Community Days and Mother's Day

As usual the Community Days events are scheduled the same weekend at the Fathers and Sons campout. I didn't even attempt to take the girls to the talent show. We did however get things ready for the parade. This year David was in the middle school marching band. They only practice marching for a couple of weeks, so I didn't expect them to be great. But it was fun to see David in the parade. I got the girls ready and we staked out a spot about an hour before the parade was to start. There isn't really any shade, but we still came early to get our choice. We saw several people we knew walk by. I think more people said "hi" to Amy than to me. I think everyone that works at the elementary school knows her! Aaron dropped off David in time for the band to leave the high school at 10:00, then went home with Timothy to change clothes. He joined us about 15 minutes before the parade started. He ran across the street to talk to Carol S*, her son and grandson.
The parade started as always with the color guard

 Then the Veterans

 This was the new city Royalty float, something about winter wonderland

 Here is the middle school band

 David is in the middle with the sunglasses on

you might see him better in the picture Aaron took

 kids on tractors

 lots of fancy cars

 tow trucks towing each other

 lots and lots of tractors

 and this one always makes us chuckle

at the end there were some horses

The parade wasn't over yet when David called to say they were done and needed to be picked up at the high school. We asked if he could start walking and we'd pick him up when we were done. I told him to stay on the main road coming from the high school, and not to come down the parade route since we couldn't drive down that way. He said "OK". I had to give the band director permission to let him walk. Eventually Aaron left before the parade was over to avoid traffic. However he couldn't find David. Soon the parade was over on our end. So after driving up and down the main road several times he gave up, parked the car and then began walking the parade route. By then I'd packed up the kids and the chairs and blankets, and headed back to the van. Apparently David never heard me say to stay on the main road, so he cut down to the parade route when everyone else did. He said it was too noisy and couldn't hear, but he still said "OK"  Grr! He was using someone else's phone so we couldn't call him to find him. I was tired, and grumpy, and hungry, and not wanting to spend any money at the carnival. It was past noon, and I didn't have any food, so it was either go home, or spend at least $20 on food. Aaron had things to do at work, and errands to run, so he left it up to me.  So I decided not to go to the carnival. David was furious, and the other kids didn't seem to care. He complained and argued the whole way home, which didn't really make me want to take him to the carnival. So we got home and ate lunch, and it was close to 1:30 by the time I got Melanie upstairs for a nap. 

I can't recall much about the afternoon, but eventually David stopped pouting and I think we played games or something like that. Aaron ran up to the city for a few things, and when he got home the kids took turns wrapping presents for Mother's Day. I didn't mention the gifts I had already been given. Amy had a laminated picture and paper "All about my mom." She says my favorite food was smoothies (just because I was drinking them every morning didn't mean they were my favorite, but at least I got my veggies in), and I have brown hair (is it really that dark?), have hazel eyes (that's correct), that I was 37 ( I think she forgot I recently had a birthday), and she loves that I cook food for her. She also gave me a key chain with her school picture on it. Timothy brought home a painted flower pot (looks like a mug) with a flower planted inside. I guess middle school kids don't have Mother's Day projects :)

Aaron also officially put the Saturn up for sale. He posted a notice on Craigslist with a few pictures. David was supposed to go mow the I*s lawn, but he wasn't feeling well. I really thought he was just nervous about playing in sacrament meeting the next day. Timothy was having a hard time finishing his chores and talking back, so when it came to it Aaron took the kids fishing, and left Timothy home with me. I actually got a lot done while they were gone. By the time they got back the dishes were done and I was close to finishing up my lesson for church. They caught a few tiny fish, but nothing big enough to keep.

Melanie was so excited about her fish!

So Mother's Day was Sunday and Aaron had some meetings but not too many, so he got up early too Melanie with him and fixed me breakfast in bed. I seriously don't think that has happened since Melanie was a newborn! He fixed scrambled eggs with mushrooms and cheese, orange slices, and toast, with a glass of milk. But then he had to race off to his meetings and the kids just got cereal, or something like that. So we got ready for church, all except for David. He really wasn't feeling well. It wasn't just his stomach, but he said her had chills and a sore throat too. So we left him home. As it turned out he wasn't even on the program. The primary kids sang (Amy refused to go up) and the some cousins in the ward sang a song. The Young Women passed out chocolate bars to the women in the ward for Mother's Day, and then we went to Sunday School. My lesson went well, I think. Then I gathered up the kids and headed home.

