Fear of Heights

We have a new park in Orange County that has a giant balloon ride. The conditions have to be optimal to let anyone ride. We have unsuccessfully tried to go a number of times to find it is too windy or there is not enough visibility. Last Friday while we had our friend's kids over for a normal date night swap so we decided to take them all to the balloon. I have been excited for the ride. My girlfriend went recently and blogged about how the experience was OK, not exceptional, but good for an adventure. So off we went





We had to wait a little bit for weather to improve and to wait our turn but no problem, Roger brought his trusty frisbee. Then it was our turn.

As my title suggestions, somebody found they had a fear of heights and that someone ended up being. . .me. I have been on top of the Empire State Building and that was no big deal because something was under me. In a balloon, there is nothing below except a few ropes. Panic rose in my chest and sunk in my belly. I would have never let on to my fear if one of our guests did not start jumping 400ft into the air. My feet were planted and I had to distract myself with taking pictures. Truly that is what got me through. As soon as I was about to start screaming I would just take a picture.

As we came back down the kids were all asking to go back up. Ain't no way. Good Fun in a sick sort of way

Future Chemist

So Josh is a future chemist. He is always trying to come up with experiments. I don't like them at all! I often find weird things in the freezer and in his room. Once I asked him to run all experiments by me. He came and told me after the fact. He asked to do an experiment today. He wanted to combine Vinegar and Fish oil and heat them up. Nothing happened so he added ice and dish washing liquid of coarse. In the mean time Roger asked me to make him a lemon slushy. Time passes and I come down stairs in the kitchen and finish some left over "slushie" on the counter. Oh no, it was not slushie. Should my throat be burning right now?

Savior of the World

I don't like being dependent on other people for pictures but sometimes that is how things work. While I am waiting for pictures from last weeks Hero Camp I will share pictures I just received from our Stake's production of Savior of the World. Josh and I were part of this amazing production that took place last March but took up a lot of time from January on. We were able to be on stage for a little bit and were part of the amazing angel chorus. When our stake does anything they do it big. We have a lot of professional people in our area coupled with the amazing spirit that was put into it it was amazing.

They built out a stage to have theater in the round and built a colonnade around the audience that the angels choir stood on. The Spirit penatrated.

Roger was a champ watching Simeon and Rory during so many rehearsals. Simeon and Rory did have to muscle through a few rehearsals in the nursery. Good Fun

OCD

I know people out there that are OCD about cleaning. I am not. I like to keep a clean house but if you look close enough you will be able to tell that I do not have a really high standard. I also know a few people who do not make their kids clean at all. My kids have to help clean. Josh has always been our kid who usually keeps his room clean and organized just the way he wants it. He can tell if someone moves something 2 inches. Josh rarely complains about chores and just does it. He has been able to fold his laundry since he was 3. Notice I say able because I don't always make him do it.

The other day I told the kids that if they wanted to go to the Lagoon and have a Swim Team party all in one day they would have to extra help me clean. They already have to clean their room and do a chore each day and on cleaning day they have to do an extra chore. Josh cleaned both upstairs bathrooms, wash and dried all the bathroom rugs and towels, and then he started dusting. He took all the things off the piano and end table and dusted all of it. I grabbed the camera when he was taking all the books off this book shelf and dusted them and the shelves.

He then organized the desk drawer.

Then when Roger came home he helped Roger make some things with wood.

Don't think for a second this is the only time he has done something like this. So, if you live nearby and want to hire Josh to clean, I know he would be more than willing.
PS- I have also trained him to iron for me on the quilt I am making- That is priceless and Good Fun

Simmy is Four???

Simmy hit a new level of confidence in the swimming pool yesterday so I told him "You did that like a four year old!" He said "I am 4 now!!" and told everyone. I laughed a little about his desperation to be 4 but am finding real value in it. Since he is "4" now HE has decided he can:
-Swim by himself (not quite there yet so that's a bit scary)
-Get dressed by himself ( can't seem to get his shirt off yet)
-Wipe his own bum (again, scary)
-Put his car seat on alone (almost)
-Wear flip flops (if only they would stay on his feet long enough to walk)
-Ride his bike without training wheels (yes, we digressed from earlier post and let me add that if you can not walk with flip flops you can not ride a bike with flip flops)

Here is what I would like him to do by himself on top of being proficient at the previous list
-Pick up after himself
-Stay dry through the night
-Have any desire to pick up a writing/drawing utensil
-Carry his own backpack after he has filled it up and taken it along somewhere
but I am dreaming

Although he has not asked for a birthday party he has asked for presents. By my calculations he is exactly the age he is because he is wanting to be older.

While I am writing about his big boyness I will share a cute video of him. He often asks Roger to give him a piano lesson while we are still eating dinner. This particular lesson he had been playing with Roger for 15 min before I pulled my tired bum from my dinner chair and got the camera. By that time he was done with the lesson and I had to cajole him into sitting back down for a little more. Good Simmy Fun!

Rory- What's your story? Pretty Little Rory Girl That's my Girl

Happy Birthday to a beautiful full of life and love little big girl. We love having you in our family.

