Sideways Again

I don't know what my problem is. Well on to the post. We are getting ready to go on a little vacation and we are SO excited. We will be in Helena for a couple of days and then we will be meeting up in Bozeman for some fun with Ben's side of the family. William has just figured out that we are going on a trip but he doesn't know what we are going to do because he will constantly badger us about it until we get there and we don't want to deal with that so he is going to be super excited. The picture below William is showing me that he is just like dad! (Charley is giving him moral support in the picture.) Can you see how?

Luckily William pulls up his shorts so you can see that he is Dad now because he is wearing Dad's socks. I'm not really sure why Charley is holding up his shirt and pushing out his belly. Maybe he is mimicking another part of daddy :) 

Who knows right?

The Green Striped Polo

It seems a memory is sometimes something we seldom give a child credit for. We like to assume that the out of sight out of mind kind of thing will always work. This is NOT true of Mr. William. He remembers everything and is always quick to let me know it. We have to be really careful about what we say and there are no empty promises for this kid. Recently, well not that recently, I pulled a green striped polo out of William's clothing circulation because it was WAY TO SMALL, we're talking like 2 sizes. I tried to sneak it out because I knew that it was one of his very favorite shirts. Well he saw it in the too small box and pulled it out saying that he could't put it away for Charley to wear because that was his favorite shirt and he would miss it. We talked about how small it was and how worn it was and that he was getting to be a really big boy and it was time for that shirt to go to a smaller boy. Then I ended the conversation by saying I will buy you a new one. Every time we went to the store (grocery store mind you) William asked if he was going to get his new shirt and I said no, this isn't the place we buy shirts. He finally stopped asking about it after a couple of weeks. Then when tax season was over and we went to Havre to do some shopping (and yes Dad we did go look at the stadium and it was pretty cool.) I bought him a new polo shirt as a replacement. This was the shirt. 

I thought it was nice and I thought he would like it even though it wasn't green it was brown but it was a polo and it was cute so I thought it would work. Well when I gave it to him he said it was OK but it wasn't the same as the old one. True. Since we all know that there really isn't a place in Glasgow to buy clothes we just kind of went with it and moved on. So I thought. The other day the boys and I were taking a little blog trip and William saw this picture.

 He started mumbling something and I leaned in to hear him telling Charley "look there's my green shirt that mom put in the too small box and she said she would buy me a new one and she bought me a new shirt but it's not green like she said she would."

I can't argue with that! He's right so now I am on the look out for an inexpensive green striped polo, I can't let him down now. (I did find a green striped T-shirt that is working as a sub for now).

Bedtime Blast-Off!

Bedtime at our house is usually a good 2 hour long process we spend from about 7pm to 9pm or longer putting kids to bed and back to bed. Emmerlyn has a complete breakdown when we lay her in her bed even if she is asleep in my arms she wakes up when I lay her in her crib and screams. It kills me to hear her and she has real tears if I leave her in it for more then about 5 minutes. Eventually she gets so tired that I nurse her to sleep and then rock her for a few more minutes then lay her down and kind of bounce the crib mattress for a few minutes and then she will stay asleep. She is sleeping better and will usually only wake up once during the night and I sometimes don't even have to go in there because she puts herself back to sleep. Then she wakes up between 4 and 5am and being the naughty tired mom that I am I bring her into my bed with me and snuggle and nurse her trying to get her to doze and relax for a couple more hours. She usually does and is ready to start playing and rolling around at about 6am. Getting the boys to bed also proves a good challenge. It usually looks like this:

(Charley did this to his bed by himself but claims he was sleeping)

And this. We spend most of our evening putting Charley back in his bed, putting all of their clothes back away, and telling William to stop talking. We usually have to take away Charley's pillow so he knows we are serious to get him to stay in his bed. I needed a new plan because this is really getting old. So I put together a little checklist for the boys of the things that we do to get ready for bed and called it the bedtime blast-off. When they have checked off everything on the list then it is time to go to sleep. If they go right to sleep in their bed and we don't have to come into their room then they can have a prize. 

Success! For 2 nights in a row the boys went right to sleep so they got to have some Cars movie vinyl stickers to put on their walls. Then Ben said that he thought that the checklist was not in the right order and that they were getting worked up when we counted down and it would be easier if we took some things off of it and changed the order. Well we did and now we are back to square 1. Tonight we are going back to the original and we are going to stick with it. (I don't mind the boys talking together as the fall asleep, its the jumping off the beds and screaming and playing with the blinds and somebody ALWAYS getting hurt that bothers me. Here's to hoping that it will work again. They love being able to mark off their lists.

 Here is our sweet little girl helping me do the dishes. She loves to be able to reach around and get into stuff as you can see. She is so sweet as curious I love it. She is just starting to crawl now but if she could have her way she wants me to hold her up standing all of the time to play with her toys. She is not a big lover of her lunge crawling that she is doing. 

Preschool Graduation

I can't believe that my sweet baby William is all grown up and graduated from preschool. Than happened faster then I thought it was going to. He had his program today and he did great and he was actually singing his songs (usually he just stands there and stares at the audience). He had some fun songs and a couple Christian rockish songs so I guess whatever right! He is excited for Kindergarten and can't wait for it to be fall but he says he is really going to miss his preschool. I guess he liked it after all.

