Meet Froggy (who is really a toad)

Daddy caught a little toad for Nolan on Monday night. Tuesday morning Nolan was up at 7 sitting on the step with his buddy.

He was certain that Froggy needed a bedtime animal to sleep with and toys to play with. We feel pretty bad for the poor guy...I don't think he's getting any bugs to eat. I'm supposed to convince Nolan to let him go today...says my husband the PETA activist. Haha.

No Wonder I'm Tired...

Our New Ride...

Now, now. Let me tell you somethin'. We gots ourselves a new VAN! The best part is the seats that fold into the floor.

We walked into the dealership at 8:58 pm and they close at 9. Evan had already stopped by earlier in the day to look at what they had but hadn't actually driven the one we were interested in. We drove a whopping mile down the freeway and we were mini-van converts. 100%. We ended up getting $1,100 trade-in for our piece of junk Pontiac Grand Prix. Nolan told the sales guy twice before going through with things that our car was "broken". Eeep. Nothing like trying to shut up your toddler without being obvious. We got more than we expected so we were pretty happy. We ended up with a:

2007 Dodge Grand Caravan

Silver

27,000-ish miles

Stow & Go seating

Love it!

The kids are always wanting to go somewhere now. It's amazing how much a new vehicle gives you resolve to keep it clean! So far it's been 4 days and it's still spotless. We'll see how long that lasts!

The kids watching their fountain. I didn't pose them for this picture...I looked out the window and they were all snuggled up.

Their homemade fountain. Pretty creative, eh?!

33 Weeks

Nolan told me this morning that my belly is getting too big for my shirt and pants. Really? I hadn't noticed! He is so super excited for his baby brother to be here. He hugs and kisses my belly all day long and whispers secrets into my belly button. He was carrying around his water bottle of frogs at Jellystone and took a break to come tell his baby brother "I have two frogs and they're swimming just like you are!"

How Do We Make Lemonade?

We need some car advice. Here's what we have: 2 work trucks with no a/c and 1 car with oodles of miles, unresolved overheating problems, broken automatic windows, needs new shocks/struts. The car is what I use for hauling the kids around. It's been paid for for a couple years which is so awesome. But not when it threatens to overheat when it's above 80 degrees outside. It makes going places with the kids a bit challenging. Evan has replaced a bunch of stuff to see if we can get the overheating fixed. Nada nothing. It's most likely the head gasket, which would cost about $1,700 to have repaired. We just had the a/c redone a month ago for $500. We would get $800 if we traded it in. So....we have no idea what to do. With #3 coming up a bigger vehicle would be nice. But a car payment would not be. A friend told me today that you always come out ahead if your repair payment would be cheaper than 5 months of car payments. But if it's going to cost us $1,700 to fix it...that's quite a bit more than 5 months of payments. Do we:

A) Drive the car until it dies and then worry about it.
B) Trade it in and get our $800.
C) Lease. (I don't really understand the pros/cons to leasing...anyone do/done this?)
D) Go green, ditch the car and become hermits.

Brendon Ty

Brendon was born on Wednesday morning last week. I was really sick so I didn't dare visit in the hospital so we had to wait until we got home from vacation to meet him. He's a tiny little peanut. I can't believe how little they are and that my kids were once that small! Both the kids absolutely loved him. Nolan didn't want to give him up. On the way home he informed me that he wanted our baby to look just like Brendon and he wanted his name to be Brendon too. I tried to explain to him all the way home (15 minutes) why our baby needs a different name. He didn't get it but finally let it go this morning!

Brendon Ty Mote, 5 days old

7 Random Things...

I was tagged. I'm supposed to tag 7 people but it's been around so much I'd be double tagging. So, if you haven't done it and want to, have at it.

1. I don't understand the purpose/point of gazing balls. Someone clue me in.
2. I made David Lebovitz's chocolate sorbet today. Oh, the insanity.
3. So. The other day I noticed my left boob felt a bit "off". Never thought much of it. The next day I went to put my bra on (yes, I'm one of those people who wear their bra all week before washing it) and noticed the left side was missing the underwire. What?! I have no idea where it went. Strange.
4. I have 6-ish weeks left before Baby Boy arrives and so much I want to accomplish before then. Like Avrie's room.
5. Our car still isn't fixed.
6. Some people view tan lines as skin cancer. I see them as a successful summer.
7. I need ideas for Avrie's birthday party. I'm not the kind of person who goes for the whole character theme thing. While she loves Hello Kitty, I think it's the dumbest, ugliest, big-headed cat I've ever seen and I don't get it. At all. I tried to do an old-fashioned garden party for her last year (you know, she was a whole ONE year old and totally knew what was going on) but we got rained out. Time flew by so fast this year that it came time to mail the invitations and I didn't have them yet so I just used blank cards I had on hand and a few leftover invites from last year. Am I lame or what. Or...smart. Depends on how you look at it. Some people spend oodles of $ on invites that get thrown away. I was being thrifty.

Our 3rd Annual Jellystone Trip! Thursday, Day 1

This was a huge puddle on the side of the road in front of our cabin. It's the first place the kids went. It was popular with kids of all ages. Particularly intoxicated adult campers driving golf carts.

And we're off to the beach!

This is Evan. He's special.

Avrie and Kami. Kami was the flower girl in our wedding. Sure makes me feel like I'm aging.

Handsome beach boy.

He must be related to his father. I laugh harder the more I look at this picture!

S'mores rock.

Kami shared her Archie loot with Nolan. He thought it was pretty great to stay up late reading comics!

