Happy Father's Day!

What a wonderful father's day we had. We of course started the day very early, at least Oliver and I did (6 a.m. like clockwork). When Lincoln finally woke up we finished his present to his dad. We made him a Dad frame out of card stock with pictures of the boys. It turned out great! We made Josh breakfast in bed, which was a little tricky, because Josh has started really watching what he eats. We made a couple of pancakes with some fresh fruit from the Farmers Market we went to on Saturday. We actually tried to make letter pancakes, but it was a total failure, so we just made a big happy face with all of the fruit. We had the great idea of picking him some roses from the garden, to dress up the tray a bit, but Lincoln was afraid of the "pokies". So I had to clip them. It seemed that Lincoln had a million great ideas this morning, but when it came time to carry them out it was my job. Needless to say it was a busy morning, and Oliver was a bit fussy, so I had to do everything with one hand. Because of all this we didn't make it into wake Josh up until after 8, and by this time the baby was totally melting down, so we had to have breakfast in bed on the couch this morning, so Oliver could take his morning nap. Josh has really been experimenting with water color lately, so I got him a set of water color pencils. I thought he would have fun with it. He loved them! Sherry sent a bunch of other art stuff that he was also very excited about and the picture frame from the boys will make a perfect addition to his desk at work.

Lincoln did a great job singing with the primary. It's still seems crazy that he's old enough to be standing up there. He loves to sing, but I think he gets a little stage fright because he doesn't sing very much in the programs. He's still adorable standing up there waving at everyone. I think it's so funny, Josh had meetings this morning. They always cancel all the meetings on Mother's day, I told him that the Father's get ripped off, because the primary didn't make them special gifts either. We spoiled him though, so that's what's really important, right?
At dinner we had some great garlic herb pasta with cilantro pesto, I know it sounds fancy, we don't always eat gourmet, but we also picked it up at the farmers market and thought it sounded great. We got some fresh sweet corn too, which turned out to be some of the best corn I've ever had. Lincoln bit into it and said "Yeah baby, that's good". I have know idea where that came from! We ended the day with a walk around the neighborhood, and were able to wish a few of our neighbors a happy father's day too!

Josh really is such a great father, and I'm grateful to have a day set aside to celebrate the important role that father's play in their children's lives.

Make way for Ducklings!

They've finally arrived! We've had these two ducks visiting our pond for the past month or two. It's funny because, I kept telling Josh that I thought she must be ready to lay some eggs. The male duck kept letting her eat all of the food we'd toss to them until she was full and then he'd eat what was left. It was so chivalrous for a duck, don't you think. Anyway, yesterday when Josh got home from work and was watering the tomatoes he noticed the female duck in the pond with seven little ducklings.

We have know idea where she nested, we couldn't find any eggs in our yard, but we thought it would have to be near by. They obviously can't fly yet, and couldn't walk too far. So they spent the night and most of the day today, but have now vanished, hopefully temporarily, we love to watch them. They are absolutely adorable, a little clumsy, and really fluffy. We try not to get to close, and give them their space, I really don't want them to get to attached to our pond. They're so cute now, but we don't want to be overrun with tons more ducks next season. We are totally enjoying the experience however, Lincoln of course loves them and wants to keep and cuddle them. I'm glad he's able to share a little experience like this, it seems to often these days kids miss out on stuff like this because they spend too much time inside watching television. It was so different when I was little, I practically lived outside, and only came in for food and sleep.

Back then I could just roam freely around my neighborhood and explore all sorts of new and exciting places, but times have definitely changed, and I would never let my kids roam around like I used to. It really makes me sad for them though, I hope their not missing out on some really important aspects of childhood. For the past week I've had to bribe Lincoln to go outside, seriously. I told him today no more T.V. until he remembers how to play, but the funny thing is that even when he does go outside he has all of these worries: Bees are the biggy! I've told him so many times that they rarely sting, and usually only when they get stepped on, which he doesn't need to worry about because he always has shoes on, but my promises provide no comfort for him. He loves bugs and spiders and used to just spend hours outside collecting all sorts of things, so I'm hoping it's just sort of some weird phase that he's going through. The ducklings have provided a new exciting interest for him outside. So I do hope they return, probably not for their own best interests, but for mine.



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Ducklings

Hilarious Happenings!

A few days ago I was in the bathroom just trying to straighten up a bit and wipe down the sink. We had just purchased some new cleaner at the store the day before so I was attempting to put it away. Our cupboard was a bit full so I had to do some rearranging. The cupboard is located directly over the toilet and while moving things around I managed to knock out an almost completely full aerosol can of scrubbing bubbles. It came crashing down right into the toilet. The blow caused the cap to break off and it started spraying very forcefully all over. I managed to flip the can so it was pointed down into the toilet, but after about 10 seconds I realized it would soon over flow, so I had to move it to the sink, and then to the bathtub. By this time scrubbing bubbles were working their magic all over the entire bathroom. By then, Josh peaks in asking "what in the world are you doing and what is that sound?" All we could do is stare in amazement at the amount of cleaner they can fit in one bottle, as it continued to squirt wildly around the bathtub, and of course laugh our heads off! After the last of it sputtered out, I started scrubbing everything down, not wanting to waste all that cleaner. Josh later commented that we had to have the cleanest toilet in the neighborhood, and that nothing would stick to any of the surfaces in our bathroom for at least a month. Later, my sister asked if I had taken any pictures because she thought it would make a great blog entry, so I thought I should at least write it down, since I failed to capture the moment on film.

