1st Week of Summer Over

The boys spent their first week of summer at basketball camp.  I was really proud of both of them.  They loved it, and learned a lot.  And it wasn't easy -- 3 hours a day all week!  That's a long time for little boys.  They also did golf lessons and swimming lessons with Aunt Kelsey.  So it was a busy, active week.  And yet, they still had enough energy to stay up until 10 PM every night... how do they do that?

This week, Andrew is at Cub Scout camp, and Haley is at volleyball camp.  We'll see how much energy they have after THAT!

This is a picture of Matt's bed after we caught him playing with his toys instead of taking a nap.  He had gathered everything he could find, including his horsey, his garbage (he is absolutely obsessed with garbages), and other random treasures and put them right where he was supposed to be slumbering.  That was a new one.

Haley had to get a picture of her favorite Matthew pose:

And this is peek-a-boo:

A few days ago I cut my finger with a scissor.  I didn't think it was that bad, but it hasn't healed or gone back together in five days.  Perhaps I should have had it stitched, but I didn't.  So while Ben was leading a youth fireside last night, my mother put some New Skin and medical tape on it.  I came home, and he wanted to do even more.  It was really cute how much he wanted to help.  And he did a great job -- he's obviously had a lot of First Aid training.  Unfortunately, the First Aid he did was suited more to a broken limb than a tiny cut on my finger.  But it was really cute anyway.

This is what I ended up with:

And I needed to brush the hairy monster we call a dog, but her hair was getting into my new contraption, so he tied a plastic bag around my hand (which made it oh so easy to brush the dog).  Not.  I took it off when he wasn't looking.  All of it.  But thank you, honey, I love you for caring!

Yay! It's Summer!

Okay, this first photo has nothing to do with summer, but I just thought it was funny.  This pretty pink stroller has become one of Matt's favorite things.

And now to summer fun:

We hit the ground running last Friday.  It was the last day of school, and the kids had a half day.  So we went to the store to load up on a weekend's worth of snacks, laid out 14 pieces of bread for a stack of sandwiches (which Ben says is my favorite thing to do -- make rows of sandwiches), and packed up the cooler for an afternoon in the mountains.  Our favorite little lake is called Wild Bill.  It is a cute little man-made pond up behind Red Lodge.  It has several piers with benches, good outhouses, and tons of stocked fish just waiting to be caught.

Almost every time one of the kids cast, they caught one.  Occaisionally one would get loose, but we caught dozens.  We released most of them -- not always because they were too small, but because we just didn't need that many in the freezer.  And Grace named each and every one of them.  It's harder to gut the darned things when they are named "Joey", "Gracie", "Andrew", etc.  Although, Haley was a little put out when Ben released one of hers, and it promptly died and floated to the bottom of the pond.

(Side-note: Grace is busy drawing with her new bag of goodies from our neighbor.  She told me to come look at her lips, because she just put chapstick on.  It was actually a glue stick.)

So we had a great time catching fish after fish, eating our cooler full of loot, and driving back home.  We saw what appeared to be a wolf crossing the road at a million miles an hour.  We're not sure, though.  It was a blur.  We were back home in record time.

The boys are at basketball camp (Joey's first one).  They also have First Tee today.  Next week is volleyball camp for Haley (who is at work right now), and Cub Scout camp for Andrew, along with swimming lessons (by Aunt Kelsey), and two more golf camps.  It sounds like we're over-scheduled, but we're not.  We just have a lot of kids.

Oh, and before I forget, I must say "thank you" again to our friend, Chris.  He was in Primary on Sunday with Joey when the latter decided he needed to stick himself with his EpiPen because he thought he stepped on a peanut.  So he did.  Chris quickly confiscated the needle after Joey plunged it into his thigh.  Joey had only held it in for one second, not the 10 seconds it takes to get the full injection.  Thank goodness.  At least we know he can do it, right?  We had a long discussion on what it will feel like when he really needs his EpiPen.  I think we've got it straightened out.  Lesson learned: I need to not only inform his caregivers on what anaphylaxis looks like, but inform Joey what it will feel like.  The last time it happened, he was only a one-year-old, so he doesn't remember.  But good job to Joey, for wanting and being able to save your life, and good job to Chris for being there so we didn't have to take Joey to the hospital for an unnecessary injection of epinephrine.