Friday, Day 2

I opened the eggs for breakfast and discovered they'd been frozen overnight. We put the ones that hadn't cracked into some warm water to thaw and they were fine. My mom peeled the cracked ones and saved the eggs and we used them Saturday morning for french toast and they were fine.

This is why the boys love the beach.

This is why I love the beach. Notice that dark patch on my right thigh? That's my boiling water burn.

Grandma and Nolan had fun catching polliwogs and little frogs. Nolan kept three of them in a water bottle and carried them around all day. They even got to watch Yogi cartoons! They had expired by morning.

Bathing Beauty.

This is my Dad. Sleeping. With a bikini clad babe within eyesight. Although...she was a downright annoying bikini babe and I do believe that's a turn off. Well, at least for me...if I was a guy. She whined and complained about how dirty the beach water was and wouldn't set foot in it.

My Darlings

Avrie and I woke up from our afternoon nap and looked out the window to see that it had downpoured heavily while we were snoozing. She is standing on the edge of the sandbox across from our cabin. It was above my ankles. She had a blast playing in it.

Kami teaching Avrie all about good ol' Archie, Ronnie and Betty. I'm thinking she steered clear of their relationship woes and just stuck to teaching her their names.

Why do kids like plain marshmallows, unroasted? They are so, so, so gross. She loved them. Obviously...she's a kid.

Nolan roasting away.

Saturday, Day 3

Saturday morning was gorgeous. After breakfast we all headed to the beach and waterpark. Back for lunch. While Avrie and I napped the rest of 'em went mini-golfing and swimming again. I lost track of what we did after Avrie woke up. I vaguely remember them riding bikesup and down the road in front of our cabin. Oh, and the water balloon attack on Uncle Eric. We took Nolan to Ol' Blue while supper was cooking. After that the dark clouds rolled in. We all went over to Char & Elory's camper and hung out with light sticks, popcorn and a movie. It poured and poured. Mom, Dad and Kami eventually got out of there and headed for home. The Yogi cartoons were canceled due to the rain so we went to bed earlier than usual.

Preparing for an attack!

This is Nolan going down the big Ol' Blue slide. The first time he went he got spun around right away and rode down backwards. He really didn't want to go again but we convinced him otherwise. He stayed facing forwards and loved it. But not enough to go again!

Kami--The Marshmallow Roasting Queen

Auntie Lori brought light sticks for the kids. They were still a hit even though they couldn't use them outside.

Sunday, Day 4

We awoke Sunday to a misty, moisty morning and cloudy was the weather. We packed up all our belongings and then headed over to Char & Elroy's campsite for breakfast. But we were an hour early. We left the kids with them and went back to our cabin and loaded the car all up. We ate breakfast and then had a mini-meeting in the camper. Grandma entertained the kids afterward with face painting. By the time she was done the clouds were clearing up and the moisture had stopped. We loaded up our fishing gear and headed to the pond. After that we hit the mini-golf, lunch, waterpark, beach. And then we hit the road for home.

I love, love this picture of Avrie. She got a ladybug.

Literally two minutes later. Good thing she couldn't see the mess she'd made or she wouldn't have been a happy camper. Grandma "fixed" the mess with a washcloth.

My boy at the fishing hole.

My two favorite boys in our annual pose.

Fishing on a dock with no railing and no life jackets is not good for Mom's nerves. I actually left and went to the bathroom so I could breathe. Seriously. No one else seemed to worry...maybe I need to take a chill pill.

Nolan and Grayson checking out the bait.

Grandma told Avrie to smile.

Four kids in a Burley? You betcha!

Nolan and Trevin patiently waiting their turn.

We pulled out of the campsite and drove the 2-3 blocks down to the gift shop. Avrie had fallen asleep before we even got there. Now that's a pooped out little girl.

We bought a canvas car top bag for extra storage. It was super noisy when going over 65 mph. This is Nolan trying to fall asleep through the noise. He said "Dad, you should go fix it. It's too noisy and I'm tryin' to go to sleep. So ya should. Fix it."

Evan had to stop at a rest area and take a 10 minute snooze. I would have driven home but driving puts me right to sleep. Besides, I had to finish my library book that was due on Saturday.

We got home around 7:30. The kids played while we unloaded and unpacked. I was so happy with myself as I crawled in bed at 10-ish. Everything was unpacked and put away. And two loads of laundry were washed. Now that makes it fun to wake up the day after vacation! We enjoyed our trip and are looking forward to next year already!

And We're Off....

On our 3rd Annual Jellystone "camping" trip! The weather doesn't look so great...send us warm sunny thoughts. But we packed games and optimism. I've taken this same picture the last two years...I'm looking forward to taking it again with a bigger boy!

Last year I still had a nurser =(

Check us out next week for new pictures!

Random Videos I've Forgotten to Upload...

A Busy Summer Day

Nolan had his first day of nature camp today. He LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. On the way home: "MOM, we went on a hike on the trail to find a rotten log and it had bugs on it. And we found a balance beam thing and walked on it. And Jim got a call for help on his phone. But the other teacher didn't have a phone. She must have forgot it at home. And then we found a flower. And then we built this really cool thing with nuts. They're called nuts, Mom! It's a flower press with big screws in it and we put the nuts on the screws. And there's a flower and paper in it and the flower will get flat. When do I go again, Mom?" BIG BREATH. "I'm tired. I'm hot and sweaty, Mom."

We dropped Nolan off and went down to the park/pool to hang out until he was done. 2 1/2 hours at the wading pool/park is way too long with two toddlers! Waaay too long!

Avrie and Klara (the little girl I take care of 2 days/week). Don't you just love how Avrie is all kicked back?!

"Cheeeese"