Parks, Toes, Watermelon

Hello folks, it's been a while! When Travis gets out of school in the summer, we don't want to do much else but hang out together, so....blogging gets put away. Did you miss us?? We've had a cool spring and early summer, but now it's starting to heat up. Which means of course, trips to the park, playing in sandboxes, watermelon, water fights, bare feet, hot cars, sweaty shoes, umm.... popsicles! To start with a cute picture of Carolyn....in a yellow tunnel.

Beka, after eating watermelon, posing for the camera with baby sister Kay Leigh, who is still enjoying hers :D

See? This watermelon makes me happy! He's been asking since February for watermelon, finally got some!

Kay Leigh again, somehow, I missed Carolyn in this series, oh well...

Kay Leigh, ready for playing in the sandbox, shovel in hand!

Mom! My hand is gone and all you can do is tell me to "say cheese"??

It's bright, it's bright, and my hand is gone too!

Carolyn hasn't lost her hand, she's not stupid.

But hey, she'll help you bury the evidence.

They were not terribly thrilled with riding in the wagon together, Carolyn's face says alot, and Kay is escaping while I'm distracted!

So our friends that we had met in Virginia, who moved to New York, came and visited for five days. We all love playing Halo, which is a video game, and used to get together and play for hours, long, long ago. So for the sake of old times, we got out the X-Box. Well...the kids saw it and wanted to play, so Travis started letting them play the non-scary part, where we all play together, trying to get each other. This is Travis and Greg starting....

and Beka watching...notice the hand over her mouth. She couldn't keep from blurting out warnings, "look out", "aaa, he's going to get you", "MOVE GREG MOVE!" etc. I told her to quit, so she had to hold her hand over her mouth to keep it from pouring out! You'd still hear little squeals and moans that leaked out :D She plays with us now, and that helps.

So, to wind up, the resulting toe-nail-lessness of Carolyn, which was the ending of....

this nasty looking injury. She dropped a stack of cups on it, right on their edge. It looked like it hurt...it got all black underneath...ewe. She did pretty good with it, after the first couple of days.

Anyway, that's the news from Idaho. Not much really, but that's ok. No news is usually good news! I'll try to send out more soon!!

Faces, Rain, and Phones

So, here we are again, still truckin' along. Travis went to Houston for ten days to finish his project that he'd been working on with a team from BSU. They went to NASA in Houston to fly on the zero gravity jet and test their experiment, it went well. I think he had a lot of fun! The kids have been having a little fun too. I let them take some pictures the other night, they came up with...

That's Beka I think :D

Greg and Carolyn.

Oh, and I got all my hair cut off, probably a foot total, and this is what it looks like now. I like it, but it is very different from my long hair. It's quick to fix, that's for sure :D

The rains have come, we're getting quite a bit, and of course the kids are out in it, if at all possible, even though it's only around fifty degrees. And of course if it gathers in the gutter, what better place to run up and down. Who cares if it soaks all your clothes and Mom has to do a special load of wash and give everyone an impromptu bath, it was soooooo fun :D

Beka and her friend didn't join in, apparently they are too big for such nonsense, they'd rather go over math problems :P

While Trav was in Houston, we called him at night to say "goodnight" and I took pictures of the kids talking to him, they are funny to watch.

Carolyn telling some story,

Greg thinks something is really funny,

Beka's making a face because she knows I'm taking a picture,

Bogey is just happy to be with everybody, he doesn't care what we're doing.

And Beka even took one of me, ha ha, don't I look happy??? Hope I don't look like this all the time....

And that's all I have this time. I have projects to complete, so I'm off. Enjoy mother's day, all you mom's out there! Bye!!

Ah yes, that wonderful food, comes in a styrofoam container, just add boiling water, and why in the world do kids love it so much? And husbands...but we won't get into that. My kids LOVE ramen, and it's cheap, so we eat it maybe twice a week. And yes I know it's horribly unhealthy, but I figure it's better than a soda, right? Someday when we have loads of money, we'll have steak for lunch (yeah right) and broccoli, with organic bread on the side. But for now, it's ramen. And of course their father has given them extensive lessons on how to eat this food, he's a pro. When I had it as a kid, my mom would crush it up in the bag, and then when it was cooked it was all bite sized and ready to eat, no mess. I fixed it this way for Travis after we were married, and he informed me that this was WRONG! You leave the noodles long, and eat them like...well here's photographs to demonstrate. And I've tried fixing it for the kids all crushed up, they are always very disappointed that the noodles aren't long :D So we are then LONG noodle people over here!

Gotta get all that MSG that dissolved in the broth

!

I told Greg to make a face!

