Where is Tanner is the Midst of all the Chaos?

He is right there with everyone making sure he is heard.  He is not a quiet child and has many funny sounds.  Everyone's favorite is a "clearing your throat" kind of sound.  Some people think he is choking until he keeps going and they realize he is doing it for fun.  My neighbors get a kick out of it every time they hear him going.
What I am grateful for is that his loudness is not a bad one.  He is a very happy baby and is real easy going.  He cries very little.  In fact several friends have commented "that is the first time I have ever heard him cry".  He does have his whiny moments.  Most of those are due to the fact that he wants to do things that he can't yet such as move around faster.

He is very flexible and easy going about his routine.  This is both bad and good.  It has made planning very difficult because I am never sure when he is going to wake up and when or how long his naps will be.  The combination of irregular schedules, preschool hours, and Braden refusing to go to the gym daycare has made getting to the gym rather difficult.  The good of it is he doesn't have to nap at a certain time or risk loosing a monster.  He can go several hours between naps and still be a happy kid.  For example on Sunday he only took one nap and was still as cute as ever.  This makes it easier to run multiple errands in one day.

He is 9.5 months and on the move.  I don't know if he will crawl because we have hardwood floors which makes the army crawl a piece of cake.  He can go from his tummy to sitting easily.  We have had to move items up higher and make sure doors are shut.  He has already mastered mess making 101.  I forgot how animal like babies on the move can be.  I am constantly reminding the kids to keep their shoes out of Tanner's area because he will chew on them.  Many times throughout the day I hear myself say "Tanner stop eating the rug." "Don't eat your brother's paper airplane."  He also likes to follow me around the house like a little puppy.  Too bad I can't let him clean the floor like a puppy.  This is a list of things already fished from his mouth since he became mobile:  lawn plug from when the grass was aerated, wood chips from the flower beds (he loves these), large dust bunny, bedding from Sniffle's cage, peanut, raisin, tape and paper.

He has 6 teeth and bites everything including my arm.  I meant to write down when his teeth came in but I forgot.  I think the bottom 2 were around 6 months and the top four around 7 or 8.  Unlike Braden, Tanner likes baby food and prefers it over a bottle during the day.  He is a terrible snacker and will sometimes drink only a couple of ounces of his bottle then play.  30 minutes later he will eat another couple of ounces.  He likes to eat when everyone else is eating (doesn't want to be left out).  He is also easily distracted while eating which fuels the snacking cycle.

He is not a cuddler.  He doesn't really enjoy being rocked to sleep.  In fact there was a couple of months that if you tried he would scream. Then when you would lay him in bed he would calm down and go sleep.  He still likes to be laid straight into bed and he will go right to sleep.  He has a favorite blanket that he sleeps with every night and each nap.  When you lay him down on it, he immediately grabs the blanket and brings it to his face.

Despite being a non-cuddler, he used to give the best kisses.  This was around 6 months.  Some of those kisses were close to crossing the line to making out.  I would have slobber all over my face when he finished so he would have been counted as a bad kisser.  But it always made me laugh.

 Playing/eating his first sword.

 Learning to feed himself.  For some reason he always gets it flipped and he chews the bottom.  He has improved but when he gets distracted and stops eating the bottle always flips.  Then he shakes it soaking his clothes.

 First time in a swimming pool.  This was the beginning of April.

 Of course he found a rubber ducky to eat.

 Playing the Indian drum on our visit to the Gale History Museum.

He loves his bath time.  He likes to drink the water.  He doesn't mind laying on his belly in the tub.

 He loved his feet.  This was in April but he has since grown out of the feet loving stage.  He used to lick his toes and always grabbed his feet when he was on his back.

 Wandering the room at Macy's birthday party.

 Making a mess.  He found the letters on a shelf and pulled them all out.

 He is so smart.  He can read (pretend to anyways).  I tried to snap the picture when he had the book open.  It really looked like he was reading.  He even had it right side up.  It looked so funny.

