Painting Rocks

We don't just throw rocks.

We also like to paint rocks.

Yeah, we do a lot of activities with rocks around here. Rocks are free and readily available.


Painting


Rinsing

Painting

Rock Throwing

These kids love to throw rocks. Luckily, they love to throw them into water and not windows. We like to go down to the river to throw rocks. Here are some photos from a recent trip down.


Elizabeth wanted me to take her picture with every single rock she had. She likes to try to dig up big ones (which means Mom has to do it). Then, she heaves them and they usually don't quite make it in the water.


Nathan loves to find the perfect rock to throw.

A visit with Papa Ray and Kim

Papa Ray and Kim came over to play!


Elizabeth wanted to play with Kim in her room. She did not want anyone else around. She just wanted Kim time. It was cute!



Nathan riding bikes with Papa Ray.

Nathan kept using Papa Ray's foot as a brake. Poor Papa Ray.

Chef Nathan

Nathan continues to be a big helper. Today, he helped Jeremy prepare dinner. Here is a cute quote.

"My favorite part of today was cutting up potatoes with Dad."

Then he said, "You should put that on the blog."

Then, he posed for this picture for me.

He also told us that he is sure he wants to be a cook when he grows up. But NOT like the Swedish Chef.

April/May Videos

 

Preschool Graduation

Nathan "technically" graduated from preschool this week. He'll be 5 in August so it could have been his last year of preschool. However, due to his food allergy issues and the fact that I'd rather him NOT be the youngest in his class, we'll be holding him back and not sending him to kindergarten this year. One thing I remember vividly from teaching was how much more less mature the kids with the late summer birthdays were. I'd rather him be the oldest.

He'll get to go to a new preschool next year for one year!




He was a bit nervous to go to the front of the classroom and get his paper graduation hat and diploma. So I couldn't get a photo with a good smile!


The class had an ice cream party for graduation. We got Nathan some (expensive) rice milk ice cream so he had some of that. He sprinkled it with sprinkles, gummy bears, chocolate sauce, and marshmallows. He thought it was pretty tasty! Ice cream is a rare treat so he was excited.

Cookie

Auntie LeAnne and Uncle Brian got Elizabeth this fun white dog for her birthday. The kids just love Cookie. Here they are dressing up Cookie with all of Elizabeth's beads. Elizabeth just loves her beads. I gave her my old jewelry box and she's been playing with it constantly.

As soon as Cookie was covered in beads, Nathan announced that Cookie had robbed the jewelry store and he had to take her to dog jail. He pulled out a small set of handcuffs and arrested her. It was pretty funny. Naughty Cookie!

I've been doing less blogging lately. We've been quite busy! I know some Aunties and Grandparents are addicted to the blog and can't go a day without checking it to see pictures of these two. So even though we're going to be super busy the next month or so, I'll try to do semi-regular posts so everyone will be happy!

I wouldn't want to be a worm either

Nathan has a toy spider. He was upset today when one of its legs broke off. Here is what he said when he got a little less upset.

"Well, if he loses another leg, he'll be an insect. He might not like that. And if he loses ALL of his legs, then he'll just be a worm."

Manipulating Gram

Jeremy and I are going to leave the kids with Papa and Gram for a few days to go look for places to live. This will be the first time the kids have spent the night with just grandparents and no parents. I have a feeling the grandparents are going to be exhausted. This is why we don't want to leave the kids with the poor grandparents! But for this trip, we don't really have a choice. Thanks Papa and Gram.

Anyway, tonight I was telling Elizabeth that she was going to spend a few nights sleeping in Gram's crib. I told her that it would be ok there. Here is what she said about the crib.

"I'm going to cry in Gram's crib...so...Gram will come sing me songs!!"

She is quite excited to hear Gram sing. I think Gram is being manipulated.

Laughing so hard

Warning: Kind of gross story ahead.

Earlier today, Elizabeth was picking her nose. Her finger was really far up in her nostril. A short conversation happened that had me laughing so hard my stomach hurt.

Jeremy: Whatcha looking for up there?
Elizabeth: Treasure.

We have no idea where she came up with that.

Helper

Nathan continues to be such a big helper. His new favorite household chore is unloading the dishwasher. He does the whole thing!

Reader

Elizabeth took her little board book out to read in the sun. It was so cute!

Training to pass the PT

Jeremy has been perfecting his situps and pushups so he can stay in shape to pass his physical tests. He's a pro now.

I also decided I need to have more upper body strength so I've been working on doing real pushups. As of now, I'm up to 4. My goal is 14 by the end of the month....we'll see how that goes. Since I'm done training for Bloomsday and my next race isn't for a month (and isn't as long as Bloomsday) I'm going to be working on gaining some strength.

Well, Jeremy and I aren't the only ones doing pushups. Kids like to imitate their parents right? It's so cute. Here are some photos I caught.


