How big are your ears?

It makes me laugh to think of the things that kids worry about. For some reason today we got on the subject of ears (yes, I know, stimulating conversation), and Christopher told grandma that she had really big ears. I told Christopher that is because your feet and your ears keep growing all your life and that is why old people have big ears. Now he is very concerned about this. He doesn't want his ears to grow any more. We told him it's okay because all of his body will grow and so his ears will look okay, and if his ears didn't grow any more then he would look funny when he got older. He doesn't care. He just doesn't want his ears to grow any more. And since he knows that eating food is what makes him grow bigger, (isn't that what we tell them to get them to eat dinner), he didn't want to eat the rest of his lunch. hahaha. I just keep chuckling about the way kids minds work. I wish how fast my ears were growing was my biggest worry. :)

Grandma Rocks!

My mom is visiting and the kids love it. She is great at reading books and having long conversations about nothing. And believe it or not, Annie likes her. That may sound funny, but for those of you that know Annie, know that she has been going through a phase where she screams if anyone holds her that isn't mommy. She's been going through this phase pretty much since she was born. ;) Well, either she is outgrowing it, or grandma is just really good, but she lets her hold her and doesn't cry. We choose to believe that grandma's are magic.

Olympics

I meant to post this a while ago, but I was too busy watching the Olympics. I love the Olympics and each time we have a party to celebrate and watch the opening ceremonies. I make food from the host country and also some "Go USA" snacks. This year we had Chinese food like egg rolls, rice, noodles and fortune cookies and USA treats like Olympics ring cupcakes and red, white and blue rice krispie treats. Food is the best part of any party!
The boys also enjoyed making some decorations. We made Chinese lanterns and American flags to decorate the house.

And best of all, they each won a gold medal for being such good helpers...and also for running around the house so fast, which they always do when they get excited.

It was a fun night. I don't know about anyone else, but I think it was the best opening ceremonies I've seen. All those thousands of drummers were amazing and the part when they made concentric rings and stayed perfectly aligned was awesome. Go China!! ....I mean Go USA!! I found myself staying up till 1 am to watch all the footage. Oh well, it only happens every couple of years. :)

Summer Sweets

Who can survive summer without popsicles? Not us. Lately the boys have really enjoyed homemade popsicles. I got some of those fun popsicle molds and we fill them with juice and, viola!!...it keeps them happy and outside for at least a half hour. So far our favorite is grape, even though it stains easily. :) My favorite thing about these little molds is they have a built-in straw on the side, so as it's melting they can drink the juice from the bottom of the mold. Who thinks of these things anyway?

Here is our other "summer sweet". Annie has learned to stand on her own. Before long she will be walking and won't be a baby anymore. Sad. :( This is the best picture I've taken of her standing because as soon I stand her up and step back to take the picture, she sits down. I just love having a girl. :)

County Fair

So, when I heard about the cool hot air balloon festival that my friend Becca and her family went to, I wanted to go to one also. So I looked online and found one about 1 1/2 hours away. We were excited to see all the fun balloons. But as usual for us, we got a late start and there was lots of traffic so when we got there all the balloons had already taken off, except for this one that was just going up and down giving people rides. We were pretty bummed. But we did see a lot of the balloons in the sky on the traffic packed road on the way there. But since we were at the county fair we decided to take advantage.

Michael was afraid this big tractor was going to run over him. ;)

The boys loved all the animals at the fair. There was everything from cows to bunnies and llamas to chickens. Michael would go up to the animals and start talking to them. When they didn't respond he kept saying, "Mommy, the cows not listening to me!" It was so funny.

These little piggies were my favorite. So cute and sleepy.

And then we did the most unpractical thing and paid a whopping $9 just so they could ride one ride at the fair. They chose this one. As you can see Michael is totally excited and Christopher has his hands on his ears since he knew it was going to make a loud noise when it first started. He kept his hands on his ears the whole ride and drove the fire truck with his feet and a huge grin on his face. :)

And what would a county fair be without a big monster truck giving people rides. They also had a huge demolition derby that Jeff really wanted to see, but the tickets were sold out...go figure. So he watched it over the fence for a while. He's just a kid at heart. :) It was a fun night, even though we missed the balloons.

