busy bees

last week was our first week home from vacation, and we managed to keep ourselves quite busy!  we cashed in on our very first family pool membership, and we are loving it!  a nearby pool offers an “august only” membership, and we are so excited to be a part of it!  we went for some dinner and chick-fla-flay at the pool!  (or “oo-eye (french fry) cow” as anna calls it!)

    

three little fishies (or two sharks and a duck!?)  all in a row!

one fish, two fish!

last week held a great week of vbs with a water-play day afterwards.  it was a HUGE hit!

charlie and hudson                                                                               and william!

    

william, the lover of all tiny things, found a new tiny thing to play with this past week . . .

I told this boy that I have my eye on him!

    

and, that afternoon, we did our best to hold it together while we waited for Daddy to come home from work!

this weekend we stayed home to do some work around the house, and we played a rousing game of hide-and-seek!

Daddy is a really good hider

Little Miss has become quite obsessed with two things:  Nutsy, the mascot of our local baseball team (she asks about and prays for him daily) and ‘Weet ‘Wog (Sweet Frog) . . . She begged her Daddy to take her to ‘weet ‘wog on Saturday, and we had a great ole time!  These two love frozen yogurt!  The whole time we were there, Anna pointed to every frog and squealed “ ‘Weet ‘WOG, DADDY!  ‘WEET ‘WOG!”   She loves the frogs, and I think she likes the frozen yogurt a little bit, too!  The cashier, bless his heart, gave Anna a SF bumber sticker, which we leaned on a shelf in her bedroom—she points to it and talks about it multiple times daily.  So funny!

and, negotiating . . . toppings, flavors, a little of this for a little of that . . .

don’t we all want to finish our ice cream this way?!

we finished out our weekend with another special request . . . a movie night with our boys.  we only watched about 20 minutes, but it was so much fun and a treat for us all!  These boys love being together and being with their dad—it is really so dear to me!

and, these are from today—hot off the press!  I had to post them because I fee like Sister is changing so much and so quickly!  I adore this little dress of hers—our friend Daley made it (it’s a pillowcase dress) and passed it down after her Harper wore it.  I monogrammed it last night!  OH, I just love it!

And, here she is after an evening swim at the pool . . . all ready for bed!  I love this little lady!  We have been calling her the Mayor, because she waves and says hello to EVERY SINGLE PERSON she sees.  At the pool, she kept asking the life guard to watch her jump into the water!  Little Miss is not afraid of some attention . . . or a small fan club!  She is a hoot!  She loved being in the pool but she turned to me at one point and said “Ni Night, Mommy.  Bed.  Nap.  Yubi (Lovie) and Bathy (Paci)” . . . and we knew, it was time for bed!

Grab your Yubie, Bathie, and Bwankie and snuggle in!  Nighty night from Anna Bug!

Technorati Tags: Anna,William,Hudson,Summer

our {first} big break

so, while we were at the beach, sister was being the big ole 1.5-year-old-girl acting like a 3.5-year-old-boy that she is, and she was climbing the “yadder” up to the boys’ bunk bed in our room.  hatch and I saw her at the same time, and she looked back at me, letting go with her right hand . . . and she fell.  it was so sad and quite scary.  we knew right away that something had happened with her right arm by the way she was holding it close to her body {and screaming!}.  after talking to the pediatrician and to the urgent care place at the beach, we decided to wait and watch her.  with each passing day, her mobility increased and her level of pain decreased, and it seemed that she was slowly improving.  I soon realized she was really over-compensating so that she would not have to use her right arm to climb or to brace for a fall {she still toddles around, you know} . . . and I felt a knot on her collar bone and was sure it was broken.  we called the on-call doctor and he set up an appointment for us with the pediatric orthopedist on Monday.  Anna was so sweet and very brave.  The doctor did the exam for little miss, pushing on her and feeling her bones, and Anna didn’t cry.  They fit her for her “butterfly wings,” and tightened it up on her, and she didn’t cry.  And, they did an x-ray—where no one even touched her—and when they asked her to stand still, she boo hoo’d and screamed “NO NO NOOO!”  It was pretty funny—the one time when no one was pushing on her, and she had a big ole dramatic moment!  The doctor is really pleased with her bone growth and healing so far, and we are so thankful to God for that.  Sister is enjoying her “wings” and said this morning “butter-fly wings ON, mama . . . wings, on!”  When we left the doctor’s office yesterday, the doctor said “bye bye, sugar!” and Anna replied “BYE SUGAR!”  ah ha!  She has such a sweet disposition and is such a trooper.  We have to get creative with getting her in and out of bed, the car seat, high chair, etc., and with picking her up . . . but other than that, we just have to keep her from climbing on things.  Anna said to me today “Doctor say:  no climb, Anna.  NO Climb.”  The butterfly is learning her limits.  As we were fitting her for her “wings,” I could just hear my Nana’s voice in my head:  “Aww, God love her!”  So, here we are at one year old with a broken collarbone—our first broken bone . . . and, let’s hope it’s our last!

Sissy got ahold of my camera . . . here’s a little self-portrait of her with her brace on her shoulders . . .

and, fear not, we’re keeping things light around here.  Pringles, anyone!? 

