Pictures of Stuff We've Been Doing

I feel like we've been really busy, but it's sometimes hard to pin down what exactly we've been up to.  Nothing terribly exciting, but all very lifey stuff that I certainly don't want to forget.  So here are some pictures to show you...


Ryder has been adjusting (very slowly, and with very unpredictable success) to his big boy bed in the same room with Bentley and Kendra:

He loves the idea of the bed, it's just hard to stay put when there are so many fun things to explore in the room...

And every time I turn around, I seem to be bigger.  And this is an old picture, so add a few inches to that tummy in your mind!

We've been having Friday movie and pizza nights with the kids.  I kind of love it.  A lot.

Notice the drop cloths on the floor to protect the carpet!

Ryder does strange things when Craig is asleep, like giving him an entire bag of Chocolate Cheerios to snuggle up to:

I guess I should be glad the bag wasn't open!

Bentley and Kendra have been taking swimming lessons.  For some reason it's very hard to get pictures of this, though:

That's just Kendra there.  Bentley is in a different class and he was too far away to even try taking a picture.

Bentley is helping Ryder to love dressing up, too:

And Bentley has been working hard on learning to read and making wonderful progress.  I especially liked this book report (sorry it's sideways) because of how well he copied the style of the drawings: 

Here's the actual book for comparison's sake.  See how well he copied the elephant?!?!

We've been eating chocolate in a wonderfully messy way that makes us look like we're going Goth:

And Bentley won yet another trophy for his pinewood derby car, this time he got 1st place for the Tigers (his age group) at Districts!  I guess next year we'll teach him how to lose graciously.  But he and Craig sure enjoyed themselves!

We've got anywhere from two to three weeks until this baby comes.  In a flurry of activity yesterday, I pulled apart the car seat and began washing it (this meant finally braving the crawl space, because I decided Craig was never going to remember to do it for me), and finished moving Ryder's clothes out of his "old" room and putting the baby's clothes away there.  Craig did his first stake audits for the church, so we're glad to have that done for six months until it's time to do it again (nice that those are in February.  If it had been in March, I would have had to protest).  And he's also been keeping busy working on this new master's degree.  Me, I keep cleaning the house only to realize that these darn kids get it dirty all over again.  How do they mess things up so quickly???

I also keep wondering when it will finally be spring.  My crocuses are already blooming, but it's been so gloomy and cold I have a hard time keeping the faith that winter will ever end.  The other day everything seemed so colorless I could have cried.  When the baby comes, I'm going to cuddle up with him and an electric blanket, lock myself inside next to the heater, and refuse to go out until it's warm outside.  Doesn't that sound nice (if completely impractical)?


Aaaaaaand, Kendra turned 5!  My little girl is old enough to go to kindergarten next year!  But that deserves its own blog post, so I guess that will be up next!