Silly Kids

Here are two clips of the kids. They are a little long and have very bumpy camera work but it's still cute to watch them. The first one is Sawyer and Zoe trying to get the same toy. Sawyer thinks that Zoe is the funniest member of the family. At the end of the first is Audrey reciting a nursery rhyme. She is very into that at the moment. The second video is Audrey going to wake Sawyer up after his nap. She loves to climb in the crib with him and make him laugh. They like to climb on each other and wrestle. This is a little worrisome considering the size difference!

Weekend Update

Here's a quick update:

-Sawyer is still not technically crawling but can get anywhere he wants to go. He goes about 3 paces and then collapses. He is pulling up to standing on everything, which is making the giving a bath to two kids at once very difficult. He also got another tooth last week. That makes two on the bottom. I'm really hoping the ones on the top don't come in yet. I think his gummy smile is cute.

-Audrey has been loving the swing set Ben built. There is a picture of her at the park down the street from us. That slide still scares the you know what out of me but she loves it. Ben is a big kid a loves it as well. Audrey and I also took a trip to the petting zoo. I think it's sort of gross but she likes it.

-Ben and I have been busy as well. I'm tutoring twice a week, which is a good break and nice money. Ben and I are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate his accomplishment at work. He won the Chairman Award at his work. It's a pretty big deal! Go Ben!

Almost Done

The playhouse endured toppling over in 80 mph winds, a roof rebuild, & other rework. The structure is now buried 3 inches, staked & reinforced with a ladder & rockwall. It still needs some paint & shingles, but getting close...

Sawyer's Baptism

Sawyer got baptized on Saturday by my Uncle Gary. This was very special since he has baptized myself, my brother, Audrey, my cousins and their children. It is a family tradition. It was a beautiful day to have Sawyer baptized outside on my mom and dad's lake. A lot of our family members and friends were able to come and for that we are very grateful. Uncle Ryan made it in from Mexico. My cousins Matt and Caryn from Traverse. Ben's parents and my aunt and uncle from St. Joe. And the longest distance traveler award goes to Megan, all the way from Denver. We had a large crowd with a lot of locals too!! Thanks to everyone who came and made the day so special.

In the first picture you can see that we did make Sawyer wear the traditional christening gown that everyone in my family has worn. It was a little strange because he's a big boy! Audrey also wore that dress at 7 months and they look like twins. I almost put up a comparison picture but that would be too scary.

In the second picture you can see my Uncle Gary baptizing Sawyer. The third is Sawyer with the Godparents, Aunt Brandy and Uncle Brad. I'm not sure why Audrey is making a monster face in the picture. Not really appropriate for a baptism but I didn't realize it until after I posted the picture. She sure is entertaining. The last picture is everyone in the family that my Uncle Gary has baptized, it's becoming quite a crew!

Not pictured due to time and space are the pictures of all the girls running down my mom's hill and doing diving into the kiddy pool. They had a great time and it was a lot of fun to watch them. The dads are thinking that when they get a little bigger that it would be the perfect hill for a slip and slide. I can picture them all sliding down right now!

PS-IF ANYONE WHO USES THIS BLOGGER KNOWS WHY SOMETIMES YOU CAN'T PUT SPACES IN BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS PLEASE LET US KNOW. NEITHER ONE OF US CAN FIGURE IT OUT. ON THE SCREEN IT LOOKS FINE AND THEN WHEN PUBLISHED IT'S ALL SMASHED TOGETHER. HOW FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!!

New Developments

Sawyer has some new tricks. He has been army crawling/scooting around for about a month. I don't consider that real crawling though. Now he can go about 3 "real crawls" and then collapses. The above sequence his usually how he tries to start really moving. He does get a little frustrated. He does push-ups and sometimes looks like he is break dancing. Like his sister, he is very limber. This early crawling thing has been an unwelcome surprise to me. Audrey did not crawl until in between 8 and 9 months. I was expecting the same from Sawyer. Needless to say, myself or my house are not ready for all the fun that crawling brings.

Sawyer's other new development is that he got his first tooth. I just noticed it today but I bet it's been there for a few days because it's half way through already. He was a little crabby last week and he drools a lot, but he's been drooling forever. No waking at night or anything so I wasn't really looking for it. Audrey didn't get hers until 11 months so I thought he'd be closer to that. I hope he doesn't get too many this early because I think the gummy smile is cuter than the toothy smile!

Sawyer got baptized on Saturday so there will be pictures of that to come.

Trip to Hardy's and Oh S#*T!

As always, we had a busy and eventful past weekend. I'll start with the positive. On Saturday we went out to see Jeri and Jason for their sons' birthday party. Ryan was 3 and Caleb was 1! Audrey enjoyed going on a hayride, seeing the pigs and finding pine cones, which she calls acorns. The girl acts like she's never been in the wilderness. She's been carrying around the pine cone for 4 days and she actually cried when Zoe tore up the oak leaves she brought home with her. Guess we'll have to get her out in some trees a little more often. You can see Daddy and Audrey going on the hayride and Audrey enjoying her sundae. Sawyer chewed on some cups and then took a nap on a beach towel. Looks like Daddy's old college days.

Now for the not so positive. Not pictured, is the destruction of Audrey's play structure (swing set to you Bill). We had a massive wind storm on Sunday, 80mph. Let's just say the 80mph winds did not agree with the playset. It toppled over and the roof fell off. It took some manpower, but it is now standing in a more protected area of our yard and Ben is revising his plans. The roof appears to be too heavy. There will be pictures to come but you'll have to wait for the finished product. Ben is taking Friday off work to complete the job so look for pictures then.

Quick Update

I haven't updated in a while so I thought you all might be wondering what's been going on with us. Sawyer is 7 mo. old today. I'm guessing he's close to 20 lbs but haven't weighed him in a while. He is getting very frustrated lately with not being able to crawl. He tries hard to move but can only roll and go backwards. He finds this very frustrating and has been pretty crabby about it. No teeth in sight but I'm not surprised about that. He's eating a lot of everything, especially liking real food now. I was hoping he'd stick to baby food but am not surprised he prefers real food as Audrey did too.

Happy Birthday to Aunt Emily out there in Charlotte!! We had a nice visit last weekend and Audrey had a great time at the wedding shower, although she still thinks that was the actual wedding. She's very easy to please. Hopefully she'll have the same taste when it's time to put on her wedding!

Congrats to the Houghtons on their new baby boy. Born today!!!! We can't wait to meet Chase and see how Jack is reacting to the new addition to the family.

Ben continues to work on the deck and play structure. Not a whole ton of progress. It was really windy and rainy and now it's 95! Fun weather for working outside. We got our patio poured today and it looks great. I'll put pictures of all our new stuff very soon.