Week #39:A shady afternoon

This week we...

...sat in the shade of one of our new trees on Sunday. It was nice. The weather was just right, and there's just something about Sunday afternoons in the fall. They seem quieter and full of memories of slower, younger days. I was sitting in the lawn chair, legs stretched out in front of me, feet crossed, and arms folded for a little nap, but it wasn't meant to be. I was summoned to play referee for the Life game that Jason was playing with the kids. Happy days ahead with shade. :)

...discovered a praying mantis on our newly planted azalea.We love these little guys.

...can't wait for next month so we can pick our pumpkins and carve them. It's definitely worth it to plant pumpkins. We had so much fun watching them grow with the kids and catching the excitement that comes with this time of year. Now we don't have to buy pumpkins.

...played house outside on the porch. Lainey is really into playing with the fake food and baby dolls right now. We thought we'd give this high chair and cradle another chance to be played with. My Grandpa Hill (my mom's dad) made these for me to play with when I was little and I loved them. We tried having these around when Emma was little, but didn't keep them with us for long. We lived in such a small place and Emma was growing out of the baby doll phase by the time we thought to let her use them.  

We just recently brought them from my mom's house, along with the baby picnic table, for the kids to play with. They have been a hit. Each day, Lainey takes the high chair, the cradle, and the food outside. Each night, I bring it all back in. She loves to set up her little house and play. She wants the others to play with her, just not to touch or move anything. It doesn't work out well.

...tested the integrity of the baby doll high chair. It held...but who knows how many more attempts of playing baby it can handle if Lainey is the baby herself.

...played with the new sandbox digger. Ben and Claire got some money from their Aunt Cherice for their birthday. This year I got the brilliant idea to let them do their toy shopping online from amazon instead of going to the store and trying to find something that would work, only to get it home and find out that it doesn't work. Benjamin and Claire loved browsing online with me. I steered them to the digger and then they picked a couple other things apiece. The only part of the whole experience I didn't like is them constantly asking me when their packages would come. :) 

...helped Amber and Dane Riner move into our neighborhood. Yippee! They bought a house near us in the new Aho building phase. We waited all summer for this weekend to come, when they would get to close on their newly built home and move into town. Now they are just a little bike ride away and in our same ward. (We met them in Ellensburg when we were going to school at Central.)

Amber is figuring out her new refrigerator/freezer while Lainey tries to be helpful.

...decided to be silly one night before bed. Ok, did I really just wright one night? Silly pretty much happens here on a regular basis.

...have had a lot of these pesky fruit flies. I just made up some peach cobbler to get the mushing peaches out of the box and off my counter (it tastes delicious). I am so thankful for this little fruit fly trap that I learned from my mom. I was wondering a couple days ago if the pioneers new this trick since they did a lot of canning. I could see a picture in my head of hard working, frontier women  with jars in the pantry and a fruit fly trap on the corner of the counter.

Week #38:The Lorax would be pleased. He speaks for the trees.

This week we...

...finally purchased and planted some trees. I have heard Jason say "I want to buy some trees" all summer. Well, we finally did it. They are both maples, one I think will have red leaves in the fall. I love red, leaves, and fall. Perfect! The boys were so excited to help him in the planting. Of course, he made me dig a little so that I could later say that I helped. And while I was digging, he held the camera and thought he should use it.

...played a most diverting game of LIFE. I picked that beauty up at a yard sale for $5.00 brand new. And the kids have been bugging us ever since to play it, all the time. It was Jason's turn to play the game with the kiddos and he was sure excited. (Ok, not too much to begin with, but he tried to get into it for their sakes. :) I was the rule enforcer.

...canned in the shade of our new trees. My mom was helping me can pears this week, and it decided to get hot again. We were wilting in the afternoon sun, when Jason came home with our new trees. So we placed them just right as to cast some shade on us as we worked. It wasn't much shade, but it felt so good. It was just enough.

...discovered an easier way to paint nails. Lainey thought dry erase markers would be a good substitute for nail polish. It worked alright, but she was very frustrated to discover that the color stayed on her skin and wiped off her nails. Drat that dry erase technology.

