I sort of felt bad

Last night Jerry and I totally sneaked out on our kids. Well, ok, we did get them a babysitter first, but then we took off and went to a Bees baseball game. I truly felt a little bad leaving them behind, but it was SO much fun being at the game- just Jerry and I. We had a great time.

And the icing on the cake was that we used the free tickets that Matt got for playing t-ball. Cold hearted huh. Don't worry though, we have more free tickets so it wasn't that big of a deal. But since the tickets were free, we didn't feel bad paying 20 bucks for pizza and a drink!

The weather was good. We had a lot of fun actually getting to watch the game. I loved not having to take someone potty in those gross restrooms. We thoroughly enjoyed the little boy sitting behind us that got cotton candy all over his face and hands and loved not having to wipe him off or get all sticky. We saw some good plays. Unfortunately, I did feel like I should get the babysitter home before it got too late and we missed the grand slam in the bottom of the 9th that made the Bees win. Bad Karma I guess. Next time, we'll bring the kids, and a lot of wipes.

Things I love on Friday

I love the way Kate eats bananas. Here she is a year ago.

And here she is this week.

I love the way Sara says "Dank you mama." And I love that she says it all the time and if Jerry ever tells her to say thank you dada, she says, "Dank you mama."

I love when I like to Move it comes on my ipod when I'm running. It's hard not to stop and bust out some serious dance moves. Likewise when Hip, hip, chin, chin comes on. It's this great jazz song my sister-in-law gave me. I want to run with jazz hands!

Bet ya didn't know this either

Not only am I married to a former superbowl champion, but I'm also married to Davy Crocket's brother, Buck Crocket.

I'm in trouble

Tonight I threw all the kids in the bath together. They had a little too much fun eating their creamsicles! I could hear Matt encouraging Sara to throw bath toys out of the bath. I told him to stop encouraging. And then I told him to stop laughing when she did it. And then I told Kate to stop helping her throw them out. And then I told Sara to stop throwing toys out of the bathtub and she just looked at me with that look that says, "Look how cute I am mom. I know I'm breaking the rules, but isn't it funny? And my brother and sister put me up to it. It's not my fault. Come on mom, you know you want to laugh at me..." The troubling part is there was not an ounce of me that was really mad at her. She is too cute and she is just a baby... I think. Can 18 months still be a baby? I had this glimpse of my life in 5 years, Sara catching the snake and bringing it inside because the other two are too scared and they know how mom will react; or Sara jumping in the pond because the other two think it's too cold; or Sara jumping off the highest ledge because the other two only went to the second highest ledge. She's just an edge pusher and she definitely thinks the rules don't apply to her. I can see it in her eyes when she gives me THAT look. Sigh... have I ever told you how much I really hate snakes? Like really, really, really, they give me the creeps even when I'm just typing this about them, hate them? I dread that day.

Things I love on Friday

I love that I feel like I live in downtown SJ, and yet when I go on my runs I run past horse pastures, tractors, small farms, etc.

I love inside jokes with myself. They happen quite a bit. I'm frequently laughing at things I've said, or thought about saying. It happens a lot on my blog. If only you knew what I'm thinking!

I love that even though this week my phone died, Jerry's car needed repairs and our a/c needed a repair, I still have reasons to celebrate: 1. Shawn Johnson won DWTS!! and 2. Gov Huntsman is outta here! It bugs me though, that he's getting what he wanted and that he only used his office in UT as a springboard to bigger and better things. Did you know he's been to Iraq and other places overseas, and spent a lot of time campaigning for McCain (he sure knows how to pick the duds) and lately he's been speaking all over the country? How about spending some time in your own state. I love that he is gone!

I love knowing that Matt and Jerry are having the time of their lives on the Fathers and sons campout!

