Perspective

For the last two days I've been meaning to get on and post some big time ranting and complaining, but my internet has been very finicky and every time I tried to get on to blogger it would die. Today however I have had a change of perspective and don't feel like complaining and voila, the internet and blogger are working just fine. I think it's a message. I will just say that being sick, and having sick children when your husband is out of cell reach on a week long scout hike is no fun.

This morning the kids and I were in the yard and I noticed my stargazers are finally opening. Okay, so only one is opening and it was just starting to open, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of it. Then I went around taking pictures of all my lovely flowers and I thought i'd share some of my favorites. These are in the back yard.

Like I said, it was just starting to open, and somehow while taking the picture I didn't notice that little green spider.

This seems to be the last of the magnolia blooms for the year.

Our hibiscus plants are so full of color!

These hydrangeas are all along the front of the house. I love the different colors each plant has.

Whatever these are, are in a pot by the front door. They are so dainty ;)

And this is the pumkpin patch, which is trying to climb out of it's little gate and take over everything.

We've got about a dozen of these so far.

Andi's two favorite things to do are "crafts," and making "homes." Today she lucked out and got to do both. She was very specific about her craft today and said she wanted to make hats out of paper. Riiiiight. . . . so pipe cleaners, scrapbooking paper, glue dots and stickers, and this is as good as it gets. That's her "home" behind them made out of a sheet and the dinning room chairs.

With Thad gone my evenings have been pretty productive. I made a baby blanket and matching burp cloth for my sister's shower in a couple weeks, and am halfway through formatting my 2009 blogbook. I'm also halfway through Wuthering Heights, gotta say, I don't love it and I'm not sure why it's a "classic" other than it's old. I mean well written, sure, but the story is depressing and I'm pretty sure the bad guy wins. Lame. Those Bronte girls and their "realistic" books. . . give me a happily ever after Jane Austen any day!

Happy Holiday Weekend!

What a weekend! I'm not sure I like long weekends anymore, they never feel restful. I think I/we forget that one extra day is really just that, and we try to cram a whole weeks worth of activities into the extra day. This weekend for example  we spent friday evening shopping for the upcoming scout 50 miler, I had a primary activity on Saturday morning, bought fireworks that afternoon, and had a BBQ with Thads family that night. Then Sunday, the usual primary responsibilities, but with half the ward being out of town it felt like a total fiasco, then dinner/my birthday cake/fireworks with my family. We got to bed way too late, but the kids loved it. . . or maybe just Andi did. Sam did not like the noise the fireworks made.  This is how Andi watched the show.

And this is how Sammy watched the show.

Thad took him further back from the fireworks and covered his ears during the noisy stuff and then after each one Sammy would raise his head and clap, then hide again as soon as the next one started.

There was no BC show this year, so we made our own, which was pretty sweet if I say so myself. At least we impressed Andi and her friends.Here are the kiddos all excited to start the show, note Andi's pose, that she does now for every picture. Ridiculous.

The totem pole of fire!

Then Monday when we all finally got out of bed we packed up the truck and headed up to the mountains to check out a couple of trail options for Thads big hike this coming weekend. I've never been car sick before, but I did this time and it was wicked! So we stopped at a general store somewhere up the mountain to get some Dramamine, which helped greatly. But then the "marked drowsiness" set in and I fell asleep while Thad played with the kids by the river and  It took till this morning to really kick the stupor, that stuff is strong! That night after the kids went down Thad and I divided up all the food for the weeks hike, which included measuring out dried fruit and trail mix into "daily rations."
So today I feel like relaxing. Maybe it's the Dramamine sill, but I need a nap!

Summer Fun!

Okay so last night I temporarily lost my mind and went to a midnight showing of Eclipse. The whole day I could not figure out why I was going. I didn't even really like the first two movies, they were lame. But even though I feel like I've been hit by a bus this morning, I am glad I went. It was a blast, and the movie was so much better than the first two. It stayed much truer(is that even a word?) to the book, the actors finally got the characters figured out and stopped acting like cracked out twitchy freaks, and they included a lot of the funny parts of the book that were left out of the first two. I think those directors focused way too much on the whole teenage angst aspect and ignored a lot of the other details. But this one was fabulous. Loved it.
We have been swimming a lot lately and Thad has been playing with the waterproof camera. Here are some shots of the kids in the pool the other night.
I liked this action shot, and don't worry, Sammy stood up right after she landed and jumped in as well.

Fun under water shot.

Sammy really wanted the camera.

