The Little Mermaid

Emily loves watching Disney Princess movies so when we found out Tuacahn was performing The Little Mermaid, we decided we needed to take her to it. Russell got discounted tickets for Monday night's show because he is an IHC employee so that's when we went. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Farnsworth for watching Colby while we were gone.

Emily loved the show except for the mean Sea Witch. Emily thought she was scary. She loved Ariel and whenever she wasn't on the stage, Emily would ask us "Where's the Mermaid?" The show was really good. I am glad we went. The special effects were awesome and I really like how the scenes went from under water to land. The actors actually moved around on Heelies to give you the effect that they were swimming. It was really cool. We all really enjoyed the show. By the end, however, Emily was ready to go home. The show let out at 11:30 pm and she was tired and ready for bed. Before leaving we got a few pictures with the characters.

Emily wanted a picture with the mermaids and she also got really excited to see Scuttle. Emily did not want a picture with the Sea Witch but I thought she was the coolest character so I snapped a picture of her with some random kids. We couldn't forget the super tan King Triton. We missed Sebastian somewhere in our mingling with the characters. He was also one of my favorites. The line to meet Ariel and Eric was really long and Emily was tired so we just snapped a picture with them in the background and called it good.

Despite the fact that we didn't get home until close to 1 am, the show was definitely worth it and I would recommend you go see it before the season ends in October.

Clifford

This weekend was the annual Enterprise Cornfest. We took a trip up to Enterprise on Saturday to get us some yummy sweet corn. It is the best ever! Not only did we get a dozen ears of corn, we also came home with something I always said we would never get... A DOG!

That's right we did it, we got a dog. At the Cornfest, we saw some people giving away puppies for free so we went and took a look. The puppies were so cute and Russell fell in love with this little brown one. Emily also loved him. We decided it would be fun to have a dog and the kids would love him. I knew it would be a lot of work but Russell said he would take care of him. I am holding him to that. We named our little puppy Clifford because he will be a big red dog someday. Clifford is part Lab, red healer, and Chihuahua, at least that is what the owners said. He is a cute little dog. He has the face of a red healer and the ears of a lab. We are hoping he doesn't get too big but I am sure he will.

Emily Elizabeth loves her little dog Clifford and plays with him all the time. She even walks around saying "I'm Emily Elizabeth and this is Clifford. Like my book, huh Mom." She is such a smarty. Clifford is only 4 weeks old which is kind of young to leave his mom. I guess his mom was mean to the pups so the previous owners had already taught the puppies to eat dog food. That helps us, but now we are trying to potty train him. He is an outside dog but we are trying to get him to go in the dirt instead of on the lawn. We are struggling with this.

He is so little right now that he has to jump through the grass because the grass is taller than him. It is fun to watch him chase after us when we walk. I like watching Emily play with him too. We are hoping he doesn't tear up our backyard we just put in. Russell is in the process of building a dog run on the side of our house and hopefully Clifford will be able to keep down the cat lady's cats (actually that was to main selling feature of the dog!)

Welcome Clifford as the newest member of our family!

Tyler's Birthday & the St. George Carousel

This month has been busy with birthdays! Yesterday was Tyler and Clint's birthday and today is Jacob's birthday. Clint said he wasn't having any more birthdays because he was getting too old. He said the only way he would have another birthday was if he could go backward in age. Well nice try, Yod, but you are going to have to be 24 now.

Tyler didn't seem to mind having another birthday because it just put him closer to 16! We headed over to Russell's parents' for a birthday dinner and cake.

Here's the birthday boy surrounded by his niece and nephews. Tyler was a little over dramatic as he opened his gifts but the kids loved it. They all love their Uncle Tyler.

Today we went to the newest attraction in St. George...the St. George Carousel.

The Carousel is at the Town Square on Main Street. It is in between the library and the old Woodward building. Emily, Paul, and Alex had a great time riding the horses. Russell, LeeAnn, and I got to ride with them because they were all under 42 inches. It was really fun and yeah I think it was worth the dollar it cost to ride. The best part is the kids rode for free! Colby was sleeping so he chilled in the shade with Grandpa Farnsworth. Emily said it was a fun day with cousins.

Eatin' Apples

Emily and I were eating apples for lunch the other day. I wanted to see what Colby would do so I gave him an apple too. He devoured it! He loved sucking on it and would get all excited when I would hand it to him. Even though it keep slipping out of his hands, he had a good time eating on it.

When Emily was about Colby's age we gave her her first apple. She also devoured it. For comparison sake, here is a picture of Emily and her first apple. I don't even think these two babies look a like but I promise they are brother and sister!

