Yay!!!

Summer is FINALLY here!!! Troy and Annie got out of school today and we have the entire summer to ourselves. No rushing to get to bed at night and no rushing to get them out the door on time in the morning. It's going to be nice to just sit back and relax...well, sort of.

We are a naturally busy family with scouts, daycare, piano lessons and callings as well as family stuff going on, so it's not totally relaxing. But, without the confines of getting ready, going to, and coming from school, it makes it less hectic.

Troy has big plans for the summer. He goes to Camp Geronimo the last week of June, gets home on a Saturday, goes camping with the family on the Rim the following Wednesday, gets home on a Saturday and the leaves for Silver-Axe on Mt. Graham on Monday and gets home the following Saturday. He then has one week to relax before starting school again. On his off time, he's working on his remaining merit badges and will hopefully pick his Eagle project soon. He's nervous about all the coming and going, but is excited for these opportunities.

Annie and Taylor are looking forward to watching movies, swimming and playing with their friends. They are both already excited for school to start which Troy thinks is crazy.

Tyson is having a tough time. He loves to be outside, but he doesn't like it when it's hot. Swimming is fun for him, but we can't spend all day every day at the pool, so right now we are having an interesting time keeping him entertained. I'm excited to take him camping and letting him have his run of the mountains.

As for Kevin and I, we are going to hang on and enjoy the ride. :)

What?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I'ts been almost two months since the perm incident and my hair hasn't calmed down one bit. It does look pretty good most of the time thanks to mousse (lots of it) and clippies that keep the fluff down and I've gotten used to it. I've even considered getting another perm when (and if) my hair ever loses it's curl. I may change my thought process though.

The other day, when the boys were sick I didn't have time to mousse my hair, so it was just loose and kind of fluffy. It was really windy that day and I ran a trash bag out to the garbage can. When I came back in Kevin took one look at me and said, "Honey..with your hair like that you look like Sammy Hagar." (for you young 'uns out there..he used to be the lead singer for Van Halen, one of Kevin's favorite groups) I've attached his picture so you could see the MAN that I have now been compared to.
In all honesty, my hair did look like that and probably even wilder, but WHO CARES? What woman out there would want to be told by her husband that she looks like a MALE rock star?

I have decided I'm going to have to punish him.....let's see, death? dismemberment? cleaning the toilets? I know!!! I'll just let his hair grow out, tie him up and perm it for him. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA (this is my evil side laughing now) Then, I'll dye it orange and rent him out for birthday parties as a clown. Ahhhh...sweet thoughts to put me to sleep tonight. :)

Purple Nail Polish

Ok, I'm finally ready to talk about purple nail polish. I was pretty mad for a while, but after cleaning up after the kids and their stomach flu and then battling my own flu this week, I've decided that I'm too tired to be mad any more. ;)

Tyson loves to throw things. Anything and everything. Plates, bowls, trucks, toys, shoes, etc. We were upstairs in my bathroom and Tyson was getting stuff out of the cupboards and drawers. As usual he examined each item and then threw it. I was indisposed at the time and I could hear him in my basket of nail polish. He's thrown these before and they never break so I wasn't worried.

Suddenly, I hear a bang and breaking glass and I just knew it was bad. Sure enough, I look out and Tyson is standing by the tub, pointing and saying "uh-oh" and in the tub was a broken bottle of nail polish. It was fairly new and almost full and one of my favorite colors...purple chrome. He had thrown it into the tub and as luck would have it, it hit the metal drain plug and shattered. This lovely color was splashed all over the sides of the tub, gathering around the drain, and there were splatters everywhere. Of course, I did the rational thing and screamed. Loudly.

I must have scared Tyson because he started to cry. Taylor came running into the room and I started yelling at him...get me some towels, get me some wipes, get me something!!! I was wiping as fast as I could, but it wasn't enough. Some of the polish had dried and it looked awful. This paint does NOT match my decor and it's everywhere. (although later, my mom mentioned that I should have just splattered more into the tub and then changed my paint job to match the tub...any excuse to redecorate right?) So, I got the polish remover and started wiping. It took me 45 minutes and half a bottle of remover, but I got most of it up. There is still a purple tinge in the bottom where the non-slip grooves are but hopefully they'll wear off in time.

As for Tyson...he got a hug and I withdrew my threat to give him to grandma and I have cleaned out all the breakables from the bathroom and hid them. Now all he can throw is combs.

