Your Toilet Might be Plugged If....

These are flushed down. Jack in an apparent act of helpfulness I'm sure (trying to fix the toilet) flushed these toy pliers down. Well to make a long story short after a week of sluggish flushing and constant (and I mean CONSTANT) plunging, Shawn went did some investigating with a hanger and fished these out. Yeah, that might cause some issues.

In other potty news: the boys thought the kid toilet seat also doubles as a cool cowboy hat! Yee-Ha!

and.... Jack has gone potty in the toilet twice this week! We haven't started to "officially" potty train, but I'm hoping this is a good sign.

Summer Schenanigans - All in Context

Some things taken out of context end up sounding like bad things, but when you take those phrases and put them in their proper context, you'll find that things aren't always what they seem....

Waking at 6:00 A.M. - I am a morning person, but I consider waking at 7:00-7:30ish to be morning, so when Lyv decided that her internal alarm was set at 6:00, I put up a little protest as I sleepily stumbled down the stairs, UNTIL I found this (I love how she plays with her feet)...., heard a lot of bah, bah, bah, bah...; peeked over the crib and got this reaction.....Now I treasure those early morning minutes (minutes because my other two boys are early birds too) with Lyv. She is soooo happy in the morning and its great to have just girl time. Lyv is now 4 months, and we introduced her to rice cereal. She wasn't a huge fan, and I know that she knows there is much better cuisine out there. She has become SUPER mobile! Yikes, she thinks she needs to squirm and wiggle her way off of everything or around in circles. I found her like this the other day when I in hurry and just set her in the bouncer without buckling it - I guess I've learned my lesson.
I did designate some girl time for Lyv and I this week and painted our toenails - did I mention I really like having a girl???

Shawn pinning down a little old 90-year-old lady - An elderly woman with dementia came into the hospital the other day where Shawn was doing a rotation with the infectious disease docs and had a HUGE abscess on her cheek that needed to be taken care of (AKA popped and squeezed like a big zit - totally disgusting!) Well she was not going to have any of this and refused, so Shawn had to pin her arms down while the other doctor performed the procedure. The entire time she was swearing at both of them, but afterwards hardly remembered having it happen. So watch out elderly woman, Shawn doesn't care if you're frail, old, dainty, grandmotherly.... he's gonna go for the TKO!

Finding Peanut butter all over clean dishes - Sam is officially not a little kid anymore. He is big, he is independent, and he is very helpful. As I went to unload the dishwasher the other day I found big hunks of Peanut Butter on a section of the clean utensils, then I found a spoon covered in PB in there. He had gotten himself a snack of PB and pretzels, and cleaned up his mess, by putting everything away. How could I get mad at him for being a helper?
Sam LOVES this new BYU shirt (they are $5 from the BYU Bookstore if you're interested). These pics are all taken on different days, and as soon as he finds it clean he wears it again.... True Blue!!! He's also been showing Jack how to drive the Gator and taking him on some pretty wild rides. It's a good thing our yard is big because they would have destroyed a smaller piece of lawn.

Becoming "one" with the Mr. Clean Eraser - Jack has finally found something that he actually likes to do that is a "kid friendly" activity. He apparently inherited his daddy's artistic abilities and has been coloring up a storm. Unfortunately, Jack, being Jack, also colors on the floor, or the table, or the wall, or whatever is around him at the time. I'm not going to discourage this as long as its only crayons because he really likes to color! We've also discovered that he is a lefty - thanks Grandpa Kelly!Head-wound Harry has returned, this time right between the eyes. Poor Jack can't go a week without a new wound on his noggin, and he's gotten to the point where he doesn't even cry anymore when he gets hurts! I wonder sometimes if he will have side effects from all of the head injuries but Shawn just thinks his face with be like it has botox with all the scar tissue he is acquiring. And as mentioned above Jack has been learning how to drive the Gator, again good and bad. Good that he can participate in playing, bad that he is terrible driver (I know he's only 2 but come on)... I either have to run next to the Gator as he drives in order to help steer or send Sam with him, which always ends in a fight. Its a work in progress, but he thinks he's pretty cool...

Got Milk?

Yes this post is about breastfeeding, so I'm giving you fair warning to stop reading NOW! I've nursed all of my children, but with Lyv - I have an "older" child who has really started to take note to what I'm doing - thus the most recent conversation between Sam and I:

"Mom, will you run out of milk in these (he points to his chest)?"

Blushing, I ask, "what?" He again repeats his question. I sigh, and say, "Nope, as long as mommy keeps feeding Lyv, then my body will keep making milk for her." (Hoping that this answer will be enough for him.....

"Okay - you have a tiny milk machine in your body that pours in water and white stuff and then you have handy helpers (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) that mix it all up going 900 miles/hour. Then it goes up to these things (again he points to his chest) and come out - pshhoo, pshoo (making shooting noises).

Shawn and I look at eat other trying to muffle our laughter, and I reply "Yep that is pretty much how its done." So just in case you were wondering how it all works, here's your answer.

