Naked Baby

How cute are naked babies?! I just love that squishy bum! And that curly hair!

Tanner at the splash park

Just thought I'd share these fun pics. We went to a splash park the other night after dinner, thinking we'd just let the kids get some energy out. Tanner was already in his pjs and I was just going to push him in the swing or something, but as soon as we got there, he made a beeline for the water. He crawled around getting sprayed for over half an hour and loved every second of it! He'd get really surprised when he'd get sprayed and then just smile and giggle like crazy. So cute!

Summer Projects

Any of you who know me know I'm not a naturally crafty person. I enjoy it on occassion, but if I were to choose an activity as a creative outlet, it would NOT be arts or crafts. That said, the kids and I have been trying to incorporate more arts and crafts this summer and here are two of our most fun projects:

Bean Bags

The kids loved picking out material from my scraps and helping me sew and fill them so much that I promised to take them to an actual fabric store so they can pick out their own fabric for another one.

Since completing this project I've been "killed" by bean bag guns and cannons more times than I care to admit.




Glossy Painting

This project took forever to dry, and had to be closely supervised, but turned out really beautiful. You just mix food coloring with corn syrup and have at it. I drew a picture with a wax crayon on photo paper, and put a paint brush into each of the four colors I made, and the kids did the rest. As is typical, Erilyn didn't really want to do it at first, but after watching Anthon and two friends paint for a while, she finally decided to participate. Anthon whipped out six paintings (two I didn't even try to hang up considering how much goo, I mean, "glossy paint" was on the paper and would surely drip off onto the floor), while Erilyn did her one flower pot. But they both ended up feeling really proud of their work, so that's what counts, right?! And all the other kids (we had friends over) praised Erilyn on their own for her flower pot painting. They thought hers was really pretty, which made her smile and me glad.

You can see Anthon's rainbow painting starting to slide downward already. I ended up having to take them down because even though they were basicly "dry," they'd still kind of drip.

They were really pretty though. The colors were very vivid and shiny.

Overall, I consider it a success because Erilyn painted. The end.

Some things we're trying...

With our easy summer schedule (and the heat, which--aside from going to the pool nearly every day--generally leaves us finding things to do indoors, since I'm a heat wimp), I think we've all started getting on each other's nerves a little. In an effort to keep the peace, we've been trying a few things this summer:

Experiment #1

I put this jar and all these little pom poms on a tray on our coffee table, and told them that every time we did something nice for someone in our family, or even someone outside of our family, we could put a "warm fuzzy" in the jar. We talked about how serving makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside, and how it helps our family grow closer together and closer to God. I specified that being obedient to the rules of the house, while admirable and desirable, did not earn them a warm fuzzy. They had to do something above and beyond.

For a while, they were constantly looking for ways to earn a warm fuzzy and they did really well at being self-motivated. But after a week or two, they started to lose interest and I had to be much more active in looking for things they were doing that deserved a warm fuzzy. I found that if I watched, they were helping and serving all the time! What a great opportunity for me to practice positive praise and for me to get better at serving as well.

Overall, a successful experiment. And now that we've filled our jar, we're going to celebrate by spending a day at a nearby lake, swimming, playing in the sand, and picnicking. Fun fun!




Experiment #2

To help us all to remember to use kind words AND voices when we speak to each other, I put five candies in each of our little cups every morning. I told the kids that they could eat all five of their candies during our nightly scripture reading if they used sweet words and voices all day long. But, if they yelled, or whined, or said something not sweet, they had to give one of their candies to the person they yelled, whined, or weren't sweet to. The first several days, we were all giving away lots of candies. And one day, Anthon ended up with 11, which, I decided at the end of the day, was more of a testament to what a pill he was, than to the rest of us losing our cool. But, besides that, it's gone really well. And in the last day or so, I've really noticed that hardly any of us are giving our candies away! We're learning to be sweet, even when frustrated!

Ah, sweet success.

hee hee...I couldn't resist the pun:)

Homemade

The kids and I have been busy in the kitchen the last few days. We made strawberry jam, three batches of homemade bread with accompanying bread letters, granola, and granola bars.



The kids were a huge help and were thrilled that I let them help hull the strawberries. I taught them how to hold and handle a knife, and they were surprisingly careful and effective.


And I'm happy to report no cuts!



Good work, kiddos!

