Siblings who bathe together...

When I was young, I took a bath with three of my siblings. My older two siblings sat side by side in the front of the tub, but the spout, and I sat next to my little brother behind them. We barely fit, and my older siblings got the deeper and warmer water.
Lucky for my kids, there are only two of them.

Lydia recently graduated from her baby bath tub. She liked baths before, but they are extra fun now. She had so much fun splashing and splashing.

At one point, Lydia was lying on her back, and splashing up a storm with her arms and legs. Then some water would splash in her face, and she would flail a little at the surprise and distaste. The extra flailing would cause more water to her face, which would make her splash extra hard, which would get more water to her face, which caused a bit of a panic. I eventually intervened to save my baby from herself.








I think they're cute.

Lydia the tank engine?

Morgan has been saying a lot of funny things lately, so here is another Morgan quote post.

One day, Morgan nonchalantly brought up the subject of love and timeouts. He told me, "People that love everyone, don't give other people time-outs." Oh really? I guess I missed that memo. Actually, I tried to tell him that I gave him time-outs because I love him, and I want him to learn to always be a good boy. Yeah, that really didn't fly for him.

Morgan loves trains. The other day we were driving near the train track, and we heard a train whistle. He was very excited about it. Then he said, "I wish Lydia was a train."

Today at church, an older gentleman was complimenting Morgan on his suit. He said, "You're a good looking young man."
Morgan replied. "You're old."
I guess we need to work on our manners.

Morgan likes to say "Yes sir-ree." But he also knows that a man is sir, and a woman is ma'am. So when he talks to me he says, "Yes ma'am-a-ree." Say that out loud. Or don't.

In a tote

I got a couple storage totes the other day, which currently sit in the middle of my bedroom floor, making the night time feedings especially hazardous. I've found that they also make for great temporary play pens.
Observe:

Notice the way she's sucking her finger? She's been doing that a lot lately. Hand backward, one of the middle fingers in the mouth.

So sweet!

Surprise!

I uploaded the pictures from my camera to my computer yesterday, and came across a bit of a surprise.



In other news, last night during Morgan's prayer, he said, "I'm thankful for stamps, beautiful stamps."

Morgan often tells me that I know everything. Good boy.

We've been doing a bit of spring cleaning here, and went through some old toy boxes of my brothers. Many toys are being donated to DI, more are being thrown away, but there were a ton of Hotwheels type cars that Morgan inherited, (like he needed any more!) and he was so thrilled. He was raving about how it was the best day, such a good day, his favorite day.

I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike...

March 24th was a sort of good day. Not a good day in comparison to other March 24ths, but for this year to date, it was a sort of good day. So I got out my bike and bike trailer, put them all together, (three of four tires weren't on) inflated 4 tires, (well, got my brother to do it) fought with some dirty chain issues, bundled up my children, buckled them in the trailer, then went for a short ride.
The last time I rode my bike was two summers ago. Needless to say, I didn't have the toughened backside. The ride didn't last very long, (it wasn't actually very warm) but it was fun, and something I plan to do more frequently once it actually starts to warm.

Gooooooooo Toppers!

Yay, volleyball! I played on a city league volleyball team this winter. Fun stuff. It was mostly my family on the team. My brothers' employer sponsored us, so we named the team Toppers in honor of Seminis. They deal with corn, and most of us have worked in the cornfield at one time or another. (I'm gonna again this summer.) So, Toppers for corn toppers, and the double meaning of, "We're the best and on top!"
But we weren't the best. :( Our regular season we had a poor record, 2-5. We did better in the tournament. Sort of. It was double elimination. We won two before we were out. However, in our regular season, they pitted us against all the best teams. We were a B team, as were most teams, but the few A teams they had played the B teams. I think we faced all of them. Also, we never had our team together. My mom was on the team originally as a back-up. She played most games. I was gone for two, since I'd just had surgery and my mean doctor said I couldn't play. Chris was gone for two, on business in Mexico. Autumn (the only not family member on the team) was gone for different reasons throughout, and at the end because she was having a baby in a couple more months. So we were scattered. But Mom is good, especially for an old woman. ;)

Dad came and took pictures one game. Some players were photographed more than others, so if it seems I am biased, I am not. I'm just working with what I had. Dad was biased. :)

This was a game that Autumn didn't play. Let me introduce the team.

