Digging for Razor Clams

Itty Bitty Crab

Little steamer clam

Me and Gracey

Josh was such a trooper...Will wasn't sure what to make of it

Josh with his "Blood" Starfish

I love this picture with William. This place is so amazingly beautiful!

Serious Business!

Jared trying to dig for a clam with Gabe on his back. Gabe was bouncing around nearly head butting Jared over and over again.

Josh tried, but it is really hard to do

Found a hole

This is what you are looking for

Jared's back is a little sore today

So GROSS!

That is the Razor's Neck!!

For Memorial Day we headed for beach in search if the Razor Clam! It was a perfectly low tide which is perfect for clamming! I couldn't believe how many people were there, the beach was lined with people as far as you could see. So I thought that it would be an icky and miserable expierence, but it was just the opposite! We had so much fun! Rhonda (Jared's mother) and I packed babies and looked for their holes, Jared and Garth dug them out (which is not easy and they are super fast) and William and Josh collected them and put them in the buckets. We not only saw razor clam, but we also found lots of hermit crabs, baby crabs, steamer clams and even a blood starfish!!!

Rub a Dub Dub a couple of CUTIES in the Tub!!!

Gabe at 3 weeks


Gracey

How on earth did we get from that....

...to this!!!!

Gracey is already giving her dad "the look"

She doesn't care that she already has one-she wants his!!! A sign of what is to come! Gabe just lets her have it then takes the other one

Jared just walked in and Gracey automatically lights up!! She LOVES her DADDY!!

She loves it I swear!

The babies are both sitting on their own which has made bathtime so much fun. Gracey was sitting on her own first so we started putting her in front of the water as it filled the tub and she loved it! Once Gabe was also sitting we put them in together. They are so fun to watch as the get older and interact with on another more and more. In the bath the fight over the washclothes and cups. I am so used to doing baths kind of like an assembly line that it has been fun to just let them play together. Although since we started bathing them like this, about a week now, each time I go to get them out of the water I realize we lost track of time and the water is cold! The babies don't notice a bit!!!

Showing off his dance moves!

William is challenging at times and then a complete dream other times. He is very stubborn and is currently trying to see if throwing a total screaming tantrum will get him what he wants hopefully he learns real soon that the whole screaming, crying, kicking doesn't get him anything but trouble! On the other hand he is very creative and loves to dance and sing. He makes up his own songs and sings to the babies. I now need to point out that he loves to wrestle with his big brother, fight like power rangers and is like a fish in the water. We do love you Will, but can't wait til you are 4yrs (3 is too difficult)

The Twins at 8 months

Not quite crawling, but close!




They love going for walks in the jogging stroller, but Gabe always has to be touching Gracey and it usually really ticks her off!






Sitting up on their own. Gabe still needs a little support but Gracey is doing real well

The babies are 8 months old (it has been a long 8 months) They are good babies it is just super duper hard because there are two of them!! It has been nice to feel a little settled somewhere and to start getting them both on a schedule. They are now really good at taking their 2 hour naps at 10am and at 2pm then they are down for the night at 8:30pm and up at 7am-ish. They still get up a couple times during the night, but usually just need their pacifier then they go back to sleep. I only nurse them in the mornings the rest of the time the take a bottle and I make their baby food which they have 2-3 times a day. It is nice to have Jared's mom around for the extra set of hands during the day. When the babies want something the will let you know! They can get sooo mad and one crying encourages the other one. They will be perfectly content until they here my voice or see me walk by without giving them any attention and the will scream!!! They take a lot of engery and time and I am not going to lie they are so draining and it is difficult to keep up and they are only 2 of my 4 children! I do love them dearly and my heart melts when they snuggle into my arms so I guess we will keep them!

Gabriel 8 months old!

He is constantly in a puddle of drool or chopping on something while he cuts 4 teeth!

Gabe has all these little black heads on his cheeck and so we decided to try the pond strip thingys...it didn't work, but he was a good sport about it.

Gabe is a treat! You just have to talk and smile at him and he is all grins. He is still a little asthmatic so he is always wheezing. Right know he has a cough and sounds like Darth Vader! He is sitting up a little better, but tend to dive for his toes and falls over. He is content scooting and rolling around on the hardwood floors so doesn't try to crawl yet. He had a week of being so mean and cranky and I knew his bottom teeth were coming, but when I checked he had his top and bottom coming at the the same time! Poor kid was pretty miserable!

Gracey 8 months old!!

Gracey is just adorable! She sits up really well on her own now and wants so badly to crawl. She can get up on her hands and knees and rocks til she face plants, which makes her mad. So she gets around by scooting on the hardwood and rolls like a pro. She has her two bottom teeth and by her mood lately I think her top teeth are getting close. She not to friendly to people she doesn't know. You always know when her dad walks in the room because she lights up and gets so excited and of course, dad has a soft spot for her too!

The Pink Bike

Last week we took the kids to the local Safety Fair. We arrived close to the end so quickly added the kids names to the ongoing drawings that they were doing. They were giving away books and t-shirts and gift cards at at they end they were giving away a couple of bikes. They announced that they were drawing for the "girls" bike and they called "Joshua Bradshaw"! I was thrilled just the day before this Josh was saying how sad he was that he had to leave his bike in Utah. Josh wasn't paying attention and didn't here his name, I leaned over and said "Josh, you just won a bike, it is a girls bike, but don't worry we can exchange it for a boy one later" I don't think he heard a word I said. He walked up on stage and saw the bike (sitting right next to the "boy" one) and with a look of horror he crossed his arms, stepped away from the bike and said "I don't want a girls bike!!!!" I don't blame the 6 year old for not wanting a pink bike, I tried to not make a scene and calmly explained to him that a pink bike is better then no bike! The man doing the drawing kept asking (into the microphone) if he was going to take it or should they give it to someone else. I said of course we will take it and he will get over it! Did I mention that this whole time William was off stage crying because he didn't win the pink bike!!

We told Josh to give it to Will and we would get another one. We took them to the church parking lot to see if Will could ride it. It was way to big, but as soon as Josh saw that it rides just as well as a boy bike he wanted and was thrilled to have it! As for William,he was thrilled to have the pink backpack from it so in the end it worked out!