Spring Time Jumping!

Remember when Allie used to come out and jump on the tramp naked?  Jason has the same idea...

This is one happy outdoors kid.

Notes

I have been looking at a few pictures in my folder that make me laugh, so I thought I'd share them with you. 

 I took some meatloaf out of the freezer and set it on the stove top.  When I came back, Mike had written on it and I totally laughed when I saw it.  So, I took a picture.

 Jason is ready to potty train...I am not.  He goes pee on demand and I always cheer him on.  I'll hit it hard one of these days.  For now, he's just going pee when I ask him to.  Allie was around for one of his successes and then handed him this picture a little while later.  I laughed pretty hard at that one.

Allie loves audiobooks like me.  She likes to fall asleep listening to the A to Z Mysteries.  She has heard them all a dozen or more times each.  She has been using a small ipod that I bought off KSL, but Jason got a hold of it and we can't find it now.  I went looking for my ipod to get me through the night's chores and found this note instead.

Last, but not least, Allie and I had an argument one morning over chores.  Allie had missed the bus and I asked her to clean her room for 10 minutes while I got the boys ready to get in the car and take her to school.  She didn't want to clean her room, and I didn't see why she couldn't spend 10 minutes hanging up clothes and folding blankets.  I was only asking for 10 minutes.  She dug her heels in, and that made me dig in too.  Next thing you know, I was thinking of all the things to use as punishments.  I told her she couldn't go to the animal shelter with the church group that was going.  She said she didn't care, and I didn't want to take her away from church things, so I took that one back and said she couldn't play with friends.  She said she didn't care, so I pulled out the big guns.  I told her if she didn't go to her room and clean for 10 minutes, I would take her out of dance and gymnastics.  She just looked at me defiantly and told me that she didn't care.  Then she went downstairs.  I thought I might have won, until I came back to the kitchen to find 20 dollars and the note that said "this is for dance and gym".  I called her back into the room and we had a chat.  I wasn't mad anymore, I thought the note was funny, but I also thought she was being silly for not spending 10 minutes on her room.  I told her that her 20 dollars was only going to buy her 2 lessons.  That was a blow for her.  Then I asked if she wanted to rewind the whole morning and start over.  She did.  We worked it out and she is still going to dance and gym, the room is clean, and she spent a lonely Saturday without friends.  I'm afraid she and I are just beginning to have "conversations" like this.  It's a little frustrating to have such a stubborn girl to argue with, but I guess when I say stuff like that, I remember the grief I caused my Mom when I was her age...and older...sorry Mom.  We are in for it...

Sunday Nap

I like 11 o'clock church.  It's nice to get up in the morning and have time to plan a meal and a lesson if I need to.  The thing I don't like about that time is what it does to Jason.  We have Sacrament on the last hour of the block, so by then, Jason is tired and hungry.  We have had many a scene in church.  Anyway, by the time we get home and feed him lunch, it's almost too late for a nap for him, so I try to keep him up so I can just put him to bed a bit earlier.

I never nap.  I think it's a waste of time.  But then there's Sunday...and for some reason, I can't keep from napping on Sundays.  9 o'clock church was perfect for napping.  I'd put Jason down and leave the others to play together and then I'd have a lovely nap.  Now, I have to leave Jason with Allie and hope that they won't destroy the house, or that Jason won't wander off on her watch.  On this Sunday, Jason came in to snuggle me while I was napping.  He got bored after a little while and went back out to play with the others...or so I thought.  Allie thought he was with me and I thought he was with Allie.  Really, he was in his room pooping.  That poop led to a small poo party, which led to the unloading of a new box of wipes in order to get rid of the poop hands.  I can only assume that all that partying made him so tired that he couldn't do anything but fall asleep at the party.

Under the books and boxes is the pile of wipes.  I was so annoyed.  It's just not worth the enjoyment of the nap I get if I wake up to a scene like this...

Rocks for Sale!

