Miles goes lots of miles!

Miles has been a busy baby the past few weeks! Just he and I flew to Texas to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday on June 13th and then a couple of weeks later we made the long, long road trip to Virginia. We also took him to the beach!
With his TX grandparents!

wearing a TX shirt

Bathing in Gran's sink in TX

At Lost World Caverns in Lewisburg, WV

in the chair his great-grandfather made in VA

Loving the beach!


On the Fourth of July

On a hike in Ohio

And whiling away long hours in the car sucking his feet!

Inexplicable

Some things just defy explanation. Today we were going to the Chinese Buffet for dinner. It's always a challenge to get the boys to get some shoes on and get in the van. Trevor was the last one, as usual, and stuffed his feet in some slip-on tennis shoes without socks. Once he was in the van, he decided he needed socks. I was reluctant to let him go back inside and find socks, since he's such a slowpoke. We told him to wait a minute while we said a family prayer and blessed our dinner early. After the prayer, I hear Ian say, "I only have one pair of socks in the van."
"What?" I said.
"I've got a pair of socks from camping in the van!"
"You have socks in the van still from camping?!" (Camping was almost a month ago.) I assume he had stuffed the socks into one of the little compartments in the back.
"Yes!"
"They must be absolutely filthy!"
"No, they aren't!"
Then Trevor pipes in, "No, look--they're only a little dirty on the bottom!" and he sticks his foot in the air. He was putting them on.
So Ian solved Trevor's problem of no socks. It just makes me wonder what else he can pull out from a hidden spot in the van to make Trevor happy.
Ron and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. What else could we do? Everyone was happy, so I swallowed my objections and we went out. It just goes to show how we've been worn down by four children, especially 6 year old twin boys!

Trevor Toothless

Trevor has lost his first tooth! Gavin didn't lose one until halfway through second grade, so I was shocked that Trevor had a loose one. And when it got really loose, I offered to pull it for him and was stunned that he agreed. I tried one day and it didn't come right out, so I left it alone, and then a couple of days later I asked him if he wanted me to try again, and he did, and it came right out! Ian is mad that none of his seem to be loose yet.
Another funny Trevor moment--he's such a picky eater and I guess I comment on it too much because the other evening he polished off his dinner and said, "It's a miracle! I ate more than Ian!"

Grandma knows best!

And so do Andrea and Cindy! (and Charity and Kelltie came close) The answers to the baby matching game are Trevor (10 weeks), Gavin (4 months), Miles (6 weeks), and Ian (10 weeks).
I originally got out the pictures for a mother's day gift for my mom. I didn't label them in her book because I knew she would know them. I told her she needed to go on the blog and vote, but she is not much of a computer user. She sent me an email with her answers and they were all wrong! I called her up to give her grief, and it turned out she was looking at her book and telling my dad what to write in the email, and the pictures are in a different order in her book and on the blog. So, she ended up being right after all!
It was fun to see how people mixed them up. I don't think they look alike (except Miles and Ian), so it is fun to see how others find resemblances.
And my dad said he couldn't tell any of them, that they all look like Miles!
Here's a picture of my sweet pea sleeping.

Sign of Advanced Maternal Age?

When I got pregnant with Miles, I was put in the "high risk" category automatically because I was 36. It was humbling to be characterized as having "advanced maternal age." Well, now I think I have symptoms!
This week I have TWICE locked my baby in and me out. The first time was Wednesday. We were all ready to go out, and I made the first run out to the van with the diaper bag and other stuff (but not my keys!). We had the windows in the house open, and the pressure difference caused the door from the kitchen to the garage to slam shut behind me, and yes, it was locked. With the baby still inside the house in his car seat. And the spare key was nowhere in evidence. After panicking, I realized I could push the screen off the window in the bay window in front and then reach in and crank open the window far enough to crawl in. Baby saved!
Now today I went to a friend's house in Ron's car, which does not have a base for the car seat. When I was leaving, I needed two hands to strap the car seat in, so I threw my keys in the front seat to do so. I closed his door, went to open the driver's door, and it was locked. As was Miles' door! I had to call Ron who came to rescue Miles (fortunately, he was not crying and we only live five minutes away).
But I am feeling amazingly stupid. I have never, ever locked any of the other children in the house or the car in ten years of parenting. Now I've locked this chid in twice in less than a week. I think I have parental Alzheimer's!
Well, here's a picture of the cute boy and also my eldest on his TENTH birthday last week!

Baby Matching Game!

I was making a project and got out some pictures of all my babies around the same age in bouncy seats. I've been having fun showing them to people and asking them which baby is which. Their own father identified one picture wrong TWICE! So, here they are, in no particular order. Who's who?

Spring Fun

Happy Easter!

Here is our cute little Miles on his first Easter with a new little stuffed friend and a smile!

Daddy and Gavin show off their new ties (Mom couldn't find any good ones for the twins. . . they wanted pink ties. . .oh, well!)

Kindergarten Concert

The boys had their kindergarten concert. They sang about 11 songs as a group, and Trevor got to do a Mexican hat dance and both twins were in the "Morning Exercise" song. . . all in Spanish of course. It made Mom proud and a little sad because it means that kindergarten is drawing to a close.

Temple Day


My mom and dad came to visit and helped us out so we could both go to the temple. We got someone to take a picture of all of us in front of the temple. It came out nice, except for the boys' casual clothes!

Gran and Miles


My mom really bonded with Miles during her visit. She could get him to coo and coo and smile at her! We are going to miss her here! (and Dad too, of course!)