Bandoo in the kitchen sink

Mike and I and his brother and sister like to play Bandu when we get together. Each person has different odd shaped wooden pieces. Then they take turns adding one piece at a time trying to get as many pieces on their tower as possible. My kids like to play Bandu in the kitchen sink. When they put their dish in, they to stack it on the highest point possible in a delicate balancing act. Bring it on Ben and Heather.


day 26.

Movie Night

Claire is posing again. She was NOT coached might I add.

Andrew is trying to keep her in position for the picture.

After a long Saturday of chores we decided to have a movie night. The boys chose a Mario movie-which totally makes me think of Reagan and Roman. (our boys best friends in Indiana) I miss you guys.
Also notice how they are all matching in their "Grandpa Don tee-shirts." Andrew got Claire out of bed this morning and undressed her and dressed her (with only minimal help from me). So he picked this shirt and then went and put on his matching one. Ethan followed suit. It's so cute that they like matching.



day 29. one more down.

Tag?

So I have never done a tag before, but I am going to try this one. My friend Lindsay tagged me with doing a post everyday for 30 days. That seems like alot now that I am committing to it. I'll try my best but I'm not promising anything. I think after 30 days you will definitely know me a little better.
I think I have a hard time getting personal. It's easy for me to post about the kids, and fun things that happen but it's hard for me to divulge my innermost thoughts. And put them out there on the world wide web none the less. But I'm sure there will be personal things that are bound to come out in the next 30 days. So here it goes.

Why not start this tag with a tag. (For Lindsay D. who tagged me months ago. Here is that tag. )

TEN YEARS AGO -
1. I was a freshman at the Y.
2. I wore platform shoes.
3. I was obsessed with Superman and the Beatles.
4. Listened to Celine Dion.
5. usually stayed up til 2 in the morning (those crazy college days)


5 THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST TODAY
1. Blog
2. complete lesson 3 in my sport psych. class
3. take the boys to a b-day party.
4. keep the house clean.
5. make chocolate popcorn for a game night with old friends


THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE SUDDENLY MADE A BILLIONAIRE
1. pay off school debt
2. buy land and houses for us and our parents.
3. buy a new van with "stow and go"
4. buy a badly needed new wardrobe!!!
5. decorate my new house.

BAD HABITS
1. I bite my fingernails
2. I bite my cuticles.
3. I clench my teeth when I have a song in my head.
4. I wear my emotions on my face. It's hard to hide them for me.
5. I like to sleep in. (is that a bad habit?)

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED.
1. Colorado
2. Utah
3. Indiana
that's it but I've visited more.

5 Jobs I have now or have had
1. Mom
2. I worked at a take and bake pizza place
3. CSR at Contempo/Wet Seal
4. Temp (data entry) at Meryl Lynch
5. Creative Memories Consultant


5 things most people don't know about me
1. I am a potter. I own my own wheel and kiln.
2. I am finishing my degree through Independent Study
3. My house has to be picked up before I go to bed.
4. I can't watch the same movie twice, unless it is super good or a mind twister.
5. I hate confrontation and usually avoid it, but I think about doing it often.

5 things that make my life Super fabulous right now
1. of course my darling family
2. the sunshine
3. a sleeping baby
4. boys at school
5. plans for a fun night


There you have it folks.

day 30.



and I tag Lindsay D., Hannah, and Risa :0)

Banana Baby

Claire is definitely becoming more independent. She will not eat banans if they are cut up on hre tray. She will only eat them if they are in the peel, whole and she gets to hold it. And then, she will eat the whole thing. It's funny to me to see her with this huge whole banana. And to explain the funky hair- I had it in a looped pony tail and it came out.
Also, this is the first time she really posed for a shot. CHEESE!!!!

Crazy Hair Day

Andrew did his own crazy hair and it fell out by the time school was out, and I forgot to take a picture. Sorry Andrew. But here is Ethan's crazy hair. I think they wish everyday was crazy hair day.

Bath Night

The other night we were doing baths. I had done Claire first and dressed her ready for bed. Then it was Andrew's turn. He left the door open when he went to go find his goggles (yes they like to use goggles in the bath, maybe it's because they could only take showers for three years and they're just excited about a real bath). Claire wandered in and decided she wasn't done with her bath yet. So she climbed in fulled dressed! Andrew walked in, "Claire's in the bath!" She had the cutest "what did I do wrong?" look on her face. It could have been dangerous, and Andrew got a talking to, but mostly we just laughed. Needless to say Claire was not happy when we took her out for the second time that night.

First Fish

Andrew has joined them. He caught his first fish in the river in front of our house. He did it all by himself and it's a good size too, eh? As you can see, he did not want to touch it though.

On Saturday Andrew created this amazing invention.


Claire walking.





Ethan didn't want to be left out so he did the classic superman illusion. (five year old style)

cross-eyed

Proudly displaying our new found talents

chatting

While eating pizza for lunch and chatting
I say: "remember when I couldn't eat cheese, that was hard."
A says: "you loved Claire more than you loved cheese."
E says: "yeah, because Claire you can play with and laugh with and cheese just sits there."

Aren't my boys sweet.

