Summer

So, I lost my camera a while back. We have since purchased an underwater camera and borrowed an old point-and-shoot from a friend, but for a while I had to rely on my friends to e-mail me the pictures they took of my kids. Luckily I have very accommodating friends. I didn't take a single one of these pictures.


Adam took soccer lessons for the first time this summer and absolutely loved it. The coach, Tessa, was a girl from church who was home from BYU for the summer. Adam loves her and thinks she is all things soccer. Scott was showing Adam clips of the World Cup on YouTube and Adam said, "Where's Tessa?"

Tessa did an awesome job dealing with two groups of preschoolers who had no soccer experience and, sometimes, no interest in gaining said experience.
The soccer classes were held in my friend, Amy's, backyard, which was perfect because there was plenty for the siblings to do while the kids practiced. Jane loved finding all of the cool cars and defending them with her life (and her not-petite frame). I think my friend, Dave, who took this picture was trying to capture the popsicle juice running down her face and body (speaking of which, I think we owe you about 50 popsicles Amy).


Jane cannot compete, however, with Adam's fine popsicle eating skills (or lack thereof). There is a reason he is shirtless in this picture, I learned my lesson with the first 10 shirts he ruined (I'm quick like that). Unfortunately, the popsicle juice stained his body for several days. What is in that stuff??!!

We went to the Memorial Day parade downtown with the kids. I am slowly coming to the realization that my assumption that I was going to be the cool, fun parent and Scott the "enforcer" is completely backwards. That is cotton candy that Jane is eating. My fiscally responsible (cheap) husband shelled out $3 for that confection. Something he would not have done for anyone except his chubby-cheeked spawn.


Here's the whole family at the parade.


These last couple are just of Jane. I think that, if you look closely, you can actually see the mischief in her eyes. She thrives on challenging us and seeing how far she can push before we push back.


Oh, help.

Taking One Giant Step Back

A high school friend of mine posted a link to a Redbook article on Facebook about breastfeeding and declared that she would be boycotting the magazine for encouraging women not to breastfeed. I'll let you decide if that is what it really said. I posted the following comment and immediately regretted it. If you've ever had a conversation with a "lactivist", you know why.

April Tripp Holmes

I read the article and it's not about proving a point. It simply gives women permission not to beat themselves up if it doesn't work out. I breastfed both of my kids, but they also got the occasional bottle of formula. I think her point was that we all want the best for our kids and we shouldn't feel bad if the best thing ends up being formula. As someone who has sat sobbing through the pain of a nursing session, sometimes a bottle of formula really is "best" for all involved.

Here is the response of one of her friends (Name withheld to protect the psychotic)

I disagree, April. Feeding children genetically modified ingredients full of corn syrup and certain allergens made by big corporations that discourage breastfeeding by hounding new mothers with their products via hospitals can not be best for all. There are so many better options available. A mother can pump and store excess breastmilk for those times when she needs a break. Also, goat's milk is a healthy option for children, and one can always buy breastmilk from a bank.
Of course, we don't want our children to grow up to have diabetes, obesity, or allergies, do we?
Learning to breastfeed is not easy, that's for certain, but the science proves that despite the challenge, breast really is best!


And that's when I decided that I wouldn't say anything else. But, then my nasty side got the better of me and I said:

April Tripp Holmes

I was formula fed and I am neither obese or diabetic, nor do I have any allergies. I even managed to pull off a Masters degree. But hey, if my mom breastfed me, maybe it would have been a PhD. This is obviously a hot button issue for you. I'll let it go.

And I promise that's what I'll do. But not before I publicly mocked her narrow-minded viewpoint on my blog. Ha!

Wow. Just, wow.

This puts Adam's juice addiction into perspective. Be sure to scroll all the way down and see the video as well.

Sound Bites

Everyday phrases at our house:

"Stop playing with your penis."

"Stop biting Jane's head!"

"I need some personal space right now."

"Make better choices."

"Get your hands out of your pants."

"You don't need to tell me every time you have to go to the bathroom."

"No, you can't pee in the bushes."

"You can't go outside without pants on."

"That sound Jane is making should tell you that she doesn't like what you're doing."

"Jane, what on earth are you doing?!"

"Did you bite her?"

"Did you bite him?"

"Why would you do that?"

"Where are your underpants?"

"Put your underpants back on please."

"It's time for 'quiet time'."

"Daddy will be home soon."


It's a glamorous life I lead.

March Anyone?

