Play-Doh FHE

In an attempt to hold Jackson's attention for Family Home Evening, we tried this to learn about the creation. Mom's idea was for everyone to "create" an earth, a sun and moon, land and water, a plant, an animal, and a person. That's what I made, and here are some of the kids creations. I wanted to post this because I love Jackson's voice but I can rarely get him to talk when the camera is out.

Japanese Gardens

John and Jackson missed the Father & Son's outing this year, so Jackson got to spend a Saturday playing with just Dad, instead. So we had a girls outing and went to a place called the Japanese Gardens. It was kind of a last minute decision, and we left in a hurry because there was supposed to be rain coming later. The lighting from the overcast sky and all the pretty colors made for some really good pictures - or at least the backgrounds look really good! If I would have known it would be such a good place/time for pictures, I would have at least taken the time to do Olivia's hair. And possibly even my own.

Olivia's 5th birthday is coming up soon, so I was talking to her about what we should do for it. She wants to have a Kitty-Sheep Party, "and some of the kids could be kitties and some could be sheep." Maybe we should see what other ideas we can come up with . . .

A big mess, you think?

No, it's a boat. A very carefully crafted one.

This is one of my kids' favorite ways to play - they make the couch (or a bed, storage container, etc.) into a boat by loading it with about everything they can find.

Olivia used to do this when she was tiny, and now Jackson has caught right on in the ship-building skills. But they play a little differently - Jackson puts "only cool things, no pretty things" on his boat, and sometimes "just da boys" get to ride with him. Then he likes to jump off and pretend he fell into the water, but luckily he always makes it back before the sharks eat him.

Olivia things are set up just right, and if she decides to go for a swim she is Ariel and wants Prince Eric to rescue her.

A boat from another day. They like to be prepared for whatever may come on their journeys, or whatever the destination may be. In this pile there are actually all different containers full of treasures. And what happens next? Usually Jackson wants something Olivia has, she doesn't let him take it, he starts pushing all of her hard work onto the floor, she cries like her life is ruined, tells me to put everything back "just how it was," I tell her that's not possible, she cries even more, they take a little break, and back to ship building, making a store, or some other activity involving every toy in the house. That's the routine.

So it was time to clean up the family room, and this was their solution - a tri-level boat in Jackson's room. Ridiculous. And who gets to clean these things up? Maybe I just shouldn't allow them to play this when they make such a big mess - but they play together so well and it keeps them occupied for hours - (especially if they're sailing to somewhere far away). Isn't that great - I can get so much cleaning done while they're busy making a mess. I don't know if my kids are capable of playing with one toy at a time. Or less than 50 things at a time. Sometimes they're good at helping pick up their toys, but they get a little overwhelmed with jobs like this.

We got the last "boat" cleaned up and Jackson's room cleaned and vacuumed. A few minutes later Olivia told me, "Mom, I decorated Jackson's room! I made it really pretty." This is her decorating job- she spread out a bunch of blankets to cover the wood floor, plus his bed and table and chairs. She was pretty proud. This same day she also said to me, "Um, Maid, could you clean the ballroom so we can dance?"

So if your kids don't know how to build a boat, my kids would be happy to teach them. Your couch could look like this in no time.

First time at the dentist - I pretty much had to drag her there, and afterwards she was talking about her visit with as much excitement as a trip to the zoo. (Too bad her return trip for a filling probably won't be as fun . . .)



Olivia drew these for Father's Day - a picture of her in the garden, and another of she and Jackson kayaking. Jackson would be the one with the green face.

Katelyn thinks Dad is pretty funny.

Who's heard this before?

The phrase of the day is, "Looks like you've got your hands full!" Actually, its the phrase of the day anytime I go to the grocery store (or about any other store, actually). The Fred Meyer by us has those car shopping carts that my kids always want to go in, but the cool car part where the kids sit is at the back of the cart where I push, instead of down in front like some other stores have. So Olivia and Jackson sit there, and then Katelyn's carseat has to go down in the main part of the cart where the food goes. I try not to bury her too much in groceries. So I pass one person who says, "Look like you've got your hands full!" Yep, heard that before. Come around the corner, and someone else says, "Looks like you've got your hands full." Smile and nod.
We can't fit down the aisle with another cart on one side and a display on the other, so I try to back up and turn the cart around. Those things don't steer so easily. The next aisle has a little old lady who spots Katelyn underneath 2 loaves of bread, and she stops to say hi to the baby. "Frank come look at this little baby" she says, and her 90-year-old husband shuffles over to take a look while two shopping carts behind me try to get around the big car cart, and I try unsuccessfully to scoot it out of the way. Frank takes a peek and says to me, "Well you've got your hands full!"
My mom used to take six of us to the grocery store so what's the big deal? I'm sure we weren't always very well behaved, either (except me, of course).
I hear it again as I run over someone's foot trying to get around a corner.
And then about seventeen more times before we get out of there, at which point I finally feel like I really do have my hands full as I'm holding Jackson (who finished his fruit snacks and began head-butting his sister instead), and trying to push that dang cart with one hand at the same time.
We do get a few other comments, like, "Well you look like a princess today" to my four-year-old clad in a skirt, glitter shoes, sparkly tiara, and one of her baby sister's blankets for a cape ("Mom I'm probably going to be the fanciest one at the store today!" "Yes, you usually are.") If anyone says hello to Jackson, he shoots them with his pretend finger gun. And Katelyn just gives her big smiles to anyone who can see her down in the pile of food.

