changed the youtube video of Grace talking to "unlisted" instead of "private", so if you use the link in the post below it should work now.

Rare who roast beast

For dinner last night: Rare who roast beast, who hash, and who pudding :) The kids loved it!! When asked a few days ago if the Grinch stole the who's Christmas Keith answered: "no he didn't" Christmas still came. I guess he get's the message :)

David doing the honor of carving the Rare Who Roast Beast

And the Christmas Cactus is blooming!!

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without

Most of you have seen David's phone and joined in the teasing. It's older than gun smoke. A dinosaur. A fossil. All those phrases used to describe something old and out of date. It's the phone he got for free 8 years ago.

You might have even seen him wear his patched-up jeans. He likes me to patch his jeans rather than buy new.

But you probably haven't seen the bottom of his shoes. At one point he mentioned to me his work/dress shoes were starting to wear out and we needed to buy him new. So we did. That was in the summer of 2010. Over two years ago. And what have the new shoes been doing this whole time? Being worn? Um...no. Sitting in a box, waiting. Waiting for what you ask? Waiting for the old shoes to finish wearing out. Yes these pictures were taken while they were on his feet, on his way to work. Friday. Today however, it has snowed, and I believe the new shoes will get worn finally or his feet are going to get wet. :)

Love you, sweets. I'd much rather have this problem than someone who needs the latest and greatest all the time.Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.

Isabelle's Dance Recital

Belle had her 1st dance recital yesterday. She was so excited she was dancing around the kitchen all morning! She was so cute! All my friends who saw her commented the same thing--that she was so focused, concentrating very hard! They did a tap dance this time, in the spring they will do a ballet and a jazz.

Dave and I were both impressed with the dance studio--all the girls wore the same t-shirts and black pants--all 20 dance teams--all modest and every dance tasteful. They also were impressive and had the whole thing done in less than an hour and a half! And the recital was free....anyway, we like how they do things at Grantsville Dance!

Grace Remembers

A video of Gracie telling us all about what she remembers from heaven. You have to copy and past this into you browser. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyhrXt_nzKE

My Little Aggies

Oh, and a BIG Aggie, too. :)

Two Months old!

I've sat down several times to write about our sweet Gracie and have never been able to finish. Here's a couple pics at least. smiles and blessing day. she has the BEST huge smiles!

Life as we know it.....is over.

Isabelle started Kindergarten this week. The day we have dreaded arrived. At least the day I have been dreading. She was SO excited. Couldn't sleep, woke up early, wanted to get ready right away. I know school is good for her and she will grow & learn and have fun with her peers. It is a good thing. I just haven't been looking forward to sending her off out into the world every day, and being stuck to a school schedule. Now for the next however many years until we are done with kids in school we will be on THEIR schedule. I like to run off to my sister's in the middle of winter just because. I like to do family things on weekdays when places aren't crowded. I like getting up in the morning and reading stories for 45 minutes before breakfast. All gone.

Although, David & I are determined that school, especially Elementary school, will not stop us from doing some of those things we like. A trip to see cousins or a day off to spend with Dad who worked all weekend might just be a higher priority than school sometimes.

The first day Belle had a good time in class but was super overwhelmed at pick-up time. I had told her that the teacher would bring her outside and we would pick her up there. I did not prepare her for the chaos of all the kids at the school waiting for their parents, lots of kids and cars everywhere. The teacher stayed by the class at a different door than the rest--but for some reason she wandered off a bit and was nearly to tears and the crossing guard helped her find David. Then when she got home she WAS in tears, the emotion of it all was just too much and she cried on my lap for awhile. She said "all the big graders got out at the same time as the kindergarten!" And she didn't have very many positive things to say about school...just was overcome with the scariness of pick-up time. Yesterday was better, we picked her a "special spot" where she can stand and wait, and that seemed to help. She was more talkative about what they did in the classroom rather than just what happened after school. Today she initially said she wanted us to take her again, but when it came time to go she went with the car pool.

AND...I must mention...SHE found a loose tooth!! Kindergarten and loose tooth in the same day was a lot for us! It's a good thing we have a baby coming or what would we do?!

Keith riding

Link to a video of Keith riding his bike. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp4u8zkfUq0 Go Buggie! Yes he is 3.

Hummingbird sitting still on our Glads.

I try hard not to complain, I know it only makes matters worse, the best way to handle things it to buck up, dig in, and move forward with a smile. But I'm going to slip a little tonight just to say... head cold with splitting headache + unable to sleep well for several nights + 34.5 weeks pregnant + horrible overwhelming messes due to crazy schedules and projects and dying fish + David leaving yesterday and not having another full day off til Monday (meaning no help with those dishes or children that went to bed without being bathed or read to) = me grumpy and discouraged. going to bed under the premise that "tomorrow is another day" and hoping for a better one. At least I don't have an unbearable turtle stink ruining my week (or my furniture). sorry, Millie....wish we could've helped.

