Summer Lovin'

Okay, so it's not 80 and sunny, but we (9 Hills and 3 Saunders) loaded all the rascals up and headed on over to the beach- though not exactly the sandy and relaxing beach that might first come to your mind. It was low tide, smelly, and was FULL of slippery seaweed. But hey, the kids loved it and had a blast. We got some great pics, too!

Digging in the dirt as usual.

Isn't Bailey such a beauty?

It was hard to walk with flip flops sinking in the mud. Lexi would heartily agree.

"Mom, look! I found a jelly fish!"

Babies Got Back! -insert music here-

This was the best I could do with all the kids jumping around.

Aren't these boys cute? When Zane was asked to hold Nixon, Brody wanted to hold a baby, too.

Music to My Ears

Is this not the sweetest sound in the world?

I love this boy!

Let's Get Physical

I've decided to enroll Taylor in soccer next month. He could use an outlet for his energy. He needed a physical to be able to register, and since I just went for Erik's appointment, I really didn't want to go back so soon. So I asked Kent if he could just do Taylor's physical at home and save me an hour or so. So this marks the first of many times that we will take advantage of Kent's fancy schmancy official doctor stamp.

Harry Pottery, Harry Potter- UH!!

I was checking Kent's Aunt, Kathryn's blog last night: spreadlove6.blogspot.com

She was right- the tune is catchy. Forgive me for copying, Kathryn, but I find that I'm humming in it in my head while I'm cleaning. Plus it's hilarious...

Except, if you watch closely, Dumbledore loses his robe in the end. What's up with that?

Luscious Locks

I was organizing the pictures on our computer and I came along some pictures of Erik in April. Look at that hair! I never realized how much hair he had.

More Rolls Than a Bakery

No, I'm not talking about the weight that I'm still carrying around since eating everything in sight when I was pregnant.

Yes, I'm a paranoid mother when it comes to whether Erik is gaining enough weight. Taylor was such a fat baby- he had rolls all over the place. At four months he weighed 16 pounds, 12 ounces. So I figured Erik would be nice and fat, too. But he still doesn't have those adorable arm and leg rolls that Taylor was so blessed with. This is Taylor at four months-

Cute, huh? Look at those arm rolls!

So since Erik isn't spilling out of his clothes, I naturally assume he is the scrawny runt of my small litter. He turned four months on Sunday, so today he had his four month well-baby checkup. As I placed Erik on the scale, I saw my life flash before my eyes, and I held my breath while waiting for the devastating news that Erik would soon wither away to nothing because of his horribly low weight. I managed to take a peek at the scale and... no way. He weighed 16 pounds, 12 ounces. The exact same weight as Taylor at the same time. So that puts them both in almost the 90th percentile for weight and... the 50th for height. I guess our boys are destined to be short and fat.

So here's a pic of Erik at four months, which we took last night. Don't you think Erik looks a bit skinnier?

Earlier today we went to the zoo with Bethany, Carlie, and their whole gaggle. After 4 years by ourselves, it's nice to finally have some family around. Taylor loves hanging with the Hills brood.Footnote: Braden does not have paint on his nose- he simply lost a fight with the floor.

And here's Erik, chillin' on Carlie's shoulder.

A Charity Lesson

For the most part, I don't like email forwards, unless they're useful or funny. My father-in-law, Steve, sends the most hilarious emails ever. I just read one, and while it all validated a chuckle, I actually laughed out loud at something that was in it, so I decided to share it with everyone:

Some people are like slinkies- not really good for anything, but they bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs.

Just a little food for thought.

Is he alive?

I always wonder that when Erik has been sleeping a really long time. He's been getting close, but he sometimes wakes up about 3:00am and cries for a bit. He goes back to sleep, but I still wake up, which breaks up my sleep. And then when Erik does sleep long, Taylor will usually wake up crying about something. So I'm dedicating a post specifically to his sleep because this is the longest he has slept without waking up and Taylor didn't wake up either! So I got about 7 hours of straight sleep! Ahhhh... so refreshing.

Now all he needs to do is start changing his own diaper.

Mr. Scruff

That's what I've been calling Erik- Mr. Scruff. He was born with quite a bit of hair, and unlike Taylor, it didn't all fall out. However, it's lookin' pretty homely now. Hence the name, "Mr. Scruff." So we've been planning on cutting his hair for, well, going on 3 weeks or so. We decided that we'd do it last night. So after I pick up Erik and discover that I'm covered in his feces, which blew out of his diaper, we decided to go ahead and cut his hair since he needed a bath anyway. So I've included a few pictures-

For those of you with no kids, here's what happens when they have a blow-out.

