around the house....

Cannon has an incisor coming in as well as 2 molars that are still breaking through. He is pretty sure that he is dying. We now know that he can and will cry for 4 hours straight. I do feel bad for him, but I really miss sleep.

The nice thing about doing the laundry in the summer (if there is one) is not having to track down all the baby/kid socks.

We decided it was time to try to put Cannon in church nursery this week since he did so good with the grandparents. The drop off went fine and they never called our number so we thought it had gone well, but he looked pretty pathetic when we went to pick him up. The sweet lady that was taking care of him said he had been quite sad. He had been crying off and on and kept hanging out by the door looking for us. Hopefully next week will be better. Charlie on the other hand loves this church and had a great time.

For the last few months every time I have taken a shower Cannon would sit outside the bathroom and cry. I used to let him come in the bathroom with me, but then he would try to climb in with all his clothes on. Last week he suddenly stopped doing this and I am happy to be showering in peace.

Eric made one request for dinner last week and that was meatloaf. I had it all prepared and opened the oven door to stick it in. I hit the edge of the pan on the door and it fell upside down in the oven getting the raw meatloaf everywhere. It could not be salvaged so we had McDonald's instead. He definitely did not marry me for my cooking.

I have been enjoying the scent of Havana Cabana in my scentsy. Makes me wish I was relaxing on the beach with an ice cold diet coke and a magazine.

The other night Eric had made an exaggeration about something and Charlie said "Easy there, dad". It is obvious that he has spent some time with G-Pa lately.

If you say I love you to Cannon he will immediately give you a kiss. The other night I said to him "who is ready to get on his pjs?" and to my surprise he squealed "Me!"

Charlie is completely obsessed with what Lego set he should ask for from Santa. He goes back and forth between the Spongebob House set and the Police HQ set. He is constantly talking about it and changing his mind. We have been trying to tell him that Christmas is still pretty far away and that they may come out with some other sets by then that he will want instead, but he is not hearing of it.

I have been getting some scrapbooking done but the above mentioned lack of sleep has been hindering my creativity.

Charlie has been trying his best to be a good big brother. They have been fighting so much lately that I had to sit down and have a talk with him. It is hard for him to understand that Cannon is still a baby and we cannot expect him to do all the things Charlie can do. He has been trying though and when he does something nice he asks "Am I being a good big brother now?"

And just because any post is boring without a picture, here is the little cutie at In-N-Out a few weeks ago. He loves those hats.

it's official....

The popsicles
are out.
Summer
has
officially
begun!

fountain fun....

Last night we went out to dinner to the much raved about The Pie Pizzeria. The pizza was good and the place was cute. I think we will definitely be back. We decided to check out the large fountain that was right next to the restaurant. I am so happy in moments like these that I carry a point and shoot camera in my purse.

Cannon was not sure what to do. The first few times he approached the fountain he did this.
With daddy at his side, he got a little more comfortable.

Still not wanting to get close enough to touch it.

And there he goes.

Charlie had fun and was even willing to get more wet than he usually does.

Then Cannon found this spot where he could get his feet wet. I am pretty sure he would have gone in deeper if we didn't stop him.

Yet another failed attempt to get a good shot of the both of them together.

I think it is safe to say he loved it.

more cannon layouts....

I have continued to plug away on Cannon's first year album. I have been so inspired lately and am finding myself stealing any free moment to work on my pages in progress on my scrap desk.

I had so many photos of his first birthday that I just picked 2 for this layout and then put the rest in pocket pages. This polka dot paper from American Crafts is one of my all time favorites. I used it for his invites too. The color of it photographed kind of weird here, it is more of a khaki with white polka dots. The felt monkey is from Sassafras and I thought it was the perfect accent since it fit the theme.


I struggled with this one for a while because I was having a hard time picking out the right accents, but I think the stars look pretty good. I love that banner sticker from Sassafras too.
And lastly, this page is about our visit that we had to the neurologist last summer. I am not completely crazy about how the journaling part turned out, but it is better than my previous 2 attempts. I love the orange polka dotted paper. You can definitely see my alphabet sticker addiction in this page.
Hopefully I will soon be able to say that I am done with this album. It is getting very, very full!

our preschool graduate.....

That's right, we have a preschool graduate in the Smith household. We were bummed to find out that we were going to be out of town for the graduation festivities, but Charlie did come home on his last day with this diploma. He also got some sidewalk chalk, bubbles and a pinwheel from his teacher. He was so stoked about all his new treasures.

A few weeks ago I had a meeting with his teacher to review the goals we had set when he started there. She said that he had made great progress with his social skills. He was playing with others without having to be asked and was rarely playing alone. He was also completing fine motor skill activities with little help and was able to stick with it for at least five minutes. He had completed the goals and will not be eligible for any special services next year in kindergarten. I was not surprised to hear this because I could see at home that his fine motor skills had really improved over the past few months. I have also seen him interacting more with kids at the playground and breaking out of his comfort zone. I was also not surprised to hear this because I don't think his teachers here ever really got why he needed help in the first place. The only reason he qualified for the program in Utah is because he was eligible in Idaho. From day one here, I have felt like the teachers thought I was completely crazy. I don't know, they just didn't seem to get it like the preschool in Idaho. I am thankful that his teacher here really did love Charlie and he had a great experience. He was bummed that school was out and is excited to start Kindergarten.

