First day of school

A couple of days before the Mister's first day of school EVER (except for preschool) he came down with a fever.  He said he didn't feel sick but he sat on the couch all day and didn't eat much so I knew he was sick.  Plus, well, the thermometer doesn't lie.  I prayed and prayed that his fever would break in time that he could go to school, but it didn't.  So, the night before I had to e-mail his teacher and tell her he wouldn't be there and break the news to him that I thought he needed to stay home for one more day.  His fever broke over night.  He woke up the next morning and promptly threw-up (probably from not eating anything but popsicles for 36 hours) and then was fine the rest of the day.  I tried to pull-off some sort of half baked homeschool scenario, but mostly we spent the day cuddling and playing and I was happy to have my baby all to myself for one last day. He grew up way too fast.

The next day, the real second day of school, but his first day, we met our neighbors in front of the school like we were supposed to on the real first day and then the whole family walked him to class carrying all kinds of school supplies that everyone else had already brought because they didn't miss the first day. And we even made him pose for first day of school pictures.  It was only a little awkward but his teachers were nice and very understanding, and we tried to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Racing

We signed the kids up for the Splash n' Dash again this year.  They actually held three separate events this summer and the one closest to our house was one day after Baby Sister's third birthday so she got to participate too.

Both kids got a medal when they finished.  It was a lot of fun for all of us until the end when we made the decision to stay for the award ceremony. You see, additional medals were given out for each age group. There were only two three year olds that participated, so naturally, Baby Sister got another medal (she was the youngest contestant). Well, that made the Mister pretty upset and he cried all the way to the car.  Can you say sore loser?  The whole thing was that he just wanted her medal, he didn't really care if he won the race or not - actually he thinks he won anyway.

Here are some non-crying pictures :)

 



 

My big, little babies...

...or little big babies, whichever seems most fitting.

We had a fun birthday season this year.  The Mister turned five and Baby Sister (not a baby anymore but I still like the nickname) turned three.  They were both old enough to anticipate and get excited about their birthdays and their birthday party.


Some thoughts on being FIVE:

 

When the Mister grows up he wants to be a spy, and go to spy college, obviously.

His favorite color is blue...and red.

His favorite superheroes are Superman and Sonic the Hedgehog (if he is actually a superhero)

His favorite thing to do inside is build a fort.

Favorite thing to do outside is play Frisbee (but I really think it is swimming)

His best friends are Dallin, Myah, Benjamin, Nate, and Jackson.

The best thing about being five is riding his new (two wheel) scooter.

He is really looking forward to kindergarten, especially lego club but he is sad he can't ride the bus.

Something the Mister can do now that he is five that he couldn't do before is sit on the rings on the swingset and do tricks.

I love watching the Mister grow and make new friends and get excited for school and make more new friends there.  He is learning so much all the time and usually takes his responsibilities very seriously.  He likes to do things the right way and gets frustrated when he can't or when it takes longer than he thinks it should - like when he's writing or sounding out a new word.  He is becoming such a good helper to me and Baby Sister.  I love that he wakes up right now and pretty much gets himself ready for school.  One day I got him a new Transformer backpack.  He was so excited he slept with it that night.  The next morning he met me in the dark hallway as I was going to get him up for school.  Eyes half-closed I told him he needed to get dressed for school.  He told me he already was and when I opened my eyes I realize that he was already dressed and had his backpack on ready to go.  He had even helped Baby Sister get dressed too :)


Some thoughts on being THREE:

When Baby Sister grows up she wants to be a "space police gorilla".  I think she meant girl.

Her favorite colors are pink and purple, obviously.

Her favorite show is Blues Clues.

Her favorite thing to do inside is play hide and seek (which is awesome because she just hides under a blanket right next to me every time.  She doesn't even care if she is completely covered as long as she can't see me she thinks she is hidden).

Her favorite thing to do outside is play hopscotch - even though she doesn't follow the rules AT. ALL.

Her best friends are Grayson and Hunter (ps Hunter is ten and sooo cute with her).

