Buds

While I would love for us to have a few more girls in the family, sometimes it is wonderful that 7 out of the 9 Peper cousins are boys. All the little boys are too cute together, yes, even when they are rough and tumbling it, or fighting over the same train/car/bus/plane, or hitting their frustrations out on each other. But David and Tyler had some special moments together this last get together...

One night at bed time the two of them turned up missing and we found them in the bathroom -- Tyler was reading to David while David was taking care of business. Once they saw us we were instructed to "go out and leave" them alone. It seemed to become a nightly ritual as they would gather their books and bond over their bathroom time.

Yes, because they were precious they did end up staying up a little later than everyone else got too, everyone needs that special time sometimes. And we have some videos of them but for some reason I can't get them to upload...frustrating...but I'm going to keep trying...

Silly Sleepover

Flashback to our stay at G & G Pepers: Our first day together at Mom and Dad's house the girls ran up, informed us that they were best friends, and want to know if they could have a sleepover together. Against our better judgement we thought we'd give it a try because they were just too dang cute.And since the basement was the easiest place to put them, Tyler ended up joining them (since that's where our room is), along with Jared who couldn't be left out.And here is how it went: Tyler, after several warnings, had to be removed from the room and taken two levels up to a room all by himself because he wouldn't stop turning the lights on and off, blasting off like a rocket from bed to bed, running cars over the girls feet, and asking Jared if he was asleep. The girls ended up in all out brawls which led me to having a heart to heart with Jared, who had covered his head up with a blanket, about how girls work...when they get tired they get grumpy and emotional and then they cry a lot and can't stop themselves and they aren't sure why so then they fight about silly things that don't even make sense (like who's 7 and who's not and who is the mommy and who's not and who gets to play with what babydoll tomorrow and on and on and on and on)...

...and hours after we put them to bed they would finally be asleep...

...and we tried this for 3 nights and then realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea...not just yet anyway...

5 Year Well Check

Brynn went to the doctor today for her 5 year well check and her school physical...I can't believe I'm getting my little girl ready for school already?!? I feel a transition in our lives coming and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Don't get me wrong, she is ready for school, she needs school, and I need her to have that structure and experience. But I'm starting to feel tied down to the schedule already and am worried that I haven't taught her what she needs to know to live out in the world. I better not get started talking or I'll probably ramble for a while...and it hasn't even started yet. So moving along...

She was so thankful that she didn't need any shots. She weighed in at 43.8 pounds and measured 43.8 inches - the doctor was quite impressed that the numbers were the same, he said its close a lot of times but he's never seen it exactly the same. It made his day at least :) So she is about 75th% for both weight and height.

P.S. Her Auntie Laura gave her this adorable t-shirt for her birthday. It is from her new, up and coming, clothes line. You can check it out at http://www.lollybrand.net/

Stats

Dylan had his well-check today. I have to say I didn't love the place we went so I may be changing that (and yes, if I had listened to my husband we wouldn't have gone there in the first place, lesson learned) -- I'm not sure how accurate their measurements were but here's what we've got:

Length = 29 1/2 inches which is the 75th to 90th percentile

Weight = 24 lbs 11 oz which is the 90th percentile

Head = 17 inches which is below the 5th percentile

So huh...not what I was expecting. And really, I don't feel he measured his head around the largest part of his forehead. Maybe I'll just do my own measurements...

You would think they would look at their measurements and then look at my son and then think, I don't know, that maybe something was a little off and try again...his head is not that little! So no, I don't think they were very attentive which is why I guess I wasn't fond of them. Brynn gets to go to a different place tomorrow so here's hoping for something better.

Oh and on a side note he was the bravest little boy when he got his shot. He just laid there and looked up at me without even so much as a wimper or frown. Taking after his mama already ;)

Millions of Peaches

Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin' to the country, gonna eat me a lot of peaches

Ok, so in all reality I can't remember me ever buying myself, or my family for that matter, a peach. It's not that I don't like them; I've just never been a huge fan so I've never bothered. However, I do live in the country now and am practically just down the country road from this wonderful farm called Eckerts. And peaches happen to be the only thing in picking season right now. So while my sisters were here visiting (yea! our second set of visitors already!!) we decided to head over with the kiddos.
The day couldn't have started out any better. A school bus was waiting to drive us over to the orchard...yes, I said a SCHOOL BUS...the kids were thrilled!

And then after we got off the school bus we had to ride on the tractor to our spot...
And what goes out must come back so we got to ride them both TWICE! Anyway...
The actual picking went fairly well considering they didn't seem to be extremely ripe so we needed to monitor the kids picking a little more than I would have liked.

But everyone still had fun and it was a good experience.

Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free.
I discovered that my husband LOVES home canned peaches. Lyndsay discovered that her husband LOVES peach jam. So we had big plans for the day and came home with 3 boxes of peaches that were no where close to being free...try $85 worth of peaches?!?

But they did throw in free yummy custard (yes the day is still looking up at this point)...

