Church Olympics

On Saturday night our ward had an Olympic-themed potluck picnic at Happy Hollow Park.  It was so very well-organized and so very much fun!  (Having have to plan at least 3,292 ward activities in my life, I truly appreciate a good ward activity.  Especially one where I'm not in charge of anything. Seriously, Primary presidency, you guys rock.  Thank you for all of your hard work!)

I took a couple of different things, but the most fun was the s'mores pops I made.  Just marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate and covered with crushed graham crackers.  So easy and actually really yummy!  I was totally pandering to the kid audience - I knew they would love them.  (And they did!)

For me, the highlight of the evening was the Primary Parade (as in the Parade of Nations).  Our awesome bishop, Bishop Cramer, carried the torch and led all of the children around while the Olympic theme music played.  Each class carried their own sign.  It was so very, very cute!  And the kids had a blast!

Getting ready for the parade to begin.

Joshie and the other CTR 5's in the Primary Parade.

At the end of the parade.  Let the games begin!

Josh and Spencer had a great time playing games like balloon volleyball and bobbing for apples and three-legged-races.  Tess had a great time chewing on plastic cups.
 

And sitting in the Ream's camping chairs.  Like a big girl!

Cole spent most of his time trying to get into trouble.  He wanted to play in water he wasn't supposed to play in.  He wanted to play in garbage.  He wanted to run away into the creek bed and get lost.  He wanted to steal the desserts.


But mostly, he wanted a water balloon.  In this picture he's crying because he wanted a water balloon more than ANYTHING IN THE WORLD.

Tess and Lance were impressed by how much Cole wanted a water balloon.

And you know what?  Some nice kids shared their water balloons with him.  He was so happy!  He promptly threw it on the ground a couple of times until it broke, which is exactly what he wanted.

The best part, however, was a few minutes later.  Everyone was playing with water balloons, and Cole was in the thick of it, having fun.  My good friend, Heather, and her husband were throwing a water balloon back and forth, getting farther and farther apart.  Heather threw one pretty high and pretty far... and it landed and exploded right smack dab on Cole's head.  Right while I was watching.

It was one of the most awesomely hilarious sights I have ever seen in me ENTIRE LIFE.

The only way it could have been better is if I had been recording it with my camera; something I will regret not doing until the end of my days. Fortunately, it is seared into my brain; I doubt I will ever forget the image.

Cole took it pretty well.  No tears or anything!  In fact, I think once he got over the surprise/shock of it all he enjoyed getting so wet.

The evening ended with a few tug-o-war contests.  The funnest one to watch was the kiddos, even though at the end of one Josh fell down and almost broke his glasses.

It was a really fun evening.  I hope our ward does something like this every year!  (Just as long as I don't have to plan it...)

Monkies on the Bed

There's nothin' Tess likes better than jumping on Momma and Daddy's bed.  If Cole is there, all the better.  Man, I have cute kiddos!

BONSAI!!!

Timbeeeeeerrrrrr....

Those pigtails make her look like Little Cindy Lou Who.

I imagine this is similar to what an antelope sees right before the lion attacks.

Slave Labor

This morning I took my slaves out to the garden and forced them to pick zucchini, cucumbers, squash, cherry tomatoes, and green beans.

Okay, it was just Josh and Spencer.  But after about 20 minutes Spencer was whining and crying and claiming that he was gonna die because it was soooo hot.

This fell on deaf ears.

"We aren't slaves!" he protested.

"You're right," I replied.  "You get an allowance.  And a house.  And food and clothes and computer games.  You are most definitely not slaves.  Now pick those beans."

He did not like this.  But he continued to pick.

It certainly would have been a lot quieter without the boys out there complaining.  And although I can't say it would have been faster, it wouldn't have taken that much longer without them - they're not very good a picking beans.  But I really felt like they needed to do something on a Saturday morning other than watch cartoons and play inside.  I was hoping they might actually learn to enjoy gardening.

As we were out there I tried to explain to them why we needed to learn about gardening, about self-sufficiency, and about how awesome and miraculous gardening is. 

"Do you remember how little the tomato plants were when we first got them?  Look how big they are now!  And remember the seeds that we planted?  Now they're HUGE sunflowers!  Isn't that cool?"

Josh thought it was cool.  Spencer did not. (He was still pouting over the slavery conversation.)

After 45 minutes of wedding, stalking plants, and picking, we ended with a few pictures.

I have to remind myself that I when I was a kid, I hated gardening, too.  And my dad would make me go out and pick beans and whatnot, and I felt picked on and whined and cried.  (It must be pointed out that one year he grew cotton, just to see if he could, and he made my brother and I go out and pick it.  Talk about slave labor...)

But I grew out of it.  And now I love gardening.  There's something very gratifying in being able to grow your own food.  It's a lot of work.  And I still have a lot to learn.  But it's totally worth it.

Hooray for fresh produce!

I'm proud of my marigold hedge.  It's cute.  I'm not so fond of the sunflowers, though.  They take up too much room. for a non-food plant.  (Because let's be honest - am I really gonna harvest the seeds?  No.  The answer is no.)  Next year?  Sweet corn instead of sunflowers, for sure.

Also next year?  My slaves will be out there helping me some more.  Whether they like it or not.

Poor Poor Tessie Bessie

I'm such a bad mom.

No, really.

I took Tess in for her 15 month check-up today and the doctor discovered that she had a pretty ragin' ear infection.

