Riding Bikes

I have been awful about blogging this month. I normally am much better about staying up on things. We bought new bikes for each of the kids a couple of weeks ago. The only bike we had that would work for Kaiden was a girl bike and that wasn't going to happen. So, they all got new bikes and helmets. They have been so excited! Kaitlyn was a little nervous at first and walked with her bike more than she rode it. Mac is fearless and took off before she knew how to use the brakes. Not a good thing! Kaiden likes to ride but he keeps his feet on the brakes the whole time. We can only push a braked bike for so long.

Funny story... With our church not starting until 2:00 pm, there is not much time to do anything as a family once we get back. So, Jason told them that they could go out and ride bikes for a half hour or so. Kaitlyn was being slow and taking her time while Mac was peddling as fast as she could. I hear Mac holler, "Watch out Kaitlyn or I'm gonna run you over." I then here this evil giggle as she rams into the back of Kaitlyn's bike. That child is way too much like her Dad!

Playing with Pansies

Maddison has decided to start crawling. She showed no interest until thursday and just took off. She is a little rocky at it now, but she is doing it. She'll be walking before I'm ready for her to! I took Maddie outside yesterday and let her sit in the grass while the older kids rode their bikes. For some strange reason we have pansies growing in our lawn and she was enjoying picking them and then putting them in her mouth. Yuck!

The Stats Are In

I just got back from Maddison's 9 month checkup. Well, technically she is almost 10 months. The doctor says she looks healthy and that her development is right on track. She is a happy little gal and just a blast. I do think that she will go straight to walking and skip the crawling stage because she loves to hang onto our hands and march around the house. So far, she has shown absolutely no interest in crawling. She now can sit up from laying down and loves to dance. She does the shoulder shake dance that is hilarious. She has a new fascination with clapping her hands and banging noisy toys together. I have to admit that I won't be too sad when she gets out of the whole banging stage. Any of you who have sat near us in sunday school or relief society know that she loves to talk and doesn't believe in using her inside voice. We weighed her today and she is 14 pounds even (not even on the charts) and is 26 inches tall (8th percentile). She may be tiny, but she sure is a cutie!

Swimming Lessons

We have decided to let the girls do swimming lessons this year. They love it! We started going on Monday and I know they will be sad to see them end next week. It has been good for the girls to be out in the water without clinging to mom or dad. I would love to take the kids swimming but there are 4 of them and only 2 of us. Not going to work too well unless a couple of them at least learn how to swim.



Kaitlyn is in the Level 1 class. She happens to be the only girl, which she informed me, makes the class crazy. I figured that she would really take to swimming lessons because she has been such a little fish in the past. Surprizingly, she has been a little hesitant. Maybe it is all of those crazy boys splashing around her that has her second guessing herself! :0) She was very excited to go into the deep side today and is adjusting quickly.

I honestly expected Mac to be a little scared or upset that she was in the water without me but she is the exact opposite. She marches right into the water and has been having a blast. When they tell her to put her face in the water, she just does it. I wish she would listen as well at home. :0) She loves her teacher and all she wants to do is talk about swimming lesson.

I thought about putting Kaiden in lessons to but I think I would have been one of those parents who has their child sit on her lap all through swim lessons wondering why I bothered to pay for him to swim. So, I will wait another year before I start him. He gets to hang out with me and Maddie by the pool. I asked him what he thought about swimming lessons and this is the face he pulled. Definately a better idea to wait a year! :0)

Assume The Position

This is Maddison's favorite position. She sits that way whether she is happy or sad. When she is happy she has her wrists and ankles twisting a hundred miles an hour. She does it so frequently that the older kids are starting to do it when they see her just so she will do it. She is one funny kid!

Hunkerin' Down

This is what we were doing last night during the storms. It is the first time that we have had to go to the basement when the tornado sirens started. It was insane! All the kids except for Kaitlyn were asleep so we had to wake them up and sit downstairs for a while. There was a hook cloud that went pretty much over us. I did get to see what a funnel cloud looks like for the first time and it was really weird. I could see it form out in the distance and the cone shape was clearly there.

Jason and I ventured outside to talk to some neighbors before the actual storm hit and the clouds were swirling above us. It was hot and muggy with a decent breeze and then all at once the breeze stopped. After a few minutes, it picked back up and the temperature immediately dropped. It was a little spooky to feel that while you can see the clouds above you start to swirl. Our immediate area didn't get hit with the tornado but tornados were touching down about 10 miles away. We also had a tornado touch down just north of us about 10 miles on Sunday. What is up with this weather?

We did get some hail at the house. These were not the biggest ones but there were a lot of ones this size. I don't think Jason felt up to running out in the hail to search for the biggest pieces and I wasn't going to make him. Jason had the trailer parked in the spot of the garage that we normally park the Trailblazer and when the TV said that we could expect baseball size hail I freaked. That would definately ding up the truck. Poor guy bundled up with a thick coat and headed out to pull the trailer out and park the Trailblazer in the garage. Hail this size had been hitting the truck and Jason said that there are a few dings on the roof. But, I feel very lucky that that was all the damage that we sustained.

Blog Backgrounds

Okay, I finally got around to posting a few cute blogs that have blog templates that you can use for free. There are some really cute ones out there. I will be keeping the list up on my blog so no one has to worry about saving the sites. The list is located at the bottom of the column under our pictures. Enjoy!

Just a note of caution... I didn't think to post it earlier but figured I better. Some of the templates that you will use will erase your sidebar things. The ones that change your background by just having you change one thing in the HTML code will not and most of the ones that will not, will say it somewhere. If it does erase them, you can easily add them back as long as you have the info saved. One way to tell if it is going to erase them is to hit the "preview" button and look at what it shows. If you hit the "save" button and it gives you a warning saying that you need to expand the widgets, it will erase some of your sidebar items. You can cancel out of that if you don't wan to continue. I have had very good luck changing my blog background but I did want to make you all aware of that just in case.

She's 9 Months Old

I cannot believe that Maddison is already 9 months. It goes by way too fast. I do not have her 9 month stats yet. But, I will update those after her appointment next week. Maddie is such a fun baby and I just love her to death. She is the best kisser around and always makes sure that her kisses stay with you all day. She shows no interest in crawling yet but she does like to walk while you hold on to her hands. She is just starting to show more interest in solids as of a month ago. We are now feeding her 2 solid meals each day. Maddie is still just a petite little thing with a dazzling personality and a short temper. Either way, we will take her.

Trouble

Jason found this shirt at Target and couldn't help but buy it for Kaiden. I tried to make it big enough to read but that made Kaiden's face all weird so I will type out what it says. I'm telling you, this fits Kaiden 9 out of 10 days. He does occasionally have those days when he is an angel but most of the time he is a wild and rowdy little guy! Here we go:

WHY I'M IN TROUBLE

1. Won't share anything

2. Won't give Mommy a break

3. Keep getting caught

4. Won't take a nap

5. Made a huge mess

Here is one of those cute moments. Kaiden has been following me around today taking pictures of me because he says that I am beautiful today. Apparently he doesn't think I am beautiful everyday. When I told him I was going to take a picture of him he said he wanted to take another of me so I got a picture of him taking a picture. He is too cute!