memorial day

Yesterday we celebrated Memorial Day early with Chris's family. After bbq'ing hamburgers, we spent most of the afternoon outside in the backyard, watching the kids play in our inflatable pool, playing corn hole, and relaxing. Later we enjoyed the BEST BROWNIES EVER, made my my sister-in-law, Rebekah. Here are some pictures.

My munchkins...


We made the mistake of thinking Cam would like to hold Kendall...rather than try and roll her off his lap (here he is mid-roll)!


The brothers and their kids...




After church today, Chris and his dad headed out for a round of golf while Debbie and I stayed back with the kids. Debbie also prepared lots of yummy food for us to store in the freezer. We've been really spoiled by meals brought to us and it has been awesome to not have cooking on my to-do list each day!

photo shoot

My mom left a couple of days ago so I'm learning more about life with two. :)




Yesterday I went over to my mom's so she could watch the kiddos while I went to my doc's appointment. When I returned, we attempted a photo shoot. Unfortunately the timing wasn't quite right to attempt a pic of both of them...however I was skeptical this would work anyway. :) Here are a couple favorites.

(In case you are wondering, the dark stuff in his mouth is chocolate chips...used to get him to sit for the pic. Dumb me didn't realize it might look a little funny. Oh well.)



The ride home from my mom's was the first time Cam found himself trapped in the car with a screaming baby. Poor little guy got to the sobbing point, which in turn made me cry. All I could do was reach back and rub his little legs to try and comfort him. Quite the picture, I'm sure, of two crying kids and one crying mom on the freeway. Luckily he would snap right out of it as soon as there was a lull and he was back to his chipper self as soon as we arrived home. :)

cam and kendall

So far, Cam has been much better with Kendall than we had previously thought. He still has a hard time when she makes noises (any noise), but I'm hoping that will get better with time. His interactions with her are quite unique. He giggles when she sneezes and always asks where she is ("baby?"). However the funniest interactions are when he pokes her head and touches her head with his head. For some reason this is as far as he will go in showing affection for his little sister. :) We caught a video of both because it is just too funny. Take a look...

ethiopia

I mentioned in my previous post that my dad was in Ethiopia when Kendall was born. They were able to share the gospel all while helping the people by giving them new wheelchairs and eyeglasses. What an amazing example my dad is in spending his retirement years (well, he isn't technically retired but has a flexible schedule) by taking himself out of his comfortable life here and traveling to the most needy places, helping advance the kingdom of God!

Here is my dad praying with an Ethiopian:


Here are the wheelchairs that they make out of regular patio chairs:


This young girl, previously unable to walk, was healed while they were there and can now walk!

some bullets

*Cam napped for 3 hours today. What the heck? Is this what typical moms get to have every single day? I simply can't imagine!

*Sometimes I nap and I admit that it does feel nice to just relax when you are exhausted. However here is my theory on naps: Even on the days I take a nap, I'm just as tired come bedtime. So what is the point when there are so many things I could get done during that time?

*My mom brought home tons of salad stuff and chopped it all up for us to have on hand. Yummy. Chris always teases her as the "queen of the salads" because she serves them with almost all her meals. :)

*The Office was great this week. This season hasn't lived up to the previous ones, so it is nice that they are getting back on track and super funny.

*If I could have one chore done for me all the time, it would be swiffering my kitchen floor.

*My dad won't be able to meet Kendall for another few weeks. He was in Ethiopia during her birth (on a missions trip where they passed out eye glasses/wheel chairs...something I'm so glad he went on and am much more thankful that he was able to minister to so many people rather than sit in a hospital waiting room). Now we learned that he really needs to stay away for a few weeks since he was in Africa and the incubation period for diseases he could have picked up won't be over until then.

*When I was a kid, I would tell people my two favorite foods were donuts and baked potatoes.

*Kendall has slept literally all day. Wonder what the night has in store for us...yikes.

*I'm in the odd transition phase where none of my real clothes fit, but so many of my maternity clothes are far too big. Hmmm....

*The Cherry Festival is coming to town. We went last year and while we had fun, there was something not quite right about spending $12 for the three of us to ride a dingy ferris wheel. Maybe we should re-evaluate this year...

keep workin Applebees

Had an Applebees "Real Burger" last night. We had seen commercials and thought they looked scrumptious. It wasn't too "real" for me. They forgot my bacon, the patty was very small, and it was dry. I'd give it a 5.

p.s. When you get food to go from a restaurant, do you tip???

costco

Today was our first outing as a family (plus my mom). Where else would be more appropriate than our weekly trip to Costco? Heaven forbid we should miss more than a week! It was nice to have my mom there to help out for our first experiment with things like needing to stop to nurse, keeping track of Cam, etc.



Here is a cute close up of our little week old.