Happy Half Birthday!

What better way to celebrate my 400th post, than to wish baby G a happy sixth month birthday!

Could it really be that he has been here for half of a year?!? I cannot remember life without him, nor what it feels like to sleep without waking three times per night. But that is neither here nor there! Ha! Baby Gunnar, you are a precious gift and we continue to look forward to each day with you, watching you grow and thrive! I'm the luckiest lady around!

Gunnar's Stats.........

Weight - I think it's around 17.5 but we will know for sure after your well check next week!

Looks - You are a chunky monkey! You have blonde/brown fuzz all over your head. Your eyes are still blue and I am praying that you keep them! I really really really hope they stay blue!

Milk - you are drinking about a quart of milk per day. You still do 4-5 ounces during the day and a big bottle of 6 oz. right before bed.

Food - as of today, you have eaten apples, pears, mangos, bananas, avocados, butternut squash, green peas, sweet potatoes, blueberries, zucchini, and brown rice. You eat breakfast and dinner.

Sizes - size 3 diapers, 9 mo/12 mo clothing

Sleeping - you just don't sleep much. You basically will sleep if someone holds you. Maybe you'll take a cat nap in the morning and mid afternoon, therefore you are so tired and need to get ready for bed about 7pm. Sometimes you go to sleep when I lay you down, and sometimes you cry. Then you wake up three times per night. Nights are super fun around here.

Things You Do - you are rolling from belly to back, but only because I make you lie on your tummy. You hate tummy time with all your heart. You love to sit up and can sit several minutes without tipping over. You cry when I walk out of the room. You love to be outside in your supersaucer. You love to play with things that aren't toys-toothbrushes, cups, clothes, containers, plants, etc. You love paper. Oh dear goodness, you LOVE paper and anything that crinkles! You cry when we take the paper out of your hand. Just this week you've started spitting food in my face, thinking it's so funny! You pull hair and scratch on my face when you are drinking your bottle. You like to take baths and watch everyone. You are a people watcher, or shall I just say nosey! Ha!!! You are such a curious baby, impatient, and happy. You are the happiest baby on the block when you are being held. You love to cuddle. Oh, you are a sweet boy!!! And I'm starting to think you might like a little bit of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse when you wake up in the mornings. You are so pleasant when you wake up in the mornings-you smile at everyone! Did I mention that you are the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Easter Goodies and More!

Tonight we went over to Brandi's house and made these..........

Little Peep Easter nests! They turned out really cute. Brandi found them in a magazine I believe and invited us over to make them. After Brandi burned the first bowl of white chocolate, Gunnar cried if you sat him down, Slade was beating on mixing bowls with drumsticks, and the two girls were screaming and fighting with each other, Brandi came to the conclusion that we just aren't that Norman Rockwell family. Word to ya, sister! Ha! We put the "fun" in dysfunctional. But we do have some good times and lots of memories, that's for sure!

One moment they weren't fighting about who did what. They were serious about placing the eggs in the nests, though. The placement of a Peep is serious business.

He didn't help. He just sat and crinkled an empty chocolate chip package. All the while, a Norman Rockwell scene unfolded around him. NOT! I'm seriously going to make a baby toy that crinkles and make a million dollars. And then I would travel to Forks, Washington. And buy some new boobs. And get someone to paint my kitchen cabinets. And then buy an original Norman Rockwell painting so that we could pretend that we are normal. Yep, I'm starting on that toy invention tomorrow. Don't call and bother me.

Helper #1

Helper #2

The gang's all here. Gotta love those Kodak moments. Thanks for the Easter goodies project, Aunt B! I never knew peeps could be so cute!

In other news, I've been neglecting my blog. And I does bother me. One problem is that I have three kids and I'm busy. Another reason is that I'm reading. And when I read, I'm in the zone. I do not pick up books for this very reason. I'm actually reading this book.

And this book. Yes, I am reading two books at once. Because I'm a maniac like that. One book is not enough, I have to read two. They are both on my Kindle and I just switch back and forth. I'm thinking that I have some form of adult onset ADHD. I love to read. I should have been some kind of editor and would get paid for it. I would love that. So to explain my blog neglect, I will tell you that I have to read at night when Fatty Arbuckle goes to sleep-that's my only chance I have all day to pick up the book. And the weird thing is that when I read, I'm sucked in. For instance, when I read Twilight, I thought I was living in Forks. And that I might possibly could be a vampire and well, you know how that turned out. I've got a cardboard cutout of Edward in my attic-shall I say more? And when I'm reading a mystery, I sit and think about the characters all day and how they can solve the crime. And I just cannot wait to see how a story ends so badly that it's all I can do not to skip right to the end and read the last page! I'm crazy! Does anyone else feel like this when they read or am I the only weirdo? Yep, should have been an editor.

