falling is like this

Halloween was a rainy day...luckily we had several events proceeding than the actual event so the boys could try out their costumes. The Dude is a natural, and embraced the Iron Man persona. The Meer Kat was a hit in the Yoda get up.

I think an E.T. get up would be more appropriate for Fletch though. He is walking, as you can see. He stumbles around the house in a way that is reminiscent of the scene where E.T. stumbles around the house drunk. It can be a little risk as our house is also a disaster zone. The master bath is almost completed. The kitchen chaos has yet to commence. Hopefully we will survive the holidays.

My baby turns 1

I know it is cliche, but time has flown by. My little meerkat is One. He is a little boy now, on the verge or walking. He is a scrapper, and can bring his brother to his knees with one handful of hair. He can also eat most people under the table and screeches until he gets another bite. I love you buddy!

Fall in North Carolina

We carted our bikes and children out to North Carolina, and lived to tell. Rob was in charge of renting the car. He thought an SUV would be big enough to carry the bike box, but he forgot to take into consideration that the kids had to sit in the car as well. We ended up ramming the luggage and children into the car, with me sitting on the center console and the stroller in the passengers seat in order to get on the road. After a quasi-highschool reunion with Rob's friends, we acquired a bungy cord and were on our way to the mountains. It was well worth the effort to get everything out there. We were able to bike the Blue Ridge Parkway and see beautiful leaves while the grandparents were able to clock some time with the boys.

Kodachrome Basin

Our first official summer camping trip came at the tail end.

And July comes to a screeching hault

July was a great month, right up until the end. After a fabulous 4th of July weekend (see above), we headed out to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This trip was about 2 years in the making. We organized a trip with our bestest friends - the Other Joneses, and the Ledfords, long time friends of Rob from his college days. We headed out to Corolla, NC to a big beach house. The weather was awesome, hot and humid, which afforded long lazy days spent at the beach and in the pool. We did a lot of relaxing, which is hard to do on vacation for Rob. But all of us cached in on much needed daily naps in between trips to the beach and awesome fresh seafood dinners. Floyd had a hard time with the beach,the waves namely, on the first day, but as the trip went on we could not get him out of the pool. Fletch on the other hand is a fish, he loves the water. He successfully sealed the deal on an nickname during the trip too, meerkat. He would pull himself up and screech all the time like a meerkat. We plan on going back again soon, maybe next year. And then the rest of the month.... Rob headed out on a man-venture on July 24th for some man time adventure in the high uintahs. I was hanging with my monkeys, trying to entertain them and maintain sanity in the house. Well next thing I know, there was a crash, and a screaming meerkat. I found a lamp on the ground next to him, but could not find a mark on him. He cried for a few minutes but seemed all right. Later on I noticed he wasn't stuffing food into his face with his left hand, a usual two handed event for the meerkat. I took him into the ER and sure enough, he is a poster child for greenstick fractures of the radius and ulna. He is happy enough, you would never know he was even hurt. It was my first failure as a mother, guilt.

World's Best Wife Award

This July marked the beginning of my last year of training as neuroradiology fellow. I am tired. This spring really wore me out, and the lack of vacation for about 5 months didn't help either. July is my favorite time of year because of all the great memories I have of the 4th of July in Rexburg. This year was no exception. However the planning becomes a little more intensive because it is also Rob's birthday on the 5th.
The whole family, and the lizard man went up to Rexburg for a weekend of festivities. I had my dad orchestrate the best birthday gift ever for Rob, one he could not return; an experience of a lifetime.
One of my dad's friends has a few WWII fighter planes, and he let Rob fly this beauty a few times around the Grand Teton.
All of the brother-in-laws went along for the ride, so it was a good thing there were no problems on the flight which included a few barrell rolls.
The other event, which proves I am the most awesome wife was a trip to see Glenn Beck speak in Driggs. Just kidding, we avoided that, and instead Rob and I went to see Wide Spread Panic. A band that I cannot stand, but Rob loves, so I went to complete his weekend.

The boys had an amazing time with the cousins too!

