It is officially the dog days of summer and here is how we have been spending it.
Swinging
Climbing
Making sidewalk art with our good buddy Cade.
And when it is just too dog hot to play outside . . . it’s the perfect time to pick up a new hobby. Like, watercolor painting . . .
. . . or home re-organization!!!
Father’s Day had to start a little earlier than anticipated this year, due to Daddy’s new calling (and its laundry list of meetings to attend). In order to keep Daddy going all day long, we started with a custom-made breakfast.
Then I had to wake up the kids so they could give him his present.
A new tie!!!
And of course you wouldn’t really be a parent if you didn’t have somebody to eat your food for you!
We also made photo ties for the Grandpas. Grandpa Anderson sent us this photo of his!
Fathers really are special. Raine and Carter are the luckiest kids in the world to have such an awesome Daddy! He provides every comfort life has to offer; he knows how to have fun; he has a way of teaching the kids how to work and love it; he is always in a good mood; and best of all, he is a FABULOUS cook!!
We love you!
Because we have been spending as much time as possible at NRH2O, riding the water slides and floating around the endless river.
Last Thursday we drove over to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science with some of our friends, Dawson and Kelsey Aydelott and the Staheli family.
(Daddy’s new calling in the Bishopric has also been a contributing factor . . . but mostly the playing.)
Yesterday we drove down to Granbury for their traditional Memorial Day celebration in the historic downtown. We were running a little late — ten minutes to be precise — and we missed the entire parade. I’m not sure what kind of parade lasts less than ten minutes, but we were sure surprised that in the amount of time it took us to get two kids loaded into a stroller we missed the whole thing! No matter, we grabbed some kettle corn and headed over to the petting zoo.
Raine took a few minutes to settle in before she would touch any of the animals — she was really excited about the idea of petting animals, but when it came right down to the actual petting, she wasn’t so thrilled. She eventually agreed to pet the little pigs . . .
. . . and a small goat.
Carter was just trying not to melt in the triple-digit heat.
Here is a sneak-peak at some of the kid-sized fun we had on our trip to England and Wales.
We came upon this little playground across the street from the Tower of London.
Raine loved that great big slide.
The swimming pools were a hit with both kids. Carter splashed and splashed then would do a little frog kick as we swam around.
The hotel in Preston had a little water-slide that Raine couldn’t ride enough! (It was pretty steamy in there and after we took this photo they told us that cameras were not allowed so this is all we have to remember it by. You can see the end of the yellow water-slide at the top of the photo.)
We found this fun playground in Ruabon, Wales, one of the towns where Grandma Dewey’s ancestors lived.
It had a little zip-line that Daddy enjoyed more than either of the kids.
Carter’s favorite pass-time was to drive the car. He would put one hand on the shifter, one on the steering wheel, and then laugh and drool.
Mother’s Day started with a delicious breakfast in bed, as usual. Raine was so excited about it and couldn’t wait to “share” with me.
After church I opened the gifts she made at school. The theme was “My Mom Rocks!” and the gifts included a “guitar,” hand-print flower, bookmark, and two cards.
After presents, it was time to pack for our big trip to Wales. Packing for an international vacation is always a major ordeal, but throw in packing for two kids and you’ve got yourself a monumental undertaking!
Tonight was Raine’s last tumbling class. She has come a LONG way from last year. She does somersaults all by herself and even walked across the big balance beam without assistance — although she wouldn’t do it while I was recording, of course.
The parachute.
The bear crawl.
The short-wide balance beam.
The obstacle course.
Raine showing off the stamp she received on her hand.
Here is a video of some of her skills, if it doesn’t show up right away hit F5 or try this link.
Friday night we had some friends over for an Easter-egg hunt and bar-b-que in the backyard. DJ cooked hamburgers and hotdogs on his new grill while the kids played and the adults lounged on the patio.
Carter missed most of the party because he was inside taking a nap, but he made up for it by Easter-egg hunting in Raine’s basket after she went to bed.
Sunday morning, before we left for church, I tried in vain to get a descent photo of Raine and Carter in their Easter clothes. But all we ended up getting was a seat in the back of the chapel because we were late.
