Every time a make a new towel (which is a ton lately since everyone in the ward is having babies) Mikey has to try them on and have a picture. He always wants to use them too.

Since Mikey didn't get into preschool this year we have been working on stuff at home.  He loves it and never fights me when I tell him it is time to do school.  I think he wishes I was a little better at being consistent with it.  I love watching his little face when he is working.  He gets such a look of concentration it is fun!

Mikey doing "school work"

Mikey is learning a lot of new things lately.  He is becoming very independent and I often hear him say "I will do it all by myself!"  This means we have to plan on extra time to do everything and he wears some awesome outfits in public.  We are trying very hard to break the thumb sucking habit.  He does great, as long as we remember to "paint his nail" and never even tries to suck his thumb even during the night.  But if we forget and it wears off then he is like a drug addict and you will never see the thumb out of his mouth.  So it is funny because we know he doesn't need to, but if he can there is no stopping him!  He is also working VERY hard at potty training.  I think it is a lot harder for him because he has James as his example so something that isn't really scar y (pooping on the toilet) becomes scary because James thinks it is.  But in the past week we have made a ton of progress.  He hasn't worn a diaper in a long time, even asking to wear underwear at night.  And he has pooped in the toilet several times.  It is funny because we let the kids pick a reward for pooping in the toilet, and for some reason Mikey always chooses James' row boat, even though I know he would prefer something else.

Mikey and Billy in the row boat

He is super excited for the "baby in Mommy's belly"  although he is a little bitter that it isn't going to be a sister.  He is always asking me questions about the baby and pointing at my belly and telling me how the baby has to get bigger and then come out.  The other day I was buying a blanket sleeper for her and Mikey kept going on and on about how it was going to be too big for Brooke so he was going to have to wear it because it was big and Brooke is "way little".  When we got home James was trying to put it on and he said "No Jamesie, that's Brookie's!"
Michael says the funniest things.  I think about every day I want to post something funny he as said on facebook, but I don't want people to get annoyed with me posting too much stuff about my kids.  So now I have forgotten most of it.

James' first day of school

"Just take the picture Dad!"

Kindergarden here is full time.  That means 8 am to 3pm.  It is a long hard day for James and he hasn't quite adjusted.  I met with his teacher and special ed teacher before school started to tell them about James and what they could expect from him.  They both seemed very eager to do what was needed to help him adjust to Kindergarden and succeed.  But I don't think they really understood what that meant or how much help James would need.  I know the special ed teacher talked about putting James in the regular classroom most of the day (His IEP is for about 50%) and seeing how he did and then pulling him out more if needed.  I thought that sounded good, but knew it wouldn't happen.  So after about the first week he was being pulled out most of the day and all his teachers were kind of at a loss for what to do.   After the first week I met with the teacher and principal and district specialist to figure out a new behavioral plan for him.  He was really struggling with everything.  They had a lot of good ideas I felt and tried to stress to them that it was really going to take time and they had to just be patient.
At parent teacher conferences we learned James was struggling a lot more then we knew.  They had a long list of behaviors they were working on and said they hadn't really gotten to any academics yet because it was all behavior.  Things like, not tipping in his chair, leaving things alone that don't belong to him, staying in his seat, screaming, kicking, hitting, refusing to work, the list goes on.  It was pretty discouraging for us.  The general feeling between everyone was that he needed his own one-on-one aid, but the district wouldn't do it without more documentation.
Then things started to get better, at least at home.  I found out one morning in the middle of our "I will not go to school" meltdown.  I asked James if he liked PE.  He said no he liked music.  I looked on his schedule and saw that he did have music that day.  He immediately perked up after that.  Since then we have found out a few things about school.  He HATES PE.  He loves music.  He likes recess.  He hates computers.  Another big thing that happened is a few weeks ago we were getting ready for church and I realized it had been too quite for too long.  That usually means trouble.  But when I looked for James he was quietly sitting at the table "doing homework".  He sat there for probably 30 minutes just happily working.  He has NEVER done that.  He has been drawing a lot since then.

James doing homework

I found this picture that he drew and didn't know what it was.  So I asked him.  He confidently replied, "Leaving it on, falling down, and winter."  I immediately knew what he was talking about.  He had drawn trees in their seasons according to him.  Leaving it up (Spring/summer) Falling down (fall) and winter.

leaving it up, falling down and winter

Some other fun things he has been doing: 

Just look at this cute little man.  So much fun!

One day he decided to give me a manicure with play dough.

 One day James came out of the bathroom looking like this:

Mikey "splashing".  Also known as diving.

Mikey practicing his head stands

In August we went to Flaming Gorge with Doug's family and I didn't take a single picture.  I think Doug and I were ready to pack up and leave after a few nights.  The first night our brand new air mattress had a hole in it so Doug had to sleep on the ground and I shared my sleeping bag and a twin mattress with Mikey.  James didn't sleep well.  The next night Billy hardly slept at all.  But we stuck it out and the boys got better.  James loved riding on Grandpa's boat almost immediately.  He was so excited about the whole thing.  It took us a while to get Mikey used to the idea and finally I just forced him on the boat and he loved it by the time we left.  Billy basically loved everything about camping (except sleeping), but that is pretty much his personality.  Doug loved water skiing and cliff diving with his brothers.  Overall it was a pretty fun time.

