Weekend

This weekend we went to Kelly's mom's house and met up with her sister Carrie for the day.  We went to a really fun children's museum where the boys had a blast.  Here are a few pics.  Jake on a dinosaur, Tyler playing and Eric on a bed of nails!  Jacob is really into trains right now and he has a pair of Thomas the Train sandals that he refuses to take off.  He doesn't care that they are too big, just screams when we try to take them off.  I guess it's just as well--his feet STINK!

Just had to post this--last time we gave Tyler a haircut we did it at home.  We usually go to the barber where they have a vacuum on the clippers so no hair gets in his face, well, at home he screamed the whole time because of the hair in his eyes, etc.  So last night we prepared to give Jacob a little trim and Tyler came in like this.  When I asked him why he was wearing goggles he said, "So I don't get Jacob's hair in my eyes!"  It was so funny, but also pretty clever of him to think of it!

Tyler's Costumes

Tyler loves to wear costumes.  He still wears his spiderman costume from Halloween at least once a week.  His aunt Carrie gave him a storm trooper costume for his birthday and it is just the same.  I had to take this shot though, because he had the costume on, but for some reason wasn't wearing the mask.  Instead he came down wearing this red tiara his friend gave him at school.  It was pretty funny.  Also, for those of you who aren't very tech savvy, you can click on the images to make them larger to see them better.  (mom, that's you..)

My silly Jacob

Two funny pics.  The top is Jake after eating spaghetti--he loves it but he sure is messy!  And the bottom one, Eric was relaxing in the chair and Jake climbed up and plopped in next to him.  He sure loves his daddy!

A Cool Break

Yesterday after Tyler's soccer game we needed to cool off from the heat so decided to go up to Big Bear Lake (about 1.5 hours away--a drive distance we are now so used to doing if we want to do anything at all).  It was over 100 degrees at our house, which it has been for over 3 months now, but only 75 up in Big Bear, so needless to say it was great.  We packed a picnic (of which the kids ate only the chips and fruit rolls and juice--they didn't touch their sandwiches) and went on a hike so short it barely qualifies as one, the boys built a fort and we all had a nice time.  In this picture, Tyler was pouting for who knows why.  Too bad but I guess it typifies him right now--Dr Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.  Of course in the car on the way back my kids kept saying how hungry they were...well, duh.  They didn't eat their lunches.  I think my car has a radar in it that makes my kids hungry.  It never fails we get in the car and within 5 minutes, whether or not we just ate, they are whining about how hungry they are.  Argh!

Soccer Mania

Well, Tyler had his first game of the soccer season yesterday morning.  He did awesome...in fact, he scored the first goal (and there were only 2 scored)!  He was very good about getting around the ball and kicking in the right direction (a big improvement from last season--you can see the coach from the other team pointing saying "Our goal is that way!") and was always right there in the mix of things.  He loves to play and even when he was on the sidelines he was cheering, "Go Red Ninjas!"  I guess they picked their own name.  It was fun to see him do well, especially in the first game.

Art? Is that you?

So I just wanted to post a pic of a piece of Dan Flavin's "art" that we saw displayed at the MET in NYC...  Yes, it literally was a regular, joe blow, fluorescent lightbulb hung on the wall at a 45 degree diagonal.  This image is even more exciting because this bulb is yellowish, but the one we saw (I couldn't find an exact image) was regular old white.  The title was "The Diagonal of May.....some date I can't remember.  Even the title was lame.  I tell you what, I know art is in the eye of the beholder, but if this is good enough for the MET then I should start charging people to come into my kitchen--I've got 2!  It's gonna cost you extra to see the recessed flood light at the top of my staircase....

I wanna be a part of it....

As most of you know, Eric and I took a little trip to NYC this past weekend.  He was going on an army recruiting trip to speak at Columbia Dental School and so we had free hotel, he flew free, got a daily stipend.  He asked me if I wanted to go and I said, "Don't you know me at all?  Any chance to travel and pawn my kids off for a couple days is AOK!"  So I found a cheap flight and convinced my mom (poor soul) to watch the turkeys for a few days.  I won't go into too much detail, except to say we slept in, ate out, went to the movies and had a great time.  We even got to watch some of the filming of Ben Stiller in "Night at the Museum 2".  Pretty groovy.  It was nice to visit the East Coast again.  Weather was great and Eric's "speech" turned out to be hardly anything and it only took him away for 2 hours total on Sunday evening.  Not too shabby for Kelly!  The pics are Eric in Central Park and me at the Statue of Liberty--I have no idea who that other guy is in the pic.  I could've used one more day, but overall, it was very nice.  

