My Little Artist and DIRTY DAYS

My Little Artist

Hewitt LOVES to color and draw.

He reminds me of the way my big brother Jordan was when he was younger.

He has such a big imagination and is SO creative.

He is very specific and articulate and quite the perfectionist.

This is just a FRACTION of what he has drawn.

Little does he realize, I am a pack rat and

can't bear to throw away anything he draws.

SO I have loads and loads of pictures....

He is barely 5 and this is what he thought up

I am going to start posting more of his "art" cause I love it

and I want to share his cuteness.

This is "Cosmo the Cougar"

This is "Thing" or "Rock Man"

This is HULK

DIRTY

I have never had a problem with my kids getting DIRTY.

I don't ever remember my parents having a problem with me

getting DIRTY when I was growing up.

Thats what being a kid is all about

splashing in puddles

making messes

finding bugs

collecting bugs

collecting rocks and other treasures

using your imagination

getting good and DIRTY

Nothing a good bar of soap and a tub full of water can't fix....right?

Lately my kids have been getting DIRTY a LOT

Today they were living their dream.

I should have taken a picture of their bath tub.....completely BROWN.

I had to wash their hair twice.

AND this is NOT the first time this summer.

My Aunt and Uncle let the boys play out in there DIRT and MUD.

Between their dogs and DIRT and

kiddie/doggy pool they sure got good and DIRTY!

Gotta LOVE Sundays

(Visit with family and playing with friends)

-SO-

I have some family that live here in OKC!

We have been hanging out with them since we got here

and today is the first time I was able to snap some pictures.

Brent is my dad's brother.

He is married to Susan and they have 5 kids.

They have 2 boys and 3 beautiful triplet girls.

Its so sad that I haven't met my cousins and aunt and uncle till now,

but I am SO glad and feel SO blessed

that I have been able to spend time with them and get to know them.

I am going to make sure and get more pictures

when everyone else is there

but I got some good shots today.

It has been so nice to have these guys here.

Its so crazy how fast my kids have latched on to Brent and Susan.

I know they miss seeing my mom and dad everyday

and having these guys here has totally helped.

Brent is a lot like my dad

and Susan is a lot like my mom

and I think my kids can sense that.

Brent with Linford and Harper

they love him...

Me and Susan and Linny Binny

Brandon and Brent

Me and my cousin Julie

Brent tickling Linny

Julie and Harper

Brent getting MAWLED by the 3 musketeers

more wrestling

Brent and Susan

Friends

On our way home from dinner

our friends called and said they were outside playing

so we got home and headed over....

the kids had so much fun running around and playing

and the guys played some ball

love nights like these!

Hewitt and Uncle Gregg

Hewitt and Jace

(Hewitt came over and looked at this picture and said,

"mom is that what I really look like?")

Me and my new bestie

Brandon and JD

The OKC Zoo

&

A BAD Dream

Okay now I haven't been to a TON of Zoo's

BUT

I have been to a few and I

L O V E

the OKC Zoo

First.....you can't deny the fact that on Wednesdays admission is a DOLLAR

AND

Hot dogs, drinks and popcorn are a DOLLAR

Then.....the animals are so ACTIVE!

Everytime we have gone we see something cool happen.

The Lions are always up and going and coming up to the glass, its so cool.

This last time we went we saw a number of cool things.

We saw a small Jaguar fight which was neat...Hewitt talked about it for the rest of the day,

We saw two bears get in a fight, growling and roaring...pretty cool,

Then the Gorilla's were playing and wrestling with their baby.

I have never seen anything like it first hand.

They are so cute and so much like humans its so cool and funny.

They were laughing and teasing eachother, and throwing dirt at eachother. It was so fun for the kids to see.

Then while we were looking at the cougar

(which my kids LOVE cougars, because of BYU Cougars and Cosmo the cougar)

Hewitt was sitting on the fence looking at the Cougar just chillin in its little cove, Hewitt fell in the bushes and the Cougar jumped up and came walking over....Hewitt was SO scared, I haven't seen him that scared in a long time. It was kind of sweet.

I grabbed him. We were convinced that he startled the cougar and thats why he got up and came over to investigate. It was kind of cool.

We were also able to hold these birds on our arms which was pretty neat as well.

LOVE the ZOO!!!

BAD DREAM

I had this horrible dream about Harper drowning in the pool.

Having my kids around water is so scary for me.

I have heard story after story of kids drowning

and its so scary for me.