...have started teaching toilet training 101. Miss Lainey Anne is my only student. We started because she doesn't like to wear onesies anymore and takes her diaper off after every time she goes. Hhhmm. Might be time to start. Well, the first couple days were rough...and I thought we'd really made a mistake by starting. They were exhausting days. After a couple more days, we had more successes and she understands more what to do. It has been a lot of fun. I thought Grandpa Erickson would like the Lunch on the Loo pictures because of his days working at Hanford and seeing people lay out their lunch on the bathroom floor before them as they did their business. Crazy I know. I tried to get Lainey to listen to reason, but she was determined that she could do both.

 

...poured more cement. We put in a border around our garden and sandbox area. Oh, I love it so much! It keeps the dirt in and the grass out. Then we poured more along the side of the house by the air conditioner and fence. Our neighbor/friend helped us pour and finish the cement again. Benjamin was so interested in what they were doing. With Paul at school all day now, he gets to be number one helper now.

...found Lainey asleep in random places. Sundays are hard for Lainey because she doesn't get her regular nap. We attend church from 11:00-2:00. So we are lucky if she gets a nap on Sundays. This time she just fell asleep on her own after our little family movie. Along with potty training, Lainey has graduated to a big girl bed. We're now dealing with her new freedom of being able to get out of bed whenever she pleases. This night, I kept putting her back in bed and she wasn't too happy with me. Looks like sleep won out over her determination to defy me and stay up. :)

...ate ramen sandwiches for lunch. It was great fun!

...found a piano on craigslist. I was so excited about this find. We have wanted a piano for a while, but decided to stop looking because we weren't financially ready to get one. Well, my Mr. E looked online, found a listing of a piano, called on it, and we went to look at it. When we pulled up at the man's house, his garage door was open, and I exclaimed, "Oh, it's a spinet piano!" Jason turned to me and said, "I know!," In a knowing way. That's when I knew just how wonderful he is all over again. He knew what kind of piano I wanted and he acted on this post to get it for me. The man was really nice and the piano looked great, even for his asking price of $200. We got him to come down to $175 though. We saw pianos like this going for $400-600 at the beginning of the year. We were so excited to find this - doesn't need any major repairs, the keys are all there and working, no major dings or dents. Wonderful!

I don't think I have to say that the piano is a big hit with the kids. They are constantly playing it, and I've already had to ban playing of it for afternoons at a time. The piano does add a new dimension to quiet time when Jason does go back to nights though. We just know there will be many times that the kids pound on the piano during the day and wake him up. We're excited to get lessons for Emma to begin with, and then me. Yay!

*And by the way, that is my first blog book, 2008, on display. From talking with friends (thanks for all your advice :), I decided to go with Shared Books/blog2print so that I could just upload my blog and get it printed in book form. (I would recommend going back through and checking for spelling errors before you upload because it will print exactly how it is on your blog.) I heard a lot about Blurb, which is a great site, but it requires more work after uploading to rearrange your blog and customize it how you want it. I'm sure the finished product is really cool, but I don't have the time to first put it on my blog and then rearrange it once I go to print it. The books might not be as spiffy with blog2print, but it's printed and the kids can look at it. Emma already takes ours to bed and reads that as part of her nightly reading. I think this will be my family history and scrapbook as well. I love scrapbooking, but I just don't do it like I thought I would. I'm just channeling my creativity in other directions right now. The time it would take me to go back and scrapbook the last seven years would be horrendous. Thus my blog and printing it. I love it!

Week #37:Benjamen and Claire turn 5

This week we...

...celebrated Benjamin and Claire's birthday. They turned five years old. Amazing! We have made it five years - me as a mom of twins and them sharing their day together. Uncle Kelvin gifted Benjamin his old skateboard and Claire the angry birds game. Both were a hit with all of the kids. Ben's not quite as interested in the board just yet, but everyone else is. Emma and Paul rode out to the bus stop the next morning. Kelvin had his own with him, so they could both try it out. Ben and Claire each selected one friend to come over and play, but as it turned out, we were watching some kids in the morning and it was a party after all.

