Brynn's recital

Girlfriend had her dance recital this last weekend and she did great. Her first number was ballet and the second was a tap routine they've been working on for a while. She started in January right after we moved here and she's been loving it. I'll try to put the videos on if we can figure it out. Don't hold your breath!

Madison, Quinci, Brynn, Megan

Brynn is the second from the right

Second from the left in this one

. . .Still thinking it was fun . . .

. . . fun is fading (cue the forced fake-smile) . . .

. . . annnnnd we're done!!!

(I laugh so hard every time I think of this picture. Can you just hear her saying

"Its itchy!" in a totally flat voice?

Note the slouchy shoulders,

the complete absence of any previous happiness

and the major death stare directed right at me!

Everything's always my fault.)

This is what happens . . .

. . . when the boys go on the Father/Son campout and Brynn has a sleepover with her cousin.

Sooooo much tiredness. Sooo many tears. . . soooo much napping going on.

(she looks like she fell asleep about a foot in front of her bed and then fell forward)

You might be wondering why I'm the only one not sleeping. . .

(this kid fell asleep mid-story which never happens)

Saturday afternoon approx. 2 pm

Woke up at 5:15 and missed the baseball game

Cut up some Tylenol PM and gave to kids at 7

Back in bed at 9

Not sure how I got to bed myself as I was delirious at this point.

Ever had one of those days???

Just don't feel like doing much of anything except climbing on

someone's back and getting comfy!

The Perks of being small

Maximus loves these bushes in the backyard. I don't know just how dense they are but apparently they're dense enough for him to climb all over the tops of them without crashing through.

Why . . . .

. . . do I let him climb in bed with us at 4 am every night???

because. . . that face is nearly perfect!!!

because. . . he spent almost 2 years crying all night long and it makes us sad.

because. . . he always has something random to say at 4 am, like "See, I'm coughing cuz you won't let me sleep with you!" or "Bryson's saying I'm weird!"

because. . . he "shnuggles" me best (feels more like he's fused himself to my back or that he's trying to become closer than humanly possible), and he tells me "but I'm your best helper!"

because. . . he woke up the other day and said his name wasn't Hudson, it was "Wok-a-mo-nee" (or guacamole)

because. . . he'll sleep 2 hours longer in our bed than he would in his own.

because. . . he starts every sentence with "Yeah, BECAUSE . . ." (it doesn't really matter what you were talking about. Or if you were even talking in the first place.)

because. . . he's finally starting to get excited about being a big brother and now he claims he just wants to be close to the baby.

because. . . he's the funniest kid ever! When the dog be-headed one of the chickens Hud saw it all. He was devastated. When I brought him HIS chicken to show him it was still alive he said "Hey! How'd you stick his head back on?!" Then when Grandma told him the chick was in heaven he said "No its not! Its in the garbage can!" (How do you argue with that?) And when the dog got my bra the other day he called it my "booby thingy".

because. . . he talks in his sleep and its usually something like: give it back to me, leave me alone, that's mine, etc. Occasionally we get a good hearty belly laugh and I would LOVE to know whats so funny!

and because . . . I get a fresh-picked bouquet of dandelions every single day from this kid and its the highlight of his and my day.

Favorite Pics

Some more pics from the wave organ that I touched up in PS. I'm learning little by little and I'm basically teaching myself. Last week I didn't even know how to upload a photo into PS so already I feel like I've come a long way.

(This is most definitely my FAVE)

what a great dad

The Wave Organ

My s.i.l told me about this little place at the end of the marina where a guy made a wave organ out of PVC pipes. It was cool even though we were there at low tide and didn't get to hear the "organ". The kids loved it so we'll probably go back.

I tried to get all these shots while walking backward. Difficult.

Check out the tongue

Yes, I feel that big. The day before a guy looked at me and said "When are you due? Tomorrow?"

Ummm, no. In 3 1/2 months. Thanks.

It took B all of about 4 seconds to find the crabs

Wants to see them but doesn't want to be too close

There was a song playing in his head and he was rocking out while jumping over the rocks. Not sure what was on that day

Visual Trick

Look at the words below and say the COLOR that is printed, NOT the word that is written. It's pretty difficult.

Then look at the bottom box and say the colors as fast as you can. Much easier.

Interesting Note: Tanner, Bryson and I all tried it and had trouble not saying the color that was printed instead of the word that was written. Then Brynn (who is barely learning to read) tried it and she had very little problem going thru the colors because she doesn't know how to spell them all yet. The colors she can spell, like red and yellow, were the ones she messed up the most.

SF Exploratorium

The first Wed. of the month is free admission at the Exploratorium and we tried to go in April. It was Spring break and there were about 4,000 people in line. This time we went down the night before, got to the museum right at opening and walked right in. It was really cool. The kids loved all the exhibits and it was the perfect amount of time to spend there.

Thats water spraying out of a pipe 1/2 capped

You push on this big rubber disk and it sends a huge puff of smoke up

Playing with polar opposites to make the metal ball "float"

K, this one was hilarious when Brynn tried. You're supposed to shoot the basketball 10 times, then put on these weird 3D like glasses and try to train your brain to adjust. Well Brynn missed every one of her first 10 shots and got ALMOST all of the shots with the glasses on! Maybe we should get her eyes checked. I almost peed my pants watching her.

They probably would have spent the whole day at the bubble thing.

At this one she was actually about 15 ft away from me and we were looking at each other through refractive lenses. It made it look like she was right in front of me.

Tanner had never been to the museum before. I'm finding there's a lot of things he never did while rodeo-ing. The Exploratorium is a big museum of glorified science projects, basically. But there are exhibits on just about every subject you can think of. The kids favorite one was the disection of the cow's eyeball. Bryson was fascinated! Maybe he'll be a surgeon.