New stuff

New stuff is fun. Already today Jens and I have played animal bingo (thank you Laura) and put together this huge puzzle (thank you Amber and London). Birthdays are nice to freshen things up and add a little variety.

It is four feet long, to give you an idea of how tall he is.

Compare/Contrast

I haven't done comparison pictures in a while.

Master Bathroom

Before:

Well, I was sort of waiting thinking we might get the new faucets and sinks put in, but it is a two person job and we haven't had time to take it on yet. So I will put up pictures of our bathroom so far. Some day I would like to gut the whole thing and put in a tub and new cabinets and counter tops, but it is pretty low on the priority list. I enjoyed painting the cabinetry, but I have realized that although I really like how the distressed look looks in other peoples' homes, I don't necessarily love it for mine. I am glad I tried it out in the bathroom first instead of realizing that after painting the whole kitchen!

After:

I know it is hard to believe we want to replace the existing faucets, but hey, we're just crazy like that.

What I have been doing (August 21)

Mainly, trying to cope with all sorts of events and activities. But in between, I have been working on our master bath. I put in a new light and painted. Right now I am painting the cabinets. I am practicing for the kitchen.

The picture looks a little pink, but the cabinets are not pink at all.
Also, I took the kids up to (where else) Apple Hill.

We picked raspberries and got treats and I made jam (raspberry-peach and strawberry).

I have also been trying to clean our house, a never-ending task that never reaches completion, possibly because as quickly as I can put things away, other people in our house can get things out and as quickly as I can wash things, people can dirty them.

Mike and I also noted the passing of our 9th anniversary. I say "noted the passing" because frankly, if I hadn't looked at the calendar the day before, neither of us would have remembered it. We didn't go out and we didn't do anything special, although I did put on my wedding dress and walk around the house. Maybe we will celebrate this weekend.

Party Time

On Monday morning, Jens was thrilled to see balloons in the backyard. "Does this mean I am 5?" he asked, thinking he was having another birthday. I had to explain that we were still celebrating turning 4 and that many other holidays had to occur before his next real birthday. I am not sure if he got it.

He was very excited about the party, though, and asked so often when his friends were coming that I finally showed him the clock and told him that when the little hand was pointing to the 1 and the big hand was pointing to the 12, then it was party time. A little while later he came running to me. "The hand is pointing to the one!" It was 9:05. Can I say it was his longest morning ever?

The time finally came and it was all he had hoped.

We had 5 friends--Cassie, Sarah, London, Nathanael, and McKenna.

They all came ready to play in the water, and we had all sorts of fun. The sprinkler, spray bottles, a little pool, buckets, water balloons (a sure sign of a dedicated and loving father),

and of course, a slip and slide.

Add to that watermelon, lemonade, decorating your own cupcakes,

ice cream cones, and a pinata

and you have a four year old's dream party. The only problem we encountered was running out of time.

It was a very happy day.

Don't You

Just want to squeeze her and eat her up?

She looks good in pig tails.

Happy Birthday dear Jens!

Can you believe my little boy is 4? I can't! He has been counting down to his birthday all month. Every morning he would wake up and say "Is it August?" When I answered the affirmative, he would follow up with "Is it my birthday?" We looked on the calendar and counted down a lot. This morning he came running into my room with a big smile on his face at 6:45 (ug). When I wished him happy birthday, he beamed and announced that he was 4 now.

I decorated and set the table and put his presents out last night, so he came downstairs and was so excited that he could barely wait for Mike to get home from his bike ride. By the time he finally opened his presents, his hands were shaking with excitement. (Notice the pinata in the background--he insisted that it be part of the decor, even though we aren't going to do anything with it until his party, which will be Monday)

He loved everything he opened and frequently exclaimed "This is my best birthday ever!"
This is him opening his new Bob the Builder movie. "What!?" He exclaimed. "Bob in the snow?" He couldn't believe it.

He has spent most of the day playing his new games, reading his new books, and trying out his new toys.

For a fun birthday activity we went and rode the train at the city park and got hot dogs at Sams.

(Yum!) Both kids conked out in the car on the way home, but as soon as Mike set Jens in his bed, his eyes popped open and he was collecting all of his new toys to play with during "rest time." We finished the day with macaroni and cheese, which Jens said several times was his favorite dinner ever, Cars, a peek into his baby book, and cake with a new Lightning McQueen on top. Did I mention he lost almost all of his favorite cars in one fell swoop? He was a very happy boy. We sure are glad he is part of our family, and we love him.

Sweet Sylvie

She is growing so fast! It seems like she is getting big and doing all sorts of things. The crawling thing keeps us on our toes! She has a very distinctive crawl--she drags her left foot in a normal crawling way, but she uses the bottom of her right foot to push herself along. As Mike observed, she is very adept at using her fat little sausage fingers to locate and pick up the tiniest items and scraps of paper and put them straight into her mouth.

