Button, button, who's got the button?

Linus does. I now wish I would have taken a picture of my stupidity, but instead the story will have to suffice. For some strange reason, after I bought a small box full of craft buttons at Joann's I thought it would be a good idea to open it up, show the kids all the colorful, bright buttons, run my fingers through them with them in full view, and then put it on the counter in reachable distance while instructing the children to stay in their seats and finish their lunch while I went upstairs to feed Odell for a minute.
The next sound I heard was something like the sound a rain stick makes when you tip it over, only not so pleasant, then Chloe screaming "WI-NUS DID IT! HE'S NOT EATING HIS LUNCH, MOM, I BEING A GOOD GIRL!"
Unfortunately I haven't swept the floor as often as I should have this week, so I couldn't just sweep the fallen buttons up without getting the week's worth of kitchen-floor gummies along with it. I had to pick them up one by one. The floor vent was conveniently located right where most of them spilled, so I got to go vent diving as well- on the plus side, the cobwebs are all cleaned out of there now.

Labor Day

Hi folks!
Been busy mommy-ing, in the feeding, diapering, and sleeping way these days. Odell seems to be getting bigger- everytime I look at her she's looks like her arms and legs and neck are chunking out just a little more. She's still smaller than Linus and Chloe were, but I have to admit it, she's quite cute. Linus and Chloe are settling into everything and I've been making a better effort to really spend time with them and do what they want to do during the day. Today for an hour we went out on the trampoline and played every trampoline game they could think of and I laughed with them and tickled them till they couldn't breathe and just tried to have fun with them. The tantrums and the extreme stubborness have subsided over the last week and we seem to be re-establising a normal relationship with them again (hooray!). Chloe even has gone potty by herself again the last few days when she's feeling particularly helpful. Linus has calmed down on the hitting and screaming. It makes me enjoy my days much more! Odell has been sleeping off and on pretty well, and that has been helpful. We are also nursing much better now that I'm getting off of the breast-sheild- it's helped my supply and now I can feed her once on each side and she's done rather than an hour of switching back and forth to get her full enough to fall back asleep. :-) Still hurts a bit, but I'm ready to bite the bullet and get over the nursing "hump" so that it can be less of a hassle.
Last weekend my Dad and brother and sister came up on Labor Day to hang out for the afternoon. My Dad and Addison finally got to meet Odell- it was a fun evening. We ate lots of grilled meat (we pretty much grilled everything we had in our freezer for a big schmorgeshborg) and then we played an intense game of croquet in the backyard. My dad won. Got some cute pictures of the "men" with the baby.


In other news, it was Craig's birthday yesterday! The old man has turned a whopping 27 years old. Still acts like a teenager sometimes, so maybe that evens him out a little? I love this man, though, and am glad he was born so I could marry him and have cute kids. :-) We are doing cake and ice cream tomorrow because he was gone at work all day and then had activities with the youth in our ward in the evening. But Chloe and Linus and Odell and I went to the store and got him some cupcakes (I usually make them, but I know he likes those really disgusting ones that have ten inches of frosting on them you get in the bakery section). We surprised him and brought them to work- I let Chloe carry them inside and she was doing great until we got to the back door of the store and she tripped on the tiny ledge leading into the store. The cupcakes went flying- luckily there was a lid on them, but that ten inches of frosting smeared all over the place, so we kind of had to just use our fingers and dip it out back onto the cupcakes. She was pretty distraught, the poor thing, she was trying so hard to be helpful. But they still tasted the same, so that's all that matters. :-) I'm excited to actually take Craig on a "date" this weekend for his birthday- we don't go out to eat all that often, so it'll be nice to spend some time with him kid-free for an evening. Hooray!
In other other news- Boulder is burning down!!! Well, if this wind keeps up tonight it will. My brother and sister live in south Boulder on the east side of Broadway, so it sounds like they are relatively safe, but they may be evacuating everyone west of Broadway and north of Spruce tonight if things get worse. Our old house we lived in when I was in high school is in that area. Pretty scary. Praying for those who lost their homes. Although I read an article about people sneaking up to their houses even though the police have a perimeter, and one guy was irritated they wouldn't let him pass. A quote from the said homeowner: "I even gave the cop a Powerbar and he wouldn't let me pass!". Only someone in Boulder wouldn't understand why a Powerbar wouldn't be sufficient temptation to let someone break the rules...
And another picture of my little sweet one. This one is going in the announcement, once I order the prints.