Underwater shot of The Belly, and the sun ;)

I just really liked Andi's cute little ballet toes.

And this is how we Sam out of the pool. Bribe him with apricots from my parents tree.

A - you're adorable!

Today was Andi's first dance recital. She absolutely loved it. From the costume, to the make-up, to being on stage and having everyone clap for her, she loved it. I loved being backstage and watching her and feeling like I was sharing something amazing with her because it was always such a joy for me. She is dancing at my old studio, at the same theater we always performed in, and 24 years after I did my first show it still holds the same excitement and anticipation and it was bizarre and fun to see it from this perspective. Here she is at home before the show.

And haming it up backstage. 

With her teacher Miss Stephanie, who I actually taught before I went away to school .

And one of both of us with Miss Cathy, who taught me from the beginning. I can't even explain how happy I am that Andi get's to experience dancing with this amazing woman.

Clones

So last week we saw on the local news a fathers day contest was going on. The "spittin image" contest where people sent in a picture of them and their dad and who ever looks the most alike wins. Of course Thad couldn't resist, so we sent in this picture, which doesn't even really do the clone-ishness of these two justice. But they won anyway. Now we are waiting to find out what they won ;)

blah

Sammy has been sick this last week, which has made it a very long week. He started coughing Friday morning and just kept getting worse, so Monday we were at his Dr bright and early to get some antibiotics for this new strain of pertussis that is going around town right now. Yes, they vaccinate for that, but I guess this strain is new. Lovely. I think there is also something in the yard making his allergies nuts because we were out back for seriously 2 minutes Monday before he came over to me fussing because his whole face was draining. Eyes, nose, mouth(because his throat hurt so he was drooling a lot). But he seems to be feeling much better today, thankfully. Here his is having a breathing treatment and holding the mask all by himself. Andi used to fight me on this until she was like 3, but I think Sammy gets that it helps him feel better so he just holds it while we read books.

Andi would really like Sammy to get better so we can resume our afternoon pool routine. I sent her over to a friends Tuesday because she just kept asking me to take her to Grandmas to swim, and when I'd say no she would say, "Mom, just call someone to take care of Sam and we can go swimming."
I also started P90X this week and am proud to say that I am only slightly limping today, as opposed to the hobbling around I was doing last weekend. Andi's daily swimming routine is what motivated me to get working out.
Today is Andi's last day of dance class for the summer. Her recital is next weekend and she is really excited about the costume and make-up. We'll see what she does when she has to go out on that big stage. I have a feeling we'll have a harder time getting her off the stage than on.

Has it really been a week?!

It's been an interesting week. Thad was in Vegas for a few days last week doing another training, got home Thursday night and came home from work Friday with the news that he had to leave again on Sunday morning. So we crammed as much as we could into Saturday and got a lot accomplished. One of the things Thad worked on was finishing the entertainment center re-vamp from a few weeks ago, and he had some help.

"This is where it goes Daddy"

"Oh, let me do it."

"There, perfect!"

Sammy get's so excited when he hears the power tools going, and can entertain himself for hours with a plain old screwdriver .

We got a new hose reel for the backyard, which has turned into just one more thing for Sammy to climb. 

And, despite the "fence" we put around the garden to keep the kids out, they sneak in to dig. 

Yes, he's rubbing dirt in his hair. Awesome.

We finally got to the bank yesterday and brought Thad's truck home. And now we are fighting over who gets to park in the driveway ;)

You say Good-Bye and I say Hello

I'd like you to meet Thad's new friend. He is going to come live with us this week.

Mater will be retiring (for the second time) to Thad's parent house where Thad can still visit him on occasion. Farewell Mater!

Memorial Day

For the first time in three years we remembered to bring our camera to the Memorial Day festivities. Which was a very good thing because Thad's Mom was not there to be our paparazzi like usual. She was up north with Tenille and Matt helping out with the newest grand baby, who I'm told is a perfect angel already :) I'll call you in two weeks Tenille and you can let me know how things are going then ;) Congrats you two, and good luck!
We started the morning off at the cemetery and then headed to G&G Richards for the annual BBQ/swim party extravaganza. Thankfully there were no sunburns or fun island casualties to report. Just a ton of good food and fun with G&G and the Morgan cousins.

This is the face Sammy made, accompanied by gasping and pointing, whenever he saw a flag. Keep in mind we were at a cemetery on Memorial Day. LOTS of flags.

He finally stole one from one of the cousins, whose parents wisely brought their own so they didn't have to keep chasing their kids to stop them from yanking up all the flags.

