Its never a good thing...

When you look out the window and see this...

Thankfully it was not a house, just an old shed at Moses Lake Steel. But it sure looked nasty.

And it is also never a good thing....

When

you

walk

into

the

kitchen

and

find

this

...

...

...

...

$25 worth of formula on the floor and 1 guilty Miss Kate.

The container bragged about having 20% more, but I have a feeling I lost the extra 20%.

And, NO, I didn't throw this stuff away(it was a brand new can of the stuff)... I scooped as much up as possible and dumped it back in the can.

The container also noted its helpfullness in strengthening the immune system, so I figured the added germs would make that statement true for sure. ;)

I had to try and be very discreet with the camera so Kate wouldn't notice me taking pics of her naughtiness...cause this was too much to let pass without a picture.

Guess what I like?

Well this post is mostly full of Elliott since I got a little snap happy while he was enjoying his new favorite treat. ;)

Yea, here comes Mommy with something really yummy!

It makes me get all puckery...

But I really, really, like it!!!

Its nice and cold...

and sometimes It gives me a brainfreeze!

Any guesses?

I'll give ya a hint...AHHH!

Yep! FROZEN BLUEBERRIES!!!!

Whooo, that was a sour one.

Wowza, I think I need some recovery time here.

Does my face look like it needs to be re-aligned?

...cause it sure feels like it does! :D

I'll happily hand the rest over to Miss Kate.

She's looking a little ruffed up after a long day of playin in the sunshine, swimming, and a good long nap. And she's got such a gleeful look on her face since she got to take something from Elliott.

Mmmm! The most prized summertime treat at our house!

Hey guys, check this out! She gave me the empty cup to play with!

I just have the most wonderful big sister in the whole wide world. :D

Okay, here are some pics of my big head cause Mommy says Gramma Jo likes to see my sweet face...

Borrring.

Talkin' bout sumpin'

My easygoin' grin

3 teeth on the bottom and 2 on the top, with 3 more just about through.

Miss Kate makes my eyes light up!

Here's a big slobbery kiss from Elliott. :D

Can't wait to see ya'all! :)

Backyard and Bathroom changes

I had a hard time digging up any pics of this area that actually show what it really looked like before today. Here are the only 2 I could find for BEFORE.

We had decided on this area to put in a garden as it is the most out of the way spot in the yard to do so without messing up the very symetrical landscape and gets the best sun. So today I finally got a chance to have at it (after spending the morning at the doctors for another ear infection for the Little Man) and knowing that it was probably my last chance to do so I REALLY went at it! After spending pretty much from 1:30ish to 9:30ish going full steam with only 2 breaks of 15-20 min. I actually got somewhere!!! The kids were terrific for me, and Kate actually had some fresh dirt to play in for the first time in her life. :D She loved using my little hand shovel and told me several times, "I gettin duhty. Its otay. It fun to be duhty sometimes." ( she always nods her head in affirmative while telling me these bits of observations.) She fluctuated between taking care of Elliott and playing in the dirt with me, or fetching things for me.

I guess I had about 5 yrs worth of gardening energy stored up and I pretty much used it all up in one afternoon/evening. :D I feel like a Mr. Bendy now. My limbs sort of stay in the same stiff positions until I work at rearranging them again...and then it seems I can almost hear my joints creaking and popping. So I dug up and replanted several plants that were originally there, prepped an area of lawn just outside the gate to put down new "sod", dug up slabs of lawn from the area I was trying to turn into garden and relaid them in their new home, removed all the excess lawn, and then used a hand cultivator to till up my new garden plot.

I forgot how heavy a roll of lawn with 6 in of dirt attached to it is. I could barely grunt them suckers into the utility wagon. But then again, thats not sayin' much... I'm pretty out of shape. :D

And I must admit that while I was "tilling" up the little 5ft -8ft plot of earth by hand the words off one of my fitness dvds kept running through my head..."if you feel like your gonna die...you can catch your breath for 5 seconds, but no longer..." :) I also came to a much clearer understanding of why horses were our ancestors most beloved animals. I feel like I just had a near death experience and gained an inch per Bicep tilling up a little garden plot. But then, I'm sure my ancestors would consider me a sissy for the way I feel after what they would have considered an easy days work. :D

So now that I'm done whining... here's the finished work. Yea!!!

Oh, and this is my hand cultivator, for any of you who were wondering what that might be. :)

You simply plunge it into the earth and give it twist and repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat....

(Note: I had to actually measure the plot to figure how much stuff I needed to go around the edges and its actually 5 1/2ft by 14+ft. Just shows how poorly I am at guesstimating. :D )

Well that was the backyard change and here's the bathroom change.

See, I have this basket that is full of about an inch and a half of pebbles with candles nestled into them and a few larger rocks on top of that that sits atop the toilet in our bthrm. The weight of the rocks keeps it from ever sliding around and falling off... most of the time.

Kate recently discovered this facinating bit of entertainment and likes to rearrange it to her liking every now and then.

Several times I have come in to find the candles all in a row on the countertop with a large smooth rock on the center of each candle...last time she had added one small pebble to each as well for some variety...

And then she removed all the large rocks and attempted to bring the basket of pebbles down to play with them. Unfortunately, they are fairly heavy as I mentioned, and as I was dressing Elliott for bed I heard a roaring avalanche of cascading pebbles and a gasp. 2 seconds later Kate came scurrying out of the bathroom shaking a little and looking slightly terrified. I don't know why she was so scared other than the fact that she knew she shouldn't have been playing with them and they made such a horrificly loud noise. Then she stood there peering at the disastrous scene before her with a terribly distressed look on her face.

