It's MINE!

Buggie is going through a very possessive stage. He picked a few books at the library the other day, and won't let ANYBODY else touch them. Not even to read them to him, or go get one from downstairs. The other night he was so emphatic about this he kept shouting at me "BUGGIE get it! BUGGIE get it!" them ran off to go downstairs, by himself, and come back up victorious with the book. But not before stopping on the top stair and poking his head around the corner with another exclamation of "BUGGIE get it!" just in case I was following or trying to assist in any way.

commenting problem

For those of you who have expressed the inability to comment, I believe the problem is fixed, I adjusted the comment settings.

Bean babies, squirrels, and crickets.

So the title doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Let me elaborate.

One day while playing in the sandbox Keith took off his socks. Belle decided to fill a sock with sand so it could be a baby. I decided to trade her for an old sock, and let her draw a face on it. The neighbor kids decided this looked like fun, and there were about 4 or 5 sand babies being pushed down our street in strollers, put to bed in holes in the sandbox, etc. most of the day. They had a blast, and we thought it was cute. Until the sand babies started coming up on the porch and even in the house. We explained to Belle that her sand baby had to live in the sandbox, and her last name was sandbox. If she came in the house she had to stay in a designated spot and could not be taken out. So she sang her to sleep and left her alone. I suggested she might consider making her baby out of beans, so it could come inside. By the next morning she decided to go with this alternative plan. We dumped the sand out of her, washed her, filled her with beans, re-drew the face, and sewed some yarn on top for hair. "Inside Isabelle Chandelier" has been well-loved. the 'Inside' comes from the fact that she didn't have to be 'sandbox' anymore, and the "Chandelier" comes from Fancy Nancy who named her doll "Marabelle Lavinia Chandelier". Keith ended up with a bean baby as well and they carried them around for days. We went to Marion so David could help with the fall branding and vaccinating the calves job. And here we were, standing and watching PaPa de-horn the calves, and Belle and Keith are holding their bean babies.

I always knew at some point I would probably have sons who would bring in bugs for pets. Never did I think I would have a girl with such habits. We have had a series of millipede's named Pedgy, and the latest thing brought in is crickets. She was looking to catch butterflies and only found crickets. David would catch them, hand them to her, and then she put them in a jar. For several days the crickets sat on the counter with grass to eat and slots in the lid. When they started to look a little sickly we convinced her we needed to let them go so they wouldn't die in the jar. She was a little broken up about it. "Daddy, tell me when you let them go and I will pretend to cry."

And the squirrels. We missed the pumpkin walk they had here, couldn't find a corn maze or any other fall type family outing, so we went to Stansbury pond and fed the ducks popcorn. While there Belle found a pet squirrel. Well actually, it's a buckeye nut. (yup, like the Ohio State Buckeyes. Who is afraid of a nut anyway? Seriously? A Nut?) The nut is apparently a squirrel. And after the duck outing we went straight to the library. Where said squirrel was missing when it was time to go home. We looked around, couldn't find it, gave up and went home. As we were pulling on our street Belle was doing the BEST pouty-lip whimper "I'm going to miss that litte squirrel." and then the near-tears "I wanted to introduce her to Baby and Pinky-Pie" Sniffle. Pout.

Keith and I got out of the car, and Daddy (SOFTYYYYY) took Belle back to the library to look for the nut. Searched everywhere, enlisted the help of the librarian, but no squirrel-nut thing to be found anywhere. Until they got back out to the car. And found the thing IN the library bag with the books. AWESOME.

The next day we went to the temple and they have a few trees that produce buckeyes right by the sidewalk on temple square. So now Belle and Keith have about four squirrels each. Belle's squirrels are reproducing and we now have about 20 babies. Or dry pinto beans. Can't say I keep a straight face every time Belle says in her playing house voice to the bean and the nut: "Ohhhh, she wants her Mommy..." sooo sweet. Or hilarious. You pick.

