Tour of California

It was rainy and cold, but we had a good time.

Mike was in charge of marking the "furniture" in the road. We civilians had to go to the sidelines to watch the bikers go by.

Sylvie waved to everyone in the peleton.

May 23rd

Happy 41st Anniversary, Mom and Dad! Glad you are so happy together.

This past week has been busy. I can't believe we are in the last week of school. In some ways it will be nice to not have the strict schedule--we can sleep in a little and relax, but on the other hand, how am I going to keep my kids entertained? I am sure we will some up with plenty of things. We usually do.

We enjoyed watching the Tour of California this week. Mike went downtown to watch the finish in Sacramento and he volunteered on the day the Tour rode through Folsom. Sylvie and I went to keep him company and watch the riders go past. It was terrible weather--rainy and windy, but it was fun to see the riders. Sylvie waved enthusiastically the whole time.

I had book club this week, too, although none of us read the book. It was supposed to be Three Cups of Tea, but somehow knowing that large portions were fabricated took away the motivation to read it. So we just stayed up too late talking, instead.

Other fun events this week included character day where I dressed up and read stories at Jens's school. I have to say, I think my costume was pretty good. Then I got to school and a dad from Jens's class had dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow--from the braided goatee and eye make up to the British accent with wig and complete pirate getup. Needless to say, he was the most popular reader in our room! But it was still fun to go in and see the kids having a fun reading day.

We also had a ward dinner/kickball activity which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. The kids ran around and played, the dads got to play kickball, and the ladies sat around and visited. The weather was perfect.

The Jens roller coaster continues around here. We hit a real low on Tuesday, but things have been better since then. He can be amazingly wonderful--when he feels like it. I just wish we had more of those wonderful times. He set the table last night as a surprise for me and was so pleased with himself. He is still loving his mitt and baseballs. He and Mike played at the ward activity for an hour, just throwing to each other, and we went to the park last night where he threw some more. He is pretty good at throwing. He is pretty terrible (although hilarious to watch) catching. A lot of ducking and jumping out of the way while holding his mitt out blindly.

Sylvie is starting to turn on the drama. It is funny to see her wailing over things like spoon color and shoes. I guess she couldn't be totally perfect as that wouldn't be fair. She brings a smile to my face on a pretty constant basis, though. She and I went to Ikea today where she was really good. She did push the shopping cart away and disappear once when my back was turned, but luckily if I call her name she shouts "I'm right here!" She especially loved the meatballs, a pink candle holder, a green scrub brush--which she informed me could be used for brushing hair and eyes as well as the standard dishes--and the kid section.

We managed one pool trip this week--it just hasn't been hot! I am hoping to get a few swims in this week, though.

Run With Nature

Saturday we spent at the park while Jens and Mike ran their respective races. Jens ran the kids' fun run (1/2 mile) and Mike ran the 10K. There were booths and raffles and it was all just very fun. Here's our little runner, ready for the race:

The race went into the zoo and out. Jens ran very quickly the whole time, but didn't go so fast that he got too tired. Doesn't he look great?

We were the cheering squad with a sign.

Afterwords there was a raffle. Jens was very disappointed not to win anything.

But he and Sylvie got to meet the Kaiser Cat, which apparently was exciting.

Mike did great on his 10K, making good time.

Two great runners after the races are over.

Happy Mother's Day

We had a lovely, though cold, Mother's Day. Church was nice, Jens and Mike (mostly Mike) made spaghetti and meatballs, Laura came over, and I got:

A tee, baseballs, a bat and a Jens sized mitt. Every mother's dream come true! I also got some lovely flowers and delicious chocolate covered strawberries.

New Security and Swimming

Jens thoughtfully made a little sign to scare bad guys away from our house. All you have to do is put it by the front door when you leave so they know not to come in. Sorry it is sideways. I tried rotating it, but it changed back when I imported it.

We enjoyed some swimming time before it got all cold and rainy on us.

May 16th

Well, it seems like time is flying past. I keep checking off things I dread doing and now have just three left on my list for right now:

1. Character day at Jens's school, in which I dress up as a book character and then read the same story 9 times to various groups of kids (not that I really dread this, I just haven't thought of a good book/costume. And I can come up with lots of books. It is the costume that is throwing me.)

2. The end of the school year. What on earth am I going to do with Jens for the whole summer?

and 3. Flying by myself with both kids across the country. It is weeks away, but it makes me feel sick to my stomach whenever I think of it.

That means I have finished the rest of FAME (which I also don't dread, just something to stress over) and my talk in church (which I did dread.)

I have been really sick this last week--sicker than I remember being in a long time. So sick that Sylvie watched Sesame Street and Jens watched movies while I sat in misery on the couch exhausted--sat because if I lay down, I couldn't breathe at all. Which means I spent two sleepless nights before getting in with my allergist, who rearranged my allergy meds, and gave me something for the sinus infection I had developed. I was well enough to go to church Sunday, and although I still feel bad today, I can tell I am slowly getting better because when I drove down the driveway this morning, I thought about how I need to rearrange some of the flowers I put in the front flower bed.