Near Death Experience

OK, I'm being dramatic- I hiked the "Y" with the Young Women. It was a challenging hike for me and there were times I thought I was going to die. Helen and I were at the end the whole time. It is so steep. The altitude is like 5100ft. And it was snowing! BUT, We made it!!!! The first snow of the season. But all in all I had a great time. I'm not saying I will do it again anytime soon. But I really enjoyed being with all the girls and the fun leaders.

At the top. What an accomplishment!
Yeah it was snowing hard!

Candis on the "Y"
As you can see the view was ruined by all the snow. But it was so beautiful anyway.

And above all the snow there was sunshine. Amazing!

Piggy Tails

Claire has hair long enough for pig tails!! I think it's so cute.
She looked just a little bit older to me.

Ethan trying to kiss her. He sure does love our little sweetheart.
(Andrew is never in all these pictures b/c he is at school.)

Little Miss

My Scholar of the Month

Andrew got an award. He was Scholar of the Month in his class.
Andrew is such a great student. Good job buddy.

There was an assembly where the principle handed out the awards.

Harmonica

"You have a surprise in the bathroom"

This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning. Mike was watching the kids and the roll was FULL!!! Thanks Claire.

Big Fish

The pictures really say it all.

Our neighbor and Mike caught a carp in the river in our front yard!!! Let me tell ya- they were so excited!




We had to see how much it weighed. It was not an easy task.



We resorted to the deduction method. It weighed in at 11 lbs! Which is huge.

First Amusement Park

Our friends and neighbors got free tickets to a local amusement park from his work.

Despite objections from the wise wives, the men insisted on doing the water ride first. They also insisted they wouldn't get wet. At least I convinced Andrew and Ethan that they would and they didn't ride it.

Their first roller coaster ever! They loved it.

They are just bursting with excitement.

Claire's favorite ride. (don't worry they had these cool seat belt that had to be unlocked with a key to get out)

There was a train ride that took us past all sorts of zoo animals.
Including tigers, kangaroo, and camels.

I was amazed at how brave the boys were. They got braver and braver as the night went on. They even went on the bat (pictured below-yeah it's the real deal with your feet hanging and all) without acting scared at all. Ethan was an inch taller than the requirement and in fact he rode it two or three times!!





And by the end of the night the Dad's were acting goofy. But all and all everyone had a great time. The boys want to know when we are going back?....

hodge podge

I love rainbows. The sun was shining and it was raining at the same time. And of course we have the beautiful mountains as a backdrop.

I thought she just looked beautiful this day in her little white sweater.

Gotta love the hair. This is what it looks like when she pulls out her rubber band.

However, she is coming to an age where she has an opinion and she cries when she doesn't get what she wants. In this case she wanted the camera.

I took this picture so Ethan could see what he looked like cross-eyed. He would be so embarrassed if he knew I posted this, but it is too cute not to. love ya bud.

.....Ta Da

Because bunk beds/loft beds are so expensive we decided to build our own. Which did not turn out to be cheap, but cheaper than buying them anyway. We decided on making two loft beds so we could have the entire floor space of the room and each boy could have the top bunk. It was a bigger project that I thought and took a week and a half and much sacrifice. My Mom came down on Thurs. and we started with making a plan and buying the supplies. Then on Fri. we cut the wood and assembled some. Then on Sat. we had the help of the men and we were able to get both beds put together and sanded before my parents had to catch their flight (which they barely made-we worked them up to the very last minute-I actually felt really bad and wished we had more time to relax a bit-it's a good thing we get to see them more than once a year now). Anyway, on Monday Mike and I stained the first bed after the kids were in bed. On Tuesday we did the first two coats of varish after the kids went to bed. On Wednesday I did two more coats of varnish during Claire's two naps. Are you tired yet? On Thursday we stained the next bed. On Friday I got ambitious and put the first coat of varnish on during Claire's morning nap. However, I bought the wrong kind of varnish (the kind that smells really bad and is toxic) and I had an allergic reaction or chemical burn-I'm not sure. But my face swelled up, got all tight, and became red and splotchy. And it still hurts four days later. Anyway, I got the right stuff (water based so you know). And over the next few days did a total of five coats. I wanted them smooth and shiny. And what's one more coat when you already have four on there. SO, we finally got them done and in place with some new dressers that my aunt and uncle gave us. I am very pleased with the way the beds turned out. I love their room with all the floor space. Of course it just means they can make a bigger mess.

workin' hard

We gave them each three little hooks for them to hang their back packs and jackets.

my swollen face-if you can tell.

FREE AND CLEAR

I just got back from taking Claire to the allergy doctor where we had her retested for her milk and egg allergies. They also tested for wheat, soy and peanut. And she had no reactions!!!! yeah! I have done so much to get her here (those six moths of no milk and eggs in my diet were very difficult) and I am soooooo happy!!! She can now enjoy all the finer things of life with the rest of us. :0) I hope she likes it all....
I can't tell you how happy I am, what a relief this is. Those of you with children with allergies know how I feel. I'm just glad she outgrew this while she is so young. I do think she knew there where things I denied her and her fits would have only gotten worse.
Thank you for all of your prayers.
(huge sigh.........)