Happy Birthday to Me!

It was my birthday on Monday. We mostly celebrated on Sunday just because. Roy and D made dinner -- in the dutch ovens, yummy. They also made a cake, so we had cake and sang "Happy Birthday".

Monday was a regular day since I am a mom and kids are no respecters of anything. Monday evening was special though. After dinner, I got to open my presents. I had already told Roy not to spend anything because what I really want is money in the bank for a home down payment. So, he and D bought me my favorite variety of Captain Crunch (the plain old original) and some 10-grain hot cereal (we call it Mommy's Treat Cereal at our house. Roy likes plain cracked wheat but D wouldn't eat it until we started calling it Daddy's Treat Cereal).

Anyway, I opened my presents and we sang "Happy Birthday" again. D absolutely loves birthdays and singing the song. Then Roy put K to bed while D took me 'out' for ice cream. I got a free ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery (yummy!!) for my birthday.

As we were getting ready to head out, I was talking to D about him "taking me out for my birthday." He got very matter of fact and said, "But Mommy, you'll have to drive because, well look at me, I'm just a kid." Ah yes, I can see that...

Random Stuff

I made Monster Cookies, which I found here. Then, fearing the calorie count wouldn't be high enough, I made them into ice cream sandwiches.They were (are) big. I am happy with the cookies though. Finally a cookie Roy actually likes!

Good to know: Tonka dump trucks float.

They also get water inside them somewhere, somehow that will leak out in the trunk of the car.

K got a new bed. It's really not new but the bed rails are! Roy and I worked together to design them then Roy went to a friend's house on Memorial Day and created them. I think they look pretty good.

K's been sleeping in it since her nap on Monday. Once she's asleep, all is well. Getting her to hold still, stay in bed and go to sleep...well, that's a bit trickier. Still, I'm not complaining. At least she's sleeping through the night!

My garden is nearly done. We added cantalope, cucumbers, cilantro and green or red peppers (the package didn't specify and both were pictured.) All I need to plant now are the peas and green beans. We also had a special 'Stick Hunt' FHE where we drove up to a mountain trail and found sticks to use in creating tomato cages and trellis' for the beans and cucumbers.

Another week

In keeping with the weekly journal writing, here is a post/update.

The Night Terror seems to have calmed back down into her usual sweet, sleepy self. Ahhh, what a relief.

Still no Wall-E Talking Electronic Truck. I found one on Ebay finally. The price was exactly what I would pay in a store. Unfortunately, it shipped from Australia so the shipping was as much as the truck. I found two others for over $100. I emailed the Disney store with no real result. ("Sorry, we don't have one and I don't know if we'll get anymore.") So we finally had the talk. Now he has $23 to spend as he desires. A fact I don't remind him of when we are standing in the check out at the grocery store and there is a display of Matchbox cars!

We FINALLY got a garden plot assignment from our stake yesterday. This was the cause of much excitement and dirtyness as we started planting some veggies yesterday. What did we plant so far? Spinach, Lettuce, Strawberries, Carrots and waaaaaaay too many tomatoes.
I didn't think out the spinace and lettuce thing so we planted too many of those too. We should have only planted half as many seeds and then planted again in a couple of weeks so we could stagger our crop. I think when the plants start to grow (if the plants start to grow) I will pull half of them and seed again.
The strawberries are an everbearing variety so hopefully we'll be able to get strawberries all summer. The carrots...eh...maybe I should have actually put the seeds in the ground. See, the seeds are really small so I just, well, scattered them over the area where I want carrots to grow. Then I watered them. So it is possible the water carried the seeds into the dirt. It is also possible that the water carried the seeds...well...anywhere.
As for the tomatoes, what can I say? The starts were free and no one else wanted them. We did manage to share some, but not enough. I will probably be spending a whole bunch of time this summer bottling tomatoes and making Salsa. Anybody wanna help? (If you're wondering, we probably ended up with somewhere near 20 tomato plants. For anyone who has ever had a garden, YES, WE KNOW WE ARE INSANE.)

Tonight we have one of Roy's old law school buddies coming to dinner. (It really feels weird to have 'old law school buddies'.)

Tomorrow is Memorial Day and I wish we could spend it at home. I don't mean 'home' like where we live now, but 'home' like where I grew up. We always celebrated Memorial Day. We would go up to the graveyard where my grandparents, great-grandparents and many other relatives are buried. The local chapter of the American Legion always puts on a little ceremony with speeches, a 21 gun salute and Taps. Then back to the burrow for a BBQ or Dutch Oven lunch with relative who come for this festive family affair. As it is, I suppose we will spend at least part of tomorrow working on the garden. Roy will probably go in to work for at least a little while. Not quite the same.

