Dresses

You know when you find THE perfect dress? The kind of dress that is just perfect for a tea party. And not just any tea party, but a royal, fancy tea party...



Imagine the sheer delight of two little princesses upon finding TWO such dresses on the same day! One for each princess. Bailey has an obsession with "Lella" (Cinderella) and I found this little number for her. Rachel just loves everything fancy and adored the dress I got for her. I actually purchased it because she'd toyed with being Rapunzel for Halloween, but then changed her mind a few (at least 7) times after. She put it on and declared that in the dress she was "the Queen of the World." Good find, Mom, good find.

So when you have a dress that good, you can't just take it off. You should wear it. Everyday. Everywhere you go. Because you can.









Sidenote: Steve doesn't yet know that I am sharing the above picture. There was a time in his life that he would have cared. Probably a great deal. Now? He's a man wrapped around his little girls' fingers. He lets them dress him up. He wears lovely jewelry for them. Do take note, however, that he just couldn't compromise on one thing. No teeny, tiny tea cup for him. No siree. He's a 44 oz. man. Nice. Just as long as he still remembers to lift his pinky.

Catch up

I hate to brag, but I do have to honestly say that I am pretty darn good at procrastinating. I used to be, at least. -sigh- When I was in school, I could work really well under pressure and get a lot done at the last minute. A lot of things have changed since then. For one, I've gotten dumb. Not that I was ever the sharpest tool in the shed, but I could usually hold my own. Now, I am just kinda dumb. Sorry, I digress. The point I was trying to get to is that I'm not as good at cranking out high volumes of productivity at once. It used to be a challenge. Now I just get overwhelmed and don't want to do it. So, with a blog it shouldn't matter. I have no deadlines, nobody really cares about whether I do it or not. Okay, I do, but that's, again, not the point. After being unable to blog for so long, I feel like I have a ton that I'd like to catch up on. I've sure thought about wonderful, witty blog posts over the last few months. I just sit here and feel overwhelmed. The old (smarter) me would see the challenge and buckle down to do it and dazzle. Now? I'm thinking I just need to get started. So here goes: --warning-- picture overload.

We started out our summer with swimming lessons. My kids love swimming and we love our little aquatic center. Both Matt and Rachel did really well. Bailey could have done a "Mommy and Me" class this year, but was too young for official lessons. We didn't do the Mommy and Me for several reasons. One, I felt like I needed to be available for the other two kids - especially if Rachel needed help. The other, bigger reason is that the Mommy part of Mommy and Me shouldn't put on a bathing suit and be in public. Next year, Bailey, next year.




The kids logged oodles of hours playing in the water. They ran in sprinklers, played on the ol' slip & slide, played with water balloons, and soaked in the wading pool. I came home one day from running errands and found Steve and the girls cooling off.




Another thing that consumed a TON of time this summer was our garden. It was an awful lot of work, but it was a great experience. Really. No, really. "Our" garden kind of ended up being "my" garden pretty quickly, as I was the gal out breaking my back in the dirt. :) Bailey actually spent a lot of time "helping" me. Truly, though, our little garden worked miracles this year. We loved all the fresh produce, but the experience was the most valuable part. Remember my little Bailey who had such issues with tactile and sensory things? You know, the one who wouldn't eat forever? Fist off, she started out not hardly wanting to touch the dirt. After a few weeks, she was digging and playing like it was the most natural thing on earth. The other wonder was that this child ate just about everything from the garden. All of the work was so worth my kids eating carrots, peas, beans, spinach, squash, etc.



We spent a few days in Salt Lake with family and it was a blast! My sisters and I took the kids to the Gateway one afternoon and they played in the fountains. They were soaking wet and happy!



Becky and I sat in a tiny corner of shade with the littlest ones who didn't want to get wet. The kids and their wonderful Aunt Margaret all took part in the play.



One of the many, many things I love about living in Logan is the parades. The picture below is of the kids at the 24th of July parade. They love it for the things to see and the candy that everyone throws. (I found the girls a couple of days later playing "parade." They were prancing around the livingroom and throwing candy and small toys to each other.)



Several times during the summer we made day trips to Bear Lake. We packed lunches and water and headed up. The kids loved playing in the water and costructing elaborate cities in the sand. It was wonderful! It was so nice having everyone old enough that we could play with them or just sit back and watch. Steve just kept saying, "Why don't we do this more often?" We loved being so close to such a fantastic get-away.












Another thing on our summer wish list was to ride the Frontrunner Train. Ever since it started running, we'd been saying that we wanted to give it a try. One day we drove to Ogden and left our car at the station. We then rode the train down to Salt Lake where we got to ride Trax as well. We had lunch and then walked around the Gateway. It was a lot of fun and the kiddos loved the train.



