A day in the life of Meadow

A bite for me...
A bite for Woody...
Loves to go to the pantry and ask for a cookie or marshmallows. Notice the hopeful look in her eyes :)

Galloping away in delight with her treat.
A very busy Meadow pauses to sing a song and get upset with her pen when it stops working.
























































Ringing the doorbell is so much fun










































Shouting "Surprise! Happy Birthday!"

What brings you Joy?

For Enrichment this week we had performances and displays of things people create or talents they have that bring them joy. After not many people signed up, they sent around emails asking for more sign-ups and I caved. I had Greg film my "rough draft" so I could see what to fix. Here's the rough draft. It ended up being a fun night and there were lots of neat performances and displays like quilts and home made dresses, photography and painting, the fiddle and the violin, singing etc. It was especially fun to have my Mom and Sisters there :) I am glad it is over though because it has consumed my thoughts the past week :)

Big cute kids at School

The second year of preschool has officially begun. Parker and his cousin Laney have different teachers this year but we sure love seeing them in the morning and after school. Parker was so excited that he morphed into Superman. See his cape?

Singles Ward Reunion because we can

A fun time had by all! For everyone who couldn't make it or didn't hear about it (we tried to get the word out to as many people as possible through facebook, email, blog, or word of mouth) Bishop Snyder and his wife are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary next year and he said we're all invited to that and to be looking for an email sometime next year. Also next time we throw a spur of the moment re-union we'll give much more advanced notice. It was so great to see everyone again. :)

Lost and Found:

David Henderson was the proud winner of the door prizes...
One small green backpack with digital camera, two baseball gloves (one adult, one youth size) and one white frisbee.

Seriously though, if any of this stuff belongs to you, e-mail me and I will give you his phone #, as these possessions are currently at his house. Thanks!!
























Kate takes a shine to Harry.





Alice guarding the hot dogs from the children who wanted to take all of the ice out of the cooler :)
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5240481779607387426" />

















































The kids having fun getting really wet in the water fountain

Excitement at the Dentist

This morning I went to the destinst to have impressions made for a night guard because apparently I grind my teeth at night a bit and have some wear they want to prevent more of. So if you have ever had impressions made, you know that they insert these large trays overflowing with cold goo that squishes out into your mouth when they press the tray against your teeth to make the mold. And then it takes 20-30 seconds for the goo to set. Well, I was expecting this, but not the humongous glob that squirted out the back and sat there trying to decide whether or not it would go down my throat. I gagged twice and sat up hoping to discourage the glob from going down the throat and when that didn't seem to help I almost threw up in the chair and yanked the tray out while reaching in with my other hand to a grab the even larger wad of goo that was there now since none of it had set yet and ran to the sink, all of this happening in probably 7 seconds. After apologizing profusely I started to laugh and thankfully the dental assistant did too (Isn't it always so much worse when you are laughing alone) and we tried again, this time she didn't fill the trays as full. I asked her if anyone else had done that before and she said "Oh yes, there was a man that took his tray out and walked out the door and kept going."

It's only Tuesday

I think we have arrived at the "terrific two's" with Meadow a month early. We have had some terrific tantrums this week and as well as some pretty funny buttering up going on. Today Meadow came up to me and hugged my legs and said "ohhhh, Mommy so coot" (cute) then she grabbed my hand and said "come on" and led me to the candy drawer where we keep the stash of dum-dums.

Shortly before this, we were in Target where I ran into a lady I haven't seen in awhile who said "Girl, you're looking tired." Which translates loosely to looking terrible. So thank you Meadow, I don't care if you did just want a lollipop. :)

Experiment - My weekend without the children

In October, Greg and I are going to hike the Appalachian trail starting in Virginia with another couple for three days and Greg's parents are coming down to stay with the kids. (Thank you!!) Well, I have never been away from Meadow overnight and only away from Parker to have Meadow in the hospital and the Father Son Camp-outs so I am a little bit nervous but a little bit excited too! We were supposed to visit Greg's parents this weekend and Greg decided I needed to "practice being away from the children to prove I wouldn't freak out and try to hitch hike home from the Appalachian trail or something." hahahaha! Anyway, so here I am home with a weekend all to myself. I got to sleep in a little bit but was disappointed when my eyes blinked open automatically at 7:30. Then I cleaned the kitchen with Weezer playing really loud. After that, as the possibilities of what I could get done stretched before me, I chose to go to lunch with my awesome friend Heather, who hilariously, picked me up in her Dad's corvette that he gave her permission to drive with the for sale signs in the windows. It was too great a photo opp. to pass up. (we were kind of afraid to sit on it actually, hehehe) Watch out Vanna White.



We felt like we were in the movie Ferris Buehler sp?, except we drove very carefully. Then we walked around South Point for a couple of hours and I only got a teensy bit sad when I saw a little pair of purple popsicle earrings that would be so cute on Meadow someday. Then we watched a movie and had a slumber party at her house! Thanks Heather - Much more fun than getting caught up on the house, chores etc!! :) The kids had a great time with the Grandparents and Meadow was happy and only cried when someone accidentally said Mamma and once when I talked to her on the phone. Parker was just fine of course. This morning (Sunday) it will be different to get just myself ready and have no one pulling at my dress. I am definately feeling more rested than usual but it will be fun to have everyone home this evening. :)

The Incredible Hulk and his Sister

Here is what might happen if you let your kids paint unsupervised while you start dinner. They enjoyed it though and the paint is washable and non-toxic. They also really enjoyed the green bath water soon afterward. :)

The fruit of our labors :)

Meadow has enjoyed playing with our new "matos" all morning. Counting them, transferring them from one place to another, taking them to her play kitchen. We just might find one a week from now in a strange place. ;)

Apex Gymnastics on NBC

5 seconds of fame :)

Saturday Olympic Highlight

Alexander Artemev defying the laws of the universe :) and this was only half of the routine. It was awesome. Especially exciting because he fell during the Olympic trials.

Nature Walk

Such a pretty morning.




A Catfish!

Seeing who could say "poopy pants" the loudest (Parker's idea) Meadow thought this was HILARIOUS.




Natures Colors

Catfish leap in greenish splendor with
blue sky reflected from above
A light breeze stirs the swans white feathers
A soft brown squirrel skitters up a tree
But looking down, more beautiful to me
is to see them meet in your sweet eyes.

Party 'til the Break of Dawn - Get it?!?!

Happy Birthday Greg! - Update

On Wed. Greg turned 34 years young. We made his favorite breakfast, fried liver mush (Really liver pudding) but his family still calls it liver mush probably because his great grandparents raised and slaughtered their own pigs and made their own liver mush. According to the Wikipedia definition Liver MUSH contains other parts of the pig such as snout, head parts, etc. and liver pudding is just pig liver, pork, spices and cornmeal. Now you know more than you ever thought you could about Liver mush and Liver pudding. To Greg it must be served with eggs over easy, toast and "biscuits with sweet gravy" or to the rest of us, orange sweet rolls. :) But his favorite birthday present of all is finally having someone who can and WILL eat "livermush" with him :) The gift that keeps on giving!