The best thing about being three is "balance beaming by myself".

Something Baby Sister can do now that she is three that she couldn't do before is ride on the zipline.  There was a zipline at the campsite we went to (see future post).  Mister really, really wanted to try it and so we let him. Then Sister got brave and wanted to try it too.  Well, it went way to fast and was too high for me to feel comfortable letting her go by herself so she rode on my lap. She LOVED it.  My cute, brave, little girl :)

Baby Sister is giving me a run for my money.  She can go from happy to sad in a split second.  When she is happy she is sooo happy, and her tantrums can be truly epic.  I guess this is what they call the terrible twos, and even more terrible threes.  Luckily, almost all of my friends with little girls can relate and we get together to commiserate. We are in trouble when she is a teenager.  I suppose the hardest part is not knowing what might set her off.  Lately, well actually not lately, for the last year and a half she has been pretty keen on dressing herself.  I guess it's only lately that I have really let her take full responsibility for it.  This is a blessing and a curse (like each milestone a child reaches - I couldn't wait for the Mister to talk so I would know what he wanted and he has not stopped since).  It is a blessing because it is one less chore that I have to worry about and a curse because she has a mind of her own and will not listen to reason, or the weatherman, if you try to change her mind.  And if I tell her that it is too cold to wear a sleeveless shirt she will just put another sleeveless shirt on top of it so that "she can be warm".  Some days she will want to wear the exact same outfit as the previous day.  And some days she will change five times.  Baby Sister has always been really good at pronunciation but my favorite thing is when she uses the wrong word.  Such as "monsters" for lobsters - or even better - mobsters.  Once she kept asking me for her "slicey".  It took me awhile to realize she meant her Sonic slushy.  And when she gallops across the room she says "gallon".

Under the Big Top

This year I did a joint birthday party for the kids.  It's one of the advantages of them having a birthday within one week of each other.  Last year, I found some circus themed party decorations on clearance at Target.  I decided then what the theme would be for this year.  I don't think that decision saved me any time or money because it took quite a bit of convincing (mostly Little Mister) that the theme would be fun and that it was ok for them to have it together.  In the end I think they both really liked it but I also had a separate play date for each of them and the Mister insisted on cupcakes with the theme of his choosing - which was really Ninja Turtles but we settled on Toy Story because that is what we found.  My days of choosing what kind of birthday parties to throw are quickly coming to an end :(

It ended up being quite a big party.  Being in the middle of summer and with vacations and all I figured maybe a little more than half of the invited guests would be able to attend.  Well, it turned out that all but a few made it.  And I'm really glad that so many people could come but it was a little stressful.  Luckily I had planned an outdoor sprinkler party that wasn't all circus related but it was fun, and easy and the decorations were circus so that was good enough.

I used a pinterest idea and used plastic tablecloths to fashion a "big top tent" under our deck.  Everyone got a clown nose to take home in addition to their goody bag.  Here are a few pictures of the event:

 

Decorations wise, this may have been my favorite party so far.  (The super-hero party from last year was probably my all time favorite because it was small and personal, and let's face it, adorable).  But somehow I think I over-do it and under-do it at the same time.  I'm not sure how that is possible, except that it is.  Had I been a better planner I would have had some games - but with 25 kids of varying ages it seemed nearly impossible to organize games that everyone would want to play and it seemed like a lot of work.  Or maybe a balloon artist.  And I probably went overboard on the food...we had popcorn and popsicles and candy and nachos for snacks, then sandwiches and wraps and fruit and veggies for lunch.  We had way too many leftovers. Anyway, I think the kids had a good time and really, that is all that matters. 

 

I love birthdays and making them a big deal.  And I love throwing birthday parties, both big ones and little ones, to let my babies know how special I think they are.

