Flooding!

There was rain...so much rain.  It was filling the rivers to the point they sent kids home early from school.  It kept coming.  We ended up having school cancelled for a couple of days.  The creek east of Orting flooded so badly the highway was shut down.  You had to drive up out of the valley and come down from the other side (adds about 45 minutes of driving for those people).  They uploaded drone footage and you couldn't even see where the road was for a lot of it.  The river closest to us got up so high it was almost touching the bridge and came up to the very top of the levee.  It was running high and fast.  You can see the bridge WAY in the back of this picture.

Daddy and I decided we wanted to check out the river so we were just going to grab McDonald's real quick.  I heard they cancelled school so I let Kayda know on the drive.  She was very nervous so we couldn't resist messing with her. 

She didn't appreciate the joke.  

We were never worried since we're tucked back away from the river and our house is actually built above the 100 year flood plain.  It was really fun to watch.  There were all kinds of cool pictures.  A coworker actually went onto one of the walking bridges on the other river and the water was going up and over their feet....on top of the bridge.  

It was actually really cool to see, we probably won't see anything like that again for a LONG time.  They're now working on repairing the levee where the water got to the top.  It was significantly eroded. 

Catching up on some random bits

So here are a few random tidbits that the kids did that made us smile. 

One day getting out of the car Carson walks by and says "Mom the car is Carson."  At first I say, "Yeah it starts the same as your name doesn't it?"  He replies with "No Mom" then he points to the sticker.  The thing is, it was Wednesday.  He had been home due to a fever so the last time he was at school was the previous Thursday.  School is where he got his name tags.  So that sticker was on the car for at least 6 days.

The school is doing fundraisers.  I hate fundraisers SO much.  I do not understand why the continue to do them.  I would rather pay a charge at the school for my kids to be able to participate in things than I would do a fundraiser.  Dillon and Kayda both wanted to do it so they could get a prize.  I said no and threw away the materials.  Then next day I got the above email from Dillon's teacher.  We all had a good laugh out of it.  Little stinker, trying to work his teacher to get himself a monster with doing any of the work!

Obviously we've been gone to Disneyland.  Kayda and Dillon missed 4.5 days of school. Today was their first day back and we received this email from Kayda's teacher.  She is such a little scholar!

Our children are amazing!

Random fun

Sometimes you just want to take pictures.  Yesterday ended up being one of those days, didn't start that way but it became one.  And lucky for you I don't filter my pictures very well, the kids are so cute that I couldn't possibly NOT post them!!!  Course, this is mostly my family's little journal so it's technically for me anyway right?  So I can do whatever I want?  I'll just go with that and continue to flood the blog with pictures!

 We were having ice cream (obviously) and Carson had been following me around everywhere so I handed him the mostly empty tub and let him carry it.  He loved it.  He carried it all the way into the kitchen.  I don't think he realized what was in it or he probably would've been trying to get it open instead of carrying it.

 Yesteday started out cloudy and chilly, much like today is thus far, but turned into a beautiful day.  The kids decided they wanted a bath (are you kidding it's goregous outside!?!?) so they wanted to play with the water.  Well guess what...  our pool is in storage and I really didn't want to mess with going to get it and set it up so I looked for some wading pools we used to have around the house.  No luck we must've gotten rid of all of them.  Then I noticed hey the sleds are kind of little REALLY shallow wading pools... So we filled them up, filled up a bucket, got out some paper cups and bottles and that was our water play.  When they first got full Dillon hustled up to one and hopped in and promptly slipped with his feet up in the air and landed on his back with a splash, how I would've loved to catch that on camera!  He was very careful about getting into them after that (he didn't get hurt fortunately).  Saddly enough I don't know that these sleds have ever actually been used in the snow but they've now seen water!

 Carson was hanging out next to sister when Dillon decided he wanted to sit there.  So he squeezed in behind Carson...

 And then he slowly pushed Carson forward with his feet...

 Until he could fit comfortably in the sled with Carson.

 I am SO glad my kids don't have problems with ear infections or have tubes or anything because these cups had water in them as they plastered the cups over their ears and then let the water drain!

 Dillon was working so hard, use the cup fill up bottle #1...

 Use bottle #1 and fill up bottle #2...

 And then Carson came and snatched the now full bottle #2!

 "Horses" were pulling them.  Maybe I should get them started with water skiing or something!

 Carson loved the hose!!!

 Who needs a lounge chair when you have a sled?

 We were having so much fun with this water bottle cap.  First we lost eyes, then teeth and noses, and eventually I showed them how to shoot it out of their mouth so it would go flying... they didn't really get that part, it more saddly dropped out...