This morning Oliver was playing on the floor, with his usual layers of blankets for padding. We have hardwood floors throughout the entire house, which makes floor time with a baby difficult. Anyway, we have an area rug in the living room where he plays and we put extra blankets underneath to provide some extra cushion, along with a pillow or rolled up blanket behind him because he's still a bit wobbly. Today the boys were playing while Josh and I were eating breakfast and Lincoln started coming in and Out of our bedroom carrying all of our pillows, blankets , ect.. By the time he was finished our living room looked like a huge fluffy bed. He said, "I think this will keep Oliver safe, so he won't bonk on anything." He continued then to bring out all of his most favorite toys and anything else that he thought they might need, in their new little living room nest. He was very pleased with himself in the end and then crawled in under his comforter with his brother and began playing. He loves Oliver so much, and I know is so anxious for the baby to be able to interact with him a little more. So he's trying to be patient, and really does such a great job helping me to take care of him. This morning was just one of those moments I wanted to capture so that one day in the not to distant future when he is completely fed up with his baby brother, I'll be able to share with him a few of the times when he would have done anything to help make him happy. He's a great big brother!

Cold Spell

It has been so chilly here for the past few days, I think the high was 60• yesterday. We were all just settling into summer and winter had to have the last word. I actually don't mind and when all is said and done truly prefer the colder weather, for many reasons. First, I just like cold weather clothes better, maybe because they cover more. (There's nothing worse than all the barely dressed people roaming around throughout the summer months.) Second, when it's cold you can always warm up with more clothes, a blanket, sitting by the heater, ect. When you're too hot, you're just out of luck. Lastly, winter activities are just more fun! Plus my most favorite holidays all happen in the cooler months:Halloween, Thanksgiving, and best of all Christmas.

The downside of this cold spell would be that we just planted a whole slew of tomato plants last weekend and a bunch of pretty perennials. So last night we had to cover them all with trash bags to protect the leaves and flower buds from the potential frost. We really don't have green thumbs in this family, in fact quite the opposite, plants don't seem to like us much. The only plant that seems to thrive in our care is the one we took home from Seth's funeral(Josh's older brother), which I think is very poignant and more of a tribute to Seth's life than any indication of our plant savvyness. If you knew and could see the beautiful garden's my sister and mother have created you'd think we had a gene in our family, but I'm afraid it missed me. I do hope that these tomato plants will fair better than all of our past failures though. There is nothing tastier than a home grown garden fresh tomato, yum!

Well enough of my rambling, the boys and I were outside enjoying the crisp fresh air, and I wanted to post the cute pictures I got of them. Lincoln of course still had the hose out, he doesn't ever go outside without making mud these days. Oliver was sporting some of his warm winter gear, so I guess he got some use out of it. He'll have out grown all of it, when winter comes around again. His birth wasn't quite in sync with Lincoln's, about three months off, and he's also quite a bit heftier so Linc's hand-me-downs don't always work. Anyway, they both had a great time. Oliver loves bouncing around in his little jumper while watching his brother hose down they entire backyard, until he gets sprayed of course.

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Anyone for Yoga!

So a funny thing happened yesterday. I've been trying to get back in shape, so I've been jogging and taking these yoga classes provided through Josh's work. It's actually pretty neat. I take the kids to the paper where Josh has lunch with them while I do this Yoga class for an hour. I've loved having the break, and although I'm really not into all the "body energy, and free your mind" stuff involved in yoga, the class has been really relaxing and fun. It's nice being with other adults, and the stretching has been great for my terribly out of shape body revolting from my jogging three times a week. The sad thing is that I'm really not pushing myself that hard, I'm trying to take it slow, but it's still hard, and many days nothing feels better then lying in "Pigeon Pose" and just focusing on my breathing. So anyway back to the funny thing. So Lincoln has really been getting into all this yoga stuff. Our class meets outside in full view of the eating area in Josh's work, so he catches a glimpse of all the exciting yoga action. After every class he comes running out wanting to show off his yoga moves. It's great! Yesterday I was sitting on the couch with Oliver and Lincoln whips out my yoga mat. He starts performing all these great poses. So of course I had to get the camera out and shoot some photos. The best part was how seriously he took himself, you can just see the concentration in some of the shots. It was hilarious!
Oliver is now totally sitting up on his own, and seems to be pretty proud of himself. He sometimes gets a little too excited when playing with some of things Linc brings to him and pummels himself in the head. I've tried to explain that we need to give Ollie his toys to play with, but it's hard to get upset with Linc when he's doing such a great job sharing his cool toys with the baby. Oliver really likes them better too, there obviously much more interesting then his silly baby rattles, who wouldn't choose a monster truck over a teething ring anyway. So yesterday he jabbed his eye with something and in all of these pictures has a bloodshot inner corner of his eye. I felt terrible, but he didn't even whimper, so I guess it didn't bother him to much, it just looks painful! He's finally taking a pacifier too! I'm sure another parenting no no, but yes, I forced a Binky on him. It makes such a difference having something to offer him other than nursing. He only uses it when he's sleepy and once he's out he doesn't still suck on it. Plus at night he sleeps for 10 to 11 hours without waking , so it's not waking him up when it falls out. I'm in heaven, and trying not to feel to guilty.

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