Memorial Day Weekend Part 2

We picked up this new swimming pool for the kids on Friday. We told Kate we could not use the pool until it was summer, or until it was warm outside. The rest of the weekend she kept saying she was" soooooo hot." When we would offer her a drink or something to help her cool but she would say " I guess we better get in the pool".



It was actually not warm enough to really go swimming outside at 9:00 this morning, but I really wanted a chance for them to use it and love hearing them squeal in delight. So I slowly filled the pool with hot water from the kitchen with a pitcher. It was worth it. So worth it. And in the end it was more like a bath outside with their swimming suits on.
This boy is teething and is constantly chewing on his tongue. We are always telling him to put that tongue back in his mouth. But it always comes right back out.
This was Sam's 1st experience with swimming that he enjoyed. He has only been to the Kamas pool a few times and is always not very happy to be in the pool. I am glad this was a lot more fun for him.


They spent most of the time splashing so hard they couldn't even open their eyes.
We are so glad summer is finally here.

Memorial Day Weekend Part 1

Memorial Day Weekend is a success so far and it is only Monday morning. Lets start off by sharing these adorable pictures of Samuel eating a cookie and rolling on the floor laughing. It is not the cookie he is laughing about, it is that he is so exhausted after playing all day with two little boys we watched for some friends.

Jake built and launched a rocket on Saturday. The kids all thought it was neat. Funny enough on the 1st real launch I corralled our children plus the extras we were watching onto the stairs and in my lap so we would not get hit with the rocket, and somehow the rocket was angled just right so it flew over our heads, spilled 2 liters of water all over us and we didn't get to see the rocket flying about 100 feet up.
Don't worry we tried some more and managed to not get wet those times.
Kate flies the rocket through the air.


Kate and Crystal making silly faces. Kate made hers all by herself and searched all through her craft box just to find the last two googly eyes because she wanted real eyes.

Working in the garden. We put the last of the starts in the garden this morning. Hopefully we are freeze free from here on out. Though we moved the garden this spring so we could have a bigger plot it is still not big enough. I have plants way to close together. It is going to end up like a jungle in there, but oh well. We have ten tomatoe plants, 4 zucchinni plants, 4 pumpkin plants, 8 peppers plants, 4 potatoe starts, 12 pea plants, 5 green bean starts, 8 corn starts, 5 garlic plants, 10 strawberry plants and about 50 onions all successfully growing at this point. I am looking forward to making and canning delicious salsa, Kate keeps telling me she is going to eat all that healthy food.
..

Those Strange Kids of Mine

I let the children play mostly unsupervised in the backyard for a few minutes yesterday.
I left them planting a garden (putting pinto beans and lima beans from the pantry in the two feet of dirt I have designated as their garden to play in so they don't destroy my plants... again)

I guess that got old-

or they figured out they did not have real seeds.

because it t did not take long for me to noticed this.
and this.One single purple chalk line on each and every fence board and post on over 50 feet of fence.

I am fairly certain it was her.
When I asked her about it she picked up chalk and kept marking more of the fence.

But this guy looks guilty too-
and I did witness him coloring on the fence later that same day.
But I doubt he has the dexterity or the oldest child personality that created such odd and organized art in the backyard.

You kids keep me laughing and on my toes.
I love you for it.

Blogging for Gift Cards.

Some of you may not know about my secret blog life.
I write over at readysetplan on a daily basis.
And go by the name "the girl with the plan"
I didn't mean to keep it a secret from you all
It is just a small piece of me
A little interest of mine

I started it when this family blog of mine was getting over run with emergency preparedness projects.
I made a little place to blog about the planning I do, to save money, to prepare for emergencies, to care for my family and my household.
That stuff takes a lot of planning after all.

I am kind of a planner.
It is a problem.
Some people think I am organized for organized sake.
Really I am organized because I am forgetful, and always worried.
Nothing is very scary though- as long as you have a plan.

Anyway

Some people have started to care about what I am posting about over there.
People I don't know and have never met.
That is so nice of them.


Then the Preparedness Pantry featured one of my crock pot recipes today.

It is my chicken curry recipe... FEATURED HERE!

I feel like a ROCK STAR.
To all 600 people that read their blog. But still

To top it off they will be sending me a $20 gift card to their store for my "trouble".
They are so awesome over at the Preparedness Pantry and Emergency Essentials.

Thanks Preparedness Pantry.

Go check out my feature.
and be sure to leave a COMMENT over there at their site for me too.

Also check out the secret blog of mine

ReadySetPlan

If you are really my friend you could add yourself as a follower, and leave a comment once in a while over there. Maybe you will even find something interesting or new.

Nerds and Jocks

It has seemed for some while that I am raising a nerd and a jock.
Mostly because I have a small, thin daughter who likes reading, coloring and singing.
and a son who is large, muscular and likes to wrestle and throw stuff.

Really Jake and I say all the time how we are trying to raise nerds.
It is all in the plan really.
To raise children who like reading, music, and learning.
They can like sports too if they want, but I am guessing we are not going to have many basketball stars showing up in our gene pool.

Sam had his 15 months old appointment with the pediatrician this morning.

I am not sure where my large and in charge baby went.
He is now a small toddler with a big head/ brain just like his sister.

Height- 41 percentile
Weight- 28 percentile
Head- 80 percentile.

along with an unidentifiable rash and a discussion about lactose intolerance

I guess I am successfully raising two nerds now.
This makes me really happy.