My birthday is coming up. Just thought I'd pass that on so you can all get thinking about what super wonderful gifts you would send me if you had the money. I'd like a new 'family vehicle', in case you need ideas.

Happy Memorial Day week everyone!

Holy Night Terror

We've been having night terrors at our house the last few nights. Okay, not night terrors, just one night terror:Look at her. What a doll. And so innocent looking, but when the sun goes down..... Heaven help us all.

At mere weeks of age, K was sleeping for 10-12 hours a night. I kid you not. I have it written down on her baby calendar. By 3 months of age though she decided this way of life was not for her. So many many many months and hours of crying later we were finally getting sleep again. However for the remainder of her two year she has been periodically reminding us that is it really her choice to bestow good night's sleep on her parents.

When K is sleeping, she is the BEST! I can drop her in her bed wide awake and she will peacefully read stories, play quietly or just lay down and go to sleep.

When K is not sleeping, there are no hoops we can jump through, no tricks that will work. (Yes we've tried ignoring her. Sunday night she literally cried herself hoarse after 4 hours of being ignored. And still I finally went in and laid with her on the bottom bunkbed in an effort to get some sleep for daddy who had to go to work.)

So what do we do? Well, we are building some bed rails for the bunkbed so she can sleep in a big girl bed. Hey, if she's not sleeping anyway we might as well transition. Who knows, maybe it will actually work and we can get some sleep around here.

Travel Log

We're home from vacation. Here is my family journal/travel log. For a condensed version, see the pictures in the previous post.

We left Thursday night after Roy got off work. Our plan was to drive 'until we were tired and wanted to stop'. Since Roy drank 6 Mt. Dews, he really never did get tired. The kids were awesome! Of course, they slept most of the way. When we got to Oceanside, CA it was approximately 3 hours before we could check into our condo and before Grandma and Grandpa arrived. Luckily, we were in Southern California with a BEACH. After locating the condo to park the car, we headed to the beach and Oceanside Pier. So much fun. We played, got checking in, showered, etc. The typical first day of vacation stuff.

Saturday morning, Grandma and Grandpa had to go on a 'tour' and listen to a 'spiel' for their timeshare company. "Only 45 mins." the concierge said when she scheduled it. Four hours later they were done and we all headed out. We decided to take the Coaster (a commuter train) into San Diego. For those of you who don't know D, HE LOVES TRAINS! And that could be considered an understatement. He was THRILLED!!!

We rode the train to Old Town and moseyed around for a while. The kids did great. It was so good for them to walk and exercise after spending the day before in a car. D especially liked looking at the toys and the old carriages and wagons. After a few hours we returned to our condo via the Coaster again. Once again, there was one little boy full of rapture at the whole experience. (He didn't even notice the drunk married guy loudly and crudely hitting on a woman across the car. Ah, to be young and oblivious...)

Sunday morning we broke with our usual tradition and took the kids to the pool. We usually don't do that on Sundays as a matter of trying to keep the Sabbath holy but we felt bad for them because we hadn't gone swimming at all yet. They had fun. K actually spent most of her time in the hot tub with Gma & Gpa. D played hard in the pool.

After swimming we got all ready and played a scripture game. Then Roy and I and the kids went to visit some family that live nearby. As Roy pointed out when we left, we hardly saw D the entire time. He and his cousins played hard! K had a really great time too. One of her older girl cousins took such good care of her and played with her. It was great. Roy and I got to just sit back, relax and visit with family that we rarely get to see. Since they will be moving to New Hampshire in the fall, we will probably not see them again for at least 3 years! I'm so glad we got to visit.

Monday was a big day -- SEA WORLD!! D has been looking forward to it for so long. We first went to the Sea Lion show. I enjoyed it, however it was geared more towards an older, TV watching crowd. D asked me about half way through, "When does the Sea Lion show start?" Oh well. We saw Shamo twice. The first time we sat in the 'Soak Zone'. I recall sitting there on previous trips to Sea World and not getting very wet. The show has obviously changed as they now actually encourage Shamo to soak everyone. The kids were less than thrilled. Roy was cracking me up as he held a very upset toddler and said ridiculous things like, "That's enough Shamo. Bad Shamo. Stop! No Splashing Shamo." It was kind of nice to have the kids get wet though because then we didn't have to worry about them getting too hot. The second time we watch Shamo we did sit way up high and away from the 'Soak Zone'. It is really an amazing show.

We watched the dolphins, touched starfish and bat rays (D wouldn't touch the bat rays but he liked feeling the starfish), walked under the shark tank so there were shark swimming all around, fed the pink flamigos and walked all over the park seeing EVERY SINGLE ANIMAL LISTED ON THE MAP. Really, the kids loved it. They were always amazed and fasinated with each animal. D decided the eels were gross and I concur. D and K got to pet one of the big Clydesdale horses. Whenever we ask D what his favorite part was he always says, "My favorite part was everything!"