Summer Vacation Part II: Tablerock Lake

The real purpose for this pilgrimage back to the Midwest was to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary.  Would you believe that there was only ONE week out of the whole summer that worked for everyone due to camps and college and babies wanting to be born?  And still not everyone even made it - we were down one nephew and two nieces.  They were sorely missed.  BUT the other 26 or so of us (I lost count somewhere along the line) had a great time boating and swimming and mini golfing.  And apparently some of us have even been paying attention to the family history stories that have been passed around at various family gatherings.

I think one of my favorite things about these kinds of events is how well my older nieces and nephews take care of and play with my kids.  The Mister would disappear for hours with his cousin Brenden and Brian.  Baby Sister got her nails painted by Merinda and Mikaela.  And Saraiah is always good for on call babysitting :)  And they loved playing legos and other games with their little cousins.

I loved spending time on the lake.  The Mister took his first ride on a tube behind the boat.  He loved it.  Baby sister and I weren't so lucky...due to slow speed and improper placement on the tube we shortly started taking on water and rolled frontwards off of the tube.  I held onto her the whole time but she was not impressed and wanted to be done.  Also, I'm no good at wakeboarding.  Couldn't even get up this time.  Brad is quite good though.  We need a boat.  Maybe then I could actually learn.  Plus, Brad is cute driving a boat and even cuter on a wakeboard :)

No trip to Southwest Missouri would be complete without spending a day at Silver Dollar City.  As a kid I remember it as a place with mediocre rides and where old people would go to buy apple butter and make candles.  I must say, it has improved a lot.  There were tons of kid friendly rides and my kids absolutely loved it.  Brad and I got to ride on one rollercoaster - Outlaw - it was seriously intense!  But I was happy just spending time with my kids and doing the things that they wanted to do.

And some additional photos I took on the trip just because I think they are cute.

Summer Vacation Part I: KC, KS

The nice thing about Brad and I being from the same general area is that when we make a trip home we usually get to see both of our families.  This year my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary (well it was actually last November but we were all able to get together this summer).  So, before heading to Tablerock Lake for a week with my family, we drove to Kansas to visit with Brad's family.  His parents and his sister both still live there. I feel like we need to make these trips more often.  It's so much fun to watch our kids play with their cousins.


Cousins are reunited.  They roll down the hill in front of Grandma's house to pass the time :)

There is the coolest farm in Kansas City and it's free!  We paid extra to do some of the activities like pony rides and feeding the goats but it was so much fun for the kids.  This is where the Mister discovered his love for gem mining.  He has requested to do it three or four more times since.

We were invited to Brad's former college roommate's house for dinner.  He married a girl that Brad had known growing up and Tony and his wife subsequently moved back to Kansas City.  I met Tony the same summer I met Brad.  They were both up in Seattle painting houses for the summer.  The last time we all saw each other was probably at a BYU game and we were all childless.  Now we spend a lot more time running interference and keeping our kids from beating up other people's kids.  We were pretty successful except for one baseball bat to the head.  The Mister says it was on accident.  I didn't see the whole thing, but I'm pretty sure he is telling the truth.

Of course there was some time for swimming in the back yard.  Even Grandma got in one time!

 

And there were fireworks on the 4th of July...and the obligatory running around in a field before the fireworks.  Grandma was also nice enough to read to the kids in the back of the truck while they waited for the show to start.

June

Somehow I let three months pass without a single blog post.  I am trying to rectify that by posting condensed versions of what we have been up to for the last several months.

We went on a ward campout the first weekend of June.  I really had high hopes for this trip.  We got to use our new camp stove and our mostly new giant tent.  Friends were going to be there.  Brad bought giant marshmallows to roast.  It was actually quite fun except for two things: 1) It was fairly hot and humid that day so we opted to leave the rainfly off when we went to sleep since it was a clear, starry night.  We quickly regretted that decision when we were awoken by a brief rain shower.  Especially since the rainfly was in the car about 100 yards away.  By the time we got it on the rain had stopped and the tent just got hot. 2) The great thing about ward campouts is that our kids have lots of other kids to play with.  The bad thing about ward campouts is that even if your kids miraculously sleep well all the other crying kids around you will keep you up all night.  It has me seriously considering if I will ever do that again. 

