Our 6-Year Anniversary!

Wow! Can you believe that Laron & I have now been married for 6 years? That really is amazing to me, but I sure wouldn't have it any other way! Our Anniversary was on Tuesday, but we ended up celebrating it on Monday (because of Laron's work schedule). Without boring you with all the details, we ended up going canoeing, went out to eat at Red Lobster, & then topped it off with watching a movie at the theater (I don't think we've done that since Skyler was born!). It sure was nice to go do something with just the two of us (which doesn't happen very often nowadays), but we still found ourselves thinking about our kids while we were out (like how much Skyler would have LOVED going canoeing & seeing all the wildlife with us!). So thanks Mom for watching the kids for us so we could go off and have a fun day together. And thanks Laron, for being my constant support & comfort, for being patient with me when I'm being a confusing female, for bringing fun & excitement into my life, for being the world's best daddy to our kids, and for falling in love with me all those years ago.

Skyler's Concoction

The other day I was just finishing making up some lunch when Skyler asked if he could help me. I explained to him that there wasn't really anything else he could do, but I could tell he was disappointed. So I told him that he could make up his very OWN soup... Skyler was pretty excited about that idea! First of all I just put some water in a pot for him & brought over the spice rack, and let him go to town adding a few shakes of this & that. Then he started going through the fridge and put a little of everything: lemon juice, yeast, Bacos, milk, noodles, milled flax seed, mustard...
At one point, Skyler put his face right down near his potfull of stuff & smelled his concoction. "How does it smell?", I asked him. "It smells bad," he said with a tinge of disgust on his face. But that didn't stop him... he just went back to the fridge for more ingredients. Skyler sure had fun making his own food, although he made quite a mess in the process too. I'm just glad he didn't want us to eat it afterwards...

Kimberly's Obsession

Kimberly's favorite thing to play with lately (or at least while I'm changing her diaper) is her wipes container. There is something about the crinkly wrapper that just has her fascinated. The other day I took it away from her before she had her full share of playing-time in & BOY did she let me know about it! It sure seems like the cheapest & funnest toys are the ones that aren't even "toys" at all...

Spending Money

Skyler got some money awhile ago in his Easter eggs & has been hanging onto it ever since. Today he finally decided that money is for spending, not just for saving. And what did he want to buy with it? Bananas. How could I say no to that? What a cute kid we've got!

Rachel Belle

Yesterday we went up to Logan and spent the day with my sister & her new baby girl, Rachel Belle. Skyler was excited to meet his new cousin & we practiced saying her name all the way up there. Finally we got there & Emily took Skyler over to see the baby. Skyler thoughtfully looked at her for a moment or two, and then honestly announced, "I like our baby better..." My heart stopped for a moment as I glanced over at Emily to see her reaction, but she just laughed. Oh, the honesty of children! It sure makes your kid look big though when you compare them to a newborn! Kimberly & Rachel were almost exactly the same size when they were born, but it's amazing what 6 months can do for an infant! Time sure flies when you're raising children! But Emily, although we are a little biased, we sure think your baby is cute too... Congrats!

"We're Raising Children"

What started out today as touching-up paint spots around the house, turned into an all day painting project... and I sure wasn't too eager about Laron letting Skyler help out. I knew he would love it, but I also knew it was just stress me out worrying about what thing he was going to get paint on first. After several close encounters, he got paint first on his shirt & then on our bathroom cabinetry. That's when I lost my patience... And after yelling at Skyler, dragging him from the room, & making him cry, that's also when I remembered reading this quote the other day:

The great baseball hero Harmon Killebrew once said, "My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, 'You're tearing up the grass!' 'We're not raising grass,' Dad would reply. 'We're raising boys.'"

We're not raising walls, or shirts, or bathroom cabinetry, I kept trying to tell myself. We're raising children. And although it sure is hard to remember sometimes, I know that raising my children well will be worth far more then all the perfectly painted walls in the world ever will. Now if only I could always remember that.

Sticky Fingers

After eating some leftover Smore's today, Skyler was, of course, all sticky. Next thing I knew, his fingers were in Kimberly's mouth & she was happily sucking them off for him. What a kind brother he is! Too bad he didn't ask Mom what she thought about the idea first... Oh well.

Memorial Day Camping Trip

We heard of a lot of people going camping over Memorial Day weekend, so we decided to have a camping trip of our own... INSIDE! It took tons less preparation, we didn't have to worry about the rain, and most importantly, Kimberly could sleep in her own crib! That sounded good to me!

Skyler got SOOOO excited once we started putting up the tent... He kept running around going, "Whoo Hoo! Whoo Hoo!" And then once it was up, he ran in and out of it time after time. Then he kept asking, "Can we go to bed now?" as if that's when the real fun would start! It obviously has been awhile since we've gone camping.

To make it even funner, we tried to have all the "fixins" of camping. Tin-foil dinners, smores, flashlights, camping chairs... Skyler's favorite was the smores.

Thanks Laron for playing along with my silly camping idea!

All in all, I think it was a pretty fun "camping trip"... It was all worth it for those first few minutes watching Skyler’s enthusiasm!