Rain

The girls enjoyed a short afternoon rain storm today:Why does it always rain after I've watered my garden and flowers?

Got one!

I finally got a picture of Baby K's teeth today! She was watching a bird out the window which always makes her happy!Those top teeth always look so huge when they first come in!

Kindergarten Dance Program

Several of the kindergarten classes at the school put together a Western Dance program for the parents this year. They were supposed to dress in western or pioneer clothes but we didn't really have anything for Blondie to wear other than a neckerchief and a squished play cowgirl hat. She really wanted to wear a skirt so we decided on a green tiered skirt that I found at a thrift store earlier this year. They were partnered up with another kindergartner and Blondie's partner just happened to be wearing green as well. It looked like they had coordinated their outfits! They were even wearing the same color neckerchiefs! DH, Kitty, Baby K and I went to the program and had a lot of fun watching the cute kindergartners try and remember their dance steps! I can't believe that the year is almost over!

Out with the old, in with the new

Yesterday Blondie lost her first tooth! She has been really anxious to pull it out ever since the dental assistant told her that it was a little bit loose back in late January. The last week or two it has been getting much looser and finally at school yesterday she pulled it out. She was so excited to show it to her teacher and then the first thing she said when she walked in the door after school was, "Where's Mom?" So she could show me her tooth. And then she couldn't wait for M&M and Luke to come home from school so she could show it to them as well. She was excited for the tooth fairy to come and woke up at about 3:00 in the morning distraught because she couldn't find her tooth. After some searching we found it under her bed near the wall where it had apparently fallen while she was sleeping. And then she was super excited to tell everyone what the tooth fairy left her this morning!

Then on the other hand Baby K is finally getting in her 4th tooth. I have been trying to get a good picture of the four teeth together, but not much luck so far. Here's the best one I was able to get:And here she is trying to get the camera while I'm trying to get a picture of her teeth:

Garden!!

The last couple of weeks I have spent hours upon hours getting our garden ready for planting. This has been a huge task because we didn't do anything with it last year because of Baby K. The garden this spring was completely full of huge weeds and it has fallen mostly on my shoulders to get the work done. I unfortunately didn't take a picture of it full of weeds but here is one with most of it cleared out before I planted anything:
This is what I have planted this year:
Strawberry plants, tomato plants, green pepper plants, cucumbers, pumpkins, corn, onions, carrots, potatoes and green beans. Hopefully we will have a lot of success this year!!

Egg drop

While DH was on his biking trip, the kids' elementary school sponsored an egg drop contest. The kids at the school met their reading goal for the year and so the principal and vice-principal had to spend the day on the school roof. To help pass the time they decided to hold the egg drop contest. So the Monday before the contest the kids brought home fliers about it and had a list of rules to follow. We briefly discussed if the kids wanted to participate in it and then we completely forgot about it until Thursday after school (the day before the contest). Unfortunately, that was the day that my husband left for his bike trip and then after school Luke had soccer practice and then I had a food storage cooking class that I was attending that same evening. So, I pulled out a bunch of shoe boxes and materials for the kids to use in constructing their egg holders and then left them on their own (I took Baby K with me). The kids had to design a container for a raw egg to be put in that would be dropped/thrown/kicked from the school roof. When I came home, M&M and Blondie were pretty much done with theirs and Luke was still deciding on a design for his. So I suggested a few things and then he made it himself. Out of all of the designs I thought that M&M's egg had the best chance of surviving the drop. Well, the next day when the kids got home from school I found out that Blondie and Luke's eggs had survived and M&M's didn't! Apparently we didn't secure the lid good enough on M&M's box and so as soon as it hit the ground, the lid popped off and the egg bounced out and broke! It was a good experience for them all though and I'm glad that they were able to work on them on their own and help each other out without my help.

Baby K update

Baby K is still not walking and still only has 3 teeth. It looks like the 4th one is finally starting to cut through on top so maybe she will be evened out here soon. She really doesn't have much desire to walk and freaks out when you try to get her to take a couple of steps on her own. She definitely has a temper that is starting to show through. She loves to walk around the house with someone holding her hands (and don't even think of trying to walk her around with your hands under her armpits - definitely not allowed!). When we try to get her to walk she'll just stand there clinging on to you and bounce up and down throwing a fit. Her favorite word is "hi" and she says it to just about anyone. She'll say it very clearly and wave at the same time. She especially likes to say it when she sees her dad though.