Tuesday we went to Balboa Park in San Diego. There is a Model Railroad Museum in the park. As D puts it, "I liked that museum. There were lots of cool trains to see." One room had a train that kids could 'drive'. That meant they pushed a button and the train went around the track once. Both kids really liked doing that. K would push the button then run over to the side of the track to watch her train go. In that same room was an 'engineer' who let D push the button on his special remote control and blow the train's whistle. WHAT A THRILL! We spent just over an hour looking at every. single. train. Then we headed out for a little walk around the park.

We opted to start back to the condo around lunch time but stopped at Carlsbad Outlet Mall so Grandma could outfit my munchins for another season. Thanks Grandma! When we left the outlet mall we saw a field where you could go pick strawberries. We stopped so D could fill his little bucket they provided with large, ripe and very delicious strawberries.

When we got back to the condo, we headed out to the beach (across the street!) for one more foray with the ocean. K decided she was scared of the noise and water but the sand was okay. D decided he was braver and braver until he had waves crashing up to his neck. Part of his bravery could be attributed to the fact that Daddy or Grandpa was holding onto him to make sure he didn't actually go under water. I watched comfortably from the beach. It was absolutely wonderful to just sit in the sand and watch the kids play without having to actually do anything!! Ah, vacation.

After the beach, we went for a swim in our condo pool. Both kids got in touch with their inner fish and decided they never wanted to leave. K started turning a purplish hue because she was cold but do you think she wanted to get out and warm up in a towel? Heavens NO! and she let us know everytime we asked. D was the last one out of the pool as he counted down the minutes himself instead of trusting when Roy said 20 minutes were up.

Wednesday marked the end of our stay and it was time to get back in the car for the long trek home. Our kids are awesome travelers. Seriously, you could not expect better travel companions from a 4 year old and 2 year old. There were almost no tears, whines or complaints. We drove all day and made it home about 4:15 Thursday morning.

As a matter of interest, we did not get rained on the entire trip until we crossed the Oregon border. We stopped in Medford for gas and it was raining. *Sigh*

Vacation in Pictures

Here we are visiting cousins. Those boys had so. much. fun.

This is what D thought about riding the Coaster train to San Diego.

My little diva at Sea World.

Petting the starfish. Really he did like it. I promise.

Here is one happy kiddo watching a trolly train go by.

Here's D blowing the train's whistle

This vacation stuff is hard work.

D with his bucket full of yummy strawberries.

Playing in the ocean waves.

D and Daddy pretending to be from the Shamo show.

Before discovering she actually likes to swim.

After discovering her 'inner fish'. Note the purple lips.

What have I been up to?

So I believe I mentioned we've been sick. It hasn't gotten any better. I mean, I've gotten better but situations around here haven't gotten better.

Thursday, D was feeling better -- like bouncing from couch cushion to couch cushion while reassuring his daddy that he still had "lots of fevers". Happy day. Then 4:30 hits and D's tummy hurts. 5:15, IT happens. And what do I do as the calm, cool, collected mom? Reach for the garbage can that is 5 feet away? Oooh no. I run from room to room looking for the bowl. You know, the one he's been carrying around with him all day that is suddenly MIA. I did find the bowl, rush back with it just in time to do virtually NO GOOD. (Anybody know any great remedies to get that puke smell out of microfiber?)

Saturday afternoon starts K's fever. The bright shining spot of sun in all this is that even though she is clingy, its the weekend and I'm second best!

(This is the best one) Sunday afternoon, D starts having some, uh, residual side effects from his stomach bug. I finally head to Walgreens (THE OX WAS IN THE MIRE PEOPLE) for some kids Immodium AD or Pepto or something.......anything.....

So today, K has mild left over fever (no puke, or otherwise yet) which leaves her sleepy and droopy. D is fine. Fine enough to paint all over the carpet (the brand new white(?!) carpet). So when I say he's fine, I mean he's still alive and currently has no illnesses but he may soon be rented out to couples who want to know what it is like to have kids without actually having kids.

This is for Melanie and Valerie

I think I mentioned that D was earning quarters for a Wall-E Electronic Talking Truck. He made it, finally. So we went to the Disney store to buy it. Gone. No problemo we think. We'll order it from online. Gone. Everywhere Gone. Not on Amazon, ToysRus, Disney Store.com, google search. Gone. *Sigh* So, if anyone sees, finds, owns (brand new in the box and want to get rid of it) a Wall-E Electronic Talking Truck (retails $59.99) let me know.