Story Telling

Buggie is getting good at telling you what is going on.
For example:
"mouse. mouse. mouse. garage. garage."
Us: "Oh, there was a mouse in the garage?"
Him: "uh-huh. Hiding. Hiding. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy."
Us: "Oh, the mouse was hiding and Daddy tried to find him?"
Him: "Uh-huh. Daddy. Daddy Hockey. Mouse. Hiding. Garage."
Us: "Oh, Daddy used his hockey stick to get the mouse that was hiding in the garage?"
Him: uh-huh.
This happened weeks ago. We still hear about it frequently.

Another favorite story:
While pointing to the new couch "Mark. Mark. Truck. Truck."
Us: "Oh. Mark brought the new couch in his truck?"
Him: "uh-huh. uh-huh." Then pointing to the new chair and bench "Mark. Mark."
Us: "Mark brought those, too?"
Him: "uh-huh. Cup. cup. ice. ice. ice. Mark. Mark."
Us: "Mark put ice in your cup while we were at his house?" (apparently he was so impressed with said ice it has made a lasting impression)
Him: "uh-huh. Choo-Choo. Choo-Choo. Mark. Mark. SMASH."
Us: "Mark has a choo choo that passed his house? and he smashes pennies on the train track?"
Him: "uh-huh"

Obviously you need to know what he is talking about to get the story, but I think it's adorable. While in CA at Aunt Julie's house we went to an aquarium, where I helped him pet a little shark (Belle pet a sting ray and a star fish, but not the shark) and we brought home a few books about ocean life. He LOVES the shark page. He says in a very animated--BOY voice--SHHARRRKK!! I am trying to find a shark costume for him for Halloween. (Making Belle's Strawberry Shortcake costume. Not ambitious enough to make both).

Also at Aunt Julie's he watched a "Thomas the Train" movie. The neighbor brought us some Thomas pajamas three days ago and I can hardly get him to take them off. "Thomas. Thomas. Thomas. Choo-Choo jamies" he says.I guess we can put that on his Christmas/Birthday list.

He is even referring to himself as "Buggie" (sounds like Chubby), and David asked him today if there is anything he can't say. He repeats everything! It is so fun!

a STREEETCH of imagination. and other worthwhile clips

Belle: "Mommy lets play house. I'll be the baby, and you be the Mommy."
Me: "I think I can do that"


later:
Belle: "Lets play Buggie and Bella. I'll be Buggie, Buggie you be Bella, and Mommy, you're the Mom."
Me: "Ok, I think I can do that"
(the problem with this game is that Bugs doesn't quite understand that we are calling him Bella;-)

Belle used to ask me to cut her PB&J into shapes like squares or triangles or even rectangles. Now she only asks for ovals. Smartie pants figured out if she asked for an oval I would cut all the crust off;-)

Belle's friend to me: "Bella and I have a deal"
Me: "oh really, what's that?"
Friend: " I am playing with this horse, and she is playing with that one. That's our deal."


Belle: "Heavenly Father knew I like David and Austin (neighbors). So he found us a house by them"

The Next Phil

I couldn't get this video to upload to the blog, so I put it on YouTube instead. Here's a link.
Blah. my links never work. Here's the address you can paste into your browser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6au8MLby-l4


This is one attempt to get Buggie to speak in public. He doesn't. It's so cute to hear him say "club", but he refuses when we ask him to!

Giggles

Opinionated? Naw.....

Keith is getting to the point where he has his own ideas of how things should go. that's why he sleeps like this:




What? On the floor with his 'lops' on? Yup. Don't ask why, I have no idea. I can't leave him there all night so I put him in bed after he is asleep.

He has also been learning to say important vocabulary words such as "flashlight" and "flamingo". Oh, and "shovel", of course. That one is very useful in the sandbox. He measured in for his 18 mo. checkup at 27 lbs. (50th percentile) and 34 inches tall (91st percentile). He is turning out to be tall and skinny. Are we surprised?

