Kid Talk

Said while talking about a Black Slug we saw.
D: Maybe it was a spider.
Me: No, it wasn't a spider. Spiders have 8 legs. The slug didn't have any legs. He just has sticky stuff on his belly to help him squish along.
D: Well, if you say so.

Driving home from a trip to the mountain.
D: See, I told you it would take a long time to get home.

He was so matter of fact about things. It cracks me up!

At the park

After the drama to get there, this is our day at the park (the sweet and condensed version)

Going for a bike ride or near death experience.

I got a bee in my bonnet this morning and thought I'd take the kids in the bike trailer to the park. I also opted for the work-out mostly uphill route. It's only a little over a mile according to Roy's GPS. I figured I might as well get in a good exercise on the way. Here's how it went:

Starting out, going down hill, woo-hoo I rock! Look at me I'm the best mom and I'm exercising!
There's a hill coming up but not to worry, I have all this wonderful momentum from my downhill. Oh, except the remote for the garage just fell out of my pocket so I stop my precious momentum to retrieve the remote and put it in the trailer where it should have been to begin with. No problem though, I only have to go uphill to the garbage can up there only 7 miles away! (maybe an exaggeration, but I doubt it.)

So as I'm pedaling up this hill D decides he wants to have a conversation.
"Mommy what was that?"
*pant*pant*pant* "Just the *gasp* gears *pant*wheeze* shifting."
D: "Blah, blah, de blah"
Me: is he talking to me, what does he need, he better be dying or I am NOT answering
D: "MOMMY!"
Me: "WHAT?!" said in the most pleasant, loving mommy voice ever
D: "What was that sound?"
Me: "THE GEARS!!" *pant*pant*gasp*pant*(I keep changing gears looking for the jet propulsion gear. It must be here somewhere)

I look up sure that I must be only inches from the previously mentioned garbage can. Nope.

I finally make it to the garbage can. what the. . . I thought the hill ended here!!!
must. . . keep . . . going. . .

D is mentioning something about the Little Engine that Could.
What!? Does he know? Can he tell? Why is he talking about the Little Engine that Could. Does he seriously expect me to start chanting I think I can I think I can I think I can because I am sooo NOT!

Finally the stoplight to turn right. If I remember correctly the park is really close now. Fortunately, I am now coasting down hill and panting like a sick dog.
It is a short jaunt through this neighborhood, a dirt trail, one more block in another neighborhood and presto! Park!

So, short jaunt through neighborhood goes well, its all downhill. We arrive at the dirt trail. must stop, need air *pant*pant*

Of course, it is uphill at first. no problem, it's nice and short and I've been coasting for three blocks.
Push, push, push, can't. stop. must. keep. going. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can't I mean can
Whew, made it, coast time. . .

Now the last block then the park. Oh look, I am so surprised, the last block is uphill. At this point I stop and look dejectedly at the hill.

Then I start walking.

We finally make it to the park. I unload the 200 pound children from the 400 pound bike trailer and concentrate on not throwing up. At this point I make the executive decision to stay at the park until Roy gets home from work tonight and can pick us up!

So... it's been raining a bit recently . . .

. . . and he couldn't be happier!!

I am a culinary wonder!

Sunday night I invented a salad and it actually tasted pretty good. It was a Macaroni-Ranch-Bacon-Vegetable masterpiece! I cooked the macaroni and bacon (okay, Roy cooked the bacon) and mixed them together with a bit of Miracle Whip and dry Ranch mix. Then I added some freshfromthegarden green onion and lemon cucumber (new to me too!) and some freshfromthestore tomatoes. It was brilliant if I do say so myself. Maybe I'll publish a cookbook. A very short cookbook.


My photography skills (or lack thereof) should not be held against the salad. It really did taste and look wonderful.
But enough about me. Anybody had any great ideas for dinner tonight?

Babies are soo silly *say in sappy baby voice*

I recently introduced K to olives which of course are meant to be stuck on fingers before eating. Now she thinks anything round should go on her fingers before she will eat it. This means that I now cut finger holes in grapes, blueberries and anything else round and edible. She will stick her pointer fingers up and wait for me to stick the food on before she will eat it. *sappy voice* sooo silly

In a related story, we had corn on the cob the other night. I had cut some off the cob for K and D. I was peacefully eating my dinner and K kept saying, "muh muh muh" (translation: gimme gimme gimme) and reaching for the table. Finally I determined she wanted to cob I had been eating off of. I decided, what the hey, she could hold it until I was ready to finish my corn. She. ate. it. all.

The ridiculous little thing only has 8 teeth!

