Every summer it seems I have to do a few weeks of catch up work because of vacations. I am determined to not let it get me to far behind. It seems like forever ago that we got home from New Jersey, but I guess it was only a month ago.
This is how poor Tommy felt the day after we got home. He just was so emotional about life because he schedule was just all bonkers. I feel like it took us over a week to get back to the somewhat normal normal range of a toddler's mood swings.
Only three days after we got back one of my very best friends, and neighbor, Andrea and her family moved to Utah. We were around to watch their kids, though, while they packed. I even got to watch baby Kai. Elsy loved sitting by him and keeping him company.
And here are Tommy and his little buddy Nora. They wanted my attention and kept climbing all over me haha!
We went over before they left to say goodbye and take pictures.
And of course they had a big group hug that ended in giggles in a pile on the floor.
We are going to miss them so much! It was so nice to have a neighbor I was so close with and who had kids the same age as mine. We loved all the spontaneous play dates, borrowing mayonnaise, sharing recipes, and chats.
This cute little muffin stuck a pony bead up her nose while I was reading the kids stories before naps. She told me she kept sticking it up and pulling it out and then it just went a little to far. She tried to get it out herself before asking for help and that just stuck it up even farther. After a few attempts to get it out ourselves I decided we should probably go to the urgent care. Once we got in the car Elsy was able to calm herself down and she realized she could still breath "through the bead" I believe is how she described. When we got in, she just relaxed on the little bed and let the doctor fish it out. She even smiled while he was doing it. I am so proud of her for being able to see the positive side of things.
When we got home I took off our shoes... don't judge that I, in particular, have three sets of shoes out in this picture haha... and went in my room to contact Logan about all the happenings. By the time I turned back around Tommy was right where I left him. He had missed his nap and was just oh so tired.
Last year we went on a fun hike with the kids so we decided to go on another this year. This one was a bit shorter because Tommy is to big to carry in the backpack now (without killing us) but is the sloooooowest walker in all the land. He just always is trailing behind us oh so far.
And of course they insisted they bring their backpacks which, of course, Logan and I ended up carrying.
But it was fun! We took our time and enjoyed ourselves. The kids brought their binoculars and raced from trail marker to trail marker. That was really our only hope to get Tommy the slow poke to get anywhere. At least he did better than last year, where he lay in the middle of the trail and refused to get up so we had to carry him the whole way.
One day I couldn't find Elsy for a while. She finally popped up from behind the pillows on our bed. I just can't get enough of this giggly and softhearted girl. She sure has a way of fin-angling toys away from Tommy. One day I bought each of them a pluto from the fruit stand to try but forgot about them. Logan pointed out that one had gotten all yucky on the top. Elsy heard and came to see. "Oh no!" she said, "Look what happened to Tommy's pluto!" Logan and I laughed and laughed because, of course it was Tommy's pluto that was ruined and not the other way around.
The other day while driving Elsy piped up from the back and said, "Mommy, I can't wait to grow up. I want to be a mommy just like you. I will have babies but I won't live in the same house. But I will still live in the same town as you." That made me feel all the feels. That is definitely my dream too.
And sweet little Tommy who is often quite rough around the edges, said to me last night as I was laying in bed with him, "Mommy I wanna keeeeep you." and he reached his little arms around my neck and gave me the sweetest little big hug he could give me. So of course I had to stay for a while longer, even if it was after bed time.
We had an indoor picnic, because I ran out of bread and couldn't make sandwiches. So we had leftover homemade mac n cheese.
And then I decided to make some bread. I thought it was absolutly delicious, but apparently I was the only one because I ate that bread for days and still never got to the second loaf before I had to throw it out.
Logan let me go on a walk by myself one evening. I was feeling a bit crankified and I think he thought a break would help me, and it sure did! I went on a walk around Yellow Lake and enjoyed being by myself for the first time in many days. We have been experiencing terrible smoke problems from the fires across British Columbia as well as other in our country. The smoke made the sunshine an orange-ish color all the day long. It really was interesting... but also yucky to have suck a thick haze all over town. The walk helped me clear my head and realize I have just been trying to pack to much into one day sometimes. And then when I don't accomplish it all I feel like a failure. It was nice to slow down and just experience the nature around me. I realized I don't have to do everything to feel accomplished each day. I also found a baby mole on the trail! When I got home, Logan was sweaty and the house was all clean. What a sweetheart!
I also got to go to the temple that week and it helped me so much. I really do love the temple. Logan got me a book about temple symbolism that I have been reading and it was interesting to go to the temple with some of those things in mind.
Look at these two sweeties! In the summer our ward has Park Days, where people sign up a park they like, one for each week and we all go together. This time we met a new family that just moved to town. I was so excited, let me tell you why...
So, I have been trying to put together a cohort of moms who are willing to do preschool rotations with me for Elsy. But we couldn't find many people who were interested. I was pretty bummed because I only had Elsy and two other little girls from last year's Joy School. I was talking to my mom about it and she told me how she prayed girls into our ward when we were littler. She said she wanted more girls in our ward so we would have friends and sure enough they got tons of new girls! I realized I had never even thought to pray someone into the ward! Haha, that sounds silly. But I knew if it worked for my mom it would work for me. So I prayed for new families to come to the ward to do preschool with us. The very next Sunday a new family showed up with a little girl just the right age! And they agreed to do Mother Goose Time with us (which is the program we are paying for). And not to long after that another mom from another ward said she wanted to do it too. What a blessing! I am so grateful the Lord answered our prayers. And, not to mention, the new family is so awesome. I am excited to get to know them better.
