Happy Father's Day 2015!

Well for Father's Day, we thoroughly enjoyed our daddy.  He was wishing for a Weed Eater, and was granted his desire.  We had early church, and then missionaries over for lunch, but relaxed together afterwards and called our dad's and my grandpa to wish them a Happy Father's Day.  

Let me gush just a little bit about my Stephen.  I remember - I've reminisced a lot before I'm sure - just before we were about to have Ross join our family wondering how fatherhood was going to sit with Steve.  He never was one for being in to other people's children, he didn't know what to do when a baby was handed to him to hold, but he was excited to be a father. 

When Ross was born, this whole other, new and beautiful side of him opened up.  I was pretty wowed and amazed at who he was before anyway (duh - I married the guy!), but when I watched this gorgeous, wonderful, hunk of a man hold his brand new son for the first time, that love and amazement was maximized by millions.  He spoke a different way to Ross, interacted with him in a whole new light I had never seen before.  And with every child we've had after that, it still happens.  He is one great dad.  There is never any doubt in my mind how thoroughly and completely he loves his children - which makes me love him even more.  
 

Ross and Daddy :)

Ruby and Daddy :)

 

Rowland and Daddy :)

His every thought, decision, and action have always been motivated and performed with his family in mind.  I'm so thankful to have him be the father of my children.  He is the best there ever could be. :)

I'm also so thankful for my dad - who has always made me feel like a million dollars and that nothing could ever be too good for me.  He's always believe in me, supported me in my ambitions, and encouraged me in my life's choices.  He has shown me the value of humility, doing a job right, and working hard for your family.  He is such a wonderful father AND grandfather to my children.  My kid adore their grandfathers.
 

Grandpa Stan :)

Grandpa Don

My own grandfathers are/were wonderful men who I have gleaned wonderful traits from.  I'm so grateful for their interest in me and my life, and being a support for the things that matter.
 
 

Great Grandpa Grenny :)

 

Great Grandpa Staheli :)

Where would we be without strong, hard working, family men?  NOWHERE.  There is such a need for men to stand and be strong and lead the family with their wives.  I would be lost without my Stephen, and I know God's plan is for us to work together to become what we're meant to be. 

Happy Father's Day!  

 

More June Fun, Some Random Thoughts....OH and we're buying our house!

We decided to be daring and sign Ruby up for swimming lessons.  I figured, like potty training, it could go either way.  Luckily for us, she was ALL about it!  She LOVED being in the water, and mostly listens to her teachers...  She's much more compliant with strangers than she is with me.  I'm not sure how I feel about that!
 

Ross and Ruby's teachers, Mckensie, Zach, and Chelsie are all really great with them!

The kids have also been enjoying a little pool we got out back - along with some goggles they are still a bit too scared to try out. 
 

Mom take a picture of me sliding!

Mom take another picture!

Ready for swimming lessons!

We have still been enjoying a few thunderstorms, but the weather has seemed to settle in to HOT...as in - right now at 11 o'clock at night it is STILL 88 degrees outside.  Blah.  
 

Crazy rainbow clouds coming in...

Today at church I had a sweet little girl call me Sister Snow White.  Haha.  

The other day our treadmill was left unfolded and the kids convinced Steve to let them go on it.  Ross got the brilliant idea to get his cars and let them have a ride.  He ran out by me and my mountain of laundry I was folding to get his cars, and he said to himself, "This is going to be Grrrreat!!"  I love how excited Ross gets about doing things.

Ruby has found a new selection of songs to sing all the time including, "Why Should I Worry" from Oliver and Company, "I Need a Hero" from Shrek 2, Happy Birthday, "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" from Cinderella, and a whole bunch of songs from a CASSETTE tape (yes - people, I may have kept my old CD/cassette tape player AND inherited a bunch of cassettes from my mom as she was cleaning things out) that I actually remember listening to when I was like 4 years old.  It's called "Sounds like Fun" by Barbara Milne. I can't BELIEVE how many songs Ruby sings by heart.  She knows all the letter sounds by song, months of the year, counting, and some other sweet nursery rhymes that I LOVED when I was a little girl.  We turn it on when the kids are going to bed (it helps with Ruby's lack of desire to go to bed which usually would result in tantrums...I'm DREADING getting her out of her crib).  Ruby prefers the "Muffin Man" side of the cassette to the "Mittens" (Three little kittens) side.  Sometimes she tries to trick me by saying she wants the other side...so I push REWIND (that's right people) and wait for a couple minutes for it to finish...only to have her change her mind.  Unfortunately for her, mom doesn't give in to this. 

Potty training is going fairly well...there are times Ruby is fully engaged in something and knows how to stop, come tell me, and make it to the bathroom without any accidents, and then randomly have times where she forgets/doesn't care/wants the attention/I have no idea really - and has like two accidents in a row.  MOSTLY I don't worry about it, but we're going to try to get out of the pull-ups during nap time soon.   

