Training Wheels OFF! Times TWO!

Bekah and Jacob were riding their bikes around tonight and I suddenly felt very guilty for the fact that Bekah still had her training wheels on...what kind of parent am I if I never find the time to teach her how to really ride a bike? So I took them off.

And she rode away.I could have screamed loud enough for all the neighbors to hear. I think I did actually, in my excitement. I definitely did point out to every passerby that my amazing girl there was riding her bike sans training wheels!
And then Jacob started pestering me. Really, really bugging me to take of his wheels. I reluctantly relented. I helped him onto his bike, gave him a good push and then held onto his bike seat for a half a second...
And he was off.Completely amazing. My little scaredy-cat boy was off riding a bike, just like that. Starting and stopping are still an issue, but that's minor, right?! :) I had to tell everyone about him then too. Great way to meet the neighbors.
Wowza. I'm on a high. That was the best time I've had in weeks!
Don't worry about Beau, though. He's still four-wheelin' it. Here is his "my knees are too cool to crawl" crawl.*Disclaimer: This was not these kids' first rodeo! I think this is the third time we've tried taking off the wheels...Just the first time it actually worked! Wahoo!*

Why, Baby?!

Bekah is a sponge.
Nooks and crannies and all.
The other day she asked me to get her a cheese stick, "Be-bee!"
Then she said, "Thanks, my Dawling"
If she's in a mood to insult, she'll tell me, "You play ball like a girl!"
And get a big kick out of it, of course.

While Bekah is juicing up her extensive vocabulary, Jacob is taking her place, asking "Why?!" all the time. There are four ways to approach a why question.

The first way is to try to answer it as honestly as possible. This can be easy or hard depending on the question. (Ex: Why are there cracks in the sidewalk? vs. Why is there a baby in that lady's tummy?...Well, son...)

The second way is to answer it as randomly/vaguely/goofily (yes it is a word) as possible. There are knots in Bekah's hair because fairies dance in it while she is sleeping.

The third way is deferment. Where do rain, alligators, flies, boogers, ear aches, broccoli, babies, trucks, hot dogs, stars, concrete, etc...come from? Ask Daddy.

And the fourth way is my favorite...Distraction. "That lady has a baby in her tummy because AHH! LOOK OVER THERE - A FLYING ELEPHANT!"

And now I have to go because Beau is crying.

Why?!!

In a Jam

Phew.
The last two weeks have flown! You know how you can be super busy, but then you look back and try to explain what you were up to, and you can't remember? Thank goodness for pictures, so I can at least remember some of it!
So...Tara, Taffy and I made fresh, homemade, yum-ilicous strawberry jam last week. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Strawberries were 99cents a pound, can you believe that!? So we bought 24 pounds and made 19 1/2 pints of jam. Of course you can't just make jam, you have to make super light and yummy fairy biscuits to test the finished product. It took us just over 4 hours and it was completely worth it.Hmmm...oh yeah, before that was Mother's Day (10th) and Rus's birthday (9th). Rus got spoiled rotten by myself and his family members with a clean garage and time to finish his bumper (a project going on four months and needing to be wrapped up), a fun morning hike, a day spent with his dad, and dinner and a movie. He also got a holster for his new gun and a bike helmet for that big noggin of his. Mother's day was great...I lost one of my diamond earrings that my mom gave me when I got married. Yup. Still waiting for it to turn up somewhere. Rus made me breakfast and the kids helped plant flowers for me and the ward gave all the women big 'ol rice krispy treats with m&ms in them. Yum. I almost saved some to share with my kids. Almost. OH! and Bekah and Jacob sang with the primary for mother's day. It was hilarious...Jacob ran up front to sing, the music started, he suddenly ran back to where we were sitting and in a whisper yelled, "DAD! I LOVE YA!" And then he ran back up and spent the rest of the song finding a seat. When the song got over he had just sat down and the chorister had to coax him out of his seat. Rus was tickled pink by it all. In a manly way, of course.
I also got to go to the zoo with Bekah's preschool class. They were learning the letter "Z" so naturally we had to go to the zoo! It was really fun and all us moms were just happy to not lose anyone. Then this past weekend we ran away to Alpine to hang out with Rus's cousin Dave and Stacy and their girls Avery and Emmabelle in their tree house (Bekah lingo for "cabin"). Rus got to fish all morning with Dave and actually caught about 12 or 15 fish, (see his happy face?) We met them for "lunch" which was replaced by "lightning" and they were able to go out on the boat for a quick ride before we really had to worry about them attracting any unnecessary electricity.It was just so nice to get away from home, especially to a beautiful place like Alpine. The good company didn't hurt either. :) Here we are in front of the church in Luna...with plenty of time to take pics cause we got there an hour early.And now I'm home, my house is a wreck, the laundry is piling up, I'm in the middle of a good book that I can't find anywhere, my fridge is empty, I'm working on a drawing, Beau has boogers coming out his eyes, Rus's family is in town, I found at least 30 strawberries on my plants, the corn is coming up too, I need a haircut, I should probably balance my checkbook...Life is good.

Exploitation of a Wannabe Artist

I am fortunate to have friends who think I'm talented and enjoy using me. One such friend asked me to do some drawings for a "thank you" to the teachers at the elementary school...and here are the final products! The principal (suit jacket and skirt) and vice-principal (blue polo and khakis) are in each of them, and they're usually doing something goofy, just for fun. I like to get the dirt on people and then use it in the drawing, and I didn't really have much dirt for any of these people so I had to wing it.

Let me tell you what...I am exhausted! Who knew drawing stick people could be so tiring. Really it's just my brain that is tired...I've had to use more of it than normal. :)
Now Tara just has to take these five drawings and copy them so each of the people in them get a copy. I hope they like them and don't wonder what in the world is going on with my hair/shirt/shoes?!

Block Heads Make Block Wall in Record Time

We have always had way too much dirt in our backyard and no where to put it. When we first moved in here we even contemplated paying someone to come take the extra dirt away. Then I got out my nice drawing paper and made a beautiful and convincing landscape plan and Rus's back has been hurting ever since. I was smart enough to dream it all up when I was pregnant...I think...it's all a blur now...so anyways Rus has always done most of the slave labor.
Last week I moved a billion wheelbarrow loads of dirt to one of our garden beds and we still had a big hill in the corner of our yard and so once again I had a very convincing argument for another retaining wall. I am happy to say I did a lot of the slave labor myself on this one, although Rus was still the major muscle.
So on Friday we picked up the bricks and that night we put in the wall in the record time of 2 hours, from the first brick to the last.
We are totally awesome. (And we've been watching Bolt, and adding words like "ridonculous" to our vocab)
Here's a pic of the new beauty:Oh...whoops, I mean here is the pic of the new beauty:And see all those toys? The kids and I had a wonderful time making a special box to hold all of them. It all started with a very scaled and detailed plan: ...which was implemented using the most talented individuals in the field...(green paint on forehead=mark of genius)...And now our toys are safely hidden away from sight.It's like "Where's Waldo?" Can you find the little black army guy (we put it on there for Beau...that's how he looks with his brace on...he's got a great army crawl), or the blue lion, or the ladybug or the bee or Jacob's two J's or the two rockets on the lid?
Well..have a great day, get off the computer, and go play outside!