I started having Elsy have quiet time in her bed at nap time. I realized on our trip to NJ that she was so much happier if she took a nap, even though she hasn't been taking them all this year. Well, I set a timer on the iPad and told her to read books until it ran out. She didn't read books, but rather just stared at the timer.... this is what happened. Mom for the win!
I just love cooking with these two batter tasters!
We went to the North Bend Outlet Mall to get Logan some navy blue pants for his brother's wedding. Logan had a blast. Haha!
Oooooo I just love these two!!
Tommy is quite the character these days. You just never know what he will do next. He walks around with a box on his head saying he is a robot. He loves to make up names and words for things that make no sense. His new word he made up and loves is "meemo mamia". Elsy had a word like that, "Skuskada". But Tommy just keeps them coming all the day long. Gambambow was one, or bungobeeg. I need to remember to write more down so I can compile a long, long list.
Tommy just said the other day, "Dad is my friend." He just loves his daddy. At dinner he turned to Logan and said, "Dad, you are my friend." Logan said, "You are my friend." And then Tommy shouted, "No I'm YOUR friend." He doesn't have his grammar correct yet. I will say to him, "Tommy are you my buddy?" and he will respond in a grumpy voice, "No, I'm DADDY'S buddy."
He is really into this whole grumpy talking thing. He has learned to say 'sorry' when he upsets Elsy and says it in the cutest voice, "Sa-reeeee" and if Elsy doesn't respond (because she is crying from being hit or is just mad at him and doesn't want to talk to him anymore) he says it louder and louder. This morning I heard screaming in the other room and rushed in to find Elsy rubbing an owie while Tommy was sitting with his face just inches from hers as he screamed "SA-REEE!" in her face as his was getting red and veins were popping out of his neck. We had a little discussion about responses with Elsy, and that screaming "sorry" doesn't help things with Tommy.
One of the things I just love about him is he always is asking for permission or a question. But he does it in the most interesting way and I haven't quite figured out why. He will cock his head to one side like a puppy, pucker out his lips and sort of wink and then he makes a negative statement, such as, "We don't climb up there" What he is really saying is, "Can I climb up there?". To which I either say, "You are right, we can't climb up there" or "Actually you can climb up there!" One time he said, "Cats don't have bums." But he did his little head cock and his lip pucker with the wink and I knew he was really asking, "Do cats have bums?" Haha! That was a funny one to answer. Another time we drove by a field of cows next to some power lines and he said, "Cows can't climb dat." but he was really saying, "Can cows climb the power lines?" It has taken me a while to catch on that this is how he asks questions.
I decided to go buy paint (finally) for the bunk bed ladder (don't ask if I actually used the paint yet.. yikes). When we got to Home Depot there was a kids workshop going on. I called Logan, who was on his way home from the temple to come meet us. He went home and changed and then we all had a fun time hammering and building little moving vans.
I was glad Logan showed up because Tommy was taking initiative and trying to move forward on his own a little to much.
We went to a park to pick blackberries but they just weren't ripe yet. The park did have a splash pad, though, so the kids had fun eating apples off a tree there in the park and playing in the water.
While laying next to Elsy in bed one night, she looked up to me and said, "Did you know your nose makes a B if you go like this (traces the holes in my nose) only it is sideways." No, I guess I didn't realize that. :P
I wanted to take a picture of her little freckles. She has such a pretty face.
My friend Laura gave us some free tickets to the Seattle Aquarium. The very next day Logan took the morning off and we all headed over to look at all the fish. The kids are still into Octonauts and loved finding all the fish they have been learning about.
Elsy measuring Tommy.
Facepainting!
Touching the sea creatures! The kids loved seeing the sea stars, anemones, octopus, and otters.
Afterward we had time to go walking out on the pier.
Sometimes I forget we live right next to a real city. But I am glad I forget, because lets be honest, I am not a big fan of them. But it is fun to do the tourist thing now and then.
(Elsy, Savanah, Issac, and Hunter)
Within only two weeks we had to say goodbye to another very dear dear friend, Laura and her family. :(
I can't tell you how bummed I have been to loose my two very good friends. We had a little going away party in the church gym for Laura. The kids all brought bikes and scooters, Laura brought her snow cone maker, and I made some cookies.
We lined all the kiddos up for a goodbye picture. Just to sad! but also too cute.
Tommy has recently been throwing up his own, homemade gang signs every time we take pictures lately. I don't know why this has started but it is pretty funny.
Laura was my visiting teaching companion, which I think is how we started to get to know eachother initially. Elsy and Issac were such good friends. We went to visit Melissa, on of the ladies we visit teach, the day before Laura moved because Issac wanted too. He really is such a sweetheart. We miss him so much too!
And here is a little of what happens here at our place now and then. Standing in the corner is how my Mom did it and so far it has been effective for us too!
Lately I have been working on trying to recognize and follow spiritual promptings. It is something I pray for almost every day, to receive promptings, to recognize when they are promptings and not just thoughts, and then having the courage and strength to act on those promptings. I have been doing this for a while and I am noticing now how often I recognize a prompting but lack the strength to follow through with it. It has definitely been a struggle but I feel like the more I ask, the more I receive. And I know I have a lifetime to figure it out, one day at a time.
And here is a little throw back I came across the other day, Logan taking a picture (in the bottom right corner) of us video chatting back when we were dating. (Look how blonde my hair used to be! *sob* I never have ever dyed my hair and it used to be blonde and now it is brown after having kids) After only dating in person for two weeks, we spent 5 months apart. I have always attributed his diligence in showing me I was important enough for him to call me every single day helped our relationship kick off. And it was also so good to just get to know each other so much through just talking for such a long period. He used to set up video chat dates where he would send me things in the mail for us to do together while chatting, or lunch dates through video chat. What a fun guy!!
No comments:
Post a Comment