Sick muffin!

This...

is not how my sweet little girl is feeling today.  This mystery illness that has been invading our home has now made it's way to our dear Annie girl!  Well, to both of us, actually.  So far all the boys have made it through, and then last night it hit my babe and myself.  Mostly just sad faces today, and then being such a sweet snuggle bug.  Praying this ends soon!

Horse Show!!

First of all, every time I think of the words 'horse show' all I can think of is that SNL skit "Dog Show."  Do you remember it?  With Will Ferrell?  Josh and I have been singing the dog show song this week after the horse show. Anyways, totally not the point of of this! :)

The homeschool group had a fieldtrip to see a horse jumping show (apologies to all horse people out there cause I'm certain I'm just slaughtering all the horse lingo!).  I didn't really think the kids would be into it, but they loved it.  It was a nice and mellow field trip, so it made me happy.  You can even see Annie loved it!

She has been really into sitting up and facing outward these past couple of weeks.  Don't even think about trying to cradle this little baby girl, she will have nothing to do with it!  I really can't believe how quickly she is growing!  She has also discovered chewing on things this week - she even got ahold of Wyatt's stuffed animal and put it in her mouth.  He was just tickled to death, and now keeps bringing her stuffed animals when we leave the house.

After watching a bunch of horses jump there was a nice lady who took the kids on a tour of the stables and they got to pet one of the horses.  They were just beautiful!  I am so seriously not a horse person, but they really are such a beautiful display of God's work, don't ya think?  I was surprised the boys went right up to them, not afraid at all.

They gave the kids a handful of hay and told them they could try eating it, too, just like a horse.  Of course my sons loved it that someone told them they could basically put grass in their mouth.  Wyatt even brought his hay home, in his typical hoarding style! ;)

The trip was such a success it zonked all three of them out on the way home!  I love it!

Sick little spud!

Poor Wy is sick today!  He told us last night at dinner that he didn't feel good, but you know kids say that all the time, especially at the dinner table, so we didn't really think much about it.  We had a movie night for Josh's birthday, and five minutes in he was asking to go to bed, so we knew he must really be sick.  Sure enough, he fell asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, and it was only 6:00!  He got up an hour later and we checked his temp and it was 104!    So he has been taking it easy at home all day today.  I gave him a "special" bath (you know, when you get to take a bath in momma's tub!  oh so special!), and he looked just oh so pitiful I had to snap a pic of him.  And sweet boy that he is, as soon as he saw the camera he smiled for me!!  I love this little guy.  I got one more shot of him with is normal expression for today....

We're praying for this love bug!

Sleepy muffin!

We were feeling like we have not taken enough pictures of Annie these past couple of weeks, but this is what she spends the majority of her time doing.  And of course I could just stare at her for hours, but it just doesn't make for a great picture!  She is such a great sleeper, as long as she isn't having reflux problems. Can you tell this guy loves his little girl?  And check out her crazy hair situation - the normal Marlatt baby cul-de-sac, the long piece on top that never falls out, and then tiny fine hairs growing in.  And this is the shocker - I think she is going to have brown hair!!!!!!  Both of the boys had nearly white hair growing at this point, but hers looks much darker.  I still can't believe it.

What is so crazy about her is that she sleeps well under any circumstances, swaddled, not swaddled, in a swing, just laying in the crib - it doesn't really matter.  Although, she does have less wakings if she is swaddled.  We actually found her this new swaddle wrap - I have 2 other ones from the boys and they just didn't work.... her arms were constantly just slipping up to her face.  It was causing me to think she was hungry all the time cause she had her hand in her mouth, but that is also the same thing she does when she is really sleepy.  So we got this sleep sack/swaddle wrap combo thing and I just love it.  Now I just need another one so I don't have to wash it all the time!

She usually sleeps in the swing at night wrapped in the swaddle until 11:30, when I take her to bed and give her a bottle - the one and only bottle all day that she willing takes and sucks down without a fit.  I love it!  We took her to her 2 month check up and she is doing well in all areas except eating!  Her reflux is pretty manageable at this point, although still unpredictable.  She was 10 lbs 4 oz, which puts her in the 32% for weight, and she is at the 66% for height, and they would obviously like those 2 numbers to be closer together.  So I am continuing to try to force bottles on her, usually with no success.  This girl knows what she wants!

BFFs

I love these two doing everything together.  One was on the computer by himself, and the next thing I knew they were doing it as a team.  It just makes me happy!

Why I love homeschooling!

As crazy and insane as homeschooling makes me, every single day there is a moment where I am just *so* happy that I get to do this with them.  Our science experiments have these great report pages where you print out a picture of the experiment and then the kids narrate what they learned from it.  The first week I didn't take the picture or do the report page, but after I did it one time and put it in his binder he was just in love with it.  And now  I know I have to do this every time.  And really it is a good thing it asks for the pictures, or I would never get the camera out during our school day!

Wyatt's responses to what he learned are just hysterical - for the dilution experiment with koolaid Wyatt's response was "I saw red."  I love it!! :)  And the top picture is our float/sink experiment and Wyatt's answer was "I learned that 2 Cheetos sink in oil."  What is even better about this is that there were no Cheetos involved at all.  To give him some credit, though, they were Fritos and they did sink.  Ha!  I guess that's what you get when a three year old does science work made for a kindergartener!