David was fine we went got home, and was feeling better. So we had some lunch (he hadn't eaten anything since dinner the day before). Then it was nap time. I think I took a nap too. Aaron stayed for only an hour or so, and then he was home for the rest of the day. We were able to talk to our moms. They were both excited to talk to their missionary sons that evening. Then Aaron fixed a fabulous dinner, and we played Farkle and ate Tres Leches cake from Costco. I opened a few presents. I was trying to figure out when he had time to get them, but then I remembered hs stopped by Fred Meyer on the way home from the campout and also went to Costco Saturday afternoon.

I have to share the pictures, because the kids are so cute!

 Melanie was super excited about the Dove chocolates she gave me

 Amy gave me an apple slicer - can you believe I've never owned one?

 I love Melanie's face in this one! I was joking about David giving me a pound of butter, and she thought it was funny.

 In reality he had wrapped up a single piece of gum in that butter box. It was pretty funny. I love how everyone gathered around to see the piece of gum!

He also had a real gift, a Lindt salted caramel chocolate bar.

Timothy's gift (an avocado tool) came with a very thoughtful card.

Aaron got me an immersion blender to replace the one I broke a couple of months ago. Attached was a couple of gift cards to Dickey's BBQ, which opened recently in the city. I guess that should be our next date night! All in all it was a wonderful Mother's Day.

Book Club, Track Meet and Fathers and Sons.

Tuesday we were supposed to help out in Amy's class, but I got an email from her teacher saying that they would be working on Mother's Day gifts during reading groups because she was gone in the afternoons with her son for the Jr. Livestock show. So Melanie and I decided to plant a few more things in the garden. I planted some radishes, kohlrabi, kale, beets, cilantro, basil and parsley. That was as far as I got. That afternoon my potty training adventures begun, so I really didn't have time to do much else. I picked up Tae and David after track practice, and they played for a bit. It was Cinco de Mayo, so we had a little Mexican food for dinner. Aaron had brought home some spinach enchiladas from a work lunch the previous day. I supplemented it with a corn and bean salad, and Mexican rice. And the kids love horchata, so I made two batches. One for us, and one for book club. That night I hosted book club. Aaron decided to take the kids to the local fishing pond for an hour or so while I was busy with book club. I barely got the house presentable when it was time to start. We had just a small group, Carol P*, Jane G* and Sandi B*. But we had a great discussion. For once we had all read the book, well, Jane was almost finished with it. So we couldn't talk about the end much, but it didn't have a big reveal at the end that needed to be discussed, so it was OK. Oh, the book was "My Name is Resolute" by Nancy Turner. I had read "These is My Words" way back when I lived in Texas, and heard this was another great book, but I had no idea it was going to be 600 pages long! I really loved the book though. Then we enjoyed some snacks. Along with the horchata, and the corn and bean salad, I had also made some Andes Mint brownies, and had a package of rice crackers from Costco. That was it.

Wednesday was a shopping day. I won't discuss how many clothes we went through, and how many times we sat on the toilet at every store. Ugh! I don't recall much else. I don't think I did much else besides sit with Melanie in the bathroom all day long! I know there was scouts that night, but can't remember anything else.

Thursday I was at home most of the day, but then David had a track meet at the high school in the afternoon. So as soon as the kids got home from school we headed out to the meet. I missed the first couple of events, but David just does field events, so that was OK. We watched a few events, and then saw David heading over to the long jump pit, so we wandered over there and watched him jump. Unfortunately that was his last jump, and I'd missed him in the javelin already. It was only 4:00 and he was done. So I never really took any pictures. The kids were really bored, but I was enjoying it. It brought back lots of memories. It was rather warm, so we found some shade to sit in. I was planning to stay for the entire meet, but the kids were begging to go home, and when David finally asked if we could go home I agreed. It was getting late, and I still needed to fix dinner. I can't recall exactly what else we did that evening.

