The Lynden Picnic

Every summer we get excited for The Lynden Company Picnic. Grandma Shellie gets as many of us together for the first Saturday of August every year to go. There's always tons of awesome food, hayrides, inflatable toys for the kids, train and horse rides, and tons more. It's always so much fun. This year though had to be the best so far. There were a TON of us. Family came from Oregon, California and even Arizona to be there. It was great to see so much family. It was a family reunion of sorts and it led into a fun and relaxing weekend on Whidbey Island.

All American boys

Another 4th of July came and went. And same as every other year, it was a blast(pun intended). Grandpa Harold's 4th of July BBQ never dissappoints. And Daddy didn't cause major OR minor emergencies!! So that's always a bonus!! Time to start counting down the days until next year.

Freckle face

Brandon has gorgeous freckles across his nose. I don't want him to be one of those kids that grows up to hate them so I try and tell him all the time how great they look. How that's one more thing that he and I share that Daddy and Logan don't have (it's always a contest in this house). I hope he never grows out of them.

The best dressed baby in town

When Sawyer was only about a month old I found this adorable little aqua colored romper with skulls on it. It was way too big for him at the time, so I put it aside. Today it caught my eye and I decided to try it on him and it fit perfectly! The first chance I had, we took some pictures of him in it. I love it!!

Mini me

Everybody says that Logan is a little version of Chris. I can see it the most in their smiles. They have great smiles.

Our Daddy

I don't think I could ask for a better dad and husband than Chris. He is wonderful. He fights traffic for hours everydayto make sure that we have food on our table and a roof over our heads. He wakes up before the sun to make sure that he can leave work early enough in the day to spend time with us in the evening. No matter how tired he is or how long the week has been he makes sure that Brandon gets to his Thursday night cub scout meetings. He plays boardgames with the boys even though he knows it's going to be a long stressful experience trying to keep Logan focused on the game. He always wants to carry Sawyer or push the stroller when we go places (I think he likes to show him off). He never groans or grimaces at the thought of changing a poopy diaper. And everytime I ask him to rub my feet or let me take a long shower, he never hesitates to say yes (instead he just reminds me of how I do when he asks me ;P luv ya babe). Best of all, he makes the cutest babies in the world. His boys want so much to be like him. Especially Logan. He says that when he is a grown up he wants to change his name to Chris.

Even on Father's Day, he offered to let me sleep in. I didn't of course!! I'm not THAT bratty. I love you so much, Chris. I'd be completely lost without you in my life. Thank you for all you do.

My little klutz

Brandon is turning out to be just like his dad. He could trip over his own shoelace and break his arm (knock on wood). He is such a bumbly, clumsy kid.

Monday when he got home from school he was limping and said his knee hurt. I told him to just rest and he'd feel better in the morning. Well, he rested and ended up feeling worse Tuesday morning. He couldn't straighten his leg out or walk. So off we went to the emergency room. After 4 hours of waiting around and getting xrays, they came to the conclusion that he somehow sprained his knee. He of course doesn't remember hurting himself. So we have no idea how he did it. So now he's got his leg wrapped up in a splint and is hobbling around the house on crutches. He had to miss school again today, and it was field day. The best day of the year. While all of his classmates spent the day playing tug-of-war, 3-legged races, and various other games and activites, he's been here, vegging out in front of the tv all day. I feel so bad for the poor kid! Tomorrow is the last day of school and it's a half day, so I've discussed it with his teacher and she thinks that he'll do okay at school for a few hours. So he gets to go and say goodbye to his classmates for the summer. But then after that he has to go to the dentist :S

Here is a picture of my poor child. Notice also that he has a black eye. He got that when we were camping this past weekend. And then you can't see it, but he also has a skidmark bruise on his head where he ran into the wall on Sunday night. Oh and did I mention that his allergies have been under full attack the past couple of weeks. This reminds me of when he was 3 and he had a bad reaction to a spider bite that made his eye swollen almost shut for 2 days, he burned the entire surface of his palm and fingers on the inside of the oven door, and split his head open....TWICE. And all of that happened within a week and a half!!

I don't know what I'm gonna do with this kid. I'm really not looking forward to his teen years. BTW, doesn't it look like I beat the kid senseless?! You should see the looks people give me.

We've got a thumbsucker

I know it's a bad habit to develop, but it's too cute!! Sawyer has found his thumb. He doesn't take a binki, it makes him gag. So he's discovered how get that little thumb in his mouth. I think it's adorable. I'm sure I won't find it adorable when he's 1 and I can't get his hand out of his mouth, but for now, it doesn't bother me. Whatever he needs to soothe himself.