 **Opening Grandma and Grandpa Erickson's gift bags.**

**That box being so big, got Ben really excited.**

**Claire's package sports her nickname and comics. Nice!**
**with Paxton Riner, Sophie and Carson Buchannan**
** with Sophie Buchannan and Garrett King**

...saw something we don't really want to ever see again. Lainey dumped the olives out of the fridge and proceeded to show me the handful she had shoved in her mouth, while it was still in her mouth. Yum!

...had a trip to the orthodontist. Jason got braces! This is something that Jason has always wanted to do, but we haven't ever been able to afford it. He now has great insurance that will pay half. We had to come up with the other half and then because they are just straightening the front teeth out (partials), it was less than what we thought. We only had to pay $500. Yippee! I was excited for him to get them and then he came home and was miserable. They hurt so bad and you can't eat just whatever whenever. We made hamburgers for a BBQ with a fried egg and all the fixings, but then he couldn't really eat it. His teeth were still hurting and it's hard to chomp through that big burger goodness. Darn it all! It'll be a long 18 months, and I feel bad that I didn't warn him more.

...found a fun sweater to try on. It was a little small, but I thought it looked cute. I decided to experiment and capture her bright eyes.

Week #36:A Cool Dip

This week...

...we went to the river on Labor Day! It was too cool! No really. It was cold. The kids didn't stay in too long and so we didn't stay too long at the River. Long enough to get pictures though. :) We were so thrilled to find the river at it's lowest of the summer. It made for a nice wide beach bank. Hard on the feet, but fun.

Me and Jason

"Rock on, man!"

...Ben and Lainey played kitchen. It was cute to listen to Lainey boss Ben around in her kitchen and to watch him take it all in stride. They had a fun time playing when they should have been in bed.

...Claire experimented with the flexibility of her tongue. She couldn't quite get it up to lick the chili off the top of her nose. Oh man!

...Ben made Lego letters. He has really taken off in his letter and number recognition. It has been fun to work with him and see his comprehension. He was excited to show me his Lego letters he made while building Lego trucks.

Week #35:A First Day Again

This week we...

...had two first day experiences. Paul is still at Mark Twain Elementary and Emma is now at Livingston Elementary. She got accepted into the highly capable program (Spectrum) and they didn't have room for siblings in the first grade for Paul. So we're doing both schools. It should be interesting this year. 

We are so happy with all four of our new teachers. Yes, you read that right. Four. Emma has two part time teachers in her Spectrum class and Paul also has two part time teachers in his class. Mrs. Mathews and Bunger with Emma and Mrs. Ogle and Hilker with Paul. They are all wonderful. They were so comforting to Paul and Emma and I was relieved as I met them too. They will help my kids so much this year. I know it!

On the first day, we took Paul to his school early and dropped him off at the playground so that we'd have enough time to get over to Emma's school before it started for the day. They each have their own bus that comes to the park to pick them up. We all like going out to play on the toys and watch Emma and Paul get off to school.

Like I said, he wasn't too worried

We were able to get her with her teachers

 since we went into the classroom with her.

(Mrs. Mathew on the left - Mrs. Bunger on the right)

Ben was pretty good on the roller.

Claire's good at hanging around.

 Lainey didn't want to go home.

...went to the library. It's so nice to just have three at home that tackling the library didn't seem such a bad idea. We walked out with way too many books though. Oh wait. There's no such thing as way too many.

 There's our stack of books, part of it anyway.

 Lainey climbed up to get a book for herself.

...took Ben and Claire to the dentist and had Amber as our hygienist. They thought that was so fun to see Amber at the dentist's office. Lainey was especially excited. She kept trying to push them both out of the chair so she could have a turn.

...went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. (You have to go back and read Texas Roadhouse again with a bouncing, western drawl - Tex-as Road-house. Wasn't that more fun?) Jason told them it was our anniversary so they did this cheer and had everyone join in.  A lot of people cheered for us. Thank you Texas Roadhouse. Only they brought over this saddle and I had to sit on it the whole time they did the cheer. Go Cowgirl! Sadly I do not have a good pic of me on the saddle. The food was amazing and the company delightful. I had the ribs and LOVED them. I'm planning our return trip already. Yum!

 We tried the fried pickles and the 

jalapeno bites-surprisingly good.

 The rolls were a-mazing!

I enjoyed the peanuts everywhere-

in the barrel, at our table, and all over the floor.