2012-07-04

And she hasn't taken it off much in two days....Miss 12 min something running a whole mile! we were really surprised at how well she did! Shocked, really. We thought she would need some encouragement to keep going, walk halfway sort of thing. Nothing like that! She just took off...

2012-07-04

Me & Missy

2012-07-04

Sidewalk chalk to entertain as we waited for the parade

2012-07-04

2012-07-04

this has to be one of my favorites. People around the finish line are cheering for him and he is so proud! So adorable makes you want to just hug him!

She's got it!

A video of Belle riding her bike. This was yesterday and she's become even more steady and confidant since then. She was balancing but still unsteady in the handle bars--then yesterday the 9 yr old neighbor you see in the picture said "hey, Bella, follow me" and started weaving big and gradual back and forth in the street, and then started doing big circles. And as Belle followed she did it! Yesterday was a big day :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwTVaklMoOA

Training wheels....or not?!

Both kids have repeatedly ridden for a significant distance without training wheels. Neither child has the confidence to just jump on and GO! They get nervous, then they get wobbly in the handle bars, and stop. They don't crash or anything, they just calmly put their feet down and stop. so HOW do we help them gain that confidence? I tried it with Belle today and all I did was hold on while she got her feet on and almost immediately let go and she was fine...until she would unintentionally turn and then stop herself. Keith goes as long as he doesn't know you've let go. As soon as he realizes that, he stops himself. He hasn't caught on to the "...oh...I was doing it...I can do it!" thoughts. Some neighbor boys recently had their training wheels taken off so under peer pressure they both asked for them off. I was a bit leery, especially of Keith. since then he's shown he CAN but does he want to badly enough? We'll see...

BIRTHDAY!!!! 5!!!!

I realize this is about two weeks slllooow. But...oh well. Birthday Girl Rainbow Cake Silliness Yes. We rented a cotton candy machine and fed all the neighbor kids at least two cones of the stuff each, a cupcake, and sent them home with a treat bag of candy. OH! And I learned to make a few balloon animals/shapes. Nothing fancy, but it was fun. So we also went through a package of 100 twisty balloons in a matter of days and also sent the sugared-up kids home with a balloon sword. go us! Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. These two love that place.

Hiker/Repairman/part fish

He's going hiking. In swimming suit, goggles, golf club (as a walking stick) and backpack full of various items. He randomly wears his swimming suit around all day and can't wait for swimming lessons the next two weeks where we will swim and swim and swim....(we have an 11:15 lesson time and the pool opens for swimming at Noon, so we pack a lunch and stay as long as the little fish want to.) The next day he wore the goggles out to the garage, armed with his toy crescent wrench to fix the lawn mower, weed whacker, 3 bicycles, and "your car Mommy, of course." I love the "of course" and the "SURE!!" he says when he agrees to something you ask him to do. which brings us to the crescent wrench line...."Daddy, why does my crescent wrench look like pliers?" (It IS a pair of pliers, he has dubbed his crescent wrench....)

Making it

It's no secret to you all that Keith has been protesting going to church lately. A few weeks ago after I had roused the kids out of bed on a Sunday morning and herded them down the stairs to eat breakfast, Keith was crying about church. "but I don't want to go to church." Belle took over. "But Buggie, Mommy and I are going." He wasn't convinced. "I want to stay home, and Mommy to stay home, and you to stay home Bella." "But Buggie, we are going to make it to the sun, remember?" Yes...... we HAVE had the Family Home Evening with the whole Plan of Salvation Diagram. I made a pretty nice one for YW and used it at home, too. So we are going to make it to the sun. Who's with us? :) YES!!

Goodbye inside toys...

Hello warm weather!! I hope toys don't get jealous, because if they do all of the toys in the house are going to get mighty down in the dumps. Between the bikes:

The new load of sand in the sandbox, the neighbor's new trampoline, and running through the sprinkler (already done a couple times this year), I don't expect to see these two playing inside all that much til, say, October. Outside kids all the way! Keith got this bike last week, it's the same size as Belle's and he LOVES it. He was already riding hers whenever he got the chance and hardly ever riding the tricycle anyway. He was instantly a pro and rode all the way to the park--nearly a mile away--, played at the park, and rode most of the way back as well before David had to give him a shoulder ride and carry the bike the last block home. Isabelle rode all the way and back just fine.