Sylvie also had a little cold, so she was okay with a slower pace. She and I had a "Girl Party" both this Friday and last while Mike and Jens were at a birthday party one night and Father's and Sons the other. A girl party means we snuggle up and watch Cinderella while eating popcorn and grapes. We both enjoyed it a great deal, although this Friday Sylvie insisted on stripping down to her diaper to watch the show. When I insisted it was time to put on jams, she refused, saying "No Mom, just my tomach." (She says "No Mom, just my feets" when she doesn't want to wear shoes.) She seems to be getting more dramatic these days, and definitely has moments where she refuses to follow directions. She isn't as easy as she once was, although in contrast to her older brother, she is a breeze.

Jens is going through a continued rough patch--we are struggling with lying, disobedience, language, talking back, arguing, and hitting his sister, to name a few of our problems. If anyone has helpful suggestions, we would love to hear them. He is also loving his garden, checking its progress daily. He is excited about building "bee houses" which he puts in the garden so bees have a place to rest when they get tired of pollinating. He has also been infatuated with baseball lately, an interest Mike fueled by getting "me" a T, bat, mitt (Jens's size) and balls for mother's day. Chore chart is basically going well--he is especially excited about the extra jobs he can do to earn money and last week managed to buy a Nerf dart gun to add to his burgeoning collection. He continues to be a good reader, although when it comes to homework the less effort the better, in his mind.

Mike and Jens both ran in the Folsom Run With Nature. Mike did the 10K and Jens did the kids 1/2 mile fun run. He was so excited about it, and was very cute before and during the run. Afterwords he was very bummed to noto win anything in the raffle, but was consoled by all the junk he collected from various booths--frisbees, a pinwheel, flyers, crayons, snacks, etc. Mike did really well on the 10K, especially considering that he hasn't even been running for a month. His time was in the 52s.

We are excited for the Tour of California to come through Folsom tomorrow. Mike is volunteering and I am going to take Sylvie to watch the riders speed past. Mike is going downtown today to see the finish in Sacramento. That's all the news from us.

KIDS

Sometimes our kids play together so well. Sometimes they don't, but it seems like good occurrences are increasing.

A little garden

Jens, my little green thumb-harvest man, helped me transplant geraniums and plant a garden. He is very excited about the things we are growing and has been helpful in keeping an eye on everything. We put the geraniums into some hideous, faded green pots that came with the house. I spray painted them black with that plastic spray paint. We'll see how they hold up. But for right now they look nice.

We planted green onions, peppers, a cucumber, a zucchini, and 4 tomatoes. We'll see what we get!

Picture Backlog

I haven't been super faithful with staying up to date since we got home from Utah. I blame it on one thing. Allergies. Spring is here and it has hit me hard. I feel lousy and I think I now have a bona fide cold on top of the allergies. So I am a little sluggish.

We have been up to our usual hijinks around here--school, work, cleaning, physical therapy. We came home to find that our evening primrose went nuts while we were gone and I think we are in for a lot of fun summer evenings.

Sylvie's bike helmet continues to be a popular accessory.

Mike's physical therapy seems to be paying off. He has been running for the past several weeks and feeling generally good. Unfortunately, he didn't make it into the St. George marathon this year, so he is going to choose a different training goal. Maybe a local marathon in December. I think he is crazy.

We restarted our gym membership and have been swimming 3 times. The kids love it and want to go all the time, but this week it has cooled back down to normal spring temperatures, so it hasn't been so appealing to me. Also, since the kids are both booger factories they aren't welcome in child care. I hope we all feel better soon!

The Rest of the Easter Pictures

In the afternoon we had a fun egg hunt with the cousins. There were hundreds of eggs to be found--we started out carefully hiding them and by the end, we were just sprinkling them in the grass. The kids had quite a haul! Some of the biggest hits were the silly bands and some disgusting sticky frogs.

Sylvie LOVED Lucy. Luckily, Lucy didn't mind.

The highlight of my evening was Sylvie emerging in the ever popular horse costume. She was so pleased with herself and wore it for the rest of the night, even though it looked very hot.

May 7th-New Furniture

I have had my eyes out for a buffet to put in our family room and hold all of our games. I finally found one that I liked and that wasn't too expensive. I even talked the price down $30, so it was only $120. So you can imagine how good it looked. Someone had spilled something inside one of the cupboards and it was sticky and crystalized.

The hardware was corroded and rusty.

Also, once I cleaned the hardware it was very gold looking. So I painted it.

Some of the veneer on the top was separating, so I glued and clamped it. I also stripped and stained the top and painted the rest.

So here is the finished product. It turned out really well for the most part. We put it where we wanted it and . . . we aren't sure if we like having furniture there. We are trying to give it a chance. It does hold all of our games very conveniently, so it certainly serves the purpose we wanted. I think once I put a picture above it and try a few rearranging things we will be happy with it. I really love how it turned out.

Easter

Jens was the first one awake and upstairs Easter morning. He kindly inventoried both his and Sylvie's Easter baskets before she woke up and came upstairs to inspect the goods herself.

Then we had a little indoor egg hunt downstairs before getting ready for church.

We went to church with the C. Helquist family and Grandma and Grandpa. We were treated to a full musical program with an excellent choir, a string ensemble, and a really talented soloist.