Labor Day part Dos

I read about this in a magazine so I can't take credit for the idea, but on Labor Day we have lollipops that grow. It is a tradition that we started last year. I show the kids some jelly beans and tell them they are lollipop seeds that I plant every year. Then on Labor Day the lollipops grow (I just put the sticks right into the ground). The kids look for them all day and get very excited about it (I know, you can tell by their faces... Why is it so hard to get a good picture anyway?). Last year we planted more "seeds" because we had some friends over to pick lollipops also. I think we will keep this tradition for a while. I mean, who doesn't like candy?

Labor Day

I know this is late, but for Labor Day this year we went to a beach on a lake. It was a bit of a drive, but it really was worth it. The weather was perfect, the water was warm, the lake beautiful, the friends were fun, and it was one of my favorite days we've had here. Of course Matt did lose his wedding ring in the water, but miraculously found it (we were wondering why the guys were diving under the water for so long). All in all, we had games, food, swimming, and great coversation- everything you need for a fantastic day!

One of THOSE days (Not for the squimish)

When a mom says she has had one of THOSE days. All other moms immediately nod their heads and sigh. Yesterday was one of THOSE days. It actually started well, getting both Andrew and Matthew off to school in a timely fashion. Then Owen and I went home to paint. I was painting the inside of built-in hutches that I have. I had to take all my china, crystal, polish pottery, etc. out to do this. It took all morning (Andrew was home before I finished) but the first coat got on. I packed up some of my dishes and got some other stuff done while that dried for 4 hours. Then it all went downhill.

I had to go pick up Matthew after school and by the time we got home it was time for a second coat. But now the kids were tired and kinda cranky and were touching all of my fragil dishes. So, I gave them some popcorn and let them start a show. That worked until Owen tried to bring me back the bowl, spilling seeds and butter everywhere. While I was cleaning that up Owen got the paint roller and rolled paint all over the dinning room floor. After kindly moving him back to the basement to watch the movie, I proceeded to scrub the red paint up. I was able to finish the painting and went down to the laundry room to clean all the painting supplies off (and put Owen's painted clothes in the washer). While down there I heard Andrew screaming. When I had everything rinsed off I walked up the stairs to find Andrew standing outside the bathroom door with diahrea everywhere. He waited a little too long, and hasn't had diahrea recently and obviously didn't realize the consequences... So I wiped him off the best that I could, added his clothes to the washer, and threw him in the bath. While I was cleaning up the poop, Owen touched the wet paint and wiped it around. After scrapping more paint off places it wasn't supposed to be and touching up the fingerprints, I went up to check on Drew only to find the entire bathroom SOAKED. He had sprayed water everywhere. I gently removed him from the bath and began mopping up the access water with towls. I finished and went downstairs, only to be met by a really smelly Owen. I changed the diaper as Matt walked in and asked "How was your day?"

I decided to add pics of the built ins (one in the dinning room and one in the breakfast nook) so you can see how worth it everything was (HA!) But seriously, they do look much better than the beige they were before.

First day of school

First Days of school are always interesting. Last year when Matthew had his first day of school I got a little teary just thinking that in a year he would be going to full-day kindergarten. This year (with both Matthew and Andrew going), I was too busy to even think twice about it. Don't get me wrong- I have been thinking about what a big step this is for a while. Andrew's first time away from home and Matthew is officially at that point where he is gone more hours than he is home. It does make me sad, but Matthew is so ready and happy to go that I'm not nearly as sad as I thought I would be.

