Summer

Trouble

My sweet, happy baby has turned into pure trouble! She is fearless and always wants to go UP. I pull off of our kitchen table about 20 times a day.
She wiggles out of the straps in the front of the shopping cart and stands up in there. So I put her in the back of the cart where she can stand but not fall out - except now she can climb out of there, too! At Target this week, I caught her with one leg over the side, about to fall on her head. So I got her out of the cart while we looked at some things, and her favorite thing to do then is run away from me - laughing as I chase her, and crying as Olivia carries her back to me. (And with Jackson whining that he wants a snack or wants to go home, and Olivia asking for everything she sees, it makes for a fun time at Target).
At the park, I was pushing Katelyn on one of the baby swings. I turned to check on Olivia and Jackson, and when I turned back, she was perched on the BACK of the swing, still swinging, and with a big smile on her face.

She may not grow out of this, but maybe she'll get smarter soon because she doesn't need any more bumps on the head.
She gets on every desk, table, or top of stroller, rides our rocking horse standing up, uses the back of a chair as a ladder, and just likes to scare her mama.

Olivia is 6!

Her birthday party was 2 busy hours of this:

This:

(Treasure hunt w/ picture clues, leading to their goodies bags, butterfly life cycle pasta art, butterfly cakewalk - or actually, candy walk).

And this:

Phew, they've gone home!

Hanging butterflies that we borrowed from her bedroom and sidewalk chalk pictures on the front walkway was about as far as we got with decorating.
I learned: Her idea to have butterfly brownies was much easier than decorating a cake. Next time, don't do dinner! Cake and ice cream, maybe a game, and that's enough. (Don't I say that after about every birthday party we ever have)? This one actually was pretty simple, just lots of plates to fill.

I also learned the Lite Brite that she loves was a good present. (I was always jealous of my big sister's lite brite).

The water toy I got from the dollar store that lasted 30 seconds in the wading pool and made her cry for 20 minutes was not a good present.

Twin Falls

We didn't have a lot of time to go camping for John's birthday like we wanted to, but I was determined to get outdoors anyway, so we just did one of the closest hikes by Seattle, and made the trek up to see some water, then play in the river a little.
The kids got tired on the way up, but on the way down Olivia said, "This is the best day of summer break ever." Jackson scraped his knee before we got to the trailhead, but made up a new song titled "I love my scrapey" as he hugged his knee on the drive home.
I've got some bigger hikes in mind, but we're going to have to build up the kids' endurance because John didn't really like when Jackson took Katelyn's place in the backpack.

Oh brother

John was on call last night. He went in for a surgery around 10:00. I don't know how many other patients he saw, but I heard him come home around 3 am. Just as he was climbing into bed, his pager went off again. I don't think he liked that sound. He had to go back, and didn't come home again until after work today. And today was a surgery day! He did 3 cataract surgeries on no sleep! I'm glad I wasn't one of those patients. He said he drove through McDonald's for breakfast, didn't eat lunch, and then he fell asleep as I was making dinner tonight, and we couldn't wake him to eat anything.
His last week of call, he got about 2-3 hours of sleep/night for 6 nights in a row! He was not functioning so well - or looking so good, either!
His car was also having problems last night, so he took mine. I was supposed to go get diapers, and things for Olivia's birthday party that's in a couple days. We were also supposed to go drop his car off at the shop when he got home, but he was too tired to drive and said he needed to rest for "a few minutes" first. Looks like the car will be going in tomorrow night instead. Now we're down to one diaper, and if Jackson will ever go to sleep I'll go get some. Hmmm, what can I find around here to fill butterfly goody bags with? Maybe some mini corndogs?

So that's what I'm saying "oh brother" about.

P.S. (especially for Carolyn) Call's not always so bad!

Gone to Heaven

Jackson came in sadly from the backyard, and said, "Mom, my ball went to heaven!" He had thrown up his bouncy ball and didn't see it come down anywhere, so he decided that's what must have happened. When I found it for him in the grass, he said, "Oh, it's back."

We have a hard time finding things that Jackson will eat. He likes milk, fruit, and most crackers and snacks, but not much "real food" or anything with sauce, mixed together, etc. So like Katelyn, we're trying to get more into his diet, too. (If they would just follow their mom's example, they'd have no trouble getting enough to eat. That's one area I set a good example in). At the grocery store last week, I told Jackson he could pick anything that he would eat. He chose mini corndogs, so we got them. If he'll eat mini corndogs, that's fine with me - he needs calories and protein.
So we cooked up some mini corndogs, and he bit into one.
"Mom, the inside of this taste-es like a rat."
That was the end of the mini corndogs.

Jackson isn't so much into singing. He likes to cover my mouth if he hears me singing. And kick Olivia if she sings. (I didn't say we were good singers). However, once in a while, if he is in the right mood (not necessarily a good mood), Jackson will break into song. Something like this: "Do you know the bad muffin man . . . "

The 4th and Fireworks

A sparkle in my eye.

Grandma Knippers and I tried to get some good pictures of them in their red, white, and blue. I guess Jackson's shirt that says "Whistler, Canada" isn't so patriotic.

Katelyn was sad anytime someone sat in "her" rocking chair, and then happy to reclaim it - and the cycle continued. She loved the water - just didn't want anyone to hold onto her!

We went to John's grandparent's house in Boise for the 4th. His parent's were there, too, so the kids had fun with lots of grandparents to play with. From their deck, we could see lots of fireworks around the city. The kids were pretty cautious with the sparklers (why are they giving us fire?), and walked like they were in slow-motion. Maybe we should have taken pictures of Katelyn with the great-grandparents, instead of with this slug on her foot.