Apple Hat

My friend had a baby in March (sorry Martha I have a bad memory. If this is wrong please forgive me!) and I tried to make an apple hat for the baby.

The first one is a complete unusable flop. But if you do not first succeed, try, try again. So I did and it worked.

I don't like the stem, I wish I had done it in i-cord like the first hat. It took me three attempts on this hat to figure out the leaf (I can't remember how many times I tried on the first hat and finally gave up.)

So here it is. I really love it and hope I have the motivation to make one for my own baby!

T-Ball Season

It is t-ball season again. As a devoted parent I will have several photos and videos of Ben playing t-ball for you to view. The first is of his favorite part of t-ball, the helmet.

I am sorry if I sound like a gloating parent, but Ben in STINKIN' cute.
And of course we have a monkey see monkey do who is pretty darn cute too.

How did I ever get so lucky?

Spring Tradition

The kids have a springtime tradition of building a couch out of cinder blocks and then I have a tradition of photographing them on the couch. Here is the 2010 addition.


I was trying to get them to not cover their eyes in this one. 2 out of 3 isn't bad.

Ok I looked back in the files to add our previous photos and I found one from 2008, nothing in 2009. So maybe it isn't fair to call it a "tradition..."

2008

Bagels

I made bagels awhile ago and I had a funny thought as they were boiling/baking. Some people will remember that I used to put my fingers in a circle around my belly button and say, "Look! a bagel!"

Well as they were boiling I thought, "This must be what I look like in the hot tub."

And then when I pulled them out of the oven I thought, "This must be what I look like after a good vacation in the Caribbean.

I wonder what other exotic situations I can imagine my bagel belly in?

Country Life

The farmers delivered a giant pile of manure and for about a week the kids begged to go look at it.

So finally we took a field trip to the see the giant pile of poop. Jacob and Sophie had on regular shoes, but for some reason I felt compelled to make Ben wear mud boots. Sure enough the first thing he did was sink his foot into the edge of the pile.


Even the little piles of manure deserved inspection.

Then of course they had to wrestle right at the edge because children have no fear of falling into a giant pile of poop.

Awed and amazed (you have to admit it is a pretty amazing pile of manure.)

And then a family photo because doesn't everyone have a family photo in front of a giant pile of manure?

(Sorry new computer and I am having difficulty learning how to rotate and save a photo)
I was amazed by the number of these flies that were ALL over the pile. I did some research thinking they have some exotic name since I had never seen them before. If my research is accurate they are called Yellow Dung Flies.

Winds of Change

I went away to Virgina for a few days and when I came back Aaron had built these two utility items.

They are the first step of many to prepare the spare room off of the kitchen to become a laundry room.

This summer Aaron will bring the washer and dryer out of the basement, replace the floor in the spare room, add a door that will exit out to the clothes line and build a folding shelf/storage cabinet. We will also have a mud room! All this makes ME very happy!

Bargain

Last night we stopped at our old apartment to peek in the windows. It is being completely overhauled so there are no tenants.

The other day when I drove by there were no windows and doors and I could see right in. I thought I could see our old French atrium doors with the stamps I had stamped in each window panel still there, stamps and all!

So I had Aaron jump out and look. While he was out Ben was BEGGING to get out and look too. Because of the construction scene and the late hour I kept saying no. Finally Ben pleaded with all he could muster...

"Pllleeeaassseee?"

"No Ben."

"I'll give you 10 kisses!"

Words

Well, it is official. Our computer died. Technically Aaron could spend hours and days and money fixing it, but at four years old it isn't really worth it. A new one has been ordered and will be here in a few weeks.

Unfortunately all of my pictures are stuck on the old computer. Aaron has assured me that they can be saved, but until the new computer comes, I have no pictures to post. It will be just words for awhile. I'll try not to bore you

Video Portion

Here is the video portion of Nathan's Homecoming.

Back Track

In March my brother finished his stint with the Navy and we went to my parents to welcome him home. Here are some of the events of the day.

A rare photo of the adults belonging to this blog...and together too!

Ben and my Dad reading together. Ben read about half of a Dick and Jane book almost entirely by himself!

As the evening went on we got kind of relaxed about child care...and the boys started baking in the kitchen. This is their creation. Caution to those with a weak stomach.





The end product was a mix of water, cocoa powder, orange peels, sunflower seeds, and butter.

Spring Flowers

I have always loved forsythia. In fact I don't think I would have survived the MTC without the forsythia blooming outside my dorm window. Now I have one all of my own. Does anyone have any advice on how to care for it so that it is full and not scraggly looking?


Aaron and I had a difference of opinion about pansies. See I like them, but Aaron doesn't like their name. Imagine my surprise when I went to the store and they were labeled Violas. Not only is it a name Aaron and I can agree on, but it was my great Aunt's name. I am now the proud owner of 7 viola plants!

I don't remember planting these and as such I don't remember what they are! It has been fun to watch them emerge. Since taking this photo they have fully bloomed and I now know that they are Grape Hyacinth.

I also finally planted daffodils. I love them! They have personality. I mean doesn't this one seem to be speaking to you as if it has something important to say?