Skunk Story

Since living here, I've always been surprised with how much "wildlife" we have in our urban area. We have gophers that live on the cliffs behind our house. They spend their time eating the flowers and tomatoes in our backyard and digging up the grass. They even come up to our windows, stand on their little hind legs, and peer in the window. But tonight I saw the best...or worst. I've smelled yucky skunk smell before around our house, usually in the evenings. Tonight I was going out late to check the mail. I opened the front door, stepped off the porch, looked up and there was a skunk right on the side walk. We looked at each other for a second, then I yelped and ran inside. I yelled for Jeff to come look, but by the time he got upstairs the skunk was gone. Needless to say, I didn't go out and get the mail for fear it was lying in wait to spray me. I'm just glad my kids didn't see it because I'm sure they would have ran right up to it, thinking it was a cat or something. :)

My kids are funny

Today I was having a talk with Christopher about some behavior and how he could have acted differently in a situation. He was listening and nodding his head and when I was all done I asked him for a hug. He put his arms around me, patted my back (like I do to him) and said, "It's okay mom, just be tough." I had to laugh. It's funny when you have your words thrown back at you by your kids....even when they don't really apply to the situation. :)

This afternoon I was in the living room and I could hear Michael wake up from his nap. He opened the door and walked into the room with some really good nap face and hair. He comes walking toward me and says, "Hey, you cute!" I just giggled and said, "Thanks, you're cute too." Michael said, "No, I a kid!" He says the funniest things right when he wakes up. :)

Oh Give Me a Home, Where the Buffalo Roam

If I had my choice I would have a few acres of grass and trees where the kids could just roam and play. ( I would also have some horses, but that's a different dream, where we own a horse ranch). But until that day comes, I am grateful for the little plot of backyard that we do have. It actually belongs to our upstairs neighbor, but she is so nice and lets the kids do whatever they want back there. Bike riding is the usual activity of choice. Christopher is getting really good at riding his bike...with training wheels of course. Annie just enjoys crawling around and trying to eat grass and rocks. :)

Weekend Fun

The other weekend we packed the van with the kids and some fun food and headed up the 9west to find a fun place for a BBQ. We came across Rockland Lake State Park. It was a really nice, huge, park good for just about everything. We found a nice, shady spot and roasted some hot dogs. There was a man from Brooklyn there flying some really fancy kites. He had a small one that he let Jeff and the boys fly. They had a blast and got all worn out trying to get it up really high. The boys also got there fill of digging in the dirt with plastic forks and sticks. They are happy almost anywhere, as long as they can find some sticks and rocks.

When we were getting ready to leave Jeff was talking to this man that lent us the kite. Jeff mentioned our church and it turns out that this man had joined the church 16 years ago. He wasn't currently active, but they had a nice talk about the church. It really is so amazing to me the influence the church has and how Heavenly Father puts people in our paths at certain times. It was a great day!

Trying to get the kite up

Annie and I hanging out watching the boys

They love to dig in the dirt

"I'm ready to eat some hot dogs"

FHE Funny

Last night for FHE I was telling the boys the story of Nephi and his brothers getting the brass plates. I was using a flannel board story and some pictures to help them understand. They really liked playing with the figures and when they were all done Christopher wanted to tell the story. So we sat and listened while he did his little version of the story. First he was talking about living in the woods in a tent. Then he had Nephi go up to Laban and say, "Please me have the plates, please." And surprisingly Laban said, "Sure, you have the plates." It sure would have been a whole lot easier for everyone if Laban had just followed Christopher's storyline. :)

A member of our ward?

So, about a month ago Michael saw this man named Allan at church and said to me, "Hey, him Joseph Smith!" It was pretty cute. This man actually does look like the men they have portray Joseph Smith in the church movies. We chuckled about it that first week. Well, each week since then when Michael sees Allan he says, "Hi Joseph Smith." I guess it's official in Michael's mind that Joseph Smith lives in our ward. Today we were giving "Joseph" a ride and Michael jumps in the car and says, "Mommy, Joseph Smith ride in our van!" Then he helped him buckle his seat belt and Michael said, "Thanks Joseph Smith." I'm just glad that even though he is only 2 1/2 years old he is familiar with Joseph Smith and the story of the Book of Mormon. Kids really do learn so fast and I'm grateful that my boys enjoy learning about the gospel.