Little Fish

1st Day of swimming lessons



I debated about doing swimming lessons this year, and had originally decided against them. They are so little still. But then Belle started asking for swimming lessons. So we did it. And she cried for Mommy the entire first day. But after awhile she warmed up and started to feel a lot more comfortable in the water. Keith loved the play time with me and would practically dive in if I didn't stop him, but didn't like doing much of what the teacher had us do. I participated with him in the parent-child class, and wouldn't much recommend it except that I knew he wouldn't be content just watching. So, in spite of the outdoor pool and it being unusually cool a few days (next year we are thing INDOOR pool for lessons!) we enjoyed the class and we are glad we did it.

THE Sandbox

David has built a very impressive and awesome sandbox by the side of our house. It is 8' x 8', and really deep (about 2'). Yesterday the sand started arriving at about 10:30 am, thanks to Uncle Mark who drove his truck out to help David get the sand from a gravel pit in Erda. The kids started playing in it immediately, and except one break for PB&J, we were pulling them out at 7 pm amid much protest. About 1 pm it is in full shade from the house, and stayed really comfortable out there. We had the neighbors in it as well, and one 4 yr old boy went home to report: "Mom, I had the best day...and Uncle Mark kept bringing more sand..." (yep, Mark, you have endeared yourself to the hearts of the neighbor kids;-).

So here are the photos:






It took three loads of sand. A little over 3 cubic yards, I believe. Every time David and Mark made it back with more sand Belle would take charge and get all the kids out of the sandbox and copy David in motioning the truck back. It was cute.










(note about the photos: I am so grateful to have them! I dropped the camera in water yesterday afternoon and have feared for it's life since. Pleased to report a full recovery!!)

A day to just stay home!

SO yesterday was the first day in a very long time that we had no activity or appointment to run off too! Hooray! We have been very busy having a lot of fun. We have had three family reunions (including a trip to Cooke City), and swimming lessons all in the last month since we took our trip to Chicago. Craziness! So, at the risk of this blog becoming our family travel log, I am going to try and update you on our adventures. I just uploaded 250+ pictures off my camera, so watch out.

More Chicago

View from our friends apt.

David and I rode a tandem around the pier of Lake Michigan, down Michigan Ave., and around some of the other sites of Chicago.

Keith sleeping in Abigail's pink stroller. Our stroller took an unexpected field trip. Keith did a good job at napping stroller style several times.

I don't remember the name of this fountain but it is very big (one of the biggest in North America I hear) and neat.

Shedd Aquarium Sea Lion/Dolphin/Beluga Whale show. See how the Sea Lion is on the walk way? Well right after that it came left--right in front of us (we were on the front row). It was too close to take a picture! The kids LOVED it!

Enamored by the Dolphins.

Keith examining the Chicago Skyline.

Chicago--My kind of Town

I have a friend who has lived in Chicago for several years and has kept inviting me to come visit. Well it took some extra days off for David and her announcement that she is moving to get us out there. And we had a blast!

So here's our Chicago adventures:

Belle drinking her juice "from the snack that the flight attendant gives me"


Playing at the park with Abigail.

Cute boy.



Us getting SOAKED at the concert in the park. You can't see it very well, but they have this full concert hall that opens to the park and have free concerts several times a week. It made it even more fun by the fact that we got caught by a downpour!



The skyline in Chicago



Belle asleep at the White Sox game. Keith slept through the first three innings, Belle slept through the last. It was a fun time but there were only like 3 hits the whole game and it was over very quickly. We want to try another baseball game this summer--maybe the Bees in SL--and see if we can see more action.

More of the White Sox game. We also took the subway to Wrigley Field so we could see it, too.



Us and the Chicago theatre sign.

Playing in the "Faces" fountain of Millennium Park

Pa Pa saves the day

As I mentioned before, the equestrian park let us down with no pony rides, but with a trip to Marion for an evening, all is resolved. Pa Pa brought Daisy over from the neighbor's and the kids had their pony ride.






As you can see, Keith is about as tall as Daisy's back, and Belle is taller. She's a short little round thing that is so cute and the kids love!!

Thanks, Pa Pa and Nana!

