Yes, we're still alive.

And still busy, busy.
I apologize that the blog has taken a backseat.
Orange Tree has taken over most of my screen time, and Instagram is just so much easier than blogging.

Here is a video of 3-year old Cannon surprising us with a little song.
The pronunciations are killing me.

I love this kid . . . to pieces.



I'll try to get some details of our Fall Break trip to visit Rob & Corinne up soon!

I'll share a few Instagram pics for your non-instagrammers later this week . . . maybe.

Cannon is a preschooler!

Little Can-man started preschool with Miss Heather this week!

To say he was excited is a HUGE understatement.

He was ready!

He did great.

He started a sports class with Coach Lance last week too.

He loved it!  

If your little guy is interested in doing sport class get info on it here.

So proud of my Cannon.
On Thursday he came home with a "Book about Cannon", where he answered some questions,  I have to share a few answers . . .

A food he does not like to eat:  rotten pears
Favorite place to go:  Nana's
Something that makes him happy:  when balloons float in the air
something that makes him sad:  when someone hits me
My Mom's name is:  Auburn
My Dad's name is:  Daddy

FULLY trained.

Yep.

Cannon really is FULLY potty-trained.

So much so, that he can't just non-chalantly pee in the pool.

We have the kids who pee in the rocks next to the pool.

That's what they have been taught to do at our house.

Inappropriate, huh?

Yeah well, we don't have a bathroom right off of our pool and when you are trying to watch the swimmers and keep the non-swimmers from drowning, peeing in the rocks is a necessity.

That said, the plants in the "pee" corner of the yard seem to be thriving.

Well at least we'll never have one of those kids who turns the water yellow at the public pool . . . or will we?

Rob and Corinne came in town with her family and spent a week at the J.W. Marriott in North Scottsdale.

We went up on Friday after Dave got off work for a swim in the POSH hotel pool.

This was no small pool.

Cannon had been swimming for a bit and needed to go pee.

He asked if he could go in the rocks.

We said no.

We quietly told him to just pee in the pool.

Awful, right?

In our defense the bathrooms were a LONG way away.

Cannon, being the obedient child that he is, promptly walked over to the side of the pool, dropped his pants, and peed right off the edge.

It was like one of those bad Calvin & Hobbes comic strips.

I was MORTIFIED.

Dave and his brother Rob are cracking up like it's the funniest thing they have ever seen.

Needless to say, we packed up and headed out.

I'm sure the other hotel guests weren't too sad to see us go.

So, you can imagine my shock at receiving this little gem of a letter in the mail on Monday . . .

I really thought it was real.

I mean, I called Dave at work freaking out real . . . until I noticed the name.

My Dad thinks he's pretty funny for coming up with this . . . and he is.

Spiderman is three

Spiderman turned three this month, and I'm just getting around to blogging it!

We had a party with cousins.

The kids had a blast.

Cannon loved playing at the park.

We went to one in Mesa that we don't go to very often.

Cannon would only stop playing long enough to open two of his presents.

Aunt Kristi gave Cannon this LEGIT spidey mask.

And we gave him the batman he is clutching in the picture below.

We had to open the rest of the presents the day after his party.

Thanks everyone for all of the fun gifts!

We enjoyed some ugly blue/red spiderman cupcakes that the kids thought were AWESOME.

Cannon inhaled his.

Literally.

He was sneezing red velvet out of those nostrils for a few minutes.

My sweet Lily and I . . .

Our superhero family . . .

A few facts about Cannon at age three . . .

You ARE NOT potty trained.

You LOVE anything superhero.

You like climbing trees.

You love Benson & Lily.

You love vegetables.

You are good at giving hugs and kisses and telling your family you love them.

You like Bob the Builder.

You respond well to love & logic parenting.

You are loud.

You are a great sleeper.

You don't especially like haircuts, but you endure them so patiently.

You cowlicks are still out of control.

You are SWEET.

You like to laugh.

You are a tease.

We love you.

**thanks aunt kristi for photographing everything**

one - two - three

Cannon is turning THREE!

Growing so fast.

This little charmer is always telling me he loves me.

He also enjoys hitting my butt and saying "you're a hot mama"

I can't imagine where he learned that.

newborn

first birthday

second birthday

third birthday

to be continued . . .

inauguration

We got a new camping trailer the day before Benson was born and Dave was insistent that we use it at least once before it gets too cold!

I happily obliged (*note sarcasm*) and we headed up to Bartlett Lake, AZ.

Neither of us had been to Bartlett Lake before, and it was beautiful.

Here's a view of the lake on our way to the campsite.

Here's our new camp trailer all set up.

It's little, and perfect for our family.

I totally felt like I was at the Hilton.

(*note sarcasm again*)

We couldn't find enough logs for a good fire, so Uncle Spencer built the kids a tiny fire, and Cannon was mesmerized by it.

The "big" kids slept great, and were so excited to play in the dirt when we woke up.

We got a camping oven at Costco not long after we got our trailer and we tried it out on our trip.

It was pretty nice to be able to bake!

If only this little man had slept like this during the night!

I think Dave and I each got about two hours of sleep.

It was Benson's second bad night in a row, so I was TIRED on Saturday.

Just a cute shot of Lily, before she got all dirty.

And, one of the little man.

He was saving the rest of that muffin that is all over his face for later.

The kids wanted to go play "by the water" and throw rocks in the lake.

It started all out fine and dandy . . .