We've decided Keith gets away with a lot of things that Belle would not get away with. Because he's either super cute or super stubborn, and Mom gives in to both. Hopefully the real reason is that he's 3 and she's nearly 5. but in any case, he usually gets his way. He is also going through some sort of attachment phase. He gets absolutely hysterical if I have to go somewhere without him. He reacts the same way when Isabelle leaves for school--to the point where the neighbor I carpool with takes him with her to drop the kids off--for some reason he handles it better that way. Today she had errands to run after dropping the kids off and she couldn't take him. It was not pretty. He stood at the door with sad tears running down his checks shouting and waving "Goodbye Bella!" tell there car was out of sight. When he finally calmed down David & I played with him for about an hour and a half, giving him some time with us by himself. He also cries and has to give David about 7 hugs and kisses and tell him he'll miss him when he leaves for work. So basically, he doesn't like anyone to go ANYWHERE without him. He wants to go to work with Daddy, to school with Isabelle, and everywhere I am going. I'm not sure if he is worried we won't come back, has some deep need to be involoved in everything, or....?? no idea. then, there's church. Yesterday he cried and fought when he got out of the tub. When I got him dressed. (he HATES pants and I even bought him some khaki dress shorts to try and reduce the Sunday-morning resistance. It has improved only slightly.) Then refused to go to nursery. As in arching his back and dragging his feet refusing. (maybe this is part of the not-wanting-to-leave-family thing? He can't go anywhere without US?) Then had a royal fit 10 minutes into sacrament meeting. Yep. His time out when we got home was a long one. He told David he doesn't like church. The conversation went like this: David: "Keith, why don't you like to go to church?" Keith: "Because it's bad there." D:"Do they talk about Heavenly Father at church?" K: "Yes" D: "Is that bad?" K: "No" D: "Do they talk about Jesus at church?" K: "Yes" D: "IS that bad?" K: "No" D: "Do they talk about families at church?" K: "Yes" D: "Is that bad?" K: "No" D: "Then what is bad about church?" D: "They don't talk about oven pampmakes" (his favorite food, german pancakes) WHICH actually they DID because his nursery teacher asked him what his favorite food is, and of course that was his response, and she took it further and asked him what he likes to put on his pancakes, etc. These are the answers we get. He doesn't like church because they don't talk about pancakes, he doesn't like nursery because they have a scary T-Rex toy and minty marshmallows. Both of which they threw out when he cited them as the no-nursery culprits. Oh, and he couldn't finish his dinner yesterday because the table cloth was ugly. See what I mean? Either too cute or too stubborn. I'm hoping if we just keep plugging away eventually he'll grow out of all of this....

Signs that Isabelle is growing up

1- The sidewalk chalk words on the front step were not written by me or any neighbor kids, but by her. Included are: Isabelle, Mom, Dad, Beby, and Keith (which he did mostly, she helped him some). 2- she was fine to sit on the bench in sacrament meeting by herself while I had to take Keith out. It was even during the sacrament portion of the service, and she took hers and passed it on to a ward member we were sitting by who she doesn't necessarily know. 3- I reminded her that after she was done eating lunch she needed to do her unload the dishwasher job, and I didn't have to tell her again when she was done eating several minutes later. She just got up and did it. (she unloads the plastic kid dishes and silverware after I take our the sharp things every day) 4- she read, all on her own, a page like "see cat run. run cat run. Cat has a hat." etc.

Pictures

The videos in the post below are about 30 sec. each, but if you'd rather just look at pictures here are a few. The one of Keith is what he was doing while I was out taking pictures of Isabelle in the mud puddle. He poured himself, and the neighbor girl, bowls of cereal. with milk. Luckily he didn't spill, the cereal was just swimming :)

Latest Kids Movies

Belle came home from preschool on a rainy day singing this song, and looking for some puddles to try it out in. Unfortunately the best one found was a muddy one, but she had fun, and some neighbor kids followed her (like they usually do) to join in the fun.
I couldn't get the videos to upload to blogger, so you copy and paste the youtube URL into your browser. Sorry to make it complicated.

http://youtu.be/p6WNCXqh4sM
http://youtu.be/1KtFqekAyx4


Ketih's ABC's etc.


http://youtu.be/SnAWPMWmNE8
http://youtu.be/0i_YQfOb3f4

I'm confused...

It seems as though we have moved INCREDIBLY fast from these little ones:


To these big kids:



How did this happen ?!?

Good thing they are as fun as ever :)

We Caught a Leprechaun!

 

Well...sort of. Belle talked about Leprechauns yesterday in preschool and cooked up this idea to catch one. She was telling all my Beehive girls all about it last night, and a couple of them even donated some cookies to the cause. (bait for the trap, of course). So first thing this morning she was out setting up this trap....and look!! He got away but he left a pot of gold!! You should have seen her dancing around the yard SO EXCITED!! Unfortunantely no pics of the dancing around, the leprechaun himself took these pictures for us while we were at storytime at the library. David says it was worth the 4 stores he had to go to before he found the "gold" :).
Then she was SO generous and sweet and shared all her "gold" with the neighborhood kids. "You can have as many as you want" she told them.  She's loaned the trap to the neighbors. :)

Hockey Man

 

 

 

Please ignore the mess in the kitchen and focus on the cute boy.
David was watching a hockey game and Keith decided he would play hockey. He has a baseball as his puck, snow boots as his ice skates, golf club for his stick, and the jersey provided by Dad. "C'mon Dad, let's play hockey! (Aww-tey)
He even randomly would fall down on purpose, saying he fell on the ice. Then he would hit David in the back and send himself to the penalty box. Don't forget the jumping up and down and yelling "GOOAAALLL" when he made a goal.