Here is Emily now eating her apples. She has the same facial expression now as she did then! She hasn't changed much over the years. She just has more hair.

Bridal Shower

Well despite all of the advice to stay single and stay free, Jessica is going through with her wedding on September 3! That's okay because we like Danny. August 20 was Jess's bridal shower and we had a lot of fun.

We played a lot of fun games. First we had to answer a bunch of questions to see how well we knew Jess and her dating life. I only got about 5 out of the 11 questions right. Shows how well I know my own niece! The next game we had to put a paper plate on our head and draw Jess on her wedding day on the the plate while it was on our heads. These pictures turned out to be quite interesting. The final game was for Jess. She was blind folded to imitate the power going out on her wedding night. Then she had to get dressed for her wedding night in the clothes found in a bag. As you can see she turned out to be quite sexy looking in her crazy hat, arm warmers, bandanna and 3D glasses.

After some really good dessert, it was present time.

We all had a great laugh as we teased Jess about "sipping hot chocolate." She especially loved the outfits to sip hot chocolate in!

My gift was a little more conservative and something she might actually use after the honeymoon!

I made her an insulated Casserole Carrier, matching hot pads, and etched her new last name on a Pyrex dish. I also threw in a few of my favorite recipes. She liked the gift except for the name "Blake" on the dish. She jokingly said that wasn't her name and that he was going to change his name to Pryor instead of changing her name.

*Check out Made in a Jiff by Tiff to see where I got these ideas and patterns.

First Haircut & Bathtime

Colby was starting to get a few wild hairs, literally. As you can see in the picture below, he had a little tuft of baby hair on the top of hi head that was three times as long as all the rest. In fact when it was combed down, he looked like an old man with a bad comb-over. It was time for Colby's first haircut.

Barber Dad cut Colby's hair to all the same length. I was going to do it but I was too scared I would screw it up and chop his hair off too short or crooked. Colby was a good sport. He did squirm around quite a bit though. He kept arching his head back to look up to see what Dad was doing to his head.

And here are the after shots. Doesn't he look so handsome? No more wild hairs! Colby is probably going to be bald though because he loves to pull his own hair. While he is eating, he loves to just sit and pull the hair on the top of his head. It is like a comfort blanket for him. He is so funny.

Another first for Colby this week is bathing in the big tub. Now that he can sit by himself (and he has outgrown his little tub), I decided to try him out in the big tub.

He loved it and so did Emily. She thought it was fun to have Brother take a bath in her bath. Colby loved to kick and splash. He also loved the bath toys. What cute kids!

New Bed

When your baby looks like this in their bed, you know it is time to get a bigger one:

We have had Colby in a bassinet in our room since he was born and he has grown so fast that he is now too big for the little bed. His head touches the top, feet touch the bottom, and his arms knock the sides if he moves. I know I should have moved him into the crib sooner but I liked the fact that I didn't have to get out of bed when he woke up at night. I also haven't had time to make any of his crib bedding yet because I couldn't decide what theme I wanted. I couldn't wait any longer though because he was starting to wake himself up every time he moved. Friday was his first night in the crib. Doesn't he look so peaceful?

I still need to make some bumper pads and a quilt but it will work for now. One thing I have noticed though is that Colby hates his crib! He will not sleep in it. He seems to wake up more often during the night and when he does, he screams! Hopefully he will just get used to sleeping in a bigger bed and be fine but until then I am living on about 4 hours of sleep a night. Oh the joys! Stay tuned for the crib bedding I am making. The fabric is way cute!

Washington County Fair

The Washington County Fair was this weekend so we headed out to the fair ground to check out all of the excitement.

The theme of the fair this year was Rock 'n Roll. When we got to the fair, we walked through all of the exhibits and saw all of the crafts and things on display. There were some pretty nice things entered this year. Afterward we walked through the commercial booths and entered every free drawing we could. Hopefully we will win something! Actually the only things I think we will win are a few unwanted phone calls from the vendors.

Emily loved seeing all of the animals in the FFA area. She wanted to pet the goats but they wouldn't come close enough to the fence. She liked the booths especially the one that gave her a balloon, the one that gave her a necklace, and all of them that had candy.

