Alert the media, the baby is sleeping.

Maybe you are wondering why I haven't been blogging much? It's because I have a 7 month old baby that doesn't take naps! I am not kidding. He will take a little cat nap when we stroll around the block, and he may fall asleep in his swing for 10 minutes, but otherwise, this baby is steadfast in his wakefulness! But no man is an island, and today Nate finally hit the sheets and hit 'em hard. He's been asleep now for an hour and a half! So here I am, people (meaning Mom, Sandy, Danna, and Chris, sometimes Jenny ;)! I'm back and I'm blogging!

First things first: Maxwell's baptism! Max is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We had a great day. Lots of great people came out to support Max! The Relief Society Room was full! Sister T gave a talk on Baptism and Sister R gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Pa performed the baptism and the confirmation, and Mommy & friends did a pretty good job of whipping up a little luncheon for everyone afterwards! 

These two are the sweetest missionaries ever! The one on the right has been in the ward now for 7 months! If you want them to drop by, give me a call! But I'm warning you that if you do, you'll probably be the next one to take the plunge!

Went to Mimi's concert at her school. LOVED it. Got there early and had a front row seat! They have a fabulous music teacher that plays the piano, guitar, drums, flute, and harp!!!

It's been hot, and the pool is up!

The "Maria flowers" are out!

Nate would rather hang back with Pa. He goes nuts for his baths so I thought he would dig the pool, but he screams bloody murder if you dip his toes in. This better change, buddy boy! Because Mama likes to dip!

Then there was one night when the sunset was killer!

I went out with Asia to get her nails done for the prom, and while she was getting it done (it took an hour and a half! She gets fancy ones) I went clothes shopping for the kids. Maxwell got the coolest stuff, like this tiki god t-shirt and board shorts! Oh and P.S. Asia went to the prom and she was named Prom Queen!

Also got him this awesome shirt...

On the way to cubs! Yes, I had them take that cute little Nate with them so Pip and I could have a girls' night!

Okay, Nathan. Let's get serious. THIS is what your no-napping kick has done! I'm not going to pretend like it's not happening!  I'm coming out, baby!

Yup, and THIS too. (This is the clean pile, by the way, and I'm not even showing you the other half of the room).

Well, you don't seem that torn up about it, Nate...

Nate is a master cruiser and leaves a trail of sweet potato puffs behind him.

Pa is home early so he can go to Maxwell's Dad's Day Out at his school! Board games, books, and root beer floats! The boys had a great time! Hmm, Pa looks pretty handsome in this shot. A good cooker and a good looker!

Here's Pa making us his famous 'crab rolls' before he scoots over to school!

Now here was a lovely moment when all three precious children were coloring or playing with measuring cups and demanding their mother of nothing.

Thanks Delia for letting me borrow this funky purple baby chair! He sits happily in it for at least 7 minutes!

And finally....

THE PIGEON APOCALYPSE.

There are no cicadas, folks. 

It was all a rouse. Someone call Fox Molder.

It's all about this sudden onslaught of pigeons of all varieties!!!

What the What?!?!

Two Weeks

A long two weeks getting ready for Maxwell's baptism (tomorrow!) and Pa getting home really late from work and kids not doing a great job listening and Mommy not doing a great job keeping a tight ship...

BUT here are some of the good parts:)

Nate was cute:

Mimi and I had a Girls' Day (and a Girls' Night and a Girls' Morning) while Pa and Maxwell went to the father & son cub scout camp out. Here's Mimi enjoying a rare moment without her baby brother cramping her style and stealing all of her Mommy's attention!

Here's Nate being adorable while the big kids are at school and not destroying the house. ahem.

Nate playing his FAVORITE game: Blanket Game!!! The rules according to Nate: Before my mommy gets me dressed, I have to kick around my crib while my mommy covers and uncovers me with blankets and I crack up! I can do it all day!

Then Mommy gives me a bath and gets me dressed. It's very exciting stuff and I need a little snooze after all that!

Mimi had an ear infection, and then two days after finishing her medicine, she got strept throat! So it was back on the medicine. But here's the crazy thing about Mimi: she LOVES that medicine! (it is SO gross). Thank goodness she likes it because no one knows how to make a thing difficult like our darling Mimi does. If she had decided she didn't like that medicine, we would have been in trouble. She stayed home from school with a fever that day. We went to the doctor in the morning to get Nate his shots and get her checked out. That's when we found out about the strept. When we got home she wanted to go outside. We put the sleeping bag down and she fell asleep for three hours!

When she woke up she said, "Than nap felt sooooo good!" :) Then she just hung out on the sleeping bag for the rest of the afternoon.

She took this picture of Nate...

...and this picture of herself. Doesn't she look pale? Poor Pip.

Here's Pip after she slept in her wet braids :)

This is Nate the day of the shots. It's so sad to get them their little shots :( But he was feeling good again as soon as he was able to roll around in his favorite place on earth: the crib!

See the little band-aids? Poor little Nateskins!

92 degrees!!!! And VERY muggy! We went for a short walk, but it was just too hot...

Wilting after only five minutes. Heading back for a cool bath!

After a nice, cool bath, this baby wants to rest under his ceiling fan!

Then it's outside for some shady games!

What is that face for, Nate? Note the pacifier. Now Nate does not (none of my babes, in fact) use a pacifier in the traditional sense. He just likes to chew and chew on it but he never sucks on it!

92 degrees!!!! This is HOT! What should we do about this???

What else!?!?

Cookies after the sprinkler.

It got cold again after just a few days! Can you believe it? Here's Nate in his cardigan.

Then it started warming up again. Sister and Brother Bear xoxox

 There. Our last 2 weeks. I haven't gotten much sleep at all. Pa is working hard and working late, so is Mommy! Hopefully this week I can figure out how to get and keep this little house clean because it's driving me crazy. So is the NOT listening from a couple of my bigger kids. Not sure how to turn things around or where to get the energy, but wish me luck :)