Western Days

So, in the city of Twin Falls, ID there is this thing called Western Days that is a pretty big deal. We decided to check out part of it. We went to the parade (Mr. Mitchell drove the firetruck to the parade, but he was not in it so he could watch with us) and the fair and had a mostly good time. More info. below if you're curious about why it was only 'mostly' good.

She was supposed to be napping.

He was pretty excited to sit on the sidewalk by other kids.

Mr. Mitchell's engine.

Just because we liked it.

The kids were pretty aggressive about getting the candy, but this nice guy was helping Sprout out.

After the parade we went and walked around at the fair. It was a madhouse which can be fun in its own little way. We enjoyed some steak on a stick, (Seriously, we enjoyed it.), people watched, and finally gave in and got some tickets so Sprout could go on the bounce house.

The first bounce house was fine and Sprout had a mini-meltdown when it was time for him to get out. We went to the second bounce house and everything was fine until a big, fat kid got in. He popped the bounce house in about 5 seconds and scrambled out quick as he could. The only other one in there was Sprout, and he got trapped. It wasn't an easy bounce house to get in and out of because it had a second wall with a second entrance and as it deflated the second wall collapsed and blocked the exit. Since Mr. Mitchell wasn't present, and nobody else had the presence of mind to help, I was stuck trying to hold up the outer wall while the bounce house attendant was scrambling to get Sprout out as Sprout was in full-on panic mode. It was not a good moment, but it turned out all right. After the kerfuffle we discovered that Sprout's shoes were nowhere to be seen. Bummer.

Other than that it really was a fun day. Next year we might try hitting up the rodeo and derby as well.

Shoshone Falls

Grammy and Grandpa Earls came for a visit around Memorial Day so we decided to take them to see the falls. This beautiful spot is only ten minutes from our house.

The falls are a little dry. Here's an older picture:

*These are bonus pictures for Grammy*

Sprout Moments #2

February 2015

"See ya later banky-bank" as we drove away from the bank.

I caught him playing at my desk with items he's not supposed to have and he says, "Hey dude. I jus' playin' wi' dis stuff."

March 2015

His song through the parking lot one day: "Four six three hot dog! Eight seven four hot dog!"

April 2015

Me: I'm going downstairs, sweetheart.
Sprout: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Me: (talking to Little Lady) There's my little angel! (I turn to Sprout) Are you my big angel?
Sprout: Oh, no, no, no, no. I Caleb.
(Yes, I recognize I am not consistent with keeping my children's names out of my blog. It's hard to do - maybe I'll just go private.)

Grandma Holdaway took Sprout to his first ever movie theater experience. They went and watched Paddington Bear together. Here is how the experience went according to Grandma:
They arrived at the movie theater with Sprout jumping up and down yelling, "Paddington! Paddington! Paddington!" It tickled everybody pink to see someone so excited to see a movie. They went and got their popcorn and drink, and when Grandma turned around there was no Sprout to be seen. She did a quick look and found him in the correct theater picking out his seat in the very front row as though he knew exactly what he was doing. She brought him back a few rows and they had a little chat about running away. Sprout was good as gold throughout the movie and enjoyed his treats. After the movie they were walking back to the car when Grandma suddenly noticed that Sprout had on no shoes or socks. They went back into the theater where an employee was headed out with the shoes and socks for Sprout. All-in-all the outing went smoother than expected. Sprout has not been able to stop talking about watching Paddington at the "big movie."

May 2015

Sprout was running around the fountains at The Village when he noticed two gentlemen dressed up like Thor and Captain America as a promotional event for the new Avengers movie. Sprout ran over to Thor, pointed at him, and yelled, "Jesus!"  I guess Thor looks like Jesus.

Sprout had burned his finger on my straightener pretty badly so we had him keep ice on it for an hour or so that morning. At the end of the day, when he should have been sleeping, I heard him whining in the bedroom. When I opened the door to see what was going on he fell down onto his knees, and then flopped onto his face yelling, "Ice me!"