Art Work Central

Ben brought home a stack of paintings he had made and I just don't have space to hang them all, or to save them all. I love each one of them so I am preserving them here for posterity. Some of you may receive the originals...





Notice how he signed his name backwards? He often does this with other words. Aaron says he wrote like that when he was little too.

Jacob was marveling at the paintings because we have only ever done watercolors with him so I pulled out the easel and found a big sheet of paper and let him go to town. He was so meticulous. He made sure to put the brushes back the exact way he found them, he did not mix a single color and he very carefully made each mark on the paper. I almost wanted to tell him to break loose a little!

Easter

I am finally on to posting Easter pictures! Aaron doesn't like the candy I pick so this year I got way more candy than usual in hopes of finding the right mix. What I have learned...my family likes fruity candy. I can totally skip the chocolate, except the peanut butter eggs. They were a hit. The chocolate bunnies were on sale otherwise we don't normally get those.

Another big hit were the airship balloons. They all popped before lunch, but the calories expended by playing with them all morning made up for the candy they ate. This first photo isn't great, but it had all tree kids in it and I wanted them all equally represented.

Here Sophie and Ben have green and blue light sabers. We have been on a bit of a Star Wars kick around here.

And finally a video of the balloon play. At this point the balloons were fruit. Yellow was a banana orange was an orange, green was avocado etc...My favorite part is when Ben grabs two colored balloons and yells, "FRUIT SMOOTHIE!!" As a parent I thought it was clever.

This is the secular representation of our Easter festivities. For the religious side we watched General conference and then Monday we did a lesson on the Resurrection. The next day Jacob's lunch prayer went as follows...

"Thank you that Jesus was on the cross. Thank you that we make mistakes and Jesus takes them away."

Even with candy in the way kids can grasp the underlying message of the season!

To finish out the day we had a hot dog roast. Not your typical Easter feast, but it was a lot of fun!

Good Weather Fun

For a bit we were having beautiful summer weather. These are just a few shots from those days.

Sophie had a friend over after school so I thought I would make a special snack, goldfish in a pond. I went through the time and effort of dying the cream cheese blue, spreading each individual cracker, carefully arranging the fish in a cute way, and the whole time I was thinking my kids will think I am so cool for this.

In the end they all had one and said, "I don't like these." Except Ben he and I ate almost all of them. Next time I think I will just scatter some crackers in the grass. Less time, less effort and the kids will probably like it better.

Ben and I played some barefoot ball together.

And of course my lively crocuses. My grandfather gave them to me a few years ago and I love them!

Sleeping Solutions

For a long time we have had a hard time keeping the kids in bed at night so Aaron came up with a great solution. It is basically a hide a bed on a hinge. We tuck the kids in at night, remove the support and climb into bed ourselves. One happy family...all in one room!



JUST KIDDING OF COURSE!!! All that space under the bed is now full of long time storage. You know, the stuff we only need to get to once or twice a year. It has freed up our closet space for the things we need to access more frequently.

p.s. I know I am married to him and quite biased, but Aaron is awesome. He did such a good job on this bed frame!

Another FHE Post

A few weeks for family home evening I did something a little different. See, I was getting "changing the toilet paper overload syndrome." I was the only one to change the toilet paper and I find it hard to believe that I am the only one who ever finishes off a roll.

At first I would leave the empty roll on thinking, "HA! This will teach them all a lesson!" But somehow it was always me that found myself "up a creek without a paddle" so to speak...not a fun place to be.

It even got to the point that I was using the bathroom at a doctors office one day and the roll was empty and I had to refill it.

So for family home evening I taught everyone how to change a toilet paper roll. I have to say that I choked up a little bit when I found the toilet paper put on backwards like this because you know what...I didn't have to refill the toilet paper.

How's This for Timely

This one is about Christmas!

March 25th Aaron burned the Christmas Tree. Menfolk and their "tools" are a little scary. First of all Aaron let the boys help cut the branches off the tree. I went outside just as Ben and Jacob were both gleefully hacking away at the tree with sharp objects. By the time I came back with the camera I was only able to capture Jacob.

Then there is Aaron who felt the tree was best lit with a blow torch. He really honestly, truly had this look of "he he, I'm using a blow torch" on his face.

Boys...It is a good thing I like them, because soon this house will be crawling with them!

Another Off Weather Post

Here is the problem with not posting on time. These photos are from when it was cold and rainy and raw. As I type there is not a cloud in the sky, it is 8:50 a.m. and it is already about 50 degrees. Oh well...

When Jacob woke up he was grumpy so I distracted him by showing him the giant puddle the rain had made in the side yard. He immediately wanted to go check it out. I even let him touch the OH SO OFF LIMITS mommy umbrella. I am glad I did it makes for a good photo op.


In case you were wondering, this is what a chicken that has been left out in the rain all night looks like. Serves her right. She is always hopping the fence.

Family Home Evening

From now on the kids are teaching Family Home Evening. Usually Sophie sits and listens and answers all the questions while Aaron fights to get Ben and Jacob to stay in the room and quiet, let alone paying attention.

Sophie read MANY pages of the story of Moses with no interruption and Ben and Jacob were glued to her side with rapt attention.

So guess what...I quit!