Ross is doing well with swimming lessons - this is his second round and he's MUCH better at putting his face in the water.  We were confused a bit, because when we went as a family - he was jumping in the water to us - getting FULLY dunked and was nothing but laughs and smiles.  He's a funny kid. :)

Ross also is good at emptying and loading the dishwasher, cleaning the bathroom (cleaning the toilet with the brush is his favorite), dusting as well as helping to water our plants.  We're working on chores and teaching him the ways of the world - sweeping has been the next - which is a bit frustrating for him, but we'll keep at it.

Stephen is excited to start teaching Ross catch and a baseball and mitt which will be fun.  Ross and Steve have been working a lot out in our yard trying to help the grass get growing and making plans for where we want to put flowerbeds, more grass, gardens, etc. BECAUSE... 

We're buying our house! After a ridiculous amount of run around - looking at a LOT of different houses and fretting over it all, as this house we've been renting is up for sale, we've decided this house is our best bet for the priorities we have.  It's not our favorite thing being newbies in this department - there are A LOT things to consider, etc.  BUT we're doing it.  It's CRAZY!

On the upswing - we've probably spend about $50,000 in our heads of all the things we'd like to do to the house.  Also - I'm SO excited to actually decorate our house finally instead of being in rental mode...although - I have NO idea on how to decorate - I'm going to need some serious help in that department. :)  It will be fun though.  :)

My house warming gift to myself :)  It makes me happy EVERY time I look out the window - gorgeous!

Everyone likes snuggling with Rowland - he's too cute. :)

Ross's pretend "bed night" as he calls it - with Rowland. :)

Rowland loves working on his grabbing skills.  He's starting to get more and more frustrated when he either can't pull a toy to his mouth - or fit his mouth all the way around it.  It's extremely aggravating for him!

Love this happy face :)

Ruby loves babying Rowland - good thing he's a baby, because otherwise he'd be totally over that kind of thing. ;)

 So this video of Ross "reading" to Rowland completely melted my heart. :)

Robot kids - best toy made out of a box - I could command them to do anything I wanted for a while...until they started to turn on me to take over the world! ;)

Steve LOVES it when Ruby's hair is covering one of her eyes - it drives me bonkers - but Ruby doesn't care. :)

Licking the muffin batter diligently.

More pool playtime - photobomb by Steve's feet. Haha.

   
 

June Summer Fun

Lamar has been having CRAZY weather.  Everyone I talk to tells me that it is NEVER like this.  We have had a TON of rain (I'd like to take credit - bringing all the wonderful rain vibes from Oregon that I love and miss).  I feel a little bit like Sarah Plain and Tall ( well not tall ) with the idea of her leaving her ocean, humidity, green, and rain to find a different beauty in the great plains.  

The thunderstorms here are pretty incredible, and the clouds are breathtaking.  I could stare at the sky all day - there is SO MUCH of it to see.  

Anyway - we've had a handful of tornado warnings, and mostly just lots of rain, thunder, and wind.  Everywhere I've gone seeing the gorgeous green trees and grass, I've felt like I was back in Oregon.  I've definitely enjoyed this spring and summer so far!  

Ross started swim lessons this month and has been a much better sport about them than last time. He's been getting more courage putting his face in the water which is great.  Ruby wants to throw herself in of course, so I have her signed up for lessons next week.  We'll see how THAT goes trying to follow instructions...wish us luck!

 One of our thunderstormy nights I decided we needed to set up our little tent for a fun camping inside night (my kind of camping) and we roasted little marshmallows over candles  before watching our family movie in the tent.  Funny how just a tent can make things way more fun!

I think Ruby downed about 20 marshmallows easily.

Aladdin was our movie of choice that the kids had never seen.  Ross was very concerned about where the magic carpet and monkey elephant were all the time.  He didn't want them left out! ;)

We got ourselves a cute shark boy for summer!

Corn on the cob in the summer is a MUST

Ross really loves hanging out with Rowland!

Best buds!

I LOVE this sweet face :)

Ruby's way of wearing her crown - gangsta princess style.

Bling!

One morning this girl wasn't feeling so good - we had to snuggle it better.

Signature silly face!

Went to the park and this one was in dandelion heaven.

I adore this picture of Ruby!

One morning while playing, Rowland wanted to join the adventure on the rocket ship.  They all squeezed in. :)

SO - this is what happens when you're not paying attention to your mischievous two year old who is fascinated by your make-up and plays with it while you're putting it on.  I reached for my blending brush and did not find out until afterwards that she had happily dipped it in the eye shadow thoroughly...girls. :)

One funny Ruby story - we were making a chocolate cake and she kept dipping her fingers in the ingredients to sample them - stinker.  Well, when my back was turned, she had quickly, yet again, dipped her fingers in for a scoop of baking cocoa and shoved it in her mouth before I turned back around.  When I did turn around - I found her trying to scrap off the horrible taste from her tongue like one of the minions from Despicable Me 2, however she couldn't get the cocoa off as quickly.  Hahaha!

And now we're in the process of buying a house...which is a crazy stressful, exciting, not-as-fun-as-you'd-think, but good for us time.  Man - this kind of commitment is rough!  We'll get there though - we'll figure it out.  Things will work out. :)