A few weeks ago, when the sun came out and gave us all a taste of spring, Allie and her friends were on the corner selling rocks.  They think it is the best thing in the world, and they always make money, so they get pretty excited about it all.  I am always embarrassed that my kid is out trying to sell something they people don't want or need, but I am torn because she has so much fun doing it.  

They were out there again this weekend making the cash.  Allie is pretty good at sticking money in her tithing jar and when we went in to pay tithing this year, I was surprised at how much she had.  She probably makes 20 dollars a year selling rocks...that's just her cut!  We have some nice neighbors, that's for sure.

Dr. Seuss

I was done with laundry and the dishwasher was unloaded by 9 a.m. last week, so when I sat down to the computer and saw it was Dr. Seuss's birthday, I decided to be fun mom.  I can't be fun mom every day....just when the house is in order and that isn't very often.  Anyway, I got things planned and then had Jason and Nate help me gather supplies for our party.

 We had green eggs and ham...

...lots of fish...

 ...hop on popcorn...

 ...some crazy top hats...

 ....and oodles of noodles (mac and cheese).

 We also had Lorax mustaches.

The kids thought it was pretty fun.

Pizza Farm

The other day, Nate overheard me telling my friend that the strawberries I bought were from Mexico.  I usually don't buy much fruit from Mexico.  I like to find stuff from the good ole USA.  On that day though, Nate talked me into the strawberries.  We brought them home and washed them really good and the kids ate them all in one sitting.  Anyway, this is the conversation that came from the Mexican strawberries...

Nate:  Where is Mexico?

Me:  It's pretty far away.

Nate:  Do you have to ride in a plane?

Me:  You can.  Are you wanting to go there and get more strawberries?

Nate: Yeah. MMMmmm.

Me:  You're a cutie.

Nate:  Where do they grow blueberries?

Me:  All over...probably mostly in Washington or Oregon.

Nate:  Is that far away?

Me:  Yeah.

Nate:  Where do they grow mangoes?

Me:  Hawaii?

Nate:  Is that far away?

Me:  Yes.  Are you craving mangoes?

Nate:  Yes.  Where do they grow pizza?

Me:  Laughing.  Are you kidding me?

To be fair, we had just watched the movie Free Birds and they talk about growing pizza on that show.  I let Nate know that Pizza doesn't grow on trees and he was fine with that.  He would still really like to go to Mexico and pick some strawberries.  I told him we'd just go to Sam's club and get them there.  It will cost a lot less in the long run.

Ward Ski Night

Our ward had a ski night and I left Mike with the littles and took Allie and Jake.  We had a great time.  Jake was on a snowboard for the first time and he did great.  When we pulled up, he saw his friends, hopped on a ski lift with them and it was basically the last time I saw him all evening.  I saw him from the lift a few times, or going up while we were going down, but he just took off and did great.  I love that it came easily for him...it made things easier for me.

 Allie skied once last year, but she was pretty brand new too.  Luckily, she picked it up quickly, and by the end of the night, she was off with her friends too.

It was my first time on skis in 18 years, and I was surprised at how quick it came back to me too.  I was sore by the end of the night, but it wasn't too bad.  I'm glad my knees held out.  I used to love skiing, so I'm glad I can do it again...at least once a year.

4!

Nate!  You are 4!  I love you so much and I am so happy that your birthday is finally here.  You have been waiting for it to be your turn for a birthday for months.  You are such a great kid these days.  I love that you are mine.

You still love the color green and you think it's pretty awesome that everyone wears your favorite color the day before your birthday.  On St. Patrick's day, you said "now, when it is my holiday tomorrow, everyone will wear green again because it is my favorite color".  

You still love Cars and Planes and play with your Dusty and McQueen all the time.  You always ask if I will race you.  I don't mind the Dusty races because we can walk around the room, but I don't love crawling on the floor to race McQueen, so sometimes I make him fly and you think I am cheating.  You are always good to have us tie though.  You know that it isn't fun to lose all the time, so we tie.  