We were able to have the kids' Ogden cousins up for a few days. Matt loves hanging out with his cousins and the girls adore them because they are so sweet with them. One afternoon we went bowling and had a blast. Bumper bowling while listening to the Beatles...heavenly. :)



Steve's mom has a summer work party every year and families are invited to attend. This year we went to Wheeler Farm. It was fun to see Nana and Steve's brother and his family. We ate, played games, and visited. Good times.




I included this next picture 'cause it's so seldom that we get one of all of us. Just disregard the fact that it looks like I have a second head sprouting from my right shoulder.



Another summer favorite is the County Fair. Love it!! Rachel got to ride a pony and was in heaven. The pony's name was Cocoa and she talked about it for weeks.



The local Ballet had a booth set up as well. The girls thought that this carriage was so amazing because it was "a real princess carriage." We even won tickets in a drawing to go to the Sugar Plum Fairy Tea that they have when they perform the Nutcracker.
We always enjoy walking through the fair and seeing the animals. We're all city folk and don't really understand the whole showing of the livestock and such, but hey, who doesn't love pigs, goats, and sheep? We had our traditional fair corn and Matt even sampled some fried Coca Cola.



We had such a fantastic summer! I literally have tons of pictures and have just shared a sampling. :) We weren't able to go on any big trips, but we did lots of fun day trips and ended the summer feeling like we did just about everything we wanted to.
With the wrapping up of summer came the beginning of school. Always bitter-sweet. It was a little sad to see the summer end, but it's always so exciting to start a new school year. Matt started 6th grade at the Middle School and Rachel started preschool.






Our family tradition is to have a Back to School dinner the night before school starts. We eat dinner on cafeteria trays and talk about the new school year. We reminisce about prior years and share what we're most excited about and goals for the year.



I'm happy to report that we all made it through the beginning of the new school year. Okay, so I wasn't worried about the kids making it; it was their Mom I was concerned for. :) Matt loves Middle school and Rachel adores preschool.




In a nutshell, that was our summer. It was terrific.

Back on the Grid

Hooray! We are back. It's been a tad alarming to realize how dependent I've become on the computer and the internet. We've still had some internet access, but it was somewhat limited because our old computer was somewhat limited. :)

So much has happened in the last few months, I don't even know where to begin to catch up. I'm kind of a stinky-ish blogger anyhow, but now I feel totally overwhelmed. Baby steps, right?

Today I have sick kids. Boo. This means it will be a long day and I won't likely get a lot done. If it weren't for sad kids who feel terrible, I guess sick days wouldn't be so bad. Lots of down-time and snuggling -that part I can take.

For now, we're off to the doctor's office. Then we'll take this day one thing at a time. Then, hopefully, in the near future, I can post some pictures and catch up a little bit.

Technical Difficulties

This has been such a fun and busy month, but I haven't updated my blog due to technical difficulties. We have two computers, a laptop and a desktop. Our laptop is having some problems - we think that for the first time in our married career, Steve and I are experiencing a virus on our computer. We can't use the durn thing to connect to the internet. It just won't work. It is the computer we use most often - to upload pictures, burn cd's, blog, print coupons, etc. The desktop is usually just the standby. Now, it's not because we don't love our computer (we LOVE you, Little Computer!); it's because this computer is older than 2 of my three children. No kidding. We bought this little darlin' when Matt was just over a year old. He's eleven now, folks. This computer is a gen-u-ine, bonafide, dinosaur. The tower is enormous and the fan can blow away small animals. In it's day, it was a fine specimen. Really. It's just gotten so old that they stopped making updates for it ages ago. It's been such a fantastic computer, though! It's seen hundreds of projects, a kajillion word documents, and years of internet hours. Amazing. We just can't do anything too fancy or new-fangled. So, for now, we'll just have to plug along with Windows 98 and keep taking pictures and stock-piling stories to post later.

4th of July

Our 4th of July has been a little different this year. Several of us have been a bit under the weather and Steve has had to work, so we really limited our activities. Nevertheless, it has been a nice weekend.





On Friday night we watched Logan's fireworks. We staked out our spot that afternoon, then went back and had a picnic while waiting for the show. Waiting is always the pits, but I was able to snap a few photos while the kids were still happy, excited,and not running all over the place over-tired and impatient. Yah, it happened. We did the totally geeky, and all wore semi-matching T shirts. (We tie dyed them earlier in the week. That night definitely goes under the "what was I thinking?" category. It did end up being pretty fun, though, and the shirts were cool. I didn't really know what I was doing and faded them, but oh well - live and learn).



The fireworks were great and it was a fun night. Saturday was a fairly mellow day. We missed out on several family activities, which was a bummer, but we took it easy. We still had a nice day and ended it with making a birthday dinner for Steve. (His b-day was the day before.)