4th of July

We ran the 5K 1st thing in the morning, and of course for the second year in a row I pushed the kids in the stroller, and for the second year in a row I didn't get any pictures. I actually won a little trophy for 2nd place in my age division. It's a pretty silly little thing and is cluttering up the counter--but go me!

Then the parade we ended up sitting by a family from our old ward who has a girl Belle's age and they have been having play dates the last few weeks and are having a fun time together. One or both usually end up crying when it's time to go home. Anyway here's the parade.





We had planned on pony rides--but the equestrian park let us down and didn't have any pony rides--so settled on cotton candy and the park. We napped through most the park carnival, but made it in time for some cotton candy.

We watched fireworks with our friends the Burbanks, with a great view, and Keith learned the word "loud". He was very fascinated by it all. Unfortunately, no pictures.

Moving, Summer Fun, and Everyday Life

We are starting to feel at home and settled in. And I must say that MOVING IS A LOT OF WORK! We are having fun putting our things in the house and making it ours, and every little repair or project that we complete is a little triumph of ours. You should have seen Belle's face light up when David fixed her closet door so that both bi-fold doors close! She was so happy! Almost as happy when I bought her new elastic bands for her hair--"Oh, thank you Mommy for buying me new ponies. Good Job sweetie sweetie".

At any rate, we have LOTS more projects to go and I am learning that these things take time and money so we will just keep at it a little at a time and make this house our home. Most importantly of all we are all here together, starting to make memories, and having a great time doing it. And to add to it we have discovered a neighborhood full of fun little kids and nice families that have all been friendly and welcoming. We have had kids in and out playing so much, Belle and Keith are loving it, and so are we! (David is not sure about the neighbor boy who is 3 or 4 coming and ringing the doorbell and asking for Belle, but he'll get used to it. *grin*).

So in the middle of all the boxes and the unpacking and projects we have found some time to have some summer fun. We had a great fourth of July and short little trip to Chicago, and we are looking forward to more summer fun to come with our Oliver reunion and cousins coming, Cooke City, and swimming lessons all in the next month.

I have lots of pics from the holiday and Chicago, so I'll make a post about those. Not so many pics of the house, though. Someday I'll take one of all of us on the front porch...someday soon *wink*.

Birthday Girl!

WOW! I can't believe that our little girl is three!! She has been SO excited for her birthday and has been talking about it for a long time. The only requirements that she gave were that she have a pink cake, with pink cream, pink frosting, pink candles, and her name in pink. So here's what I came up with.






It was obviously very pink. Here we all were picking at the strawberry flavored cake and Isabelle barely touched hers! I guess if we have to do something like that again we'll use white cake and color it pink...












We had planed to take her to the Clark Planetarium since she is now interested in stars but the show we wanted to see wasn't playing, so she took a raincheck and we went to the park instead.

Congrats to Aunt D.

A little late with this post. In May we took a trip to the Baltimore area to cheer at Aunt D.'s graduation! We had a good time and are so happy for D.







We tried the National Zoo and were pretty disappointed. Most of the zoo closed early and we only saw some elephants and a panda bear. The panda bear was cool, you don't get to see those all the time. We also had fun at Aunt I. and Uncle D.'s. We exhausted their entire supply of bubbles (which Keith discovered in a cupboard and I'm not sure ever Aunt I knew they were there...) and went through a good amount of sidewalk chalk.





Oh, and ice cream...

Just to clarify....

For all the worried Grandmas, Aunts, cousins, etc...
The mattress was new. *wink*

Deal of the Day

As I have posted before, we are slowly gathering pieces of furniture and appliances as we prepare to move into our own home. (looking to close next week---Yipee!!)
We (or I) browse and search until I find a deal, then we have to jump on it and go on these crazy adventures to capture the good quality item at a steal of a price. Tonight after returning from picking up my most recent find, I mentally made this list, and was quite impressed with myself. So here it is:
For less than $1200 we have acquired:
Lawnmower, mattress, bedroom set including bed, dresser, bookshelf, Stove and over-the-range microwave, and refridg. Hum. The list sounded a little more impressive in my head. Anyway, we are almost ready to move into our own home!