After the program the were excited to get cookies and William was so excited that Charley came and watched him.

 He concentrated hard and did great. He gave us a thumbs up after each song. We missed seeing it a couple of times because Charley dumped out his Marshmallow Mateys (which he says like smarshmallow ladies, and he has wanted only that kind of cereal for breakfast since we came back from visiting grandpa Rydalch's house like 2 months ago.) cereal like 3 times on the bench. Seriously?

 These are the boys getting ready to go. William picked a smashing outfit which he wore with his sneakers and Charley was just excited to go to "William's playground"

Cute little dude. Note the scratches all over his face provided from his brother's impatience.

Warm Weather and Field Trips

We have had some lovey weather this last week and have been trying to take advantage of that with lots of outside playing and bike riding. I really want to get the boys a sandbox because I think that they would love it and I think that our landlord would not appreciate our boys digging holes in his yard. We will have to see. We always wear helmets when we ride bikes because I would like for them to be in that habit and they added the sunglasses as a bike riding must have they look pretty spiffy I think. For preschool this last week William went on a field trip to a farm and he was super excited about it. They got to watch the farmer feed a bum lamb and they got to hold some bunnies. William liked seeing the horse but was a little upset (so he says) that he didn't get to ride it. His favorite animal that he got to see was a turtle go figure right. He now wants one (of course) but I do not see getting a turtle anytime in his near future. He is also now thrilled with the whole cowboy idea again and if you note in the picture below he and Charley are wearing vests because "that is what cowboys wear mom, and we are cowboys." Silly me, I didn't know that is what we were (I guess we do live in Montana though so if the shoe, boot maybe, fits wear it right?) When he was getting ready for the field trip he asked me if I could come (parents were not invited) I said no because I had to stay with the kids. He said "aw mom, the cowboys there would be so happy if you came they would look like this" (picture William with the goofiest grin you have ever seen in you life) I had to choke back the laughter and I told him that I only have one cowboy and that is Daddy. He seemed to be OK with that answer so cowboy or not we'll go with it.

For the one crummy day last week I was trying to think of something fun for the boys to do so we pulled out the ever excited vinegar and baking soda reaction. With a little food coloring and 1/8th teaspoons they had a blast watching it react. We will have to pull it out again sometime.

 Last but not least in this weeks feature is the every sweet and growing Miss Lynny. The poor little bug has been sick with a yucky cold for the last few days but I think that she is on the mend. She is starting to take the bottle willingly and will sometimes take 4 oz in it but it is still not her favorite. She loves to be on the floor rolling around and sorting through all of the boys' toys she likes anything that they have. She is very good at picking little things up and yesterday she choked on a piece of batting from the couch. This was the first time one of my kids actually choked and it really scared me. Thankfully with a lot of gagging and some throwing up and hitting on her back we got it up and out. It didn't even phase her, she was still all smiles afterwards. Some prayers of thanks were sent Heavenward after that.

 

Not Much

Well I was surprised to find that it was blogging day again. This last week has gone faster then I thought. We have been doing well. Ben is getting some study time in to prepare to begin taking the CPA test and is scheduled for then first one at the end of this month. We are obviously hoping that he does well. The boys have been boys this week and we love it. Sorry the post is so late today, we finally went to go play at a friends house today and we played all day. We all had fun and it was nice to have a friend to go do things with.

 William and I got a good laugh the other day when Charley walked into the kitchen and William said "look what Charley has on his bum!" This is William's name tag from school, he gets one everyday and I find them all over the house and the car.

 My first thought when I saw William doing this was Jealous! I have never been able to figure this out. He tried to explain it to me but ended up just saying "just don't touch it mom" over and over. I guess I just need some practice. He is getting so big and smart I can't believe what a little boy he is becoming. He loves his new bike except when I make him ride it on the gravel drive-way because it is bumpy and he has tipped over twice. He just needs to get the hang of it and we haven't been able to practice form the a few days because it has been windy and cold the last few days.

 I just love the chunky baby arms and legs in this picture don't you. I could squish them all day (sometimes I do). These pictures are for my dad because these are my shoes. Every girl needs a good pair of Nikes. These fit her better then I thought they would. Her feet are so thick that they are a little tight that way but a little long the other way chubby baby. These sweet little shoes must have seen some wear because they are definitely looking worn around the edges and laces. She will put a little more love into them.

 The boys were getting ready for church. Can you tell? Emmerlyn looks like she is about to break down in this picture but at least the boys were happy. They are always excited to get in a picture with Emmerlyn and she adores them. 

 Emmerlyn is starting to get a little more mobile now and can roll everywhere and gets up on her hands and knees and rocks. She was pretty proud of herself when she got over to this helmet that the boys had and then she accidentally got it on her head. With no intervention from anyone else Emmerlyn put this hat on for the picture

 It's kind of hard to see but if you look close you can see that her thigh is all scratched up. For the last couple weeks as soon as I take off her pants to change her diaper or her clothes she starts to scratch her thighs on both sides. She will do it to the point of drawing blood but she never cries or anything. They feel a little dry and I have been putting lotion on them because I wonder if she has eczema like the boys and it just hasn't gotten to the point of the red rash. It breaks my heart to see this rash on her sweet little leg.

