Ladybug Girl and Elasti-boy

Ruby used a stool from the kitchen to reach

her Halloween costume all by herself while I was

busy with Milo. Today she is Ladybug Girl!

Her little brother is starting one of my favorite

phases - he likes to grab onto his feet

and folds himself in half to put them in his mouth.

I love that toothless grin.

23/52

The big boys and I spent Saturday morning at our ward's

annual Pioneer Day celebration. After the bike parade,

we waited in the air conditioned cultural hall for lunch.

The boys got a little bored, so we broke out the camera.

Not sure why they decided to try kissing in all the photos;

I was just grateful that they were sitting still.

Life Is Happening . . .

. . . too fast for me to blog about it,

despite my resolution to do a whole lot of nothing.

The good news is that we're "good"busy.

In the next week we'll get to see both

sets of Grandparents and a few aunts,

including Cleo

(who will hopefully blog more often while she's at school).

Here's a little bit of what's been going on at our house.

I'm not the only one who likes having John at home.

Milo loves to be held while John plays the piano.
A close second is to have his Dad hold

him while watching YouTube videos

of someone else playing the piano.

Ruby likes to keep her Dad company
while he works. She just snuggles in next to
him and seems happy to be there.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Anjie
and I were able to get our families together.
I didn't get my photos up, but Anjie
posted some great pictures on her blog.
(Mom and Dad, this link is mostly for you,
so please click HERE to see the other photos. Thanks.)

After Anjie's family left, Jonah said,
"I wish they could live here.
Then we'd have two moms, and two dads,
and a baby that crawls!
It would be so fun."
It was really fun to have them visit.
Thanks for coming, Anjie and co.!

In other news, we have a new favorite place
to get treats when it's hot outside.
Ella Good Shave Ice - in the parking lot at 260 S 1200 W.
They have Hawaiian-style shaved ice. Yum.
It might be the closest that I'll ever get to Hawaii. :)

One thing that I really like about Ella Good,
besides really fine shaved ice,
is that they have a kid size for $1.
It's just perfect for our little people.

This post is long enough to rival one of Mindy's,
although it's no where near as entertaining.
One of these days, Milo will let me sit at
the computer without him screaming, and then
I'll be better at posting again. :)

22/52

Last night, I mentioned to John that I didn't

get in any photos with the kids last week,

so he surprised me by taking a photo of

Milo and me on our way to BYU this morning.
Jonah's head and Bentley's unmade bed also made it into the photo.

John is so nice to remember and help me with my silly project. :)

The End of . . .

Bright Ideas (summer school) for the big boys,

(Maxwell is in the very middle with a big grin on his face.)

(Bentley is wearing long pants and has his hands in his pockets)
T-Ball for Maxwell,
and Coach Pitch Baseball for Bentley.

Hurray!

They both had a lot of fun, but we're all looking forward

to a few weeks of NOTHING before school starts again.

When Ruby is happy . . .

. . . she dances around on her toes,

claps her hands,

and squeals in delight.

With an audience like this . . .

. . . is it any wonder that he expects at least

one person's undivided attention 90% of the time?

21/52

Bentley (The Sorcerer) with his Mom

(fyi - The bib is a beard. John says I should be wearing one, too,

but I didn't think that quickly. Bentley wanted a picture of himself in his

latest costume creation, and I jumped in for my Project 52.)

Name Game - Part 2

photo by Judy

A few years ago, Leslie started a Name Game "meme,"
asking the question, "What did you name your kids, and why?"
I played along, answering the question for our first
three kids, and speculating on our 4th child's name.
(I was pregnant with Ruby at the time.)
I've been meaning to add the "story" behind Milo's name
and since today is his 3 month birthday, it seemed as
good of a day as any to continue the "meme."

There isn't much of a story to his first name,
it's one that I stumbled across when I was expecting Ruby.
At the time, John didn't like it, so it was shelved.
This time around, he was willing to consider the name.
That was lucky, because before I was too far along, I had my
heart set on "Milo" for this baby's name.

Milo's middle name, Fisher, is a family name.
My Dad's maternal Grandfather is John Floyd Fisher.
Here's a photo of my parents on their wedding day,
along with my Great Grandpa and Grandma Fisher.

Grandpa Fisher lived a couple of blocks from my parents' house,
so I was blessed to spend a good amount of time with him.
He passed away on Easter Sunday, 1997.
I'm so glad to pass on a part of him to Milo.

If you've never played this name game,
consider yourself tagged.
I like hearing name stories as much as I like birth stories,
so I hope somebody plays along. :)
Here are a few other name game links -
Leslie
Carla
Ginger
Stephanie
Judy

Anxiously Engaged in Bowling

Nine years ago today, John (officially) asked me to marry him.

To commemorate the occasion, we went bowling

with Mindy, Brianna, and Spencer.

Okay, that's not the reason we went bowling.

We went bowling because we were too worn

out to go swimming with all the kids.

We usually don't do anything to commemorate our engagement

besides me saying to John, "Do you know what today is?"

Most of the time he guesses correctly. :)
I really like remembering that day.

Anyway, bowling was a lot of fun.

I think it was Ruby's first time getting to BOWL,

and not just watch everyone else bowl.

Her favorite part seemed to be the fan on the ball return.

Jonah liked dancing as much as (or more than) bowling.
When it wasn't his turn to bowl, he was break dancing.
Milo was bored.
Bentley and Maxwell were competitive. Go figure.
I think the rest of us had fun, too.

Spencer and Brianna are going home tomorrow.
I hope they'll get a rest when they get there.
Playing with my kids, as well as Natalie and Karlenn's
cute kids is a big job, but we're so glad they
got to do it for a week or so.

20/52

playing with Milo before the block party yesterday

Independence Day

Hope you have a Happy 4th!

It's a good thing . . .

. . . that Milo isn't old enough to know he's sharing.