Free Range on Fairview

I really thought I was being clever when I realized that it might be a good idea to make reservations for our summer vacation this early in February. Much to my chagrin when I hopped on the internet to Farragut State park in Idaho (which is minutes away from Silverwood amusement park which happens to be the kids favorite part of the trip) and I started looking around expecting to find a plethora of options... I was wrong. Dead wrong. There is nothing left for the week Shane has off. We've been doing this for a few years now and I thought this far in advance  from July I was really planning ahead, but apparently other people plan better than me. So now we are trying to figure out what we can do. We have a trailer that we are still paying on and want to use it so we are looking into splitting up RV spots, or coming up with Plan B or maybe Plan C... The Ocean, the forest... anywhere just not the desert. We have over a week to fill with family time and I feel defeated because my brain ...

 I tried to sit Lincoln on my bathroom sink counter while I clipped his finger nails since I haven't found a way to efficiently do this. I did the hand closets to the mirror first while he held a little bottle of lotion first, then I switched and made my fatal mistake. I let his other hand free. Since I had a death grip on his right hand and was still only half done, I just let it go and knew I was in for some cleaning. He managed to flip over the tooth brush holder and dump out my entire make up bag. Figured I could snap some pictures rather than getting mad, it was my fault for putting him there right?

We were out to dinner the other night with the boys and my dad, Kevin. Dylan busily colored the leprechaun coloring contest picture. After he was finished he showed it to me and said, "Doesn't it look lanique?" Lanique, what the heck is that? I finally realized that the hostess had told him to color the picture and make it look unique . ahh That makes sense now. His tye dye picture will hopefully win him a gift card, but to me lanique is worth more than that! I am just so happy lately. I think I finally realized that while there are things that I want, I have so much more than I could need. I have a husband who loves me. Yes we have our day to day issues but we get along, we make decisions, we have a nice warm house and I get to stay home and enjoy it. I have a teenage daughter to impress upon and have real conversations with. I have an almost 6 year old who lets me cuddle him when I want, but can explain to me how trees grow on the tundra. I have a 7 month old baby that...

Earlier this week I registered for my final quarter at the community college before I get my AA degree (associates of arts? A two year degree) and I just wanted to thank all of the people who have helped me get where I am now over the course of almost what, ten years. Thank you to my mom and dad who helped me succeed through high school to get into all of the colleges I applied to. Thank you for paying my tuition for Western Washington University and for the outrageous prices for room and board and for being involved there. Also a big thank you to them when they still supported me as I became a mom at a young age and still had faith in me that I could become whatever I wanted to be. Thank you to Uncle Steve and Aunt Judy who paid for my first quarter at community college while I was pregnant. Thank you to my bother and sister who helped me while I was grumpy and turned into a sumo wrestler of a girl. Thanks again to my parents who watched Dylan while I took night classes and online cla...

 Boys, they just naturally think different that girls. Here is a photo of Dylan from a few days ago. (If you can't quite tell in the picture) He is "gutting" a blow up deer with a plastic knife while his rifle is laying on the ground next to him. Decked out in camo he is still a hunter-in-training. Since I'm hardly in any of the pictures, last night I convinced Dylan to snap a shot of Lincoln and I just after his bath. While the lighting is bad and neither one of us are particularly posed, I like the spontaneity of it.

 A little fuzzy but here is Lincoln getting ready to show you how he can put food into his own mouth. Yes he's still learning but he's not as lazy as I made him seem before :) (and yes another set of high chair pictures, it's one of the only places I can keep this busy baby still!)  Using two hands and trying to will his little snack into his mouth  Ah ha I got it!  Swimming at the city pool. Dylan, his friend and our neighbor Ricky, Danielle and Lincoln. He didn't really enjoy "swimming" but I set him on that little step there and he just sat and played with a boat for like 20 minutes, pretty exciting. and yes, mommy put on a swim suit for the first time since having baby too.  My set up for Valentine's day, what a nerd right? Candy and useful things...  Cookies with homemade buttercream frosting. Some examples for the kids.  Dylan deciding what he wanted to do...  Then eating his creativity, yum! You can't tell but that is a heart cookie ...

Dylan created this picture frame the other day from stuff in his craft bin, now you have a framed picture of Dylan with quite the goofy expression on his face. I can't believe my baby is going to be 6 in less than a month! I keep telling him to stop growing up but he won't listen to me.  Dylan and Shane enjoying some bonding time over watching Motle Crue music videos on the internet, this happens every couple of months in our house, especially now that Dylan wants to become a Rock Star among many other occupations.  

 Smiling as mommy does all the work...  Rather than drinking water out of the bottle (sippy cup hasn't been too successful so far) he would prefer to have me just squirt it in his mouth like a football player. Glad I can be of use.  Dylan taking a turn feeding Lincoln. I love how both of them have their mouths wide open. There it is the first shot of his tooth, and you can't see it in this one, but there is one coming in right next to it! I've been calling him Mr. Two teeth all day.

TCB - Taking Care of Business in the Sadler house. A code Shane and I use when we think what we are in the middle of is more important than whatever the other person wants help with. Or maybe when we just want to sound like we are doing something important. Anyway Dylan's room went under a major overhaul and, while it's still not wonderful and totally overstuffed, it's looking pretty good. When he was home the other day we made his "art gallery" which consists of two wall hooks, some twine, some hand colored clothes pins and some major works of art. Next is putting up some decals and moving out a giant piece of furniture (which I still have to convince Shane isn't working in there) and then trying to jimmyrig the crib and soon the boys will be sharing a room. See picture of sicky and his "art" he's getting better but still not big into spending too much time. Turkey and a Rainbow.