Harper is a fish by the way and NOT SCARED of ANYTHING.

He will jump in the pool at any given moment.

He absolutely HATES his life jacket

and literally has anxiety attacks when I put it on him and vomits.

SO, I try to be on my toes and lets just say going to the pool by myself is

NOT RELAXING

in the least bit.

In my dream we were at the pool as a family and Brandon was in charge of the older boys and I was in charge of Harper.

It was an Indoor/Outdoor pool

and the Indoor was being renovated, but it still had water in it, but workers all around.

Harper kept running into where the Indoor pool was and jumping in.

I had to keep jumping in to the very bottom of the pool and retrieve him.

It happened like 5 or 6 times.

Everyone just watched.

The life guards and Brandon...everyone.

I was exhausted and scared and frustrated....

Then I decided,

"this is it, he is going to wear his life jacket"

so I put it on him and of course he ran and jumped in again.

I wasn't too stressed because he had his life jacket on.

Then I soon realized the life jacket didn't work!!!

he still sunk straight to the bottom.

So again, in complete PANIC,

I jumped in after my little baby.

as I was swimming to save him I was looking at his face,

scared to death

...big scared, terrified look in his eyes

and

right before I reached him

I woke up.

I have been thinking about it all day.

Later this morning my good friend Leah came over and

asked if I wanted to get my kids and go swimming.

My dream flashed through my mind.

We ended up going and nothing bad happened and we had a great time.

But it really shook me.

My dreams are always so vivid and real.

I always remember my dreams

this one was so scary for me.

Hewitt Brandon McBride

(sigh......tear)

ahhhh, how does this happen? One day they are your little babies and the next....

they're 5!!!!

It is bittersweet for me.

He is SO funny.

He is INCREDIBLY smart

VERY passionate

He is so OBEDIENT

LOVING

SWEET....

you name it.

Hewitt is a dream child.

Yeah, he's had his moments,

but for the most part they're all good ones...

I couldn't ask for a better fit into our family.

Hewitt is such a good example and my little buddy.

AT THE SAME TIME

where did my baby go? That little baby who couldn't say his "R's"...

the one who use to be chubby all over?

The bald head...

the funny faces and everything else....

I want to freeze time, and I can't and its just happening
TOO FAST!!!

Slow down Hewitt! I need to take this all in!!!

Happy Birthday!
We love you!

Just chillin at 16 months

8 months

7 months

first Easter...8 months

He did this all the time when he was little...He is and always has been such a ham.

1 year old

1 year old

He LOVED strawberries and still does, he was 7 months

5 months

Not even a year old yet, I think he was like 8 months?

Hewitt and his buddy/cousin J.J.

He was 1 1/2 in this picture

6 months in this one

One year old here

5 years old!!!

KIDS

and a cute little story

I love these three pictures. These kids are so funny together. They were all on here playing and I just had to get a picture. Look how tan Linny and Avery are!

These next few pictures are of my kids playing at this park that has an army tank and my kids had a blast. This was one of those days where I had nothing to do and no where to be. The kids could just play till they wanted to leave and we were in no rush. I love watching them use their imaginations.

Cute Little Story:

Let me tell you first

I get stared at everywhere I go. Not as bad as I did in El Paso when I was the only

"non-hispanic" person.

Not only was I the only white girl but I have -THREE- little "toe-heads".

I have heard a million comments, to my face and behind my back.

Mostly good and nice comments,

my kids are very well behaved in the store (knock on wood).

I know I am very lucky. I make them all ride in the cart.

Its way more efficient and controllable.

Something I always think about is that its funny how in Utah Valley I am the "norm".

Most 26 year old women have been married 7 years and have 2,3,4 kids.

MOST don't get 2 and 3 glances as the walk through the store or down the street.

Kind of funny....

ANYWAY

here's the story:

We were in the bread aisle and there was an older lady probably 70 yrs. old

(which isn't too old, but to Hewitt, it is) standing next to me.

Of course she stared at me for a while.

Not in a rude manner, but more of a, "wow, she's got her hands full" kind of look.

Which I get often...so I looked at her and smiled. Then as the lady is smiling back,

Hewitt says: "mom, that lady looks like your Grandma"

Old lady: "oh I look like your grandma???"

Hewitt: "Noooooo-hoooooo, you look like MY MOM's Grandma"

The lady had sort of a confused look on her face.

I just turned to her and said, "oh thats a compliment...."

hahahhahaha, it was funny.

Love my kiddos.