Our First "Real" School Experience

Well, it's official...I have a school-age child.  Tyler had his first week of kindergarten last week and loved it, as did I.  I have to say, I feel a but guilty for not being one of those mothers who cried when her son went to school for the first time.  Tyler was very excited to go which made it better.  And after that first day I knew I was going to like this new situation.  Tyler was getting pretty bored at home this summer and for Tyler BOREDOM = GRUMPINESS.  I took him to school the first day and met his teacher, etc.  She is very nice and seems up to the task (I could never teach 5-year-olds).  He took the bus home starting the first day, and now takes the bus to and from school each day.  He loves it--he feels like such a big boy!  It's nice because I walk him to the bus stop and a teacher meets them at the school, then after school they walk them back to the right bus, etc.  And his bus is only for kindergartners, plus it only makes 2 stops so it is never more than half full.  I was a little worried at first, but it has been fantastic, plus all his friends take the bus with him.  My past week and a half has been great--it's amazing how much easier everything is with only one kid!  I guess in a couple months I won't have that luxury anymore, so I ain't gonna shed a tear--I'm gonna enjoy it while it lasts!

I know, I am a crazy blogger now--but a lot is going on right now.  Tonight Eric went out to water the "flowers" (we like to call them flowers even though there isn't a petal on them) when a huge scorpion crawled out from beneath them.  I mean, you can't tell in the picture but this thing is the biggest scorpion I've ever seen--at least 2" long just in it's body and it's tail is another 2 1/2".  Eric thought it would be cool to catch it (I was amenable to killing it myself) so here is a shot of it in one of our (soon to be thrown away) Tupperware containers....   Good thing the boys weren't out there--this was 3 feet from our front door!

Tyler's Party

Okay, a quick brief on Tyler's party.  It was a Speed Racer theme and we had 5 kids there....too many if you ask me.  Actually, one was a mistake invite but what can you do.  We had it at our community center.  First we made and painted marshmallow guns which were a huge hit--in fact, several parents asked me for directions to they could make them with their other kids (thanks for the idea Sharee!).  Then we had cake and ice cream (I made a racetrack cake which I saw Hillary made a while ago for Josh's birthday--great minds think alike), opened presents and had a pinata.  Why do I keep buying presents for my kids?  I bought this nice Speed Racer hot wheels track that is really cool (and a but pricey) but his favorite toy of all were these 2 little 2" tall star wars figurines.  He hasn't put them down since.  I swear, my kids are just as happy playing with a cookie scooper and tongs (no exaggeration--Tyler and Jake played with those exact 2 things for over an hour this afternoon) than with a $30 fancy toy.  When will I learn....  I could save all that money and go get pedicures for myself.

Okay, so here's my first real blogging story.  Tonight I put Jacob to bed and we usually sing a couple of songs.  We sang a train song and then I asked him if he wanted the "Popcorn Song."  He took his hand, put it to his mouth and acted as though he were eating it, then puts his hands up in the air, shrugs his shoulders and says, "I ate it, it's all gone."  Sounded like "I ade it, is aw gonn."  I guess no popcorn song tonight!  

I know Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest, but in our family they are one of the busiest days of the week.  Eric has meetings from 8 a.m. until 10:30, when we go to church at 11:00.  Eric inevitably is asked last minute to speak or teach a class.  I sit with the boys by myself since Eric is up on the stand and get up to play the piano for hymns, when of course the boys come up to me while I am playing to ask me questions.  After sacrament we rush out to the car to drive over the next set of buildings.  I rush Jake to nursery, run to Primary where I am the pianist as well as first counselor, and try to get things set up for Sharing Time which I do every couple weeks, and also try to find subs for the teacher who don't show up.   After, I hurry and clean up and then get the boys back in the car to come home for snack while Eric stays late to do tithing and setting apart people.  Finally we get home, settled and can relax, but it certainly is not a day of rest!

Just trying to figure out how to put pictures on...

Okay I have no idea how to blog so this will be a very lame blogsite, but hopefully I'll get better with time.  I just need to figure this thing out.  Tyler had his birthday party yesterday--pics and details to come when I can figure this thing out.