They also did some reading and mathematics testing. I am not sure why they did not do this when he started, but I didn't say much then. Our case worker in Idaho told me to disclose only the minimum and let them figure it out. I know the teacher figured out quickly that he was pretty bright, but she was quite shocked with his testing results. She said she had to ask him questions that she has never had to ask before because he just kept going. She said she was laughing because he kept saying how much fun it was. I let on that I did have some idea of what we are dealing with and explained that is why I have been pushing for the help he needed in the other areas. I did find out that Utah starts their gifted program in first grade (as opposed to the third grade in Idaho) so that is good news. If I think about all this for too long, I feel the anxiety creep in and I start to feel helpless and scared for the next few years. I just want him to get the education that he deserves and for him to love it too. Instead of panicking, I have just been praying. Praying for the path that lies before him, that all the right people are there to guide us right where he needs to be.

On another note, as I was taking the picture above Cannon came outside to see what was going on. He was not sure why Charlie was standing against the wall, but he was sure that he needed to do the same. Here he is behind the scenes, always toting his cup around in one arm and exploring with the other.

june layouts.....

I am so happy to say that with these last few pages I completed with the Freehand Scraps June kit, I am officially done with Cannon's monthly update pages. I still have quite a few other pages I want to do to finish up his first year album, but I feel like I have made a good dent in it.

The kit came with these chipboard frames from American Crafts. They were all different colors/designs so I painted them all white so I could put the patterned paper behind them. Other than having to paint 4 coats of paint, this page was simple and came together quickly. I laugh out loud whenever I see this picture of Cannon.

I had tons of scrap papers when I was finished with my layouts so I put together this quick card. I love having these types of cards ready to go because then I am much more likely to send them out.

Another layout showcasing all the cute patterned papers and that beautiful ribbon. I did create separate 6x12 pages with all the milestones/text like I have shown here before. They are just so simple I didn't take pictures of them for the gallery.

Here is a layout with the chipboard frames in their original form. I have actually changed this page a little bit because I remembered that I had the little baggie of hair that the hairstylist gave me. I removed that chipbaord scissors from the yellow circle and put the baggie of hair behind it. It turned out cute. I am just too lazy to re-photograph it. I just ruffled up the ribbon as I fed it through the sewing machine. I will have to say that this layout is much, much cuter in person. I am not sure why I couldn't get a good photo of it.

My pages are usually so simple I don't really feel like they need an explanation, but if you have any questions feel free to ask! The kit is still available at Freehand Scraps. Go get one.

we're home!......

Last Saturday we drove to Boise to drop off the boys with the grandparents so we could spend a few days together without the kids. We decided to go to Seattle since it is a pretty cheap plane ticket and it has been over 10 years since we were last there. We mostly just wanted to relax but we also had a little list of things we wanted to do and I am happy to say we completed them all.

1. Visit a few crafty stores. I couldn't find any recommended scrapbooking stores in the area, but we did go to Paper Source, Impress and Amuse rubber stamps. All super cute stores.

2. Take the ferry. We decided to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island. We walked around a little bit and had lunch at a cute little place called the Streamliner Diner.

3. Pikes Place Market. How could you go to Seattle and not visit the market? It was great as usual. The flowers were beautiful and all the produce looked delicious. Eric bought some raspberries and something called Salmon Candy. I was told by Eric and our parents that it was delicious, but I still passed. Yuck.



4. Visit the first Starbuck's location. It was tiny and crowded and looked nothing like the stores do now. Eric said the coffee was fantastic though.


5. Visit the Chittenden Locks. I really had no idea what these were or what to expect, but I was surprised at how much fun I had watching the boats pull in. There was a gorgeous yacht that pulled through and I was just amazed how nice it was. I would definitely recommend stopping at the locks if you are in town.




6. Go to a Diners, Drive-in and Dives restaurant for dinner. We decided to go to Slim's Last Chance because Eric wanted to try the Verde chili they featured on the show. The place had a lot of character and the food was pretty good. Eric gave the chili 2 thumbs up.


7. Take the Boeing Tour. Obviously this was Eric's choice, but I loved it! The tour was fantastic and it was incredible to see how they put together the 747's. The facility and technology that they have developed is just incredible. Another activity I would highly recommend while in Seattle.


8. Eat breakfast at Top Pot Doughnuts. We saw this on the Food Network so we wanted to check it out. The store was really cool and the donuts were huge!
We also just enjoyed the time alone together and of course we slept in every morning! We are so grateful the grandparents agreed to take the boys for us so we could enjoy these much needed days off.

We were told that the boys did great and everybody had a great time together.

Even though we are now on complete grandma detox, it is great to be back with our little dudes. It was nice to recharge our batteries and be reminded how blessed our little family is.