I had to throw this one in, too.  I came down the stairs last week and saw that these two (Andrew and Grace) had decided to take a nap.  It was pretty cute.  Grace was sacked out on the trunk.  They both woke up sopping with sweat, and they were up until 10:30.  No more naps for these two.

My Dumb Dog

There may be a dog for sale shortly.

Might I remind you of our episode last year...

http://kazfam7.blogspot.com/2009_05_21_archive.html

This time it was the dog.  She brought me a present.  A dead one.

Another black, drowned mouse.  Right on the living room floor.  Yes, you heard me right, people.  She brought it into my house and DROPPED it on the living room floor.  As a present.  A peace offering.  A dinner contribution.

And as I scooped its cold, wet, stiff body up with a spade and threw it into a Target bag -- with its dead feet curled up underneath its belly, its matted whiskers framing its disgusting little nose -- I couldn't even open my mouth to wretch for fear of breathing in some small particle of the plague.

Why do I even post this?  I don't ever want to remember it.  Someday I'll laugh about it?  Not likely.  Try me in 70 years.

A Big, Long Weekend

It's that time of year, folks!  Ben and I have been dividing and conquering the many graduations, awards assemblies, and end-of-year recitals.  Sometimes he had the camera, and I had the camcorder, so I don't have still pics of everything.  One day I'll figure out how to put a video on here.

Last week, Haley accepted lots of awards, including the President's Award.  She has been on the Honor Roll since forever, including all of middle school, which she is so sad to leave.  I know, it's strange.  A kid that loves middle school?  What planet is she from?  Let's hope high school goes just as well!

Andrew had his end-of-year music recital at school.  I put it on the calendar the week before, then promptly forgot to go.  Good thing Daddy was on top of it, or else I would have been doing some serious groveling.

Joey graduated from preschool, complete with a red paper cap.  We then celebrated with cake (which he couldn't eat) and punch, exchanged phone numbers and addresses with his closest (girl) friends, and made our way out into the rain.  He had such a great year, and had wonderful teachers, Miss Kim and Miss Denise.  He also got engaged.  Twice.

We took our road trip to Hardin on Friday night to visit the grave, and surround it with flowers.  I chose a fresh, pink and green arrangement in a glass container this year.  We stopped at Subway on the way out there because our lunch meat was frozen.  They got our order wrong, which we didn't discover until we drove 45 miles.  I asked for lettuce, pickles, and olives on each of the sandwiches.  They gave us tomatoes, pickles, and green peppers.  So close! C'est la vie.  We don't have pictures because I'm a dope and left the camera sitting on the table at home.

We were able to enjoy the great weather one day last week, and celebrated by flashing the neighbors.

I don't know why this kid insists on taking off every piece of clothing while he's anywhere near water, but that's just who he is.  This time it was only the water table, not even the pool.  I tried to tuck us as far behind the house as we could, and still be in the shade.  He did not appreciate my concern for his nudity as I finally wrestled him to the grass and put on a diaper.  Laying on the grass naked is a pastime one has to get used to.

On Saturday, we celebrated Matt's birthday with the family, Haley's friend James (much to the Commander's dismay), grandparents, great-grandma, adopted great-grandma, aunt, and one cousin.  He was so cute as he sang himself "Happy Birthday", and then blew out the candle.  We enjoyed some pizza, cake, and ice cream, then dove into the presents.