Last Sunday I put her in this adorable Sunday outfit. I tried to get a good picture of her, but she was cranky and just kept trying to crawl to me, crying.

Here she is with orange crayon all over her face. She and Jens are making a dangerous combo these days--he loves cutting paper unto confetti and coloring, she loves putting everything she can find into her mouth.

Here she is being so cheerful while her big brother tries to role onto her.

She makes us so happy--it is fun to see her personality emerging more and more strongly. She loves to laugh at Jens. She also thinks coughing is funny, which is sometimes alarming--she'll cough once and then just keep doing it because she likes it. She is eating more and more foods by herself--she really likes feeding herself and would happily do so for hours, I think. Potatoes, green beans, and Rice Chex are new around here this week.

Jens announced to Mike "It's hot in here. We need to take our shirts off." So they did.

Can we fix it?

This morning in family prayer, Jens blessed that Dad would have a good day at work and that he'd "Get the job done."

Tonight they are singing the Bob the Builder theme song for bedtime. Oh. Now they are singing the "I am a Builder" song from primary. Hmm. Now back to Bob the Builder.

You would think he watches Bob regularly, but this all goes back to watching it in the car during our mammoth vacation. He hasn't watched it since then aside from five minutes worth during a haircut.

Our Front Yard

As I mentioned before, with the unseasonably wonderful weather, I have been working outdoors a great deal. We came home to a hideous yard (surprise! No enterprising elves transformed it while we were gone.) and I have been attacking it with renewed vigor. Sadly, yesterday I had my first yard injury. I was trying to dig up Bermuda grass, which I hate more than English Ivy, and lost my balance and stepped down onto my cultivator, puncturing a hole in my shoe and my foot. Happily, my tetnus shot is up to date (hurray!) but now my foot really hurts and occasionally starts bleeding on things. But, I have made a considerable amount of progress. I have decided, however, that the Bermuda Grass is actually worse than the rocks I have been sifting out. It is so hard to get out, probably because it's roots look like this:

Here is my rock pile:

What I have left (boo for all that grass yet to be dug out):

and what I have done:

I entertain myself by imagining all the different things I could do to this yard once it is all clear. Sadly, my imagination has no budget, but I think even empty dirt will be a big improvement.

Since we've been home

Well, I realized I haven't really written much since we got home from vacation almost 2 weeks ago. Honestly, that is because we haven't done much. We were pretty exhausted and have been "lying low" since then. I have enjoyed puttering around the house and working on the yard. We have been enjoying unseasonably cool weather, so it has been lovely outside.

We have also managed the park a couple of times and I took the kids to the community pool. They do a really nice thing on Fridays--before the pool opens to the public, they open the pool for an hour and a half to parents and kids 6 and under only. There weren't many people there and Jens had a pretty good time. Sylvie even liked sitting and splashing in the water. Sadly, I forgot her swimming suit top, so she sort of looked like a boy wearing a pink speedo and a blue hat.

Sylvie has been learning all sorts of things and is growing far to quickly for my taste. Having her mobile definitely makes life a little trickier. We are not all the way baby-proof and aren't sure what to do about our unsafe stairs and railing.

She gets some pretty serious bed head these days. I think I need to trim off her little mullet. She is pulling herself up more and more often on whatever happens to be around. Her balance is really improving! Yesterday morning she pulled herself up on a toy that was lying flat on the ground, then squatted down to play with it.

She loves to follow Jens around and play with whatever he is playing with. I wish she would learn to crawl away from him--I feel like my whole day consists of saying "Jens! Stop!" as he mauls her, pulls her, pulls her arms out from under her, and lies on top of her.

We are finally trying some more foods. So far so good. Her allergic reactions are growing more and more mysterious. I haven't been eating spicy foods and she hasn't been having any reactions, so that is the only thing I can think of that was causing the problem.

This was a very delicious nectarine that she sort of pulverized. She did eat some, but she isn't sure about the whole texture thing instead of baby food puree.

Jens is still reveling in being home. He plays and plays. His favorite thing continues to be his Cars cd, which I am listening to right now for the nth time. For a while his cd would only play the first 3 songs and then stop, so I made him a new cd yesterday and he is playing it nonstop. He had been singing "Huuuuuh Nuuuuuuh Huny-ya-huh" sort of tunelessly for a month, and he finally played it for us yesterday. It is from song #9, which he is now playing over and over. It is an instrumental with a really cool electric guitar part that he loves, thus the "Huh Nuh Huny-ya-huh." He continues to challange every aspect of my parenting being, although, thankfully, he is leaving behind his angry killing and blowing up play and hasn't pointed his fingers at me to shoot me in several days (thank goodness!).