 



The Mister had his last soccer game.  All the kids got a trophy and I FINALLY got a picture of all three boys together.

We went to the Columbia zoo with my college roommate and her kids.  It's sad how close we live to each other and how seldom we actually see each other.  I vow to do better.  I haven't been to that zoo since before I had kids.  It's a really great zoo and even more fun to watch them have fun.  I think my favorite part was feeding the giraffes.  Their favorite part was the pony rides and the slushies.

May

Our beach vacation...it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  The first weekend of May we went to Edisto Island.  Our idea was to go early in the season before the crowds (although I don't think it is ever really crowded there) and the summer prices on beach condos.  We knew the weather might not be perfect but that area is known for its sea shells so we figured we could still have fun playing on the beach even if it wasn't swimming weather.  We arrived on Friday night just in time to settle in and have dinner.  On Saturday morning we woke up and it was a little rainy and very, very windy.  Also the surf was very rough. I think it was the tail end of some hurricane that I have now forgotten about.  We still went for a walk on the beach and found a spot near a cement wall where we could be protected from the wind and the sand flying into our eyes.  We weren't the only crazy one's out there.  The first day and a half was pretty windy and rainy and we tried to busy ourselves with as many rainy day activities as we could find on the tiny island.  For about an hour an a half the power was out in our condo, so that was super great :)

On day two it cleared up and we spent a beautiful evening on the beach.  Our last day there was perfect beach weather - of course, that's how it always happens for us.  We spent several hours soaking it all in and then headed home.  Both kids fell asleep on the way home.  It was a glorious and peaceful drive.

 



The Mister had a Mother's Day program at school and he graduated from pre-school.  They put on such a cute program.  His teacher's were amazing this year and I am really going to miss this school.  They put together a book for us of his work throughout the year and some pictures, plus they made a hand-print painting for us.  I just love them and am so happy he had this experience.  He is so excited to go to kindergarten, or as he calls it "five year old school".

 

 

On Memorial Day Brad took the Mister to see a movie and Baby Sister and I spent the afternoon playing in the sprinklers.  It was a perfect way to kick-off summer!

 





April

The day after Easter Grandma and Granddad arrived for a visit.  As always, I didn't take enough pictures but we had lots of fun while they were here!

 

Aidan started his first season of soccer this year.  Two of his best buddies were on his team.  One on purpose and one by total accident.  We were so happy to have them there!  The night before his first practice he got really sick...like puke sick.  I was up most of the night with him and told him he was going to have to miss his first practice.  He finally fell asleep around 6am and when he woke up at 9am he was feeling all better and ready to go.  I wasn't about to take him after he had just been so sick but luckily for us it rained and practice was cancelled.  His excitement about soccer drained throughout each game and the season in general.  I guess that is pretty typical at this age.  I just hope I can talk him into playing again this fall.  I think he will love it, but it may take some time.

March

I went to the Little Mister's class and read Cat in the Hat to them for Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 also made an appearance.  Some of the kids may have thought I was the actual Cat in the Hat.

For St. Patty's Day my friend and I put on a party for the Mister's preschool class.  I made rainbow fruit skewers and dip.  She made rainbow cupcakes and these adorable skittles treat bags and the kids made leprechaun masks.  A leprechaun visited our house on St. Patrick's day.  He left some footprints and treats.  Luckily for him, the place was already a wreck due to some prior fort-building, so he didn't have to waste any time on his typical hijinks.  He must have liked our house because he still lives here somewhere, according to the kids, and has been known to take some of their "artwork" to decorate his own little house.

 

 

Baby Sister was invited to a pre-Easter, Easter egg hunt with some friends from church.  The hunt was followed by lunch.  She had a great time.  On Easter Sunday the kids woke up to new umbrellas in their Easter baskets plus a few other small toys and candy.  Then we donned our Sunday best and headed to church.  Brad & the Mister got matching ties. After church and a nap we headed to our good friend's house for our annual Easter Egg Hunt and dinner.  Some of my favorite memories are these annual get togethers!