Jerry Mouse!

So I know its way past Halloween, but I am just obsessed with this kid as Jerry mouse!  He is so over the top adorable in it.  I'm also obsessed with this picture of Jerry with his tail sticking out of the back of the swing - it was so funny!  When he was standing it kind of hung down, but in that swing it just stuck straight out.  I love it!  We were at the trunk or treat the Friday before Halloween, so we had Darth Maul there braving the slide as well!

And I love this little boy snuggling up with his Daddy and his stretching sister!

I love these guys!!

Pumpkin patch cowboys! (and a cowgirl!)

Years ago we let Noah J wear his cowboy hat, boots, and a cowboy shirt to go to the pumpkin patch in.  Well, now the boys thinks that you MUST wear cowboy clothes to the pumpkin patch.  Enter my parents, who then have to take him to go buy all this stuff, cause there is no way momma is spending that much money!  This year they got all out of control with these adorable shirts, vests, and even teeny tiny wranglers!  They could hardly walk, but they were adorable!

Annie was having a bad night, so we only got a few pics of her.  She then threw up all over Josh and herself, poor thing. 

I'm in love with about a hundred of these pictures!  Can't wait to edit them all and hang them up!

When Joseph got there they were all so completely adorable showing off their cowboy stuff to each other.  I just love it.

 Can you tell this cowboy just got shot down?

And then I am totally in love with this shot of Noah J and his sister - he is so completely in love with her!

George Ranch!

Our homeschool group took a field trip to the George Ranch for their market days event a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately Josh couldn't go with us that day, and I was not about to brave the ranch with the 3 kiddos myself, so I was able to convince my sweet parents to go with us that weekend.  I couldn't have done it without them!

As soon as we got there Wyatt picked some cotton - he LOVED it!  He even asked to go back to pick more cotton cause that was  his favorite part.  I wish I had a video of how he says cotton - so cute - he over pronounces the "t" sound - I just love it.  There are multiple houses and set ups on the ranch, each of a different time period.  And at this event they had live reenactments of battles and people in period costumes teaching about all the different things.  Noah was pretty excited about seeing people with real guns!

The first thing we watched was  a skirmish between some Texans and some Mexicans who came and stole their supplies that had just been delivered.  The actors were REALLY into it.  We kind of thought the whole act was over after they caught the bandits and said they were going to be executed.  Well, 2 feet in front of us they lined the guys up and then "shot" them.  I was horrified!!!  The bad guys slumped to the ground and you should have seen the looks on the boys faces!!  I guess I was probably more disturbed by it than they were, though!  They thought it was pretty cool.  Noah was also really excited to see a real cannon (aka canyon to Noah J), but he just couldn't get over how small it was.

Then we went over to a different house and watched a civil war reenactment.  The house over at this one was just beautiful.  Of course, 2 minutes before the battle starts Annie wants a bottle, so I'm sitting there feeding her just feet away from all these rifles going off - it was total chaos.  And Annie rewarded me for my foolishness by puking all over the both of us! :)  The civil war thing was kind of funny - the yankees came in and stole all the gold from the poor southern ladies in the house and made them all come outside.  Of course the southern boys got the yanks in the end, and made them apologize to the women.  It was too funny.

Later that night Wyatt cracked me up cause he told Josh - "those bad guys get those princesses."  I guess he thinks any girl in a big fluffy dress is a princess!  Noah was in a pretty grumpy mood the whole day, but Wyatt really seemed to like it all.  He even tried playing the hoop and stick game... he was too cute!

I think we will definitely go to the ranch again, although I think I might wait a couple of years!  Guns and babies just don't mix! :)

My little zombies!

So I always try to buy the boys Halloween jammies - you know how sad you felt on Halloween when you have to take your costume off?  Well, I remember that feeling.  So it is such a nice surprise to have something new and fun to put on!  When I saw these I just knew they had to have them.  Last year Noah found this skeleton zip up sweatshirt thing that he begged for.  Nonstop.  For months!  It was so hideously tacky I just couldn't do it.  But they most certainly have skeleton jammies!  They even glow in the dark - super cute.

Well, in typical Laura fashion I couldn't keep them a secret any longer and actually gave them to the boy the night before!  How can I teach them patience and self control if I don't even have any?  It's a good thing I can control myself at Christmas!

Spooky walk!

Do you remember our first spooky walk?  Well, it is now a Marlatt family tradition! We have been waiting for it to get nice and cold, but it was just slightly cool, so we decided we better take advantage of it while we could!  The kids put on pants and long sleeve shirts..... they were way pumped about this!  We even threw a hat on Annie girl and loaded her up!

This picture cracks me up cause she was just so shocked and amazed with the flash going off on the camera in the dark night!  So funny!  We also had some hot cocoa to take with us, just in case 74 degrees was too cold for anyone! :)

The boys were really funny this year cause they wanted us to take pictures of them with the decorations.  In the past a picture of the stuff by itself was good enough - well, no more!!

They went on to check out some more stuff, but I ended up having to walk back with Annie, in her usual evening grumpiness.  What kind of child does not just doze off when being walked around in the stroller at night?  I seriously don't get it.  At least next year she'll have fun, right?