Friday was the annual Fathers and Sons campout. So I had to make sure the boys had all of their stuff ready, and get a few things together for Aaron. He got most of it done on Thursday night. During the day I don't think I did much except clean up Melanie's messes. I did make a list of things Timothy needed to sign off for his Outdoorsman requirements for Webelos. Aaron had mentioned that he would just pick up some dinner for him and the boys on the way up, but they were already leaving late so I suggested that I make pizza (our typical Friday meal) and they could eating eat in while packing up the car, or on the road. It worked out well. There was Melanie in the front yard in a shirt and underwear waving to Aaron and the boys as they left. They took the Saturn to save on gas since they didn't need the truck. Aaron isn't ready to take the Toyota camping. I don't blame him. So after we waved goodbye, we finished our pizza and cleaned up dinner. We didn't do much else. I gave the girls a bath and they went to bed. I just did some cleaning, and some blogging and went to bed.

Adventures in Potty Training: A Melanie Post

I know I still have lots to catch up on, but I have to do a quick post about Melanie. She is learning and growing and doing so many amazing things. Unfortunately using the toilet is not one of them. I mentioned to Tayller that I planned on potty training Melanie when we got back. While we were gone before her bath she asked Melanie if she wanted to sit on the potty, and she did. So twice she got her to sit on the potty, and actually peed in it once. I was glad she got the ball rolling. However I didn't see how I was going to potty train Melanie when there wasn't a single day where I would be home all day. However Tuesday after an epic battle of wills in changing her diaper I asked if she wanted to use underwear and use the potty. She said she did, so we sat on the potty, but nothing happened. I put her in underwear, and she woke up dry. She successfully used the potty 3 times that day, and only had 1 accident. I was excited. She was dry when she woke up, but she didn't want to use the potty. Finally I got her to go, and she was successful once again. However that was the last time. For the next four days we had countless accidents, and no successes. We had to go grocery shopping, and to a track meet, etc., and only had accidents. She would tell me 20 times a day that she wanted to use the potty, and we would sit on the potty, but after 5 or 6 minutes, she was done, and wanted to get down.

Almost every accident happened less than 5 or 10 ten minutes after we had just gotten off the potty. Obviously I need to find a way to keep her on there longer. But after 4 days with no success, I decided to give up, put the underwear away, and try again later. She still wants to sit on the potty, and we do occasionally, but nothing ever comes out. She is more aware of her bowel movements, and she is now holding them in, but still doesn't know how to relax those muscles on command. I really hope the next time around goes better, and that we don't have to wait until after the baby comes. Diaper changes are not my favorite times during the day. Not because I don't want to do it, but because Melanie insists on doing most everything herself, and takes forever to get it done. I'll wait another week or so, and try again. Perhaps I'll make sure I don't have any other obligations, and no other distractions, and maybe it will work.

Otherwise Melanie is a delight! Her new favorite thing is singing songs. She loves to sing "Happy Birthday", "The ABC song", "I am a Child of God", "Once There was a Snowman", and her newest: "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam". She can also recite part of the pledge of allegiance as we hear it almost every morning on the radio after we drop off the kids at school.

I got this video of her singing, "I am a Child of God." I love how she makes faces because she can see herself in the camera.

Melanie is constantly talking, asking questions, and telling us stories. She loves "Blue's Clues" right now and has now seen every episode, and we are starting over again. That is my alone time in the morning, to garden, to exercise, to shower etc. She has picked up a lot of things from there, and calls the big chair in the living room the "pinking chair" (thinking chair), she does that with her small pink chair too. She also picked up on the body language of sad. If I ask her if she's sad she says, "I not sad, my neck not down. When Blue sad, her neck down." They must have talked about how someone looks when they are sad.

She loves fruit snacks, grapes, cheese, and yogurt. She never refuses to eat anything, although she doesn't eat much at meal times. I think most of that has to do with her not wanting to stay at the table when everyone else is done. I f I get up to do something, like help kids get ready for school, she is done and doesn't want to eat anymore. Of course she doesn't want to put her food away either. If something is spicy she will taste it, but say, "I don't want it, it's sficy." She replaces the "p" with an "f". It's pretty cute.

Have I mentioned her two most common phrases? While we are driving in the van she will say, "Why you stop?" and "Why we go this way?" over and over again. Even if I have the same answer for her, she will continue to ask. Sometimes I have to distract her with pointing to something out the window. "Look Melanie, the river!" Or a cow, or a pond, or anything! Sometimes she'll dance to the radio, so I'll turn it on.  She says, "I like this song." One time she said, "Why you turn on da rayio?" I answered, "because I thought maybe you'll stop asking questions. I guess I was wrong." David and I had a good laugh. Although she likes to dance to the radio, she does not like it when I dance to the radio, or even nod my head to the beat, or tap my fingers, or sing along. Oh, she is picky and feisty!