Directed at me while I was working out, "Mommy, stop dancing your bum."

Snork = snore
Macaroni pepper = pepperoni
Microwave phone = microphone
Sunbeep = sunbeam

Little Lady at 4 Months

My Little Lady is four months old now and cute as can be. She rolls from front to back and back to front, and she is getting much quicker at grabbing things. She won't be able to sit at the table with me for much longer or she'll be pulling everything down off the edge. She is very snuggly and loves to have people sing to her or even just look at her. Her smiles go for days and will cheer up everyone that sees. She's at her chattiest when she is getting tired and will tell some good stories. She adores her older brother and loves to watch him play. She poops herself awake almost every morning between 4 and 6 am - it's exhausting. She has become a regular tummy sleeper and likes to have a blanket over her. Lately if I move her blanket to check her she has her little legs tucked up under her and her bum in the air - it's adorable. She is one of the most slobbery babies I have ever seen and will completely soak her shirt in minutes. We are more delighted everyday to have such a sweet and happy baby in our family.

Now, for the pictures!
*These pictures are of her in one of her dresses from her adopted aunt in New Zealand - this dress is so dreamy! I also had to include a picture or two of her in her Aunt Rachel's baby dress.
**Someday I will figure out my camera and take wonderful pictures. 

Mitchell Munchkin Catch-up

This is just going to be a compilation of pictures of my darling kiddos from the past couple of months. I have had a few family members tell me that they love the blog so that they can be in the loop of our family happenings since we don't live by any family to share these moments with. I am so glad to hear that people are enjoying these since they are somewhat time consuming, and I am glad to look back on old posts and have a family journal to jog my memories.

I haven't posted any pictures since mid-March so I'll start from that point.

Sprout went through a phase of feeling the need to constantly kiss his sister.

Sprout has had an interest in his daddy's shoes for quite some time, and then one day he suddenly had an interest in my heels. He actually did really well.

Easter happened while we were crashing with Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway. We colored eggs and did an egg hunt. Grandpa Holdaway brought out the electric train he bought for Christmas since we missed it, but it had to be put away pretty quickly because a certain gentleman was being too rough with it (hint: it wasn't Grandpa).

Then Daddy did a little photo-shoot of his little mini-me. I'm sharing my two favorites:

Sprout and Gunnar are quite a pair. They have a love-hate relationship. Most of the love comes when there is food involved.

I took Sprout to JumpTime in Meridian and he had a blast. He probably would have stayed all day with complete enthusiasm. Little Lady just slept.

For fun my mom and I took more pictures of Little Lady in the blessing dress. At this point she was about the same age I was when I was blessed in that dress. It was fun to see how much she looks the way I did at that age.

Little Lady is still very strong, and she works out regularly. Here she is doing her floor workout series.

Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway said they were sad to see us go when our rental opened up, but I don't know if I believe them. Now they don't have constant trip hazards, no one's terrorizing their dog, no one's throwing temper tantrums (I hope), etc. We are very blessed to have family help take care of us and are so grateful we had a place to go when our first rental after the move didn't work.

Random photo-shoot with Little Lady in our new home.

Mr. Mitchell was sent out on a work assignment on Mother's Day so he missed that and our 5 year anniversary. Boo. We will celebrate sometime in the future when things have calmed down, so, maybe next year? He did send a beautiful bouquet on our anniversary. I celebrated with my children. My wedding anniversary is also the birth of my family. So, we had cupcakes (which looked better before Sprout knocked them over) and sparkling cider to celebrate our family being 5 years old. Sprout was a big fan of the cupcakes.

My goofy little boy. He has terrific bedhead every morning. I love it.

Lastly, some of the hilarious sleeping positions of Little Lady.

"Drama queen" is the name of this position. 

If you made it all the way through I'm guessing you love my children, and that means I probably love you.