Songs and Praise

I just put Kate to bed.
I asked her what song she would like me to sing for her bedtime song.
She usually says " I love to see the Temple"
Tonight she told me she would sing the song.
So she started singing.
And this is what followed in a very high sing song voice

"Once there was a Dad
and he had a truck
and it was a big truck
and it drove away

Once there was a Mom
and she had a lamb
and it was small
and it was pink
and then it ran far from home

Once their was a Sam
and he had a fish
but it was little
it was very small
and it flew
and it came back

Once Jesus had a wolf
and he had a big wolf
then the wolf flew away."

Wow! That is soon to be racing up the singles chart.
But why is everything driving, running of flying away
At least Sam got to keep his fish while the rest of us lost our cool things.


Speaking of godzilla
Sam is almost 15 months old now.

He is becoming a very social guy.
He chatted up a cashier today, and calls out what he sees when we drive or go inside somewhere.

Unless that place is a car wash...
...then he just screams like Kate just bite him...
...which also happened this week, and left him with a quarter sized chunk out of his arm.

He is to that point where new words are not so new that they get a lot of recognition.
But I still like to remember each one as it comes. I think he really learns the words for things he is most interested in.
Here is Sam's current list of words in order of first to current.

Mama, Dada, Dog, Tate, Whats That, That, This, nigh nigh, cat, (dog barking), (tiger growl), book, (fish sound), (elephant sound),olive, horses, (cow mooing) (monkey sound), more (with sign), dirt, bubbles, balloon, want, honk honk...
I'm sure there are a few I am forgetting. Which makes me feel bad only because with Kate I promptly wrote down each word until her list was upwards of 50 or so.
I am pretty sure his next word will be shoe, outside, or drink if interest is any indication.

One Man's Trash...

The kids found these foam pieces in the basement today in a box that a computer came in.
That box has been sitting down in the basement waiting to be throw in the trash. But it is big, and since we forget to put our trash out half the time, there is no room for extra things like giant computer boxes. So it found a home in the unfinished basement.

They kids were delighted with their find.
They were gladiator weapons
then turtle shells
and park benches
and picture frames
a bus
and finally skirts.
Treasure found.


...but certainly not trash.

Funny Kids

Samurai
1. More growling and pouncing like a tiger at any animal figurine or picture, and especially loudly during church meetings.
2. Waking up from naps and heading straight for his shoes, then begging me to put them on. he knows what he wants and where he wants to go.
3. Extreme attachment- crying desperately if a garage door opens, when we get our shoes on (he usually goes and gets his shoes on then too), the three seconds when I leave the car before I open his door to get him. Real tears, and can't breath kind of screaming.

Katerade
1. Telling me about dreams last night. Her bedroom = an ocean, Dad a shark, me a fish, Sam a seahorse and her... well Ariel of course but you could have guessed that. Also a dream about a dragon that was growling and sticking its tongue out until Jesus came and saved her.
2. Kate to Dad " where are you going"
Dad to Kate " I'm going crazy"
Kate to Dad (gets her shoes on) " I got my shoes on- can I go to crazy too"
4. Found a marinate brush for the BBQ, pulled a chair up to the wall in the kitchen and painted the kitchen with her spit. (Thanks Kate, I have been debating over what color to paint it for over a year)

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day.
For several reasons.
A nap, kind card, thoughtful gifts and of course the best kids ever.

Jake relayed to me the brainstorming session where he asked our children (mostly just Kate) what I needed for Mother's Day. She returned with three answers. Jake took her to pick out these items for me, then helped her wrap them. The best part was that I pretty much knew what gifts I was getting with in hours of them returning home from the store because Kate doesn't know what a secret is. When she would start to tell me what she got at the store and her Dad would remind her not to say anything she would mime what I got. She pretended to stir, wipe counters and write. Still giving me hints through actions. Hilarious!

As for the gifts- they included.

" a big spoon for stirring"-Kate

" towels for cleaning your kitchen"-Kate

and "pens for your stuff for writing"-Kate

I can see our daughter talking with her Dad and coming up with these items.

I think it is funny that the three gifts really show me how my daughter sees me.
I cook
I clean
and I write ( at my desk mostly in a planner)

She is pretty accurate.
These are the things she sees me do during the day.
So I really appreciated the thoughtful gifts from her.

I also received a kind card and a book I have been wanting from my husband.
But this was just icing on the cake.
Thoughtful things my daughter determined I needed filled my heart and made me laugh out loud.

I can't wait until to take our daughter shopping for Father's Day to see what she thinks her father does and needs.

With a Side of Pleasant

Feeling like I had one million things to do yesterday, I made the kids come on five hours of errands (over half of that just in driving). I dreaded what the trip might be like, but thought I would give it a shot. Amy was helpful and let me drop them off for an hour so they could have a break. But I knew it was a lot to ask of them. On the way home from Sandy I thought for sure I would have one or more screaming hungry children and I would have to stop off somewhere to get them something to eat. Instead, not only were they delightful the entire trip, they both feel asleep and slept the hour home.
When we returned home they remained pleasant as they have ever been. Kate did this puzzle repeatedly that I got her while we were out for more than an hour, while Sam played peek a boo with his own sweatshirt with me all night. And rolled on the floor laughing at himself about it.
It was a some how a very pleasant day.
Whenever they are down a parent, I am always blessed with happier, more behaved children than usual.
I kind of love it.