Lighting pumpkins with Uncle Scottie

Wendy and I grew some pumpkins in the backyard garden this year.  Karoline happily helped our two boys empty their carving pumpkins and cut in fancy designs. We had ghosts, a normal pumpkin face, and a cat with a moon. Scott helped the two boys light the pumpkins outside once they finished. 

I have to say that Andrew and Cameron's pumpkins look a lot more fancy than any pumpkins than I ever made as a child. 

"Nose!!!"

When I was putting Cameron's pajama top on this evening, I asked him where his hands were. As soon as his hands were thought his shirt sleeves he popped up both his hands and showed them to me. Oh. Appears Cameron know what and what  his hands are. Just to play I asked him where his nose was...

"Nnnsse!" Cameron happily points to his nose.

"Where is your mouth?"

"Mmmmthhh!" Cameron happily points to his mouth.

Appears Cameron has been learning anatomy without me realizing it. Wonder what else he is learning that I have not tested yet.

August Family Pictures

Last year we accidently ended up taking family pictures on our anniversary. We liked it so much we went ahead and did again this year. I found a few pictures to fill in some of the gaps. It's funny to see how much we've changed in the last five years.

2010

  

One and One (Eharmony - August 17th)

We did not have a family picture in 2010, but we do have two pictures that are important in our family history; our eharmony profiles. We were first matched on August 17th. Ben took his profile picture in his townhouse with a self-timer and a tripod.  Wendy's profile was taken at a the Living Planet Aquarium while on an excursion with siblings. 

Ben's Eharmony profile picture

Wendy's Eharmony profile picture

2011

Two (Married! August 1st)

This might be the most plentiful year for our "family pictures." Between the multiple engagement shoots, the wedding shots, and the reception shots we have many nice pictures of the two of us. 

At the Salt Lake City Temple

2012

Three (Andrew's Blessing - September 2nd)

Andrew joined us 11 months after the wedding. Unlike the previous year we did not take many family pictures during August.  We have a metric ton pictures of Andrew, a lot of pictures of Wendy, and a fair number of pictures of myself.  Few pictures contain all three of us.  This picture is from Andrew's blessing. 

With Andrew right after his blessing at the Brookshire Ward

2013

Three (August 17th)

Surprisingly, 2013 was even worse than 2012 for family pictures. The only full family picture in August was a random picture taken outside of my work. Yes, that is me with scrubs and an earpiece in our family picture. Less than ideal.

Work pictures are so...flattering

2014

Four (Accidental photo - August 1st)

Cameron  joined in the family picture fun this year. On a whim we visited the site of our reception (there are only so many places you can take a two month old!). Thanks to lot of trial and error using a tripod and a 10 second timer, for the first time in three years of marriage, we finally had a formalized family picture.

2015

Four ("Stuart Photography" - August 1st)

For 2015 we decided to forgo the self-timer and have someone else behind the camera. The Stuart parents and Debbie accompanied us up to Jordanelle. We tried bribing my father by paying for a hamburger joint; instead he payed for us. I am not proficient at bribing. We spent the night before giving all of the boys in the family a matching buzz cut. It was Cameron's first real haircut. I hardly recognized the little boy as my Cameron he looked so different sans curls.

Bonus timer picture

2016

Four will be Five

We plan to continue the tradition of taking our pictures at Jordanelle Reservoir next year.  Excitingly, another member of the family will join us for that photo shoot. The storks pictured below are two months into their nine month flight to bring us our new little one.

Estimated Date of Arrival: March 18, 2016

While the grandparents are away...the children play

The boys and I decided to crash at the Stuart Grandparents house (or in Andrew's words, "Amber's house." while they were away visiting other relatives.  Grandma's...or Amber's...house has a lot of toys that the boys do not get to play with often.  This led to both boys happily playing for an extended period of time without requiring parent interaction or prompting.

In response to this, I did what any parent would do when the kids were happily playing with or around each other. I took a couple hundred pictures. I have this dream of being a good photographer so I am trying to find more opportunities to practice.

I have included a "few" of the resulting pictures from the session.

Choosing a puzzle

Baby, playing with babies

I loved playing with these trucks

The balance of a 3 year old

Playing with photoshop

Rain is falling all around...

Sunday (May 24) I slept in after working late on homework. Wendy had planned to take the boys out into the backyard to play, wiggle, and get some energy out before the three hour church black. She was disappointed when she noticed rain pouring down from the sky. During breakfast Andrew told Wendy that he just needed a hat and ran off towards his room. He reappeared with a hat and one mitten. He didn't want to put shoes on, but Wendy was able to eventually convince him. Andrew also made Wendy go get his "noculars" (binoculars for those who don't speak Andrew).

