Sweethearts and Stinkers (hint: they all are)

I don't know if it's because I'm having another boy, but I am basking in the sweetness that are my girls.

These are the two most chatty girls I know. Words, questions, descriptions, stories, all day long. I wonder where they get it? They play more together as Erica is becoming very interested in anything Sarah is doing. I like that except that means they argue more too.

But for the most part, Sarah looks out for Erica and Erica thinks Sarah is the coolest.

Sure, they're whiny and they think they know everything.

But they are gentle and smart and sweet and feminine and they are mine.

I am convinced that there is nothing cuter and sweeter than a 2-year-old girl.

But I am bracing myself for more of this. These boys think they rule this neighborhood.

They think they're pretty tough until they run out of sidewalk chalk or someone's bike chain falls off. Then they need their moms like nothing else.

Last week we went to the cemetery to ride bikes. It's shadier than my neighborhood and it's nice to just let them go and know that they can't go too far.

Sarah got dressed after breakfast and then noticed that I didn't get Erica dressed so she changed back into her pajamas.

Erica is having more fun than she's letting on.

Henry is definitely having more fun than he looks. He just didn't like that I made him stop to take his picture.

While I put Sarah's bike chain back on, the kids played hide-and-seek. Is that inappropriate to do in a cemetery? 

This went on for quite awhile. When it was Henry's turn to count, he made Erica do it and she always did.

I may have a baby blanket obsession. I made this simple receiving blanket for Baby Boy #2. I just love the teepees and animals.

And then I made this blanket with 8 ribbon tags. My babies always had to find the tag to their blankies and hold them while they slept. I figure the more the better.

I've got a patchwork quilt I'm working on and another quilt that's on the quilting frames at my mom's. I'll show ya'll when I'm done.

Yesterday evening, Henry came down with the pukes. He threw up several times an hour from 6-11. Poor guy was so wiped out. He woke up this morning just fine but after I got the girls lunch, I found him in his room like this. When my kid puts themselves down for a nap, my heart swell with love.

More fun with my new lens. I can't wait to try it out on newborn baby feet.

Some stuff we did and some pictures and some news

True to form, we did something completely different this year for the 4th of July. We always have fun, we just don't have any established traditions yet. Maybe inconsistency is our tradition.

Justin's parents came into town Friday night so Saturday we all got together for lunch at Tucano's to celebrate Dallin's birthday. I ate a lot of meat, Erica ate a lot of watermelon.

From there, Corey and Nadine took Sarah and Henry to Deer Valley to the condo they had rented for the weekend and Justin and Eric and I went home as Justin had to teach primary and I had to teach Relief Society the next day.  After church we joined them in Park City but just missed Braden and Molly but Nate and Cassandra and Dallin were still there.

The condo they rented was huuuge. It had 4 bedrooms, each with it's own bathroom, a balcony with a hot tub and a big kitchen/family room area. The resort also had a pool so the kids were almost always in their swimming suits. 

On Monday we rode the chair lift up the mountain, went on a hike and then came back down.  Henry was our hike leader and was cracking me up the entire way. Once he heard me say it felt so nice in the shade, he was sure to tell me when we were going to leave the shade. "We're going to be in the sun for about four minutes, Mom." He also let us know safety things like "There are a lot of weeds up here" and "Watch out for rocks". He had a walking stick in each hand and used them to whack weeds as we went. 

That afternoon we went out to lunch then put Erica down for a nap while we played games. That night everyone but Justin and I drove to where they could see the fireworks from the Park City resort (I pinched some nerve in my back carrying Erica back from the pool...gotta love pregnancy and Justin had a headache). We stayed behind to play Ticket to Ride instead. Then Tuesday we packed up and headed home. It was nice to spend time with family and do something out of the ordinary.

Wednesday Justin took Henry and Erica boating with the family while I stayed home with Erica. We both needed to catch up on sleep. Then Thursday Corey and Nadine took Sarah and Henry camping up to Payson lakes with them. Justin had to work so we went up Friday night. 

Sadly I have NO pictures of any of this. I brought my camera to Park City but it didn't had the memory card in it, I didn't go boating, and I forgot to take it with me up Payson Canyon. Epic Fourth fail. 

