My Genius Daughter

Esme has had an explosion of vocabulary lately. At only 8 months she can say four whole words. She can say hi, Da, Mama, and mah (more). Of course she actually says hiDa at the same time. I'm beginning to think she thinks Billy's name is hiDa! and she's only said Mama once, but it was when she was really scared at Church yesterday because she had crawled all the way to the front of the RS room and couldn't see me. When I went to "rescue" her from Sister Russell she reached for me and cried "Maaaamaaaa." So cute. And today at Costco I had given her a piece of roll and when she saw me handing out rolls to the other kids a while later she put her hands out, palms up, and growled "mah!" She's so awesome. Of course the only word she uses alot is hiDa, or just DaDaDADDDAAAA! until he turns around and picks her up. Then she's all giggles and smiles.

Yea for Tuck!

Tuck was rather mad at me today (he wasn't getting what he wanted) and he stormed out of the kitchen and into his room, closing the door behind him. Now, I was expecting him to start banging on the walls, throwing things at Danner, and just generally go to Tantrum City. Instead I was surprised when he came out not long after and handed me this:
I was really proud of him for channelling his anger into words instead of actions. I think he was a little shocked when I praised him for the letter instead of getting mad. He is starting to show some maturity and learning to control his emotions. I hope he continues to use pen and paper to express himself. He has so much inside of him to give the world and this is an incredible way to do it.

Memory Lane!

Let's take a trip down Memory Lane....Do you remember when?Here are the rules:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember(it can involve the family or even my husband too)!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you... either on your blog, in my comment box, or I will email you back!

3. If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all ☺

4. Consider this a Tag: if you've read it, you have to do it!

Good Food; Good Life

Last night I made crab-stuffed mushrooms fo the first time with crabs we caught in the sound on our camping trip. They were surprisingly easy and went very quickly. Even the kids pretended to like them.

Esme just loved the plain mushroom she got! Just wait until she discovers crab and asiago cheese, yum-o.

After dinner we harvested cherries. If only all the trees produced as much as this one. I'm not sure what I would do with them all though!

The bowl was so full that Wyn needed a bit of help. Note the lack of actual pants.

Hope Island Pictures

Here's all my non-kid pictures of all the cool stuff we saw on the island. The size of the sea-stars were incredible! Not to mention the variety and vividness of color. And the views! We really can't wait to go back. The kids mention it at least once a day. I hope it works out for us to go.

More pictures from Hope Island

Just posting a bunch of pictures from the camping trip.

Hope Island

We went to Hope Island on a surprise camping trip Tuesday night. The boys went the night before, and decided it was just too good to keep to themselves. I think this might be our favorite place to camp so far. It's very secluded and can only be accessed by boat. There is only a caretaker living on the island so it really feels isolated. We went with our friends (they have boats with motors!) so you'll see a lot of their kids.

I was really proud of Tuck on this trip. He seemed really at home by the water. He seemed to enjoy the stillness and spent quite a bit of time on his own. He didn't have any blowups and was very responsible about following camp rules.

Danner loved the adventuring. He wanted to help with everything and couldn't wait to get in the water and catch crabs. He really wanted to make s'mores, but there are no campfires allowed on the island, so we will have to find a time to make them. As soon as we got home he wanted to set the tent up in the back yard and sleep outside every night.

Wynnie spent the whole going. Going down to the beach. Going up to the camp. Going into the tent. Going out of the tent. Going to the outhouse. Going to the orchard. And of course going everywhere with her best friend Lacy. You could hardly find them apart. You would think that being constantly next to each other for two full days would be enough. It wasn't. She wanted to stay there forever, sleeping in the tent with Lacy. And wearing her swimsuit 24/7. She loves her swimsuits!

Esme spent almost the whole time in my backpack. She loved hiking along the beach and through the woods. I think her favorite place to be is on my back, where she can see everything. She really loved going out on the boat, even with her bulky life jacket. She loved crawling through the tent and trying to get a taste of all the vegetation.

I'll try and post more pictures later as I try and figure out how. I mean, it's taken three days to figure out how to do these, but since they are my favorite pictures of the kids I thought I should get them up. Carolyn has a really good post on the vacation, so check out her blog.

Privates Tuck and Danner

Yesterday Tuck and Danner got to have the best day ever! Billy got them up early and they went with him to Drill. In the morning they just watched a movie while the actual soldiers did their thing but in the afternoon they got to go fishing at a little pond by the armory for children. It was a family activity day for the company and the boys took full advantage and even caught a few fish. After they got home Billy took them up the mountain to practice shooting their BB guns. Both are getting to be pretty good shots and enjoyed themselves completely. Tonight they are going camping with the young men on a little island in the Sound. They are having the best summer ever!

Holy Cabbage, Batman!

A few weeks ago my cows (Meat and Loaf) got into my cabbage garden. Amazingly enough they managed to not eat one single weed, but almost completely wipe me out of cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprouts. My wonderful neighbor, Allison, sent one of her kids over with a whole bunch of cabbage starts. They were thinning out their garden and we now have cabbage coming out of our ears! Hopefully they take and this winter we can have saurkraut (forgive the spelling) coming our of our ears. Hot dog anyone?

Good Day

Yesterday the boys got to go crabbing/fishing with Bill and his friend Dave. They came back as red as the crabs, and with a shark! How cool for them. Rose especially enjoyed the shark and wanted to hold it up as well. And even if Tuck and Danner didn't actually catch it, I'm giving them full credit.

While the boys were away the girls did play. Wynnie and her best friend Lacy played together and had the best time doing their hair with laundry clips.