Fun Mom???

When John saw all of the pictures from yesterday, he said to me, "That was really nice of you to let the kids do what they did. You are a fun mom."
Well actually, I didn't LET the kids do what they did. They just did it. If someone had asked, "Mom, can we paint ourselves with frosting and pretend we are cats?" The answer would have been, "No, not, never, noway, I don't think so." But since they forgot to ask, I get to look like one of those fun moms.

I took this picture. They took all of the rest.

Notice that she took this picture of herself in the mirror.

Joseph's Birthday

Joseph is 2!!! We had a fun filled day with a splash pad, a visit to Temple Square, and a small birthday party!! Jospeh is a sweet little talkative guy. He loves to tackle everyone. He can even pin Anya down pretty well. He loves to have stories read to him and he loves to build with blocks and legos. He likes throwing balls and cheering at ball games. He loves to eat, especially candy. And he is my only big (as in size big) kid. Joseph is an all around fun kid.

During this last year, Joseph learned to walk. He pulled everything out from every drawer and cupboard in his reach. He played in every toilet, he has run the water in every sink and in the bathtubs. He's had his hand in every garbage can. He dumped all of the books from the book shelf several times a day for many months. When he at last satisfied his curiosity, he settled down to play with toys and in the dirt outside.

Now that he is two we can look forward to temper tantrums and potty training, better table manners, and sleep habits. Joseph will have a whole lot more to say to us, and his toys will start talking. If we are lucky, Joseph will sit down for a movie sometime soon.

Fun at the splash pad!!

Visiting Temple Square

Birthday Party!

AND...BIRTHDAYS OF YEARS PAST

Turning Zero Jul 20, 2009

Turning One Jul 20, 2010

Turning Two Jul 20, 2011

Happy Birthday, Joseph you make our home a funner place to be!

Girls Camp and News

Ruth and Kate got back from girls camp last Saturday. They had a great time. They behaved and didn't fight with each other.  Except Ruth who fought with one girl there. I do not have any pictures, though because I do not have a camera kids can take. That is going to have to change.

When they got home I had them talk to me about camp. I asked if they had been homesick and they both guiltily answered no, and they were about the only girls there that were not. They didn't need to feel guilty, however. I am very glad that they had fun and enjoyed themselves and didn't miss home. Besides, I was never homesick and always felt bad about that. And, I missed them,but things went on normally and happily without them. So when they said, "How was it without us?" I felt a little bad saying, "Things were good and happy." I like it that way though. I feel excited for my kids when they get to go away and do fun things. I don't worry too much either. So I don't want them worrying and fretting about home. I want them behaving and having lots of good fun.

I had two pieces of news for the girls when they came home too. While they were gone my brother, Seth got engaged. Ruth and Kate were completely shocked about that one. We are all so happy for him. He has been sad and alone and rejected far too much. I will post more about that when I get a picture of the two of them.

The second piece of news was John got a new job while they were away at camp. We were hoping for a much bigger pay raise. It is only $4,000 more a year. But it is a job and it is doing what John is best at and he will be using his math PhD so that is great. So John will end working for KRD, July 31st, and he will start TDW on Aug 1st. We will not have a gap in pay at all.

Check It Out

I have wanted to expand my blog without really changing the theme of my blog because every now and then I just have an article brewing inside that I want to write down. So I have now added an additional tab I am calling  Scripture Musings. In it I will write my thoughts on the scriptures and General Conference talks. I don't know how often I will update Scripture Musings or My Opinions tabs, but take a look if you have time.

Kitten Experiment Number One

Our Kittens are gone. My sister took two last night but promptly brought them back this morning after a severe allergic reaction. So around 9:30 this morning, I posted an add for free kittens. By 9:30 tonight they were all gone. Giving away the kittens was incredibly easy! We had no emotional breakdowns, so that part was easy too. We will let our cat have more babies. Kitten experiment number one was a huge success! We loved having all of those kittens around too. I am glad to provide cute little baby kitties to loving homes. I am quite sure they all went to good homes too.

Unscheduled Havoc

We have been so thoroughly off schedule for all of July!!  We have been eating dinner around 8:30 every night and getting the kids to bed after 10 or 11pm basically since the family reunion ended. We haven't been getting all of our chores done because we are tired and our house is too messy. We have also not gotten reading and such done regularly. We have been spending way too much time on tv and computers as well. And our kids are GRUMPY! So tomorrow, well, actually today, we are back to schedule for chores, and reading, and meals, and playtime and, media time and especially bedtime. I look forward to calming down and cleaning up. It may take a few days and plenty of arguments about media and chores, but we will be sane again.

We have enjoyed our fun. It is just time to end and be strict again.

Rachel's Songs

Rachel loves to sing. She has been singing since she could make noise. On a rare occasion, Rachel will sing a song she has heard, but mostly Rachel makes up her own words and her own tunes. I am impressed with both. Rachel seems to know when to sing high and when to sing low, and when to hold the notes or when to go quickly to make a good sounding song. Rachel's words can be pretty random. Sometimes they make sense and sometimes they don't. Today she sang some pretty cute songs. Here are some of the words I remember:
1.An Angel came to Mary. Mary said she would. Then Jesus was born orn orn. Jesus is real eal eal.
2.So you want to be an American star. So you want to sing out loud.
3.A star does not eat, and a star does not sleep. A star can't have a baby in its tummy. A star just stays up in the sky- igh, igh. A star shines so bright. It glows in the night. It just glows, ows, ows.