Blueberry Hills!

Jensley loves eating and she loves visitors.  That's why she especially loves going out to breakfast with Papa Dave and Mama Lisa.  Look at that face of excitement.  Excitement and gas.

 Rock was excited, too, and wanted to celebrate with Jensley.  

 Finally we had to hide her from her brothers so that the rest of us could get ready.  She seemed okay with that idea.

 Finally she was settled into her high chair at Blueberry Hills and she could relax.  Now you can tell that she was really happy.

 She wasn't allowed to eat the real food, what with not having any teeth or anything, so she compensated with her thumb.

 Ryker and Rock both love going out to eat, too.  Ryker at like a champ while Rock tried to guard the toy pit.

 DeA is feeling pretty good after her surgery.  Sore and hurting at times, but overall she says she is feeling good.

 Ryker looks cute, but don't miss Jens' face of joy.

 She was just a little bundle of happiness the whole time. 

 Suddenly she could hear a noise.  It repeated 'duh duh' slowly at first and then faster and faster, almost as if something was stalking her and approaching.

 She got caught!

 Well, she still looks happy.

 After breakfast they were given the sour apple suckers that aunt Lindsey Lou sent up.  This is Ryker saying thank you!

Our Morning Routine

The initial excitement of school is starting to wear off and the morning are becoming more of a battle.  At first Rock woke up at 5:30 or 6 am and was ready to go.  Now we have to wake him up and push him through his getting-ready-routine.

 Everything is starting to take more time, and he stares off in space more than before.

 Ryker does the same things, but he's always been like his mommy that way.

 "Hey, Dad, think we can knock it down a notch?  Holy crap, just get my cereal and leave Diego and me alone!"

 Some mornings we are surprised by Rock's energy, so hopefully that starts to shine back through.

 Today was school picture day, and Rock decided to dress his best.  After staying up late welcoming Papa Dave and Mama Lisa this morning he was moving slooowwww and it took him about 30 minutes to get the costume on.

 Notice the staring.  He was tired.

 When Papa Dave and I tried to drop him off at the school he started taking off the costume.  He started putting his shoes back on and was taking a long time while spacing off.  I told him to hurry up a little and he said "Daddy, I'm doing the best I can!".  By this point we were fifteen minutes late for school, so I just let him take his sweet time.

 Today I wore navy blue and yellow rugby shirt with horizontal stripes.  DeA asked for a blessing before her gall bladder surgery, and as soon as we finished Rock said "Gee Dad, I like your bee shirt!".

Oh, and Ryker still loves Jens.

 Jens has found that the attention from Papa Dave and Mama Lisa is a lot better than the attention from her brothers.  Less smothering and more affectionate.  

 "This is nice!"

 Ryker couldn't believe that the less-smothering was more effective in making Jensley happy.  He briefly thought about changing his tactics...then decided against it.

 Papa Dale bought Rock a new booster seat with cup holders.  The boys love putting drinks in the cup holders and then spilling them when they move the seat.

 DeA's surgery went well and she is feeling pretty well.  She came home and cuddled with her Jens.  By the way, people keep saying that Jensley looks like me, but notice that when they sleep they look the exact same.

Phone Dump!

But this time it is DeA's phone that finally got uploaded!  Last week she took the kids to Cider Works with some friends.  The boys had a pretty awesome time.  They loved the animal tire swings.

This one is a tractor tire swing.  Pretty nifty idea.

This is less of a tire swing and more of a tire jungle gym.  Even the scarecrow had fun.

They played king of the mountain and then just admired the view from six feet above ground.  Unfortunately for my kids this is a view they aren't going to have very often.

They especially loved the wooden Mater that was there.  It was made by Stan, the same guy that made the one from the auction.

They got Mater going so fast that the picture was blurry.

They got to ride around on a 'train'.  It was a bunch of bins being pulled behind a tractor.

They thought it was pretty cool.  And doesn't that face just look adorable?  Don't you just want to kiss it and snuggle it?

It's unrelated, but last night the boys were both laying on the floor bed when Ryker kind of woke Rock up (and Jensley, DeA and me, but that's a story for another day).  I finally got him to lay down and he reached over to touch Rock's face (when Ryker is tired he asks to touch your face.  He'll kind of rub it while he falls asleep.  It's annoying as can be but at least it gets him to sleep).  I told him no because I didn't want him to wake up Rock, but a half asleep Rock said: "It's okay Dad.  I let him touch my face so that he can sleep".  It was very cute and showed what a good big brother Rock can be at times.

They had cool cutouts to take pictures with.

And...when I uploaded this from DeA's phone I could have sworn that it was Ryker...

Ryker's friend had a birthday party on Saturday.  DeA took him to the party while Rock and Jens stayed with me and watched football (holy crap, Bronco.  Stop playing a broken quarterback!  It isn't that hard, if he can't throw the ball ten yards he shouldn't play!  I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!).  Apparently Ryker didn't make it to the party alive, so DeA set him up for the pictures.  I guess he would have had a great time.

He loved the homemade party hat and tried to wear it to church the next day.

DeA took the boys to the park so that I could take a nap after church on Sunday (yeah, isn't that the best?  Thanks babe!).  The kids were ripe for cute pics.

Well, little Jens is always ready for cute pics.

Attack face!

No, those weren't the shoes that Ryker wore to church.  He actually wore moose slippers.

But I think he pulls off the froggy boots pretty well.

Rock has class pictures tomorrow and this is his picture face lately.  It should be fun.

DeA would happily take a look like this tomorrow.  It's kind of a stoic ship captain looking off to the horizon.

Speaking of fun at school: Rock has been laying out his school clothes the night before.  This was the other day.

And this was what he looked like when he got home.  It worked because he had soccer practice that night.

And this was the idea for yesterday.  The mask got vetoed and he pretty much lost it.

Ryker and Jensley have been having fun with Rock gone at school.  Ryker likes it a little bit more than Jens.

"Too much love!"

Jensley really loves swings.  She still sleeps in one at night and loves to play in them during the day.

Ryker likes swings, too.  But maybe not as much.

Manson played a home game Friday and DeA brought the boys up while I did the radio call.  They had a ball playing while the adults watched and talked.  Ryker and his cousin Mia loved putting rocks in the grate the whole time.