Making Pappa Proud

So I went and found my green thumb and got to work weeding the much needed flowerbeds. I got out the kids shovels, buckets, and gloves so that they might be somewhat entertained. As I was weeding I came across many worms. My girls love the book "Diary of a Worm" so I thought it would be fun to show them a few of the real things. They were super squealy and squirmy of course. I also have no desire to touch them now but I did when I was 4 & 6 because I grew up in Idaho "worming". (This was a another Southeast Idaho friends entry). Anyway, Charlotte would scoop the little worms up with her shovel and show them to Mason who quickly learned that the rest of us wouldn't want to be near them and gave him some good eeewwwhh reaction. He then went on to break them in pieces, the girls were fascinated that both ends still moved. And breaking them once wasn't enough, each worm got serverly severed. I hope you're not to grossed out that I didn't do anything to stop him, but as a mom of three I was just happy he was staying busy and entertained while I got the work done. Also deep down there was a small sense of pride that my little guy was doing little guys things. I knew it would make pappa proud.

The poor fella is so surrounded by girls all day every day that he must be confused. Chris walked in from work one night and found him wearing this.

In a sad voice Chris just said "It's not what boys are supposed to do". (I'm sure I'll be in huge trouble for posting this pic to the public but I think it's dang funny especially that he knows to carry the purse and is still carrying the blanky). I've been sent on a mission to find boy dress up clothes, capes, swords and superhero suits.

After all the worm breaking was done, and all of my work was done I got to go at the bushes with the electric hedger thingy. I loved it, in it's own way it was very therapeutic. It was like giving tonz of haircuts without worrying so much how it would turn out. I would take a picture but it doesn't look all that good, it just was a lot of fun.

Rashes, fever, and tantrums

Rashes, fevers and tantrums. What an optimistic blog, right? That has been our house for the past week. The fever started with Rozlyn which I think she got because I saw her lick the cart at Kroger. Then to Charlotte and now to Mason. It's that fever that after it passes the kid breaks out in a rash.
So Monday Char and Roz started these summer school district camps. Roz's is called Icky, Sticky, Gooey and Charlotte's is messy hands. It was sure to be a week of fun and well worth the money I spent to put them in it. Monday went well, everyone was happy. When we got home that afternoon, Charlotte came down with this high fever. (Rozlyn had just gotten over it). I was all bummed out because the camp is only 5 days and she would for sure miss some days, not really worth my money spent. This also really ruined my motivation to still take Rozlyn because the truth is that the only reason she was there was because Charlotte was. Charlotte went to the Doc Tuesday morning, no fever, perfectly happy and never got sick again. The appointment was already made and they would have charged me to cancel so why not. Usually I'm not so aggressive to get them in the Doc but thought we should check for strep because of all of her signs. Tests came back negative but I'm sure we made the Doc happy to spend his time looking at the worlds healthiest and happiest patient that's only desire was to look at a germ under a microscope (that was an actual request). I send her to school Wednesday and they call me a few hours later because she's now covered in a rash. I felt like the lame mom because even though everyone knows there not contagious at that point its still freaky to be playing and interacting with the rash kid. So we're now on Thursday and she's seen 1.5 days of camp. GRRRRr.
In addition, Mason is sick, addicted to the T.V. and unable to communicate. Can someone offer some advice about how to keep your sanity when your kid is ready to blow up because no one understands what he's trying to say or ask for. The tantrums are so frustrating for everyone, because we're all trying so hard to figure him out so we can make him happy. His limited knowledge of sign language is not helping out. Something funny about him not being able to talk is his new love for "knock knock" jokes. He copies his sisters and knocks on the table two times. We then say who's there and he responds with his usual grunt sound. We all try to guess what he's saying and he shakes his head no and says "Nope" one of his favorite words, because apparantly we never guess what he's trying to say. This game goes on and on and it really is funny.
Also on the upside, when he has his fever, he cuddles and its so fun to hold my little busy body. He even watched "The Queen" with me yesterday. It was the first time a non kid movie was on in the daylight for a long time.

Fathers Day!!

I can't believe that the snakes story is still the most recent one, thank heavens for a new post.
This is my shoutout to my favorite daddy's in the world my Dad and Chris.
I feel so lucky to have both of these amazing men in my life and for the endless joy and happiness they each bring me.
I've always been such a Daddy's girl for as long as I can remember. He's such an amazing role model and example of pure compassion for people. He would gladly go out of his way to help anyone out in need. To know him is to love him, plain and simple but so true. When I first ventured out of the Utah/Idaho territory he was there at the airport unti the last possible minute waving goodbye and making me cry on the flight to Houston. He came to Houston on his own to babysit while Chris and I house hunted and then came back a year later and played Mr. Mom while I was on bedrest and completely and independently handled the cleaning, cooking and kid entertaining. We still talk on the phone almost everyday and I can't imagine ever not having him a phone call away. Whenever I complain about being sick or busy he asks if he'd like me to come and let me knows how fast he could get here which I know he would gladly do if I ever consented.
Each time I'm with him he gives me many lasting memories, like the time he was in Houston with us and set off the fire alarm in the hotel by overcooking his peanut butter cookie in the microwave or the time he sat by our realtor and had to share salsa with him while Chris and I laughed from the other side of the table. His head rocking back when he's laughing, or heading rocking forward when he falls asleep in the middle of one of my boring stories. Sometimes he shows up misssing when he's visiting and we always find him outside in the front yard looking around, just dying to go on a walk/run to figure out whats around him. I've nicknamed him John McNally because of his fascination with directions, GPS's and maps. We accused him of being peeping John when we lived in Provo because he went out one night after a football game with his binoculaurs to look at the stars (it didn't look right at the aparatment complex). We got him to go down the water slide fully clothed at Lagoon because the kid in him couldn't resist and had to walk around the rest of the day in his thick wet jeans. And just as recently as yesterday my sister was telling me how he was bragging that he could ride down the pass from blacktail (very curvy and steep) on his motorcycle, with no hands the whole way. He still acts like a 16 years and I can't believe this year is his big 70th birthday. So to you dad I say "Happy Father's Day, I love you so much and feel like the luckiest girl to have you for a daddy."
The standard my dad created for my future hubby left alot to be expected but I can happily say that Chris has delivered. He's such a great guy and one of the first things that stood about him was the same quality my dad had of everyone who knew him loved him. He's such a likable guy, so nice and so willing to do anything to help out anybody. He has the best sense of humor and always can make me happy when no one else can. Sometimes he complains that I was spoiled by dad and it isn't fair to him but I have to admit that I'm spoiled by him as well. Chris is so selfless, just last night while I'm crashed out on the couch (after falling asleep during a chick flick which Chris rented just for me) in the middle of messy house after a long weekend Chris stayed up so late cleaning the house, the bathroom, laundering and ironing shirts. You can guess how lame I felt this morning to see all he had done and to know I was just sleeping through it all. It should have been Mother's Day this morning after that suprise! He's the best dad and so to you I say (on behalf of Lottie, Roz and Mace) "Happy Father's Day, we love you so much and feel like the lukciest family to have you in it!"