Random cuteness

Ada was singing the ABC song and got stuck on, "QRS"... so she said, "QRS, QRS, QRS, QRS... QonS, QonS, QonS, QonS... Qonthis, Qonthis, Qonthis..."  It was really funny.

She's also been pretending to get stuck in volcanoes all the time.  "Oh no mommy!  I'm stuck in a volcano!  Help me get out!  Oh no, now you're stuck in a volcano!  You need to stand up!"

Sammy reads books to himself... turns the pages and says, "That!" turns the page ,"That!" 

Sammy's also starting to get bolder... he takes a couple steps by himself but then sits down or falls forward and makes you catch him. 

At the Princess Festival yesterday Ada and Aubrey held hands pretty much the whole time and when we got back to pick up Devin Ada put an arm around his neck and they tried to go up our very steep front steps that way... which would have worked but Ada's dress was too long and she needed both hands to keep it up. 

The three musketeers were pretending to be airplanes and flying around my parents living room... Sammy wanted to join in so he just turned circles in place on his hands and knees.  Cute kids...

Sammy likes to give kisses... he kisses me all the time... any place that he can reach... but he's also started to "attack" Ada with his kisses... She'll lay on the ground and he'll basically jump on her and kiss her... He's started to blow kisses to people too... though he is kind of reserved on this one... he usually only does it to me.

Adult talk

Everyone that talks to Ada always says that she is a good talker... but like every two year old she has her moments...

This morning she tried to play mom to me while I went to the bathroom.  I told her I needed to go to the bathroom so she ran into the bthroom and opened the tiolet seat for me and said,"Here mom!" Then while I was using the potty she cupped her hand in her ear and said,"Mommy!  You hear that?  You're peeing!" Then she wanted to get toilet paper for me and at that point I just wanted to do it without a two year old mother so I asked her to go see Sammy who'd just woken up in bed.  She said, "Okay mom!  Now I don't want you to be sad for your fingers."  (I think she was putting 'I don't want you to smash your fingers' and 'that would be sad' together... )  Pretty funny!

In my thoughts and prayers

Not long ago, my brother who's in Afghanistan called.  I miss him and I can't help think about what he's probably experiencing.  McKay, we love you and I'll give you the only protection that I know how... We pray for you every day.  It's really cute because Ada prays for "Uncle McKay far far away".  Know that we keep you in our thoughts and prayers everyday. 

PS I teach the 6-7 year old class at chruch... I've been trying to imagine what it would be like to have one of those sweet and curiously rowdy kids executed in front of my gates and I just can't.

Bear Lake Half Marathon

I did it... I trained for the last 6 months so that I could do this weekend.  I finished the Bear Lake Half Marathon time... admittedly it took me the same amount of time as it takes the marathoners, but I still did it.  We got to Bear Lake on Thursday night... it was cold and rainy, but I was ready to camp out and be out of reach of computers and cell phones for a couple of days.  Friday morning was cold but dry... we sanded and painted 4 out of the 8 benches around the camp fire... and then it started raining and Sammy kept crawling out into it... then he'd cry that he was wet.  Jer and I decided to drive to Garden City to get more sanding belts and see if they had more clothes for Sammy... our short little excursion took us almost 6 hours... as we made stops into stores, ate dinner, picked up running packets, and decided that we'd drive up to Montepilier to get clothes for our wet boy... where Ada promptly pooped in her clothes an hour away from where her other clothes were sitting at our camp site... So with a new outfit for Ada, new pants for Sammy and a couple of new sweatshirts for the two of them (and a very angry Mom) we headed back to our camp.  Grandma and Grandpa had come with the whole company in tow but they had decided that they didn't want to camp in the rain... and since they didn't want to have to come back to pick up kids early in the morning before Jer and I ran our race they took them with them.  I think Ada at least had a blast because she keeps talking about the swimming pool at the hotel they stayed at and Sammy didn't have to crawl in the water anymore.  

In the morning Jer, Robyn and I dropped off our van in Garden City and rode the bus back to the starting line...which ironically enough was only 3 miles from the cabin... we were blessed with chilly but dry weather... my mom's cousin Debbie and her husband Walt drove along the route to find us and take pictures... that was fun to see them!  and about mile 10 my heart started racing and I couldn't breath... which happened last time I ran 10 miles.  Weird.  I walked for a minute to get it to calm down and then started running again... within the next mile it was doing it again... so I had to walk the last 2 and  a little more of the race.  but I finished nonetheless...  two really cool things about the cold and stormy weather though.  The people at the cabin said that they were worried about us because it had been raining on them all morning, but we didn't get rained on at all really... even though we ran right in front of the cabin.  And the other thing is that the lake was gorgeous!  It was a kind of turqouise color the whole time we were there.  (Unfortunately there was lots to do and I didn't get a chance to really get out there and take many pictures.)  I'd do it again... but I think I need to figure out why my heart starts racing at about mile 10 first so that I don't end up having to get rushed to the hospital or anything!

I'm pretty

So Ada was standing behind us while Jer and I made lunch... She said, "Mommy look!  I'm so pretty!" I turned to look at her and she had her head cocked to the side and was batting her eyelashes at me... it was very funny.

Ada had also been sitting in the car between the twins while they traveled first from Bear Lake to Evanston and then to Orem... They started poking and bugging each other.  Since Ada was in the middle... she got both of them doing it to her. At one point, I guess (this was told to me by my sister), Devin punched Ada in the face and Aubrey was poking her.  Ada got frustrated and said, "Guys!  Stop leaving me alone!"

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!