I do have pictures of this stuff though.

We made our own lemonade and I may never be satisfied by fake lemonade again. 

It took 6 lemons so each child got to squeeze 2 lemons. This took a long time and they were very thorough.

I had to tweak the recipe a bit to make it not so sweet and more lemony so these are the ratios I used.
1 1/2 cups sugar  dissolved in one cup water and heated on the stove (this is called a "simple syrup"), pour into pitcher and refrigerate until no longer warm
Add 1 1/2 cups lemon juice (squeezed from about 6-8 lemons)
Add 7 more cups of water and stir
Refrigerate for several hours until chilled and watch your kids drink it all down in minutes.

My kids like Monopoly. I don't know how I feel about that. I guess it's okay as long as they don't ask me to play.

Erica decided these apricots needed to each have their own measuring cups. I like how her little mind thinks.

And I like how her little face looks. 

I told her I hope her baby brother has her same cute face. Have I mentioned we're having a boy? When we told the kids, Henry shouted "I knew it!" He and Sarah had been arguing for weeks over what it should be and why it should be so, as if they had a say or somehow winning the argument would determine the gender. I would have been equally excited either way; it's just fun to know.

And I leave you with this video of Henry singing while he is watering the flowers. When Henry is in a good mood and doing something that occupies his mind like building with Legos or cleaning, he sings. It is pretty much my favorite and I hope he never grows out of it.

Summer So Far

Eight years ago, I swore I'd never be pregnant during the summer again. But alas, here I am trying to stay cool in 100 degree weather when I'm already 10 degrees warmer than everyone else. Trying to find clothes that cover me when layers are the enemy. Trying to stay indoors when my kids want to be anywhere but.

I am eating copious amounts of pineapple slush and not feeling bad about it. And no fries are too salty, no slice of watermelon too big.

I made this thingy that I have dubbed the table tunnel.  

I sewed the ends of an old queen flat sheet (triple stitched actually) then slid it onto the table legs then over the table top.

The result is an irresistible tube for minutes of fun.

 This is Henry and our neighbor Wayne. The best part of it is that the kids are more than happy to clean off the table to put it on.

Also keeping them occupied indoors is this huge play kitchen a family in our ward gave us when they moved last week. I put their old play kitchen on the curb with a free sign on it when we needed the room to finish the basement. I think they have finally forgiven me.

Fathers Day 2016!! Justin got two ties (each kid got to pick out one tie, one for my dad, 2 for Justin) He also got some new dress shirts and some parts to repair the grill and his very own 2-liter bottle of Dr. Pepper. I forgot to take the traditional picture until after dinner so here they all are no longer in their Sunday best. 

I am so happy my kids have him for a dad. His spontaniety balances out my lack thereof, he wrestles with them when I'd rather just read them books quietly, he wants to involve him in his daily tasks while I do mine when I can do them on my own. Plus he does stuff like this with them.

As a thank you, I made him some peanut butter cream cheese brownies. They are of my own creation and they were really good even if I did underbake them.

This is the kids' summer job chart. I don't know about your kids but mine would stay in their pajamas and watch TV all morning until their friends knocked on the door then they'd run outside to play only coming in for popsicles and jam sandwiches.  So to create some semblance of schedule (but really just to get them dressed and doing something productive for a few minutes) I created this chart.

 In the morning they have to eat breakfast, brush their teeth and wash their face, get dressed, make their beds, put everything away that is theirs or they got out, and the smiley face means they have to do a sticker job. I made a list of things to give them ideas but lately I've been declaring what their sticker job that day is based on what needs to be done (basket of towels to be folded, bathroom counter and mirror to be cleaned, etc) You know it's working when you hear your kids ask things like, "Mom, what needs to be cleaned today?" Music to my ears. Sometimes Henry is resistant and complains the whole morning until he gets motivated by Dexter at the door wanting to play.

Once they complete their sticker job, they add a sticker to their chart. They have to do one job a day but they can do as many as they want. Friday I declared it 5 Job Friday where I picked five jobs for each of them to do with a bonus treat. (The house was really messy) When they complete a row of ten stickers, they get a small treat. Right now it's a choice of Airhead or Blowpop. When they complete 100 jobs, they'll get something cool like their choice of anything in Macey's or a kids meal at Chick-fil-a. We'll see.