I thought the real-pebble floor added a nice touch to my bathroom decor, except they had a painfully low comfort level when being walked on.

At least she helped me pick them all up...

actually she thoroughly enjoyed that part. :)

And then she did this as many times as I would allow.

(kneeling on the toilet seat by candle light singing "Happy Birthday to you" before blowing then all out. :) Weird. :)

Well, I'm off to a hot shower and my bed, which has been screaming my name for the last couple of hours. :D

Counting my Blessings

With Mother's Day having come and gone I was thinking of what Mothers day really is. I sort of always thought of it as a day to let your mom know how special she is (which it is) since that has been my memory of what happens on Mothers Day. Being a mom of kiddos that are in the early stage of their lives and unable to understand such a thing yet it tends to be just another day of doing the usual mommy sorts of things. But I found moms of tots enjoy mothers day in a different sort of way. Its more of a day to reflect on the blessing it is to BE a mommy and just to enjoy being able to do the mommy sorts of things for them knowing that way too soon they'll be too big to need the help with so many little things and the comforting over ouchies and such, and to realize how much happiness and meaning these little gifts from God bring into my life. When I stopped to think about the fact that the Lord has entrusted into my care these 2 precious gifts, and that He has appointed them to us to raise for Him, and how much they so completely depend on me and trust me to care for them, it made me feel amazingly wonderful ...and terribly inadequate! :) Only in HIS strength can I be that example I would desire to be for them.

So here are some things about them that make me happy. :)

When I come upon Miss Kate reading stories to Elliott or sharing and playing nicely with him.

She told me, "Mommy, I teachin' Eh-ee-ut," as she pointed out things to him and named objects for him.

Miss Kate protects Elliott from the overly friendly Neighbor Cat when they eat lunch outside.

The most important thing to protect is his 'binky' of course. ;)

And the next most important thing to protect is the food.

Miss Kate loves to feed Elliott and often asks "Can he have dat, mommy?"

If the answer is "Yes," she happily feeds him along with an answering, "Otay, you can have dat," and a nod of her head to Elliott.

She is amazingly coordinated and cleanly about it too.

90 % of the time Kate is a wonderful babysitter!!

She is a wonderful protector. She often brings things to me and asks, " Tan Eh-ee-ut have dat?"

And then exclaims with a big smile, "Oh, Otay, you tan have dat. Der ah go."

On this day I had left the kids outside and run in to get something. I gave a quick peek out the window and saw this. I had to grab my camera. She never knew I was watching.

The sprinklers in the park came on and one of them hits the big tree in the corner of our yard. She wrapped her arm around Elliott protectively and was assuring him that it was "Otay".

Unfortunately about 2 seconds after this pic (no exageration) she suddenly leaned away and gave him a shove which quickly ended the sweet photos and turned into a trip to the bedroom and some comforting for a bump on the noggin. ...Remember I said she's a great babysitter 90% of the time...but I really gotta be careful of that little 10% that's missing in the great department. :)

Kate is helping to develop Elliotts appreciation for the Great Outdoors. Teaching him the wonder of flowers and finer things. ;)

He tried to eat them, much to her dismay... just like a man, too busy thinking about food to enjoy the flowers. :D

My little orphan. :)

This pic of Kate shows so much about her personality. She is my tough, and independent kiddo who likes to 'help' and stay busy and always have something going on.

Her 'Little Brother' on the other hand, is much more of a cuddlebug and a mommy's boy, but very easygoing and content.

She is also usually very responsible when she is on her own

If she ever doesn't know where I am or can't find me she helps herself to the bread bin and gets food for herself and Elliott.

On the occasion below I had just got home from the grocery store and deposited Elliott in his carseat at the top of the stairs. As I turned to go retrieve the groceries He voiced his protest and I said over my shoulder," I know you're hungry, mommy will get you some food in just a minute buddy." When I returned with my armload of grocery bags I found that Kate had gone to the fridge and found some of his left over food from breakfast. She smiled up at me and said proudly, "I feedin' Eh-ee-ut, cuz he hungry (with a little nodding of the head for emphasis)". :)

She often asks to feed Elliott and does a good job of it.

But if he doesn't snap his bite up fast enough...

she eats it for him. :D

She likes to tease him with food as she knows that is something that is particularly dear to him.

She is also very careful and particular about things.

I can trust her with hot things while working in the kitchen.

She often tells me, "be tareful, mommy!" when I'm getting something out of the oven or working over a hot stove. :)

I came into the kitchen (after leaving for a moment) to find that she had scooted a chair over to the stove and found the wire wisk to stir a pot of boiling BBQ sauce. I said "Oh my!" upon entering and she happily replied, "I stirring dis mommy. " As I hurried over to her she added,"Be tareful, mommy. Dis is HOT." :)

I just couldn't choose between these next couple of photos because they all seems to capture a different expression.

Impish

Concerned

Thinking

Actually, I think this captures her pretty well.

Leftover PB&J from lunch on her face, dirt smudges from helping daddy work, a gap in her bangs from a self do with the haircutting scissors, and a faraway look in her eye as she ponders something thats caught her attention.

If she knew what her face looked like she would have giggled sheepishly and run to find a rag to wipe it clean with in the mirror, checking carefully to be sure it was all clean. :)

Well, I feel like Elliott kinda got left out of this but its getting so long I think I'll save his review for his birthday. Suffice it to say that he simply adores his big sister and gets bored to death if she's not around to entertain him. He also puts up with alot of abuse from her and laughs at some awfully rough stuff she does to him...just because its her doing it. :)

T.T. F. N.