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I guess one blog per month is better than no blogs, right? Don't expect much better... we are on the count-down and have only 3 more weeks until baby #4 arrives! :) We might be lucky to get one blog per year after that!So, lots to update on, of course. The main things goin' on with the Gunnell fam lately have been (drumroll, please...):*Maddie, the goat (and her new little baby goats, Snowbell and Isabelle)*Macie finished kindergarten*Reid graduated from neighborhood preschool*Memorial Day*My little bro. Brian graduated HS Valedictorian, and we visited Vegas for the occasion*Our Gunnell cousins are moving to Wisconsin (Danny's bro. Brian and sis-in-law Melanie, + kids)*We painted our house and the furniture finally arrived*Davis split his forehead open and got 10 stitches in the ER*Lots of fun family and friends have been our houseguests. If you feel like you are missing out (and believe me, you are!), give us a call and come visit us!
Daddy and the kids on Memorial Day, visiting Grandpa Gunnell's grave.
Davis is my little bundle of energy. He is fearless. He is brave and daring. He is physically confident and skilled for a two-year-old. And he is crazy. Sometimes I think he is trying to kill himself. Seriously. My little wild man. After a week or two of Acapulco-Crib-Diving (Davis's version of cliff-diving out of his crib -- the reason we bought him a "big-boy" twin bed for his birthday), I knew this kid had NO FEAR.
Last night he was wild man Davis again (even more so than usual), jumping on Macie's bed. He made a huge leap toward her pillows and overshot them, landing with his forehead squarely on her windowsill ledge. Within three seconds, he'd bled enough to ruin her pillows, bedspread, Danny's shirt, his shirt, and start soaking some washcloths. His forehead was split open across the middle, all the way to the skull. After a LONG late night ER visit, sedation, and 10 stitches later... Davis is all sewn up and hopefully won't look too much like Frankenstein when the stitches are out. He was such a brave little guy. I love him so much! It was pretty traumatic for mommy and daddy to see their little guy get hurt -- Danny and I were practically fighting over who got to hold him at the hospital. :)
We got home at 2 AM and had a lazy morning, resting up from the long night. All day Davis has been talking about his "big owie". Sweet thing. Hopefully this is the last ER visit we will have for a LONG LONG time. Special thanks to Aunt Amy and Uncle David, who happened to be spending the night here and graciously offered to put Macie and Reid to bed while we took Davis to the hospital. You were lifesavers!
Reid proudly graduated from our neighborhood preschool, and had a cute little graduation ceremony at one of his friend's homes. He passed the ABC and counting tests, and was awarded a little diploma and US map puzzle. This little 4-year-old can already write his full name and several other words. He'll breeze through preschool next year. I'm proud of my little smarty-pants.
Macie's kindergarten class had a special dance performance on the last day of school, where they danced to the infamous JELLO song. Here she is in her special costume, showing the school how jello moves. Super cute. I love Wasatch. Next year she begins Chinese immersion first grade! I can't believe my baby girl is getting so big.
My little brother Brian graduated from HS this month, the fifth of five bros and sisters to be Valedictorian. I guess I started a good tradition there... :) Actually, my grandmothers were their college valedictorians, and my mother was valedictorian of her class at USC as well, so I can't claim to be the real trendsetter here, I guess. We're just a family of smarties. Haha! It was lots of fun to make the trip down to Vegas to hear his speech, and to visit with Grams and Grampy, Grammie, Grandma and Grandpa Brown, Stephanie and baby Brian, and Katie, Tyler, and Sarah. Good times. I wish they would all move up to Utah by us! Look at how much Davis and Sarah love each other!
"auf Wiedersehen, adieu"
Yesterday we held a goodbye dinner at our home for Danny's brother Brian, sis-in-law Melanie, and their 4 boys. Here are the cousins together on the stairs, for the last time before the big move. We are sad to have them moving so far away, but super excited for Brian's promotion and career advancement. Danny can't stop saying, "I'm so proud of Brian." We all are. Hopefully things go smoothly for them this weekend and it won't be too long before we see them again...
Happy Father's Day to Danny, Pops, Grampy, Great-Grandpa Brown, and Great-Grandpa Korth too! We love you!
"Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo"
Here is Maddie, the goat who we got to eat the weeds. Danny thought it was a good idea. The kids had fun holding onto her collar all the way home from Fountain Green. And she only cost 50 bucks. :) All we had to do was give her water, and she would clean up our 5 acres of wild vegetation, right? Not quite. Although the novelty of Maddie was fun at first, we've had a few adventures taking her on walks and keeping her from disturbing our neighbors with her bleating. The first few nights she was bleating so loudly and incessently that she lost her voice, and sounded more like a sick bird (think Scuttle in "The Little Mermaid") than a momma goat. Then there was goat poop (fun...) and the problem with constantly knocking over her water bucket. And she didn't like to eat our weeds (which was her whole purpose for coming here, in the first place). After I had to chase her up the hill (when she escaped and started eating our neighbor's tree), I simply stopped calling her Maddie and started calling her "You dumb goat." Davis also began calling her "dumb goat." THEN... she started chewing through her rope and running away through the neighborhood. After long chases up and down the street and tackling battles to get her back up the hill and home, Danny was just about ready to kill her. His right hand still bears the scars from rope burns she gave him last week. As he left for Denver, he said "We are getting rid of that goat now!" But while he was gone, that maddening Maddie gave birth to two ADORABLE little baby goats. Reid discovered them Friday morning, and I am happy to say that she birthed them all by herself (thank goodness. I did not want to be a goat midwife!), very neatly and quietly. Even I, who by nature am not a livestock lover, could not help respecting Maddie for the way she delivered those cute little goats. So, Maddie is now back in good graces. Danny is so happy that she is a momma now that he has forgiven her past transgressions and even bought her some special goat food as a treat. I'm glad that he has compassion on new mothers. Maybe he'll splurge for some goat food for me when I give birth in a few weeks... :)Macie named one of the little ones Snowbell, and Reid named the other Isabelle. Davis thinks they are the greatest things ever, and he could sit and hold the babies all day. I think the baby goats are pretty darn cute too. Looks like Maddie will be here to stay... :)
