Rub-a-Dub Dub, Two Boys in a Tub

I have always wanted to get a picture like this. A friend did this with her three boys as a birth announcement and I thought it was so great. We got this tub from Alan's Grandma's house when she passed away. That was a while ago, but I just got it out to use as a planter and thought I'd get some shots of the boys in it.

I thought I'd take a moment and write down some cute things the boys are saying and doing. Mostly so I don't forget them myself.

Sam;

• Said his first sentence on April 8, Easter. We were at my parent's house and my mom went out to the garage to get something. Sam was standing right there and said, "bye, bye Gama". It was really sweet.
• Another milestone that Sam reached was not so cute. He learned that he has the power to take off his own diaper. I've kept pants on him ever since.
• I just noticed that he says keka all the time for Bekah, but I've never heard him try to say Jonah. He also says Lilo for Milo our dog. I keep trying to get him to say Jonah, but he won't.

Jonah;

• "Mom, can I touch your hair?" I just thought that was sweet
• "Can I want more", "Can I help me?" , "Can I wipe a bottom?" We try to correct him, but I think it is cute.
• We were walking in the trees at Bekah's School and Jonah heard a bird. He said, "Mom, a bird sounds like this," then he flapped his arms up and down. He says sounds like for looks like all the time.
• Gets outside/inside, front/back mixed up.
• Jonah in the bathtub- "My fingers and toes are like raisins!"
• He got very excited the other day when I handed him his shirt to get dressed, "Oh, Mom, you clean my Bob the Builder shirt!"

Rainy Days

This is how we are feeling after a couple of rainy and cool days. The boys have been fighting like dogs this afternoon! Hopefully sunny weather is just around the corner!

Rebekah

Last week Rebekah and I went to a Girl Scout activity. It was a mother-daughter activity and it was a lot of fun. The theme was family heritage and we had to do some research of family ancestry and then put a scrapbook page together. There was a Creative Memories consultant there and she taught the girls a little about preserving their own history. It was so great to spend time together and be "boyless". Sometimes I feel like Rebekah doesn't get enough one on one time.
I also wanted to write about Bekah and say how proud I am of her accomplishments in school. She and a few other students are going out for pizza with the school counselor today because they have met their third quarter goals. Her school counselor is really the greatest and has helped Bekah a lot over the years. She is always concerned and Bekah feels that she can go to her with problems. It is so comforting to have someone like that at school.

Oh, How I Love to Go Up in a Swing....

We got a new swing for our swingset. The old one was cracked and about to break totally in half. We have a wooden structure type of set with a slide and a tent. I added windsocks to each end of it last summer after finding them at a garage sale for a dollar a piece. I love how it looks and the kids love it. We bought the set from our neighbor when their kids grew out of it. Jonah was only about 2 months old at the time. It was an adventure getting it over the fence, but totally worth it. We paid a whopping $25.00 for it! The kids had so much fun on the new swing.

Help!

Does anyone know of a good T.V. repair place? My T.V. is out and I need it fixed. Just thought I'd try to get some ideas of good places before I called around. I hate trying to find repair places, almost as bad as trying to find a good mechanic!

House Rules

We made up some "House Rules" tonight with the kids. Here they are:

1. No hitting or kicking or hurting in any way
2. No whining or complaining when told to do something
3. Speak kindly, show respect
4. Share
5. BE NICE!

We are starting a Super Nanny type of thing where we have a chart with sunshine faces on it. Each child starts with 5 sunshines. They lose one if they misbehave. They can earn them back by doing a chore. If they have all five at the end of the week they get a small treat, probably candy. If they go for 10 weeks they get a bigger treat, like going to a movie in the theatre or buying a movie (about the same price). We'll see how this goes. Any input or house rule ideas I missed?

A Leg Up

My vericose vein procedure went pretty well. I took Valium to relax me just before the procedure. It did not relax me quite as much as I would have liked! I was expecting to be a little more "out" than I was. They did a series of needle injetions all along the bad vein and that was no fun. I had to do some labor breathing! After that I could not feel the other injections that they had to do before the laser was inserted. The laser burned the vein closed. I know this is not technical, but it's how I understood it. Alan was lucky enough to observe the whole thing and found that the doctor was a very good teacher. I was glad to have Alan in the room.
When it was all done they put a support stocking on and we could leave. I can't take the thing off for 3 whole days. I unfortunately have lots of experience with support hose. These are thigh high and don't have any toes. Yes Amanda, they now make them with no toes, where were these a couple of years ago! I wanted to take credit for them since I cut out the feet on my other pair because I was too hot(summer pregnancy+support hose=cranky woman!!) We stopped for Chinese food and I could barely stay awake to finish it. They said I would be tired afterwords and they were definitly right! I slept for 3 hours! That part was heavenly. i will be looking forward to that part on the next two procedures.

Breathe.......Breathe......

I've never been happier to see this sight! This applies to all three kids. Alan has been out of town and oh I'm feeling it. Sam cried hard when I put him down for a nap today and never went to sleep. He was in there an hour and I kept thinking he would drift off any minute. He didn't. I looked inside his mouth and saw that three teeth had just broken through and the fourth spot was red. I cuddled him for a while and he fell asleep on me. I know that when this happens there is no chance of moving him so I just held him for 45 minutes. I tried not to think of all I could be doing during that time. I tried to just enjoy holding him. I also was able to doze for a while too. Bedtime did not go well with Jonah and I was losing it with him, and after Sam not napping this was almost too much. Bekah was also asking for help on some social studies assignment and asking me about the farming practices of Israel. WHAT?! I just told her to read the book, that's what I'd have to do too! I'm going to the doctor for a procedure on my leg tomorrow and I'm almost looking forward to it!

Oh, If Only!

I certainly wish men could take a turn with the pregnancy thing. Alan's class had to practice pregnancy exams on each other. There are 20 women and 2 men in his class. They all had to bring pillows and pretend to be pregnant. There is one woman who actually is pregnant in his class, she had it easy that day! They even assign them specific problems that they have to diagnose and give treatment for. Guess who had an STD! I thought it was pretty funny.

The Eggs

We stamped Curious George on some of the eggs after they were painted or dyed. Jonah loves these stamps and uses them all the time. I got them at Target in the dollar section!
Here are all the eggs we did.

A Fun Day

We decorated easter eggs, a tradition that we love! The kids had a great time. Bekah learned how to blow the center out of an egg last year and wanted to do it again this year. You poke holes in the top and bottom of an egg and then blow out the yolk and white into a bowl. It takes a lot of air to blow that thing out! We only did one like that, the rest were hard boiled. Jonah realy took his time and painted eggs with his watercolor paints. He only broke one egg this year! Last year he broke four (he only painted four!). We did this particular activity while Sam was sleeping, for obvious reasons.

Spaghetti Sam

Oh my what a MESS! Sam was really enjoying his spaghetti the other night. He ate three bowls of it! I was afraid he was going to put his eye out with that fork though. I guess he was tired, he kept rubbing his eyes. He for sure got a bath before bed that night!

This and That

We had a relaxing weekend for once! Well, Alan didn't, but the kids and I did. We stayed home almost the whole weekend. I was trying to scrapbook during general conference and got a lot done! It was so fun. On Sunday I didn't let myself do any dishes or other chore types of things. We ate really easy food, mostly leftovers. I need to do that more often, I felt so much more relaxed.

Jonah learned something new this morning. I went to put the clean sheets on my bed and when I came back out I found Sam running around on the patio with just his diaper on. Jonah had figured out how to unlock the back door and open it. Our doors are so old and hard to open, Bekah could never get them open at this age! I will have to be more careful from now on!