I’ve lost my determination to blog this summer. I keep telling myself that its worth it just because I haven’t been good at doing scrapbooks for the kids past the first year, but even that doesn’t motivate me. Oh well! We haven’t had too many really exciting happenings around here lately so maybe that’s part of it. We’ve just been hanging out a lot. Jackson and Lacey told me the other day that they are best friends. They should be, they are together ALL the time. It was nice to hear it from them though.

The kids and I went to the cabin for the last week in July. So Fun (except at bedtime)! We had a few overtired meltdowns at bedtime, but the fun outweighed the trouble. Almost all the cousins were there, and my kids would kinda just disappear for a while with their cousins and come check in every once in a while. I tried to keep an eye on them here and there at least just to get a few pictures! All my sisters helped out a lot with Jackson, Lacey, and especially Rachelle. One night I was sick and Lacey and Rachelle decided to get up in the middle of the night. Robyn was kind enough to hold Rachelle the rest of the night so I could get Lacey back down and recover with a little sleep! Thanks Rob! Lori and Michelle took Jackson crawdad fishing with them while I was packing up the car to go home and he caught 3 big crawdads and 1 little one, and over all the group caught 67 or 68. From about the minute we arrived at home Jackson and Lacey were asking to go back. Its always a nice getaway for the kids!

We had a bear that came most nights at the cabin.

Here are the footprints across the driveway on the way back up from the dumpster

While we were at the cabin, a few visitors moved into our house… Termites! Expensive little visitors! Actually, they’ve probably been here for a little while, they just were keeping themselves hidden until now. We’re getting someone out on Monday to get rid of them. I think we’re lucky that they are in a fairly contained area… just in Jackson’s room and the bathroom right next to his room, all on one wall. I was really upset about it at first, but as I’ve read up and talked to 4 different inspectors, I’ve learned that they are quite common around here, and if you catch them early, its not too big of a deal. They say if you haven’t had them, you’re going to get them. I just can’t wait until Monday to get that off my mind – its been bugging me!

Rachelle has been growing so fast! At her last check-up (about 4 months old) she was nearly 17 lbs and in the 95th percentile for height. She has been army crawling since about 4 1/2 months, and pushing herself up to her hands and knees for about that long too. She just can’t figure out how to get those cute little chubby arms to MOVE! July was a fussy month for her, and my baby that had slept so well decided that she didn’t feel like sleeping through the night anymore. In fact, her sleeping was significantly better as a newborn than it has been in the past few months.  August brought a little more sleep, well, some nights anyway. She is a little particular about who holds her and when and how. She doesn’t really like to be sitting, so… maybe that’s part of my lack of blogging. She isn’t a terrible or colic-y baby – she’s just picky. She is pleasant around home quite often though. Her smile brightens the room, and Jackson and Lacey just go crazy to make her laugh. Her giggle is adorable. I started feeding her some oatmeal lately and she eats like a pro!  We love our little Shelly!

This video is a little long. Its from a few weeks ago at the cabin.

We started potty training with Lacey again today. We tried before Shell was born and at that point Lacey did awesome the 1st and 2nd day and then she just decided she’d rather go in a diaper than have to run to the bathroom every time – that’s way too much of a hassle. This time around, she has a Dora sticker chart that she puts stickers on every time she goes to the bathroom.

Then when she fills it up, a Cinderella Polly-pocket is her prize. She is so excited -she keeps asking “can I have my princess?” She has 7 stickers on her chart today (100%).

The little nut…I hope she decides going to the bathroom is worth it this time around, but I’m wondering if I’m going to have to reward her like this forever. I guess only time will tell. Silly little girl.

When we got back from the cabin, I decided we needed to get back to a routine. I had let go of chores and pretty much anything else, so we needed a fresh start. I made new chore charts and new chore sticker charts. Jackson and Lacey have LOVED them – I keep forgetting how much happier they are when they help out.  Jackson came in to my room this morning before Micah or I had gotten up and showed me that he had gotten himself dressed already (that’s one of his chores). Good boy. He’s getting pretty excited about Preschool starting in a few weeks. He still asks everyday if he can go to the childrens museum.

We’re still working on the articles of faith. This is the most recent one – it took quite a while to learn, even Lacey has it down.

Last but not least, Steve and Krista are here for a while! Yahoo! We can’t wait to see them and hang out with them. They are so fun!

So now you know what’s up at the Stubz.