Then we got home and went to WORK. Can you just see the mess in the background?! And those are definately fake smiles in that picture. By the end of the day our feet and hands and backs were killing us. And this is what we had to show for it... ...a pretty sight yes but it didn't seem worth all the work. And because of that I don't know that I will ever allow anyone to open one of the jars and actually enjoy the peaches. Huh...
Peaches come from a can,
They were put there by a man,
In a factory down town.
And I think its fairly safe to say that that is how it is going to stay in our house from now on.

But thanks for the lesson in canning Lyndsay ;) I really will use it for other things!

10 Months

10 month old and I still haven't gotten Dylan in to see the doctor yet - so still no stats to report until his appointment next week. A few days ago he started to pull himself up on things and he is more steady when standing and holding on. He only had his two little bottom teeth at 9 months but then this month got a third bottom tooth (his left side) and then one top tooth (his right side)...kind of a wierd order if you ask me. But other than that there isn't much new with him. Just as cute and smiley as ever!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

My Buddy, my big boy, my Tyler had his birthday today...
...yep, 3 whole years old. So we had a fun filled day. When asked what he wanted to do for his birthday he requested a "pay pace" (a.k.a a play place, a.k.a a fast food restaurant with an indoor play area) but we just went a few days ago so that was a no go. Then he said something that sounded like "movie" but not really sure. But what I did understand was that his third and most serious request was that he wanted to "pay with daddy." And that wish was granted!

We spent the morning opening presents and playing outside and then headed over to one of our usual hangouts...Wonder Lab.
Then we realized it was past lunch time and so headed to nearby Denny's...yes with all 9 kids under the age of 7...brave I know. But we, and the restaurant, were still standing afterwards. Next came naps, and more playing outside. And then a hot dog BBQ, one of Tyler's favorite meals, topped off with cake and ice cream.

I know it doesn't look like it in the picture but I actually had a helper this year. Yes, PJ helped me do the Dragon cake - complete with candles at the mouth for the fire breathing effect.

What more could a little boy ask for! He is so fun to do stuff for, or give gifts to, because he has the best reactions, gets so excited, and is very sweet and grateful. Gotta love my 3 year old buddy!

Happy Birthday Preston!

To clarify...the kids and I have been enjoying a nice long stay at my parents house because my two sisters and their kids are here also. However, PJ was able to get off work early today and drove over this afternoon for the weekend. And so we got to enjoy some of his 29th birthday together!

He had big helpers when it came time to open presents:
I asked Brynn what kind of cake she wanted to make daddy and she said, "a grown up one". So I asked what kind of things grown-up daddy like to eat. And she said, "only pop." So we went with it and made him a pop cake. No, I wasn't in the mood to try and actually sculpt a soda can cake last minute. But I did find what could be my new thing - you take any flavor cake mix, pour in any flavor diet soda, bake and wa la! I'm excited to do some more experimenting with different combinations.
It turned out pretty darn tasty...

Pull-Ups

Some times, because Dylan seems so big for his age, I think he should be doing more than he already is. And I feel bad about that, because really, he is only 9 months after all. So today he had a big accomplishment, he pulled himself up for the first time, and I was actually sitting right there to witness it. And since Daddy isn't here with us we thought he might like to see it too...

In the last video I sat there wondering if he was going to be able to go all the way up on to his feet and he was taking a while and it started to get boring so I stopped filming. Then of course he decided he could do it...so I started filming again just in time...

As you may be able to see, his motivation was his pacifier and some of Gramma's lovely paper books he's always after to rip up...lovely.

And since pull-ups is a theme here I thought I should make note of the fact that Tyler no longer needs to wear his Pull-Ups. Yep, I would basically consider him finally potty trained (except at night). And his motivation...somewhere, somehow, he must have seen someone go potty standing up - no I was not about to try and teach him that. But whatever it took, he must have thought that was pretty cool and he decided he'd like to do that. So batta boom...he did it.

America the Beautiful!

God shed His grace on Thee! Oh how I love the 4th of July!...the BBQ's, the outdoor play, the patriotism, the pride, the summer air, the parades, the cuddling with loved ones in the dark while watching beautiful 'stars' in the sky. The last few years have been slightly disappointing in our celebration, but this year I couldn't have asked for more (except for the rain rain to go away).
4th of July Jammies:
(David, [Jonah], Jonathan, Madison, Tyler, Brody, Jared, Jack, Dylan, Brynn)

The Parade:
It was sprinkling a little but nothing to complain about...the parade must go on!


His look says it all...candy, candy, candy...

PJ had a hard time getting into it...but the free beads won him over finally...

The Fireworks:
There is a Speedway right by my parents house that holds races on Friday nights and they do a huge fireworks display. So we got to hang out in the driveway and do fireworks on the 4th of July Eve.

Some times Tyler liked them...some times he wasn't so sure...


We even caught lightning bugs...

It began raining a lot harder throughout the day and so a few of our plans got ruined. But we still BBQ'd in the garage and had our flag cake...

Oh the magic...gotta love this holiday. Its right up there with Christmas for me!