A little (actually a lot) catching up

Okay, so I have been a slacker on updating my blog. I have been busy...I promise I have not just been feeding my addiction. :) The end of summer was great-we hit up the county fair to check out the rodeo, farm animals, go on expensive rides, eat fair food, and attend our first tractor pull (Not exactly sure what that was about...Adam liked it-I guess I need a little more redneck in me!). We also made a few last minute trips to the pool and beach. The kids were sad to see summer go but were so excited to start school.

Anika is a big 3rd grader and Celtin started 1st so he gets to go for a full day now. You would think this gives me tons more time, but somehow I feel like I have less. Since Lochlan's playmates are gone I have to entertain him and that has cut back on my ability to accomplish tasks! Here are pictures of the kids on their first day. Such cuties! They are loving school and Lochlan has adjusted to them being gone. (he seriously pouted the first few days) He gets so excited when it is time to pick them up and wants nothing to do with me for the first hour or so after they get home.

A new addiction

Is it possible to become addicted to a hobby? Adam thinks so! I found some free photo editing software that can do things my other software cannot. It is called GIMP and it works great for digi scrapping and photo manipulation. It is a little difficult to figure out so I have to search for tutorials but I have been having so much fun with it. The kids start school in a couple days so I will have a little more time to play with it. Here are my first attempts at photo manipulation.











For Anika's picture I removed the background (she was at a parade) and replaced it with the flower paper then added the floral overlay and her name. On Celtin's photo I blurred the background and removed Anika (she was standing in the distance looking the other way) then added the grunge overlay and embossed his name in the rock.
Lochlan's was pretty simple...I just used a photo mask and placed it on the dot paper then added his name. The picture with his cousin was in color so I changed it to black and white then added the color back to the ball to make it pop. I also removed a hose from the background.

Vacation..the final week

We spent the last week visiting with family and friends in Utah. We drove all over the valley trying to get in enough time with everyone. Unfortunately there is never enough time. There were a few friends I really wanted to see but I somehow ran out of time.

Some of the fun included:

• playing in the water with cousins
• the "Stuffed Animal" museum aka Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum
• picking veggies in Pappy and Grandpa's gardens
• eating lots of good food (Cafe Rio, Del taco, La Luna, Leatherby's...MMMM)
• visiting with family
• Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house
• cousin sleep over with Grandma
• watching the children's parade
• catching up with old friends
• sweating to death in ghetto bouncy house
• playing with cousins
• meeting baby carter
• watching Adam play with fire...ahem, I mean light off fireworks
• did I mention how much the kids loved playing with their cousins

The kids had so much fun and didn't want to leave. Thanks to Adams parents for the awesome accommodations and to everyone else for all your hospitality. We were sad to leave but it is always good to get home. Can't wait for the next visit, who is coming out first! :)

Family Reuinion at Bear Lake

We left South Dakota early Sunday morning and made it to Bear Lake in about 10 hours. My mom had already set up a couple tents for us so we were able to relax. We spent 4 days enjoying the nice weather and visiting with family.
A few other highlights include:

• hunting for seashells
• playing in the sand
• swimming in absurdly cold water
• tubing
• potlucks
• penny scramble and pearl dive
• horseshoes
• riding on the Anderson's wave runner and Josiah's boat
• Celtin learning to ride a little motorcycle
• hiking
• relaxing
• roasting marshmallows and hot dogs around the campfire
• mountains and starry nights (I really miss those, out here we see about 24 stars on a clear night!)
• adult game night -I won a pool noodle playing bippity bop :)
• Labeaus shakes

Road Trip to Mt Rushmore

I am going to break our vacation down into three parts because it was a long jam-packed trip. The first leg of our road-trip took 14 hours; we left at 4 am and drove until 6 in the evening. The kids did way better than we expected. Lochlan was such a little trooper being strapped into his 5 point harness for so long. They watched lots of movies, took naps and we stopped for several short breaks.

We camped in Keystone for two nights, did some hiking, walked around the little town shops and went up to see Mt Rushmore once during the day and once later in the evening for the lighting ceremony. It was really quite a sight! It is so worth the trip and the evening ceremony is a definite must! It is awesome when they light up the monument and everyone sings the national anthem.