First we have little brother Cameron. Cameron joined the family in 1990, but didn't really start enjoying volleyball until 2009 or so. He brings to the game humor, angry outbursts, amazing saves, great hits, and 100% effort, which is why you'll see him on the ground, or falling to it, in many pictures.
Just check out that concentration.
Cameron also brought the handsome. And I brought the...full bladder??

Cameron likes to combine ballet with volleyball for that extra spice.
Next up we have Christine. She joined the family in 2004, but has been playing volleyball quite well for much longer. You'll want to make sure you're not on the receiving end of her serves and spikes. No matter what position she plays, you can always count on Christine to give an A+ performance.
Christine has patented her signature move, the flamingo. Don't mess with it.

Stuffed!
Next up, team captain Chris. He made his family debut in '82, (that rhymes!) and I have no idea how long he's played volleyball. But he's an athlete, so it'd be best not to underestimate him. His serves mean business, his spikes are rarely returned, and he keeps the team focused and ready. (Tries his best to.)

Oh, and another thing; he levitates. The boy can hop, but not only that, he doesn't always land. You might think your spike won't be blocked since Chris is jumping several feet away, but Chris can jump straight up, decide in the air that he wants to be somewhere else, then float over there before he lands.

Mom is next. She started the family in 1979, and probably played volleyball since birth. Don't let her age and height fool you, she can bump, set, spike/hit-it-over-the-net-on-the-third-hit like the rest of us! (Come on, she's 5'4 playing on a men's net!) Her specialty is returning the hardest hit spikes with her nose. She'll always take one for the team.

Next up; Casey. Born in 1992, he's only played volleyball for a couple of years, but has caught up to everyone else, and surpassed several. He might not ever smile, speak, or even look interested, but he loves the game. Opponents hate it when he's at the net, due to his go-go-gadget arms, which reach to anywhere on the net to block the on-coming hits. Sometimes even free-balls. Certainly a good asset to have on the team.
Last and least we have Melanie. Joined the family in 1984, started playing volleyball as a beehive (12 year old girl in the church). She has improved since then, but not as much as the years would lead you to believe. Her serves are easy-to-return lobs, but almost all of them went over the net. About 1 in 5 of her sets are good, but at least she knows when it's her fault that the play failed. Melanie takes great pride in herself every time she uses her knee-pads, or when she gets a finger on the ball she attempted to block.



Oh, and Autumn was on the team. She was 5 months pregnant, and running, jumping, and diving. She was awesome.

Here's some more action shots.

The huddle.


Ka-may-ah-may-aaaaaaaaa! (Dragon Ball Z reference.)
Wha-bam!
No admittance here!

Seems like someone should be going for that...

I love this. The ball is on the ground and we're all just staring at it. Hmm. Do we actually know how to play this sport?
Dig!
I don't even know what's going on here, but it made me chuckle.
I'm excited to play again next year. We'll win it all this time. Goooooo Toppers!

I was wrong

I need to write down some more of the things that Morgan has said.

Yesterday Morgan was holding his Thomas train. In a mournful voice he said, "Chugga chugga choo choo, Thomas the tank engine is dead." I said something about the sadness of the situation, to which Morgan, now embarrassed, replied, "I wasn't talking to you."

Yesterday Morgan was in time out. He was kind of throwing a fit and yelling for me to go to him. I was choosing the ignore approach. My dad was closer to Morgan and told him not to argue with his mother, or something. I didn't hear their whole conversation, but I did hear Morgan tell his grandpa, "I don't appreciate that you said that."

Morgan's future wife can thank me. I'm sure I had something to do with his frequent confessions of being wrong. It's usually after I convince him that his initial choice about something maybe wasn't the best. So he'll say, "I was wrong. I do want to eat dinner."