The Best Day

On Wednesday, I went to the school to help out with Mark's class.  Afterwards, I stopped by Seth's classroom to see if  I could help with anything.  I arrived to total chaos.  One of the other 1st grade teachers wasn't in the classroom, so Seth's class had 50 kids in there working on an art project.  His teacher must either put on her perfume in the classroom or just heavily enough that it fills the room, because there was a strong perfume smell (not the first time I have noticed it either).  That day was "Hawaii Day", so they had LOUD beach music playing.  The teacher left the room, so I turned down the music and helped out with the kids as much as I could.  The other 1st grade teacher showed up, but spent a good 10 minutes talking (gossiping) with Seth's teacher.  I was frustrated that things were so chaotic.  The other class left and the kids played some games while I put fruit on plates for them to eat.  Seth was having a good time, but I knew that not much else was going to happen for the rest of the day.  I told Seth that I was going to check him out of school before lunch for a surprise. 

I went home, finished up a few things and then went back to the school to pick up Seth.  Jane came with us and she was adorable.  We were waiting in the hallway and when she saw Seth turn the corner, she ran towards him yelling "Seth, Seth".  She tackled him with a giant hug.  It was such a sweet thing to see.  We all went home and ate lunch, and then Seth and I went shopping and to the Living Planet Aquarium.  This week was our turn for a date together, so this worked out perfectly!  Seth picked out some new shoes and was super excited to wear them. 

This picture was taken in February of this year.  He hasn't grown much taller, but he sure does look older!

It was great to be at the aquarium with just Seth.  We stayed at exhibits as long as we wanted to (my favorites are the jelly fish and otters) and browsed by the ones that we didn't care much for (the spiders).  We watched the stingrays eat and made a souvenir with the penny smashing machine.  It was music to my hears to hear Seth tell me that this was the best day ever! 

My little Seth-o-lantern- seriously the cutest smile ever!

Seth is growing up and I am kind of sad about it.  He lost his top front tooth ther other day and I love to see his smile!  I made a little Tooth Monster and not a day too soon!  The mouth is a little pocket that the tooth is put into and the Tooth Fairy puts money in the mouth.  The Tooth Fairy reported that it was much easier to find the tooth this way!

Even though I am sad that he is growing up, I am excited for him.  He is such a gentle, kind person and I am convinced that he has a wonderful future ahead of him! 

Thanks for sharing your best day ever with me Tiger!

Camping!

Last Friday night the boys and I went to Jordan Pines camp ground for the ward camp out.  I don't enjoy camping with toddlers and Daniel doesn't like camping, so Daniel (quite willingly) stayed home with Jane and it worked out beautifully!  The boys are a lot more help this year than they were last year.  We had camp set up in less than 30 minutes and they went to other campsites to help them. 

Two of the dads took the group of 10 boys that were there early on a hike to Donut Falls.  The hike was exciting for the boys.  Between the hike, all of the running around, staying up late and waking up early, they were exhausted the next day!  I was exhausted just from the late to bed (11pm) and waking up early (5:45 am) part. 


Paul found a bungee cord and made an arrow with it. A few of the boys helped him make notches in some sticks so they could use them as arrows. I was quite proud of Paul's creation.

 The bow and arrow reminded me of when we went camping with my parents when Mark and Paul were 3 and 4 years old. Mark found a stick that he was using as a bow and he was using pretend arrows. He called it his "barrow". My Dad told him that it wasn't a bow because it didn't have a string. Suddenly Mark became distraught and Dad had to find a string to tie to the barrow to calm Mark down! Mark was still content to use pretend arrows though!

 Seth found a stick and was excited because it looked like a boomerang.  He was a bit disappointed when it didn't work, but he had fun with it anyhow! 

 Mark spent some time playing a card game with the older kids.  He is at the age where he can blend in with the little ones running around and still fit in with the big kids. 

 Seth and Paul enjoyed themselves with the marshmallows and cookies.  I lost track of how many s'mores Paul had, but I know that he had at least 3.  They had fun roasting Starbursts too! 

It was really nice to have older boys because they helped out a lot with setting up camp and they don't require as much supervision from me.  There is a BIG downside to older boys though- they stink.  Little boys smell like dirt, but older boys smell like dirt and sweaty socks and body odor.  It took me a few minutes to adjust to the odor in the tent. 

Seth was filthy.  He was covered in dirt from head to toe.  That to me is a sign of a successful camping trip!  I look forward to getting dirty again a few more times this summer!

I'm Going to the Zoo

Last week Seth's class went to the Hogle Zoo for a field trip.  We had a lot of parents come, so I only had one other kid with me.  Since I only had two kids to watch and since Daniel had been up all night long with an avoidable work emergency (avoidable on their part, not his), I took Jane with me. 