"Has she been congested and fussier than normal?" Dr. Jonkman asked?

*face palm*

Yes.  Yes YES!  This girl has been congested and very much fussier than normal!!! 

Dang.

I would like to say that this is the first time this has ever happened, but no.  It also happened when Josh was a baby.  And Cole.  (Well, Cole pretty much had an ear infection all the time, so whatever.)  And let's be honest, probably Spencer as well, but we just never found out.

Tess was not happy with this examination.  She wanted her milk.

But I had forgotten it.

Because I'm a bad mom.

Then Tess had to have a quick blood draw to check for lead and iron levels.  And two immunizations.

So, not only did her ear hurt, but she got poked three times and still didn't have her precious milk!

Then it got better.  And by better I mean worse.  The doctor was a bit concerned about Tess still not walking.  She moved Tess's hips and legs and checked her all over.  We talked about how I've always had late walkers, but Tess is exceptionally late.  Right now she's about 8 months behind her peers as far as moving goes.

"I think you're right," Dr. Jonkman said.  "I think she's just being lazy and doesn't have the incentive to walk yet.  However, her hips keep popping, and her legs are not symmetrical.  I couldn't tell this last time because she was so fat.  But this concerns me."

(Side note: I love the fact that Tess was too fat during her last exam, especially because of all the issues she had with being underweight after she was born.  I might not be able to get my kids to walk, but I sure can fatten them up properly!)

So, off we went to Innervision (where Lance works) for a couple of x-rays of Tess's hips. 

We got the royal treatment, with lots of love and attention and the best techs who let Tess chew on yummy stickers and really just did a great job with her.  Despite all she had been through that morning - and the fact that she still did not have her milk (!) - Tess got through it all like a champ.

Sure, she fell apart on the way home after we had to get gas and pick up her prescription and get her brothers from their friends' house. (Hey, these things had to be done!)  But I completely forgave her for it, which I guess makes me not the most terrible mom in the world.

Lance called with good news - the radiologist looked at Tess's x-rays (we got bumped to the front of the queue because it's all about who you know, right?) and everything looked fine.

Which means, physically, she's perfect.

*whew!*

It also means that we have a very, very lazy baby on our hands.

A very fat, lazy baby.

Man, I love her.

Stuck!

When you get your little fingers stuck in the vent three times in as many minutes

then you don't get sympathy.  You get a momma with a camera.

Then you get sympathy.

But no sympathy for the fourth time.  There are limits.

Irrational Baby Fears

Do you remember when we discovered that baby Josh was irrationally afraid of fish?

Yesterday I discovered what Tess is irrationally afraid of.  And like any good mother, I exploited this fear for blogging entertainment purposes.

She wasn't freaking out about it today like she was yesterday.  (She shrieked and hollered when I first put the toy in her lap.)  Be she is certainly very wary of this thing.

"Black magic!  Black magic, I tell you!"

No need to tell us - we're such awesome parents.

Summer Slow Down

Summer seems to have slowed down a bit, which is nice.  I think the heat wave we had last week had something to do with it.  I had all of these big plans for the summer, and once again I haven't even gotten around to half of them.  We've kind of been home bodies and we've really enjoyed it.  Not that we don't go anywhere - just not many big outings and such.  I rarely even take the kids on errands, because four kids on errands?  Not so fun for anyone.  We tend to stick around the neighborhood, swimming at the pool and playing at the park.  The boys have lots of neighborhood friends to play with.  Yesterday we ventured out to Sonic for happy hour drinks, which is pretty much the most ambitious thing we've done in a while.  (Get the Coke Zero with vanilla and cherry.  Heaven.)

It's great.  Idyllic, really.

But it doesn't make for much blog fodder.  The kids haven't done much of interest or humor lately.

Well, Josh walked through the living room yesterday singing "It's Raining Men" at the top of his lungs.  And Cole has taken to calling Spencer "Spence", which is super, super cute.  Oh, and Tess has throw-your-body-on-the-floor tantrums over every little thing now, which isn't very cute but is fairly entertaining.


I took these pictures last Friday at breakfast.  You know it's hot and HUMID when the windows look like this at 7am.

Miserable.

My cherry tomatoes are taking off.  I made a caprese salad for myself the other day with tomatoes and basil from my garden.  I think I could like on this and never get tired of it.

Cole and Tess get really grouchy right around the time I need to make dinner.  The other day I let them play in the sink so they'd leave me alone.  (Tess's tray is full of water.)  It gave me a good 20 minutes of peace and only took about 5 minutes to clean up, so I consider that a success.

I pick from the garden about every other day now.  I should probably do it every day, but I'm lazy.  Big news: the cucumbers aren't bitter anymore!  Yay!  And there should be a good-sized crop of green beans in the next day or so!  Double yay!  I just watched a news story where all the farmers were talking about how produce isn't growing as well this summer because of the drought.  My garden seems to be doing pretty well, although I do think my beans have been suffering.

I have to hide the cherry tomatoes so the kids won't eat them all.  (I'm planning on using them for dinner tomorrow.)  I can't get them to eat grapes anymore, but they will eat the cherry tomatoes.  Smart kids.

That zucchini had been hiding and kinda snuck up on me.  It's humongous! I usually like them a bit smaller, but I'll find something to do with it.

So there you go.  We leave for Utah in a few weeks, so things are bound to get more interesting.  Until then, let's hope life keeps a slow and steady pace.