Made his way to the back door.  I think he was wondering when her could go outside and play like the big kids.

Spring Wears Me Out

Braden: Baseball and soccer

Kelsey: Soccer and Piano recital

Macy: Soccer, Orchestra concerts and gymnastics festival

Brian: busy times at work, cub scouts and softball (which actually goes through the summer)

Annie: keeping up and Young Women's

They were also out of school for four and a half weeks:  bowling, swimming, summer clothes shopping, Gale History Museum

I am still trying to catch up.

 Macy's soccer party.  Her coach and our good friend has done a spectacular job with the girls.  Macy likes defense and goalie because she doesn't have to run as much.  Recently she has started to play mid-field.

 Trying on Macy's ski goggles after her final day of skiing for the year.

 Fun times at Walmart.  Four kids and shopping does not equal fun.

 First year playing violin.

 Macy's floor routine.

Her bar routine.

Kelsey's soccer team

 Kelsey's piano recital.

 Braden playing baseball and soccer.

Peer Pressure

Braden was potty trained because of peer pressure.  He learned to pee standing up because of his peers.  He also learned to pee outside from friends.  They have taught him the ins and outs of Star Wars, guns, Super Mario Brothers, Minecraft and Skylanders.

These cute friends have now motivated him to learn to ride a bike without training wheels.  One by one they each came to play and one by one they each came on a bigger bike without training wheels.  Soon after, on a day without friends, he comes in from the garage and asks me to take the training wheels off his bike.  I do this for him, which of course leads to me helping him learn to ride wearing flip flops.  I had plans to do other things.  He was a quick student.  He pretty much took off and never looked back.  Brian helped him the next day for a bit but I would say that total learning time was under an hour.  I told him that if he practiced and got real good on his little 12" bike I would buy him a bigger bike like his buddies.  The next day I was at Walmart buying a 16" bike.  There has been a few spills but nothing major enough to deter him from riding.  Way to go little man!

Brigham (Connor's little brother), Connor, Trey, Jeff and Braden

One of my cute friends, whose kids are all teenagers, snapped these cute pictures when the boys stopped by her house to jump on the tramp.  She happens to be Braden's primary teacher.  She is the best.

Only one of these boys, Jeff, is one of the bike riders that helped motivate Braden to learn.  Braden has lots of little friends in the neighborhood and not all of them have mastered bike riding yet.

Macy's Turn

This was the year of birthday parties.  Macy wanted to go some where besides our house.  I was worn out from Braden's party planning, Easter, and off-track time so I agreed to have some other place play party host.  Of course the cost of it killed me so Brian and I came up with another solution to get out of throwing a party.  We told her we would give her an ipad mini for her present if she would agree to no friend party and that would be her only present from the family.  This is something she really wants and keeps saying she is saving up for one.  Surprisingly she turned us down so we went to Airborne, a trampoline place.  I hope she had a good time.

Again my attempt at cake decorating.  I think I am going to have to stop trying to use fondant and just write "Happy Birthday" on it.

It was too heavy, 3 layers and fondant, and not perfectly level so on the ride home it started to topple.  It tasted good which is what matters.

 Zip lining in the little kids area.

 Braden shooting hoops.

 Two of Macy's friends from school, Felicity and Aubree.

Macy asked for mustard so her friend, Anna, gave her mustard.  I didn't realize how much she liked mustard. Her sandwiches and hot dogs are now drenched in mustard.  I don't know how she doesn't gag.  She squirted straight mustard into her mouth at her party. Gross!

From her family, she received a new bike.  We also gave her a towel head wrap because she can't stand it when her hair gets her clothes wet after a shower.  Hopefully that will stop her from walking around without a shirt on.  Kelsey also gave her a CD/itune songs: Camp Rock, Demi Lovato, Despicable Me and Frozen.
Grandma Carol gave her clothes and a rainbow loom.  When she went shopping with my parents she chose Teriyaki Boy for dinner. Then picked out a watch ring and something else that slipped my mind.  What a special, loved girl!.

