Our Gardening Adventure

Okay, for all who asked, here is a picture of Eric's truck.  It is a great little truck and very handy already for our attempt to build a little garden this morning....Last night we went to Home Depot for our "date night" (exciting I know) and picked up a bunch of supplies to build a garden.First off, Jacob threw some rocks at Dad, so here he is starting our "fun" family activity with a time-out... (isn't is frustrating when you try so hard to have good family activities and they never turn out they way you picture them in your head...argh!)
So on to better things.  Eric dug some rocks out of the corner of our yard and built up a little area for our garden (for those of you who haven't been here, pretty much everything is rocks--3/4 of our yard at least is these rocks).
The boys "helped" Eric mix in some garden soil into the sand under the rocks.  I'm sure Eric appreciated the assistance.
And I had to get a shot of this.  For those who know Jacob, you know how stubborn he is.  Well, this morning there are 2 things he wouldn't let us do (and we decided it wasn't worth the fight at the moment--you know, we are keeping our family activity "fun").  Bet you can't guess what those 2 things are.......
SPOILER ALERT!  The two things are clean his face and brush his hair.  He has a kind of 1980's Flock of Seagulls look going on.  Very stylish.  And I guess he was just saving some of his breakfast to eat later.  And then we filled the box with garden soil and let the boys pack it down a bit.  Tyler asked what the stinky smell was and we told his it was cow poop.  He jumped out of the dirt and said he wasn't helping any more because he didn't want to get poop on his shoes.  We had to take back our cow poop comment and told him we were kidding, but that it really was manure. 

Tyler: "What's manure?"  

Me:  "Manure is something in dirt that gives plants the vitamins it needs to grow."  

Tyler:  "Oh okay, as long as it's not cow poop.  That's gross."  

Right....so here he is after he decided to help again, knowing that it was merely manure and not poop...
And Maggie pitched in too.  Actually it was Jake who thought she wanted to help so he made sure she got one of the seedlings to plant.  It was pretty sweet of him, even if it did get dirt all over her cute bouncer seat.  Look at that big bald head!
And here I am with the boys planting the rest of the seeds (we started with a few seedlings but mostly seeds).  Time will tell if my Black Thumb Curse is still active.  I manage to kill every plant I come in contact with, maybe my luck will change.  I think Jacob will manage to kill the plants too...not because of a curse but because he has already wrapped a slinky around one plant and stepped right on top of another.  I might have to put a fence up around the garden not to keep out deer but to keep out Jacob.
Planting some radishes....
And our final product!  Tyler was very proud, but, once again, Jacob was upset.  He was mad at me and refused to smile because he wanted to stand on the plants (again) for his picture.  Ummm, if this is only the first day of keeping him out of the garden maybe I bit off more than I can chew....  We may have a rough season ahead!
But we had fun and managed to get it all done in a couple hours.  In the garden bed we planted peas, broccoli, chives, radishes, red and yellow peppers, cantaloupe and strawberries.  We also planted a watermelon plant in a large pot, some herbs in another pot and tomatoes in an upside-down planter.  The growing season is long here so hopefully we will reap at least a few fresh fruits and veggies from our little garden.  Wish us luck!

A few thoughts on Motherhood and Life...

Sorry all the pictures are first...I messed up when I was doing this....a few pics of Maggie to start--isn't she getting big?




I just wanted to post a few thoughts on motherhood and such.  With three kids running around crazy, a lot of the time I feel not like a 3 child parent, but like the ring-master of a 3 ring circus! My days get filled with the drudges of life--wake up, get boys fed, Tyler off to school, Maggie fed, grocery, laundry, Jake nap, pick up Tyler, soccer practice, and on and on and on.  I never feel like I am "finished" with what I need to do.  Managing 10 things at any given time.  You all know how it is.  And at times I think that I can't wait until my kids grow up and become more independent.  But then there are those moments when my children are just playing sweetly, Maggie is cooing and I look at them and think my heart is going to burst out of my chest because I love them so much.  I had one of those moments that make it all worth it--we were sitting outside on a beautiful day.  Maggie was in a bouncer chair cooing, Tyler was jumping on the trampoline and Jacob was laying underneath the trampoline on his giant stuffed lion giggling.  It was a really sweet moment.  Of course, a few minutes later, we were back to the circus.  