The next day, Friday, I took Emily and Colby back to the fair because I entered them in the Cute Kid Contest. They are definitely the cutest kids in the county, at least in my eyes! During the pre-judging, Emily told the girls all about Lagoon, and her brother, and even tried to play Ring Around the Rosies with the other girl. Poor Colby was half asleep during his time because it was right during his usual nap time. He did wake up and smile at the girls though. I was a little upset at the judges in Colby's group because they wouldn't talk to or play with the babies. So of course the babies were not going to interact with them. During the time, I asked the judges if they wanted to hold Colby or was that against the rules. They said it would be fine so I handed him over. I was the only mom that did that which I kind of thought was strange. I probably got Colby disqualified because of that because he didn't get a call back. I was actually really bummed about that but Russell told me not to worry so much about it. Emily, on the other hand, did get a call back so on Saturday we headed back to the Fair for the actual competition.

Emily did great in the contest. Friday night she helped me pick out her outfit and was really excited to go to her "Contest." Russell had to work Saturday so he couldn't make it. Emily was (okay mostly I was) kind of bummed that her dad couldn't make it. She kept asking him "How come you can't come to my concert, Dad?" "Your concert or contest?" "My contest." "I have to work, sweetheart. But I know you will do a great job." (She would get concert and contest mixed up) During the contest, Emily skipped out on stage, did a little twist, and waved and bowed to the audience. She was so adorable. Then when she faced the judges, she told them her name and asked them what their names were. She was so happy.

In the end, Emily didn't end up placing but it was okay because she had a great time performing. One thing she didn't understand though was the prizes. On our way home she told me, "Mom! I forgot to get my prize from the contest!" "What prize, sweetheart?" "The one on the tables!" She had seen the trophies that were give out to the winners and she thought everyone was supposed to get one. I told her we didn't win one of those prizes but that it was okay. She was still pretty concerned about it but by the time she woke up from her nap, she had forgotten about the missing prizes.

I put a few of the things I have made into the fair this year. I got blue ribbons on everything except the two dresses I made Emily. I think the reason I got red ribbons on the dresses is because they had been worn and were faded a little. I am really excited about the bag I entered that got a blue ribbon and a Reserve Sweepstakes ribbon! When I saw that big ribbon pinned on one of my things, I was so happy. It doesn't really mean anything other than more prize money but hey it means a lot to me! I also got a Division Placement Best of Class on my Russian Dolls that I painted. I was excited to see that too. In all, I came away from the fair with $54 in prize money. Not bad, not bad. Hey it cost me $26 to go to the fair this year plus gas so I think I came out on top if not I broke even!

We had a good time at the fair!

5 months

Colby just turned 5 months old! Where is the time going? He is the cutest thing ever and I love his little grins and his deep voice. According to our bathroom scales he weighs 20 pounds. Here is our little slugger:

Colby is growing and learning new things everyday. He loves his sister and loves looking at her and laughing. He is currently learning to roll over. He can roll from his belly to his back and today for the first time he rolled from his back to belly without help. When he did it he looked up at me and smiled the biggest grin like he was saying "I did it mom!" He did it a few more times today but the second I got out the video camera to record it, he acted like he had never rolled in his life. I finally did get it on tape though.

Colby is getting to be a really good sitter too! He can sit for quite a while before he gets bored. He loves toys that make noise. He also loves his toy keys. His newly found body part is his feet and toes and loves pulling on them. He hasn't quite started sucking on his toes yet but I am sure that is coming soon. The one thing he does like to suck on though is his thumb! I hate that and being the mean mom that I am, every time I see that thumb in his mouth, I take it out. He gets mad at me every time but I will not have a thumb sucker! Other than that he is the perfect baby!

We are also starting Colby on solid food but so far he has not been a fan. Here he is eating his first Graham cracker. He wasn't too sure about it but it was something to put in his mouth. I took it away after the first few chomps because I was afraid he would choke.

Here we are introducing Bananas. Yeah not a hit. You would have thought we were feeding him garbage by the way he gagged and spit and shuttered. The twisted faces were priceless and quite hilarious. He has had the same reaction to the other things we have tried like Applesauce and Pears. He does like Rice cereal finally though. He looks forward to it every morning and eats his whole bowl. I guess we will have to keep trying the other baby foods so he can get to like them too.

He does like the Johnny Jump especially if someone is there bouncing him. He hasn't quite figured out how to make it bounce himself but that will come with time. For now he just laughs and smiles as we bounce him.

Emily wanted to have a sleep over the other night so we put Colby in her bed. They were both in seventh heaven.

Colby loves grabbing for anything he can reach especially hair! Changing his diaper is getting harder too because he wiggles all over the place and tries to reach for everything like the wipes, lotion, and even the towel.

I love getting slobbery kisses from him. When I put my face close to his, he grabs my ears and pulls my in for a big wet one on the nose. He also gives my tight squeezes when I pick him up. I love being a mom.