Chumby

Chumby is pretty sure this muscle tee is going to impress the ladies at church today.

On the Stranger Side of Springville

I have mentioned before how I have a tracker on my blog. It is always interesting to see where my traffic comes from. For instance, I get a lot of traffic for people searching for nicknames for Kate and all variations of the name. I get a lot of traffic from people googling my husband's name. ( He has a stalker as well I guess or someone of his name sake). And I don't care who looks at our lives, who marvels and the lighthearted things I have to say each day. That is what it is there for after all.
Recently I updated my tracker and found that I have a lot more friends in Springville Utah than I thought. Or one very interested one. Every four to six hours it seems on most days some one from Springville or Utah County (Springville could just be where the server is located) logs on. They are direct traffic, meaning they are not hopping to me from their own or another blog. They are usuing a Mac as well. But that is all I can tell. It is a little strange to me to think that I could possibly be that interesting. After all, I don't even post everyday, but they look sometimes up to four times in one day. And they don't hop off most of the time to other blogs either- I mean they are not usuing my blog as a menu for their blog viewing or something like that.
Does this sound like you? Is it you? Maybe you just aren't aquainted with the feed feature blogger provides? Maybe somebody should show you google reader? Maybe you should leave a comment so I am not so weirded out, or a personal email if you prefer to be discret.

AHHHHHH

More coloring

It is amazing how Kate's drawing is coming. She is barely two. This is a picture of her and a picture of Dad. Jake and I laughed at how mean he looks. But she even picks the right colors now for hair and lips.

Phoneix and the Carpenters

Our family had the opportunity to visit Amy and Jeff and Kaylie this long Memorial Day Weekend. We enjoyed so many things about our trip. We left home in the afternoon hoping that with afternoon naps and bedtime that the kids would sleep most the time there and we were right. Except for a 45 stop for running around and dinner we didn't have to stop except for gas one other time. Jake and I really enjoyed the road trip. We stocked the car with treats and drinks, and a few books on tape. Now that we often seem to have to travel 12 or more hours to visit family we try to have the philosphy to make the journey part of the trip as well. It was our first time driving through Kanab/ Page area and we thought it was one of the most beautiful parts of the country we couldn't believe was only a few hours away. We listened to "To Kill a Mocking Bird" and "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families" as books on tape since I don't have a CD player in my car. And it seems we always spend at least a little time while we are on a road trip talking about how things are going for our family and making new goals the make us even stronger as a family unit. In the end road trips always give me time to think and a small sence of renewal. Of course I usually only drive 1/8 of the time so perhaps Jake doesn't fell as positive about the driving as I do.
One thing that was really fun for me, was that even though Amy and I constantly talk to one another, seeing her life and home in Arizona was still different than I had imagined it. They have a beautiful home with a pool in the backyard and Amy is both a wonderful decorator and hostess. She has been in her home for less than 6 months and it still looks more put together than mine that I have lived in for 2.5 years. She also kept us well fed with tons of wonderful meals. Jake enjoyed golfing at the Truen North course with Jeff- his first golfing of the year where what amazed him most were the hundreds of bunnies roaming the course. And we had as many chances as we wanted to get Kate to swim. I had purchased Kate some new water wings before the trip and been talking about a swimming pool for days to get her excited. When we got there however not only did she think that water wings were what a swimming pool is, she screamed when we put her in the water. Three days later she was warmer to the idea, but still did not want to get in. This was strange to us since she has always loved the pool in Kamas. Their one year old however is going to be the next Michael Phelps. We spent time eating out, watching movies, at the awesome children's museum geared for kids under five and just relaxing. Just being away from the house is a vacation. I didn't think about cleaning or yard work or life.
We also had the chance to visit Jake's brother Joe and all four of his kids. He lives about 30 minutes from Amy, and it is always nice to get more than one visiting done on a trip. His children are growing up quickly and it was fun to see them if only for an evening.
We thought the Phoenix area seemed a wonderful place to live except for it was only May and I was melting. In fact I am pretty sure Kate had a mild case of heat stoke on Sunday until we pumped her full of popciles and gatorade. Here are some pictures from the trip.
The had an awesome noodle forest. Kate couldn't get enough of it.
Kate crawling through a play area at the museum
Kate and Kaylie painting the house at the museum
Sam slept most of the time at the museum but was happy when he woke up
Sam ready for swimming though he never got in.
Kate would point at pool toys and shout " a swimming poo"

Our sad Sam. He is actually laughing and smiling a lot now, but his normal face is this sad or a serious one. I think he is happy though his face doesn't show it. If he looks huge in the picture that is because he is. He is already in some 9 month clothing. I think he looks like a rugby player today with that shirt and those cheeks.