I have to say that in these rough economic times, Eric and I are doing all we can to stimulate the economy...if you catch my drift.  Yes, we bought a new car over the weekend--a Toyota Tacoma.  Eric wanted a new truck and we wanted another car that the boys at least could fit in.  So, I won't go into details, but we ended up with new truck.  Later that day I was reading the owners manual and realized how soft technology has made our minds--under the troubleshooting section where it said what to do if the keyless remote entry doesn't work.  Guess what it said?  "Use the key."  Haha!  I joked with Eric about it but he said that Tyler saw one of the keys for the new truck that wasn't attached to the keyless entry remote and asked Eric, "Daddy, how can you unlock the doors to the car without the button?"  He was genuinely concerned.  It was cute.

Also, look who learned to ride his bike!  He is getting really good at it--so fast I couldn't even get a clear picture!  Jacob sat in the car and watched.  Tyler even rode his bike all the way to the bus stop this morning!  Hooray!

Sand Fun

Okay, it's been a while, but it isn't that I forgot about blogging, it's just that my life really is that boring.  I figured no one wants to hear my escapades about grocery shopping, the post office or picking up Tyler from school (although trying to do the above with 3 kids can be a little interesting).  So, yesterday after stake conference we went out to some sand dunes on the shores of the dry lake bed near our house.  Someone told Eric about them and we thought we'd check it out.  I thought, "Finally, something to blog about!" and I even grabbed the camera!  Of course we get out there, driving along a sandy wash out onto this huge dry lake bed and I get out the camera to take some cool shots, but the battery was dead.  Ugh!  Talk about frustration!  So, I will briefly talk about what we did and you'll have to imagine the scenery.  We drove out to the lake in a sandy wash (imagery: sand and desert shrubs) and got out to the lake bed (imagery: a huge completely flat expanse of dry, cracked dirt crust)--meanwhile the whole time we are kicking up enough dust that Tyler panicked and shouted "Mom, dad!  A sandstorm is coming!  Hurry!  It's a sandstorm!"  We then headed to the sand dunes on the north side of the lake bed (imagery: sandy hills with more desert shrubs).  Okay, they were somewhat cooler than that imagery but it is a little hard to explain without pictures!  But the boys had a great time jumping off the tops and sliding down.  Tyler even made several sand angels--yeah, you heard me right--sand angels, and believe me, sand gets into more places than snow....  We walked around a bit and tried to stay away from shrubs (snakes, scorpions, red ants, etc) and had a good time.  Tyler kept throwing handfuls of sand saying, "Sand blast!" and then fighting an imaginary villain.  It was pretty funny.  Jacob kept getting concerned when he couldn't see one of us (I don't blame him--everything looks the same and it can be a little disorienting).  After we got in the car the boys took their shoes off....I think we now have enough sand in our car that we won't have to go the beach anymore.  We can build our own sandcastle.  So those are our adventures in sand land.  Next time we go I will make sure my camera works!  There were all different shades of brown, beige, tan and taupe...   ;-)  No really, it was at least something to do that didn't involve tv or computer time.  Now you all have a reason to come visit!

Our Sunday Best

Yesterday we all got ready for church on time, without a big rush right before it was time to leave.  So I had a few moments to look over my brood and I realized, man, I have some good lookin' kiddos!  So I had to snap a few pics.  These pictures are solely posted for the intent of showing off my adorable kids, completely for bragging rights.  The first is the boys--Jacob got a new dinosaur tie and loved it!
And Maggie was all decked out too.  She obviously was very happy in her dress and bow.  Hopefully that means she will be a girly girl!  

I just loved all of these pictures.  I need to look at these shots when I am feeling frustrated with my kids so it will remind me that my kids aren't always crazy....they can be very sweet.

My 2 Superheroes

The above pic I had Eric take because I was recently looking at some old friends' blogs (from dental school and stuff like that) and none of them had pictures of themselves on them, only of their kids!  But I wanted to see my friends so I thought I'd post a pic of the current Kelly.  Of course, I didn't want a pic of just me (how conceited would that be) so we threw Maggie in there as a buffer.  It came out pretty cute for an on the spot idea!  Below is another picture Tyler took and again, he caught Maggie smiling.  I look like I have a double chin, so just ignore that....  Maggie has kind of a silly smile but it shows her personality.  She is so smiley and happy most of the time.  She loves people!
So, I was having a snack this afternoon in the kitchen while Jacob was coloring (with his back to me) at the table.  All of the sudden Jacob says, "Look mommy, I'm a superhero!"  I turn around and see this exact scene........
I almost got mad, but then had to laugh.  He told me, "I have a superhero mask!"  So, I snapped a picture and we showed daddy and all had a good laugh.  Well, I guess that was a mistake because a minute later Tyler runs in, "I'm a superhero too!"  
So there are my two superheroes.  Aren't I lucky to be so protected?  And lastly is a picture Jacob took when he got a hold of the camera without me knowing.  Now, this is just a sample, it is one of no less than 58 picture he took almost exactly like this.....  I guess his artistic skills aren't quite up to par with his brother's yet....

