Kid Stuff

The other day at the library there were two guys in a crane fixing the street lamp (or something) on the corner. As we walked by Ruth asked what they were doing. I said I didn't know. She responded, "They're fixing the sky!"

Will is in a singing phase. He's doing that two-year-old, sing about anything and everything deal. It's so cute. On our walk home from the park he sang the whole way, "No, not nice. No, not nice," over and over. Last night before bed he was singing about everything he saw on the floor of our messy living room, while simultaneously doing his robot poses and punches and running in circles.

What inspired this post was the fact that I heard Ruth and Will talking to each other (during quiet time) as I was bringing laundry up from the basement. I went to Ruth's room to tell Buddy to get back in his bed...but what I saw was Ruth laying on the floor, talking into the floor vent. I TOTALLY remember doing this as a kid, and it just made me laugh how kid-like my kids are....which sounds dumb, I just mean that they're not babies anymore.

And Claire? She'll be 3 months on Saturday and has completely outgrown her 3 month clothes already. Also, her gut has developed more so I can finally eat dairy without her spitting up everything she eats. HOORAY for ice cream! However, I will be sad to not have a decent excuse to buy almond milk anymore. That stuff is yummy, but half a gallon is more expensive than a whole gallon of normal milk  :`[

Some Pictures

We went back to Vineyard Lake with our friends the Stouts. Their 12 year old, Taylor, babysits for us.

Brad's maternal grandparents stopped by on their way home from Oregon. We went to Buffalo Cafe in the morning. 

Ruth can draw people! That's a big developmental milestone!

This little turkey has grown so much! She has discovered her thumb and loves to suck on it if she loses her binky.

Ruth LOVES "helping mom," here she is doing dishes.

My little guy is getting more brave, he loves climbing now.

Of course they found the mud...and luckily all that mud came out of their clothes quite nicely.

Cute Pics

Business Trip Day 4

 We finished our Olympics today with Nerf target shooting.

Will got the best shot, you can sort of see the target on the window

We went to lunch at Daisy's, cleaned like crazy, watched mountain biking on the real Olympics and played in the sprinklers.

Mostly, we're all happy daddy is coming home soon!

Business Trip Day 3

Day 3 has been a lot more chill. I sort of ran out of activities to do. This morning we got a car wash, which Ruth loved, Will hated and Claire slept through. Then we went to vacuum a pregnant gal's house (which was the only house work I've done since Brad left). The kids had fun playing for a few minutes while I helped her out. Then we went to the store and spent more money that I wanted on fancy food for Brad's homecoming meal tomorrow afternoon. After putting the groceries away we had lunch at the park and played for a while. We haven't been to lunch at the park very many times this summer so this was a treat for the kids. 

 After lunch we had a photo-shoot (the above pictures), made some cookies (store bought dough, I'm not doing any more dishes than absolutely necessary), then had quiet time. I watched Biggest Loser season 8 (this is an amazing season, really connecting with Abby the gal who lost her two kids and husband in a car crash), and the kids slept. Ruth only spends an hour to an hour and a half in her room, then she gets special mommy time. This is what she did:

 I love my sleeping babies. Probably because they don't require anything of me. They aren't screaming, crying, or whining about anything. Just peaceful and sweet.

Not that my kids aren't ever sweet, but peaceful is not how I would currently describe our family life. My kids are sweet and kind, but quiet peaceful moments really only occur when they are sleeping. We are a busy, active, loud family so I truly cherish quiet time when we all get a break to relax.

We will spend the rest of the day, when Will finally wakes up, watching Toy Story 3 and Madagascar, maybe going to the library and eating chicken nuggets and more popcorn and candy. I hope that next week my kids realize that all this movie watching was only because daddy was gone and not the new norm!

Business Trip Day 2

We started the day by going to the school to play. We took the dog with us too so she could run around and burn off some energy. Ruth really got swinging!

We went home to feed Claire. Then we stopped at the Dollar Store (to get new buckets) before going to McDonald's for lunch. The kids played there for about an hour. Poor Buddy got stuck at the top of the play structure so I had to climb up there to get him. When I got him out he was super sweaty, poor guy. After lunch we headed to the lake. It was so cool and wonderful. We played in the water for nearly 2 hours.

Buddy doing the bear walk in the water, it was really funny to watch

We came home and had some quiet time. Then we ate TV dinners (followed by popcorn and candy) and watched Toy Story 2. The kids loved it!

Then we went to church so I could go to a canning class for Relief Society and thankfully they had a nursery for the kids to go play! This is Claire right before going to church, she wasn't very happy. But all the grandma's at church who wanted to hold her put her right to sleep!

Business Trip Day 1

Brad left on a business trip to Vancouver today. We were all sad that he'd be gone, so we have planned lots of fun activities to keep us occupied. Here is day one: 

 My little stud at the park

Official Laws Olympics:

Take your mark!

Olympic hopscotch

Balance Beam routine:

Buddy on the highbar

Olympic trampoline

Laws team fanatic:

Olympic sleeping:

We purchased a ton of fun art and school supplies today since everything is on sale for the new school year. Will's first water-color experience:

Making bouncy balls:

Dinner at Arby's:

Watching Toy Story and eating candy:

Vineyard Lake

Last Saturday we went out to Vineyard Lake. It's only about 10 miles from our house. Although it is close in proximity it is not easy to get to. We thought it would be a nice easy walk through a field...but that was just the beginning. 

Then the giant boulders showed up and we had to climb up, around, over and down rocks to get to the lake. It was not easy, especially since we took the wrong path at first and had to back track.

I carried Claire in the Bjorn; Brad carried Will in the hiking backpack; Ruth was a wonderful trooper and climbed the entire way by herself. We had so much fun and it was a great bonding experience. It was very rejuvenating to spend time outside together as a family.

And yes, Brad jumped in...and then Ruth did too. She's a brave girl. Will and I just stuck our feet in the stream that fed into the lake.

Afterwards we were all starving so we stopped at Sonic for a giant drink and a burger. Let me tell you, a crappy burger and fries never tasted so good after all that sun and exercise.