*Sigh* Oh Well

Can you guess what this is?



Hint #1: It's not rain on our sliding glass door.

Hint #2: Here's the same thing, but from a different angle.



Still no? Alright, here's the full picture:



Jared + weed-whacker + small rock = shattered glass door.

Thankfully, the glass is doubled-paned and only the outer door shattered. It's amazing how something so small, going so fast, can do this kind of damage! Here's the size of the hole:



Yes, he's mad. He's taking his frustration out on the weeds in the front. They needed to be pulled anyway. Like the title of this post: *sigh*. Oh well. It can be replaced. It will cost a pretty penny, but it can be replaced. 'Tis life!

3 Mothers

My dear future daughter-in-law,

James is a sweet, sensitive, mellow, caring young man. I promise you that he will love you with all of his heart, and strive every day to make you happy. (He is just like his father in all of those ways).

However, please don't get too upset if he answers you "yes, ma'am," or doesn't understand why you won't share your toys, or gets confused when there is only one of you trying to take care of him.

Because, you see, he grew up with three mothers. This one:


This one:


And this one:


He is used to being dressed up and made up with my make-up. He is used to having 3 pairs of hands all around him when it's time to change his diaper. He is used to having 3 women want to feed him, take care of him, and boss him around.

Be patient with him, and he will love you more fiercely than you ever dreamed. He's used to being sensitive to women!



(James is a walking maniac at 13 months.)

3! 3! 3!

Well little girl, you turned 3. How time flies when you're having fun, and you are a lot of fun! Your Grandma Wilkes says you have a lot of personality. This is absolutely true, as anyone will agree while they watch you imagine you're the star on a stage impressing your audience as you sing and dance. You are smart, creative, curious, stubborn, and wonderful.

You are starting to become somewhat of a stinker, because you are growing up. You are in a stage where you scream, don't listen, and are testing every single rule we try to create. However, punishment doesn't really work with you. You kind of remind me of a mule! The story goes that a mule can't be lead to water. However, if you walk beside the mule, she will follow you wherever you go. I can't force you to do anything. However, if I walk beside you, talk to you, reason with you, and tell you why I want you to do things, you will listen.

You are getting ready to start preschool, and you simply cannot wait. It will be neat to watch you grow, learn new things, find new friends, and become your own person.

My daughter, you sparkle, and I love you.

Mouth Fetish

Now that James is WALKING (more to come on that later!), James is now hands-free. You'd think that he would want to carry things in his hands because he's now an upright biped.

Nope. You thought wrong.

He still carries things in his mouth. All. The. Time.

Super cute!

Grand Performers

Sariah is always dancing and singing.

Like...always. She is very musical, very rhythmical and is in perpetual motion. She makes up songs as she goes, too!

Here's a cute little video of Sariah and Emerson singing while they dance on the piano. This is a small snippet of what our day is like - singing and dancing galore!

Prescott Recap

WARNING: Long, Boring post with lots of pictures. Purely for journaling. But read away!

For the 4th of July weekend, we went on up to Prescott. Well, Iron Springs, actually, where my parents have acquired a cabin. It is truly amazing, and reminds me of the cabin I grew up with on Mt. Lemon. Hard wood floors, old sinks, and really rustic. And, my mom has it decorated SO CUTE! Linda, myself, and my 2 kiddos plus Courtney and her Peanut all went up on Thursday morning. The boys (my dad, Jared, and Matt) came up on Friday evening.

We did lots of fun things, but one of the best traditions we accomplished was attending the Prescott 4th of July parade. No great pictures other than these (and please excuse the no make-up look):




Just about 15 minutes from the cabin is this GORGEOUS little lake. It was cool, breezy, and just perfect to walk around in:


And before I knew it, Sariah had STRIPPED down to her underwear and was splashing around and having the greatest time of her life!! Why am I not surprised? The problem was, we didn't bring any towels, so she was freezing when she climbed out.





My sweet sister and baby peanut (Makenzie) at the BBQ!


The funny thing is, right after this picture was taken, the bench that Courtney, Matt, and Jared on totally COLLAPSED! Yeah. Embarrassing. So, Courtney and peanut spent the rest of the evening eating like this:


Because we're not in Phoenix that often, which is where Courtney lives, Sariah and Makenzie haven't been able to foster a friendship quite yet. It was so nice to be able to be with them for several days, and watch these two girls just have a blast!


I actually feel kind of bad that I didn't get any pictures of James. We'll be back up there next week, and I'll be sure to take more then! But until then, the only 2 I have of him are with me. Sweet little boy!



Thank you, Mom and Dad, for feeding us and entertaining us for several days. I'm sure it's not easy to have a bunch of small children running and toddling around. Your cabin was always messy, you were always stepping on crumbs, but you always had smiles on your faces! I hope that the cabin will become the source of many wonderful memories in the coming years.

I also didn't take any pictures of Jared, but he had fun playing with the settings. This is my favorite picture he took. I think the contrast of the two flags is very powerful, especially on the 4th of July:


Can't wait to go back next week!