No More Pull-ups!!!

Well, I am probably going to jinx myself now, but FINALLY after a year and a half of potty trained gloriousness, Scott can sleep through the night without a pull-up! Oh the excitement is uncontainable!!!!!

Recommended Reading for EVERYONE!

The Shack by Willian P. Young is the most incredible book I've ever read. It depicts such an amazing look at God and our relationship with Him. And His relationship with us all, and how He sees us, not just the ones who follow Him and seek Him out, but all of His children. It is an amazing story with a lot of truth to it. WOW. If only we could all have a face to face heart to heart with Him in all of His Glory, wouldn't that be wonderful? I am so grateful for Him in my life, truth be told, I'd be lost without Him.

BEN-JA-MIN!!!

This is what happens in my house when Ben is allowed in another room by himself for more than 2 minutes. Chaos. Notice the oh so cute little footprints? The good thing is that food coloring doesn't stain everything, the bad thing is it does stain some things... for example, skin. This was 2 days ago and his foot, toenails, hands, and lips are still stained!

And this is just the latest thing he's gotten into... over the past month, he's squeezed all the toothpaste out of the tube all over the bathroom floor then tried to clean it up with clothes, he drew on himself with Sharpie, he colored on the wall at his Grandma's house, squeezed lotion all over my bed, dumped laundry detergent all over the floor at his Grandma's... twice, "cleaned" the toilet seat with hand soap, and I can't tell you how many times I've found him playing with toilet paper... IN THE TOILET, and as if playing with it in the toilet isn't bad enough, he really enjoys eating it too, all soggy. EW is the understatement of the century!

Laundry Day

This is HALF of my family's laundry for one week.

(There are 4 baskets under there).

It's ridiculous.

Today I spent my afternoon folding...

and folding and folding.

And then I finish and realize that was only HALF of it.

Damn laundry.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

FINALLY!

These two are starting to get along...

Scott was "taking care of the animals"

while Ben "fixed the tractor."

I love that they can play nice now!

No Lessons

Look who's riding a bike! All by himself!

He had no lessons, no help, he just picked it up and said

"I want to ride this bike" and that was that.

Wrestling

Wrestling has been their "new" thing lately.

There is always a blanket down on the floor because of Zac...

so Scott and Ben take full advantage of it.

Ben loves getting on Scott's back.

Scott tries to stand up and then they both fall over and laugh about it!

This is Scott trying to stand up.

But it's all fun and games until Ben gets stuck!

"tuck, tuck!" (his leg is stuck under Scott)

And more often than not, Zac is just watching and laughing... I really think that he is memorizing their moves so when he gets big enough he'll already know their strategies and will be able to take them down faster.

Bounce Boy

Just having fun! I love him.

Super Scott

It's like he's flying. And he thinks it's awesome. I love him too.

Cowboy Take Me Away

So beautifully handsome. And him, so much love.

Family Definition

I come from a family of 6 with 4 kids. Both of my parents come from 6 person families with 4 children in each. Therefore, I have 11 Uncles and Aunts (after marriages). This has resulted in having 15 or so cousins for me. Bird comes from a family of 8 with 6 kids. His dad comes from an 8 person family as well with 6 children and his mom's family is that of 4 persons with 2 children. Therefore, Bird has 12 Uncles and Aunts (after marriages). This has resulted in 24 or so cousins for him. These numbers may seem big or small to some of you I'm sure, but either way is beside the point. The chances of us getting anymore 1st cousins is pretty slim considering the ages of our Aunts and Uncles. Now here's the point.
Our children have 15 cousins already. Bird's side of the family has 9 (3 of which were just born this year) and not all of his siblings have even had children yet and I don't think that the ones who have had children are finished. My side of the family has 6 (with twins being expected in late spring of '09). After the twins are born (congrats to my brother and sister-in-law), I'm fairly sure I will be the only one having anymore kids on my side, although, my sister is planning on adopting a few I think. I guess this isn't really all that exciting, but I found it quite interesting that they have already caught up to me and are quickly passing me by well on their way to their dad's number with no end in sight.
When I read what I have wrote I realize that I'm not even getting into the half of it, my brother and sisters and I only share one parent, which means there are that many more siblings and cousins due to other marriages that I can't even go into because I don't really know. With such a large extended family, what amazes me the most is that our families are forever growing and changing, but no matter how much growth and change takes place they are still our families, they are who we are, who we will become, and once we are gone, who we were. Our families have defined us (whether we like it or not) through the years that have past and will define us in the years to come. I absolutely love my family and would never in a million years change any one of them. I love who I am and where I have come from, and if I were to change anything I wouldn't be me and I'm not sure I'd like that very much.
Our children have a luxury that me and Bird did not have growing up. They are super close with their cousins. They get to play and have fun with them about once a week. It's like being on recess at school everytime we get together. I love that we have such a big family and I love that it is forever growing.