 



Here you go: Recipes

Due to the overwhelming demand (like five people) for the recipes from my dinner tonight I am posting here to share with the world (or at least those five people).

Miso Glazed Salmon

Preheat broiler to high heat.  Rinse salmon and pat dry then place in a shallow baking dish.  Whisk together the following:

1/4 cup miso paste (you might have to go to Whole Foods for this)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp sake (I used sushi seasoning which from what I can tell is sushi vinegar with maybe some extra spices)
1 Tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp minced ginger
1 1/2 tsp sesame seeds (I actually forgot to add them in so I just put them on top of the glaze.  I think I like it better that way)
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp sesame oil

Pour mixture over salmon and broil for 8-10 minutes until fish flakes easily with a fork.

I will admit that the glaze was possibly a little strong.  The miso paste was very, very thick - basically a solid - and so I think next time I will use less miso paste and/or water it down more.  I just scraped some of the extra glaze off and mixed it with my rice and I thought it was delicious.  I cooked the kids' salmon with the glaze for flavor but then scraped some of it off to serve them because they don't always love sauce.  Actually, Little Mister doesn't love sauce and Baby Sister will eat sauce exclusively, and not her dinner, so I try to minimize sauce in general as much as possible.  If you have hesitations about the miso glaze, just use teriyaki.  I've made teriyaki salmon before and loved it almost as much.

Ok, so the salmon was good but I think everyone's favorite part was the broccoli!  Yes, the broccoli was the favorite!!!!  And it's super easy.  Win. Win.

Crispy Honey Broccoli

Place approx 12 oz broccoli florets in a shallow baking dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and honey (I used agave nectar) then sprinkle with kosher salt and red pepper flakes.  Broil for 8-10 minutes while salmon cooks, stirring once. 

I used crushed chili peppers from our garden that we had dried so it was much finer than the flakes that you buy.  It was just enough to give it a little heat but not spicy at all.  

I loved this meal.  Easy. Quick. Delicious.  I'm excited to make it again.  Next time I will take a picture.

Snow Day

Last Friday it was 65 degrees.  I went for a jog.  The next day it snowed.  Hard.  For about an hour or two.  It wasn't enough for anything to get cancelled (what a waste!) but we did get enough snow to throw snowballs for Weezer to catch in his mouth (just like the old days) and build a tiny snowman.  The last time it snowed Baby Sister was actually a baby - about four months old.

Sunday morning there was still some left on the ground.  The Mister ran through the snow on the church lawn.  When we came out, it was all melted.  Only our snowman remained.  Today there was just enough of the snowman left for them to stomp on while they played outside...without jackets. Crazy weather.

Baby Sister asked me today when the snow would come back.  I told her when she was four :(

Valen-tiny

Every once in awhile a girl's just got to brag on herself.  I saw some cute bow tie / suspender sets online and thought, I can do that.  So I made the Mister some suspenders and tie for church and a matching skirt for Baby Sister.  Here are my Valentinies modeling their outfits.  The Mister calls this his "handsomest outfit".  Baby Sister was mostly impressed with the heart pockets for her treasures.

 

The day before Valentine's he had a party at school and I whipped up a cute little shirt for him to wear (I just sewed on the tie, of course) and a heart shirt for Baby Sister to match her skirt.  I'm really pleased how they turned out.

Brad was up to his own crafting too.  He had the kids make this handprrint card for me.  So cute!  I'm going to treasure it forever.  Mister recently asked what the biggest number was.  I told him when I was in second grade I learned about a "google" and thought that was the biggest number of all.  He has been using the term frequently now.  And Baby Sister copies everything he says :) 

His class made these moustache cards at school.  I put it on the garage door so that Brad would see it first thing when he came home from work that day.  It made him smile.  Who wouldn't want to be greeted by that face?

 

With all this cuteness, how could we not have a Happy Valentine's Day?!?!?