Thank You, Guardian Angels

Tonight I am very, very thankful for guardian angels. I also realize and am thankful for all the times Eric and Beth are kept from harm even when I'm oblivious to the danger.

After tucking the kids into bed, Ryan and I went downstairs to clean the kitchen. A while later, we heard choking and Eric crying, and we raced up the stairs. Turns out Eric had removed a bolt from the standing fan in his room, swallowed it, choked, and threw it up along with some of dinner. He's fine, but it shook him up pretty bad. I thought he was past the "put-everything-in-my-mouth" stage, but I stand corrected.

I know I can't intercept every threat to my kids. That's why I'm so grateful for those guardian angels who tend their charges so diligently.

Behold, my reasons for being a "hover-mother."

We bought new winter pajamas for the kiddos. It's still pretty warm out, but we're supposed to get a major cold front through tonight. We're going from mid-80's to the 50's. The kids love'em, especially Eric. He wears his on and off throughout the day.

Eric at School

This last week at preschool all the kids were asked to bring in a picture of their family and tell the rest of the class about them. This is a little video of Eric during his "presentation."

You really did do a great job Eric, we love you!

Odd Man Out

Ryan and I have noticed that most of my friends have girls. We never thought much of this because Eric loves his friends and they always have so much fun together. But we had an interesting experience this last week when Eric was invited over to his friend Alex’s birthday party. It was a costume party and we had a WONDERFUL time. There were 10 other kids there and it was beautiful. REALLY beautiful. I mean pink and purple and frilly beautiful.

You see, Alex is short for Alexandra, and she had a princess-themed party. And her mom told me: “What is a princess party without Prince Eric?”

Eric was all over the dress up part and insisted on going as a pirate. So behold: Eric the Pirate Prince . . . . . . totally at home in the princess world. You can see the beautiful birthday girl in blue just left of center in the picture and Eric on the far left.

Thank you so much for the invitation and the wonderful party, Nikki. Eric is still talking about it and asking daily to have another party with the girls.

“Avast me pretties! Another piece of cake to this rum-swilling bilge-rat or I’ll gully the lot of ya!”

Sunday Update

Eric has been so considerate lately. He not only insists that I fix breakfast for Thomas in the morning but has to include his trains when he watches movies.

Beth cuddling with Dad.

Beth is 18 Months!

When I took her in for her check up today the doctor said, "She really does look older then 18 months." She has climbed up the charts to the 86th% at 33 and 1/2 inches tall and a whopping 15th% at 21.8 pounds.

She acts more like a teenager than a 1 and 1/2 year old. She is great at flirting and loves it when people smile at her. And while she doesn't cry much, she does yell a lot. She also has a bubble of space and heaven forbid you cross it before she's ready. She is on a growth spurt right now and that means getting up at 2 or 3 in the morning so hungry she can't sleep. Normally I am all for letting her put herself back to sleep but when she's growing like this she'll yell pitifully until she's fed.

She LOVES to tease her brother and it drives him up the wall; and when he does the same thing to her she just laughs. I am starting to believe that she in an unstoppable force of nature. Behold our Beth! This is her one morning when I failed to get her down from the table when she first asked. She proceeded to rub yogurt all over her body and hair. You can also see the little topknot we put her hair in when she eats.

This is her playing peek-a-boo around the treadmill with Aunt Alison while watching the BYU-OU football game (Go Cougars!).

And this last one is a video of her talking and running around, just being Beth. We are so thankful for our little girl.

Last Update for August

Beth dancing with her blanket as a head-dress.

Eric playing with the stapler and some paper.
The kids still have to eat their suckers at the table. Eric would be fine getting down but Beth...
... drools like a St. Bernard on a hot day when she eats one.

You know it's time to get new shoes when the only ones that fit are sneakers. At least Heavenly Father doesn't mind poor fashion at church.

I sometime wonder if I should say "thank you" to Ryan for playing with the kids OR "knock it off" when he teaches Eric how to make Beth walk the plank.

I love to see how happy the kids are playing with Daddy. It just makes their day.