Aside from the reading obsession, the kids are just busy. This dude is starting to sit up pretty good. We like to prop him with the Bobby pillow. He thinks it's pretty cool to watch what's going on in this crazy household. Gunnar is super cute, super chunky, and super sweet. He's eating his fruits and veggies and loves to be outside. I have a feeling that I will be investing in a bunch of sunblock this summer! And no, he still doesn't sleep much. What's sleep? You mean people don't stay up 24 hours a day?

Slade finished his first season of basketball. He had a blast and we had a great group of boys and really great parents. They had lots of fun!

And the really great thing is that we did an indoor sport during all this wonderful wind we've had this spring. Can you believe that my baby is about 4 or 5 Mondays away from being a third grader??? Oh, and he is seriously obsessed with his Lego Ninjagos. Who knew?

Somebody is really loving their Super Saucer, especially if it's outside in the garage and he gets to watch Slade & Finley play.

And this girl is a speed demon on her pink scooter. The pierced ears are coming along nicely. And she got to take home her brand new dance costume for her recital in June!

Now, amongst all of the above busy-ness, I have also been working on Slade's room. I repainted it and switched out some furniture. I'm still working on some shelving in there. Kyle has been extremely busy, which is nice but we miss him because he's always working. I got my haircut and it might be a bit short for my liking, but hey, it will grow. My whole fam was struck down with the stomach bug last week and I managed to do about 500 extra loads of laundry and loose two pounds. Slade and Finley have both been on field trips, attended a birthday or two, we filed our taxes, have been searching for a bigger vehicle, and tried not to blow away in this wind! And that, my Dear Watson, is a little bit of what the Smart Bunch has been up to!

Who's Who?

Here are my three kiddos. Who is who?

I know you can obviously tell which photos are older, but isn't the resemblance uncanny?!?!? Here's the order from top to bottom - Gunnar, Slade, Finley, Slade, Finley, Gunnar

That's My Girl!

Finley is has officially entered the world of glitz and glam-she pierced her ears!!!!! A few months ago, after a few weeks of prodding from me, we headed to Claire's in the mall. We had all the papers filled out and she was sitting in the chair and she chickened out. So I left well enough alone and sure enough when we were at the ranch for Spring Break, she walked up to me and said, "I want to pierce my ears." What can I say, the girl knows what she wants. And she is now the proud owner of the most beautiful pair of tiny pink daisy earrings that will stay in her ears approxiately six to eight weeks.

So I must tell of our journey to the land of pierced ears. Here is a coin or two in the fountain for luck!

We went to Claire's again, and evidently Monday night is a popular time to get ears pierced because we were about fourth in line. I was like, seriously, how many people can be getting their ears pierced on a Monday night. Evidently alot. So we ventured on to a place called Icing that I didn't even know was in our mall. I have since found out that they bought out all the Afterthoughts stores.

It was perfect because no one else was there and there were two ladies working-which meant that they could each pierce an ear at the same time. If not, I'm afraid we would have ended up with one ear pierced. Claire's only had one worker.

The last time one will ever see these sweet little ears without a hole in them and we will soon add earrings to our stocking stuffer list!

Getting the perfect, most even spots on each side. We would not want crooked earrings.

You see, I had been truthful and told Finley that it would pinch her ears, and probably sting, and her ears would get really hot. They would be sore, but it would go away and wasn't horrible. I wasn't going to trick her. Plus, she's not the personality that you want to trick. I can only compare her to a time bomb ticking and you never know when she'll blow. She is a firecracker. I'm just saying.

Finley discovered that ear piercing is kinda like teaching school, you never really are fully prepared until you actually do it. The actual piercing was not her cup of tea. She was one mad hen and the bomb did explode, but it wasn't a major meltdown.

She did get a grip on herself and calmed down after about five minutes of being really furious. She was mad and told me to quit talking to her, but all in all she did really well. It could have turned out much worse. She went to the mall wearing her big girl panties that day. If anyone asked her if it hurt, she told them all YES!!!

My sweet girl with holes in her ears. It was a sweet mother-daughter milestone. I do secretly hope that this experience scared her too much to get her nose pierced when she's in college. One set of ear holes are enough for one lifetime. Wow-I totally sounded like a mom just now!