Sawyer is 6 months old!!

Time has gone so fast and he's grown so big. I'm starting to forget how teeny he was. It's amazing how much they change in such a short period. Sawyer has been crawling for nearly 2 months already, but now he's doing it the traditional way, knees and hands, instead of army crawling and pulling himself everywhere. He is a pro at getting himself into a seated postion. He's even gotten up on his feet while holding onto taller objects. Pretty soon he'll be walking!

He can spend hours on the floor playing around with the boys and they are so good with him. They're having a lot more fun with him now that he gets around and sits up with them. Brandon will pick him up and carry him to different spots that they are playing so he can join in. Sawyer just sits there and plays right along, studying everything they do.

We started trying to give him solid foods about a month ago, but he wanted nothing to do with it. He would just scream if I tried to put the food into his mouth. So rather than traumatize the poor child, I just decided to put it on hold. I was afraid I was going to give him a complex or something. So we waited about a week and a half until we tried again. When we did, there were no problems at all. Since then we've slowly been adding more solids to his daily diet. He does still sometimes have his moments where he has difficulty remembering how to swallow it the right way, but it's getting easier. Oh yeah, and he has 2 little teeth coming in on the bottom.

I can honestly say that Sawyer is probably the easiest and happiest baby I've ever been around. He is so friendly and responsive with everybody he meets. He is so easy to make giggle and his smile is infectious. Everybody wants to be around him. We are so blessed to have him in our lives.

Back to school!!

This summer really seemed to fly by. We didn't get everything done that we had planned. Not even close. But I think that with a new baby that's to be expected. The boys seemed to enjoy themselves for the most part though. This was probably the easiest summer I've had with them. They were both pretty good kids for summer break. There wasn't much whining or grounding this year. They keep each other entertained now and that gives me plenty of time to focus on the baby and household stuff.

Even though it was a pretty laid back and relaxing summer, I'm INCREDIBLY glad to be getting back to a regular routine. It's nice to wake up each morning and have a set schedule for the day. Every little moment is timed out, which would be boring for most people, but it keeps me focused.

Brandon is now in the 3rd grade (Lord give me strength!) and started last week. His teacher is new this year. We all know how much I love young fresh teachers (insert sarcastic tone here). I'm hoping this teacher and class is better than the one we had to remove him from last year. After a week he is off to a great start. He's having a hard time getting back into the homework routine, but we're keeping on him about it. He's such a grown up kid, it's incredible. My little baby is getting so big!!

Logan is starting his second year of preschool tomorrow. He is beyond excited. He's had his outfit picked out for days. Last year when he was 3 he was in the 4 year old class so this year he will again be in the 4 year old class, but all of his friends from last year have moved onto Kindergarten. He's kinda bummed out but still he's looking forward to making all new friends. And I'm looking forward to the 2 1/2 hours a day of just me and the baby. Hopefully I can get him to nap while Logan is at school 3 days a week and then I'll have some REAL quiet time. Here's to wishful thinking.

Here are some pictures of Brandon's first day, leaving and coming home from school. We always go out to greet him when he gets off of the bus the first day. Logan gets so excited when he sees the bus coming down the road.

Speedsters!!

On Sunday we decide to make the most of the last few days of summer we have and took the boys to play miniature golf (pics of that to come later). We finished the game quicker than we had expected and we didn't really want to go home yet, so we decided that the boys could each ride with Chris on a double seated go-kart. Neither one of them had been in one before and they had SO much fun. They were the only ones on the track which made me much more comfortable with it. When Brandon climbed out his hair was all windblown and sticking up in the front. It was hilarious.

Stranger things have happened

Sawyer needed his diaper changed, so I jokingly told Brandon that he should change it for me....and he said okay (right after making sure that it was just pee)!! So I showed him what to do, gave him the diaper and walked him through it. He did a pretty good job for his first time. I just had to go back and tighten up the sides a little. Luckily Sawyer wasn't his usual squirmy self while he was changing it. He was very cooperative.

5 months old

The time is going by SO incredibly fast. Our little tiny baby is now 5 months old. He's army crawling all over the house, trying as best as he can to follow the boys all over the place. Whenever they are playing on the floor, he makes his way to where they are. And many times a day he gets himself all the way over to their bedroom door, just to have mom pick him up and bring him back to the livingroom. I'm such a meanie. He is so happy all of the time and I've never seen a more smiley and giggley baby. Everyday he's looking blonder and blonder and more like me. Pretty soon we'll start him on solids and I'm trying to wean him right now. Before we know it he'll be walking and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself then. Right now we're enjoying his sweet disposition and his playfulness. He's such a perfect little baby.

He's a little genius!!

Sawyer isn't even 5 months old yet and he's already trying to crawl. He gets his little self all around this house. If he gets tired of pushing himself across the floor, he just rolls instead. He can turn his body around to face a different direction when he's on his belly just by swiveling his little hips. He's so darn smart!! He's gonna be walking before we know it!!

Fort Casey

One of the days that we were on Whidbey Island we decided to go see some of the historical attractions. I did some research before our trip (like a nerd) on the history of the island. I love learning about Washington's past. One of the places that caught my eye when I was reading up was Fort Casey. I didn't really get too deep into what exactly we would find when we got there, but I've been to different forts before and I thought the boys might like it. The area has been turned into a state park, so I figured if it was boring then at least we could walk on trails or something. Grandma Shellie and the other "grown-ups" opted to stay at home and relax. We left Sawyer with them, and took the 2 younger boys and Billy and off we went.

The forts I've been to in the past have been recreations of old pioneer forts. Interesting to me, but not so much for younger boys. They were all kind of irked that I had pulled them away from video games, so on the way there I was really nervous that everybody was going to have a lame time except for myself. I couldn't have been more wrong.

When we pulled into the parking lot I was completely overwhelmed. This was like nothing that I'd ever seen in my life. It was awesome. Right on the edge of the water was a HUGE concrete compound that sprawled all down the coastline of Admiral Inlet. The kids started freaking out and running as fast as they could towards the fort when we let them out of the car. There were dozens of rooms, guard towers, gun batteries, giant 10" barrell guns, barracks, and tons more to explore. It was not at all what I was expecting. We were there for over an hour checking everything out, including Admiralty Head Lighthouse. Oh yeah, and deer! We could have spent another hour running around, but we had other places to see, shopping to do, and we had to get back to Sawyer.

These are just a choice few of the pictures that I took. If you want to learn a little more about the 119 year old Fort Casey, you can go here http://www.fortwiki.com/Fort_Casey. Or visit it yourself! It's worth the drive. I plan on trying to learn a little more and go back to explore some of the places that we missed. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad the kids enjoyed themselves. Hopefully trips like this will help spark their own interest in history.

A day at Deception Pass

We'd never been to Deception Pass before. We spent all day there BBQing and playing on the beach. Chris and Tom went for a hike, the boys built sandcastles with Billy, Amanda cuddled on Sawyer all day long, and I learned how to play Cribbage. Oh yeah, and I got the worst sunburn I've had in over 10 years. Other than that, it was a great day in a beautiful spot.