things found and other news

Found in Zeke's diaper this morning (besides the obvious):
- The letters "e" and "g" (both on beads).
- 2 water balloons

In related news, we have begun throwing away anything the kids leave on the floor.

Speaking of Zeke...
- He now has 4 teeth (his first top one came in last week) and has 3 more coming in on the top.
- He has mastered the word "dada" and chants it at all times. He does use it appropriately, though, namely when yelling after Joel when he leaves the room or squealing it when he comes home. (Video to come as soon as we find the cables.)
- He accidentally took his first step a couple weeks ago. He is standing on his own but is still worried about picking his feet up. He did manage 2 steps last night when Joel was pretending to hold his waist. Still, not entirely purposeful.
- His favorite food is Shepherd's Pie. He devours it and screams until we give him more.
- He is fascinated with the bathroom and particularly likes flushing the toilet and unrolling the toilet paper.
- He crawls really, really fast.
- His hair has turned strawberry blond. His eyes are almost completely brown now.
- When he is tired or needs comforting he plays with our teeth.
- He loves baths in the tub with his brother and sister and splashes like crazy the whole time, soaking whoever is trying to wash him. (Again, video to follow soon.)

signs

island seven

We are excited to introduce the newest members of our family: Phillis and Apple. Their adoption into our family was quite a spur of the moment thing; Jonah and I went to the pet store to "just look around" and walked out with the "guinea pig special." The kids love having little critters to take care of and the little critters seem to be a little less terrified of the kids every day (namely, Zekezilla, who stands at their cage screaming at them). Their favorite thing to do is play in the grass (well covered, for fear of eagles or owls swooping down) and eat dandelion leaves. The best part is that they don't smell that bad!


Phillis (with Annie) and Apple.


Jonah adores his pets.


Playing outside.


Phillis, munching on a leaf.


Zekezilla.
...
now spinning: new slang by the shins

salt creek '09

We just returned from our 2nd Annual Salt Creek Camping Extravaganza. 4 adults + 8 kids = all kinds of fun...

Fabulous weather.
Dylan riding on 2 wheels.
Malvaviscos gigantes.
Deep fried bacon for breakfast.
"Where's Halle?"
Candy, chips, soda. Repeat.
Jackson riding on 2 wheels.
Rock beach.
Playground.
Bikes, bikes, bikes.
Sidewalk chalk.
Exploding espresso pot.
Amazing friends.

We came home with like 5,000 pictures (well, not really, but still...there were a lot) so I'm feeling pretty good about myself for narrowing them down to 24 pictures for your viewing enjoyment!


Our awesome white trash campsite.


"Where's Halle?" Down at the neighobor's site again.


Sous chef helping with the blueberry pancakes.


Right before he decided to dive over the top of the cooler and do his first face plant of the weekend.


Tide pool.


Soren.


Jonah.


Dylan.


Annie.


Dinner.


Making the kids do the dinner dishes.


The most gigantic marshmallows ever.


Zeke wants the gigantic marshmallow. (Joel, the undisputed Chubby Bunny champ, will definitely not be stuffing 16 of these in his mouth.)


Luka and gigantic marshmallow.


Annie and Dylan roasting gigantic marshmallows.


Annie and gigantic marshmallow s'more.


Annie, Dylan, Jackson, Jonah.


The sidewalk chalk provided hours of entertainment.


I accidentally deep fried the bacon. Boy, was that stuff good!


Kids.


Hail, hail, the gang's all here.


Zeke.


I couldn't ask for better friends. (Awww...)


Can't wait for next year.
...
now spinning: chasing cars by snow patrol