Nathan has begun doing his "morning situps." He likes to do his situps when he first gets up. He uses the couch so his feet won't move.




Well, Elizabeth wasn't about to be left out. Nice pushup form huh?


I caught Nathan doing his pushups too.

Running

These kids love to run! They run laps around the kitchen. They run laps around the yard. Lately, they say they've been training for Bloomsday. Nathan will run 7 laps around the outside of the house and say he's the winner. It's so cute! If he's run a lot one day, he'll tell me his legs hurt a bit.


Running on a beautiful May day.


They like to take water breaks too (of course). This includes drinking water and watering the sandbox. Sandboxes get thirsty too.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom, Dad, and Laura came out for Mother's Day! We had a nice lunch. It was a BEAUTIFUL day out. Amazing for May.


Mom and 2 of her girls.




All the Moms and the cute kids!


Me and my darlings


Auntie Laura is Mommy #2.

Getting Dressed

Nathan is a pro at getting himself dressed-except when he's being silly. The other day, I told him to go get dressed for preschool.

This is how he came out of his room.

Pants on his head
Shirt on his feet
Socks on his hands

It was pretty funny!

10 year flashback

We graduated from WSU 10 year ago today. It's hard to believe it's been 10 years!

Snuggling

Elizabeth is usually in a really bad mood when she wakes up from her nap. She fusses and cries for 10 minutes (but then gets really happy). She just doesn't wake up well. All she wants is me when she wakes up.

During this time, I get to snuggle her! I love snuggle time with my little dolly. We usually read a few books. That puts her in a good mood and then she's ready to play again.

Here she is just awake and groggy and in a bad mood. Yes, she naps in footie pajamas. It's the only way we can get her to not scratch her feet until she bleeds when she's in bed.

May Play

We're happy we can play outside again on a more regular basis!


Sandbox play. Here's Elizabeth doing some digging.


Here are my boys in blue washing dirt out of sand to make clean sand. Yes, our dirt is that sandy. It is basically sand. After it was clean, we added some new sand to the sand box.


Please, Mom, can I pick these pretty blue flowers?


How about these yellow ones. Can I pick those?

Photo Day

These 2 wanted to have their picture taken together with some of their animals. It was like class photo day or something. They were pretty cute!

Funny Things Nathan says

Laura spent the night last night. Here was a funny conversation.

Nathan: Auntie Laura, can you brush my teeth tonight?
Jeremy: Auntie Laura spends all day brushing and cleaning teeth. She might need a break.
Laura: Oh sure Nathan, I'll brush your teeth.
Nathan: Well, she is a dentist after all.

Bloomsday 2012

It was Bloomsday today!

I've always run Bloomsday by myself but convinced Laura to do it with me this year since she's been running more lately. We had a sisters Bloomsday! (Well, until we parted ways at mile 4 as our running styles are just too different. We decided after the race that parting ways actually made us run better).

The weather was perfect for Bloomsday. Clear blue sky. It was cold of course, but not too cold and great for running. No wind!

I usually love Bloomsday as I love racing. Laura still hates Bloomsday, but is glad she ran this year and got her fastest time ever! I also got my fastest time ever. I guess it was a record breaking year.

The shirts are fantastic this year as well! They are a nice navy blue. I'll wear mine a lot.

Jeremy and the kids watched the start of the race on TV. They couldn't find us in the group though. There were 50,000 people.



Here we are exhausted wearing our new shirts. 7.5 miles will really zap the energy out of you!



My bib for this year. Yay for green group! Next year, I'll move up to yellow group!

That's a clean plate

Elizabeth loves frozen burritos. Are they probably terrible for her? Yes. But they do have beans and meat. And it's hard to get her to eat meat! (She doesn't like the texture). She would eat a burrito for every meal if I let her. Here is a clean plate after a burrito. Notice her banana and strawberry aren't eaten, but that burrito is gone! Who knows why she likes them so much?

Tractor Driving

You can't drive a big tractor at Papa Norm's every day. Luckily for Nathan, he's got his own tractor here at home! (Thanks Papa Ray and Kim).

Here is Nathan trying to dump some water out of his loader. He loves to have Daddy push him around the yard in his tractor. He squeals and laughs and has a great time. Good exercise for Daddy!

Reading

Elizabeth loves to have conversations with her stuffed animals. (I am usually the one doing the voices for the animals.)

It's so cute! She'll tell those animals everything. She'll share just about anything with them too.

Here she is reading a book to Elmo. She's teaching him all about different jobs.

The only time Nathan naps...

The only time Nathan naps now is if he's sick or getting sick. I snapped this picture the other day. He had a super bad cold.

We always go and grab a bucket if we find him asleep in the brown chair. It's the sign he's sick and the brown chair has been thrown up in a few times....best be prepared with the bucket!