Quite the Kid

Owen is a handful these days.

He likes to make messes....

And then try and clean them up (he will not leave my broom, mop, and vacuum alone)...

He is ALWAYS climbing on my kitchen counter...

He loves sunglasses...

And REALLY loves his pacifier (he calls it his "fire")...

He doesn't mind getting messy...

He really loves going for walks...

When he gets into trouble, he just flashes his cheesy smile, and no one can get mad at him...

And everyday, MOMMY looks forward to NAP TIME (which never seems to last long enough)...

And every minute, I wish that he would just slow down and stay little. I hate that my baby is growing up. I really wish I could figure out how to freeze time.

Sleeping Nate

Nate thinks he's big. He tries as hard as he can to keep up with all the older kids. Every once in a while, though, his energy runs out, and I find him asleep somewhere random. Here are a few of those times in the last few weeks. I adore this little boy.

Good Friends

Sara and Owen have become quite the close little friends. At the beginning of the summer, we finally gave in to Savannah's incessant begging for her own room. We moved Owen's crib upstairs to the girls' room and let Savannah move down to Owen's room (which doubled as a guest room and already had a queen bed in it). So this whole summer, Owen and Sara have been sharing a room--and for the most part loving it. I love hearing the two of them over the monitor each morning. Sara talks to him and he talks back, until Sara finally rescues him from his crib. Sara has always loved babies (I remember the years when she always had a doll or two tucked under her arm). For her, taking care of Owen is a treat instead of a chore. She loves playing mommy to him. She really loves him, and he loves her. He will just randomly ask for her throughout the day. He'll just shout out, "Sara!", and she comes running when she hears him. I love it.

(These pictures are from earlier this summer-before Sara's haircut-but I just found them as I was going through pictures and realized I hadn't posted them before. They were just too cute not to share)

Mustache Me

One of the kids' favorite apps on Scott's phone is something called "Mustache Me".  You take a picture of someone, then pick from a variety of mustaches to add to the person's face.  They all think it's so hilarious to use this app.  I have to admit, it is pretty funny seeing Owen or Nate sporting a big hairy mustache.  I thought I'd share some of my more favorite "mustache me" pictures.

Sleepover

I love the neighborhood we live in.  It is filled with kids.  Sara has Ady just 4 houses down, Aaron and Nate have Taryn and Mallory just to the left of us, we've got the Masons (with 5 kids) just kiddy-corner from us, Savannah has Ellie 6 houses down from us....and then we've got Liam and Brynne just to the right of us.  As soon as the day starts, we've got those two knocking on our door to see if the kids can play, and they usually head home at bedtime.  They eat at our house just as often as they eat at their own house, and most days I feel like I have 8 kids instead of 6.  I love that my kids have such great best friends.  Liam is 6, so he plays with both Josh and Aaron (but mostly Josh), and Brynne and Savannah are like sisters.  Brynne and Liam are the ones who Owen lived with the week we went to Disneyland, so they kind of think of him as their little brother.  They are pretty much family.  If it's dinner time and I don't know where the kids are, I know that I'll find them next door at their house.  And if Anne is looking for her two kids, she knows they must be over here.

One thing our kids love doing, is having a "late night" with Brynne and Liam.  They come over (or our kids go over there) in pajamas and watch a movie and have a treat.  Then when the movie finishes, they just head home to bed.  It's much better than doing an actual sleepover, with the same fun late night giggling and hanging out.

The night after Josh's birthday, we still had the tent up and were going to let the kids sleep in it again.  They had been with Brynne and Liam all day, and they all decided that they should ALL sleep in the tent.  They finally got up enough courage to ask us if it would be ok, and we told them we were fine with it.  So they headed over to get permission from Brynne and Liam's parents.  Their mom wasn't home, and their dad said he wasn't going to make that decision, so they headed back over for a late night movie inside till Anne got home to give permission for all night in the tent.  Every 10 minutes they would all run next door to see if Anne was home yet.  Finally she got home and said "YES!", so we set to work getting 7 kids settled into the tent.

 (Sara was crying because "Savannah's being mean to me" as usual.)

Then Scott and I went in to watch a movie and opened the window so we could listen to the kids outside. We'd yell out the window every 10 minutes, "You guys are being too loud" and "You really need to go to sleep" and "If you don't stop talking, this sleepover is done!". Finally at 12:30, they all went to sleep. We had some very tired kids the next day, but I think it was worth the memories they made.

Josh's 9th Birthday

Tuesday, July 24th was Joshua's 9th birthday. It's turned into a tradition that Josh gets to go to Roaring Springs on his birthday. This year the whole family has season passes (thank you Grandma Jo), so we've been quite a few times this year. The kids are getting more comfortable with the rides and feel like they know their way around. This year for his birthday, Josh got to invite a friend to spend the day at Roaring Springs with him (he invited his buddy Ben). We got a babysitter for Owen, and the rest of us spent the entire day at Roaring Springs. Savannah and Aaron buddied up and so did Josh and Ben, and we let them just go off on their own for rides (we'd pass them quite often). And Scott, Nate, Sara and I stayed in a little group. It was a really fun day.

When we returned home at the end of the day, Scott made crepes for dinner--Josh's favorite thing to eat. Then we all loaded up and went to Walmart, where Josh got to pick out a new bike. I need to get a picture of him on it, it's very cool. He's been riding it non-stop the last two days. After we came home from shopping, we had cake and ice cream.

Then, Scott set up the tent and let the kids sleep in it.  I think it was a good day for Josh.

It's hard to believe that it's been 9 years since this little guy joined our family.  Josh is such a joy to have around.  He's kind and sweet and thoughtful.  I love his excitement and energy that he has for life.  He's a great big brother, one that his younger three brothers can look up to and admire.  

Happy Birthday Josh! We are so lucky to have you in our family!