Again, I don't know why this blog flips some of my pictures but this one is definitely worth turning your head sideways to look at. She is such an adorable little dolly in her purple sweater dress. The ladies at church love to take her and two of them rush to get to take her to class with them. She is full of smiles. This little girl is 7 months old (6 month pictures will come soon) she is getting so big. We are getting her to take a bottle again and it is a battle, she has a very strong opinion on the matter. I make her drink 2 oz from the bottle and then I nurse her. She's funny about that too because as soon as the 2 oz are gone she launches the bottle out of her mouth and turns her whole body against me and starts making the sucking motion with her lips. I guess she is just making sure that I know what happens next in this routine.  She is such a smiley happy baby girl I can't help but love her.

William Says

When bringing me one slice of an orange today he said "here is a fat one like you mom. Your a big one like this fella". I laughed hard but maybe I should take the hint
William also asked me why shouldn't we get an Elephant? He has a good argument it could help drink up all the puddles when it rains, and wash our car when it gets muddy. If only we had the space.

1st tooth!

Emmerlyn cut her first tooth today! She is just about to be 7 months so that makes her our earliest baby to get teeth. The boys were both 10 months. I can't believe she is growing up so fast!

1st Ear Infection

After 5 years of parenting we are experiencing our first ear infection. Unfortunately it is at poor Charley's expense. He hadn't given us any indication that his ears were bugging him but I took him into the doctors office because he has had a cold for the last couple days and his eyes have been draining green mucus since yesterday the insides of his eyes were really red but he wasn't rubbing them or complaining that they hurt. I decided to take him in because I would feel awful if they were permanently damaged because I neglected it. So we went it and she glanced at his eyes and wrote for some eye drops and then asked about his cold and looked into his ears and asked if they were tender. He said no. She said that he had a double ear infection on top of the cold and eye infection. So he is also on an antibiotic for the ears. I'm glad it doesn't seem to be too bad for the poor little guy. 

I just have to document for my own memory.

From the mouth of Goobs

Charley just put the sticker from the apple in the middle of the fridge and said "it goes right here" then he stood back and looked at it and said "yep, I like it!"

6 Years Ago

Saturday was our 6th anniversary. I can't believe it has been so long it gone so fast. We have done a lot in that time. I graduated with my associate and bachelors degree in nursing, Ben graduated with his bachelors in Accounting and a Masters in Business AND we had 3 kids. Plus we moved a couple times, worked a few jobs, you know life right. It has been wonderful. I really think that it gets better everyday. I can't imagine what life would be like with out him (or my kiddos either). I hope the future is as good as the past has been. 
We didn't do much in way of celebrating. We both had colds so we just relaxed with the kids on Saturday, took a little drive. William asked what an anniversary was and I said it was kind of like a birthday for the day that mom and dad got married. He was thrilled with that answer because "if it's a birthday mom we have to have yummy cake". Well that's true so we did have cake. I was looking through the pictures that we have and as luck would have it we didn't have a recent one of Ben and I to put on with this post. So we will just have to gaze lovingly at the before shot and not worry about comparing it to the now. 

Thing 1 and Thing 2 (and a little Thing 3)

Life is going as usually at the Allen house. It has been SO nice having Ben around a little more often we have missed him. The kids and I have been trying to get out of the house and go play at a friends but either they are sick or we are sick so it hasn't really happened yet. The boys were pretty good in church on Sunday which was nice. The primary theme this year is Choose the Right and it was ward conference and the stake told the story of Noah and that he was going to choose the right and William raised his hand and said that "the bad people didn't choose the right, they choosed the left and they got died under all that deep, deep, deep water." I can't argue with him because he is pretty much right. 

Charley keeps putting his shirt up like this and saying he is a turtle so William was doing it too. It is always good for a laugh.

These are the kids in the Cat in the Hat shirts that their aunt Jill gave them a long time ago. I have been meaning to get a picture for awhile and just now got around to it. She gave the shirts to the boys and the cat to Emmerlyn. I love the faces in these pictures but it is too bad William isn't looking at the camera in any of them. They don't wear these shirts very often because they seriously act like thing 1 and thing 2 being very hyper and running around like crazy. I think they will get over that eventually.

This is the set up of William's bike that he got for Easter it is a little big so he has to work to reach the pedals but he is getting it.

Here is a sideways shot of Emmerlyn (I don't know why it wants to flip it when it puts it in here). She is a sweet little doll but she has learned how to growl and she does it all the time because she thinks it is funny (and it is). Charley always yells "Ellalyn's a Dragon!!!" and then growls back at her and the both laugh. She was doing it all through church on Sunday and the whole ward was laughing. Ben is trying to get her to not do it all the time but he isn't having much success. 

One of my favorite parts of being a mother is my boys bringing me fresh flowers even if they are jut dandelions.

This is just Charley rockin' his new Thomas the Train sunglasses that he got for bike riding this summer.