The Phillips Family

We went to McKenzie's graduation in May and went to a baseball game afterwards... where it poured. I got the best mother's day card from Aiden. I got this picture in a text during church from the nursery leader. :-) Cade has started learning how to pray by repeating any word he hears (from the actual person giving the prayer) in a cute high, airy voice while scrunching up his eyes.  It's adorable! Cade also went to the dentist for the first time.  He was quite chillaxed and tricked the dentist into giving him lots of drinks with the water squirter. We bought a new car this month. Aiden was the big bad wolf in his first grade class's readers theater.  He was very dramatic and a great actor! Found this note laying on the counter from Aiden to give to Master Lee, his Taekwando master. Cade helps me grocery shop.  He insists on holding the basket and wouldn't let me help him at all.  If I ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM THE MAN!!!  Our big boy Sambo turned 6 years old in May.  He wanted to have a Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party (and I wanted a low maintenance party!) so away we went to the land of crazy children and beeping arcades.  We gave Sam his bike before we left and he was very excited.  He was the "Super Hero" of the party and won TONS of tickets in the ticket blaster (an enclosed, tube thing that blasts tickets up while the birthday kid is inside.  They keep however many they can catch.)  He was absolutely thrilled to be drowning in presents and wrapping paper at the end.  That kid seriously made bank that day! Some things we love about Sam: - Sam is a super sweet older brother to Cade.  He will cheer up Cade when he starts to cry in the car and loves to help him learn new things, like how to say "fart." - Sam loves to be adored.  Really, who doesn't?? But once you start complimenting Sam on ...

A week before Sam's birthday, we decided to give him a new bike for his birthday.  The bike he had was so small that Cade could fit it just fine and peddle while on it.  He was still on training wheels, and he had no desire to take them off.  So I did what any good mother would do.  I bribed him.  I told him that if he could ride up and down the street 5 times with no training wheels, then I would get him a new Skylanders character (a video game action figure essentially.)  That did the trick.  We worked hard after school using Aiden's bike for a couple days before he got the hang of it, and just in time, too!  By Saturday (his birthday) he got to ride his new bike right away.  Well kind of.  He felt more comfortable using Aiden's bike so he and Aiden traded.  Lucky Aiden!  Sam is so nonchalant with his possessions.  He doesn't mind when Cade wants to play with whatever he has and lets Aiden claims his birthday presents as...

On the 26th we had the end of school piano recital at our house.  I couldn't believe it, but we were able to fit about 50 chairs in the front room! A couple weeks back, Rex built some stands for our new theater seats in the basement, so we brought those up and put some chairs on them so people in the back could see better.  Rex was gone the week of the recital, but he helped move them before he left the Sunday before.  Such a great husband.  Aiden and Sam did great, of course. They introduced their songs and even bowed at the end like we practiced.  Aiden was especially talkative and excited that night.  After the first 5 students played, he'd make some loud comment at the end of each song.  Things like, "Wow, I like your dress!" and "I loved that song!" and "Whoa, are you guys sisters? You look like twins!" (They weren't.)  He was our little emcee until I asked him to go "watch" Cade upstairs to make sure he was okay.  (Really I was ...

While trying to make Cade a PB&J sandwich one day, he kept whining and pulling at my legs and arms until I finally gave up and said, "Fine!  You make your own sandwich!"  And ya know what? He did!  It was too adorable so I recorded what I could.   The sleep strike with Cade continued this month.  He refuses to sleep in his own bed during the day.  At first, if he fell asleep in the car (which happened every day) I'd try to lay him down in bed.  Immediately he'd wake up and wouldn't go back to sleep and be cranky the rest of the day.  So then I realized if I just held him after his usual car ride nap, he'd stay asleep for another 30 minutes or so.  The only downside to that was me holding him for 30 minutes!  I got him to lay down ONCE in his own bed during the day.  It was very glorious.   The no nap thing wouldn't be as bad if Cade would just SLEEP a full 8 hours at night.  He STILL (and this is to...