2014 :: week 35

August 24

Sunday we made Cafe Rio pork salads and burritos for dinner. Because that is a meal that takes a bit more work than I usually like to put into our dinners we had pudding cups for dessert. Will was impatient and struggled to get his cup opened on his own, so he stuck his fork in it.

August 25

I felt really...grown up when I picked up Will from school in my mom's minivan. Monday marked the first day of Will's second week of school. He's at the same school with the same teachers, but he's in the afternoon class this year. It was also the day we got our car back with a new and improved AC. Thanks again, Mom for letting us use your van!

August 26

Family selfie in honor of our 8th anniversary.

August 27

We went to the Lenexa Open Gym with a few friends from church Wednesday morning. The kids were really good and I thought it would be fun to get Chick-fil-A for lunch. I'm still getting used to Will's afternoon school schedule and we were going to be cutting it close to get Will to school on time if we stopped at home to get him lunch. As usual Lauren didn't want to leave and threw a huge fit when it was time to leave the restaurant. I've vowed to not take her out to eat without another adult again until she's 12.

August 28

We went to the pool for an afternoon swim Thursday. It's been a hot week and we've been squeezing in as much pool time as possible before it closes next week. We went to the pool earlier in the week and bought a pizza on the way home because we stayed at the pool longer than we had planned and it was late to begin meal preparations. Will was so excited to eat the pizza that he informed us while we were back to our house that he had already said a prayer so we could eat it immediately when we arrived at home. He wanted to get another pizza the next time we were heading home from the pool and I told him the only way we would buy a pizza would be if the power in our house was still out (it had been out several hours earlier). When we got home the power was out! So we drove back to Little Ceaser's (keeping the kids' expectations nice and low) and bought a pizza. By the time we arrived back home again the power was back on. Will was so pleased with all the pizza we got this week. Apparently he also has faith that can cause temporary power outages.

August 29

Will and Tony went to a baseball game Friday night. Will has wanted to go to a game with fireworks all summer and TJ was able to get discounted tickets to this game through his work. Even though the Royals lost (we have bad luck with Royals' games) the boys had a great time. They even endured a rain delay. Lauren and I went grocery shopping, bought nail polish and painted her nails. We had a fun time together, but when she was brushing her teeth at bedtime she told me she missed her "broder, William."

August 30

Melanie and I had a brief sister date at the pool and had to get a squinty selfie as we were leaving. She's been in town for most of the past month and is heading back to Florida in the morning. It was fun visiting with her. We've hung out a lot this past month, but never just the two of us. Can't wait to visit her sometime next year in the Sunshine State!

2014 :: week 34

August 17

Will and Lauren noticed some bugs on the trees as we were walking to our car after church last Sunday. While Anthony and I visited with friends they got sticks and attempted to flick the bugs away. Both kids are fascinated by bugs. TJ left for DC about an hour after we got home from church.

August 18

Monday was the start of a long, hot week. That afternoon we hit up the pool with Melanie and Laura one last time. The kids had fun playing with their aunts, racing across the pool. The next day Melanie and Laura headed to Utah with my mom to visit my grandparents and get Laura moved in to a new apartment in Utah.

August 19

Lauren had been showing quite a bit of interest in potty training over the past few weeks. I saw that Pull-Ups were on sale at Target, so we stopped by Target to buy some after we picked Will up from school. Lauren had a few great days, and sadly lost interest by the end of the week. I probably should have picked a week when TJ was in town to start the potty training party. 

August 20

Will will allow me to pitch to him as long as I am willing. Between Anthony being gone and the hot temperatures the two of us spent a lot of time playing baseball in our front room. Will likes to go through the Royals lineup and when he doesn't feel like the "hit" was good enough he calls it a foul so he can get more pitches.

August 21

Lauren has been taking great care of her babies this week. She has about a dozen "kids" in her room taking naps at any given time. She is constantly telling us we have to whisper, and came out of her room demanding to know "what on earth is going on?" in a threatening voice that TJ claims sounded a lot like me. Lauren is the mom and Anthony and I are the grandparents. She calls me Grandma whenever she is dealing with her babies. She takes things seriously.

August 22

We met up with Will's good friend Sam and his family at the park Friday morning. It had been a few months since we had gotten together with them and it was fun to catch up. The boys loved climbing and exploring with each other.

August 23

The air conditioner in our car has been spotty for awhile and finally decided to give up this week. It was great timing because despite the fact that this week has been one of the hottest of the summer (very humid with highs in the 90s) my mom is in Utah and let us use her van while we are getting it fixed. Saturday we spent a few hours at the pool. It's so hot outside the water felt delicious.

2014 :: week 33

August 10

Our blog is woefully behind because I've been working on publishing my old posts into a book. My  friend Lauren taught me how to do a few things in photoshop and I've been working on getting it done most evenings.

August 11

The kids have been playing in the basement a lot lately. We spent a lot of time this summer getting out of the house but now that our summer activities are winding down we are spending more time at home. They dress up almost every day.

August 12

Lauren doesn't really enjoy getting her nails trimmed. To persuade her into letting me clean and cut them I promised to paint them pink. She claims purple and pink as her favorite colors.