Technorati Tags: Anna,William

we’re back!

and, from where?  our very favorite place . . . the beach.

we made it home today in reppard-family-of-five record time, unpacked everything (which is rather unlike us), and we are wiped out!  but, here are a few highlights of our week to hold you over!

this is just to give a visual of the packing chaos that happened before we left!  and, this time, we headed out of town about two hours before an open house.  I asked hatch to remind me to think twice before packing our family up for a week and also having a deadline to get out of the house while leaving it uber-clean!  ah!  (this picture will look quite familiar to my sister and my college roommates!)

Daddy and the boys were living the dream on the beach—they had so much fun on their bikes together!

we had some rain early in the week, but we pushed through and went to the aquarium and had a great ole time!

and, once the rain cleared, we had SO much fun together on the boat and beach!

our fishies

I cannot get over this picture.  I. LOVE. IT.

and, some sunset snuggles with the bitty big.  she is so precious to me!

off to sleep!  more to come!

the diamond

for bumpa’s birthday, we promised him a night with the rascals and our very favorite people, the flying squirrels at the diamond.  so, when charlie’s baba and papi came into town, we knew that it was meant to be and a good ole game was in our future!  we had a blast!

take me out to the ballgame . . .

take me out to the crowd . . .

buy me some peanuts and crack-er jacks (or I will throw a fit!)

I don’t care if I ever get back . . .

for it’s root, root, root for the home team (have funn!  GO NUTZ!!)

if they don’t win, it’s a shame! 

for it’s one, two, three strikes your OUT at the old ball game!! 

(they did win—two home runs at the very end!  and we had a blast!  sister has been talking about “yutzy,” or "Nutzy” NON-STOP.  She even prayed for him last night, bless her heart.  She is the only girl I know who loves a squirrel!)

this is how we roll . . . in the summer heat . . .

 

. . . we climb up on things we know we are not supposed to climb on, and we pull the draw strings out of our bathing suits and tie the strings to things, because we are doing ‘trucktion (construction or demolition, perhaps?!)

we pull out the step stool and throw pillows on the floor to make an oh-so-dangerous slide . . . and then we let sister climb on it (and by “we,” I mean “they”)

we eat snacks in exciting places . . . and we continue the climb and exploration . . .

    

more than once in the past week, I have walked into the dining room to find this little chicken on the table.  sitting or STANDING.  she knows no bounds.  it scares me.  I wonder how she learned such wild behavior?!

    

wild pairs.

    

thankfully, we also sleep hard . . . let me pause, at this point, to say that I have friends who have sweet, precious pictures of their snoozing babes.  I do not have such pictures.  I have too much fear in my soul about waking my adorable little monsters in the night.  However, I did take this picture of Anna striking a pose . . . I just couldn’t help myself.  The cuteness was too much to bear!

in the heat, we put on our summer best and we snuggle up for pictures of our chub . . . I adore this pink bubble on anna.  I just want to eat. her. up.    

and, when it’s a tad cooler out, we play in the playhouse on the playground with our friends (notice anna’s sass in this picture with holland—I was asked if they were twins more than once yesterday!  anna is quite sad that her bff is moving next weekend! boo hoo!)

and, well, this one gets picture of the summer in my book.  it’s from last week, I think.  I can’t believe I haven’t posted it yet.  I may just blow this up and hang it on my wall . . . I love it!

keep walkin’ along and singin’ your song . . . and keep cool!

overheard & say WHAT?

these are so random, but I don’t want to forget . . .

 

william:  it is stinky here.  it smells like a thunder egg.

***

william:  it stinks.  it smells like a dead bug.

***

anna:  (at 11pm at night)  beeaaaaaaaaaaaaaach, mommy!  beeeeeeach!! 

me:  anna, it’s too late to go down to the beach.

anna:  beeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaachhhh, mommy!!  Beeeeach!  Pease!

***

boys: wanna tickle my armpits?  I am gonna tickle your armpits!

and

let me see your armpits!

***

hudson (to anna):  hi little anna.  you are so cute, little anna.  I love you, Anna.  I love your chubby cheeks.  And, you smell like bananas.

***

hudson:  mommy, why are your foot nails pink?  will they come off?

***

william:  jesus put a tiny baby in my tummy, mommy!

***

anna:  anna big.  anna school.  (vacation bible school nursery, with Sugie.)  anna c’y (cry).  momm-mee, momm-mee.  moooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeee.  anna c’y.  no school anna. 

***

boys:  mommy, where is your pen*s??

***

singing:  God’s been working on the railroad, all the live long day!

***

singing:  Fee-Fi-Fiddle-E-I-O, strumming on the old man Joe!

***

hudson:  thank you, jesus, for our family. and food.  and strawberries, and blueberries, and bananas.  and ‘quash (which he refuses to eat, by the way).  OH!  AND POTATOES!  Thank you for potatoes, Jesus.

____________________________________________________________

and, say WHAT?!  . . . (things we cannot believe are coming out of our mouths!)

 

put your foot back inside of the window, please.

please get your hand out of my cup.

please do not drink out of my cup.

fingers out of your nose.

fingers out of your mouth.

toes out of your mouth.

please do not dip your food into your milk.

please do not climb in the refrigerator.

no talking about bottoms, please.

do not lift up mommy’s dress.  mommy needs to have her clothes on all of the time.

DO NOT peel paint off the walls.

keep your hands to yourself.

no talking about bottoms.  no talking about poop.  no talking about tinkle.

please get out from under the table.

please stop hiding at bedtime.

we only tinkle on trees when it’s an emergency.

OUT OF THE FRIDGE.  NOW.

 

and, with that, a good night!