A Good Mom Day

I think it's a bad sign if you can tell what time it is by what is on Nick Jr. or PBS kids. For instance, yesterday I heard the theme song to Caillou and thought, "Oh wow, it's lunch time already, what should I feed Jack-Jack?" It was that moment that I decided to change my lazy ways and get the kids more active. Maddie and Zach both have summer camp three days a week, but on the days they are home I have decided to minimize the T.V. and maximize their creativity and imaginations. I wont lie by saying that they will only watch 30 minutes of T.V. a day, I will be realistic, but I have decided to get a little creative this summer. Some days we will just have a lazy movie day, because every mom needs to get a little house work done, but I don't want to go to bed every night constantly feeling guilty about the constant lack of time I have spent with my children.

Today for instance:
8:00 a.m. ate breakfast and got the kids dressed
9:00 a.m. Kids played in the sandbox for over an hour (yesterday I cleaned out all the junk and filled it with brand new sand.
10:00 a.m. The kids played in the kiddie pool
11:00 a.m. We made superhero masks and played superhero fights the super-villian. Jackson always wanted to be the super-villain
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Toy Trains, while I bloged and checked my e-mail
2:30 p.m. Stamped and made cards for various members of the family

I figure by 4:30 p.m. we will start cleaning up and do the final prep for dinner and my day is done!

So far we have had a lot of fun, but who knows how long it will last. Notice that there has been no T.V.!! They still haven't taken off their masks! I am sure by August I will be mothered out and thinking school can't start fast enough, but for now we are loving summer!

A Hot Day For Baseball

Today was 100 degrees, but it didn't stop Zach from having a fun filled day of baseball. Dan and Zach spent over 5 hours out in the sun today. I lathered Zach up in sun screen, but Dan currently has a face as red as a ripe tomato! Team pictures, followed by a 12:30 game, and a team party complete with swimming directly after the game, made for a very busy day!
This is Zach's team, the KC Royals (Jackson thought he should be included in this team photo). As you can see, Zach took off his uniform and put on his swimming suit before the party even started! Zach was amazed that his trophy looked a lot like him. He has seen Maddie get a lot of cheer trophies and medals so he was so excited that he finally had a trophy of his own. He is proudly displaying it in his room now.
Maddie and Jack were good sports for such a hot day, but they enjoyed a dip in the pool at the party. Jack wanted this picture added because he got a new dinosaur shirt that he is very proud of.

Oh My! Meet Jackey???

What is wrong with this picture below?Someone new to this site might think this is an audition picture for the next group to sing "YMCA." If I got Dan in there posing as the sexy construction worker, they might actually have a chance. But no, actually it is the little two year old on the left who has decided to dress up as a princess today. I promise I tried very hard to get him to wear the Tigger costume, the Batman costume, and even the Peter Pan costume, but my persistence only annoyed him. With tears streaming down his rosy cheeks he cried, "I wanna be Snow White right now!" So.....what's a poor mother supposed to do?
I just hope this is just a phase. . .don't you??

Tim Russert Dies at 58

Many of you know that Dan and I don't share the same political views, but we can always agree on one thing... Meet the Press is one of the greatest political news shows around; Dan DVR's it to watch Sunday evenings. We were both very sad to hear of Tim Russerts sudden passing today. For more information link here. In my opinion he was one of the best moderators around. Who will ever forget his wipe board he brought to every presidential election he moderated. Mr. Russert, you will be missed.

Twilight

Many of you are Twilight fans like myself, so I thought you might be interested in this trailor I stumbled upon. Edward is hot! Can't wait for December 12, 2008. . . if anyone wants to make a girl's night out and watch it with me I'm game! Only six more months from today!!!