Matt had a great time opening the presents this year.  He loves his Scout puppy (who says "Hello, Matthew, want to play?"), his baby lion, and the badly-needed new pajamas.  Haley also opened her present from Grandma and Grandpa K -- a brand new, crisp white Jacoby Ellsbury Red Sox jersey.  That girl is in love.  The jersey brought joy again to the Ellsbury fan club, who have been lamenting his stint on the DL with broken ribs.  But alas, he shall rise to play again!  Go Red Sox!

He especially loves his new fire truck, courtesy of Grandma Jane.  He spent lots of time being carted around by big brother.  I love the Fred Flinstone cars.  His little, dirty feet are super cute under there!  He thought the water tank on the back was outstanding.  We all got soaked, including Grandma Bertha.  Good thing she's such a good sport.

We spent Labor Day with some new friends.  We had a great bbq, and were sad to see them go.  Good friends, food, and conversation is totally priceless.

We'll be prepping the camping and fishing gear all week for our first round up in the mountains.  Should be nice and freezing:)

Gracie Funnies

This little girl says the funniest things sometimes.

"Mom, I'm really drinky."  She means thirsty.

Mom: "Grace, what are we going to do with these boys?"

Grace: "I guess just sell them to another house, or something."

In the car this afternoon, she said, "Joey!  Smell my finger!"  We all found out that when somebody asks you to do that, the best answer is probably "no thank you".

I told Grace that our friends are out of town, so we have to go feed their guinea pigs.  She said, "Do they fly?  Because I don't like it when penny pigs fly."  I said, "No, they don't fly."  She said (while doing chicken wing arms), "Do they flap?"  I said, "They don't have wings."  Her eyes got really big, she put her hands on her hips, and said, "Are you kidding me?"

Then, on the way there in the car, she said, "I just ate the seat belt."  Weird.

In other news:

Our friend Josh is here playing with Andrew and Joey.

Joey just said, "Josh, I like you so much because you're smarter than Andrew."

After we laughed, Josh said, "Wow.  I'm speechless!"

We spent some time at Grandma Jane's classroom this morning.  She has prep first period, and Haley is her aid.  So she sits and watches TV.  No, I'm sure she does something useful every once in awhile.

Anyway, we went by to take some pictures of the vinyl that we cut for my mom's classroom for our website, http://www.wordsofvinyl.com/ (free advertising, right?).  We just added hundreds of things to choose from, and we've been getting lots of orders, so we decided we'd better spiff up the site a bit.

While we were there, Haley wanted to show us her locker decorations from her birthday.  They used to be on the outside of her locker, but she put them inside so the staff wouldn't take them down.  Her friends really paid her back for her decorating antics on their birthdays.

I also got a picture of her volleyball and wrestling teams (she was one of the managers of the wrestling team) from the display case.  She's in the front of the volleyball pic (#13), and on the left of the wrestling pic (in a grey shirt).

We also had a picnic lunch, taking advantage of our covered deck.  I love that roof.  Thanks again, Sam!

Mr. Busy Pants Turns 2!!

It was Matt's second birthday on Sunday.  He woke up to a nice big birthday breakfast, as is the tradition here.  Joey enjoyed it, too, choosing to eat not one, not two, not three, but four sausages all at the same time.  Gross.

We won't be celebrating with a birthday party until this weekend, because so much family is out of town.

At two years old, Matt's favorite things are his "Dee Dee" (blanket), his baby doll (which is always naked), jumping on the trampoline, sliding and swinging, singing, and most of all -- Grandpa Jerry.  He also loves Sandi Harris, his other "Mom" (that's what he calls her).  As soon as she walks into church, he races over to her, and then sits there for an hour snuggling, smooching, and nuzzling her.  He wears her jewelry, goes through her bag, and eats her candy.  And she loves every minute of it. 

