Playing in the Dirt

What a mess! Today we had some friends over to play, and like always, the kids ended up in the yard. It hadn't been raining for the past couple of days, so it was mostly dry in the yard. It was muddy but not too muddy until the boys found a bucket filled with a week's worth of rain. They dumped it into the hole the kids have been digging for weeks. That is when we had a real big mud pie. The boys had a great time and they got so deliciously muddy. Andrew kept saying "poop" no matter how I tried to explain that it was just dirt with lots of water, and that is called mud. He didn't believe me. He still thought he was playing in "poop".

Oh, what will they do when we finish the side yard this summer and there's no more exposed dirt? Maybe we will have to add a dirt/sand box to the side yard. --emily

Roasting Marshmallows

I have been wanting to get a free-standing fire pit for our backyard ever since we moved in. I thought it would help make our outdoor space cozy and fun. While out shopping, I found this one for a great price so I bought it and put it together for some family home evening fun! The kids and I went to the IGA, our local grocery store, and bought the makings for some s'mores. When dad came home and after some dinner we made s'mores for desert. They were delicious! I love that in all my pictures the boys faces are smudged with chocolate.

The smoke began to bother Jacob's eyes. So, the smart boy that he is, he went up to the bath and grabbed his swimming goggles. They worked well according to him. The boys had a great time and they where great listeners about staying a good distance from the fire. --emily

Going to work with Dad

On Thursdays we have a speech therapist that has been coming into our home to work with Andrew. Our session a couple of weeks ago was miserable. Jacob was running around like a wild man trying to steal all the attention. That was making it impossible for the therapist to work with Andrew. Kelly offered to take Jacob to work with him this week so he wouldn't be a distraction at home. Jacob and Kelly both had a great time at work that day. Jacob attended all of Kelly's meeting with him. Yes, he tried to steal all the attention there too, but even Kelly's boss commented that Jacob did really well. Kelly took him to Starbucks in the morning for hot chocolate and an impromptu lunch meeting at McDonald's so he could get the true business experience. I had packed Jacob a backpack full of fun things to do for the day. I even made him a little security badge just like dad's. This was a once in a while thing but it made for the best speech therapy session yet. --emily

Sleeping bags

This last week we had a few rainy days, so I decided it would be fun to pull out the kids' sleeping bags and let them play in them. They had a great time! Jake and Drew played for hours under the dining table. I zipped their sleeping bags together to make it a little bit more fun. They wrestled and played, laughed and cried. But all in all it was a perfect rainy day activity. We had a very lazy day. We even stayed in our jammies all morning. --emily

Oldie

My uncle Al has been posting some funny old family pictures to our family face book account. I just had to share this here it is too cute! This is a picture of my Mom, Myself and two brothers Joshua and Jason. Okay mom where are we? In California somewhere? --emily

Snow!

Our weather has been so odd this season.

On Saturday we were all in shorts running around in the yard. We sat on the back porch and watched the kids dig in the dirt. I planted some wonderful new plants in our yard. We were acting like spring had sprung.

Then this morning, Monday, we woke up to snow-capped mountains and this afternoon we even had a little mini blizzard. --emily

Marshmallow Shooters

The other day I was reading on a friend's blog and she had a fun post about marshmallow shooters a friend has made for her boys. I thought to myself, "That looks like lots of fun!" I did a little bit of research with Google and found a pattern I liked. Then the boys and I went to our local hardware store to pick up all the parts we needed: PVC pipe, joints, glue and paint. Jacob picked out the red spray paint. He though it looked cool. I do have to agree.

After dinner, we rode our bikes to the fields behind our house to see how the shooters worked. We all had a great time. There where marshmallows flying all over the place.

Jacob had a great time "shooting" marshmallows. He would drop his shooter every once in a while to just run away from his dad, who couldn't help himself from shooting Jacob up close because it didn't hurt. They had such a fun time.

Andrew on the other hand had more fun eating all the marshmallows that where on the ground.

In this picture Andrew was playing the game Chubby Bunny. He won of course! He was the only one playing.

We did learn a couple of things that we will use to our advantage some day when playing against non-family members. So prepare yourself! Get ready friend this is fun. Friends if you are interested, I will make the "shooters" if you provide the marshmallows. --emily

First time to the dentist

Jacob had his first dentist appointment today. I now realize we should have been to the dentist before today, but you live and learn, right? Jacob did a great job. Whenever Jacob gets nervous he becomes very quiet. The hygienist would ask Jacob questions, but he wouldn't reply to almost all of them.

I took Jacob to the same dentist that Kelly and I see. He is amazing! I had trouble with one of my teeth and he was the only dentist that was really able to fix it. We drive 40 minutes to see him, but it is worth the drive to see a good dentist. So, I trust him with our children's teeth.

Yes, Jacob had two cavities. We didn't always do a great job of brushing his teeth, and we don't have fluoride in our water. We're doing better about brushing now. Hopefully these will be the only cavities he ever gets. Jacob was a real trooper in the dentist's chair. He sat there nicely with his mouth open and didn't complain. We were proud of him. --emily