Before:

He was actually a pretty good sport during the whole process:

After:

On another note, I went grocery shopping last night and left the strawberries on the counter. Before the kids woke up I decided to get a few things done around the house. When I went downstairs, I found Taylor enjoying breakfast- taking one giant bite out of a strawberry (unwashed- yuck) and throwing the rest in the sink. At least he was cleaning up after himself.

I started potty-traning him yesterday. Patience is just not my forte', and for those of you who know how anal I am about bodily fluids on my stuff, you can imagine how hard it is to keep my patience. We'll see how tomorrow goes, because I've already washed about 10 pairs of underwear- and that is NOT an exaggeration.

Packin' Heat

This past Saturday we went to the beach. When we got back, our neighbor came over to tell us that right after we left, our house alarm went off for half an hour straight until it turned off (our poor neighbors- the thing is pretty loud). When I went to open our garage door, I noticed that it I hadn't closed it all the way, which is probably what set it off. Still, to be on the safe side, I told Kent to go upstairs and check out everything. So he starts looking around in the garage for something to take with him to protect himself if there is a predator still lurking about. Lo and behold, he grabs his airsoft gun (for those of you who might not know what that is, it shoots little BBs at a pretty high speed- he once shot me in my 9-month-pregnant belly with it, and yes, it hurt). So I tell him that instead of taking a plastic gun that shoots plastic BBs, he should take the scary-looking axe that we have. His reasoning was that the sting from the BB would startle him into submission, and then Kent could disarm or kill him with 1 finger (which they did actually train him to do at some military thing... maybe it was two fingers, though). He said he couldn't use an axe if the guy was on the other side of the room- though it's not like you could use your fingers on him in that scenario, either. My suggestion was to just throw it. Well, he marched upstairs like he was in the FBI. Luckily, no one was lurking about in the house. It's a good thing, too- because Kent might have had to bust a BB in his, well, bum.
So I'm wondering what your defense weapon of choice would be- take the poll at the right!
** I can't get the font color to change. So the first choice is "Airsoft gun" and the second choice is "Axe."

Tacoma Ink

Last weekend we went up to Tacoma. They had a lot ships in the harbor that you could board and look at. Each ship had a different stamp, and when you got on, they would give you a stamp. That was Taylor's favorite part. Here he is showing off his newly acquired tats.

Here is Taylor with Grandaddy.

And here is Erik doing what he does best.

The Fourth

Maybe it has something to do with living in a city that is almost exclusively military, but I'm feeling really patriotic. I love the U.S.A! I feel so blessed to live in such a country. And I'm proud of my wonderful husband for being willing to serve in the military!

Although a week late, here are some pics!

This is Taylor while playing with those "poppers"- you know, those awesome things that you throw on the ground and they "pop!". Curse the day when he's old enough to play with fire... Kent is bad enough by himself.

Advertising

I just checked my friend Amanda's blog, and her husband is now an author! I had no idea he had such budding aspirations, but apparently he does. He wrote a book called, "Who's Who in the Book of Mormon."

Yes, Kent and I are friends of the famous Brad Ballard. So check the book out here and purchase one!

We met Brad and Amanda while we were living in Maryland. They're in their 4th year of medical school, and they have to decide on where they are going for Brad's residency. We've been trying to talk them into coming out to Washington for it (we miss you guys!). Well, Brad and Amanda, I'll tell you what- you come out to Washington for residency and I won't charge you any advertising fees ;)

Team Boyd

When we first moved in, our sweet neighbors, the Boyds, brought us over rice krispy treats and a cake. Since then, they've been absolutely wonderful. Mark (the dad) helps us unload groceries whenever he sees us unloading them, and when I got Kent a grill for Father's Day, they let me hide it in their garage. Lucky for us, they also have two daughters- 13 and 16, and they babysit!

And then there's Keegan. He's their 6-year-old son. He is just the sweetest boy. He is so nice to Taylor, and Taylor absolutely adores him. Since they are such a sport family (hence the "Team Boyd" that was printed on the front of a card they sent us), Keegan is always out front throwing a baseball, playing soccer, or playing volleyball. So whenever he is out there, Taylor just HAS to go outside. Alas, Keegan is now Taylor's new best friend.

So it was that they were outside playing when we were just getting back from going for a walk. Keegan had a friend over and they were playing on a slip-and-slide (remember those?). Taylor was just DYING to go head-first into the water; clothes and all. And sweet Keegan said, "You can come play with us if you want to, Taylor!" Keegan was so nice and patient with Taylor- filling up his water gun so that Taylor could shoot Keegan with it. Then Keegan's mom, Kim, got out and played with them, too! They're a wonderful family, and they're so nice about Taylor going and rummaging through their garage every single time it's open :) We are so lucky to have such great neighbors!