I think I'm looking forward to the day when I can unbaby proof my house and not have to climb a ladder to paint my nails.

Finally...an update!!!

Well I have finally transferred all my pictures from my camera to my computer and I'm now ready to update our recent happenings. I've tried 3 different times to get all the pictures in the right order and it didn't work, so you'll just have to go along for the ride. :)

Easter was so much fun. We went to Mom and Dad's house and hunted eggs and cooked out and really enjoyed each other's company. I feel so blessed that all of my family is in the area and that we get along so well. It's nice having your best friends around you.

Here is Annie in her hunt for eggs:


The weather here has been truly beautiful. We haven't hit triple digits yet so we've been taking advantage of the nice days and had lots of outside time. I took my birthday money and purchased a bike seat so that I could take Tyson for rides. He loves it and Kevin and Troy have gotten to where they like to go with him too. Here's my little mushroom head ready to go.

Troy was part of the school science fair this year. He took 3rd place!! We are so excited and proud of him. He did a "french fry challenge". He believes that McDonald's has the best fries (even now though he knows they didn't win). So we got the fam to be the guinea pigs and did a blind taste test of McDonald's, Burger King, Sonic, and Jack in the Box. Jack took the prize with McDonald's coming in 2nd, Burger King 3rd and Sonic a distant last. Thanks to all of you who were willing to consume so many calories for science (and come on...admit it...you enjoyed it).
Thanks to google images as well for the great pictures of the logos and fries. :)
Ok...we are out of order. This is Tyson enjoying Easter with Dad's help. He had more fun throwing the eggs than putting them in the basket, but fun is fun right?
Taylor enjoying his time looking for eggs too.
Tyson lately has been a little bit (ok a lot really) of a stinker. (ask me later about the purple nail polish in the tub...or maybe I'll write about it, but not till I've calmed down and gotten the polish remover smell out of my nose) His new thing is the vacuum. If the closet gets opened, he takes it out. If we try to vacuum the floor, he steals it from us. If we try to put it away, he throws a full on temper tantrum. I'm hoping this love of vacuuming is a permanent thing...my own built in butler, but I'm guessing by the age of 5 he'll roll his eyes when I ask him to do it for me.

We wanted proof for his scrapbook so we made sure to get pictures showing two different sets of jammies...not just a one time occurance. ha ha ha

Here we are going back to the day we rode bikes outside. Kevin came home and we were talking when we heard a strange noise. We looked down and Tyson had somehow gotten Kevin's lunchbox open and was either throwing stuff out of it, or eating what he was finding. There was even a couple of empty soda cans that he tried to drink out of. What a treasure chest for a 15 month old!

Same day, but out of order still...Taylor and Annie having lots of fun riding and skating and showing off. What a couple of hams!

That about does it for catching up. We aren't really looking forward to the hot temperatures of summer, but the kids only have 3 1/2 weeks of school left, Taylor will be done with preschool in 2 weeks and then we'll have the summer for some fun and hopefully it will be a little less busy.

Our garden is doing well...we have lots of tomatoes and squash and peas but our pepper plants died. Oh well. Not bad for our first year of trying it out here.

Now that I'm out of books (at least until I borrow more) I am hoping to keep things more up to date. Have a great day!

Outsmarted (sigh)

Ok..I know it's been a while since I last posted but I've been reading lots and lots of books and thoroughly enjoying myself. I have lots of pictures that I need to get off of my camera and I hope to do that sometime this week. In the meantime, I thought I'd share an interesting conversation I had with Taylor today.

Taylor has been sick these last couple of days and I asked him to go upstairs and lay down on my bed to take a nap.

Taylor: "Mom, I'm not tired"

Me: "Take a nap anyway"

Taylor: "I'll try"

Me (quoting Yoda...I know..it's pretty sad that I use Star Wars as a mothering tool but what can I say?): "There is no try...only do or do not"

At this point, I leave the room. Now fast forward about an hour and a half.

Taylor (after coming downstairs): "Ok Mom...I'm up"

Me: "I don't think you took a nap"

Taylor (with a roll of his eyes and a sigh): "Mom, you gave me a choice...do or do not...I chose do not"

At this point I was at a loss for words. The kid had me dead to rights and there was not a darn thing I could do about it. So, I've had to accept that I have been outsmarted by a 5 year old kid in preschool and it hurts. Sigh. :)

(and as a side note...we have changed Yoda's wise words to "There is no try...only do, d*&%$t.)