Really hard to get a good picture

It is supposed to look like an Uno card. It was the first time I used my Silhouette on fabric and I have to say I am hooked!

And I made him this cake:

The boys insisted he wanted a bumble bee cake.  I have no idea where that came from, but that is what Billy wanted... according to Mikey and James.

And pretty much that is all we did for his birthday.  No poster, no balloons, not even any presents!  Can you believe that.  Well in our defense we bought him a ball the day before. But he was with us and was playing with it in the car so we just gave it to him.  We also got him a tunnel, but it was in the mail.
That morning we asked the boys if they wanted to go to the pool or the lake.  It was unanimous, "the Lake" James and Mikey both yelled.  Of course, James wanted to go to the lake he wanted to use his row boat.  So we drove to Ute Reservoir, and the boys loved it.  James immediately took his rowboat out with Dad and jumped out so he could water ski.  Funny boy.  Billy kept crawling in and crawling out.  He loved it.  We had a picnic lunch then packed up and headed home.

Dad and Billy in the row boat

Billy wanted to help paddle

Billy eating his cake.  Not a happy camper.

• He LOVES his brothers, he tries to do everything they are doing, and it makes them mad!
• He loves to eat, he eats everything, and is starting to do pretty well with a sippy cup instead of a bottle. 
• When he is outside he does a "spiderman" crawl, using his hands and feet and not letting his knees touch the ground.
• He loves the water
• He gets very vocal when you have food and he wants it.
• He loves to climb, I have found him on top of tables, chairs, beds, and our toy shelf
• He loves to point and give kisses.
• He says Mom and Dad
• He is getting more teeth, not sure how many because it looks like his entire mouth is swollen
• He walks!  But he is not a walker.  He still mainly crawls to get around, but wants to walk so badly and often just randomly stands up and takes a few steps.

Here is a picture of Billy taking a few steps, he is getting better every day, but still pretty unsteady.

Michael painting with spaghetti noodles.

Once they are done with "school" James basically gets in the pool for the rest of the day.  Everyday.  Michael bought these "water scooters" with some birthday money he had.  That day as soon as we got home at 9 am he went and got in the pool, he didn't get out until 6:00 that evening.  Then he walked in the house sat down at the table where we were eating dinner and said "I swim."

Pulling Dad on the "water scooter"

James has also become quite helpful.  One day I was fixing dinner and James came in and decided to set the table for us.  He gave Michael and himself the big plates and Doug and I the little plates.  He even put napkins on the table!

James setting the table

One day I was working on a towel for a baby gift and James found these little pieces I had cut off.  He decided to be a cat.  He drew a cat face on himself and gave himself ears.
The boys are also obsessed with playing in the car.  They go out in the garage and disappear.  One day I went out to check on James who I knew was playing in the car and found Billy sitting proudly in the front seat.

This is an extremely happy face, not a crying face like it looks like.

Billy has bee growing up so fast this past month.  He is huge now and every time I pick him up I think, wow you are big.  He is a climber and climbs on everything.  One day I found him two "steps" up on our toy shelf, and another day I found him sitting on top of the little table we have for the boys.  He is also in to everything!  I always have to make sure toilet lids are closed or he is splashing in the water.  He has quickly become our most difficult child.  He pulls everything out and loves to play with everything.  I have recently given him the nickname "the terrorist" this is because he loves to terrorize his brothers.  Whatever they are doing he wants to do too.  The most common thing I hear in our house is "NO BILLY!" when I hear this I look and Billy is always messing up whatever the bigger boys are playing with.  And he LOVES being outside.  As soon as the back door is open he is moving as fast as he can to get out.
This week, to my astonishment, James has finally made some progress toward potty training.  I would say we have been stuck in the same place for a year or more.  James will pee in the toilet when asked, but would not poop, and often would not poop even in his diaper.  If he would go 4-5 days without pooping I would start giving him stool softeners and finally a suppository to make him poop.  Well a few weeks ago it had been a week so we did the suppository.  5 days later again no poop so I gave him a stool softener.  The next day still no poop so another stool softener, that night a suppository, which had never failed in the past.  But to my amazement still no poop.  Sunday night we tried again, and still nothing.  Monday morning I went and got the liquid suppositories thinking it would work better.  Got home from the store and tried again.  This time I had him sit on the toilet, which he surprisingly agreed to.  He still held it in.  I was getting so frustrated thinking we were going to have to take him to the doctor since it had now been over a week and he was strong enough to hold in in even with a suppository.  So I told him, if you don't poop we are going to have to go to the doctor.  He reply was always "no we are going to get  a row boat."  Somehow he had decided I told him he could have a row boat if he pooped.  I thought a row boat was a great reward, but not for just one poop.  We after a while I got frustrated and left the bathroom and went to look up the Dr.s number to set up an appointment.  About 5 minutes later I heard screaming and crying, then James was putting his clothes back on and walking out of the bathroom.  When I looked I saw that he had pooped in the toilet!  I was so proud of him.  The rest of the day he kept getting in the car to go get the row boat.  When Dad got home we decided that 1 poop would earn him a small pool boat, but not the $20 row boat we saw on Amazon.  So we went to Walmart to find one, they were out.  So we went to Big Lots to see what they had.  James immediately saw the very row boat that we saw on Amazon.  We decided he could get it, but he could only play with it on days after he pooped in the toilet.

