I thought to myself “what a beautiful day, I think I’ll write my blog outside from the picnic table”. Trouble is, Jason is about to mow the lawn, leaving me with the three amigos. I fully anticipate saving Andrew from himself every 3-5 minutes and probably breaking up fights between the older two every 10-15. As I write this, Andrew is headed for the shed…did you know “garden shed” is synonymous with “boy playhouse”? Me neither [Be right back].
Ok. Shed door closed and Andrew relocated to the sandbox. Where was I? I’m thinking my blog should be titled “Around Here Occasionally” instead of “Around here Lately”. Lately just isn’t happening these days. Or Perhaps “Baxters Quarterly”? That would take some pressure off. [Brb…Christopher has now been let into the front yard to help Jason mow. I think Andrew might be eating sand (that’s a first for him actually). He stopped and he’s not upset so I guess I’ll let that one slide]. 
So life here in Utah. Things have been pretty great actually. Jason’s been working too much and the boys are a handful, but we’ve been healthy since January and keeping things together alright. We’re loving the new shed and windows that were installed this spring. In my limited free time I’ve managed to paint the remaining exterior doors and window trim to match the newly installed windows. All that remains for my exterior painting list is the backside of one door, refinishing a second, and the trim of a 3rd. [Intermission to attach the hose to the rain barrel so the boys can put “gas” in their lawnmower and save Andrew who has now realized he’s marooned in the sandbox]. 
We had interesting weather this Spring. There was a warm spell early on, and I made seed tape for my cold crops which were planted out early in April. Of course then it got quite cold again. Last week we woke up to one more snow–AFTER Mother’s Day! Isn’t that illegal?!? [Pause to retrieve Andrew, who got out through the open front gate]. Other than being tired of cold weather, I’ll take the snow over the hail storm we had last year any day. All of our baby plants seemed to have survived just fine and we only had to cover them for one night. This week temps are nearly normal (70’s) so the garden and flowers should get going nicely.
In April we attended our first kindergarten meeting for William. I didn’t learn much other than I need to turn in his immunization records and a copy of his birth certificate. Also, he’s not allowed to bring any medications to school or we will face some sort of undetermined wrath. On the bright side he doesn’t have a supply list and only needs a backpack, so that’s nice. [The older boys just tricked me into believing the mailman had delivered a package…it’s was just the box full of Duplos they filled up for Andrew]. Kindergarten starts in August and and we will be slaves to the school calendar for the next 17 years.
In mid-April Jason had a tooth extraction and bone graft in order to prepare for a dental implant. After having the same root canal and crown go bad twice he didn’t have a lot of options left. I learned that “bone graft” is not so much a chunk of bone like I had pictured as it is a slurry of sand-grain-sized bone particles that they shoot into the hole. [Short break to retrieve toy lawnmower from the front yard and figure out where the two older boys went. Jason is pushing Andrew in the swing]. The oral surgery was the first surgery Jason has had in his lifetime. We learned that he is a pretty good patient, but very sensitive to sedation. He didn’t have a very painful recovery, but is now missing a tooth while he waits for the bone to grow in so they can put in the anchor for the implant. On the bright side, I’ve had my dental implant for 7 years now and couldn’t be happier with it!
[Pause to fill a sippy-cup for Christopher and lift him onto the bunk bed with William…Sippy-cup and bunk bed actually turned into a snack and a blanket fort]
This summer should be a great one for entertaining and spending time on the patio! The garden shed has allowed us to relocate most of the patio clutter and actually get to our picnic table. The formerly pink railings and trim are no longer and eyesore, and a couple of weeks ago we bought a very gently used grill off the classifieds for about half the price of a new one. We had our first cook-out Mother’s Day weekend and are hoping to have several more before winter. Some day in the distant future I picture having cute strings of lights and Jason and I hanging out with cold drinks watching the boys play night games.
I’m hoping for a busy summer at work. It has been slow lately, and combined with my spring-fever the days have felt rather long. I have decided to go part-time (3 days per week) starting sometime in August after the summer rush and before William starts school. Jason has been super busy at work and is hopefully in line for a decent promotion, so it just makes sense for me to cut back in order to make life a little less chaotic as William starts school. I have assured Jason that if our salaries were reversed, I would gladly continue to work full-time.
[Andrew is now happily eating month-old snacks out of the stroller–and because they’re graham crackers I’m choosing not to worry about it] 
[Break for more graham crackers and welfare check of the two blanket-tent-monkies. Jason is enjoying a lawnchair and some YouTube]
Mother’s Day was May 14th and our 8-year wedding anniversary was May 15th. I used this as an excuse to buy a new wallet, two hummingbird feeders, $100 worth of plants, a new grill, and a water table for the boys. I told Jason “don’t get me anything, I’ve taken care of it” but he still insisted on bringing me some chocolate covered strawberries. That’s love.
In our limited free time we are trying to potty train Christopher. This morning he was dry for about 4 hours before coming outside and proceeding to wet two pairs of shorts in 15 minutes. Maybe we’ll try again next year.
William is slowly becoming more self-sufficient. He can successfully pour his own drink. Is able to find snacks on his own. He can make a PB&J with minor assistance. He insists on “privacy” now when using the restroom. He can turn on his kindle and find a game on his own. If I taught him to use the TV remote we probably wouldn’t hear from him for days.
Andrew is walking a little better all the time. It is easier and faster to keep up with his brothers if he is crawling, so he still spends a lot of time doing that. He makes a series of squeals, squeaks, grunts, and growls, but isn’t saying any real words consistently. Sometimes I think he says mama…but perhaps it’s only accidental. He’s also pretty good at waving goodbye–but only after the person he’s waving to has already left.
[This time Jason is retrieving Andrew after his brothers left the gate open. William reports Christopher hit his head on the nightstand…brb…Christopher’s head is fine…he wasn’t even crying]
The biggest danger to Andrew these days is himself. He’s just mobile enough to get into trouble at every turn. [See photo example I took 30 seconds ago…and now he’s back up there again…he got down safely and is crawling inside to raid the cat toys]
After a little proofreading and stopping to fix a bottle for Andrew I think this blog is about ready for pictures and posting. With dedication and minimal interruptions I’m on track to finish this in under 3 days. With productivity like this perhaps I’ll be able to write more than once per quarter! (Don’t count on it…I’ll see you in mid-July!)
S.~