Katelyn is 4 months!

My mama loves me even when I'm drooling.

Squirrel Warning

And speaking of Milwaukee . . .
A squirrel has been running across our roof and making it sound like an earthquake is starting. And it reminded me of this story (from an email sent to my sister a while back):
"Something very very scary happened to me yesterday. I was just taking our trash out to the dumpster, minding my own business, when I practically got killed. I opened the top of the dumpster and there was this squirrel inside ready to attack. He was like two feet away from my face and in that position (like Fluffy used to be in when he was ready to jump out from under the bed and scare the living daylights out of you). Anyway, so I screamed, dropped the lid of the dumpster and turned to run. Then I felt a little sheepish getting so freaked out by that dang squirrel. But it was probably a killer squirrel, and I could picture him jumping on my neck and biting me and scratching my face off. Then I had to look around and see if anyone heard me scream since the dumpster is in the parking lot right in the middle of our apartment buildings. Luckily I think only a 4 yr-old and a 2-yr-old saw me because they were watching out their window. Maybe it will teach them a lesson not to mess with squirrels."
Okay, maybe I need to clean out my inbox more, but for all of you still in Glen Court, don't say I didn't warn you - and beware next time you're taking out those dirty diapers.

Some Milwaukee Nostalgia

A former life

It's been almost a year since we moved from Milwaukee, and it's graduation time again so that means time for more of our friends from there to move on also. So I've been thinking of them and excited to hear where everyone is going. My friend Mandie wrote on her blog about some of the things she'll miss about Milwaukee, and here's just a little continuation of some of her thoughts. When we first moved there for med school, it was just the two of us, and by the time we were done we were the parents of two. Being so far away from family when we started our own family, it was great to have friends there in the same situation. When I found out I was pregnant with our first, I was excited to tell everyone - then I realized, "Oh, everyone else is pregnant, too!" Then when Olivia was born, we would sometimes get together for lunch at someone's house or play at the park, where the conversation of, "So how did your labor go?" always came up. Especially with that first baby, when we thought every little thing she did was just so cute, but our families weren't there to appreciate her every accomplishment and show off her cuteness to, it was so great to have friends close by who were also in the new parent mode. We got to watch each others kids grow. sniff sniff (:
We had book club, a storytime group when Olivia (and all the other babies born that same summer) were 2, babysitting groups, zoo trips, baby showers, birthday parties, etc.
(This is mostly about our first four years there - our last year was spent a little differently - others who graduated with John moved away, but John spent his first year of residency there, so we rented a house instead of staying in the apts. - we didn't get to see friends every time we took out the trash, but we had some wonderful neighbors that year, too, who are also missed - Hi Beth and Amy A.!

San Juan Islands trip

We got to go on a really fun trip to the San Juan Islands (off the coast of Washington) with my Dad and my sister Tammy in May. We stayed in a cabin overlooking the ocean - and Olivia was so excited to be able to walk down to the beach and collect every seashell in sight. Jackson let her take them all because he just wanted rocks. One morning we tried digging for clams. We were surprised at how many we found (well, Grandpa found lots, the rest of us found some). We had a whole bucket full and took them back to the cabin, read about how to clean, prepare, and cook them, and then went and threw them all back in the ocean instead. Clam chowder didn't sound worth all the work. But we had fun digging for them anyway.
While everyone else was digging, the tide had gone out so Olivia and I walked out to an island (or I guess it was a peninsula with the tide out!). We found some rocks with tons of starfish on them, but while we looked the tide starting coming back in! I said, "uh oh Olivia, I think we're going to have to get our feet wet." And she said, "Well I can't carry you." So I carried her instead and did some wading back so we weren't stranded on our "starfish island." We all went back the next morning and explored the island and saw hundreds and hundreds of big purple and orange starfish, some tiny crabs, and some sea urchins (or maybe anenomes?).
We also got to try sea kayaking and now I want to do it again! My dad didn't have quite as much fun though, and my kids still like to tell everyone about how Grandpa fell into the deep blue sea.

Our trip to San Juan Islands

Family Reunion

We were in Boise a couple weeks ago for a family reunion. Jackson got to meet the other Jackson (his second-cousin) and collect rocks (his new favorite thing) in Grandpa's backyard, Olivia learned how to swim with floaties on at the hotel pool, and Katelyn got to show off her smiles to everyone there. She was passed from one person to the next and I decided she was at the perfect age to meet all those relatives - she has big smiles for anyone who looks at her, but she is not big enough yet to be clingy to me so everyone wanted a turn with her. (Especially since there are only 3 other grand- or great-grandkids on that side of the family, and she was the only baby). Now she just needs to meet all of my side of the family, too!

Here's one picture at the hotel and one with Uncle Mike. And that's about all the good pictures I got . . .

Preschool Graduation

Here are some pictures of the big day. The performance included a few songs and some skits on stage with a mural they painted in the background (top). The last picture is with her favorite preschool teacher. She says she wants to stay in preschool forever.