Once we got that boat in the pool he was the happiest little boy in the world.

He even gave Billy a ride.

 Now every day he asks for his row boat and every day I tell him after he poops in the toilet.  Every day he has gone and pooped in the toilet.  Every time!  Even after he already has his rowboat.  It is pretty much a miracle.
I have been having fun too.  I saw this wreath idea on Pinterst and of course had to make it.  I figured it took folding paper about 750 times, but other than that is was really easy.  And since no one ever comes to our house to see it, I have to post it here.

The Pink Owl.  Mikey wanted to wear it.

The tiger.  As soon as it was done Mikey made me hang it up next to their towels.  He still asks for the Tiger towel.

A few weeks ago we took a family vacation to Florida.  We decided to drive since it was about 1/4 of the cost of flying and we would have a car that fit us all while we were there.  The 29 hour drive was pretty uneventful.  We picked Blake up in Dallas and decided to drive the rest of the way there that day because the kids (Billy) didn't do so well in the hotel the night before.  So when we got there at 10 am the next morning we were pretty tired and ready to just hand the kids over and sleep!  Mikey and James were really excited to be at Grammy and Grandad's though.  James pretty much immediately got his swimsuit on and jumped in the pool, and basically didn't get out until two weeks later when it was time to leave.

James, Michael and Billy swimming in the pool

I think this is the happiest I saw Mikey in the water the entire time

They also quickly discovered Grammy's treadmill and it became a source of entertainment when swimming was not allowed.


On Monday after we got there Doug and I left the kids with Grammy and Grandad and went on a cruise.  It was something we both definitely needed and very enjoyable.  Except for the day I got seasick.  While we were gone the boys had some swimming lessons, that didn't really work because Michael wouldn't get in the water and James wouldn't take off his life jacket.  But the rest of the time we were there James kept pretending he was at swim lessons.  They also got to see the sea turtles and swim to their hearts content (ok maybe not that much, I don't think James would ever stop swimming if we didn't make him).
On Friday Grammy, Uncle Blake and the boys picked us up at the pier.  James and Billy were so excited to see us.  Michael had conflicting emotions and didn't know how to deal with it.  He was happy to see us but mad at us for leaving.  So we got the silent treatment for awhile.  After they picked us up we went to my favorite place, Robert is Here.  It is just like a fruit stand with all different kinds of fruits.  Mikey and Billy LOVED the mangos they had to sample.  They also had a petting zoo and a splash park so the boys loved it too.  We got to try Dragon Fruit this time, it was really interesting and Mikey practically ate the entire thing.
Saturday we spent the day mostly on the water.  Grandad was home from work so we took the "water scooters" (wave runners) out for some fun.  James didn't like it too much.  Mikey was too much of a wimp to get on until I forced him, then he loved it, and Billy fell asleep.  

James was pretending to ski behind the wave runners

In the afternoon the boys went golfing and found a little turtle, I didn't get a good picture of it, but Mikey loved his "black turtle" and had to ask about it every morning.  Although he never wanted to touch it.

Mikey and his black turtle

James and Mikey going to the beach

The boys loved the caves that the waves had made out of the rocks

James in his cave

Helping Mikey find shells

Searching for more shells

Billy loved playing in the sand

Billy got buried, he loved it.

So Mikey and James wanted to get buried

Everyone else playing in the ocean

Mikey's first trip to the ocean, he wouldn't get near the water

James loved his "ski board" and had no fear of the water

Grandad finally got Mikey in the water

Grandad putting Mikey to bed

After the ocean we always had to get right in the pool.  James usually spent at least 5 hours in the water every day.  He got really brave and had no problem getting his face wet.

Dad and James driving the car

Mom and Mikey

The rest of the time we just spent at the beach and in the pool.  It was over all a very fun trip and the boys are begging to go back.

The dog hates thunder storms and will go sit on anyones lap during one.  I just happened to be feeding Billy during one and so Billy got to hold the dog while he ate.

Mikey trying on Grandad's snorkel equipment

James headed out to catch some waves

He loved the ocean.

Billy also loved the beach

Dad giving Billy a ride

Friday we packed up to head home.  The plan was to only drive part of the way and stay in a hotel.  But about 10 pm came when we would have stopped and all the kids were asleep.  We decided that because they do so poorly in hotels if we stopped we would be getting much sleep anyway.  So we kept driving.  We said if we got too tired we would just pull over and sleep in the car, but we never had to.  The boys were pretty excited to be home, but James definitely misses the water.