Fourth of July

We had a fun holiday weekend filled with good friends, yummy food, fireworks and softball. On the third we went to a BBQ at our friends house where we ate yummy food and visited with all our super fun friends while the kids ran around playing and finding bugs. Later that evening we headed over to watch fireworks in a nearby village. Thanks to our friends for bringing the glow sticks...they were a huge hit. We enjoyed our traditional 4Th of July treats; red vines, oatmeal creme pies and Aquafina. Yummy! It was a pretty good show, but according to Anika it was not long enough. One of these years we might head downtown to see the big show!

On the fourth we spent the day outside playing a little softball. I hit the ball both times I was up :) and Adam hit two home runs. The kids even got in on the action after the adult game was over. During the game the kids played at the park, rode scooters and had a water balloon fight. We had a picnic dinner then headed home for a relaxing evening.

More Summer Fun

We played with our next door neighbors on their slip n slide. Lochlan loved it, but preferred to just run through and drink the water. Anika and Celtin need one that is twice as long because they get some speed and practically fly off the end. Yay for good cheap fun!

Celtin started indoor soccer this summer. He has been having a blast and has improved his skills already. We just did it through the park district so it is kinda ghetto but he loves it and that is all that matters. He get so excited when they score that he runs and jumps around . He takes being the goalie very seriously. He always has a tough guy face when they get close with the ball. If he wants to play again maybe we will put him on a real team.

Berry Picking

We took the kids to pick strawberries and peas. Lochlan had so much fun and loved pulling the strawberries off the plant. Most of the berries he picked ended up in his mouth instead of the basket. Anika and Celtin had fun and were so proud of the two baskets of strawberries we brought home. The peas were more difficult to find and harder to pull off the plant but we were still able to get an entire basket. It was very dusty in the pea fields, add that to Lochlans sticky face and he was quite the happy little mess. They were all gone in a couple days-Yummy!

Six Flags-a dream realized and 1 lost kid

I took the kids to six flags with my sister in law. It cost me zero, zilch, zippo...Carli gave me their guest pass and the kids had passes they earned at school. I was nervous to go without Adam but Carli helped me out and watched Lochlan so I could take the kids on some of the bigger rides.

On the way to the park Celtin said "I hope we can go upside down, it has always been my dream to go upside down on a roller coaster." We found one they could both go on, but they got really nervous, after some coaxing we decided to go on Demon-a really big coaster that goes upside down a couple different times. I couldn't sit by both and they wanted to go at the same time so they sat by each other and I sat behind them. I sat behind Celtin so Anika could see me because she was the most anxious. The entire time I kept saying "It will be okay, keep your head back, your doing good, almost done". After the first loop she was fine and said "That wasn't so bad", but then we went into the corkscrew loop and she bonked her head and started crying. I couldn't see or hear Celtin so I kept asking Anika how he was doing and she would say fine. When it slowed down I yelled to Celtin "Are you okay" and he enthusiastically said "Yes." I asked him "How was it...did you enjoy living your dream?" He said he smiled the whole time and can't wait to ride it again. I kinda wish I could have seen his face through the ride but there is always next time.

After that we spent the rest of the day in the water park. Anika and Celtin went on the kid waterslides while Lochlan and I hung out in the kiddie pool area-the water is only about 6 inches deep with a little slide that he went down about 50 times. After they would go on a slide they would come check in with me but one time Anika came back alone...she didn't know where Celtin was. He didn't want to go on the green slide so he told her he was going to the blue slide. After he left she remembered they were supposed to stay together and went to find him, but she couldn't. I was stressed but tried to remain calm. By this point Carli had left and I didn't know what to do-I had to stay where I was in case Celtin came looking for me. I sent Anika to check the blue slide while I tried to hang onto a slippery 1 year old and pace back and forth trying to find him in the thousands of kids. After 5 minutes I thought "Great, now I lost both my kids." I turned around and walked back towards the center of the kiddie area and then I saw Celtin walking towards the water with a lifeguard. He was crying, I called him as I was walking towards him but they couldn't hear me until I was 5 feet away. I hugged him and he clung to me for the next 30 minutes. I am so glad he knew to find a lifeguard! She asked him what I looked like, but he didn't know how to describe me, so I had a discussion with my kids on how they can describe me and in the future before I send them off to play I will make sure they know what I am wearing. A couple minutes passed and Anika finally came back...she was running around everywhere looking for him...I think she thought it was her fault he was lost. :( We were all happy to be back together, it was almost time to go so we went over to the wave pool but it was closed so we just decided to leave.

