Tag: 6 Small Things That Make Me Happy

tag: make a list of 6 small or "unimportant" things that make you happy.

1. When I sit on the floor and Katelyn comes and climbs into my lap (usually happens just before Jackson grabs me around the neck and pulls me over).

2. When I want chocolate, I'm happy when I can find something in the house besides chocolate chips.

3. Making something, or I should say finishing a project

4. A hot shower. That is my escape these days, even when kids are knocking at the door to use the one potty in our house.

5. Getting rid of stuff - some lucky person just acquired a few treasures we put out by the street this week.

6. Watching Katelyn "dance" (and about everything else she does - except the standing on the table every chance she gets). I could list lots of things my kids do, but the list is only for 6, so I'll spare you blog readers.

Okay, some of those weren't so "unimportant" to me, but there's my 6 things. Thanks for the tag, Kris!
I tag: Jodi, Colette J., Kerri, Keri, Mandie, Abby, Michelle even though she probably won't do it.

Summer Sickies

It's summer break! We're starting it off with a round of croup. And things aren't all pretty here.
Olivia (to Jackson, who gagged a little from so much coughing): Were you going to throw up?
Jackson: You just have to close your mouth so it won't come out.

Olivia: Mom, Katelyn just spit up from her nose.
(There were some bad sneezes going on).

But fevers are gone, and Jackson slept for about 18 hours yesterday to make up for a few restless nights. They're on the mend, and soon we'll be ready to start on Olivia's long list of places to go this summer.

Some people I know say weird things like, "I love cleaning." Well, come have a grand time at my house then. I don't really mind it, and I like things to be clean, but I can think of lots of other things I'd rather do. Cleaning is just something to "get done" so I can get on to other things. (And not trip over stuff). But some days when it seems there is just too much to be done, I have to find motivation somehow. It probably stems from memories of my siblings and I "cleaning like a race car" as we listened to "We Built this City on Rock and Roll." I'm pretty sure my older sister came up with that one. And I still use a method my mom used to use all the time to put all 6 of us to work: make a list of all the jobs that need to be done, fold them up and put them in a bowl, draw a new job out of the bowl when you finish one. Only I'm usually the only one in on the "game" at our house right now. So now if I cheat and put "bathroom" back in the bowl for someone else, it doesn't work so good.
My favorite lately is the "5-minutes-per-room" method. It's a race against the timer to get the room done in 5 minutes, then when the timer beeps I go on to the next room. Some days that might mean I just get everything picked up, other times I can wipe down, dust, etc. Olivia will help with this one - she just changes it to "45 minutes of redecorating her room" and about 30 seconds of cleaning. But it makes the work seem more manageable when I have a time limit and won't have to be at it all day. Doesn't that sound exciting? Just makes you want to go clean.
And I used to make fun of my sister all the time for rolling a dice to see what meal she was going to make.
Does anyone else do anything this awesome?

More Trip

Here are some more pictures - okay, lots more. We stayed in a cabin in Pinetop for a few days. On my side of the family, we're the farthest away from everyone else, so I was so glad for this chance to go see everyone - but we missed Keith! (Yes, we were there just a few months ago, but it had been a long time before that). My kids loved playing with Grandpa and all their cousins. Here they are in the "bug club" below, getting covered in dirt (Katelyn's got a thick layer from head to toe - she loved it). They were occupied in that dugout for a long time, while we tried to re-live our glory days on the soccer field.

Cute Madison. Cute Sadie.

Here's me and my sisters (below) trying to figure out who's sleeping where.

I think I need a dugout to keep them in at our house.

Good job, Zak. Way to fish.

At the end of the trip, we got to go to through the temple with my youngest sister, Tammy. I don't have any pictures, but there are some here.

Getting so big!

Olivia and a couple of her classmates are celebrating their summer birthdays at school tomorrow, and she is taking these hamburgers in to share. I brought a couple home from an enrichment potluck last week, and Olivia wanted to make them for her class. Thanks for the idea, Raya! (vanilla wafers, grasshopper cookies, green coconut, red & yellow frosting).

And the other pictures are just because I like those guys.

Our Trip

Over the week of Memorial Day, we took a trip to Arizona. I'll just post one part of our trip now, and try to narrow down all the many pictures from the rest of the trip later on. Always a blog behind around here.

We flew into Phoenix, then left the next morning and drove all day to Cortez, Colorado to see Great-Grandma Knippers.
Jackson and Katelyn got to meet her for the very first time, so it's been way too long since we've been able to make it to her house!
We only could stay one night - and Jackson spent that night throwing up all over Grandma's guest bed, while John spent that night getting kicked by a sick Jackson tossing and turning. I slept great in the other room. Sorry John.

Katelyn got some baby blankets (she makes lots of great quilts and blankets) and learned how to go out a doggy door.
Thanks Grandma, it was so fun to see you!

Walk-a-thon

The walk-a-thon was an exciting day at Olivia's school.

Here's John with the sign, cheering her on:

Ha ha. Yeah right. Olivia says, "Who the heck was that guy?" Don't know, but he likes walk-a-thons.

Katelyn kept trying to follow Olivia and join in the running.

Mother's Day

Family picture - in parts.

I was talking to my sister the other day about how we don't usually put pictures of ourselves on here. I don't really like pictures of me, but these were taken on Mother's day, so I'm in them all - because I'm the mom.

I got a kinda-crappy-looking but fully functional double jogging stroller for Mother's day. I'm allowed to say that about my present because I picked it out myself. I've been wanting a double jogger, which is a little out of the budget. But craigslist came through again. This was the cheapest one I've seen - $30!

I did the trial run one evening, and the kids were fighting over who got to ride. So I did a few laps around the block, switching riders each time I got back to the house. It's been a while since my running days, but I had some encouragement as they kept asking for more turns and telling me to go "faster, FASTER!" When pushing a 5- and 3-year-old together it's not so easy to go fast.

And I got lots of chocolate for Mother's Day, too, which should help counteract any benefits that may come from the double jogger.

Katelyn saw the doctor this week, and the doctor was concerned because she hasn't gained enough weight since her last check-up. She wants me to work on getting more calorie-dense foods into her diet. I've been trying to figure out ways to do this, but now she's taking matters into her own hands.

This should help.

I'd been wanting to go here, so a couple Sundays ago, I told everyone to get in the car - we were going to go see something. Olivia and Jackson didn't want to go anywhere - they were busy playing a game they had invented. And John wasn't so excited about it either. This may be because it was already almost dinner time, and he still needed to pack for the flight he needed to catch that night. Or it could have something to do with the fact that I woke him up from a nap to go. Not sure.

But the blossoms weren't going to last until he got back, and I didn't want to miss our chance. No one was too excited about my plan, but I got everyone in the car anyway, and then these two didn't want to leave.


This is at UW. There's a huge fountain behind them, and below is the path covered in cherry blossoms.

Katelyn squealing as she tries to join us rolling down the hill:

We smelled blossoms, she tasted flowers, the kids raced around on the grass. It was so pretty, and John was even almost convinced it was worth the short outing - or at least he wasn't too mad at his wife for waking him up (with the help of Katelyn - who wouldn't want to wake up to that face)?