A couple of weeks ago her dad was trying to get her to say dad and would pat his chest with his hand saying "dad". So now whenever anyone says "dad", Baby K will pat herself on the chest and say "da-da". It's quite funny to watch and then she'll start laughing because we're all laughing. She's starting to imitate animal sounds and loves seeing any kind of animal, whether it's a picture in a book or the real thing. She also still hasn't figured out how to start herself down the stairs and will sit at the top and holler until someone comes to help her. She certainly loves to climb though and can sometimes pull herself up on the couch; and then that leads to the arm of the couch which is right next to the piano which she likes to pull things down off of...

On the mend

Last Wednesday I took Luke in to the doctor's office for a follow-up visit for his ringworm. We think that his head is on the mend and it appears that his hair is already starting to grow back in the bald spot so the doctor told us to just finish off the medicine that we had and to call the office if it looks like it is getting worse again. Luke has had a real struggle with taking this medicine because he doesn't like it and was happy to hear the doctor's verdict. His response was, "So I don't have to take the medicine anymore?!?" "Well, yes you have to finish off what we have but then you're done." His reply, "YES!!" He has been really good about taking it though and has reminded me a few times to give it to him and took it diligently on the father/son campout. And he had to tell everyone what the medicine is for! (How do you think it sounds to hear someone is taking medicine for ringworm?? Even though it really isn't as bad as the name makes it sound...) Hopefully soon I will be able to cut his hair again and then maybe we can get in for family pictures finally!! We are definitely overdue for some!

R.I.P.

I have had quite a few things bite the dust recently and I have been feeling the effects. The first casualty was my electric hand mixer that DH and I got for our wedding. I never realized how often I used it until it broke on me. The gear wheels are stripped and I don't think it is fixable. It is a WestBend brand and has lasted us almost 13 years! It has been a really useful tool in the kitchen and I sorely miss it. I do have the nice big Bosch kitchen mixer now, but I don't like pulling it out for little jobs and there is only one bowl that I have to go with it so it's hard when I need it for multiple things.

The second casualty was my glass measuring cup. I can't remember if I got that for our wedding or if I received it later, but a couple of weeks ago I was working in the kitchen, holding Baby K and she grabbed for it and knocked it on the floor. It shattered and made a mess everywhere - I hate it when glass breaks! I miss that for measuring just about everything! I do have a couple of other measuring cups, but they are not quite as handy as that one was.

My last casualty is a pair of sandals that I have had for longer than I care to admit. They have been on their last leg for several years now but I have had an incredibly hard time finding a suitable replacement for them. A couple of weeks ago I finally found a replacement pair that I think I can live with, but I'm still having a hard time actually throwing the old sandals away. They have been so comfortable and useful that I hate to see them go! (I think I bought them when we lived down in Provo, so it has been way too long!!)

Father/Son Campout

Friday, May 15
So far my husband hasn't been able to take Luke to the annual Father/Son Campout because of scheduling conflicts and this year was no different. The campout always seems to fall on the weekend of the Reach the Beach bike ride that my husband has done for a few years now. The Saturday before the campout we were at one of the kids' soccer games and mentioned to my dad that Luke would be missing the Father/Son campout again and my dad offered to take him. So we thought about it and discussed it some more and decided to let him take Luke this year. This year the campout was run by the stake and was in cabins at the church's girls camp facilities in Heber Valley. The campground is open to other groups until school is out of session. The cabins are equipped with bunkbed frames and bathroom and shower facilities in neighboring buildings. Before Luke got home from school on Friday I made up a list for him of things to pack and he took it all very seriously and it was fun watching him go around with the list collecting the various items and packing them himself in a duffle bag. After we were all packed I took the kids with me over to my parents' house and Luke and my dad headed off to the campout.

It sounds like they had a good time and my dad was impressed with the other kids in the ward that are Luke's age because they're all pretty good kids. Luke is on a Harry Potter kick lately and he and a couple of other boys had a lot of fun staging some little battles at the campout. On Friday they made s'mores at the campfire and at one point my dad suggested to Luke that he should go in the cabin and change his shorts (it was getting pretty cold out). So Luke proceeded to go into the cabin and came out a few minutes later in a different pair of shorts! Apparently he just thought that he was supposed to change his shorts, not realizing that maybe he should change into LONG PANTS instead of another pair of shorts!
Saturday morning the stake provided breakfast and then the boys paired up to make bottle rockets out of 2-liter soda bottles. After that Luke and my dad tried out the paddle boats and canoes on the lake there. My dad took his camera and took a few pictures - but I wish I had a picture of Luke and my dad together...
While the boys were camping out, M&M, Blondie and Kitty spent the night with Grandma S. at her house. Baby K and I stayed for dinner and a movie and then we went home to sleep in our own beds. We met up with the rest of the girls again the next day at M&M's soccer game. And unfortunately I don't have any pictures because DH and my dad had the cameras!!