He can say lots of words, like: Daddy, Mom, "Ahley" (Haley), "Adew" (Andrew), "Woey" (Joey), "Dace" (Grace), Matt, "Dodi" (Shoji), "Dodo" (Mojo -- Sam's dog), "Duce" (juice), ball, pee, poops, "Det do!" (Let go!), "My toon" (My turn), "Nunnets" (nuggets), outside, "aipane" (airplane), "Papa" (Grandpa, and it also means Grandma), and pretty much anything else you want him to say.

He loves to eat chicken nuggets from Costco for lunch, and he loves helping Mommy do everything.  Whatever he sees me do, he thinks he can do also.  So he does it, to the extreme.  Like laundry (all by himself), re-arranging furniture (all by himself) and cleaning toilets (yes, all by himself).  It takes most of my day to try and stop him from doing things all by himself.  But life is super fun with our happy, little Matt.

A couple of weeks ago, Ben's sisters were both in town and we went to Sears to get all the grandkids' pictures taken together.  We haven't done that since Joey and Kanalu were babies.  Here are a few of the pictures:

Those are some pretty good-looking kids we've got!

Great Weather, and a Couple of Birthdays

May is always a really busy month for us.  First, Haley had her 14th birthday.  She also started her first real job.  I mean a real job, with paperwork to fill out, an hourly wage, and a uniform!  Incredible.  I don't know of any other 14-year-old dental assistants, do you?  That is just awesome.  Way to go Haley!  Now, to just memorize all of those instruments of torture...

Another birthday followed one day after Haley's, but I'm not sure he wants me to mention more than that.  He is getting old, after all.

Next it will be Matt's birthday.  And lots of end-of-the-year concerts, field trips, and school picnics to attend.  We're almost there -- I can just taste the upcoming days of no schedule.  Hooray!

We've already been cashing in on the good weather.  We moved the trampoline over the patio so we don't have to move it every time we mow, and so that I can see what the kids are up to.  We set up the kiddie pool for the first time this year.  Matt got in after I struggled to explain to him that he doesn't have to take off his swim trunks first.  He was trying desperately to get naked before he took a dip.  I hope that's not a sign of things to come.

The kids are also a big help with the laundry, thanks to our new washer and dryer.  They're enjoying it almost as much as I am.

We're crossing our fingers for more good weather this weekend.  We have a YW garage sale fundraiser, a couple of ward activities, and a garden to plant.  Maybe we had better cross our toes, too.

Fun Day at the Zoo, Again

We just love our little zoo. Key word: little.

But we don't care. We always go to the barn first, where we see Jake the horse. The kids named the other horse Jack, but that's not his name. That's just what they decided to call him. We feed the ducks and the wild looking hairy chickens, get chased off by a crazed peacock, make fun of the giant bunny, and then look to see if the perpetually fat goat has had babies, or if she is truly just fat.

This time Kanalu, Emily, and Grandma Nan came too. We needed a break by the waterfowl pond that has been under construction for forever. I wonder if/when that will be done. We liked seeing the ducks with their little tushies in the air when they were diving for food. Joey likes to talk to them. It's kind of weird, because they go right up to him and talk back. Just like a real conversation, but in duck language.

We always take a few minutes to play at the playground. It's one of the best in town.

Matt finally got sick of walking when we were by the mountain goats, so he pleaded with Grandma to pick him up and lug him around. She was happy to oblige.

We just love these little red pandas. They are always moving around, so they put on a pretty good show for the kids. The tiger is usually laying around, although you can catch him pacing by the window every so often. When we went on Thursday, he was fast asleep until two ducks buzzed his head. He sat up really quickly, and was ready to pounce. Only they weren't stupid ducks -- they perched themselves far out of his reach, but he was hopeful for several minutes.

We'd just like to say "Hallelujah!" for the nice weather. Of course, as soon as it stopped raining after a week, we all got sick with colds and coughs just in time for the nice, sunny weather. Figures. We'll be up and running again next week. Hopefully I'll have some great pictures of our soon-to-be-planted garden to share.