happiest place(s) on earth

Depends on where grandparents are... because that is where it is happiest. Am I right??

Emmy fit into the smallest little half sink I've ever seen. I really would never have thought to even try it! Leave it to Grandma Stacey to let Mont relive his happy bath memory from last year. He has brought it up at least every other week, "rememer? rememmmerrr?"

Mont had his first dinner 'date' with his second cousin, beautiful Tatum. They were talking like it was going out of style, sharing a whole wheat english muffin. Toasted. With butter.

Cousin Maxwell:

Then back to Utah, and the fun and happiness continued on:

Can't get over her sweet look of anticipation. This is just before her first ride on the scooter!

Not even sure where this face came from!

snapshots of the trip

snapshots with my iphone

The trip started off a little rough, then was great, then rough, then great again, then home. The second flight of the trip, from Minneapolis to Salt Lake City, I had to ask three people to please give up their seats so I could sit with my little ones. The flight attendant at the gate gave us three separate seats, then it was up to us to find people who would move. It was terrible.. no one wanted to help, and finally the people who did, made me feel like the terrible person I already felt I was for asking them to move! After I was unable to stop the tears from rolling, the kiddos sidled up to me and both fell asleep for the entire flight. You win some, you lose some, right? 

The day before we left home, Emmy was practicing her travel etiquette: 

After the flights, we landed in Utah, drove to Grandma's house and promptly played with all the toys we could, forgetting all about the unpleasantness of grumpy people: 

Legos, excuse me, Big Boy Legos were found and Mont spent hours building houses and boats for the little legos people: 

Swinging on the back porch with Emmy and her beloved bubble necklace (with no bubbles):

Mark headed up the second leg of the trip to California, as there were only 3 non-rev seats available. He was able to successfully handle the stroller loading and unloading onto the shuttle to the hotel by himself with the two kids, and late night mamba-candy distribution. What a hero!

We reunited the next day in Anaheim where we were anxiously awaiting our time at Disneyland: 

Molly was dared by her father (no less!) to run through the water fountain at its highest height. She was already in her swim suit, so the dare was accepted! 

Emmy was dead set on getting this particular pink set of ears when Mark took them to downtown disney that morning. She wore it as much as she could our entire time there:

A pay phone I remember my dad taking a business call on when I was really young. 

Hasn't changed in over 20 years!! 

Mont and his cousin Maxwell. Mont loves this kid sooo much.

Exhilarated Mont on Soarin' Over California... he absolutely loved this ride:

However, Emmy was not all that pleased when Alice in Wonderland broke down while we were in the Wrong Way Forest (not sure of the name, but that fits, right?):

Mont loved the toy story rides, being able to shoot the guns and rockets:

Visiting family is the best... late nights, cookies for breakfast, popsicles for snacks, etc. Happiness is summer at the grandparents'. 

Stacey keeps an owl paperweight on her desk, and when Emmy found it she would not let it go for a good long while!

While getting ready for an all-too-short hour long visit with my sister, I noticed the tag on my shirt was the same name she's given both of my babies when they were really little.... so a picture seemed appropriate! Made me laugh.

Vying for Tessa's affection and hugs:

Emmy's new "Picture Face":

Minneapolis near midnight:

garden greens

red barn wood beds 

 sweet mint (reminds me of summers in Bellevue)

peppermint plants 

tomatoes  

flowers for the bumble bees

chutes, ladders, and swinging solo

He's done it, ladies and gents, he's figured out the swing!! He can hop on (a little bit of a scramble to get on), and begin to rock back and forth enough to get started, and within a couple minutes his feet are as high as my head. My tips on Friday when he finally was willing to listen and try till he succeeded were a mixture of, "let your feet fly really high! then drop your feet back, then let them fly high!" Somehow something stuck and he was flying.

everything's more fun with a tail

A couple of weeks ago I spent some rainy days inside making these dinosaur tails out of canvas, velcro and stuffing. They have been as big of a hit with the kids as we had thought they'd be and it makes me smile ear to ear to see them laughing so hard at each other when they wear them; they must not realize how goofy they look, themselves. ha! Oh, I love it.

Mark plays dinosaur catcher, above

Mont runs away fast, below

Emmy prances along, pretending to be a princess dinosaur, I'd imagine:

And the two little dinos run off on a hunt:

reader reading

Hey there fellow bloggers! It's been few and far between these days that I get around to posting; then when I do, it's in a collaboration of catch-ups. Thank heavens for Instagram to post our happenings somewhere [on the record].

Question for those that are users of the great and glorious Google Reader: I saw that it is sputtering to a kaput on July 1 of this year. I am gearing up to go old style where reading blogs is concerned: a blog roll once again on the side bar, checking early every morning. Maybe it will bring back the old magic the blog world used to hold for everyone. What my question is, is what are you planning on doing to gear up for this change? Are there any programs that would take the place efficiently?

I'll end with a fun factoid.. on this day in history in 1819, Walt Whitman was born.. here are a few favorable quotes:

"I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends."

"Keep your face always towards the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you."

"Re-examine all that you have been told... dismiss that which insults your soul."

"I exist as I am, that is enough."

"Oh while I live, to be the ruler of life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to me will ever take command of me."

"I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game."

"Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes."

"Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."

Happy weekend!

captain mont reeder

Have your read or heard of the book How I Became A Pirate? It's a favorite here at our house, and nearly every night it is requested before bed. We change Jeremy Jacob to Mont Reeder and he gets a kick out of it, checking to be sure that in each picture, "That's me?" "Yep!" And every day he wants to dress like a pirate, stripes and all. If it's not a "Smee shirt" (striped) then it must be a shirt with dinosaurs or dynamite or something equally as boyish. But pirates have green teeth, when they have any teeth at all, so whenever Mont asks for something good, he asks if it will help his teeth stay white and strong. So funny what some kids take from certain stories or situations. I love this little land lubber to pirate pieces.