson will want to sit where i am sitting so he says, "moob! scoop!"

a few weeks ago hudson was holding libby. he gave her a hug, kissed her on the forehead then said, "i wub you." so sweet!

these pictures are of maria and her "glasses". just out of the blue one day she said, "ugh, my contacts are bothering me. i'm going to take out my contacts." she came back wearing these:

in the middle picture she is saying, "i can't see! i can't see!" because she took her glasses off for a minute. she wears her glasses now and then.

right now the kids are in their room, supposed to be sleeping! i tried to get them to take naps this afternoon but they didn't surrender. then i went to the store and they were really whiney and ornery so i put them back in their room for a short nap before dinner. boy, are they being stubborn. maria said she is tired of being in her room so i said, "maybe you should just take a nap so you can get out." i am not exaggerating when i say that i heard silence for fifteen seconds and then, "mom, i just woke up. i slept." i keep trying to tell her that i know when she's been sleeping or not. so then she tried something new. "mom," i hear from her, "i can't survive in my room. i can't survive in my room without food." nice try.

another mystery solved

every summer i fight an epic battle with the ants. i hate the ants, i mean really hate the ants. i want them to die, die, die. this year has been particularly bad. it's really hard to keep the floors in pristine condition when you have three kids to take care of, or is that just me?

these pictures, however, could explain part of my problem:

someone has been feeding the ants!

and yes, it was maria who, since she's been about two-years-old, has considered the ants her "friends".

truth be told i actually blame ethan for this particular incident. a few days before this happened he and the kids saw a bunch of ants on our sidewalk. ethan thought it would be fun to gather some different kinds of food and see which ones the ants like best. turns out they love cheese. i think maria was just trying to recreate this experiment in the house. we had a discussion about how feeding the ants in the house on purpose is not okay.

another day i had to discuss the fact that it is not okay to try to kill ants by covering them with yogurt . . .

one of those days

here's a list of some of the things that have happened today (all happened before noon):

• maria spilled her cereal all over the floor and herself.
• about a half-hour later hudson also spilled his cereal all over the floor and himself.
• hudson took libby's diaper off of her while she was in her bed and she peed all over her blankets.
• one of the kids (i will not name names) threw a major tantrum including kicking, screaming (the banshee kind) and hitting when i asked them to make their bed.
• i watched all our money fly away as i payed the bills.
• i stepped on gum in the parking lot.

i am really looking forward to nap time.

bear lake pictures

finally, here are some bear lake pictures.

cousin cole pulling maria and hudson in the raft.

cute little beach babe. she really liked the water.

hudson was ready for a hike through the cave which we didn't end up doing because the wait to get in was so long, but he still looked cool.

cousin jenna and hudson. i love this picture.

this was at maria's birthday dinner. we had just finished the fried ice cream and hudson sat there, almost in a trance, with his tongue going around and around his spoon.

maria, libby, cousin sarah and cousin maddi.

hudson really liked when we had pancakes and sausage for breakfast.

bear lake

this is my favorite bear lake picture.  i don't have a lot of time right now so i will post more pictures later but i really wanted to get this picture posted because it is so cute!

ethan says she's a "babe".  i sure think she was the cutest thing on the beach that day.

maria is five!

we just got back from a fun weekend at bear lake!  we left with a four-year-old and came back with a five-year-old.  maria didn't mind in the slightest that we happened to be at bear lake for a family gathering during her birthday - what kid wouldn't like a birthday at the beach in a cabin with all her cousins and some aunts and uncles and grandparents?  

"i'm five now!"

what a beautiful five-year-old.

we took maria to cafe sabor in garden city for her birthday dinner.  they gave her fried ice cream for her birthday.  that scoop of ice cream was as big as her head!  after the waiter sat it in front of her she said thoughtfully, "uh, i think i can eat this by myself."  i said, "i don't think so!" we all enjoyed it.  it was delicious!

ready to be five.

i will post more bear lake pictures within the next couple of days.  we had so much fun!

funny buddy

today while driving in a hot van i suddenly heard from the backseat:

hudson (sounding bewildered):  mom, my hair is wet!  mom, my hair is wet!

mom (trying not to laugh):  hudson, you're just sweating.

hudson (still bewildered):  mom?  mom?  my hair is wet!  my hair is wet!  and my neck, too!

mom (laughing):  it's okay, bud.

when hudson wants me to tuck him in at night he says, "mom, will you buckle me?"

one of my most favorite things is that hudson calls his grandpa hawkins "bawkins".  and not even "grandpa bawkins" but just "bawkins".  it's like this:  "hi, bawkins!"  or "bye, bawkins!"  i love it.

sisters?

libby about 5 months

maria about six months

squibbers

you know a nickname is permanent when the two-year-old uses it.  yes, we call libby squibbers most of the time.  it started out like this:  ethan started calling her libby-squibby.  i said, "squibby . . . hey, i like that!"  so then i called her squibby.  squibby somehow evolved into squibbers.  i knew that had become her nickname when, a few months ago, i heard hudson say, "mom, where's gwobers?"

here are some very recent (i just took them 30 minutes ago) pictures of squibbers.

prettiest girl on the planet!

uh . . . i guess this is her chubby face.

attacked by butterflies

yesterday we found a butterfly on the trampoline.  from my internet research i believe it is a western tiger swallowtail.  we all thought it was pretty neat, but there's also a funny story about it.  when maria, hudson and i saw this beautiful butterfly i started to head inside to tell ethan to come look at it.  as i was walking toward the house i turned around and noticed it was gone so i began to walk back to the kids.  then i heard hudson crying.  my thought was, "for pete's sake, the kids are fighting again."  but maria yelled, "mom, the butterfly is on hudson!"  i got over to the trampoline and sure enough, there was that big butterfly on hudson's back and hudson did not like it one bit!  i tried to tell him it wouldn't hurt him but he didn't believe me.  i was able to get it to fly off of his back and it flew back onto the enclosure. we were able to watch it for a little while and show ethan.

i feel bad but i laughed really hard at the fact the hudson was so distraught over this harmless butterfly.  i mean, the kid was really crying.  he seems like such a tough and crazy kid.  i guess every dude has some ickey thing that makes him nervous, but hudson and a butterfly?  didn't see that coming.

here are two pictures i was able to get with my phone of our visiting tiger swallowtail.

another interesting buddy fact:  he is the slowest bike-rider in the entire universe!  i'm not exaggerating either!  this kid rides his bike slower than i have EVER seen ANY kid ride a bike.  and it's not that he can't ride faster.  for some reason he just chooses to ride slowly . . . really, really slowly.  it takes us an hour just to get around the block.  this is weird to me because i would think hudson would be the kind of kid that has a need for speed.

lava hot springs

we just got back from camping at lava hot springs.  sorry i don't have any pictures; i didn't take any.  we had a good time and ethan enjoyed seeing his old buddies.  my favorite part of the trip was when we went to the water park.  of course hudson and maria loved playing in the pool, but what i didn't expect was how much libby loved the pool!  i held her in the water and she kicked her legs as hard as she could.  it was so cute.  i'm pretty sure that if she had known what to do with her arms she could have swam away.  she tired herself out and she actually fell asleep while we were holding her in the water.  we got out of the pool and sat on the grass so she could sleep.  hudson must have worn himself out too because after sitting there for a little bit i noticed he just kind of fell over asleep.

we had a good time but we are glad to be home.  camping with three kids takes a lot of energy!