Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful Dad's in our lives. We love you!

Steven has been sick all week. It is quite sad actually. I wonder sometimes why he gets sick so often. Then I see him laying face down on the driveway lapping up dirty water out of a puddle on the concrete, and I stop wondering. Yes, that actually happened today. I'm not sure if boys are just naturally grosser than girls, or if it is just the case with my kids, but Steven sure does things to gross me out a whole lot more than Elise ever even thought about.

On a side note, the other day I walked in to find Steven watching cartoons in this fireman hat. It made me laugh, because at this age Elise almost always had a hat on. Her pink cowgirl hat was her favorite, but once in a while she wore this very same fireman hat, so it reminded me of her. He usually hates hats, but I think he is warming up to them.

Silly Sayings by Elise

1. Elise: "Mom! Dad just said the most wonderful thing!"

Me: "What did he say?"

Elise: He said, "Sure, fine, you can have chocolate milk!"

She said these little quotes above with such excitement, it was like she had won the lottery. Chocolate milk is good and all, but she was seriously soooo excited.

2. We drove through McDonald's for lunch the other day, and as we were pulling out of the drive through I looked in the bag and noticed that our fries had been left out. I said, to myself more than anything, "Ooops, it looks like they forgot our fries." Elise heard the comment and replied, ""What? No fries? That's ridi-key-lous!" I don't think I've ever heard her use the word ridiculous before and it was cracking me up the way she pronounced it. However, I tend to agree that to drive through McDonald's and come out with no fries is a little ridiculous - the fries are definitely the best thing on their menu!

I looked out the window and what did I see?

... A boy in mismatched shoes and a cowgirl playing!

Yesterday I was doing dishes and I heard Steven at the back door going, "uh, uh, uh" which is Steven language for, "I want something and you need to get it for me." I walked back to see what he wanted, and he had put on two mismatched crocs - one of his own and one of Elise's, both of which happened to be lefties. He was reaching for the door and giving me the "uh, uh, uh" to go outside. I opened the door and sent he and Elise out to play, and went back to doing dishes. From the window over the sink I could see them, so I was doing dishes and watching the kids play.

Elise came running in saying something about needing a sun umbrella and a cowgirl hat so she could "ride the range with her horsie." Two minutes later she was back out the door and here is a picture of what I saw:

Apparently the bike was her horsie, and she was dragging him up and down the driveway. However she was careful to hold the sun umbrella over both herself and the horsie so neither of them would get too hot. What an imaginative little girl!

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.