We love that you love to be you.

We love that you have found books

Haven't you been 6 forever?

Thank you Grandpa for sharing this with us

Hey Ya'll

Here are a few cute pictures of a fun day with my sisters and their boys when I was in Houston

I've got the Power

I will tell you a secret. I have a Super Mom Power Elixir. If you notice the books I have read this year there is a book call Green for Life. The lady who wrote this book swears that green smoothies provide people with the best digestible form of Chlorophyll and if a quart is swallowed (I used the word swallow for lack of a better word. Is drunken really the right word?) each day that our bodies will be restored to better health for myriads of reasons.
Some of my friends had been drinking spinach smoothies for a while so I decided it couldn't be that bag. With a little trial and error I came up with this really delicious recipe.







Approximately:
3 Cups Frozen Tropical Fruit slightly defrosted in the orange juice
3 cups Orange Juice (I usually just pour it in until it hits the top of the fruit)
1/2 cup Vanilla Yogurt (as natural as you can want- I use Mountain Home)
1-2 Bananas
2-3 cups Spinach(or a mixture of different greens- spinach seems mild enough for most people)
1 Tablespoon Flax seeds (sometimes)
Blended for 2 minutes or very very well blended

I have a had quart almost every morning for over a month. My kids and Roger will drink it often too. Since I have been in Houston everyone here will drink as much as I can make because it is so good which ended up not being much due to the cost of ingredients.

I had really high hopes for this drink. I was hoping to lose a little belly chub and need less sleep and such. I did not really see much of a difference until it came time for all these projects and activities I wrote about recently. The last few times I have had high stress(good stress I should say) my body has reacted badly. So badly I thought my life would be different because I would have to scale way back on my activities, responsibilities, and volunteering because my body could not handle it.

When all the things I had to do started coming up I felt great! I tackled anything and yelled (really quietly because you never know what will come up and bite you) to the World "What's Next???" I zoomed from one activity to the next and even kept my house in decent order.

The first time I skipped a day I came down with a sinus infection. I told my allergist and he thought it was coincidence. Maybe it was. Maybe it was not. All I know is that I got a lot of stuff done with more power than my own and had Good Fun all the while.

Dish soap + sprinkler + trampoline + cousins = GOOD FUN!

 

Crashed

Need I say more- I don't think I have ever fallen asleep at a ward party. The kids and I are in Houston for a couple weeks so I thought I would crash.

I Cried Today

He ran into the house, looked in the mirror and said "Yea!" He is really pleased and I am really sad. Good Fun for him.

Projects

School got out on Wednesday!! Hooray to be done with projects! Well I guess I am not done with projects as much as so many projects at one time. I am sad to not have any Kindergartners next year. Josh and Rory's teacher was perfect.

Here are a few:

This is Rory's teacher end of the year gift. I made her one last year and she wanted a matching flower pot. I painted it white, then yellow, then I had the kids put their fingerprints on in their color of choice. They wrote their name under their print in an acrylic paint pen. Roger and I made the prints into bugs and such then put a protective spray on. Super cute if I do say so myself.

More thumbprints! These were memorabilia the kids took home at the end if the year. I used Makit Plate and had the kids in 5 classes (Rory's early and late and the other Kinder early and late and Jt's class) put their thumbprint and name. Roger and I made them look as much like them as possible and sent them in to be turned into plates. Whoever wanted one ordered one in advance. I covered up the name of the school and teacher's name.

As Family Night Chair (with no committee) of the school's PTA I hosted an end of the school year Family Night. After the International Potluck my girlfriend ran we had a yoga teacher teach a yoga class, a Tae Kwon Do studio do a demonstration (I thought it was going to be a class), a soccer coach teach some tricks and run some games, some Indian woman paint henna on people's hand, some game board games out, a hula hoop contest, a free throw contest and bubbles. I ordered some giant bubble wands and bubbles from BeeBoo and filled up a kiddie pool with the bubble solution. I also got some plant holders from a Nursery which were fantastic bubble makers and some other wands. The whole night was fantastic.

I brought the bubbles to school the next day and had them at playgroup at my house Thursday. Good Fun!

After spending the morning at the Lagoon, helping the poor photographer take pictures of the swim team, setting up for the swim team BBQ, and helping with the BBQ I came home and made this bag for a baby shower I jumped over to during the swim meet on Saturday. Good fun!

Swim Team is Here!!

I am not sure why I love swim team. Today was stinking hot (98) and we huddled under our umbrella and burned our toes on pavement for 5 hours but it was fun. Josh and Rory rocked today too. They both finished 1st a few times and it was really exciting. I love the community feel. I also love the daily practices. Its a playdate with their school friends at a place where we want to be anyway. The kids shower there so it saves a little on our water bill since they normally take loooong showers. Call us crazy but it is good fun!

PS- if you click on the pictures they get bigger

Father's Day Berry Picking

I must either love blogging or I am procrastinating. We drove only 10 minutes to get to luscious free berries with friends. Good Fun!

Words of Wisdom

I think these words are so beautiful and well said