Here is a picture of the finished floor. Wheeew. Last night after I finished sealing and cleaning it I asked Jake if he thought it was worth all the money and all the work and all the hours and all the stress. He was quick to answer "no". Regardless of that, it is done now and we can just enjoy the kitchen. We added a few finishing touches too like the new light and handles for the cabinets. I am now looking for some new accessories- I am thinking burnt orange, to spruce up just that much more.

One Saturday Morn

Hanging out with the family, Kate ate spagetti for lunch and loved it. And she wasn't trying to get messy, she just ended up this way.

* I wanted to add that Kate has been eating this left over pasta ever since. Except that Kate has a book about opossums. When ever I say "pasta" she thinks I am saying "opossums". She goes to the fridge and asks for "opossums", then recites a line from the book "friendly opossums hanging in the trees" . I see how she could confuse these words, what disturbs me is that she has no qualms about eating opossums, her fuzzy friends.

Funny Little Things

I was talking to a dear friend on the phone this week and she asked for a funny thing Kate has said or done lately. I know there are several everyday, but I drew a blank and couldn't think of anything. I resolve to write down more of these funny things, and of course share them here.

Today
k: Kate is happy
me: Kate is happy?
k:No Mommy happy, Kate is pretty.

Jake tore up the floor in the entry way to start the tile work there. Kate started to get upset yelling "time out, time out". She normally has time out in the corner of this entry way and she was worried that time out was going away. Then Jake laid down the new sub floor. Kate went over to it, danced on it and said "cute floor"

Bedtime
me: tell me about playing with Cola today
k: play green ball
me: yes and what else
k: and bowling balls (kate has been talking about bowling since we took her a few weeks ago)
me: what about bowling?
k: and sour cream

what her thought process was there I have no idea.

Guess who slept last night from 10:00 pm until 5:59 am. He is a little sick, but here is to hoping that is not a fluke. We can't even get the Katerade to sleep this long sometimes. Go Chumby!
Here is a sneak peek at the nightmare that has eventually turned into a kitchen floor. For those of you who haven't heard me already complain, we decided to re do the kitchen. Coming soon (hopefully) is a full picture before and after. We have been working on this floor for weeks now. And I feel pretty bad about it because when I say "we" decided to re do the kitchen floor, I mean "I". Jake tried to convince me to buy new furniture instead with some of the money we have been saving to put towards the house... and I picked new floor.
I say it was a nightmare because nothing worked out, we had to put in new sub flooring, than when we were almost done with laying the whole tiles our cement didn't adhere and we had to start all over. Me and the kids even went and stayed at my parents for a few days because the stress and dust was making me sick. We were able to finish the dinning room and kitchen.... we still have three more rooms to go, but at least I have appliances in the kitchen and not the living room again. I am sure I will make a great dinner to celebrate the fact that I can make dinner again. We are getting pretty tired of sandwiches and hot pockets.
Also a note, that my husband is not only a handyman genius who can fix or build anything I dream up, but he somehow stayed happy and positive the entire time.

You Must Be the Oldest!

I do have a love for organizing but it is something I did not enjoy until adulthood. My daughter however, is obviously the true oldest child in our family and takes after her Aunt Amy ( I remember some story about pencils lined up in a desk). I often come to an area Kate has been playing to find something like this. Today she was particularly particular about having all of her toys categorized, and lined up. I just hope all this cleaning and organizing sticks around till she is at least ten or so.

Wellness Checks

I took both Kate and Samuel in for Wellness Checks today. Note to self- don't ever schedule both children for appointments at the same time without knowing for sure that Jake can come too. He would have easily been able to come normally, except he goes to trial maybe five times a year, and today just happened to be one of them. Just my luck. I got to wrestle two naked, apprehensive children in a pediatrician's office. (Pediatrician's office is code for germ loaded hot zone). The office we go to is a great practice, but you just know sick kids have been there. No amount of hand sanitizer can keep Kate germ free. Especially when she lays her face on the floor while I am holding Sam for his shots and can do nothing to stop her. The OCD in me is about to vomit just thinking about it. We made it out successfully in the end. It only took 75 minutes. My favorite thing is how the pediatrician gives you all sorts of advice about parenting unsolicited. Not really though. There is part of me that does enjoy taking the kids in however. It is the confirmation that my kids really are as smart and ahead of the game as I think they are. They got a "perfect as can be" from the kid experts minus some weight concerns for Kate (no shocker there). Also the confirmation that my daughter's toenails will someday grow in a manner that is not alien looking. It is also commicle to see my children are night and day difference. In size I mean, not just in that Sam screamed bloody murder when he got his shots and Kate ( at that age) hardly made a peep.

Kate 2 year stats
22 lbs 5%
32.5 in 25% putting her final growth potential at 5ft 3 inches- that sounds about right
19.5 in head - 90% looking more like a Freeman every day

Samuel's 2 month stats
13.6 lb 75% I thought he was a little more "chumby" that this
25 in 95% I am sure this "tallness" will decrease like Kate's did. She was in the 90% forever and now look at her.
16 in head- 50%