Predator or prey

Sara loves any and all animals. She is often laying on her tummy on the concrete looking at ants, or following bugs through the air, or hearing birds and dogs... She loves them all. There is a cat that we frequently see wandering through the area and today it spent some time entertaining the kids. The cat was pretty patient with Matt and Kate, but spent a lot of time running and hiding from Sara. She approaches these animals screaming and reaching to not so gently pet them-although she is getting much better. She only tried to pick it up once, kept the screaming down and didn't chase it too much!

Then much to Sara's delight the cat jumped the fence into our backyard. At this point, I'd had enough. Having room in my heart for only one cat, my beloved Smokey, I was really wishing the owners would just start keeping this cat inside.

Wheels go around

This past weekend Matt's cousin, Isaac, came to spend the night. It was like Christmas in May for Matt. He was so excited. They had a great time playing together. Jerry took them to Blockbuster to rent a playstation game. I hope Matt and Jerry have had fun with it because when I take it back on Friday we will not be renting another game for a very long time!! (Unless it's tetris) Saturday Jerry wanted to take them down the river path for a bike ride. We'd gone the week before and Matt had gone almost all the way to the end, but not quite so he was anxious to go again. Kate loves riding her bike too. Her legs go just as fast as Matt's, but with the bigger wheels, Matt's always in the lead. Sara loves riding in the bike stroller. She pretty much loves anything that is outside with the big kids.

Things I love on Friday

I love LOST. Love it, love it, love it. Even if I always have crazy dreams the night I watch it!

I love that Sara will try to say any word we tell her to. For the most part, the words have some sort of resemblance to what we're saying. Except for blankie. She will not ever even try to say blankie. When she wants her blankie, she sticks her hand out and cries or says uh, uh, uh. When I say, "You have to ask for your blankie. You have to say blankie." She says and signs, "please." On the off chance (usually when we're playing the "Sara, can you say..." game), that we can get her to say blankie it comes out as "Nee-ma". What?? I love it. It makes me laugh.

I love that Sara has like 5 different ways to say "Yeah". I've been trying for two weeks to figure out how I can explain them, but it's useless. I hope writing this will trigger something in my head so I can always hear it. One way is like, "yyyyyyeah!", (when she's excited) another is like, "shhyeah" (which I can almost hear followed by, "whatever, mom. You're so lame").

I love watching my kids do something that makes them happy - t-ball, soccer, dance, riding bikes, swinging- whatever.

I love when we're watching the news and they screw up. Like when the have the wrong caption for the wrong picture, or the wrong camera turned on her something like that. It always makes me laugh.

It's been a while

I haven't posted pictures of Sara in a while. She is growing so fast. It is so fun to watch her learn from Matt and Kate. And watching her learn to do things is just as magical as watching Matt learn to do the same things. In fact, I've probably enjoyed watching her grow up more than the other two because I know that she'll turn out ok even if I do something wrong. I was talking to a friend yesterday who just had her first baby and she was so overwhelmed with everyone telling her what to do. I remember with Matt reading every book I possibly could for some sort of guidance. She was asking for advice and I was trying to tell her to stop listening to advice and trust her own mothering skills. That's the difference for me between Matt and Sara. I trust myself more; I trust the resiliency of children, even with imperfect parents. It's fun to sit back and watch her enjoy learning and not worrying that she is developing right on schedule.

All Done

We officially got our garden all planted yesterday. The kids have already been having fun with it. Kate is my best helper. She loves to check it every day with me and is very careful when she helps water the plants. Sara, however, pulled up half of one of the strawberry plants. I think it might be ok. We'll see. And note to self... don't do your own starter plants. You know, not having done this before, I have just kind of followed the book exactly. I didn't even know you could buy pepper starter plants. When I went to the nursery to get tomato plants, I also picked up some peppers. You'll see why. If we had more room, I would probably plant one of my own seeds just to see how it does, but just to be sure I planted the best looking starter plant! Now, we just get to watch it all grow!

Hmmm, which one do you think would grow best?

This is it. We have 1 square of green beans, one tomato, 2 peas, 2 strawberrys, 1 pepper and 1 broccoli. We'll have one really good dinner in July or August!

