Woot! Woot! Vacation time!

Caleb's friend/co-worker came to see him today,  "Hey, I have two options for you.  I stay at your house for the weeks you are gone and take care of your dog, or I pitch a tent in your yard." Apparently he needed a place to stay and we are happy to oblige.  Between our new security system and our friend staying here, I am more comfortable leaving for such a long trip than I normally am.

 I have no idea how long I will be gone.  Anywhere from 3-5 weeks!  It's crazy.  Caleb wants to go home at the beginning of July because it's his birthday and because he gets an extra vacation day for the fourth.  I want to go home at the end because it's fair days in my hometown and there's so much to do. I get to see a lot of family who come to the festivities and I get to watch my nieces and nephews perform in shows and parades.  It will all depend on how long I can stand to be away from home and normal life.  Poor Caleb has to come home and work, but the kids and I are lucky to have open schedules.

So tomorrow we head out!  Woohoo!

M's Photoshoot.

Mr. M asked if he could take some photos and put them on here.  He wanted his siblings and me but they weren't co-operating so he got mostly me.  Then he had a hay-day with his toy friends.  I only posted about 1/10 of what he took.

He couldn't figure out how to aim the camera up and push the button at the same time so I had to lean over for most of them.

 I wanted and took this one of the two of us.  I love these types of photos.

 This is how I spend much of my day.  Except usually M is on there too.

I may have to use his photography skills more often so there is proof in pictures that I actually exist. :0)

Summer of Reading and Puzzles

My kiddos love to be read to and M does a little reading of his own.  We spend a ton of time reading.  One nice thing is it makes it really easy to finish the reading club challenge at the library.  We usually finish first and get the first pick of prizes.  I think they had to read something like 77 books.  We were done in about two week's time.

They won swimming passes to a local pool, certificates, free ice-cream, and they chose puzzles out of the stash.

 After Mr. M puts the puzzle together he starts over but instead of tearing the puzzle apart he pulls off one piece at a time and just moves it down methodically putting it right back together one piece at a time. The first time he did this he said, "Look mom, look how smart and I am.  It's so much easier this way!"

And Caleb was Super Daddy/Hubby this weekend.  One thing he did was spend tons of time putting puzzles together with them.  He even went out and bought them new puzzles...twice.  I think he will have a lot of fun with them as they can start to enjoy the same things he enjoys. Mr. M was such a daddy's boy this weekend and they both enjoyed it - except Caleb said, "He gets his talking from you."  Apparently Mr. M talked Daddy's ear off all weekend.

I is for Independence Day

I had a ton of errands to run today so I skipped out on "I" day.  Ashleigh is so awesome for doing it without me.  Love ya, girl!

They made sparklers.

 She died pasta red and blue and they made pasta art.

 We're still working on correct placement of letters sometimes but the kiddo loves to write his name. 

 They also decorated ice-cream sandwiches.  Nummy!

They had a blast.  And I was SHOCKED to realize how much faster I get everything done with only one kid.  It was crazy.  Thanks again, Ashleigh.

H is for Horses!

Horseshoes:  

 He is such a sweet boy.  A little hyper and crazy lately, but oh so sweet.

 Playing horseshoes:

 I almost got her makin' a cute face.  I got the tail-end and then she would give me nothing.

 Haystacks:

 These suckers were a lot of points on weight watchers and were almost irresistible.

 I'm not sure what was going on here, but it's really cute:

 He he.  I love their chocolate covered faces and the contemplative look on Lucy's face.

Facebook Videos

Just wanted to tell the family that there are recent videos of the kids on Facebook if you want to click over and see all their cuteness.

D seeing Daddy off to work.

Photoshoot...because for once in his life, he was cleaned off and dressed.

My friend Tessa recommended a different editing site (I use Picassa) that does more and I want to have it, but I'm scared.  I have so little time to be on here and figure things out.  I need to though because I'm well aware my photos could be better with some fun editing.  But here they are in almost their original form. :)

 Some I liked for my wall and others I like for his scrapbook.  I love his chunky-monkey legs.  He's so skinny up top that his legs are usually a surprise to people.

F for Family and G for Green Eggs and Ham

For the letter F we made Fingerprint Families.  The faces our their lil' prints.  They loved this.

 My favorites are Damon and the Doggy Toby.   Lib's paper was cute too, but she must have eaten it something (not unheard of) because I can't find it. ;)

 Today Ashleigh put together a Green Eggs and Ham day.  The kids were so excited. She read them the book while I cuddled her cute lil' babe and my babe ransacked her house.

 Then they watched a Green Eggs and Ham video.

 And we had to have green eggs and ham, oh and green applesauce.

 They also colored these cute little pics. 

It was fun.  Thanks again Ashleigh!

Descriptions

I changed the descriptions on the side. 

Daddy is My Whole World

 For our Summer Fun "D" Day we made Father's Day Gifts.  They were easy, fun, and so cute.  They colored the bottom part of the earth with crayon and then painted water color over the top.

M's:

 L's:

 Back of M's:

Miss L refused to fill hers out that day but filled it out later.  It was HILARIOUS.  How this girl comes up with her answers I will never know.  She would run and hide and them jump out and and yell these silly answers.
-What is Dad's favorite thing to do EAT POPORN! In Caleb's words, "Has she ever even seen me eat popcorn?"
-My favorite thing to do with Dad is EAT CHEEEEESSSSEEEE! They do eat a lot of cheese together.
-I love it when Dad and I go GROCERY SHOPPING! I would like to know when that happened and could it happen again?
-I love it when Dad and I play TRAINS! Caleb, "I've never played trains with her, have I?"
-My dad is best because MAKING DINNER! Again, I'd like to know when this happened.

