Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Elise Speaks
Elise is behind a bit on speaking... Which is fine, she still communicates in her own way. She does say "da" and "ma" (more like "muh") and today she said "bear" (more like "buh"). She is parroting and yesterday she was parroting "bear", but today she actually picked up her bear and said it on her own! She is parroting other words: hello, shoe, etc. Her most used word is "muh", she uses it for Mom, Milk, and More. So when she says "muh, muh, muh" she is saying "More Milk Mom!"
Peter Pan
Aidan was asking why I was up so early and I explained what I do early in the morning. His reply: "I'd much rather be a kid than a parent."
Door stops
For years we have had a few doors that slowly swing closed, or just won't stay open. So we have been creative keeping them open. I had a old rice baby that we used for one door, a footstool for the other and the last door, we used our "Tickle Me Elmo"... Finally we broke down and bought a magnetic door stop--it is great! What a wonderful invention!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
July
Because summer is short, we really try to cram things in! For the Fourth of July weekend we decided to enjoy the sun in the mountains and went hiking to Lake Mary with Scott's parents and brother-in-law. Then we had a wonderful BBQ with Matt and Barbara Brown family--with Adam and Janet, too. I am so glad we have family nearby to do things with!
I tried to get in lots of crafts, and one that I thought would be fun this year is fingerpainting with pudding. There is a new pink strawberry pudding, so we used that and a chocolate (and they taste good together...) and invited a friend over and they had fun (and got full)! The boys have endlessly played with stuff from the recycling bin, and we have a nice drawer in the pantry with lots of craft supplies (thanks Ali for organizing it for me!). I have realized that I really need to just let the boys do what they want when they "craft" rather than trying to get them to do things "my way". Then they get so creative! They are also really into paper airplanes and we have thousands of them littering the house.
Something else we did but didn't get photos of is a neighborhood "Backyard Battle". We invited over all the neighbor kids with any "battle" toys--Beyblades, Kung Zhu, Pokemon, etc, and everybody battled! It was great til it started raining... I would have made them just tough it out... but it was a downpour. So instead I had 21 kids run through my house and down to the basement! We didn't fit well, so it didn't last long, but fortunately, neither did the storm and they quickly went back out. But it was fun!
Elise is so fun to dress in the summer with cute flowery and bright clothes. I got some fun photos of her with some daisies--she is so happy. She is so much fun. She loves her brothers and especially looks to Weston for love and comfort. He is very caring of her.
We had the "Summer of Sisters" this month--Ali and Heidi came to visit. Heidi and I took some of the kids to a swim park and it was a blast. Then we did some shopping at one point (too much). We went to the aquarium and a splash park and did some crafts (fun hats!). Another day we picked up Hilary (we all got to meet her cute cats), but unfortunately life got crazy with the kids and we didn't get to do much, but we still had a good time talking. Then, all my kids got sick with the flu and life REALLY got crazy... So we stayed at home for awhile.... and threw up. :( It was still nice to be together, and I apologize to all you girls for the sick house. I am sure the sisters will do a much better job telling the details of it all.
Weston went to cub scout camp for the first time--so much fun! He went swimming and fishing and made some fun things. I was a scout leader for awhile, and although it was hard, I wish I could do it now with my boy!
He just couldn't get enough of the outdoors, so we went camping! Our annual trip to Wasatch Mountain State Park over the 24th weekend. We went hiking, roasted marshmallows, rode bikes, fished (Weston caught two!) and got reallly dirty! It is a lot of work to prepare to go camping, but it is so much fun! We get so many scrapes and cuts, but we have such great family time. Elise loved it--she felt so free and loved getting dirty. Brennan loved the treats and bugs. Aidan practiced riding his bike over and over and loved the marshmallows. And Weston was so big and responsible and raced around on his bike! Plus it was so fun for him to catch fish!
We ended July with Scott doing a triathlon--what an amazing althete! He has just been training for a few months, but he is a natural. He got 15th in his age group (out of 60+) and blew past everyone we knew that raced, too. Way to go honey!
I have just been keeping the kids busy with activities: lemonade stands, walks, crafts (wait til I post photos next month of our current project!), library trips (Weston just finished the 2nd Harry Potter!!!! He is an amazing reader!), riding bikes, playing at parks, making banana bread, swimming with friends... it goes on and on. We only have 2 weeks left so I am going to do as much as I can to get more in there before they are back to school!
I tried to get in lots of crafts, and one that I thought would be fun this year is fingerpainting with pudding. There is a new pink strawberry pudding, so we used that and a chocolate (and they taste good together...) and invited a friend over and they had fun (and got full)! The boys have endlessly played with stuff from the recycling bin, and we have a nice drawer in the pantry with lots of craft supplies (thanks Ali for organizing it for me!). I have realized that I really need to just let the boys do what they want when they "craft" rather than trying to get them to do things "my way". Then they get so creative! They are also really into paper airplanes and we have thousands of them littering the house.
Something else we did but didn't get photos of is a neighborhood "Backyard Battle". We invited over all the neighbor kids with any "battle" toys--Beyblades, Kung Zhu, Pokemon, etc, and everybody battled! It was great til it started raining... I would have made them just tough it out... but it was a downpour. So instead I had 21 kids run through my house and down to the basement! We didn't fit well, so it didn't last long, but fortunately, neither did the storm and they quickly went back out. But it was fun!
Elise is so fun to dress in the summer with cute flowery and bright clothes. I got some fun photos of her with some daisies--she is so happy. She is so much fun. She loves her brothers and especially looks to Weston for love and comfort. He is very caring of her.
We had the "Summer of Sisters" this month--Ali and Heidi came to visit. Heidi and I took some of the kids to a swim park and it was a blast. Then we did some shopping at one point (too much). We went to the aquarium and a splash park and did some crafts (fun hats!). Another day we picked up Hilary (we all got to meet her cute cats), but unfortunately life got crazy with the kids and we didn't get to do much, but we still had a good time talking. Then, all my kids got sick with the flu and life REALLY got crazy... So we stayed at home for awhile.... and threw up. :( It was still nice to be together, and I apologize to all you girls for the sick house. I am sure the sisters will do a much better job telling the details of it all.
Weston went to cub scout camp for the first time--so much fun! He went swimming and fishing and made some fun things. I was a scout leader for awhile, and although it was hard, I wish I could do it now with my boy!
He just couldn't get enough of the outdoors, so we went camping! Our annual trip to Wasatch Mountain State Park over the 24th weekend. We went hiking, roasted marshmallows, rode bikes, fished (Weston caught two!) and got reallly dirty! It is a lot of work to prepare to go camping, but it is so much fun! We get so many scrapes and cuts, but we have such great family time. Elise loved it--she felt so free and loved getting dirty. Brennan loved the treats and bugs. Aidan practiced riding his bike over and over and loved the marshmallows. And Weston was so big and responsible and raced around on his bike! Plus it was so fun for him to catch fish!
We ended July with Scott doing a triathlon--what an amazing althete! He has just been training for a few months, but he is a natural. He got 15th in his age group (out of 60+) and blew past everyone we knew that raced, too. Way to go honey!
I have just been keeping the kids busy with activities: lemonade stands, walks, crafts (wait til I post photos next month of our current project!), library trips (Weston just finished the 2nd Harry Potter!!!! He is an amazing reader!), riding bikes, playing at parks, making banana bread, swimming with friends... it goes on and on. We only have 2 weeks left so I am going to do as much as I can to get more in there before they are back to school!
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