Family Pictures

We had some family pictures done while we were in Redding. It had been a while since we had a whole group shot. Here is one of the whole family. And a cute one of all the Strong cousins. I love all of the blue eyes on these kiddos!

Who doesn't love Sea World?

If you are thinking, "No one - Of course everyone loves Sea World," then you are WRONG! The correct answer to the question "Who doesn't love Sea World?" is: Steven, and anyone else who has to listen to him scream his way through the park.

My mom, Kathryn, Baby Hannah, Adam, Elise, Steven and I took a quick trip to Sea World this week, and Steven was not at all impressed by flipping dolphins or jumping Killer Whales. He just wanted to go home and he had to let everyone know about it. I guess Marine Biology is not in his future. Elise was completely fascinated with anything and everything we saw, so I guess the trip wasn't a total flop.

Here are a few fun pictures from our outing:

Steven having tantrums, and yes, he actually threw himself on the dirty floor:

I tried MANY things to make Steven happy. And believe me, I am definitely not above bribery. 10 seconds dealing with Steven in this state, and you wouldn't be above it either. Here are a few of the things I tried:

1. Bribing Steven with crackers

2. Bribing Steven with a new squeaky Shamu puppet:

3. Bribing Steven with his very own cup of soda. Actually two cups of soda as he threw one on the ground breaking the cup. So, I swiped Elise's almost full cup when she wasn't looking and turned it over to Steven as well. I also bribed him with some gummy bears which are unpictured. Believe me, you had to be there. Anyone in their right mind would have done the same just to survive the day.

Elise watching one of the shows, and Steven climbing around on the bleachers and causing a little more trouble:

The Marine Life, doing their thing:

Elise loved everthing we saw, including the Sea Lions which didn't really do much but lay there.And finally, a big thank you to Uncle Adam for hauling Elise all around the park on his shoulders. Now that is a good uncle.

And thank you to Kathryn for letting me steal pictures off of her camera. I was too busy chasing my screaming boy all over the place to snap any pictures myself.I actually enjoyed the shows myself and I am glad we spent the day there, but it is likely to be a long while before I consider visiting the dolphins with Steven again.

A Few Pictures from Redding...

Elise swimming and jumping off the diving board, and Steven watching (he wasn't a fan of the pool):

Baby Hannah and Baby Blake holding hands (cute):

Elise and Steven watching the fish in the aquarium at Turtle Bay: Elise swimming with Uncle Drew and Cousin Hannah:

Elise feeding the birds with Nana at Turtle Bay:

Steven, hanging out with his baby cousins, Blake and Hannah:

Silly Sayings... by Elise

Elise: "Mom, where is Uncle Adam's car?"

Me: "It's at Nana and Papa's house."

Elise: "Oh. Well... is his car fancy with princesses on it?"

If your average picture is worth a thousand words...

... then I'd say these babies are worth at least a million!

Welcome Home, Adam!

My brother Adam came home from his mission this past Thursday night, so the whole family went to Redding to be there for it. It was actually a bit of a whirlwind of a week for us. I flew into Redding around 10pm Wednesday night with Elise and Steven, and Adam came home Thursday night at 9:30 pm. I flew back to Southern California on Friday morning for a nieces wedding on the Miller side, leaving my kiddos at Nana and Papa's house. Saturday morning Chris and I went to the wedding, had a quick stop off at the urgent care for a shoulder injury, and then got in our car and drove 8 hours back up to Redding. We spent Sunday through Tuesday with family, and then drove 9 hours home again on Wednesday. Why is it that two kids can add a whole hour to a drive? Anyway, above are a few pictures from the airport when Adam got home. I'll have to post a few more pictures from the trip later.

18 months

Steven just got his 18 month pictures taken, and I pulled out Elise's 18 month photos today to compare. As I was looking at her photos, I realized that I don't remember a lot of details about how Elise was at 18 months, which makes me a little sad. So, I've decided to write down a few things about Steven at 18 months.

1. Steven is definitely a Mama's boy. I would say that right now Elise is more of a Daddy's girl than a mama's girl, so I imagine she was probably a Daddy's girl at 18 months as well.

2. He has a scream that can pierce your ears, and he is not afraid to use it.

3. He doesn't say many words, but a few of the words he does say are: mama, dad, thank you, buddy, hello, bye, and ready go.

4. He is the best snuggler. He just burrows into you.

5. He is constantly on the go and into everything. He rarely just sits still. He plays in toilets, eats out of the trash cans, and generally gets into trouble in any way possible.

6. He loves to be outside.

7. His favorite foods are yogurt and peanut butter, but he is not afraid to try new things. He surprised me the other day by begging for my salad, and he actually ate quite a bit of it.