If They Never Should Have Bitter, They Could Not Know the Sweet. D&C 29:39

A month or so ago I started playing the piano for the kids on Sunday as they lay in their beds preparing for sleep.  Tonight I could see Mr. M reading his library books and listening.  Miss L was in her bed playing with a Mr. Potato Head.  I watched my big boy with tears in my eyes as I realized for about the millionth time just how fast this is all going by.  I listened to L's little girl voice and tried to memorize it.  It's all so bitter-sweet.

Afterwards I went and laid by Mr. M and cuddled with him and told him memories from when he was a baby.  Like how he loved his second babysitter and how she had a little boy named Cedric that he also loved. How even as a baby he loved the library and I walked him there a couple of times a week.  He kept asking questions and wanting to know more.  We talked about how we are all trying to be like Jesus and that Mommy is sorry she sometimes yells and I promised him I will keep working on it.  He told me, "It's ok Mommy, you yell because we are not doing what we are supposed to."  Then we talked about how Jesus has told us not to yell at each other and he's told us to obey our parents so we both need to keep working on being obedient. 

Next I slipped into Miss L's room thinking we'd have a similar conversation.  I laid down by her, "Miss L, did you know when you were a baby I used to..."
"Those are the ABC's, Mom."
"Yes, Miss L. But did you know that...."

"And there are G's there, in there. And there are two of them."

And then she told me all sorts of things about how she has a picture of Jesus and her and she's not wearing a shirt and it got cut up with scissors "chomp, chomp."  Then she showed me shapes using her fingers and after she figured out each new shape she'd look up at me with a dimpled, mischevious grin and I thought I would burst with adoration.  She's just so cute.  She's a completely different person at home than when she's in public and I sometimes wish that others could see this little person I see, this silly, talkative, smart little person.  But I know the Lord sees her as she is and that's enough.

I told M that Jesus really loves little children and he said, "He loves you too mommy."  We all need reminded of that sometimes.

Man, being a parent is such an amazing experience.  There are bitter moments, but so many more sweet.

What Would You Do? / Pretty Miss L

The big kids just finished another round of swim lessons.  Mr. M did so well.  He improved so much and I was positive he would be moved up to level 2 (he's been on level 1 for 5 sets of lessons), but I was wrong.  To me he moved up ten levels.  

Miss L got progressively worse.  She sobbed through the last three lessons.  She loved her teacher and was excited to go every day and then just pouted or sobbed for most of the lesson. 

By the end M could float on his back for fifteen seconds with no help. 

He could stand on the side and jump in as long as his teacher held his hand.

He laughed and joked the whole time (his teacher LOVED him).

He sort of jumped of the diving board.

He would swing on the rope swing.

And....

 He'd go under water.  They may seem like small steps to those of you with daring kids, but mine are very cautious and this was leaps and bounds.

Miss L would leave me and go with her teacher.

Float on her back.

Blow bubbles in the water.

And kick her feet (miracle, really).  She usually does nothing on demand.

One of her goals was to smile.  Which she sometimes did.

_______________________________

Now, after some background I want to pose the question, "What would you do?"

The instructors put life jackets on the kids and took them to the diving boards on the last day (I forgot my camera, I wish I hadn't because the scene was so crazy). Mr. M was the first to go off.  He was terrified but he walked to the end and they sort of lifted him down. A teacher at the bottom caught him and helped him to the side.  We all cheered like crazy and he ended up going back for more. 

Then it was L's turn. She has super-strength, I swear.  Her teacher was pushing her to the end and and she was pushing back and screaming as she tried to mow him down to get off that thing.  He kept looking at me and I just told him to make her do it.  He couldn't hear me, I guess, so he let her get off the board.  I went to talk to him and he said, "We'll make her, if you want us to."  I told him to make her as long as they (all the teachers) didn't think it would make her terrified of swimming.  I guess he didn't know because he kept asking me. 

Finally another girl just hauled her up and forced her to the end of the board while she kicked and screamed.  She lifted her down so she didn't even go under the water when she landed and it was all over....except she still cried for about five more minutes, but that's her personality.

One mom looked at me and said, "It's hard to make them do it because they need to learn, but you feel so bad."  Another mom was looking at me like she had just met the meanest person on the planet.  I only noticed those two moms for some reason. 

Anyway, I'm wondering what would you do if it was your kid in that situation.  I'm curious.  I know my little girl and why I chose the way I did but I wonder if I was a spectator, what would I have thought.

__________________________________________________________________________

I do not love when my kids empty out toy bins completely but it makes it a little more worth it when it entertains them for the rest of the day. 

She even tried to sleep in it that night.

She is so silly.  Last week I gave her a manicure and pedicure.  She was so proud and strutted around the house showing them off for a few minutes then she scratched it all off. 

When I do her hair in a way she really likes she'll stand in front of the mirror and check herself out.  Then she'll run to find Daddy and Mr. M and show them how pretty she looks.  It's the cutest thing.

Tonight I put her hair in sponge rollers like my mom used to do to me.  She was so excited.  She ran to the mirror and posed and smirked and pranced.  I love when I can tell she feels pretty and special.

Later in the night I found her crying in her closet saying the rollers had all fallen out.  There they were all lined up and pulled into pieces.  "Um...Miss L, I'm pretty sure they did not fall out like that."  I put them back together and back in her hair and made her promise not to touch them again. We'll see.....