Curley Hair + A Flirty Two Year Old = Free Doughnuts

I promised the kids a few days ago that I would take them to Krispy Kreme's for breakfast this week. We only have Tuesdays and Thursdays free because Maddie and Zach have summer camp Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We had a lot of things to do before we could go, and by the time we got there they were done giving out their free hot doughnuts. The kids were a little disappointed that there were no doughnuts on the assembly line, but they quickly got over it when they got to pick their doughnuts at the counter. I am not a huge doughnut fan, but even I can't resist a plain glazed one every now and then. Each child ate their fill, when we realized they were cooking some doughnuts again. We cleaned up and watched as they began to make fresh doughnut holes. Jackson started flirting with one of the older workers in charge of putting the doughnut holes in the cup. After a few minutes, Jack had three our four women making silly faces at him through the window. It got Jack laughing and flirting back again. Before I knew it, one of the girls came over with a cup of doughnut holes and said that my kids had the most gorgeous curly hair, and that my two year old was the cutest kid she'd ever seen. Obviously she's never seen Jackson on one of his bad days . . .anyhoo, she gave my kids the cup of doughnut holes. I should really start taking advantage of this curly hair my kids have. Jack gets complete strangers putting their finger through his hair. It was a fun morning. If you ever need to rent Jackson for free doughnuts I'll make it cheap!!

Golf, Baseball, and the Symphony

We had such a fun and busy weekend. After having many cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles over last weekend we decided we needed time with our own family this weekend. We had a family night at Boondocks on Friday (thanks to my brother's family for the Christmas gift card to Boondock's). We went miniature golfing and had a blast. At first the kids had no idea how to even hit a golf ball or which end of the club to use, but by the 7th or 8th hole they were really getting the hang of things. Jackson just ran around, but was amused by the fun set-up of the golf course.
We treated the kids to cotton candy afterward. I must admit, even the kid in me comes out when I eat cotton candy. . .it is delicious!!
Jackson didn't cause too much damage and we left in one piece so overall I would say it was a pretty fun evening.
Zach is now official with his name even printed on the back of his baseball shirt. He had a great game on Saturday and even hit a ball that the coach pitched to him. He really likes all the attention.Finally, Zach did the "Symphony Challenge" in primary. Basically the "Symphony Challenge" is this, a child picks a song from the primary song book and practices it until they think they can perform it memorized in front of the entire primary. Zach has had a hard time making up his mind, but finally decided on "I am a Child of God" . . .yes, yes, he wanted to challenge himself with such a hard song. Anyway, we thought he was going to sing it next week, but when they asked if anyone was ready he raised his hand. The Primary President came looking for us so we could watch. Dan and I were a bit surprised that he was doing it this week, but he did an amazing job! He belted it out loud and clear. He was so proud of himself. The prize at the end is a king size Symphony Bar. Maddie is doing a more difficult song next Sunday, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." Zach has been kind enough to share his chocolate with the family, but has stood just a little bit taller all day. What a brave kid he is.

The End of Another School Year

I can't believe another school year is over. Today was the last day of school for Maddie. Zach finished up last Thursday. I am super excited for this summer to start because we have the kids signed up for private swimming lessons in July, summer camp three days a week, and the baseball season will continue, for Zach, through the end of June. Dan and the kids are planning on a trip to Utah in July, while I am at girl's camp, unless gas prices soar higher than they already are. Maddie is also going to Grandma Hansen's in August (my mom's) for an "Eight Year Old Retreat" with her other cousin Sarah (a tradition my mom started with my oldest niece).

Zach had a great year in preschool. It is hard to imagine that I will have two kids in elementary school next year. Zach is definitely ready. He is beginning to read, he loves to rhyme, he knows his shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and writes him name very well.
Can I admit, that as fun as summer is. . . I will be a free women next school year and looking forward to it. Jackson will start preschool in the fall. I will hopefully have four free mornings each week with no children in the house. I will hopefully fake Dan out, by making him think I use that time wisely by cleaning the house, and running important errands, but really I will be sitting on the couch eating bon-bon's and getting addicted to Soaps, or Regis and Kelly!!
Summer officially starts today for my kids, but the weather would make you feel otherwise. I think the high will reach to a cool 62 degrees. I won't complain, because I can keep the windows open and enjoy the fresh rainy smell in the air.
Maddie will miss her 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Peterson. I had the opportunity to come in as a helper twice a month. Mrs. Peterson is a very loving and caring teacher. Maddie had a great year.
Today her class recited silly poems. Maddie did a great job.

