All 3 ready for bed

  With the summer months upon us I feel that we hardly ever have our kids in bed on time.  Oh well.  That's how it goes around here.  They are super cute and we are trying to adjust to all three.  I know, Wyatt is already 4 1/2 months old but it takes time people!

Happy Birthday Michael!

  Happy 31st Birthday to Michael!  He had a nice, fun day.  He got to go golfing in the morning with two of his friends.  Then he met me and the kids and a co-worker for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  He loves that restaurant but since I'm not a fan of pizza we don't go there well, hardly ever. 
In the afternoon he did work for a little while. 
  Upon arriving home he mowed and trimmed the lawn.  We grabbed a quick dinner from Subway and then got ready for his family to come over for some ice cream cake, presents and a few fireworks.  Michael loves has always loved fireworks.  This year when I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday he said he wanted to do fireworks.  So I told him that could be one of his presents.  I wanted him to pick them out so I sent him to the firework place and he got a few.  We lit them off once it got a little darker on the night of his birthday. 
  I made him the ice cream cake he wanted, white cake and cookies and cream ice cream.  It turned out great!  Overall I think he had a very fun birthday!

Paying her tithing

  If Kayleigh does her jobs around the house during the week she gets $1 in allowance.  She loves to have money to spend it on things she's wanting.  (Just like her mom!)  When I pay her on Mondays I usually put her dollar in her bank and pull out a dime and put it in her tithing for her. 
  This past Monday I gave her $2 because I had forgotten to pay her for the week previous.  Kay took the money and went to her room and opened her tithing jar and put the $2 in it.  I told her that was her tithing jar and she should put that in her bank.  She responded with, "No, leave it in there I want to pay it to the people that need help, I feel so bad for them."  Melted my heart!  I about fell over in shock that she wanted to help others.  Obviously she's talking about fast offerings, but I wasn't going to burst her bubble at the moment. It was one of those great mommy moments when you know you've done something right.

Wyatt is 4 months old

 

   Where does the time go? I mean seriously! Wyatt is 4 months old today. I took him to the doctor for his check-up and he did great. I mean really great, he didn't even start to cry until after the second shot he had to get.
    He is growing and doing well. He weighed in at 14 lbs. 12 oz. (49th%tile) and is 25 1/2 in. long (71st%tile). I am amazed at the percentages because my other two babies were always in the 90's so this is different for us.
    His head shape is looking great which is a relief. I would hate for him to have to get a helmet. Kay and Landon both developed flat heads on the right side and we really had to force them onto their left side. 
  I'll take him back again in 2 months for another check-up.  In the meantime I hope we can get him sleeping a little longer at night.  He is such a smiley baby and we are enjoying his sweet spirit around our house.

Another VCUG

   You might remember the nightmare we went through last year when we dealt with Landon and his urinary tract infection.  Little boys his age shouldn't get these infections so we had to take him down to Primary Children's Medical Center and have a voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) done. This shows if there is urine going up into the kidneys where it shouldn't.  Last year it was found that Landon did have stage 2 reflux.
  It should heal on its own, but it's good to make sure since you don't want the kidneys being damaged.  Since it'd been a year, it's protocol to run the same test again to make sure he isn't still having reflux into his kidneys. 
   With the procedure going pretty rough last year we asked if he could be sedated this time.  Poor Landon has not forgotten last time and it's taken a year to get him back to where he'll actually go to a doctor's office without freaking out.  The hospital and staff were great this time around.  They were sooo patient with Landon.  I was especially impressed with the guy that did the kidney ultrasound.  He was great with Landon and waited while we comforted him and he let Michael hold Landon the whole time instead of making him lay on the bed.  When we were done with the ultrasound he even let Landon pick out a stuffed animal, either a frog or a dog.  He picked the dog (seen in the picture above) because it was a button on it you can push and it sings a song.  It's a lame song that we now get stuck in our heads all the time!  It made him so happy though and I was proud he did so well. 
   The sedation definately helped and I'm glad we chose that route this time.  It was hilarious to watch Landon as he tried to walk and dance to his Little Einsteins DVD we'd brought for him to watch while we waited.  I wish we'd gotten it on video, Landon heading straight for the bed as he tried to dance to the music.  Michael and I were laughing so hard!
   The doctor seemed to think everything looked normal and that there wasn't anything to worry about.  We are so glad that's over with now.

Father and Sons Campout

 Landon, Grayden and Stockton

 The moon through a telescope that one of the boys in our ward brought

 Our stud muffin Landon

Michael said he loved throwing rocks into the river.