Oodles of Noodles

Beka's eyes generally do this after ingesting Ramen, I don't know if there's a connection...

This is soooooooooo good!

The hair is a little messy, it was only lunch time, hadn't quite gotten to it yet :P

Look how many noodles I can eat at once!

So the next series of pictures we took when my mom was here, and she took the kids to Monkey Business, a local place that is set up in an old warehouse. They have a big jungly play gym, and they have a toddler area, and a few inflatables, one of which is a huge slide that is so fun. And adults can play on everything as well. I do a little, and regret it the next day. Anyway, these are also the ONLY pictures I took while my mom was here, I realized this as she was leaving. I think I need to just permanently wear my camera around my neck if any pictures are ever going to be taken of my family. Oh well. Carolyn and Kay Leigh has been sick, that's another story, and so Carolyn got pooped out and took a nap on the bench.

Beka climbing up the stairs on the slide. I got no good pictures of the kids actually sliding down, it's too fast and my camera is too slow.

Greg taking a quick break on the side of one of the inflatables.

Kay in the little tree playhouse in the toddler area. They had a little slide too, she'd climb up the ladder and then slide down, I showed her how to slide down backwards.

They had a great time, and slept really good that night :D

And the last thing in my title, No Easter.

I obviously have no pictures from Easter, Travis was working with his special project at school, so to start with, I was going to Easter Sunday church with no hubby :P I got the kids ready, and we arrived in our Sunday School class, where Carolyn informed me "she was going to puke" and did so, in the trash can. I couldn't tell if she was really sick, and I couldn't go home at this point, so we stayed and she seemed fine. Picked her up from class, and we're off to Grandma's for the big Easter Sunday dinner. Guess what she does in the car? Yep, into a disposable barf bag I'd gotten when Greg was in the hospital. Very handy little items, by the way. So by now, I realize she's actually sick. Oh and by the way, I was supposed to sit with my mom in Church, couldn't find her and sat alone, so did she :( And it turned out she was in an easy to find spot, too. Return to dinner, Carolyn was resting on the chair watching a movie, and I was just starting my dinner, with Kay Leigh next to me, and she's not eating much, I assume because she's not liking the food we have. HA! Were it only so simple. Nope, a few seconds later, up come her stomach contents. At this point I realize there's only one solution, go home like I probably should have four hours ago. So we packed up the little ones, I left the older two with family so they could have their Easter afternoon fun, and went home. The poor little things laid on the floor, alternately looking pitiful and getting the dry heaves. Fortunately it was over by evening and we all got a good night's sleep. So...Easter, yes, that day just really went by without feeling too special :D

And for anyone who is interested, Travis is in Houston, flying on NASA's zero gravity plane for BSU, he's been involved in this project for a while now, and it's finally here! Here is a link to a blog they set up showing what they are doing! He's wanted to do this since he was a kid, and never thought it would be possible. Fun times!

http://microgravityu2010.blogspot.com/

Grimaces, Climbers, and Grinners

I have no idea what has been going on, I've had no desire to take pictures, or post them, or write about them, until today :D Not that there aren't dozens of photo worthy moments every day, but most of them involve impending disaster, or something tragic, or there simply isn't time to get the camera! I would have to follow my kids around with my camera all day long, and the way it usually goes, they would know and wouldn't do anything cute all day long! Sigh...but...life will march on anyway, camera or not, and I had a few pictures on there, so here they are. Oh, and Kay has decided she wants to start walking, so she's now toddling around, one year and one month old!

And some of you remember that my kids climb, usually on playgrounds, freaking out other parents, who's four year olds can't slide down the slide alone. And they see my two year old following everybody else all over the ladders and slides. Eyes widening and reflexive reaching are common sights. I will say, I do watch my kids and if it looks like they are thinking about stepping into that abyss, I do give a shout, but mostly I let them explore and learn and they do just fine. So that said, Kay Leigh is following in the footsteps of the others, she is starting slow, but she thought the coffee table was just the right height. Quite pleased with herself I'd say! And she did end up on top of the table later on. She has also learned how to go up the stairs and then to turn around and go backwards down them, she's my smart girl!

And here's Rebekah, seems like she's a little more grown up every day, she's a great help too. And loves the dog, who has been a GREAT addition to the fam, he's sleeping downstairs at night now, and chewing up fewer items, he's progressing. Best thing, he's great with the kids!

Remember that picture of me recently, making a face? Well, I have an apprentice! And she's pretty good!

And Gregory, he made out like a bandit when he had his tooth surgery, everybody got him something fun, and this was one of the favorites, a buzz lightyear that makes all the sounds and has pop out wings, just like in Toy Story! He was wanting one of these for a REALLY long time, so he was quite thrilled, and wanted me to take a picture!