A helicopter came to their school today. The kids were amazed at how big it was. All my kids were terrified until it turned off it's propellers. The kids got to look inside it. I'm not sure why it comes every year, but the kids love it.

I am excited for warm weather, watermelon, walks in the foothills, water fights, cheeseburgers on the grill, and everything else that comes with summer; but when school starts again, trees begin to change their color to reds and yellows, and BYU football starts, you can all imagine me eating my bon-bons as I send all three of my children off to school!!! Yippee!!!! Am I hitting another mile-stone in motherhood???

Wow!! What a Week!

I can't believe this week is over! In a way I am relieved because it went off without a hitch, but we really enjoyed seeing lots of family and friends come out and support our kids. They loved seeing cousins and grandparents. I will do a small recap of this past weeks events, in case you missed it.
Thursday was Zach's last day of preschool and graduation party. What a hard job it would be to be a preschool teacher. The poor lady had to do the "chicken dance" in front of twenty parents. She had to swallow her pride and cluck with 15 four and five year olds. The kids sang songs to their parents and showed off some of their projects that they have done throughout the year. It was nice spending the afternoon with Zach. He won't have any problem transitioning from preschool to Kindergarten. He has been singing some made up song about being old enough to go to Kindergarten. He is excited.

My parents came that evening to spend the weekend with us. Friday I spent most of the day with my them. We visited my Grandma Hansen who is now living in an assisted living facility just a few miles away from me. My parents took both my Grandma Ham and my Grandma Hansen, my boys, and Dan and I out to Olive Garden for lunch. After almost an hour of no food, and an empty basket of bread sticks, we began to wonder if we had been forgotten. I love Olive Garden, and usually we have great waiters, but the girl that was assigned to our table must have been a total ditz and had forgotten about us. My dad went to complain about the service. Within two minutes the head chef was out bringing us baskets of bread, soup, and salad and apologizing profusely about the wait. From I understand, my dad wasn't charged very much for lunch!! That evening Dan's parent's arrived as well as David (Dan's brother), Yanira, and their kids. We had a delicious BBQ at John and Jessica's house that evening.

Saturday was Zach's first baseball game. Dan and Zach went early to warm up. I couldn't believe how many people came out to show Zach their support. (It helped that Maddie's baptism was that evening, but it was so nice that they would bring their families to Zach's game too!) Two of Dan's brothers were there with their families. Dan's parents were there as well. My parents came and brought my brother's kids as Ammon and Erin were out looking for houses. Even my Grandma Ham was out in hot weather cheering Zach on. It was great. Zach did awesome. He is still trying to understand the whole concept of baseball. Once he hit the ball, we were all screaming "Run to first! Run to first!" He finally realized he was actually supposed to run and took off. He had fun, but got tired after the second inning. He even sat down for a rest a few times while playing center field. (It was okay because no one on the other team could hit the ball to center field.)

That evening we had everyone over for dinner. Maddie was so excited to get baptised she could hardly eat. The baptism was at 6:30pm so she felt like the day went by so slow. Our ward was in charge of the evening, but there were a lot of kids getting baptised from the stake. Maddie's cousins from both sides of the family sang "I Am a Child of God," Maddie's favorite primary song, for the musical number. My little joker Zachary threw his arms up in the air and yelled the last three words of the song and thought he was extremely funny. Thankfully Maddie was the second child to go into the font and get baptised. The whole evening was great. Maddie was so happy, and relieved that she didn't get any water up her nose.

Sunday she was recognized by the bishop in front of everyone in sacrament. Maddie was so excited to get so much attention. Zachary claims he wants to get baptised now too so he can get presents like Maddie. The church must be true if you get presents, right?? Thanks to everyone for your love and support this week. It was fun to see family and friends, but with gas prices, we can understand why other's couldn't make it. You were missed!