   Every year our ward does a Father and Sons Campout.  Last year Landon was still a little young to go but this year it worked out great.  For some reason Landon has been begging to go to the mountains, I'm not sure why.  Since this campout was coming up we just kept telling him Daddy would take him to the mountains soon. 

   Michael rode up with our bishop and his boys and then they camped together that night.  The boys played and had fun together.  I think Landon thinks he's Grayden's age because they are the same height but he is actually Stockon's age.  What is with our tall kids?

   Anyway, I'm glad my big boy got to go on a campout with his daddy.  In July it is our stake's Daddy Daughter campout and Kayleigh can hardly wait!  She has gone the past two years and loved it.  She was pretty sad when it was Landon's turn to go and not her's.  She was a trooper though and ran errands with me and Wyatt that night.

Golfing at Cherry Hill

   Kayleigh knows that her dad loves golf.  She's always saying that we should go.  So, a couple Saturdays ago we decided to make it a Cherry Hill mini golf night.  It was super hot but really fun!       
   Landon was hilarious to watch!  He loves balls and watching him try to hit it was great.  He loved the hole where the ball goes up the ski gondola thing and down the mountain.  I think he took his ball back 3 times to have it ride up and go down again.  When the ball disappeared on #18 he was quite sad and wanted to golf some more. 
   It was a great family activity, Wyatt was awesome in the stroller, and I bet we'll do it again this summer.

Time with Uncle Nathan

 Running through the sprinklers

 "I'm cool!"

 Stretching so big!  Makes him laugh pretty much every time

 So cute!

 Pool time!

 Almost a smile...this kid doesn't like to smile for pictures

 Fast asleep

 Landon reminded us every night that this was NOT his room

 All the nasty bugs at night

 Nathan enjoying some Arby's

 Kay found a bird feather

 My parent's amazing yard!  Seriously, I don't know how they keep it up.  We barely managed to get the pots watered every day!

 Grace, Sami, Kay, Phoebe and Landon all having a foot bath after a long day of fun outside.

 Enjoying hot dogs roasted on the fire, yummy!

 Wy Wy fast asleep.

 Kay loved sleeping onthe "cheetah" bed.

 Another great view!

 All the kids posing in the teepee Marie made for Phoebe's birthday. 

 Brothers, awe!

 Landon dressed up in a tutu courtesy of his sis and girls cousins!  We laughed so hard when he came up from the basement dressed like this.

 Wy Wy with a breast pad on his head, he'd make a cute little Jew!

Welcome Home, Nana and Grandpa!  We missed you!  Kay helped me make this sign. 

   A good portion of our June was spent at my parent's house watching over their home and my little brother, Nathan who is autistic.  My parent's got to go to Europe and visit the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia.  My other brother, John, and his family met them and enjoyed their trip with them.  We are grateful they could go and enjoy some time away and with John and his family.

   Nathan did extremely well while they were gone.  I think it's the best he's done in a long time having my parent's gone.  He likes Michael and really seems to do well with him.  Michael got up with him every morning and helped him get  ready for work.  I'd pick him up in the afternoon with the kids at the bus stop.  Kay and Landon love to pick him up, they think it's so exciting!

   When my parents did come home Nathan smiled and was happy to see them.  I think he enjoyed all the little kids around and a change of scenery around the house.  He does like it back to normal though too. 

  After a few days had gone by into our stay both my kids said they missed Nana.  Then each day following that they'd tell me often how they missed them.  Kay said she was going to give Nana the biggest hug when she got home.  I let her go with Michael to the airport to pick them up and my mom said she did give her a pretty big squeeze!  I'm glad that my kids have such a great relationship with their Nana and Grandpa.  We sure missed them and glad they are home. 

Happy Father's Day!

Kayleigh, Tyler, Wyatt, Grandpa Royal, Brooke and Landon in front

   Happy Father's Day to the best daddy around!  Michael is so great with our three kiddos.  When I was dating him I knew he'd one day make a great dad and I was right.  He is so willing to help with them.  He changes poopy diapers (I know some dads who won't), cleans up spit up, helps feed them, and plays with them.  My kids LOVE that time of day when their daddy comes home from work.  It's just like the Primary song says, "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, glad as I can be!"  I'll admit, I love when he comes home, too.  Thanks, Michael, for being the best for our kids.

   This year we were down at my parent's house watching my brother over Father's Day.  Since my brother is most comfortable at home we invited Michael's sis and her fam and their dad to come over for dinner and dessert.  It turned out really fun and the BBQ steaks and hamburgers were great!