Entertaining Ourselves

Sunday morning while everyone else was sleeping. The 3 of us have had breakfast, changed diapers, the girls are dressed. What to do next? I love how Jolie is trying to jump.

Oh, what was I thinking?

Today was my first ever piano recital. I have been taking piano lessons since the end of January, and decided to do the recital so my kids could see me play. And then when it came down to it, they didn't come in from the other room where there was a play area and cartoons playing. But overall it went well, in a horrible being-the-center-of-attention-on-stage-doing-something-completely-foreign-to-me sort of way.

For your listening pleasure- This is my favorite of the 3 songs I played (even though I mucked it up some).

And I'm totally bugged because it looks like my under-things are hanging out the back. Bother. I meant to do a test run before we left home, and have Kurt tell me if anything was showing so I could compensate in public, but of course in making sure all the kids were presentable it slipped my mind. Double bother.

Up & Down

Nyah had a make-up soccer game last night, and I don't know why, but I didn't take any pictures of her playing- just pictures of Jolie and Olivia playing on a hill nearby.

Going Up-

Going Down-

Jolie is trying to go down the hill like she climbs down the stairs at home, but it didn't work very well.

Sigh, running away already.

Olivia playing with a new friend.

Memorial Day Fun

We didn't have any grand plans for Memorial Day. Kurt's mom, Karla, was in town, and that morning she and Kurt were busy with some things they needed to take care of, so the kids and I went for a walk. We took advantage of the holiday to play on the playground at a nearby charter school.

The kids loved having Karla with us. They don't get to see her very often, but love it when she visits.

Memorial Day also meant our pool is open. So far we have been going every day- since it is just down the street we can go in between snack and lunch, and the naps of the younger girls. Obviously my arms are full most of the time (Jolie in one arm, and the other hand constantly grabbing for Olivia who likes to jump in from the side, and my eyes watching the other two be wild and crazy), but I did manage a couple pictures.

The best part is the kids are SUPER tired by the end of the day, and are sleeping really well. If only I could get Olivia and Jolie to sleep past 6am then I might feel like I was getting a good night's sleep too.

Notes from our week

Olivia ate all the heads off the animal crackers, and then left them.

Playing with neighbors- I suspect we are the only ones hanging out outside in the evenings because we end up with neighborhood kids congregating in our yard. The good and bad of not having a fenced yard.
Kurt planting a tree.

Kurt fencing my garden area. I know it won't keep out the deer, who are still regularly traipsing through our yard (tracks), but it should keep out the neighborhood dogs, who are also regularly in our yard.

Olivia is not always an outside girl. She slips back inside when we aren't looking, but will come out once in a while.

The other 3 would spend all day and night outside if I let them. Jolie likes tasting things- sand, dirt, manure (YECH!), shovels, sticks, etc., and hanging out with the other kids.

Jolie being her adorable, sweet self.

I want to see Keeshie!

Yesterday, Kurt's mom flew in for the weekend. When she got here I said to Olivia, "Grandma's here!" and we raced off to the door to meet them, but Olivia was yelling "Keeshie! Keeshie!" She was thinking of the wrong Grandma and that my sister was here to visit again! We have spent lots of time this week looking at pictures of last weekend and, as Olivia says, "My Keeshie."

Never fear faithful readers, I'm still alive!

Naptimes, which are always crammed full of everything I want to do without little ones under foot, are being used to work in the yard.

This week I am planting my garden:Kurt was sweet enough to run the tiller for me even though he has been sick again!

This past weekend we had a fabulous time with my mom and sister visiting!

We took them on a walk to see our neighborhood owls. On this day there were 3 in the tree.
Everyone was excited, and even Olivia found them in the tree and would point and say"owl."
While we were watching the 3 sitting in the tree, a 4th owl flew up to a tree close by. He's hard to find in the picture, but hopefully you can click on it to make it bigger. I've noticed sometimes that this doesn't work. The 4th owl flew off after a few minutes.

We decided to call in reinforcements, someone with a better camera. After dropping the kids, Grandma and Keshia off at the park, Kurt and I headed back to the tree.

We ventured closer to the tree. here is a shot of the owls and you can see the nest as well.

Gorgeous, beautiful view

Here are a couple of Kurt's pictures-

Today the kids are busy in the sandbox with a neighborhood friend. I just checked on them and they had the hose on and the backyard looks like we've had a flood. Oy, kids.

Happy Birthday Jolie!!

June 2008

July 2008
August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

Happy Birthday to our Sweet, Beautiful Baby Girl!!!

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day! In Primary, the kids did these fun cards for their Moms. I enjoyed helping my class fill out their cards. One girl said her mom had to be 21, because otherwise she would be a kid, and then she decided her mom was a little more grown up- 52!

Here are mine:

Austin's

Nyah's

I've been digging in the dirt all the live long day!

In the last 4 days I have planted over 100 plants in our yard!! Thank you to my family for my Mother's Day gift and Wal-mart's for its cheap prices! I love digging in the dirt, and working hard, and having sore muscles again. I LOVE SPRING!! Only a couple more days until we can take down the caution tape and have our lawn to play on!! So far no plants have been eated by the deer. I think it will happen eventually, but I can hope I'm wrong!

Front yard planters:

Side Yard:
Backyard:

The space beyond the sandbox is for my veggie garden, and its my next project! I'm thinking of calling it my Feed-the-Deer project, but we'll see!

Helper Jolie- You can't see it in this picture, but she has a lovely dirt mustache and beard from taste testing.I also need to thank my kids for hauling rocks with me. Kurt has been super busy with work lately, and that means lots of nights working late. By dinner time I'm usually ready to pull all my hair out, but instead I've had the kids help me fill in our side yard with rocks that we moved out of our yard during the landscaping. I have no idea why the only picture I have of Austin and Nyah hauling rocks is of their backsides.