growth

 A lot of growth has conspired around here.

Natalie went from two months...

 We love her Dr. Phil mullet. :)

to three months.

 I'm not really sure why, but she kept flexing her feet and legs for her 3 month pictures.

She sure is strong.

Just after her two month mark she was wiggling out of her swaddle in the mornings. This is how I found her one morning. Out of the swaddle and the side sleeper wedge.

Her neck is growing stronger everyday.

Although she doesn't always love tummy time. Tummy time is sometimes binky time too. :)

It helps to have a cute baby face to look at. She loves this book. It's a hand me down from Reid. It was his favorite too.

Natalie has gotten strong enough for her bumbo. We FINALLY bought one of our own instead of borrowing a friends' again. We got it second hand so it's blue, but Natalie doesn't mind. :)

 The above pictures were of her first day in it - about 2.5 months. She gets stronger and more steady everyday...

 As she gets stronger she also stays in it longer.

My mom got to meet her.

Those darn headbands...:) Love'em and hate'em.

Other things about Natalie:

She is our smiley-est baby by far.
She is rolling from tummy to back almost regularly and from back to tummy every once in a while.
She sleeps 9-10 hours at night, but naps sporadically during the day.
She loves the swaddle which I think is responsible for the good night time sleeping.
She is starting to bring her hands to her mouth.
She coos and loves to talk. She can hold quite a long conversation. If you can believe it, I tire of talking before she does. She can go a reallllly long time without breaking eye contact and/or pausing her cooing if she's in a talkative mood.
She doesn't burp. She belches.
She smiles with her whole body.
She hates to be dirty. Once she soils her diaper, she won't stop fussing until you take care of it....our boys weren't really like that. But consequently she hasn't developed any rashes because not one soiled diaper goes unnoticed.
She kicks like crazy. She's itching to move!...very much like our other two kids.

We sure love Natalie!

She isn't the only one growing around here.

Owen did a wonderful job at his spelling bee. He made it until there were just less than a dozen kids left.

 Jared came to visit Owen's classroom a couple of weeks before school was out and he was home for his monthly visit. Owen's teacher invited parents to come teach the kids about what they do for a living. His class loved Jared's presentation. Jared of course made it really fun and brought his preserved aquatic bug collection.

I really hate that I forgot my camera. :( Jared really did a great job and I could tell Owen was so proud.

It's hard to believe he's out of school and on his way to be a second grader!

He also learned to blow bubble gum bubbles.

Other things he's up to:

He's loving reading chapter books and silent reading. He's into Andrew Lost right now.

I've been trying to give him more responsibility around the house...as much as I can stand while playing single mom. Sometimes it seems like more work to give the kids chores than to just do it myself. ;) One of his weekly chores is to make lunch which he did this past week. He made us PB&J and did a very nice job.  Should we tackle mac'n'cheese next?

He can be such a gentleman. He always opens and holds the door open for other people when in public. He's known to be late for school and still hold the door for other kids as he runs into school.

He's taken quite a shine to Natalie. She seems to smile at him the most.

 Growing up so fast but still my adorable little boy.

Reid finished up soccer.

 Him sliding around on the floor the whole time. :) The whole time.

 The neighbor boys...

They were in soccer too but not on the same team as Reid.

Reid also learned to wink. Owen reminds me that he can too...I need to get a picture of him also. :)

It's funny. Owen and Reid can only wink with their left eyes and I can only wink with my right eye. Jared can do both.

 This cool kid just gave his first scripture in Primary. He even memorized it. He was so expressive when he delivered it, using his hands a lot when he talked and everything. It was so adorably, deliciously cute, I could have eaten the moment up with a spoon.

More about Reid:

He skipped the terrible twos but has taken up the terrifying threes with gusto.
He wants to be big like Owen and is so sad when Owen goes to sports camp without him. He reminds himself out loud all the time that swim will begin in just a couple of weeks.
He swears he wants a Ninjago birthday party (in September), even though I keep telling him he's a bit too young. Or is he???
He likes to watch (parts!) of So You Think You Can Dance with me. He likes to show his moves off around the living room floor.
He loves Natalie and is SO sweet with her; but every once in a while will give her a good hard thump in the belly when he doesn't think I'm watching. ...sigh...
He continues to crack us up with the funny, weird things he says. He sneezed the other day and exclaimed, "Mom! My nose farted!"
He also likes to use potty language like "poop" and "bum" ALL the time. It drives me nuts. He seems impervious to most discipline lately, so I try not to pick this battle too often. I'm hoping this phase passes quickly!

Despite how challenging this age has been for Reid, we sure love all the color he brings to our family.

Here's some more pictures of the boys because I couldn't resist...

The children are not the only things growing around here. Our garden is in full Spring crop glory.

 Butter crunch lettuce and rainbow chard.

 With tomatoes on the way...

We also planted watermelon and honey dew, asparagus (wish us luck on that one) and Thai basil.

I wonder if there is a cap on the length of blog posts? I might be pretty close to reaching it. :)

That's all for now!