Skate night

A couple of weeks ago we took the boys to Brandon's school skate night. B's cub scout troop met there to earn their skating belt loop. Neither of the boys had been skating before. Logan went around 2 times and then he was done. But Brandon couldn't get enough of it. He was so cute out there. He had a hard time keeping his balance and he fell over and over again, but he didn't give up. He just kept chugging along. Chris was so excited to see that Brandon liked skating. It's only a matter of time before Chris will have him all decked out in hockey gear.

Baby smiles

It's so easy to get Sawyer to smile. Right when he locks eyes with you he gets so excited and starts smiling like crazy. The bigger you smile at him, the bigger he smiles back. I can't wait for him to start laughing!

Happy birthday Brandon!!

Today Brandon turns 8. I can't believe it. I can remember so vividly when he was a little dinky guy. Before his brothers came along, it was just me and B all day everyday. Now he's such a big kid, and he has a whole seperate life away from ours at home. It's weird. He's growing up so fast! Most days it's so exciting to see the new things that he's learning or the way he handles situations as he gets older. But other times, I just want him to slow way down and stay my baby forever. He's our first son and he will always have an extra special space in my heart. Happy birthday B-ster. I love you.

Where has the time gone?

Today marks 9 years that Chris and I have been married. Many people thought we wouldn't last a year. Well we showed them!! I love Chris so much and I don't know what I'd do without him. We have an amazing family and our marriage has stayed strong through a lot of hard times. Many couples would have given up a long time ago, but for us that's not an option. He couldn't get rid of me if he tried!!

Our first date, Sadie Hawkins, October 1997

Two months

I can hardly believe that it's been 2 whole months since Sawyer has joined us. He's grown so much just in the past couple of weeks. He's really filling out. He's starting to be a little chubster, just like his big brothers were. He smiles and "talks" all the time. He's still sleeping a lot during the day, and he wakes up about 2 or 3 times a night. Some nights are worse, but he's getting better. I'm still trying to adjust to some sort of schedule during the day as far as housework, getting the boys to and from school, trying to get to the gym, running errands, and taking care of the baby. It's a lot to fit in and I'm sure it will be easier in a few weeks when the boys are out of school, but then I run into another problem: keeping all 3 of them entertained!!

Mawn lowing with Daddy

Logan helped Daddy with the "mawn lowing" last weekend. He pushed his little mower right along side him the entire time, front and backyard. He even commented a few times "I think my bag is full Daddy" and emptied the invisible grass. And when Daddy's mower ran out of gas, so did his. Logan made sure that everybody knew that he helped "mawn low the lawn".

Let me tell you a little story.....

When we got back from the gym the other day, I left Sawyer in his carseat so I could go use the.......well, it doesn't matter what I was doing. Anyway, when I came out I found Logan "reading" Sawyer stories from his kids bible.

Big brothers are the best

Sawyer LOVES Brandon. As soon as he locks eyes with his big brother he starts grinning from ear to ear. Sawyer smiles at all of us, but he saves his cutest, most excited expressions for his superhero big brother, Brandon.

Who needs a utility belt when you've got utility long johns?!

Brandon came out of the bedroom the other night and he had loaded the waistband of his long johns with makeshift battle tools. He looked so cute I couldn't help but take a picture. And yes I realize that long johns are in fact underwear, and my kid is wearing underwear under underwear, but that's how he likes to wear 'em!

How did I get so lucky?

I couldn't ask for more amazing little boys.

My birthday

I know it's been a couple of weeks since my birthday, but I'm just now getting around to posting about it. My wonderful hubby got together with my equally wonderful mother-in-law, Shellie, to put together an awesome birthday dinner for me. Since Logan and I share a birthday, Chris always goes out of his way to make me feel like it's still "my " day also.

They found a great Hawaiian restaurant to go to. Lately I've been obsessed with planning our trip for next year, so Chris wanted to give me a little taste of what to expect. It was a really great place. The food was awesome and they even had live musice. Shellie brought a big box of leis for everybody to wear. SO many of my friends came. We took up half of the whold place! So thank you so much to Chris and Shellie. I love you both. And thanks to all of you that came. It was a lot of fun.

And then there were three.....

I finally got pictures of the boys in their "brother" shirts.

How did my kids age so fast?

I'm so proud of my little men. They've grown up so much in 4 short years. It's flown by! They are such smart kids and they are so much fun.

Brandon was a great big brother to Logan, and now that he's older he's much more attentive with Sawyer. And Logan follows right behind Brandon making sure that everything is okay. They make a great team. I hope that Sawyer will turn out to love his brothers as much as they love him.