Later that week we spent a day at our friends house playing in their kid pool, lounging, eating a totally kid friendly lunch and visiting. It was a super fun time and the kids loved it. I loved that I didn't have to stress about one of them getting lost.

Lets take a trip

back in time so that I can blog about Fathers day. All set? okay...Adam is doing this crazy no sugar thing (30 days with no sugar) so he got boring eggs and hash browns for breakfast. Next up...gifts. What he wanted: a motorcycle, a kayak, and a new iPhone. What he got: exercise shirts, a food scale, diet Mountain Dew and the Lego Batman game for his PS3. I hate seafood, but Adam loves it and since I couldn't make him a yummy dessert, I thought I would give him what he loves for dinner. I bought frozen, precooked crab legs. Simple enough, right...wrong! I cooked them twice as long as the package said but they were still cold inside. :( Adam and the kids ate them anyway-thank goodness they were precooked! That is about it...hopefully he felt extra special for the day. He is a wonderful dad and I know that we are lucky to have him in our lives!

Summer Fun

We have been having fun so far this summer; we spend most days outside...as long as it is not raining or over 100 degrees. Here a few of the things we have done recently.

• Spray park
• Playground
• Bike riding/hiking at Moraine Hills State Park
• Catching frogs in the pond
• Playing with the hose
• BBQ...mmmm

I hope everyone else is enjoying the summer as much as we are!

Drive-In

We went the Drive-In with some friends to see Up (loved it) and Terminator (just okay). Before the movie we stopped and picked up pizza so we could have a little picnic on the lawn in front of the screen. The kids ate pizza, candy and ran around playing until it started to get dark then we went back to the cars and settled in for the show. We brought lawn chairs for us to sit it but were happy to have enough room, next to the kids, in the back of the Tahoe when it started pouring halfway through the second movie. It was tons of fun and brought back fond memories from my childhood. I am sure we will do it again and this time I will be a little better prepared... extra blankets, water bottles and of course lots of popcorn. :)

Lincoln Park Zoo

We took the kids to Zoo about a week ago. We had a fun time and the weather was not too bad. It rained a little but at least we didn't have a major downpour! Lochlan loved looking at the animals although his favorite part was probably chasing the birds. He growled at the big cats, stuck his tongue out at the giraffe (He was copying them as they stuck their tongues out to eat hay) and pointed and gasped at everything else. Anika saw her favorite zoo animal, the giraffes, but we couldn't find the wolves, guess they were hiding, so Celtin was a little bummed.

Black Eyes

We have been meaning to get family pictures taken but something always comes up. Maybe this weekend...assuming Celtin can refrain from getting another black eye. The picture on the left is from a couple months ago when Celtin slipped climbing up the slide and somehow smacked his eye on the edge- he was not happy that I wanted to take a picture. The next picture is the most recent and has just finished healing...the kids were trying out some of the UFC moves Adam has been teaching them and Anika's knee accidentally got him in the eye. He hates getting black eyes even though I told him he looks cool and can tell everyone some awesome story of how he got them. After the last black eye I told him to tell people he got it from jumping out of an airplane or beating up his sister. When he got home from school I asked him what he told his friends, he just replied "I told them Anika kneed me in the eye; I didn't want to lie because that is wrong!" Duh, what was I thinking. ;)

Looking Too Old

Last week Anika asked me to curl her hair...she doesn't let me do this very often so I jumped at the chance. She asked if she could borrow one of my necklaces, I said sure and helped her pick one out. As we were getting ready to leave she comes bouncing down the stairs looking too cute! I could not believe how grown up she looked, so I told her to sit down because I wanted to snap a picture. She is growing into such a beautiful and sweet young woman but I am kinda sad to say goodbye to my little munchkin. She is only 8 but I know the next time I blink she will be 13...then 18...then 23...

Bouncy Creatures

A couple weeks ago some of our friends invited us to a bouncy house to celebrate their sons birthday. The kids all had so much fun climbing, sliding and bouncing. Lochlan could not get enough; as soon as he finished a slide he would run to the next one. After riding with me and the big kids for a while he decided he could go down the slides all by himself. I only let him do the smaller ones alone because it made me nervous.
Anika found this little toad under our deck. The kids thought he was so cute and each of them got a chance to hold it before we released it near the pond. Lochlan loved watching it hop on the grass, but was a little unsure when we put it in his hand.