 AAAAHHHH SO CUTE!!!!  I can hardly stand it!

 Kayda and Dillon got pretty good at shooting an empty bottle though, of course they used their whole body to do it.

 Look at that bottle go!

 Carson thought it was HILARIOUS but he was too busy chewing on the hammer so he laughed AROUND the hammer.

 Then he lost his balance and when he got up he was laughing too hard to get the hammer back in so I got a good picture of him laughing!

I thought it was so funny when he lost his balance and ended up sitting perfectly on the little red bucket.  It was 100% an accident but then he decided he liked it and sat there for a minute or two.

Sometimes it is just so much fun being silly with the kids!

Tummy Time!

It's here...the time when a baby seems to be doing something new on a weekly basis. Carson rolled over on November 4th, from his tummy to his back (though he hasn't repeated that performance yet).  Also on that day, he used just his legs to "crawl" himself over the top of the boppy.  He ended up with his face on the ground and his little bottom up in the air (he HAS repeated that).  Then last Friday (November 11th) he laughed for the first time, he continued that on Saturday.  Then Sunday he found his thumb, he used it to help him go to sleep last night.  That will be interesting, he's our first baby that hasn't taken a pacifier.   He is growing so fast, at two months he was already taller and heavier than several of our friends' babies at FOUR months.  He's not even a chubby guy the way Dillon was.  Carson is just a tall buff little baby.  If he's anything like his siblings we're in for an explosion of new things.  Is it bad that I'm kind of hoping he's not and that he'll take his time?   

Here's a picture of my little 14 week old boy.  We were doing some tummy time, which I can't say he particularly enjoys but he had fun long enough to snap this picture this morning!

They Make Me Smile - totally random moments

They were playing in the bath and I decided to have a little fun with their hair. Kayda's hair just kept curling but Dillon's cracked me up! Even though her hair didn't stay up like it was supposed to it is an excellent example of Kayda's goofy grin!





Kayda fell asleep on the recliner today. I've tried to wake her up three times, each time I've changed her location. I pick her up, talk to her, try to sit her up, jiggle her a little... It doesn't matter she keeps on dreaming.

Dillon has decided it's great fun to open the washer and do this!

Kayda found my goggles in one of our drawers and wanted them on. Ready for the pool mom! We tied her blanket around her neck for a little while like a little super hero but I didn't get the camera fast enough.

Poor Hank, Dillon was climbing all over him and jumping around. Granted Hank got in the chair AFTER Dillon but still. This is toned down from when he first started, I had to encourage him to get going again after I got the camera out. I love his little facial expressions and noises!

Kayda really enjoys the Barenstein's B Book. In the end the baby bird's balloon gets popped. Usually Kayda will get to the very last page (when the balloon is popped) and very sadly say "balloon" then she'll flip to the page right before (when the balloon is still good) and yell "BALLOON! YAY!". She'll go back and forth over and over again being very dramatic with her sadness and happiness. This isn't as enthusiastic as usual but you can see a little of it!

YAY a swing set!!!

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day! We hit 80 degrees! In the morning Brian and I decided that we were finally going to go and get a swing set for Kayda, she had NOTHING to play with in the backyard, with the exception of a ball and some cheapy toys I picked up for Dillon's party. Brian and I got down to Toys R Us, bought the swing set and then it occurred to us that we had no way to bring it home so Grandma and Grandpa G came down and got it and then stayed at our house and watched Dillon and Kayda while Mommy and Daddy put together the swing set. It actually didn't take long, Kayda was in the middle of all the action the whole time and everytime something new went up she wanted to be in it. She LOVED being on the swing so Grandpa pushed her while we finished putting the rest together.

The next thing she conquered was the slide. She climbs up the ladder BY HERSELF and slides down. Well after she had done that few times she decided that she would try to climb up the otherway. She comes down that way, why not go up right?

We got a swing that reclines a little bit so that Dillon can also enjoy the swing set.  It's not much use for any older kids, it's got two babyswings on it, no normal swings. Dillon wasn't quite as excited as Kayda. He just sat there and looked around. After yesterday I can't WAIT until this summer when the weather is actually nice enough to be outside. We were outside almost all day. Kayda was exhausted after all the excitement so it was nice for Brian and I because she slept well!

Both babies got to sleep in just their diapers, Kayda loved it, because it was too warm in our house for them to be able to fall asleep. We took this picture this morning, Kayda just wanted to be near Dillon so she climbed up and sat next to him.

On a totally different note, on Friday Kayda brought her barn over to the couch for me to play with her. She was opening the doors and I'd stick my hand through.  She thought it was hilarious so I got a little clip of it. Hopefully it will work!