Ants, Ants, Ants

Well, Katie's worse nightmare with the ants has come true. I walked into her room this morning to find those horrible little creatures everywhere! They were mainly in these two toy boxes that she has.. one has her baby dolls... the other one has her purses. They were everywhere! I quickly got Casey and we began sucking them up with the vaccum. The kids were helping us by pointing out the ants to us. We soon realized why they are SO attracted to Katie's room... they were working very hard at taking her yummy fish crackers from her church bag! We got it all cleaned up and things washed (yes, they were even in her laundry basket) and Casey went to the store for MORE ant bait. With the fish crackers gone now maybe that will be the end of Katie's nightmarish ants!

Trent 5 months

Trent turned 5 months old this week! He is such a little ham and we love watching him develop his own personality. I still need to weigh him but, can tell he's grown quite a bit this month.. his 6/9 size summer blothes are already getting snug on him! He'll definitely be in 12 month clothes by the end of the summer. I've been giving him rice cereal in the evenings and, he recently started green beans. He's a good little eater and has, so far, liked both of these. For a while he was sleeping through the night however, he's now gone back to waking up at 1am to eat... sigh... I knew that whole "sleeping through the night" thing was just a dream :) Showing off his chipmunk cheeks!

Trent absolutely loves his siblings and is always laughing at their funny faces! He also likes to see himself in the mirror and is beginning to grab at anything he can get his hands on.

Tummy time isn't his favorite thing in the world but, he's not even trying to roll over yet so I've been making him do it more often. He usually only stays on his tummy about 5 minutes before he's had enough!!

Bike rides

Dad cleaned up our bikes and the kid's bike trailer yesterday so, Mom and I took the kids out for a ride after dinner last night. We stopped by the park to play and the store for ice cream along the way! This is Tys and Katie in the bike trailer last year... Tys was so small he couldn't even sit up very well!! And, I remember that his bike helmet was too big and kept falling down into his eyes (which meant he usually fell asleep because there wasn't anything to see anyways!) And, here they are this year! Both bigger and loving every minute of it. Tys was pretty intent during the whole ride watching things as they zoomed by. Katie did her usual chatter and singing! And, that purple princess dress she's wearing is her current favorite one. She wore it three days in a row until I finally convinced her this afternoon that it needed to be washed! Playing at the playground last night was a bit tricky but she quickly learned how to lift her dress like a lady to climb the stairs :)

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, today, the kids and I went with my parents to a nearby picnic/camp area called Mill Creek. Our friends Skye, Aria and Jeff came out for a little while too. It was a beautiful day to be outside and we all had a great time! Too bad Casey had to work and missed out on all the fun... Trent hanging out in the stroller.

After unloading and getting our picnic site set up, we did some exploring and "digging". And, yes, Katie wore her Princess Hawaiian lei to the mountains :)

Tys doing some exploring

Tys and Nana getting ready for a ride on the 4-wheeler.. one of many for Tys. He is currently in love with the 4-wheelers and is always asking his Papa for a ride (which sounds more like "ry")

For lunch we roasted hot dogs over the fire. Katie thought that was pretty cool!!

Papa and Trent on the wooden bridge.

After lunch we walked down to the river and let the kids play in the water. It was too cold for them so they just got their feet in and, played with their sticks in the mud.

My awesome mom and I hanging out by the river... watching the kids (although not close enough because we almost lost one of Tys' shoes. Thankfully Katie pointed it out to us as it was floating away)

Trent after a long afternoon of exploring....

Katie and I roasting marshmellows. Actually, I was roasting her marshmellow for her. She had been waiting for DAYS to roast a marshmellow and was so excited when the time came! The interesting thing was she wouldn't actually eat it. She carried that poor little mellow around on the stick for the rest of the afternoon... it eventually ended up stuck to Papa's camp chair!! lol
Tys wouldn't eat one either... I don't know why our kids won't even try a marshmellow?? Oh well, the rest of us ate enough smorses for them :)

Tys and I getting ready for one last ride before going home. Katie rode a couple of times too but for some reason I didn't get any pictures of her. With help from my dad, she is learning how to stear the quad!

Now once Casey gets home we're going to bbq steaks and have dinner with my parents.

Princess Katie and ants

Princess Katie having a fun time on the swing! The weather has been beautiful lately and we've been spending quite a bit of time outside.... blowing bubbles, playing with Tys' new bat and ball from Uncle Jake and watching the beans grow in our garden (so far that's all that is showing up) This evening the kids and I went my mom to the park and out for ice cream ~ that was lots of fun!
When he's not working overtime, Casey has been doing quite a bit of work at our property... getting things ready to begin the construction on the foundation for our new house! The kids and I have been over there as well this week... The kids have been doing lots of exploring and playing in the dirt. Katie WAS having a great time until she sat on an ant pile without realizing it and was soon covered in ants. Of course, this was pretty scary for her! Now, she would rather sit in the suburban whenever we go there because she is "scared of the ants and doesn't like the property" I'm thinking "great... we'll soon be living here and Katie won't even get out of the vehicle"!! We've tried showing her that the ants are actually pretty harmless but she isn't convinced :) It isn't helping that we are having "ant issues" in her new bedroom. Not bad, just a few here and there. I get rid of them and Casey has put out ant bait but they're still showing up. So, throughout the day she comes running to me "mom, I found an ant" and, I go take care of it. However, she won't go in her room without the light on because she's afraid of the ants (I have to turn the light on for her) Anyhow, I'm hoping this little phase passes soon!!

A few pictures of our happy little boy! We thought Tys was easy-going and content... well, thankfully Trent is even more so. He is perfectly happy to just hang out and watch his older siblings play. And he's always ready to give you a smile or tell you one of his stories. He has also recently learned how to blow bubbles with his slobber ~ not very appealing but highly entertaining for him! Rarely does he cry... just when he's hungary or tired. When he does cry it's a high pitched shrill that sends a shiver up your spine! Like I said, thankfully, we were blessed with a happy baby!!

Katie and her little brother hanging out

Meredith was in town, from Boise, over the weekend. She stopped by to visit us and, as always, it was great to see her!

Princess Katie

My little brother got laid off from his job today. He worked for a medical supply company (in Boise) and with this stressed economy people just aren't into specialized equipment right now. His roommate was also recently laid off from HP and, we have two other good friends without jobs right now. This is all hitting close to home for us. I am so thankful we live in a community with a pretty stable economy and I'm not stressing whether or not my husband will have a job tomorrow (although I realize that could always change) Even if it is a dry, dusty town and known as the "arm pit of America" :)
My mom arrived home from Boise today with a new plastic ball and bat for Tys... which, of course, he loves! He is a natural at throwing and we're always telling him to quit hitting things SO, his new bat and ball gives him an excuse to hit and throw something :) I don't know if it's just because he's a boy but, Tys really does have a great talent of throwing. His throws are accurate and go far... I see a pro baseball player in the future (even though his Uncle Jake is training him for football!)

Joe

Our OSO (aka. Joe) became a member in the church yesterday... He proved to everyone that he cleans up pretty well!! However, we all laughed when he and Casey showed up wearing pretty much the same "attire" (I would call it an outfit but Casey said "men don't wear outfits"!!)
Casey and Joe... missing Nate and Jerry.... trying to do their impression of Nate but not getting it quite right :) Guess we needed Nate for that one