We love you!'

Easter time

This year we had our Easter egg hunt on Saturday.  We did it for a couple of reasons.  The first was I hate that the focus of Easter is on egg hunts and Christ generally gets forgotten with all the candy.  I know that can happen at Christmas but Easter seems worse.  Maybe it happens because Easter is on a Sunday every year or there are not any Christ centered activities the month leading up to the holiday.  Who knows?  The second reason was because we have early church and there was no way we could have an egg hunt before (which the kids would expect) and still make it on time.  The kids were bugged that the egg hunt was on Saturday but they quickly forgot their frustrations.  The sad part was we were still late on Sunday, just not as late.

After the Easter egg hunt, we went to brunch at the Egg & I.  This was so much fun and something we never do.  Finding our eggs on Saturday followed by brunch might become a tradition.

On Sunday, Brian and I took some time to talk about Christ and his atonement.  The kids missed some of the festivities that day but I think over time it could become normal.

 Here we are in our Easter attire.  Out of 10 shots of the whole family we didn't have a perfect one.  Instead of a self timer we should have a neighbor come over and shoot a couple for us.  We also did some photos of all the girls then all the boys but we are not professional photographers and those shouldn't be posted.

A mess up with the timer so Brian put it to good use.

 Tanner has had enough, but we forced him to stay for a few more shots.

One Year Older and Wiser too

Braden was finally given a friend birthday party this year.  He had been dreaming of that day for a long time.  The anticipation almost killed him.  Luckily he lived to enjoy the special day.

The theme to the party was Super Mario Brothers.  I had some great themed games planned but the weather didn't cooperate.  I got flustered and forgot that the coolest game could be done inside so we skipped it.  I never really got back on track and I had a lot of time to spare when we had done everything.  Good thing it was five year old boys and they didn't care or notice.

The first game that didn't get played had the most prep work.  It was an obstacle course avoiding king boos (white helium balloons with faces), climbing through a pipe (our tent tunnels), hopping over piranha plants, stomping goombas (balloons with faces) and reaching the flag.  Of course I didn't take a picture either.

Some of the piranha plants.  The big one was for the obstacle course.

Then we had some Bowser dodgeball downstairs.  Brian was Bowser but we never got his costume on him.  The boys didn't care.

We did a scavenger hunt around the yard.  They were looking for yoshi eggs, bricks, mystery blocks, and coins.

This was one of the bricks they had to find. It contained 2 mushrooms.  The yoshi eggs were plastic easter eggs that we put white dots on.

I didn't want to do a pinata but it was a special request by Braden.  I am always worried someone will get whacked with the bat and that worried increased thinking about boys swinging the bat.  Watch out baseball teams!  Someone of these boys have a strong swing.  It is amazing the difference between the girls swinging at Macy's pinatas at 5 and 8 years of age compared to Braden's little friends.  The boys would have won.

Baseball here we come.

Then it was onto cake and ice cream.  Followed by presents.  To kill time they played with the little Mario characters they received in the favor bags.  Eventually they made their way outside to play with Braden's new stomp rocket.  Only one kid got it in the eye from impatient, not fully comprehending why to wait little boys.

Another attempt at cake decorating.

Some of his best buddies.  This one is with Trey. Dylan is also in the picture looking at a gift.

Braden and Zac

Cameron and Braden. Cameron is only 9 months older but a quite a bit taller.

I hope Braden had a good time.

From his family he received lots of legos, another wii remote and a baseball mitt.  He chose to go to dinner at Ihop when he went shopping with grandma and grandpa.  When he went shopping he chose a large r/c car and 2 small lego sets from the lego store.  Grandma Carol gave him clothes and another set of legos.

Happy Birthday little man!