And then they're free to be sprinkler jumping, grape eating, TV watching, fort making hooligans for the rest of the day. Well, until it's time to get ready for dinner.

Poor Henry

Sarah decided that she wanted her hair cut short for the summer.

Here's the before shot. It doesn't always look this crazy. We went to the splash pad that morning so it hadn't been done or anything. But it is pretty typical of how it looks during the summer. 

 And after. Any one with professional training would have died watching me cut it but I think it turned out cute. (I'm still finding hairs I missed.) She loves it and has been declaring she's going to keep it this short from now on.

Since raspberries were a killer deal last week, Justin's pie of the month was a raspberry chiffon pie. I knew it was a doozy of a recipe since it's from our America's Test Kitchen cookbook and they make everything complicated. There's a pound of raspberries in there, some cooked into a jam, some put through a sieve, some whipped into a chiffon.

 Yes, it was delicious.

Sarah and Henry started a tennis class through the city this week. It's just two weeks which is all of a commitment a 7 and 5-year-old can handle at a sport they've never played. And they have it at the exact same time each day which I like. These are pictures from their first day.

Plus Erica gets to spend the hour doing stuff like this.

They've mostly been doing hand-eye coordination games but today Sarah's class got to lob the ball over the net. Henry was jealous.

They're spending lots of time on proper stance and racket holding technique. It's cute to watch them concentrate.

 But poor Henry is having a hard time with allergies and his eyes.

 During the day he handles it pretty well.

But by dinnertime, he looks like this and is begging for more allergy medicine.  I try to tell him to stay inside tomorrow and he says he will but then the next day, I can't convince him to and the cycle repeats.

It was bad last year at this time so out of curiosity I googled the pollen count to see what was high and discovered this map that illustrates where the pollen count is the highest.

Yup, no wonder he's miserable. Poor guy.

Little May Things

In between the big things like birthdays and anniversaries, there were lots of little things. Here are the little things.

Erica gets the best bedhead in the mornings. People pay good money and spend a lot of time getting volume like that.

Justin's pie of the month was a fresh strawberry pie. 

Justin was very excited and said the flavor was perfect but the texture was a little runny as it never quite set up like we wanted it to. We'll keep looking for the perfect fresh strawberry pie recipe.

Justin found this Captain America suit at a yard sale for Henry but Erica was all over it.
Captain AmErica.

One of Sarah's best friends Hazel Howard moved. She was very sad since the next day she found out another friend was moving out of the ward this summer. I think this is going to be a regular occurrence for her from now own. We are just aging out of our starter home neighborhood.

Impromptu lunch picnic in the garage.

I also made jam that day. Erica was my official taster.

Sarah's last day of school.

She has changed so much this year. I think it's the grown up teeth and the fact she won't let me much with her hair anymore.

Last Day

First Day

We have a nest with two baby birds in a tree in our backyard that the kids have been watching. Henry and Erica decided to build their own nest. We have to back away when we see the mama bird with her worm in her mouth. She won't get close if we are.

Memorial day I took my girls to the Spanish Fork cemetary with my parents. This is where my Mom's side of the family is mostly buried. Well they're completely buried. This is where most of my mom's side of the family is buried. Watch those adjectives.

Erica loved the pinwheels.

It was nice to hear the family stories again told to a new generation.

This is my mom's parents' headstone and who Erica Mary is named after.

More pinwheels for Erica and bench headstones are the best.

That evening we went to Jolley's Ranch for a smoked rib picnic.

complete with a game of kickball. It's only 10 seconds and it's pretty funny.

Justin surprised me with a new lens for my camera as an anniversary present. It's a telephoto lens which makes it super handy for a wide variety of things like...

taking pictures of baby birds deep in the crab apple tree (can you see the difference from the picture above?)

portrait shots with great background blur

spying on my kids two doors down

(I'm seriously considering a career as a paparazzo.)

nature in all it's tiny wonder

neighbor surveillance

and capturing running water. This is going to be fun!

I'm so excited for June because we don't really have any big things on the calendar. We're just going to take it as it comes which sounds so nice after crazy May.