actually a little late

I'm actually a little late but here's some cute pictures of our Memorial Day outing... we went to Salem pond and played... it was fun to give undivided attention to the kids as a couple instead of just one or the other of us.

 Don't know what he's looking at, but cute anyways.

 This would be a fun place for family pictures.

I loved that Jer got under the bridge to see how it worked... Love my engineer!

 I don't like pictures of me... they remind me how fat I am (and don't try to say otherwise)... I honestly don't feel that fat. But here's proof that I do play with my kids not just carry a camera around.

 

Sammy didn't quite get the whole feeding the ducks thing... I guess he thought he was a duck and he wasn't about to give up his bread to the others.

 

 My beautiful little Ada!  I really do think that she is gorgeous!

Three Cheers for the calvary!

So this morning I thought... my day's going to be kind of busy... I should get started.  And I did just that... I got started and it just kept going and going.  First I got kids up and changed, gave Sammy his bottle and antibiotic, Ada her breakfast, turned on a movie for her to watch while I got dressed... kids fought so I intervened, Sammy was tired again so I put him in bed... still hadn't gotten dressed... finally ate breakfast, got dressed, did the dishes, cleaned a bathroom, and then... Thank goodness Janelle called to see if Ada and Sammy could go swimming at their house... YES!  So I got their things together and off they went so that I could finally get dressed, clean the other bathroom, do some mightyauthors work... when what do you know... the lady that I interface with at the printers' doesn't work there anymore... no one knows who's going to be handling our account now... and no one knows where the $600 order that I was supposed to be able to pick up today was... then my phone beeps at me and reminds me that Sammy has his 1 year appointment today at 1:30... it's 12:30 and I still have to pick him up from my parents (10 min drive) and go to the doctors (20 min drive or more)... I figure I have time to vacuum the living room and eat lunch... and what do you know... I end up being 15 min late to the doctors office, having 2 different customers call while I'm trying to sign in with the secretary, have to bully my dad (boss) into dealing with the $600 order and the customer (which yay... he did get someone to respond and take responsibility for us.)  Then Sammy bawled most of the time in the office, which he's never done before... make a stop in to ask questions at the Internist the next floor down, go to pick up Ada (drive another 20 min) get there and realize I don't have cake stuff for Sammy's party... My mom donated a mix and Janelle and Dad volunteered to watch kids again... Then the RS President called and said that the Stake had emailed her and the Bishop saying they hadn't gotten the VT numbers when I had emailed them to her June 4th... have to redo that one... When I got home I had the usually crowd at my house... the 11 year old from down the street that has a dramatic home and my friend that uses our treadmill 5 days a week.  They saw how much I was freaking out and asked what they could do to help.  So Robyn cleaned the other bathroom and vacuumed our stairs, I cleaned the kitchen... made and decorated a cake... finished laundry..., and our neighbor friend helped me decorate for Sammy's birthday party and mowed our lawn.  Jer got home at that point... to fix the playhouse so that cousins had a place to play during the party.  After my hectic morning and frustrating afternoon it was a complete relief to have so much help from so many different people!  As I was mopping the floor I thought about how this must be what Celestial life would be like.  Everyone connected and helping and loving.  Thanks to everyone involved Sammy had the best 1st birthday and even though not everything is not normal at work I am not stressing over it like I would be (probably will tomorrow).   After his birthday party we went to the new Shrek movie... Ada liked it, Sammy ignored it, but I liked it more than they did I think.  By the end, Grandpa had gone to buy the kids popcorn to keep them in their seats... and I think I'll remember this forever... I looked over and here was Grandma and Grandpa, Janelle, Sophie and Kiana cuddling with three enthralled 2 year olds and looking like a movie theater ad... During the end credits Ada started dancing up in the front next to the screen so of course the other two had to as well... and everyone left in the audience got an after movie show!   It was really cute.

Sammy, sorry it wasn't all fun and games for you, but I'm glad that you had a good birthday party day.

Look at this happy boy!  Happy Birthday!

 I love how excited he got to be sitting in the middle of all these people that he loves!

 This one was actually taken yesterday at the Robertson Family Fast Dinner.  I thought that it was cute.

 These are the three musketeers eating cake and ice cream in the little play house Jer made.

 Sammy was so cute about his presents.  He actually got really possessive about a Buzz Lightyear story book that you press buttons and it makes sounds.  Ada was so offended that he would scream at her that she started crying... (Sigh... I guess they're brother and sister all right).

These were about half of the cousins playing together at the dinner yesterday.  The other half were playing on the Wii upstairs... And it was kind of funny.  I heard Becca yelling up to James, "Come on honey, it's time to go." And him yelling back, "But we just got here.  I only got to play one round." "Okay, we can stay for a couple more minutes."  I thought it was funny... and if there hadn't have been a Wii there James would have been the one asking if they could go yet.

So proud...

So my friend had her first baby girl on Wed... She's a cutie, and no... I didn't take the picture, but I made the blanket so I had to post it.