This year we had a fairly “crafty” Easter. Raine made this cute, environmentally-friendly Easter basket at school, so we decided to make a matching one for Carter.
We also colored eggs,
and frosted cookies.
Now that Raine is old enough to have a conversation, we’ve had the opportunity to teach her about the true meaning of the highly secularized/commercialized holidays. It is an interesting position to be in, as a parent, deciding exactly how much of “the world” we are going to let in to our holiday celebration at Easter and Christmas. Raine doesn’t know what the Easter Bunny is or have any expectations of candy or presents, so we feel a big responsibility to balance teaching her how to celebrate the holiday with teaching her why we celebrate the holiday.
I feel like we are doing okay so far because Raine wanted us to sing “Away in a Manger” for at least a month after Christmas and still talks about baby Jesus and Mary whenever she sees the picture of them in her scripture stories book. Although, I’m not so sure we did quite as well with Easter because death and resurrection aren’t as easy to explain to a two-year-old as birthdays and babies.
Every month the local parent’s magazine has a section detailing a day in the life of some local mom. Their days are always so calm and organized — at least it sounds that way. So I would just like to share what a day is like in MY life:
6:00 a.m. (or somewhere there abouts, I’m not sure because I didn’t look at the clock): Carter starts whining/crying. I think, “please let him just fall back asleep.” Unfortunately it escalates, so fearing that it will wake up Raine I kick DJ out of bed to go get him. (I know, you were thinking that I was going to get him. Nope, in this house if a child wakes up in the middle of the night then DJ goes. I will have to explain that in another post.) Apparently he got him back to sleep because some time later I woke up again to Carter crying. DJ went to get him, changed his diaper, and brought him back for me to feed.
7:00 a.m. DJ leaves for work while I lie next to Carter thinking how lucky I am and wishing that I could just go back to sleep but knowing that I better get the laundry started so we have something to wear today — it has been piling up for A LONG TIME and we are really down to the bottoms of our drawers. So I get up and start sorting laundry. When I go into Raine and Carter’s room to get their hamper, Raine is lying in bed wide awake — so much for my childless few minutes of productivity.
7:30 a.m. I finally get the first batch of laundry into the washer while repeatedly saying, “Raine, do you need to go potty? I think you better go potty. Yes, just really quick. Hurry, go potty. Well you have to keep your underpants dry. Are you going to keep your underpants dry? Well then you better go potty.” All the while Raine is saying “No, I don’t need to.”
8:00 a.m. Raine is finally pottied and we head to the kitchen to make breakfast. I pull out the griddle so we can cook french toast. As soon as I get the bread on the griddle Carter starts whining. I go into the room and he is still asleep — yeah, I actually get to eat breakfast while it is still warm!
8:30 a.m. Just as Raine and I are finishing our breakfast Carter wakes up for real. I go get him and debate whether to change his diaper or just feed him. The ultra-sad face he makes when I lay him down on the changing pad wins and I feed him first.
8:45 a.m. Now it is crunch time. We need to get Raine ready for school and out the door in a half hour. I remember that she is supposed to take 13 filled easter eggs for the party on Thursday so we pull out the eggs and candy that I purchased last week. Since I needed 13 eggs and the bag only came with 12 I searched DJ’s drawer for the eggs that he put in there last easter. I pull them out and realize that they are still full of jelly beans (good thing I didn’t buy jelly beans again this year, obviously they weren’t such a big hit). As I open the first egg and try to put in one of the little chocolate bunnies I bought, I realize that it isn’t going to fit — oh great!! Who makes easter candy that doesn’t fit into a standard sized easter egg??? Luckily, I had a hidden stash and soon we had all the eggs filled.
9:10 a.m. Raine gets dressed and I make her lunch while we have our standard “can I take ____” debate.
9:30 a.m. We finally get out the door and into the car with only the agreed upon baby doll, bottle, blanket, and a pair of sunglasses that can be worn in the car but not into school. The arm-loads of other items that didn’t make it through negotiations were haphazardly dumped in the entry hall.