I'm sorry. I'm a slacker. Not really, my house is relatively clean and I showered (recently) but I am a blog slacker. Lest you think I died, please know that I have been reading all of your blogs, I just have been a slacker about posting. So, here are some pictures from March. Adam had a birthday in March but, because I fear retribution from him when he is older, I will dedicate a separate post exclusively to that event.

We spent a day at the local zoo. Adam's favorite exhibit is the sea lions. We are going again on Friday with his preschool group and getting a private tour from a friend who works there.


Jane had her 15 month Dr. appointment in March (her 18 month is next week). Our children have never been petite. She weighed in at 27.5 lbs. She, like Adam, follows her own growth curve, roughly one standard deviation above the 95th percentile. Like my technical terms? I took a statistics class once and passed with a solid "B". That, unfortunately, does not mean that I have any recollection of what a "standard deviation" is. It sounds right though, doesn't it?



Scott was singing the music from and Tom and Jerry cartoon one day and decided to look up an episode on YouTube for Adam to watch. He looks a little disturbed, no? It made me realize that there is absolutely no violence in Dora or Little Einsteins. I am not sure whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.


We feed the missionaries from our church once a month. They were trying to get Adam to do some yoga, I think. The guy on the left went home a couple of weeks ago. We'll miss him.

Jane adds spice to our lives everyday. One of her antics is to collect items from where they belong and find new homes for them. This is a picture of one of her hide and seek escapades. Nothing of great importance here, but I am currently missing my camera and haven't ruled her out as a suspect.


I don't even have words for this one. This is just Jane in all her glory (or all her peanut butter).


I picked up this little gem at Goodwill (the toy not the boy, he came from my womb). It's kind of like dodge ball but you have a velcro target on your chest and the balls stick to it. It's a little outside Adam's current skill set, but I have a feeling he'll grow into it.


And, in case you forgot that all of these pictures were from March, here is Jane dressed for church one chilly morning.
Oh, this girl. I need to do a separate post just on her...

Still Still Alive

Oh friends, I am so bad. I promise I think of blogging often but other things seem to keep getting in the way. For example:

Scott and I were married on this day in 1998 (I'll save you the math; 12 years)
Tomorrow is Mother's Day
Monday Scott turns 37

It's going to be a busy (albeit fun) few days.

In other news we have been discussing baby names. I am not one to keep them secret until the baby is born. We have discussed several names. Adam wants to name her Annie (Anne), which I love but I think his liking the name may have a lot to do with the Little Einsteins cartoon character rather than any fundamental love of the name itself. I am going back and forth between Paige and Claire. Scott is warmer toward Paige; but nothing is final. I shouldn't say nothing, her middle name will definitely be Jacqueline after my paternal grandmother.

While I have been neglecting my blog, I have been accomplishing a lot in the yard. Our yard needed a lot of work (and still does) so it was nice to start some landscaping projects. We also held a Cinco de Mayo party which necessitated the cleaning of my house; and that's no small project.

I have lots to post and I promise I will play catch up soon. I have Adam's 3rd birthday pictures, lots of pictures and stories from our spring outings and a pretty good video of the pinata breaking from the Cinco de Mayo party. And that isn't even close to everything. Just think, one day you'll check my blog (or Google Reader if you're smart) and there will be plenty to read about our (not so) exciting lives!

We are alive...

The first 16 weeks of this pregnancy were pretty rough. But, I am feeling better and I have energy again, so I will try to get my blog up to date over the next few days. Here are some tidbits about what we've been up to:

1. We found out we're having a baby girl in September.
2. We bought ourselves bikes and have been riding all over. It makes us feel very hip and "green".
3. Adam has been coming up with all sorts of interesting thoughts like, "When Jane grows a penis, I'll teach her to use the potty." Thanks bud, for her sake, I hope that never happens.
4. Jane is officially a "strong-willed child". She keeps us on our toes and intimidates kids twice her age. Any suggestions are welcome.
5. I went to see "Wicked" the other day. I went to the matinee with some friends. Scott took the day off to watch the kids so I could go. He's just that cool.
6. Adam knows his letters and the sounds they make. His first sight word was, "Wegmans", which is our favorite grocery store. We're confident that, "JoAnne's", "Target" and "Panera" are not far behind.

Look for some actual posts with pictures in the coming days. I'm back, at least until I have this baby. Then I will probably disappear again until I regain my sanity and find the time and energy to shower regularly. Because it seems wrong to have time to blog when my hygiene is suffering.