Camping

A couple weeks ago we went camping with several friends that have kids the same ages as ours. It's the first time we've tried it since Hayley was a toddler and was our only child. I had no idea how it was going to go....but it was so fun! I want to go again! Kids are just so happy when left to wander in the great outdoors and get as dirty as they want. They all slept great which made us happy. And since the camp site could be deemed as "luxury" I was comfy, pretty clean and very happy!


Just to document how comfortable we were...we somehow filled our van to overflowing even though we only stayed for one night!

We pitched our tent on grass that had been mowed! (so much cleaner than dirt!) The deer were so tame they wandered around eating just yards from our tent. The kids had fun watching. I guess there were bears wandering around too but we didn't see any.

The first thing Maya said when she woke up in the morning was "I camped!" She was so excited that she dragged her sleeping bag and pillow outside on the grass and played "camping" all morning while we ate breakfast and the other kids ran around playing.

Hayley with her friend, Scout & Claire and their little caterpillar.

The next day we went on a long, steep hike down to a waterfall. It was hot and did I mention steep? I couldn't believe Hayley and Maya made it down and back up. The picture of all of us above (with two tired girls) was when we got to the waterfall at the bottom...we hadn't even started the hard part yet! They were tired but we just went slow because there was no way anyone but Alice was hitching a free ride! We drove a couple hours home right after so all were nice and worn out for the ride home...perfect!

G-ma Thiriot's Visit

My Mom stopped in VA for a few days to visit on her way back to England. She's spent the last month in Utah helping my sister Nancy with her new baby. We were so excited to see her for a few days! Thanks to Grandpa and the kids at home for sacrificing an extra week so we could get some hugs and kisses from Grandma!

Grandma read lots of books, colored, played games, watched the kids play in the paddle pool, made gingerbread-men cookies (with a funny and memorable explosion of dough...oops!)

We flew a Strawberry Shortcake kite at the park...it flew so well!

Hayley has inherited a love of foot massages from both of her Grandma's. She loves to give them footrubs when they come to visit...welcome to Spa Messick!

A visit from friends or family wouldn't be complete without a visit to our favorite burger place then a stop at Jo Jo's--an outside soft ice cream place. I think Alice even got a little lick--lucky baby!

And then we said goodbye so our cousins could have a few days with Grandma too...Here's all the Virginia cousins! What a crew!

Angel Alice

Alice turned 4 months on June 4th. Here's a few things about our sweet Alice.

We love her big open mouth smile!

She makes us work for a giggle...sneezing and pat-a-cake are the best bet.

It's so fun to watch her gain control of those little limbs. She loves to hold, shake and eat her toys.

We sure appreciate her respect of the night time! She "sleeps like a baby!"

She gets excited to see Hayley and Maya when she wakes up in the morning.

She gets so frustated when she watches us eat. She watches every bite go from plate to mouth.

At her 4 month dr. visit she weighed in at 16lbs 5 oz! That's in the 80th percentile. We've never had a baby tip the scales like this. (Just for comparison...Hayley was barely 16 lbs at 1 year old!) Her height is the 97%-ile. We are loving the cute little rolls and chunky cheeks!

After a week of her getting really frustrated when she watches us eat we broke down and gave her some baby cereal. I've never started solids this early...but she's loving it!

The Bedtime Battle

I love tip-toeing into the bedrooms to check on the girls once they are sleeping...it reminds me what little angels they are even though we just endured a long battle to get to that peaceful moment!

We have 3 bedrooms upstairs in our house. Bedtime was relatively peaceful until Alice was born and upset the 1 room per child ratio. We moved Maya and Hayley into the same room before Alice was born.

At first it was funny to listen to them giggle and jump on their beds until ridiculously late. But over the past several months I have come to dread "the bedtime battle!" Some nights it's their sisterly enjoyment that gets them in trouble and leads to late nights and tired kids. Other nights they bother each other and end up in their own civil war behind the bedroom door.

We just kept figuring it would improve over time...afterall, they aren't the first siblings to share a room! We have consulted with countless other parents trying to pick their brains for any ideas that may help ease our nighttime conflict.

I finally realized that Alice was such a great sleeper that maybe she was the answer to our problems. Unlike our other newborns, she really didn't have to have her own room becasue she goes to sleep without a problem and sleeps all night! So we spent a Saturday disassembling the beds and crib and rearranging the rooms for the 3rd time this year.

End result: Hayley and Alice are now sharing a room. Maya gets her own room (thanks to the fact that she hasn't learned how to whisper when Alice is sleeping and she loves to jabber and sing to herself as she falls asleep...probably why she made Hayley crazy as a roommate). We have also taken a suggestion we heard from many parents who say their kids fall asleep listening to books on CDs. It has worked wonders for Maya--no more in and out of bed a hundred times. Quiet music helps Hayley calm down as we read stories but then she can't stand to have anything on when she's ready to sleep.

I'm happy to report that although bedtime is far from perfect...we are enjoying many more happy good-nights!

Canoeing the Rappahannock

This is Ryan. Hayley and I went canoeing a week ago. We canoed for 11 miles down the Rappahannock river. We went with one of Hayley's good friends and her Dad (who is also a good friend of mine). We had a lot of fun.

Hayley did really well and enjoyed getting out and playing in the water with her friend. It was a fun, long day.

As we were driving home, Hayley asked when we would get to go again, so I guess the trip was a success.

Bootie Heaven

I helped throw a shower for my sister Nancy in Utah this past week. It was suppose to happen several weeks ago but Nancy surprised us all and had Abigail almost 4 weeks early. Check out her blog for the full details...it's pretty funny.

Anyways, the baby shower was postponed and has finally happened so now I can post the details of the fun favor Nancy helped me make while she was visiting in April. It was so easy to make and even better, it was very inexpensive. So girls...if you're throwing a baby shower anytime soon listen up...you too could be in bootie heaven!

Supplies:

Hot glue gun

2 nut cups (I found them at Michaels)

A Kleenex

3 cotton balls

Cute ribbon (about 2")

A button

1. Place 3 cotton balls and the nut cup on the kleenex as in picture above.

2. Fold the corner of the kleenex over the cotton balls and into the nut cup.

3. Tuck all the edges and corners of the kleenex into the nut cup.




4. Place the second nut cup inside the first to hold the kleenex in.

5. Wahlah!

6. Glue a piece of cute ribbon to the top of the bootie.

7. Glue the button on top of the ribbon.

8. TaDa! A cute bootie.

9. Now mass produce!

10. Fill the cup part with nuts, mints, M&Ms, gummie bears or whatever else you can think of.

We had so many booties that I kept some and used them when we blessed Alice. They were sitting around the house and between church and dinner being ready they acted as nice appetizer holders.

Spacing in blogs

Does anyone else have challenges with spacing in posts. Sometimes the blog spaces things out more than I want and no adjusting will fix it and other times it won't leave lines between things even though I hit enter several times. Sometimes I can get it to look right in the "posting--create page," but then when I "publish post" it changes. Drives me crazy! (see post below...I couldn't get rid of the double spacing on the captions under pictures no matter what I tried)

Any tips or solutions you've found would be appreciated!