Even though we were disappointed to miss out on some of the 4th of July fun, it has been good to celebrate and appreciate our country. I am so thankful to live where I do and enjoy the freedoms that I do. I am forever grateful to those who have sacrificed so very much to ensure this freedom. Happy Independence Day!

OUCH!

Last week we were outside enjoying the fantastic summer weather. I took the girls out to play in the water with some of our very cute neighbors. Rachel was going down a little slide into a wading poor, and somehow, turned her foot as she landed. She cried for a few minutes and then hobbled off to play for a few more minutes. Not too unusual. What was unusual was when she crawled back into my lap and said she was done playing because her foot hurt too badly. She wouldn't walk or even put any weight on it. I carried her in, gave her some Motrin and decided to watch it. The next morning she still wouldn't walk on it, so we took her into the doctor.
Several x-rays later, he concluded that he couldn't see a fracture. Yay! (I spent all the previous night with horrible visions of Rachel in a cast for the remainder of the summer.) The doc said it's a ligament injury and put her in a leg splint for a week. At the end of the week, we'll take her back for a follow-up. Doc mentioned they may take more x-rays to make sure nothing else shows up.
That day when we got home from the doctor, the spoiling started. Steve went and picked up a Happy Meal for the injured gal. That afternoon, he took Matt and Rachel to see Toy Story 3.



That night was a rough one. Rachel was pretty restless and uncomfortable. Baliey didn't sleep well at all, either, and we just assumed that Rach was keeping her roommate up. The next morning, however, it seemed like Bailey was getting a cold. Holy Cow! By that next night Bailey had a raging fever and was having an increasingly difficult time breathing. So, in the wee hours of the morning, we made a visit to the ER. They diagnosed her with croup (thank heavens the ugly RSV had not made a return), and gave her some breathing treatments. She responded well and I had some quiet, very grateful moments. I am so thankful for modern medicine and to live in a time and place where it can bless and heal my family.





So it's been a bit of a long and trying week. I have one little girl who feels great but can't get around very well and is supposed to be taking it easy. I have another little girl who has been feeling terrible and doesn't really know what she wants. Even though my house is a complete wreck, we've eaten breakfast for dinner several times, and I've had waaaay more than my share of being whined at, I am still grateful. I have some terrific kids and I'm so happy that both are healing so quickly and so well. I have to be completely honest, though, and say that I'm also grateful that we're almost through this.

Finally Summer

Summer has finally arrived in Logan. Just as we suspected, we had cool weather and rain one week, then the next the sun finally made it's debut and we were cooking. Hooray -- it feels like summer.

One of our favorite summer traditions is to attend Summerfest. The kids always love the children's art yard and we enjoy walking around appreciating the incredible and diverse talent of so many people.



Rachel and Bailey loved making all the little art projects. Steve and Matt had a little bit of trouble being patient while the girls had to do EVERY possible project, but they endured. :)



As we were getting ready to head home, we saw a guy making balloon creations. It never ceases to amaze me how kids become so mesmerized by balloon animals and hats. Okay, he was a very cute and carismatic kid and had the adults eating out of his hand, too.



Another perfect evening we spent at a very fun park that was built just last year. The very cool part about it was that Steve and Matt got to help build it. The picture below is of the part they helped build.






Bailey LOVED the slide. I loved that her baby-fine hair was sticking straight up.






It was a beautiful night and an awesome park. The best part was just hanging out together. Three cheers for summer!!

Confession

Remember this kid who wouldn't eat anything until she was 18 months old? Well, she's doing so much better now. There are still things that she's funny about and certain textures she still won't let through her little lips. Take one look at those sweet cheeks, though, and rest assured that she's not starving, albeit, still a little picky. She is trying more and more and constantly surprising us. We are very hopeful for summer and our garden as she is already eating vegetables out of the garden that she wouldn't eat before. She's on a great roll and it's SO nice not to be worrying that she's getting what she needs.
Now, with all that being said, here comes the confession. Look very closely at the little mug in the picture above. Do you see the orange goo around her mouth? This poor kid who wouldn't eat for months. The same kid who had our doctor stumped because her iron was so low and she wouldn't eat or take anything iron fortified without promptly vomiting. Well... her favorite thing in the whole, wide world is Cheetos! There, I've said it. She goes absolutely, postively goes CRAZY over the things. Seriously, the girl would eat them every day if I let her. I let her choose a treat at the store the other day and, yep, it was nasty, messy cheetos. Try as I did to persuade her to choose something else, she just clutched that crinkley bag to her little chest. She loves them. She chomps them so happily. She wears them afterward.
Move over, Chester Cheetah!