In an unrelated story, we went to church today. Sacrament meeting went surprisingly well. We didn't start entertaining the ward until Sunday school. Then it was a clown show staring the not-old-enough-for-nursery-too-old-for-infant-carrier wiggle worm. It started with ball throwing which quickly progressed to cracker spilling (very noisy cracker spilling) and ended with playing in the hallway so everyone else could enjoy what was left of the spirit.

One realllllly long post

Part One: Sacrament Meeting
Sunday, we don't have church until 1 pm (terrible time!). So we take our time getting ready. As soon as we walk through the door I remember again how much I hate to move but I keep pepping myself up to be friendly and smile at everyone. Things are going alright, just as to be expected. Several people talk to us before church starts, very friendly. Then it's sacrament time. First of all, there are children in this ward . . . somewhere. It is not totally silent, but fairly close. I swear my children are echoing through the room. K suddenly decides she wants to play with the older couple sitting behind us. When she wants someone to play with her she emits this loud, high-pitched, loud, throuty, loud yell. She is repeatedly doing this despite my efforts to shush her. When I move her she goes right back. If I try to hold her she is even louder with her complaints. The girl is nothing if not tenatious.
D, meanwhile, is actually being probably as quiet as he has ever been and yet I repeatedly shush him too. He is quiet but not silent.
The climax of our quiet, oh so reverent sacrament comes when D takes the water. I happen to notice there is one cup that is actually two cups stacked together. D reaches for a normal sacrament cup then notices the unusual one so he of course has to take that one. (I should preface the next part by pointing out the D has only ever really used paper sacrament cups and these are the plastic variety.) As is his custom, D pinches the base of the sacrament cup to crush it when he is finished. This results in the inner cup being launched at least 2 feet in the air and sailing onto the bench in front of us. Welcome to the ward.

Part Two: Making Friends
Finally we make it to Relief Society. I walk in determined to sit next to someone and make a friend. I must have been early. There were a few occupied seats but not many. The women who were there were mostly middle aged or more. Not that there's anything wrong with that but I really wanted to find some young mother type friends to have play groups with. I smile at a few people and finally sit one seat down from someone who I spoke with in Sacrament meeting. I say Hi. She smiles and talkes to the lady on the other side of her. Okay.
Of course being new I have to stand and introduce myself. Whatever. Someone else stands and introduces herself as being new too. She's young. Two small children. Sitting with another young mother. ALRIGHT!
During RS I determine to talk to the 2 sisters I noticed, then not, then yes, then I'm really hungry I should just go. I think one of the biggest reasons I did go talk to them was because I knew I would have to confess on here if I didn't. So I did talk to them. They were normal. We exchanged phone numbers and arranged a play date!! YIPEE!!

I WILL NOT LET MYSELF GET IN MY WAY OF MAKING NEW FRIENDS.

Laughed 'til I Cried

Check out this link to a truly funny blog. http://borrowedlight.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-my-children-will-need-therapy.html I have seriously not laughed that hard in a long time. It could be that I'm a bit tired (it is 11:30pm) but I don't know. Anyway, since it is so late I was trying desperately to laugh hysterically and yet make absolutely no noise. It's okay, I'm pretty sure all my organ will return to their normal positions without medical intervention. It does feel good to have a good cry every now and then and that was the best cry ever!

That said, I hope you at least smile when you read it. Also, the comments were great too.

One Week and Counting

It has now been one week since we moved. It could easily have been more. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's been at least a month since I was in Spokane. However, the calendar says it's only been a week so that's what I'm going with.
Tomorrow is Sunday. Our first opportunity to meet our new ward. Yes, we were here last Sunday and so were our Sunday clothes. We just weren't sure where our Sunday clothes were here at. So tomorrow we go. I have been physching myself up for this. I keep giving myself little pep talks about being outgoing, talking to people, introducing myself and such. These are not easy things for me. Roy has kindly pointed out that it is fast Sunday. Therefore we could bear our testimonies and introduce ourselves. Me, I'm more of the wait-to-pulpit-introduce-when-they-make-you-speak kind of person. For now I'll probably stick to accosting the ward members on an individual basis.
We have also been working on getting D ready for primary. We keep telling him about the new friends he is going to make and how much fun he will have. I'll keep you posted as to how everything turns out.

We found at awesome park near our house today. It has 2 great and original playgrounds, a small skate park and a nature trail that reminds me of walking through the rainforest part of a zoo. It is close enough we can ride our bikes with the kids in the trailer. Wahoo.
Now I'd like to find a park with a pool or wading area or some such water attraction for the water babies. Of course, nothing I have to wear a bathing suit for because that is just not pretty!