I have NO idea what the face is about in this picture, but he looks so incredibly like his father. Handsome, I mean, I'm not implying anything at all there :P I think he was watching something and maybe not getting it? He looks slightly confused and just a little disgusted, but FASCINATED!! Maybe he's looking at what I served up for dinner...

And that's all folks, hope you all are well, and enjoying the signs of spring wherever you are! Happy Easter!

Sleep, Blood, Oatmeal

I probably grossed somebody out with that title, but you'll understand in a little while! But we'll start with something cute and cuddly, Bogey and Gregory asleep on the couch, together. Greg doesn't take too many naps any more, only because he doesn't hold still long enough to fall asleep. This is what happens when he does decide to sit or lay down for a minute :D This started out as just a little petting of the dog on the couch. Then the thumb went in the mouth, and "viola!" asleep in the droop of an eye! Which makes for a really cute picture. Greg is not feeling so great today, he went to the hospital this morning to have his teeth worked on, he had a lot of work to be done, and the last fillings he had made him really skittish about the dentist, so we decided to go this route. It went very well, he's just sleepy and a little crabby. And all his teeth are fixed, no pain! I'm really glad this was an option for him. Anyway, we'll be brushing and flossing much more now...

Ok, so now I'll let you see the next picture first...

and then the BLOOD! So I took the kids and Bogey over to G'pa and G'ma Beal's house for a visit, and he was excited and rowdy when we got there, so I put him outside. I was talking to G'ma when I heard G'pa say, "What is that all over the patio and door, is it blood?" So saying he opened the door, and Bogey being the quick little booger that he is, squirts between his legs and starts tearing through the house. G'pa meanwhile yells, "It's blood, he's bleeding, CATCH HIM!" HA, yeah, right. The dog is small and fast and is halfway down the hall by now. Fortunately, that's a dead end so I cornered him and sure enough, his ear is dripping blood, so I grabbed him and shoved him back outside. But the damage was done, he had successfully splattered the carpet, and as he ran his ears of course flopped, so there was blood up the walls too. So the first 45 minutes of our visit was spent cleaning up blood...and he was still outside dripping blood all over the patio. It was just a small nick on the end of his ear, but man did it leak! It was still bleeding a couple of hours later. So he eventually ended up with this bandaid on his ear, so we could get him home. I was ready to give him away for a minute there, but it really wasn't his fault...I guess :D I'm just glad G'ma and G'pa were so nice about it, and I'm glad their carpet has flecks in it, hides the blood speckles better :P Just kidding, we cleaned it all up.

Ok, so that's that story, let's move on to pleasanter topics...

like sisters

and snappy dressers...

and messy oatmeal babies. And for Julia, no I did not let her feed herself, I don't do that :D She grabbed the bowl off the table and this is what I came back too, and this is why I don't let my kids feed themselves messy types of food until they are capable of doing it without making a mess, usually this is around the age of....three?? I don't know, I'd just rather take the time to feed them than spend excess time bathing, mopping, wiping, etc....I've never found it annoying to feed them though, it's our time, and usually I'm eating anyway, and most of my friends know how slow I eat anyway :D Anyway, hope you enjoyed these, I'll be doing a another post soon with pictures from Kay's birthday! Have a nice weekend everybody!

Cakes, Candles, and Crazies

So, Greg officially turned five on the 26th, and was very disappointed that he received no presents or cake on that day....even though I had explained to him SEVERAL times that we were celebrating on the 29th, and tried to explain how many days that was, etc. *sigh* Kids just don't get time and days at this age. Needless to say, he was overjoyed when the day finally came. He had a couple of friends over for pizza and icecream and playtime earlier in the day, and then all our family came over that night, for presents, dinner and cake. His chosen dinner, by the way, was split pea soup and cheese biscuits :D I love it!!

A great shirt, very appropriate for this boy!

Another missile shooter, to torture his sisters with, heh heh! A boy just can't have too many guns.

What does this card say???

Notice Kay Leigh busily looking through everything :D

I think perhaps I see a little of myself in this picture :P

Blow HARDER!!! Aunt Tiffany did a great job on his cake, he loved it!

Carolyn enjoying her cake, bite by bite...

Greg really liked this fire station set, we had to put it together the very next day, good thing I played with Lego's alot when I was a kid.

Carolyn and Bogey sharing a moment

and in case you needed a good scare today.....

BOOOOOO!!!!

Don't ask how this picture came about, but it did and yes I'm posting it. I am actually surprised that this picture was so awfully horrible, didn't know my face would bend into that shape :P Happy Valentines Day, Travis!!!!