End of Year

This school year flew by like nobody's business!! Matthew finished 5th grade and next year will go to Middle School. I can't talk about that, though. Maybe after some therapy, I'll be able to post about the whole middle school thing. Anyway, back to this pre-therapy post. Matthew was one of 6 kids in the fifth grade who was awarded the "Hope of America" award in their end of year awards assembly. We were very proud -- of him for getting the award and of me for not making a bawling fool of myself.

We always take a photo of Matt on his last day of school.  This one just happens to be of him after we attacked him at the front door with silly string.

When we moved back to Logan (the summer before Matt started 2nd grade), we began a family tradition of having a big celebration dinner the last day of school.  We choose a country or region and build our dinner around it -- food, decorations, activities, etc. So far we've had a Hawaiin luau, a Mexican fiesta, and a Southern soul-food picnic. Matt knows we do this every year, but we don't tell him our theme until the dinner--so it's a surprise.

This year we chose a British theme with a fish fry.  Steve nor I had really made fish and chips for real before, so it was a little bit of an adventure.  It turned out pretty darn well, though.

 

The kids loved the British crackers even more than they did the meal. :) It was pretty funny watching them break them open. Rachel was laughing her head off.  I wish I'd been able to capture the look on their faces as they were really in the act of busting them open, but I was laughing too hard to remember to take photos. The only thing I can think of comparing it to is when you are opening one of those little cylindrical cans of Pillsbury rolls. Ya know, the ones where you tear the paper then push the seam until it pops. You find yourself pushing that dang seam with the dumbest look of anticipation and fear -- knowing it's going to pop, but then jumping and squealing a tiny bit when it does burst. (Please say that happens to other people too...)  They loved popping them open, and then playing with the little toys and hats inside.

We wore our lovely crowns while eating our pudding for dessert and watching "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" - which has nothing to do with English culture, but it's funny and we love it.

Matthew had a super year and we couldn't be more proud of him. He's a great student and a pretty darn good kid. :) I'm certain that next year will be as wonderful and that we have a lot to look forward to.  

Run!

We love the end of the school year. Yes, we love that it means that summer is just minutes away, but we also love the activities that come with the end of the year.

The end of May brought the Logan Fun Run. This is a mile run that involves all the fourth and fifth graders in the school district. It was great! Matt did a super job! We were a bit worried as he'd stayed home from school the day prior with a touch of a stomach bug. He was feeling fine the day of the run, but was concerned that his time wouldn't be as good because he was still lacking a little bit of energy. His goal became to just finish the race. He did it -- and did just fine with his time. I don't remember his exact time, but I guarantee that it was waaaaayy faster than I could have done!





Matt with a couple of his buddies.



...And with his biggest fans.





The 2nd of June brought the school's annual Wild Cat Run. Our principal (who rocks the world) started this tradition 5 years ago. It's also a mile run, but it's for the entire school. The kids have to train for 8 weeks or so before -- running so many miles so many days a week. They keep a log of their training time and have to turn it in before they can participate in the run. This year the school tried something different. They didn't do any fund raisers all year and used the run as the sole fund raiser. The kids asked family and friends to sort of sponsor them for the run. People donated money for the 30 miles of training and then the race. The so fantastic part of this all was the 100% of the money went straight to the school. The whole student body did amazingly well and they earned A LOT of money for the school. The day of the run was the best part, though.



Now, for real, we LOVE the WildCat Run. Steve asked for the day off a month before to be sure he'd be there. There is just something about kids setting a goal, working had, and accomplishing it. These kids run their hearts out -- and cheer each other on while doing it. ...I cry every dang year.

Below, the tall guy with the freaking leg muscles, he's the principal. He runs with each grade, so he runs over 5 miles; with the lead runner of each grade. Apparently he said he was worried about keeping up with the fastest runner by the time 5th grade ran. (The kid did like a 6 minute mile.) Yah, well, I am a witness that he not only kept up, but did it with gusto. One of Matt's best friends was the 5th grade winner -- and made a new school record. Nicely done!




There's our boy! I'm not joking, when my kid rounds that last corner, I'm choking up. I've done it every year since we've been in this school. This year was especially poignant as it was Matthew's last year.



Matt and his friend who didn't just break, but completely obliterated the school record. He's a great kid -- and lightnin' fast. Just a little sidenote: Bailey is completely obsessed with this friend. She adores him to say the least. He's so sweet to her when he comes to play, that she truly just loves him. She asks about him every time we go to the school. He and Matt were on the same soccer team and Bailey cheered just as loud and as much for him as she did for Matt. It's pretty cute.



Once again, Matt's biggest fans. (Rachel was actually pouting about something and wouldn't look at the camera for this photo. Nice.)




What a super way to bring the year to a close. We were so proud of our Wild Cats!!