Thad brought the water proof camera this year and had fun playing with it in the pool. He even took a video while doing a front flip into the pool, just to see what it looks like. If you watch it too many time you will probably puke. But this one if from halfway in the water.

And this is how excited Andi was all day. In the few minutes she was taking a break to eat she said, "Mom, I love this day!"

Sammy was pretty brave around the pool.

No, we did not let him jump off the diving board, and that is the face he made when Thad told him to smile. Mostly he sat by the steps in the shallow end playing with squirt guns or trying to get Thad to let him play with the camera.

It was a great day, and seems to be the official kick off to summer. It's been crazy hot ever since.

Operation Relocation UPDATE

It has been a long, bloody battle but milestones have been made in the relocation department recently.  After a long hiatus, the trappings have resumed and to date, 31 (thirty-one) cats have been relocated and today's capture of yet another possum makes 10.

Pretty sure if I lose my job again I will be doing this full-time.  Until then, remember "You never know what's lurking in your yard until you catch one in a trap."  And for all you who think these things look 'cute', they smell of elderberries, bite, hiss, and growl.

The Farm and Never Ending Projects

Today we had playgroup out at Murray Family Farms, and the kids loved it. We took a hay ride to different parts of the farm and picked blackberries, blueberries, peaches, nectarines, and my new favorite fruit, donut peaches. Amazing. Sammy could not get enough of the blackberries and I'm not sure how long it is going to take to get the red stain off his face.
Here is the group(minus Sam who won't stand still long enough for pictures) right before the hayride.

And Sams favorite part of the ride, the stairs.

They also had a flower maze, and haystacks and other toys for the kids to play on at the end.

King of the Mountain

In Jail, or the castle as they kept calling it. 

Last Friday Thad and I came to a decision about our room extension and due to several different reasons we have given up the project. We gave up one, but that has created a dozen other projects in it's place. Like this one that Thad spent all day Saturday installing.

Yes, that is a new flat screen, and the bottom half of our old entertainment center. It's not done though, Thad is going to install a door with glass on the left side so we can put our DVD and surround sound and all their buttons behind a latched door, away from little fingers. And yes, we need to center that sign, and that stack off to the right goes where the DVD/SS currently are, so we are still in transition. We had to re-do the whole arrangement of the front room to accommodate the new toy, so when it's done for reals I'll post a picture of the room.
Then, since I never really did anything with our bathroom when we moved in(why fix it up if we would be re-doing it anyway), I have painted the walls and vanity, and picked out a new faucet, mirrored cabinet, and storage cabinet for Thad to install. Lucky guy. Again, when it's done I'll post pictures. I also painted half of the back patio with the new cement paint we discovered, and I'm hoping to finish the other half tonight. That's one of those projects that can only be done after the kids go to bed. "The floor is went, don't walk on it!" doesn't really sink in with Sammy. And we got new plants for the flower bed under our bedroom window.
Then we decided to re-do the closet organization in our room. Okay, maybe it's more like put in closet organization since there is none at this point. And since we are re-organizing that, I decided to move everything in our room around. I like the new layout better I think.
I don't know what happened, It's just this itch I get sometimes and I have to pull everything out and put it back together in a different way. Maybe it's the fact that we've been in this house for 3 years now, which is much much longer than our first several places. It's summer again and I'm not moving so I've got to move the house around instead.

"Dainty"

So I have been thinking about new bedroom furniture for the kids lately. Not that we are getting any tomorrow, but Sammy will not be in his crib too much longer, so I've been thinking about the re-arranging of things. Basically we are moving the bed and dresser that are currently in Andi's room to Sammy's and I'm crossing my fingers I can talk Thad into making this really cute/simple bed for Andi. In the meantime I have been itching to replace the blue fold up table that has been in the corner, and we've had this perfect size piece of "leftover" wood sitting around that was begging to have some legs attached. I just want the furniture in the room to be a little daintier that what she has now. The room is not very big, so I think lighter furniture will help. So here is the cute dainty table we put together with cut stair banisters for legs.

And now that I'm looking closely at this picture, my next project is to touch up the baseboards in her room. Gross.

We have been having some fabulous weather lately. We hit my parents pool last Friday for the first time, and while the water was still a bit chilly it was a perfect day to be playing outside. By Monday however we had rain. I was inside putting laundry away, or something equally as fun, when I heard all kinds of squealing from the backyard. I didn't even know they were outside, but they were both just standing in the rain hoping up and down and squealing. Apparently they really don't care if the water is in the pool or falling from the sky, they love it.