9:40 a.m. I drop Raine off at school. Technically school starts at 9:30, but we haven’t made it there on-time more than twice all semester. I figure that since I take her to Parent’s Day Out for MY convenience, I’m not going to inconvenience myself by busting my buns to get her there on time. We will get there when we get there. (Interestingly, none of the kids in her class are there on time. There is just something about getting a two-year-old out the door that doesn’t lend itself to punctuality.)
9:50 a.m. Carter and I return home. I swap the laundry and start to fold it. Carter is playing blissfully on the floor for a few minutes but as soon as I leave the room he throws a fit — welcome to the separation anxiety phase.
10:00 a.m. I feed Carter some yogurt and cheerios and within a few minutes both of us are COVERED in yogurt. No, he wasn’t feeding himself. He has this lightning-quick hand that comes out of nowhere and sends the spoon full of yogurt flying out of my hand, flipping yogurt all over us and the floor. He starts laughing hysterically so it is impossible to be mad, but it sure is a mess.
10:30 a.m. I am hoping to take a shower but then my phone rings. It is a sister in the ward telling me that another sister is home from the hospital with her daughter (who just had brain surgery) and is ready for the meals that the Elder’s Quorum President promised her that the RS would bring. Ok, good thing I asked for volunteers on Sunday, we should be ready to go on Wednesday.
11:00 a.m. Attempt #2 at the shower when my phone rings again, this time it is DJ. By the time I get off the phone with him it is too late to take a shower before my eye appointment so I am just going to have to go as-is (good thing I took one last night so it really isn’t a huge deal).
11:30 a.m. Carter is finally asleep so I put him in his car seat and get ready to go. I grab a power-bar since I am obviously not going to get lunch — as usual.
12:00 p.m. I am at my eye appointment, Carter woke up as soon as we arrived in the office, and I realize that I didn’t change his diaper before he fell asleep — this could be a problem since I can’t do anything about it now.
12:20 p.m. This is not going to be a quick appointment, the Doctor is very chatty. She has three-month-old twins so we are talking about all things baby. (Isn’t it funny how after you have a baby the realm of “appropriate conversation topics with strangers” vastly increases. All of a sudden you don’t think twice about discussing breast-feeding issues, milk production, weight gain and loss, and a myriad of other medical issues that you previously would have never dreamed of discussing with another person, especially not one you just met.) Well, so much for my hope that I could just leave Carter in his car seat during my exam. He did okay for the initial eye tests, but once she got chatting he got antsy so I had to take him out. The rest of my eye exam was performed with Carter sitting on the seat beside me — interesting.
12:45 p.m. After changing Carter’s diaper in the front seat of my car, I am now sitting there in the parking garage breast-feeding him so that we can go to the grocery store without a meltdown.
1:20 p.m. I am checking out at the grocery store. The clerk asks if I found everything. I told him that I was hoping they would have one of the grills that was listed in their ad but didn’t see any. (I really wanted to get one for DJ for Easter so he can grill for our friends at our Easter egg hunt.) He told me that they would be there tomorrow. Confused, I say “oh, you’re getting them tomorrow?” For some reason I thought today was Wednesday, the day the new ad starts, rather than Tuesday, the day Raine goes to school and the whole reason I was at the store WITHOUT her.
Lucky for me, my diminished mental capacity finally worked to my advantage. The checker told me that they had the grills in the back and he would sell me one if I really wanted it. I said “absolutely” so they went back and brought one out for me. I took Raine’s car seat out and they loaded it into my back seat.
1:45 p.m. Once home I unload my very heavy grill, put it on the hand-truck, and maneuver it into the backyard since I don’t want DJ to see it. Then I re-install Raine’s car seat, trying to finish before I sweat to death in the 92* heat — good thing I haven’t gotten a shower yet.
2:00 p.m. With Carter asleep, I finally have a few minutes to eat lunch before I have to pick-up Raine.
This is as far as I got with my narrative before my day completely blew up and I spent the rest of my time trying to keep kids happy.
Oh, and the grill that I so painstakingly maneuvered into the backyard so DJ wouldn’t see it…it got soaked in the rain storm that moved in that evening so DJ saw it before I was ready—very anti-climatic. But that gives you a small taste of what I do—it certainly isn’t pretty, but it’s my life!