Playtime

These two exercise balls have gotten more use as toys than they ever have or hope to have as a workout aid. The kids play with them constantly!

There's a cute little story behind this play session. Tanner was, of course, desperately trying to involve himself in the game, and Erilyn didn't want him to play with them, so she made a door with the two baskets. The picture of her is peeking out of her door. Anthon, decided to let Tanner play, so Tanner crawled under Anthon's blanket door, and made himself cozy on Anthon's lap. Anthon couldn't stop laughing because Tanner wouldn't get up. I pulled Tanner up to sitting, and he'd immediately shake his head and lay back down on Anthon's lap. I tried this multiple times. Every time I tried to make him sit up, he'd shake his head and lay back down on Anthon's lap. So funny! Silly baby.

July...so far

 (The big kids sitting on top of the car to watch the fireworks.  I think they liked sitting on top of the car more than the fireworks!)

This past week has been one big party.  It seems like we've had balloons and streamers covering our house since June.  We didn't do much for the 4th of July, a family BBQ and then fireworks, but Erilyn has been dancing around the house singing "Oh spacious skies, oh beautiful, oh spacious skies..." all week long.  She loves to sing and dance, that girl.  Anthon's birthday party was on Wednesday.  I think I like summer birthdays.  I used to feel sorry for the kids, but now I prefer it.  All we do is find some water, through up some balloons, and call it a party!  Anthon asked me to make a pirate cake again, so we did.  To quote his friends, "Anthon, this is by far the coolest cake ever."  I'm glad they thought so.  His party was super easy for me.  We swam in our neighborhood pool, opened presents, ate cake, swam some more, and tah dah.  Anthon is 7.

The kids are getting to be quite the little fishies.  Erilyn doesn't use floaties at all anymore and can swim nearly the whole width of the pool, which is probably 30-40 feet wide. She's fearless and tireless, so we swim nearly every day.  Tanner has a little seat that he floats around in and loves it.  That pool is my saving grace.  I couldn't get through the Texas summers without a pool.

Since last Sunday, Anthon has read the Illustrated Book of Mormon Stories cover to cover--twice, Little House on the Prairie, Young Cam Jansen and the Library Mystery, Young Cam Jansen and the Double Beach Mystery, Young Cam Jansen and the Ice Skate Mystery, Young Cam Jansen and the 100th Day of School Mystery, Science on the Edge: Nanotechnology, Charlotte's Webb, Stuart Little, countless board books and picture books to Erilyn and Tanner, and is now about a third of the way through The Trumpet of the Swan. 

He reads a lot.

I consider myself a pretty voracious reader, but I've read maybe half that many.  He read all the Cam Jansen books in one day.

(Kirk took this picture; I've learned to be grateful if I'm at least looking at the camera when he snaps it.  So, while this is not the most flattering picture of me or of Tanner, at least we're both looking at the camera with our eyes open (mostly)! And I'm even kind of smiling!  It's a keeper.)
 
Tanner is cruising.  It won't be long now before he walks and I'm a bit sad about it.  Of course I want him to progress and learn and grow; that's part of the job satisfaction of being a mother.  But I'm really enjoying his babyhood and trying hard to cherish every minute.  I'm in a good place with my kids right now.  We don't have any major issues we're dealing with.  They are all happy, learning, growing, and good, sweet kids. I'm sure that will change, but it's fun right now.  We've been playing a lot of games together: we like Uno Attack, Go Fish, Old Maid, Sum Swamp, memory games, Candy Land, and Erilyn is learning to play Wii Sports so we have regular game nights. 

I'm trying to get back into running and it's kickin' my butt!  I did two miles the other day and was feeling pretty good about myself until I recalled having run two marathons.  I'll get there, but it sure is rough just starting out after a two year hiatus.

Tanner's new favorite game is to use the vacuum as a push toy.  He's always liked the vacuum, following us around when we're going the floors, but now, once we turn it off, he'll crawl up to it and start pushing it up and down the hallway.  If it gets stuck, he'll start yelling at us until we un-stuck it, and then off he'll go, up and down the hallway again.  So cute!

Dinner time...

Rainy Days

We've been getting a TON of rain lately. I have mixed feelings about it. Of course, I love rain. I love how it washes everything and renews everything and how it cools down the hot summer days. But I really, really don't like the humidity it brings. Dallas is humid enough already, but with the rain, even my stick straight hair is starting to curl. But only around my face of course, where I can't really do anything about it. It just looks weird.