Traveling Bear Fair

The second grade students sent out traveling bears to help them learn about geography. Anika's bear, Butterscotch, went to Indonesia, Malaysia, Wisconsin, Utah and Nebraska. Thanks to everyone who participated in this fun project, she loved showing off her pictures and things at the Traveling Bear Fair.

TV Junkie

Lochlan has been addicted to Baby Einstein movies since he was 8 months old. He now watches at least one a day; he brings them to us and says "show" then runs to sit down. Sometimes when Anika and Celtin are watching the big TV he gets stuck using the little portable player. A couple of Saturdays ago he was watching his show and eating Cheerios out of the box, then I heard a strange sound. I looked over just in time to see him dump the entire box on the floor. I grabbed the camera and asked him "What are you doing?" He just pointed at the pile spoke some gibberish then went back to watching his movie and snacking on his Cheerios.

Art projects

My kids love art and they do some really fun projects in art class at school. I have set a few aside to frame and tucked some away but most of them I have to throw out... I just don't have room to store all of them. I try to take pictures of the kids with each of their projects; it makes me feel better when I have to throw these cute little works of art out! These pictures are from the past few weeks...Celtin has a lot more since he is still in kindergarten and they do art projects in class as well.

Ode to shoes

About one month ago we were at the store and I saw these really cute little boy shoes. Lochlan had just about worn a hole in his first set of shoes so I had him try them on. He loved them from the moment I put them on his feet. They were a little pricey for toddler shoes so I was not sure I wanted to buy them, but when I tried to take them off he freaked out. I gave in and bought them; I was on the fence but his love for them convinced me it was a good buy. :) He wore them out of the store and every day since.

Sometimes at the park sand and bark get in the sides and I have to take them off, clean them out and put them back on, so I thought a pair of tennis shoes would be good for him to have as well. Last week I saw a cute pair on clearance so I tried them on Lochlan, he screamed and kicked his feet then handed his shoes back to me. Isn't he too young to have such an opinion? What will I do when they wear out or get too small?

Carnival and Prime Time

A couple of weeks ago we attended the annual school carnival! The kids played a ton of ghetto carnival games, won a bunch of cheapo prizes and ate a ton of free popcorn! They loved seeing their friends and insisted on playing each and every game. Lochlan was so happy to get his own balloon and loved running around with his cousin Hayden.

Later that week Anika and I went to "Second Grade Prime Time"; it was an evening filled with reading, games, pizza, storytellers and singing around a campfire. It started at 6 pm and lasted until 10:30 and I am quite sure Anika smiled the entire time. I was a group leader and was supposed to keep the kids reading during silent read time (not an easy task) and usher them to and from each activity. Most kids in our group had parents with them so I didn't have to do much. It was such a neat experience for Anika and it was totally free for all the kids. A bunch of local sponsors covered the entire cost.

Ask and ye shall receive...

Blog and it shall come. We had several sunny days and the kids and I thoroughly took advantage of them. We played at the park, went for walks, rode bikes and scooters, colored with chalk and so much more. The house cleaning was a little neglected and our fridge was more than a little bare, until yesterday, but sometimes that's okay-at least that is what I tell myself. :) It is currently rainy again but the weatherman says it will be sunny tomorrow!

Rain

Rain, rain go away come again another day! It has been raining for the past week and although I enjoy the green that comes with this abundant moisture I am ready for a sunny day. Lochlan feels the same way and just stares outside anxious for a chance to go out and play.

Simple Pleasures

Last week we had some wonderful weather, it was in the 80's one day, Yeah! We were able to get out and enjoy some relaxing family time. Adam and the big kids went on a bike ride while Lochlan and I followed with the jogging stroller. We (I) had a hard time keeping up because they are getting so fast! I just got the jogging stroller so hopefully in a few months I will be able to keep up a little better. ;) Lochlan and I went back to the house while they rode on a trail around the neighborhood.

The kids ran around and lounged on the grass. Koda even got in on the fun with some fetch and keep a way. I am not sure who was getting more exercise as the kids (and Adam) tried to catch him. Lochlan loved throwing the toy for Koda to fetch and tried to keep up with the big kids as they ran around. Days like that always make me happy!