Are you ready to Rock?

The boys have discovered the tempurdic mattress, on mom's side of the bed. I have a similar photo from everyday last week.
Fletch is a wild man. He can hold his own against Floydee. Floyd may perform the "bodyslam" with increasing frequency, but Fletcher easily defends himself with the hair-pull.
We went to the Art's Festival on Saturday night. The only good part of it was Floyd taking on the persona of Gene Simmons. Other than that it was hot, and stressful dealing with Rob's agoraphobia or agora-anger more like it, and chasing Floyd through the crowd.

Yes, we are still here

Yes, I still contribute to the blog, albeit fleetingly. I am barely hanging on here people. I know that I have family and friends who are seasoned multitasking mothers, but I am just hitting my prime. I feel that my existence, the peaceful and organized one I envision, is teetering on a precipice at any given moment. It just takes one little thing out of its zen-ful place to push me over the edge....then the world comes to an end. For instance, Fletcher went ahead and contracted RSV long after the average infant would this year, and added in a double ear infection to boot. Well luckily we avoided the hospital, but he required Q6 (thats every six hours for you non-medicine types) nebulizer treatments, antibiotics, and was out of school for 4 days. Well this rocked my world, my whole concept of good and evil was forever altered. You try managing a sick kid when you are a fellow (doctor speak for indentured servant) with no sick days or vacation days because they were zapped when the baby made his first appearance. Throw in a busy, loveable, but generally clueless husband, and you have a recipe for sleep deprivation and major melt downs. But I'm here, the kids are healthy. Mother's day was peaceful, I rode my bike, watched my TV shows undisturbed and had mexican food for dinner....booo ya

easter 2010

We went to Zion over Easter weekend. We of coarse took the pop-up trailer and parked it up on Gooseberry Mesa. We did a little biking in the park and played with the other Jones crew. Fletch and Floyd loved camping, and the Easter bunny even found us.

Bahama, come on pretty mama

Rob is really a highly skilled travel agent. He found this quaint little Caribbean island and worked out an elaborate itinerary to get us there safely and back. We rented a NICE house on the Atlantic side of the island of Eluethra, Bahamas. THERE IS NOTHING ON THE ISLAND in case you ever go there expecting a booming tourist industry. We were lucky to find groceries. I had made promises to send postcards to my niece, but there were no postcards to be found, yet alone a postal service. The island is about 100 miles long and 2-4 miles wide. Our rental car had 50,000 miles on it and was in pristine condition, not. Rob carted a cooler full of meat and cheese, causing me tremendous anxiety, across the country and through airport security 3 times. But I am glad he did, as we had Rib-eye steaks and Bratwurst a few nights we were there. He did procure some fish, fresh off the boat for us that was also tasty. All-in-all it was a relaxing vacation as we did not truly have a busy agenda, and were able to spend the days searching for shells and splashing in the ocean together.

School Pictures

The boys had a little photo shoot the other day at school. I am very pleased with how they turned out. Floydee is just learning to relish posing for pictures, and Fletcher is just mister smiley all the time.
Fletch is 4 months old, and is developing some dexterity, as well as a general preference to have a blanket placed lightly over his face to help him sleep. He survived his vaccinations relatively unscathed, if you call a low grade fever and world record grumpiness a normal reaction.
We have been holding our breath that the boys remain healthy...we have a little vacation planned for next week.

Warming Up!

Floyd is warming to the little brother. He is ready to play with him, but Fletch is just warming up. I mean the dude just hit 4 months old, and is gaining control of his head. We had a jumperoo test drive the other day. The little man likes to chew on the jumperoo, not so much jumping.

Floyd will show love to Fletch quite spontaneously, and in the same instant clock him in the head with his light saber.
Or today he would take a big swig of cranberry juice and then spit it out on his bro. The other day I caught him trying to floss Fletcher's teeth.

Hair

They look alike don't they? Same hair? Well groomed and respectable huh?
The boys and I are having a great time. Fletch is a smiley dude, and Floyd's vocabulary is developing exponentially on a daily basis.