Anyway, these two pictures are indicative of Anthon's and Erilyn's personalities. Once it started pouring, they both ran to put their swim suits on (Anthon's idea) to play out in the rain. Anthon jumped outside and got right down to business. Erilyn took one step outside, and ran back in. While Anthon proceeded to race down the wet slide, take a shower (literally--I handed him the soap) in the roof run-off, and make rain/grass soup, Erilyn shouted encouragement to him through the (closed) window and sang and danced around inside.

This is so like both of them. Anthon likes to get right into life. He likes to live in the thick of it, never missing anything. He's a bit of a whirlwind. I said to him once, "Anthon, you are by far the best at making messes. But you are also the best at cleaning up quick." It's true. The whole dynamic of our house changes once Anthon gets home. The house is instantly a mess, but everyone's laughing. And, during the school year, I could tell what he did that day by what was all over his shirt, arms and face. Peanut butter on the cheek meant Dad had made him a PBJ for lunch. Markers and paint on the arms meant that he had art that day. And his clothes were always covered in something.

Erilyn, on the other hand, likes to dance around the edges, sometimes, quite literally. She's calmer. Anthon can sometimes get her to dive in, like on an earlier post where they're both in the big blue bucket of rain water. That took some doing. Anthon had been out there for probably about an hour before Erilyn finally got in with him. But when he's at school, our house is calm, usually clean, and pretty quiet--sometimes too quiet. She likes order, and I can always trust her to be very thorough when cleaning up a spill. She brings beauty and joy wherever she goes, whereas Anthon brings laughter and, let's be honest, craziness. They complement each other perfectly.

I wonder how Tanner will fit into the mix...

Sleeping sweeties

I found the kids sleeping like this one night on vacation.


So sweet.

San Antonio

We took a trip to San Antonio a couple weeks ago and the kids didn't want to leave.

While we were there, we did a LOT of swimming.  Kirk and I celebrated our 8th anniversary.  We went to a couple of movies.  We briefly visited the Alamo and had to promise Anthon to spend more time there the next time we visit.  We went to a high school graduation and a dance recital and besides that, we did a whole lot of nothing.  Which was great.

In attempt to help Erilyn develop her artistic talents (of which she has very little--she inherited that from me. Sorry babe.), and, knowing that her cousin Paige has artistic talents in abundance that I hoped would wear off a little onto my sweet Erilyn, I planned a bunch of artsy things to do with the kids while we were there. I think it helped. She seemed to like it. Paige loved it, and the boys enjoyed it, and Erilyn tolerated it.


I love how she's looking at Paige here, to make sure she should be smiling. Because you know how art can be. Kind of a pain. Only to some, of course.


Black magic art. They had fun doing it in shifts. They'd yell, "5 minute break! The paint's gotta dry!" And run off. They'd check back in after a few minutes to see if it was time for step 2.

The girls loved playing dress up, and Paige has the best costumes, so Hailey got them dressed up one day, did their hair and makeup, and then did a photoshoot with them. Erilyn was in heaven. She l-o-v-e-d it.

She still asks nearly every day if we can go back to Paige's house. Soon, baby girl. Soon.

Miscellaneous June

The bucket was full of rain water, and so, of course it seemed like a good idea to climb into it with all their clothes on. Anthon's idea, I'm quite certain.

Watching Backyardigans. I love how she cuddles with him and how he lets her.

Kirk taking them on a ride on his spaceship. Note the protective head gear, and the steering wheels. Anthon thought it was a blast. Erilyn was a bit disappointed that it wasn't a real spaceship. Typcial.

Happy Birthday Erilyn!

She wore the crown pretty much all day.

Birthday pancakes

As requested...a princess cake. Not the most beautiful princess cake in the world, but I never promised the most beautiful princess cake. Just a princess cake. She loved it.

I love this girl. She has steady emotions, for the most part, and constantly surprises me with how much she knows that I didn't teach her. She's a graceful, self-taught dancer, and loves everything pink. She lives to be with Anthon and completely adores him. Though they do their fair share of fighting, too. She loves books and is learning to love cuddling, though she's not a natural at it like Anthon. She's great at helping Tanner be happy when Mom needs a few extra minutes. She's a thorough cleaner and a great helper.

We love you Erilyn!