August 13

Wednesday we went to the aquarium with Memaw, Melanie and Laura. I wanted to do a fun "end of the summer" activity with Will and Lauren and they both regularly ask to go there. We've gone quite a few times considering the cost (most of our activities are as close to free as possible). The kids loved watching all the fish in large tank. My favorite sea creatures are the octopus, jellyfish, rays, seahorses, and eels.

August 14

Thursday evening after dinner Anthony and I were visiting in the TV room. We could hear the kids playing and then it got quiet. When I went to check on them I found Lauren lying on my bed and Will bringing her a pacifier. Lauren was tired and had decided she wanted to sleep on our bed. Will likes to do her bidding when the mood suits him. He's been going into her room during our afternoon quiet time and getting her drinks, handing her toys and reading her books. It keeps both of them from sleeping or getting a good rest and I've been trying to get him to stop. When I asked him this week to leave her alone during quiet time he told me, "Sorry Mom, I'm not going to listen to you. If Lauren asks me for a drink I'm going to get it for her."

August 15

Each day the MLB network has a free game that anyone outside of the featured teams' market area can watch. This week two of the games were Royals games. The next day you can watch the old game. Will watched Thursday's game twice Friday and pretended to be at bat each time a Royals' player was up.

August 16

Lauren was in a great mood during her bath tonight. For the past few weeks we've been doing showers and it was nice to let her play and be silly.

2014 :: week 32

August 3

The dress Lauren wore on Sunday had some tulle on the bottom. My parents watched the kids while we taught our last temple prep class and when we came to pick her up she had started calling the bottom of her dress a tutu and was dancing all over the living room.

August 4

Monday was hot and humid. Melanie & Laura joined us for a trip to the pool and I had them take a picture of me with the kids so there would be proof I was with them at the pool this summer. The pool hours change next week due to school starting (so early!) so we tried to fit in as much pool time as possible while this week.

August 5

We hit up Pump It Up! during their open gym hours on Tuesday. Will has been asking to go to a bounce house for months and the place we used to go closed in the winter. When a friend mentioned this place I decided we needed to check it out. Will had a great time. Lauren was nervous to go down the slides at first but after she went once she could not be stopped. I had to carry her out crying when the place shut down.

August 6

We met the Throssell's at Young's Pool for a few hours on Wednesday. Within the first 10 minutes we were there I realized I left our puddlejumpers and pool toys at home, Lauren pooped in her swim diaper and then slipped and fell on the ground in the dressing room while I was trying to change her diaper. Luckily things got better from there. The water felt really refreshing and I went down the slides and screamed like a crazy person when I went down the really steep slide.

August 7

We met up with some friends from our ward at the Johnson County Museum Thursday morning. Unfortunately we weren't the only group that had that idea--the place was packed! We walked across the street to a park and let the kids play for a bit. I enjoyed visiting with my friends and the kids had fun running around and climbing all over the playground.

August 8

My mom and sisters generously agreed to watch the kids overnight for us Friday so we could do something fun. Well, my idea of fun was painting our bedroom. I've wanted to paint it for quite awhile and it is hard to get done with kids in the house. While we were painting we noticed our air conditioner had a large puddle of frothy water under it. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, youtube specifically, Anthony was able to diagnose and fix the problem in the midst of our painting.

August 9

We reserved a fire pit at Shawnee Mission Park and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows with the Elder's Quorum Saturday night. It was a picturesque evening. The kids threw rocks in the water, chased and were chased by ducks, and played "football" with the missionaries while the adults were able to visit and get to know each other better. Our kids were filthy when we got home, but that's the sign of a good time, right?

2014 :: week 31

July 27

Anthony made no-bake cookies, or "monkey poo," as he calls it, for our class Sunday night. He made them the week before and had requests for more. They are better than your average no-bakes.

July 28

Monday night we went to the pool after the gym and TJ couldn't stop working out. At the pool he did Lojo leg lifts for a bit.

July 29

Tuesday night we went to the Royals game. We stayed until the 8th inning. The kids were being good enough that we probably could have stayed to the finish, but I was worried about keeping the kids up really late and Anthony had to catch a flight at 5:50am the next morning. Even though the Royals lost we had a great time.

July 30

When Anthony travels the evenings are my least favorite part. I often try to make plans out of the house or with friends to make the time more pleasant. Wednesday night we went to a concert at Park Place with my friend Lauren and her kids because her husband was also traveling for work. Lojo loves to dance and she loves babies, so naturally she had to dance with Jovee. It's hard to watch uninhibited kid dance moves and not smile.

July 31

Thursday we got together with my friend Emilee. I watched her kids for a few hours and then we went over to her place for dinner and a movie. The kids watched Despicable Me while the moms chatted about my kids grumpy behavior, paint colors, menu ideas and other fun stuff I find myself caring about these days.

August 1

Lauren was being silly during breakfast on Friday morning and put her cereal bowl on her head (both kids only eat dry cereal). Will told her she "looked like Alma." She does look similar to one of the Nephites in the illustrated Book of Mormon reader we read with the kids.

August 2

Three years ago today we closed on our house! To honor our third anniversary as homeowners we worked on our yard a bit. We've had a lot of weeds this year and have kind of let this part of the yard go. Last year appears to have been a banner year for acorns. We have tons of mini-oak trees sprouting up all over the yard. The squirrels really let us down. Our hands are sore tonight. But the yard looks better. We really like living here, this house has been good to us.