8. He is tall for his age.

9. New people and situations stress him out. You can tell in the photos above that he was stressed out, as the photos posted were the best smile we could get out of 30 or so taken. He was screaming in most of them.

10. He still doesn't sleep through the night... unless it is in mom and dad's bed. What a terrible habit!

11. He absolutely LOVES his blankie and his binkie. Sometimes we call him "Pigpen" because he is constantly dragging his blankie behind him, and is a constant mess.

Silly Sayings... by Elise

I have decided that Elise says such funny things that I need to be better about writing down. I think I am going to start posting the funny things she says about once a week. I said try, so that means you can't hold me to it if it doesn't happen. Here are a few of the funny things she said this week:

1. "Mom, I'm going to pretend that you are the prince, and I'm going to pretend that I am wearing lipstick."

2. Elise: "Mom, this is my baby lime and she told me I am her mama. I have a problem though." Me: "What's the problem?" Elise: "Well, I just don't know what I should name her." (Oh, to be three and have life's major problems consist of not knowing what to name your baby lime that calls you mama.) Here is a picture of Elise holding her baby lime -
3. As we were walking through the mall, we heard a lady say, "Hold Nana's hand." Elise looked at me and said, "Nana!!?? Mom, she knows Nana! I know it because I heard her say Nana" - all in the most excited little voice you have ever heard.

A Sunday Afternoon Walk at the Beach

Yesterday we decided to have dinner early, and then head to the beach and just walk around a little bit. The idea was to stay clear of the water since it was Sunday, but unfortunately nobody notified the great big surprise wave of this fact. As we were walking along the edge of the water, a huge wave came and actually knocked Elise down. She was quite upset - she doesn't even deal very well with things spilling on her, so she thought this was a disaster. However, we stripped her down, put my sweatshirt on her, and were able to convince her that it would be okay to continue on our walk. She had a great time collecting shells, and we saw a ton of dolphins swimming in the waves just right off the edge of the beach. Steven, however, was not a fan of the sand at all, so Chris or I had to carry him the entire time. It was kind of a nice little sunday afternoon activity though, and we all had a good time.

Where's Waldo Hobo???

So, I know that Chris really has no fashion sense, and he doesn't like anything that stands out at all in his wardrobe. He likes his clothing to be very neutral and reserved, so I really shouldn't take offense when he doesn't appreciate the way I dress myself and/or the kids. However, here are just a few of the adjectives he used to convey his feelings about how he thought Elise looked in her outfit on our outing to Disneyland this weekend:

1. Homeless Girl

2. Hobo

3. Where's Waldo: Everyone in the park can look for Elise

4. Hippy

He was really not appreciative of her red and white striped leg warmers, and even asked, "Leg Warmers??? Really??? What are we, hippies???" I'm pretty sure he's got the wrong era in mind because leg warmers were sort of an 80's thing and not a hippy thing, but anyway, I got the drift that he was not loving them. His other issue was that her sweater was a bit too small (this is where the homeless girl comment came from). It may be a tad bit small so I probably won't put it on her again, but I don't think she looks so bad in it as to merit being called a homeless girl. I guess we will just have to agree to disagree, but I can guarantee that he hasn't seen the last of the red and white striped leg warmers. Even though they do look a bit like candy canes, there is something about them that I just love. And since Elise said that she loved them and looked beautiful in them, sorry Chris, but you are likely to see those leg warmers again... and again... and again.

playing outside

Here are a few cute pictures of my kids playing outside yesterday. We have been enjoying the warm weather, and hoping it doesn't get too much hotter any time soon!

Steven and Baby Hannah

This past week we went to Redding, and we finally got to meet my niece Hannah for the first time. It was quite funny to me because Steven absolutely adores her, which I didn't really expect. The first day we were there I was sitting on the couch holding Hannah, and Steven came over right next to me and started giving me his signal for "I want that" towards Hannah. Whenever he wants something he looks at it, gives me "popcorn hands" (like you do to the song Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree), and says "Uuuuh, Uuuuh, Uuuuh" over and over until he gets it. Well, he was doing all of this while looking at Hannah, so I sat him down next to me and set Hannah on his lap. He just smiled and talked to her. After a few minutes I took her off of his lap figuring they had both had enough of that, and he started giving me his signal for "give me that" again. He just wanted to hold her forever. Whenever she was in her carseat, he would lean over her and talk and smile and kiss her on the head, without any prompting at all. I was pleasantly surprised at how much he liked her. Actually I thought Elise would be the one to adore her, but she has not paid that much attention to her at all. She will look at her and say, "Aw, she's cute Mom." And she'll talk to her a little bit, but she hasn't even asked to hold her. Sometimes kids just surprise you. My sister Kathryn and Hannah came back home with us and are here visiting until Friday. Steven better soak up all the "baby time" he can get until then, because it is likely to be a while before there is another baby in this house.