She still wakes up at night, but not every night, and usually she wants to lay on the floor to go back to sleep. I try to avoid having her crawl into bed with me, but sometimes it's 5:00am, and I'm too tired to fight it. She is still napping, but occasionally skips her nap especially if we get a late start. Usually it only takes 10-15 minutes for her to go to sleep, but a couple of times it took almost an hour.

I'm sure there is a lot more I am forgetting. But I had to write down what I am thinking about. Melanie is so fun, and a little stubborn :), and I love her to death!

Back Home, and Yard and Garden Pictures.

I forgot to include this picture of Eden, she was having fun sitting on the stairs and watching us

One of the nice things about our trip was that we were still back for Sunday. I didn't have a lesson to prepare for, so that was also nice. It was great to hear about what the kids did while we were gone. I had given Tayller money to take them to McDonald's for a meal, but apparently David talked her into ordering Pizza Hut one evening as well, even though they had eaten a Costco pizza on Thursday. So they went to McDonald's for lunch on Saturday. The girls said they had fun drawing and coloring.

Sunday morning Aaron went off to meetings and the girls and I had some cereal. I got the kids ready for church, and then it was off to church. It was fast and testimony meeting. The kids were itching to tell everyone about the new baby. Timothy wanted to mention it in his testimony. I told him that was not appropriate, but that they could tell their primary teachers and kids in their class. I figured I would tell people at church if it ever came up, but it didn't. I enjoyed the testimony's shared in sacrament meeting, and then Sunday School as well. Shannon and Michele did a great job teaching in Young Womens. Shannon used my fuchsia as part of an object lesson. Aaron joined us for part of the class. After church I took the kids home and ate lunch with the girls (the boys were still fasting). Then Melanie got a nap. I did too for a little bit. I also called Valerie to tell her the good news since she wasn't able to come to the wedding. Mom had already told her, but I wanted to make sure she didn't find out on facebook. But we got to talk for a while and that was fun. Eventually I had to hang up get started on dinner. Aaron went on a visit with the missionaries and then they came over for dinner. I had to fix something with what we had which turned out to be bell peppers. So I fixed chicken fajitas, rice etc. Afterward Aaron went to the temple prep class. I can't really remember much else about the day.

Monday I had plans to plant more of the garden, but then I was reminded that I had a dentist appointment. So after dropping off the kids I showered and got ready for my appointment. Melanie came with me, because I didn't want to find a babysitter last minute. When I was taken back to the room they mentioned I was scheduled for x-rays. I said, "Well then that's a problem." The hygienist said, "I think she'll be fine to wait in the hall."
"Oh it's not that. It's that I'm 14 weeks pregnant."
"Oh, well, then we'll have to schedule that for next time."
The appointment went well, I usually listen to a Pandora station while I'm in the chair, but they offered to have Melanie watch something on Netflix during my appointment. So we settled on Curious George, and Melanie was an angel. I didn't take very long, and everything looked fine, so I was home by 10:00.

Melanie and I had a good morning, and I then I finally decided to post my good news on Facebook, and was overwhelmed by the response. I planned on posting on my blog too, but got a little too busy and never got around to it. The afternoon was fairly typical for Mondays with David at track practice, and the rest of the kids coming with me to take Timothy to his drama class, and then shopping. That's all I can think of.

I did take some pictures of the yard and garden after lunch.

 My birthday hanging fuchsia

 Poor azaleas, hopefully they'll look better next year. At least they bloomed this year!

 Flowering dogwood, the petals are falling off

 buds on the peonies

 potatoes

 chard, lettuce, carrots

 a few carrots popping up

 some lettuce

 chard

 volunteer potato

 beans

 peas

 lilies

 maple tree getting really tall

 braeburn

 tiny apples

 honeycrisp

 tiny apples

  lots of strawberries

rhubarb

 a few green strawberries

 cherries

 red raspberries

 a few buds

 golden raspberries

 a couple of red strawberries

 yellow roses

 orange roses

 volunteer pumpkins. Way too many of them!