Tues we all went with Andrew to his orientation. He seemed to really like it (not to mention that everyday we dropped off Matthew last year, Andrew begged to go to school also)- so I was a little surprised when I tried to drop him off Wed by himself and he CRIED and CRIED. I didn't even get a chance to be sad with him or to really help him feel better because I had to take Matthew to school next (He has to be a school 15 min after Drew). It didn't help that they haven't really switched back to OH time, so it was kinda like going to school at 5:30am. I was able to calm him down enough to detangle myself and pray for the best as I sprinted back to the car. We took Matthew next (by we, I mean Owen and myself). He walked right in like he owned the place- found his cubby and hook and got situated. If I even thought about getting emotional I stopped when the parents were whisked to the library for a meeting with the staff. We sat and listened for over an hour to things like "please send your child to school in a coat in the winter" and "please come in and try to kindly resolve any concerns you have- don't believe everything your child says about school- we don't believe everything they say about you" And when I say listen for over an hour, I really mean chase Owen around the library, putting books back on shelves, catching books he has thrown, and picking up the crayons he dumped 20 times. Finally we are dismissed to go say good bye to our children. As I chased Owen back to the class (and around the building)- I thought it would be sad to say goodbye to Matthew, but the kids weren't even in the class. They were already playing on the playground. After a few minutes of trying to catch Matthew outside on the playground, while herding Owen in my general direction, I finally snagged him, gave him a big hug and kiss than ran home because I was already late to get someone's dog we are watching while they go out of town.

Pick ups were pretty uneventful after that. Drew was done at 11:30 and had a fantastic time, but didn't really want to talk about too much fun stuff. Matthew we picked up at 3pm and also had a fantastic day.

Drew didn't cry at all his second day, so it looks like we are already getting into schedule. All this anticipation for all the sadness I would feel and all I can think about right now is- how many years till Owen gets to go?

Arizona

We just got back from 2 weeks in AZ (I forgot my camera!) We had a great trip. We spent a lot of time with Grandparents and Great-grandparents (the Greats), Uncle Jared, and the McClures. It was a lot of fun. We went swimming most days, did some fun shopping, played with toys, threw some rocks, played lots of games, watched shows, and other typical AZ fun. I got to read some books and chill (very nice). The kids were never sad, just busy and content to be entertained by numberless sources. We also went to the Skousen reunion in UT. That was pretty fun also. I haven't seen my cousins for many years. It was great to spend that time with everyone catching up and seeing the Greats enjoy all their posterity.
A highlight of that trip was my first ever experience with the Settlers of Catan game (I don't even know if I spelled it right). Warning- for those of you who like games but are too busy to play- DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PLAY THIS GAME. Settlers is like heroin for game players. You will be compeled to play this game every minute of every day. And when other players are unavailable you will spend your time obsessing over the moves you should have made in previous games and strategies for future games. I've heard of people who have lost jobs and families here people! And even if you are some how miraculously able to break the habit (don't try to do it by yourself! Get help!) you will forever struggle with the urge to play. People fall off the wagon many times and turn back to playing settlers. No, but seriously, it was a lot of fun. (Don't think I've forgotten the pain, Jared. [insert evil laugh])
All in all, it really makes me wish we could live in AZ with family- even if it was just for a couple of years. But all is in the hands of the orthodontic match gods now. Here's to dreaming!

Pokemon cards

Some of the kids in our neighborhood play/trade pokemon cards, so when Mario came to visit and he had some too... Well, any parent would understand how much Matthew wanted some. Luckily, a very understanding Nana stepped in to get him his first pack. Next Matthew took all his saved change and got a couple more packs. But when we were in AZ he really hit the jackpot when his Uncle Jared revealed that he had saved all of his pokemon cards from when he was little. He so generously donated them to Matthew's cause. Now he has a ton of cards! He loves to look at all of them to see which is the best and who has the most HP (He thought that meant horse power, but Jared informed him it stands for hit points). Jared also gave Matthew his old Pokemon books, which we've been reading many chapters from everyday (now if I only knew the correct way to pronounce the names!) I guess we are well on our way to becoming pokemon masters!

BEACH BUMS!

What can I say? Our 2 weeks at the beach this summer was lots of fun. As always we played a lot of games, ate a lot of snacks, and dug a lot of holes. This year we got a little more creative in all those areas (note above tooth, courtesy of Dr. Beecroft). The water was REALLY cold the first week this year so we didn't do as much swimming as usual. Owen napped on the beach a couple of times. Favorites also included waterice and getting buried. We only had a couple incidents with the seagulls snatching food (a hotdog and a chicken breast right out of people's hands!). The kids required less entertaining, and had a lot of fun on their own, making it even more enjoyable for us. Also while we were there we ate a lot of great food and tried to run a lot (to counter balance all the food!) Of course icecream was a staple. We got to see lots of family and 2 weeks really seemed too short.