Andrew's rain style

Andrew exploring the yard during the rain shower.

Cameron is not one to be left out if there is any fun to be had. He complained as babies often do, by screaming, until Wendy let him out into the rain to play too.

Babies don't need coats or shoes!

The coat and shoes did eventually get put on Cameron. The two little boys and their mother spent forty five minutes wandering around in the rain on the porch and in the back yard.

Cameron the Explorer

Cameron wants to change his job description. Family crawler just is not enough excitement anymore.  He would much prefer to be an explorer.

http://www.themartinique.com/baby.html

Caving: In our brand new, extremely nice kitchen, we have some very nice, large drawers and cabinets.  Cameron often opens the cabinets and pulls out pots and pans to crash and bang around. One day ,Cameron decided that he was going to switch things up; instead of pulling the pots out; he went into the cabinet, and closed the door. Wendy heard Cameron making squealing happy noises. He had discovered spelunking.

Climbing: He's also a climber. We were upstairs eating Marshmallow Matey's with Andrew when we suddenly saw little Cameron's head pop up above the opposite side of the table. Accompanied of course with a face wide grin and a giggle. Wendy's reaction illustrates our thought process perfectly, "Wait...you're not that tall!" Little Cameron had pushed over a riding tractor toy, climbed on the top of the tractor, and then used the tractor's height to pull himself up so he could see over the table. I had to admire his almost 9 month ingenuity.

No hands:
Cameron's been one-handed cruising and standing for a while now. Today, Cameron took his hand off the supporting wall and stood for a few seconds. He even took a half step forward before plopping onto the ground. No faceplant fortunately.

The two little boys are growing up!

Cameron. Loves. Food.

Mommy's milk? He'll take it for sustenance.
Baby food? So not happening.
Solid food? Mommy food? Daddy food? Andrew food? Can we say excited, bouncing, squealing baby?

The baby theorists tell us that we should be slowly introducing foods and textures to Cameron a little at a time. If this is the goal we have abysmally failed. Cameron wants to eat absolutely everything we eat.  Wendy and I have at times had to become very creative in our food cutting and slicing skills so that Cameron can eat the food that everyone else is eating and that he so enjoys.

Artisan wheat bread? Loved it.
Asparagas? Loved it.
Carrots/Celery? Loved them.
Apples/pears? Love them.

The only thing that Cameron will refuse is anything pureed or that resembles baby food in any way.

Andrew gets ready by himself

Today Wendy and the boys were upstairs hobnobbing with Marsha upstairs. Wendy mentioned that Andrew should take a shower. No usually this prompts tears; until of course he's in the water at which point he giggles uncontrollably.  This time...was different.

Leaving Marsha and Wendy upstairs Andrew came downstairs and happily engaged in an Andrew project which Wendy shortly discovered as she came down the stairs.  A shirt here, a left shoe here, a right shoe there, continuing on until there were no clothes remaining. The sight at the end of the trail of clothes? A naked Andrew on the diaper changing table removing the tabs of his diaper. He was so excited for his shower, and obviously the parents weren't moving fast enough, so he got ready for his shower by himself. Oh, and he giggled the entire time while in the shower, just in case you were wondering. 

And Daddy sighs

I know, I know. All you experienced Grandparents and decades long parents are going to roll your eyes at me. Still, it is surprising how often my little toddler and baby surprise me with their capabilities and how quickly they seem to be growing up. I miss my "butterfly" crawling infant at the same time I'm proud of him for learning to actually pull himself up and cruise around the room. I imagine this feeling is only going to get worse as they "actually" grow up. 

It's a question of motivation...

Michael has recently bought a brand new hi-def projector for his home theater. It was a reward for losing a certain amount of weight. I don't know how much motivation the hi-def projector provided him, but it seems like a nice reward.

Inspired by him Wendy and I have been debating what motivates us. We've discussed the possibility of a "techie" reward following Michael's example. In theory, something like the Iphone 6 should be fairly motivating.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure that is as motivating for me as it theoretically would be. In my experience the times that I've been most "motivated" seem to revolve around some form of competition. The time I lost 30 pounds in two months? Yep, weight loss competition.

So the problem I run into is; how do I make things I don't want to do...or perhaps better stated, currently lack the motivation to do, a competition? My results may depend on how I answer that question.

We're still trying to figure out what motivates Wendy. She joked today that "negative" consequences seem to be her best motivation.  For example, one of her suggestions recently was that if we didn't reach certain goals within a certain number of months we would be "forced" to buy a treadmill desk.

I guess at some point we all have to decide what it is that motivates us. I'm sure that we all wish it could be as easy as a 5 month old boy who wants a train.