Drum Roll Please...

We are so excited to announce that Baby #3 will be joining our family in September. As all babies are...this baby is proving to be a complete miracle. We feel so extremely blessed! No news yet of whether we'll keep the boy trend going, but we'll keep you posted!

My health has been an issue, but things are looking up. After surgery 2 weeks ago and a bone marrow biopsy last week, we are very relieved to hear that things are good and that many of the serious conditions we were worried about are being ruled out. Thank you for all the prayers and help that have been offered on our family's behalf. We could never have made it through the past few weeks without that!

Funny Face

This is Ethan's idea of a funny face. I love that he already understands the hilarity of sticking his tongue out! Hmmm...I wonder where he learned it from??? Garrett perhaps? :)

We need a trampoline.

Garrett informs me daily that he is the ONLY person in the whole entire world who doesn't have a trampoline to jump on. :) Poor deprived child, I know! But really, in all actuality, I'm starting to see the brilliancy of owning such an outdoor play thing! Here are my latest reasons...

1. My couches would last a whole lot longer. While we have had a 'no jumping on the furniture rule' in our house...but, me being out of commission for so long has seriously detracted from the seriousness of this rule. Our couches are now jumped on and off of all day long...and I can't bring myself to end the fun...the jumps and flips that the boys can now do are really quite impressive! Plus, I've already informed Garrett that once he grows up and has a job...he has to buy me new furniture for the sacrifice I'm making now! :)

2. It would be yet another thing to entice the kids outside (since our backyard is completely devoid of all fun play structures!) Spring is amazing here in TX and I am convinced that they boys need to be outside as much as possible before it gets too unbearably hot to even leave the house at all!

3. Who am I to stifle the jumping genes that both boys apparently have in abundance! They love it!!!

4. I don't know how many more jumps and belly flops our guest bed can take...sorry to any visitors who may want to come in the near future...your bed is now a bit more broken in!

Okay, I could go on and on, but here are some pictures that will hopefully explain things further...

This is the entrance to our guest room (which still needs a lot of work as it is still partly a storage room too...extra mattresses leftover from a recent bunk bed purchase, the extra kitchen chairs). Garrett has labeled this room as it evolves...first it was 'Dog's Room' when Garrett was obsessed with crawling around like a dog. Then it was 'Dog and Cat's room' as both Ethan wanted in on the action and was assigned his own animal to act out. Then it was the favorite wrestle spot before bedtime. Now it is the 'Jump Room' (which I apparently didn't get a picture of!)

Ethan's favorite part is the 'slide' that Garrett makes for him. He'll stand at the top of this mattress hill and run towards the door at full speed...maybe I should add some pillows for a safety precaution.

Oh yeah, can't forget the somersaults on the way down!

And now for my personal favorites...Garrett in action. And yes, Garrett declared that it was way too hot in the 'jump room' and had stripped down to his cute little boxers before we even came up to see the show. Don't worry...we're usually a bit more modest around here!

How I love this skinny kid!!!

Snacktime Learning!!!

Who says education has to suffer during spring break??? Garrett doesn't miss a beat! Nothing like documenting your family name on the kitchen table with pretzel sticks!!! Personally, I like the exclamation points after each name!!!

Roll Call

On the backside of our church program every week, there is a list of people and their contact information. I don't think this is anything unusual...it's usually the bishop and his counselors, the different presidents of all the different organizations such as the primary president or the sunday school president and such...you know, all the people you may need to contact, so the info is right there in a central location! Pretty handy!

Well, here's my favorite part about it all: Garrett uses this list to take roll each week. He sits with his program and checks off who is here and who is not. We usually sit in the back (much easier with crazy toddler who needs a little more room than the normal benches allow!) so Garrett is getting pretty good at recognizing the backs of people's heads! So here's your warning...your attendance is being tracked by my little 6 year old. You better hope you don't leave town or stay home with sick kids...Garrett will know! :)

100 years old

I was just in tucking Garrett into bed and we were talking about the coming week. It is his 100th day of school on Thursday and I told him that he was supposed to dress up like he was 100 years old. He laughed for a second and then said... "Hey! Kate (names have been changed to protect the innocent!) should bring in her Mom and Dad! She said that her Mom and Dad were like a hundred years old!!!" Seriously, do our kids discuss our ages amongst themselves??? I laughed (a bit too nervously probably) and asked if he thinks I am 'like a hundred?' He laughed even harder at that...so I'm taking that as a NO!!! Whew!

I LUV Kids

So, as some of you may know, Danielle and Ethan are in Utah for a few days, which leaves me at home with Garrett. It has been a lot of fun these last few days spending time with Garrett. It is kind of hard because we are trying to make and eat dinner, get all of his homework done, AND have fun. All this when I don't pick him up from friends' homes until about 5:30 or 6pm and his bedtime is 7:30 (right Dani?). Anyway, we were sitting at the dinner table tonight, eating pizza and working on his spelling words when Garrett says, "why do I have to have spelling tests anyway?" I took advantage of the opportunity to teach him about how important it is to be able to communicate and if we couldn't spell things right, we wouldn't be able to understand each other. I even referred to some previous conversations we had about Nephi learning to write so that we could have scriptures. So I get through with my "teaching" moment and he says,
G - "but mom doesn't know how to spell"
S - "What do you mean?"
G - "when mom spells love on the computer she always spells it wrong, she writes L-U-V"
S - after laughing "mom knows how to spell"
G - "well, does the computer not let her spell it right?"

Anyway, I told him to ask Dani why she spells it wrong. So here is the heads up for you Dani, better think of some good reason.