On helping strangers

I really don't know if I've already posted about this but I want too, so please forgive!  We were at Target shopping for our upcoming camping/Bear Lake trip and we were walking down the cracker isle gathering likely candidates for kids on the road snacks... and Ada decided to be helpful.  She started to answer all the people's  questions as they walked past... so one older lady with her grown up daughter... "Mom, should we get some Goldfish Crackers?"  And Ada pipes up... "No."  Neither of the other ladies nor I could ignore that one!  I laughed my head off and the ladies just grinned at her and giggled.

On other news

On other news... I ran 10 miles for the first time yesterday.  I've hiked 10, walked 10, pushed/pulled handcarts 10... but never ran it.  Before I married Jer 3-6 miles was standard for me... none of this 7-13 mile stuff.  Good Jeremy has been so patient throughout all this too!  He takes over with kids and still gets the swamp cooler put up, a meeting done, baths done, etc... while I take the time to go run.  Over all the 10 miles wasn't bad.  The last half mile was kind of weird because my heart started racing and I had to stop for a minute while it calmed down (I don't know if it was the chews that I tried or just because I've never run that far before.) But overall my 8 miler was harder than the 10.  I'm both dreading 13.1 and curious to see if it will be as good as the 10 or if it will be harder.

Happy Birthday Sammy

It's weird to think that a year ago at 2 am I pushed out this cute little boy that we've grown to love and don't know what we would do without.  He's officially 1 year old... and darn it all he's sick.  Sammy has an ear infection that we've been fighting and this morning he woke up with a pretty stuffy cold.  He's pretty happy... especially when we all sang Happy Birthday to him... but he wanted to cuddle with me... which he doesn't do anymore.  We cuddled and I heard him snoring so he's now taking a nap... which he grew out of his morning naps a couple months ago.  Poor kid!  Happy Birthday anyways and I sure love you and am grateful that you are ours! (My fierce possessive pride for my kids... hmmm.  I'm so proud every time they accomplish something new or handle something well.  And I'm so happy when they look at me a smile!)  Sammy's still working on the walking thing.  He has walked a couple of solitary steps but has decided that it's safer to hold on to things.  He'll walk if you hold him by the hand.  He's so funny!  He can push a wheeled toy across our slippery hard wood floor with one  hand, drag his blanket in the other and turn around when he hits the wall.  I think he could walk very easily if he gave himself the chance!

Good Answer

Jer and I were joking about how Ada was like me and Sammy was like him personality and eating wise... and I asked Ada, "Ada do you want to be like Mommy or like Daddy?" And she said..."No... I'm just Ada."  Good answer!  I'm glad that she knows that she can be herself!

Becca reminded me

My sister-in-laws' post reminded me of something that I wanted to write down!  The other day we were all in the van and Jer and I were sitting there talking... and we hear Ada from the back seat singing, "I ate it, I ate it... I ate it til it was all gone... I'm a tiger and I ate it all gone!"

sense of self

Yesterday Ada and Sammy were bouncing on my bed.  Sammy grabbed the front of Ada's shirt and she said, "Sammy no!  This is my Ada!"  At least it sounds better than "Stop touching me."

busy day....

Well, it was more like a busy weekend. We had a Women's retreat at the Robertson's house. Friday, I tried to get the house cleaned and the dishes done so that Jer wouldn't have to worry about it... didn't happen. But when Jer got home he pushed me out the door to a chick piccata dinner at Mimi's cafe and then to the Robertson's for dessert and a "show". Emily and Becca dressed up in all Jay's clothes and danced to Backstreet boys and river dancing music. They tried to get everyone else to dance but we're all sticks in the mud... But Becca had this straight face on the whole time that made it worth being an observer. We stayed up late talking... I slept well while a couple others had adventures til 5-6 am. Sat, Diane and I went hiking and Mesh cut my hair... then we had a barbeque. It was a very full day.

My very long "before" hair that I've had for years.  Let's just say that my last short hair cut was when I went to Kenya 11 years ago...

My "after" hair.  I love it, but I don't currently own a hair dryer or curling iron... I guess it's time.

Sammy, Ada and Grace helped in the kitchen while Jer and I did the dishes.

Sammy

So Sammy is in this copying stage.  Every time the girls screamed in the car last night he would too.  I'd tell the girls not to yell and Ada would say, "Mommy, Sammy's yelling."  Hmmm.... He's at such a cute stage right now though.  He says simple things like "Momma" "Dada" "Ada" "ruff ruff" "that" and my personal favorite "tickle, tickle".  The three musketeers will run around saying, "To infinity and beyond." So Sammy will yell and put his fist in the air too.  He loves to rough house.  He got dog piled by the three two year olds while he was eating a bottle on the floor... You couldn't see him at all.  We pulled them off of him and then he got mad that he wan't being included anymore.  Really fun and I love it.  He's a little clingy... but not as bad as he was.