Unfortunately, electronics are starting to take the place as favorite things to do.  You love to play Legends on the x-box and are always hounding dad and Jake to play with you.  You like playing Mario Kart on the wii, and it's embarrassing how good you are at games like that.
You still love tomato soup and grilled cheese and that was your birthday dinner request.  We are going to make your cake today and your only request is that it have green frosting, so we'll get something figured out.
I am always telling you that I am so glad you are mine.  When you were younger, I always wondered if you would even survive another day because you were constantly doing things to put yourself in danger.  Now, you are a rule follower, and you try to keep Jason in line too.  You listen and obey and you are really easy to discipline because it breaks your heart if I am mad at you.
I love to watch as you process new things and am always amazed at how smart you are.
You are just a great kid and I hope you have a wonderful birthday.  You are mine and I love it!

Love,
Mom.

Numbers inside...

Nate has been super excited for his birthday.  He has been counting down the days for a really long time now.  When we got back from Florida, he was fixated on turning 6.  I finally asked why he thought he was going to be six and he said that was how old he needed to be to go to Florida with us, so he was going to turn 6 instead of 4.  I thought that was pretty cute.
So, yes, he is excited.  The other day, we had this conversation...

Nate:  Did you know that there are numbers inside us?

Me:  No.  I didn't know that.  What kind of numbers?

Nate:  Well, right now, I have the number 3 inside me and then, it's going to turn to 4 and then I'll be 4.

Been a Long Time...

It seems like when I miss a Sunday of writing, it takes me a whole lot longer to get back on track.  Now I have a back log of funny stories to tell and pictures to show.  So, I'll just get back in the saddle.
Today's post is the reason I am off schedule.  I went to Colorado to my niece's baptism.  It was pretty fun.  There were 4 girls born into the family the year that Allie was born.  She was the first and the others followed until the last one who is a month shy from being a year younger than Allie.  Anyway, these girls are all getting baptized this year and we wanted to go show our support.  Mike was out on the road and met me in Orem.  I had just survived a miserable drive and wondered what the heck I was thinking.  I couldn't figure out how we were going to make over 9 hours with Jason the next day.  Luckily, Mike offered to take him and Jake back home so my mom, sister, and the other kids could all fit in the same car.  Nate was really looking forward to the trip, so I took him and Allie.
It was a long drive, but well worth it.  It was so fun to see the cousins together again and having a great time.
The baptism was wonderful and filled with the special spirit that is there when someone is joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I've been to Warren's house once, but they have finished the basement since then.  He was out working in the garage when we came in, so I went out to say hello.  As I chatted with him, I realized I was smelling something that was reminding me of the shop.  I spent a whole lot of hours and a whole lot of years going to the shop when I was a kid.  My mom worked there in the office and we all played as she worked until we were old enough to go to school.  My dad had all his treasures at the shop and I remember watching him weld or work on cars at the shop.  Anyway, the smell ended up being a wall mounted heater that was just like the ones that heated the shop.  It's always interesting to me how fast scents can take you back.  I haven't been to the shop since my dad died, but I recognized the scent right away.  Crazy.
We saw the big shop that Warren built and had a fun lunch there.  He's got a great set up there.  The kids loved playing Foosball.

 The garage didn't fit in one picture :)

We had lots of fun in Colorado.  Nate loved feeling like he was part of the crowd and one of the big kids as he followed the girl pack around.  They let him in on their games.  They thought it was cute that he could sing all the words to "Wrecking Ball" when they sang karaoke.

At the house, Nate taught Blake how to drive his truck through the giant mud puddle.  I laughed when Kim told me he had never done that before.  I guess we were a bad influence.

The weekend was over before we knew it and it was time to hop back in the car for another 11 hours to get home.  Once again, the kids did great.  I was happy to be home with Mike, Jason and Jake again.  I love to travel, but home is always the best.