And ended like this . . .

And my favorite part of the trip?

Cannon's diaper after splashing in the super-duper-clean lakewater.

A still picture didn't do it justice so you gotta watch this 5 second video clip.

If you need some more laughs, watch this 15 second video clip . . .

I swear, how did the pioneers do it with just rags for diapers.

I mean look how much liquid that diaper is holding.

Amazing . . . and hilarious.Amazing . . . and hilarious.

All in all, a fun trip.

Memories were made.

Jammies were ruined.

Sleep was lost.

Looking forward to seeing everyone's Halloween posts, lots of cute costumes I'm sure!

charmed

Yesterday after church the kiddos are sitting at the table eating their lunch and Cannon says:

"Mommy, you are precious, and you are beautiful."

Seriously?

What a LOVER.

Things like that make up for all the times he's "uncharming" (see post below).

Guess where Cannon has heard that line.

Yep, it's true.

My husband is fabulous.

Love my boys.

All 3 of them.

So as not to forget . . .

. . . how charming he can be.

I also don't want to forget the size of this HAIL that put about 30 or so dents in our car.

It was golfball size, people. GOLFBALL!?!

In Scottsdale?

Are you kidding?

Anyway, just a couple of things I would hate to forget.

Picture of Cannon courtesy of the insanely talented Pied Piper.

She's coming across the pond to visit VERY soon.

Can't wait.

Summer fun

Is summer almost over yet?

It's hot.

I'm swollen.

I'm cranky.

I'm uncomfortable.

September 13th CANNOT come fast enough.

I'm getting induced that day.

21 days.

But who's counting?

Enough whining, I'm sure my poor family and my girlfriends have heard ENOUGH to last a lifetime.

Here are few pictures from the last couple of weeks . . .

Dave planted two new trees in the front yard.

Cannon enjoyed playing in the holes.

Lily got a used car for her birthday.

(a great craigslist find on my part)

She wants to drive it everyday - regardless of the heat.

I've decided we can only drive it between 6:30 am and 7:30 am right now.

It's just too hot for me to stand outside while she drives it.

Cannon tries to keep up with her on his little four-wheeler, but it's just not as fast.

Usually they just end up carpooling down to the basketball court for some drive time.

Cannon can't drive the big car yet, so he's a permanent passenger, but he doesn't seem to care . . .

pink eye

please never come again.

this is what cannon looked like a week ago.

his poor little eyes got so swollen that they got red scabs under them.

he was such a trooper.

he would lay down (only on my bed, but when you have pink eye you can be a little picky) and totally cooperate while we put the drops in his eyes.

what a big boy.

the spit bubble in the picture is just an added bonus for your viewing pleasure.

Lily Dear

I love this girl.

She turned 4 a few days ago and we had a little family party for her tonight.

Swimming with cousins is always fun, especially in August.

Cannon is the daredevil of all daredevils in the pool.

Turn your head for ten seconds and he'll drown for sure.

It's really not scary at all.

Lily saw some purple cupcakes with red cherries on Max & Ruby and requested those for her birthday.

Trying to decide what to wish for . . .

Oh Lily dear, you are so loved!

You are smart.

You are caring.

You are sweet.

You are a great big sister.

Everyone who meets you loves you.

We are proud of you little Lou-Lou.

And . . . just for fun.

Here I am on my fourth birthday!

Happy Birthday!

pied piper does it again

I just LOVE when Lindsay comes to town!

Once again she managed to capture some gorgeous shots of my marginally cooperative kids.

Such a happy face . . .

begging to be kissed . . .

a perfect poser . . .

a look we see all too often these days . . .

To see NINE more amazing shots check out the post on the Pied Piper's blog here.

I wish I could share them all with you - they are amazing!!

Scarface

I wish my little man to stop getting cuts all over his face!

He's such a boy, always getting scratches and bruises all over himself.

I love his chubby little face either way.

Moo...

We went to the dairy farm with Lily's preschool class today!

It was so fun, and we learned lots of new facts about the dairy cows.

We took Mimi with us, and she taught us lots of new facts too!

She grew up on a dairy so she knew almost as much as the farmer who took us on the tour.

Here are just a few of the facts that I learned:

*they are not actually called cows until they have a calf*

*the gestation period for a cow is 9 months*

*dairy cows average one calf every 13 months*

*dairy cows are milked every 8 hours*

*the chances of a calf's survival are 1 in 5 if taken care of by the mother*

*if taken away from the mother and nursed by the dairy the chances of the calf surviving increase to 1 in 20*

*the majority of cows in the US are holstein cows (the black and white cows)*

*the lifespan of a cow is 8-10 years*

* the brown and white jersey cows are best for producing milk that is used in ice-cream, because their milk is richer*

*cows eat an average of 50 lbs. of food a day*

I really like this picture of a cow . . .

*picture courtesy of superstitionfarm.com*

I also really like this picture of Lily . . .

. . . and this picture of Cannon.

Not only did we learn lots of facts about the cows, the kids got to feed goats & horses, pet bunnies (see below), try flavored milk, and ride the tractor around the dairy.

What a fun time it was!

Oh how I love my kids.

I love seeing the joy they get from learning, and trying new things.

easter peek

We had our second easter egg hunt this evening.

I'm too tired to post more pics, but here is my favorite part of the night - Cannon & Daddy's matching outfits.

I'll post more tomorrow or Monday.

I promise.

You know you can't wait.