All talk and no pics

Sorry, I have no pictures for this post.  We recently went to St. George for the holiday weekend with family and I forgot my camera like a dope.  Oh well.  We've had a few interesting things happen this past week.  On Thursday, Tyler had his Valentine's Day party at school.  Well, I got a call around noon saying that Tyler had puke all over him.  So I went to school as fast as I could and they said it wasn't Tyler's vomit, but another kid had thrown up all over him (and it was ALL over him--shirt, pants, socks and shoes).  Guess who the kid was?  None other than Eric's commanding officer's son!  It was so gross--the nurse hadn't done anything to clean it up so it was up to me (probably due to legal issues).  Now let me tell you that if you think it is bad cleaning up your own kids' puke, it is a million times more disgusting cleaning up a different kids' puke.  Plus it was bright red (due to an overload of Valentine's Day candy no doubt).  So, it was an experience.  

On Friday we left for St. George.  We had a great time while we were there except for night times.  We were staying in a hotel and those of you who've done so with 3 little kids knows what I mean.  Here are Eric and I, trying to tame the battle between Tyler and Jacob sharing a bed ("He's on my side!  Stop kicking me! Give me some covers!") , keep everyone quiet so Maggie would sleep in a pack n' play that takes up the entire vanity area, and laying there no later than 8 p.m. in the dark with nothing to do.  It made for a few sleep-deprived nights (as if my sleep hasn't suffered enough lately!).  But the days were a blast.  The boys had so much fun with their cousins, Maggie loved the attention from everyone.  We shopped, hiked, and just enjoyed some company and civilization.  

One sad story from our trip, though, was Jacob.  He was sick with a bad cough/cold and congestion.  The first night we put him to bed but he woke up about an hour later just crying uncontrollably.  I took him in bed with me and Eric went in the bed with Tyler.  I couldn't get Jake to stop crying and he started grabbing his ear saying it hurt.  Then, and this broke my heart, he started crying, "Take it off mommy!  Take it off!"  When I told him I couldn't take his ear off he cried, "Get the scissors and take it off mommy!"  I felt so bad I wanted to cry.  It was so sweet at the same time.  After a while, we realized we had to do something so Eric got dressed and went to a store and got some medicine (don't we love daddies?).  Eventually we got Jacob to sleep, sitting up in one of the chairs propped up with pillows and blankets.  It was quite a night.  

One quick side note is that Jacob has a cute new saying.  He doesn't really say, "Woo hoo" anymore, to my dismay, but he has replaced it with a new phrase, "all the day."  I have no idea where it came from but he uses it all the time.  "I take a nap all the day.  I eat french fries all the day.  I get dressed all the day."  It is so funny, he drags out the all so it is more like, "aaaaaallll the day."  Makes me smile.  One of those niblets of joy we mommies have to find in our day.  I know this is a long post, sorry, but that's all.  Now I will go have a snack...all the day. 

I knew it...

Tyler wanted me to post this picture of us together.  He said it was one of his favorite pictures because it was of his mom.  Aawwww....  But, I knew it couldn't be that easy with Jacob.  He hasn't 100% regressed into diapers, but he has a few accidents a day now.  So, the underwear is out and the pullups are in.  He still has only had one poopy accident, which is lucky.  Those underwear go straight into the trash.  But, I am hopeful he will get back into the swing of things....  I knew I couldn't be that lucky.  Here is a picture of Tyler showing off his artistic prowess.  He drew the dragon on the left and colored the one on the right.  They are Bakugan dragons.  He was pretty proud as you can see.
I just had to show you all these cute socks my sister gave me for Maggie.  They came in a whole set of different colors, they are called Mary Janes (for obvious reasons).  Aren't they so cute?  They are perfect because I never put my kids in shoes until they are walking so these fit the bill.
What follows are pictures of Maggie that Tyler took when I was unaware.  I think he is going to be a professional photographer when he grows up.  He loves to take pictures and does a fantastic job!
And of course these next two Tyler told me that he was letting Maggie play with his toys--first Bakugan cards then superheroes....  I am sure she loved playing with them...

I can't believe Tyler captured this moment--I have the hardest time getting her smiles on camera, and my 5-year-old gets a great one!
And this one just made me laugh...
And a cool pic of the sky the other day--that is the moon in the middle.  The boys thought it was the coolest thing to see the moon in the middle of the day.