Summers' Shenanigans

Sam finished up his summer camp this week, so we celebrated by having a "drive-in." This is one of my boys favorite things to do, and it really is a fun activity. They decorate their own cars and then watch a movie in their cars. Then we actually went to the for-real drive-in located in Coxsackie (wierd town names here!) We saw Cats & Dogs and Despicable Me (Despicable Me was very cute - we'd recommend it). There is nothing like the drive-in movie, and it is one of my fondest memories as a child. Shawn and I were laughing because his first Drive-in movie he remembers was the Great Mouse Detective (very kid friendly), mine was Good Morning Vietnam (also kid friendly, right?) This was the inside of Sam's car - got love a car with a GPS(right); speedometer (left) and gas pedal (floor).

Shawn wasn't on call this weekend so we walked down the road to a little outlet on the Esopus Creek, that feeds into the Hudson River. The "creeks" here are more like what I would consider rivers, but when you compare the creeks with the Hudson River, I guess it makes sense calling them creeks instead. It only took Jack about 5 minutes to sit in the water fully clothed - and we didn't catch anything, the boys had a great time playing with worms and skipping rocks. Jack would play with the worms and then get freaked out and throw it back in the pail, saying "Yuck!"

We ended the day with a dip in the local pool. Both boys LOVE swimming. Shawn wouldn't let me take a picture of him, so of course I did it anyways! What a hotty! Maybe it's an Idaho thing, but there is something about a farmers tan that Rocks my Socks!

Have you ever babysat an exploding baby before?

We just can't get over the amazing similarities that Jack-Jack has to our JACK! Not only does he look like Jack, but aside from the spontaneous combustion and ability to levitate through walls - this is how Jack is. I often feel like Kari the babysitter at the end of the day, and I'm sure my hair and clothes resemble hers too.

A bit Ridiculous

Lyv had her 3 month well check. (Here they have the kids come in every month for the first 6 months and spread the vaccinations out. I thinks its really mean but oh well.) The one great thing is they do their measurements more often. She was 14.4 lbs. 25.5 inches, and 40.5 inch head circumference - which all translated into being in the 75% overall! She is such a good, good baby. I am so blessed to have her, and we are continuing to just love her up each day. On Sunday as we got ready for church I tried out a big flower just see how it would work.... lets say just a bit ridiculous...

The look on her face in the picture is HILARIOUS! Its like she is telling me how goofy she looks - like "really mom, you thought this was going to actually fit." Much better - and aren't those patent shoes to die for??

I also finally completed Lyv's room - the room is not complete until their name is on the wall, and now it finally is. Now just a quick explanation on her name. We named Olyvia after a great, great, great, grandmother Olive Smoot Bean. I did a life history on Olive and grew to love her, and so always wanted to name a daughter after her. Shawn loves the name Lyv, so we agreed to call her Lyv, but name her Olyvia - now I don't know why I was so instant upon Olyvia because we never call her Olyvia. Oh well there is meaning there and I guess that is what is important.

Summers Schenanigans

We've had another "eventful" week of regular old stuff here at the Summers' residence. We started the week off is good form with Sam attending a summer day camp. He goes for four hours each day and they get to do great activities and swim with kids their own age. It has been really fun for Sam - he's seen a magician, went rollerskating, and his favorite - learned Karate! He thinks he is the NEXT Karate Kid. In fact we rented the original Karate Kid and watched it together and he's been working on his Wax Ons and Offs.

We christened the bounce house this week - it is such a great way to safely let the kids go CRAZY!

So while Sam is away at camp - Jack and I have been able to spend some time together, which has been really fun for me. He is such a fun little boy, and has the greatest, cutest, most mischievious personality. This is one of my favorite moments.... he decided to wear a bucket on his head like a hat. Not only did he look adorable, but he pranced around in it for about 15 minutes. Finally he decided the bigger bucket would add a nice touch and put it on top of the small bucket! What a goof! He has also developed a love of coloring - especially with sidewalk chalk. He will actually play with this for consecutive minutes. One mishap - Jack found the markers this week and decorated himself and his bed! At first I thought it was just his body, which I thought was cute (hence the picture), then I discovered it marker on the comforter of the bed, and it stopped being so cute!! After a mean session with the Shout - I was a bit upset. Lets just say, Jack is being discouraged from using markers for a while.

I also had a big event this week - I had my big 27th B-Day! It was a great day, and I sure felt loved from all of my family, friends, and kiddos! Thank you to all who wished me a happy birthday in any form, I felt very loved!!! We had two birthday cakes because I don't really like cake. We made a traditional cake with candles to celebrate with the boys - and then Shawn made me a snickerdoodle-strawberry icecream cookie monster! YUM!

Plymouth Rock

On our way back from Cape Cod we went to Plymouth. There they have the smallest national park in Massachussetts that: The Rock! It was chipped away, broken in pieces and finally preserved in 1912 in a Memorial. They also had a replica of the Mayflower in the harbor, and Sam loved the "pirate" ship. It was really neat to see the birthplace of the colonies, we could almost smell the 1st Thanksgiving cooking while we were there .....

Hello Govenor.....(in a British Accent of Course)