Thankfully I paired up with Shelley and her two boys because I needed all of the help I could get to take care of Jane.  She was a total handful.  When she was tired and ready for a nap, I was embarrassed at how loud and crazy she was.  One lady was giving us the evil eye, so I said to her that she'd never guess that my baby was two and needed a nap! 

Jane did not want to hold still for a picture.  She wanted to go and see the "dog".  Carson thought that it was hilarious that she called the gorilla a dog! 

Finally!  She fell asleep!

The new exhibits are wonderful, but the price of the zoo admission is prohibitive to me ($9 for kids and $12.75 for adults).  I will wait for a free day and take the older boys to see the polar bear. 

While we were there we noticed a rainbow.  It stretched straight across the sky and I could see the delineation of each color.  It was amazing!  The rainbow lasted for at least one hour. 

I was glad that Seth wanted Jane to come with him to the zoo.  He sure loves his little sister!  He even loves using her stroller when Jane wasn't in it! 

Help in the Kitchen

Jane was helping me make lasagna the other night.

She licked the spoon with cold marinara sauce on it and she didn't like it one bit. 
She helped me put the noodles in the dish, and the meat and the cheese, but every time I put a layer of the marinara sauce she would start to cry.  Thankfully she ate the dinner without complaint! 

Mark came in to see what Jane was fussing about, so they 'helped' me wash the strawberries. 

Then Mark posed for a few photos. 

Mark's Quilt

Mark's quilt went from an idea on paper that looked like this:

to a finished quilt that looks like this:

 Once he discovered how difficult circles are, he opted to remove all of the circles!  This wasn't his favorite thing to work on, but he (well, we) perservered and got it done!  The back is a soft fleece.  It is the perfect blanket for Mark because it is warm but not heavy. 

Make 'Em Laugh

I know, I know, three posts in one day! Can you believe it?  Hold back the applause and shower me with comments!

Here are a few things that have made me laugh over the past few days:


The book cover of the book that Mark is reading looks a lot like Mark.  He reads a lot.  His teacher has had to take books away from him as a punishment for reading when he should be working on other projects. We see him with his nose in a book all of the time, so it was great to see a face while he was reading! 

In school Seth made a pig snout.  He paired it with Jane's sunglasses and it was quite the sight! 

The abbreviation for the glow-in-the-dark bracelets could be revised.  Daniel was a bit dissappointed.

Jane's First Haircut

I have been asked if having a girl is different than having a boy and until the past few months, my answer has been a resolved no.  One place where it is different is hair.  Jane's hair is long.  If she were a boy, I would have cut it off by now.  I have to remember to set aside time to do her hair before we go out.  With the boys a quick comb through (or swipe with the baby wipe when we are already in the van!) would calm their hair.  Jane's hair needs work, a comb through doesn't do the trick. 

Anyhow, I take Jane with me when I get my hair cut, and last week I had Kristen trim Jane's hair.  I don't have a lock of hair, because we didn't cut much off, just leveled the hair in the back and got the bangs out of her eyes.   Jane didn't want the cape on, but other than that she was good (for a two-year- old!)  She got her left hand free from the cape and wanted me to hold her hand.  She was calm as long as I held her hand. 

We took Jane in for her first dentist appointment and things went well.  The dentist said that it was the best two-year-old exam he had ever done.  She let them brush her teeth and let the dentist look into her mouth for a few seconds!  We all had appointments that day, so she was able to sit in the exam room and watch Mark get his teeth cleaned.  I think that she was more willing to cooperate because she saw us take our turn on the chair.  Her two-year-old molars weren't in yet, but I'm betting that they are trying to surface because she has been chewing on things and has been unusually grumpy.  I think that the "terrible two's" might be "my teeth are coming in and they hurt, THEY HURT A LOT!". 

Projects

I am working on a few things and I thought that I'd post the progress. 

I made these planter boxes for the garden.  They look a lot like coffins to me, but now that they are in the garden with plants, they look better (please little plants and seeds, don't die in the coffin) . 

I made an apron for Jane's birthday.  She won't cooperate for a decent picture of the apron, so you can't see the cute ruffle on the bottom or the velcro closure.  Instead of having the apron tie in the back, I put velcro on the front and she just attaches the strap and she can take it off when she is done. 

This apron was made for Wendy.  I made it without a pattern, and I wish that I had done a few things differently, but alas, it is still adorable! 

This is the middle part of a quilt I am making.  It didn't turn out as big as I had hoped, so it will be getting more borders.

The block-of-the-month project is at the end.  I have all 12 blocks made, now I need to figure out how to put them together.  I'm not a huge fan of this quilt, as I like symmetry and this isn't balancing out for me.  I started the new year of BOTM classes, so we'll see how it turns out this year for me. 

I am taking a Handstitching class online.  The first project was reverse applique.  I fancied up one of Jane's skirts.  She loves to wear skirts lately.  She has three and when they are all dirty, she starts to rummage through the dirty laundry to find them.