Motherhood

Motherhood: The reason I never pay more than 15 dollars for a shirt.



As I was getting ready this morning I thought, the only thing I want for Mother's Day is to know that my kids love me. And then I was thinking, have I really not progressed that much since I was 15 and wanted my friends to like me? I guess knowing that I am loved or liked by others for who I am, imperfections and all, is where I get a lot of my validation. Matt was there to save my day. It all started yesterday when we were eating dinner and Jerry told the kids they were going to run some errands after dinner and Matt said, "Are we going to get mom a present and some of those flowers that don't even last very long?" Spoken like a true boy, right? This morning the kids were set on making me breakfast in bed even though I was the first one up to get ready for 9:00 church. So after I got ready, I got back in bed and they brought me my breakfast. Matt and Kate were very pleased with themselves and they both thought it was really fun to eat blueberry muffins in bed with me. Then Matt gave me something that he had made in school. They decorated book marks and Matt drew me some ladybugs, dragonflys, chocolate chip cookies and a Jeep Commander. I know it sounds silly, but he knows I love Jeep Commanders and I was very touched that he remembered and would think to draw me one. He said, "I wanted to draw a minivan, but I ran out of room." And then he gave me another paper that had a picture he'd drawn of me. It was colored in mostly in green with a little bit of orange and purple. And then he'd had his teacher write, "I love my mom because she plays with me. Her favorite food is hamburgers. She does jobs for us." To anyone else I know it won't mean the same, but I saw glimpses from Matt that he loves me for who I am, imperfections and all. It was my favorite thing this Mother's Day.

A couple of months ago in church I saw this video. At first, I thought it was a little cheesy, but then my friend was telling me how much she loved it and had watched it on YouTube hundreds of times so I thought it deserved a second chance. I love it now, and I think it describes perfectly the innate desire of most woman, mothers or not. It has made me think of creating and creativity in a different way.

Things I love on Friday

I love the grin on Matt's face as he is running to first after hitting the ball.

I love sleeping with the windows open and having it be a little cool in our bedroom in the morning.

I love the days where I have so much fun with my kids that I almost feel guilty being a stay at home mom.

I love it when the weather is such that you can spend all afternoon doing different things outside and never feel too hot.

T-Ball Master

Matt really has fun playing t-ball. This year one of his good friends is playing on his team and they have a lot of fun together. I love to watch him do something that makes him happy. And I really like baseball. What's better than going to a ball park on a warm day, kicking back with a bratwurst and coke and just hanging out? I love going to the Salt Lake Bees games with the kids. I can't wait to go this summer. I also love playing with Matt in the backyard. He has fun hitting the balls I toss to him and playing catch. Those are great ways to spend an afternoon!

Bet ya didn't know

I'll bet that you didn't know that before I met Jerry he was busy playing for the Washington Redskins and winning superbowls. Don't believe me? Here's the ring to prove it. Pretty impressive huh. He just doesn't like to talk about it because he doesn't want everyone else to feel bad. He's so nice!

Things I love on Friday

I love that Matt and Kate are playing really good together right now. It's been a while since they have. I am loving their conversation right now. It's gone from heart attack to when you die you live with Jesus to Kate having a cross in her name after the K and the A and now here they are to tell me about it. And now they are hugging and going back to Matt's room so that Matt can play and Kate can talk. I LOVE IT!!


Sara loves playing peekaboo. It makes me laugh when she plays peekaboo through Kate's doll house.

I love tulips. Even if mine didn't do so well this year, I love seeing them all over the place. I love that everyone plants tulips!

I love having been able to witness literacy in action. I have a watched a whole new world open up to Matt this year and it truly amazes me. Everywhere we go he reads the signs and labels and asks what they mean and I have watched his knowledge about the world increase so much. It has really made me understand the importance of understanding the written word. I love tucking the girls into bed and then having him read a harder book to me. It's amazing that anyone can learn all of the irregularities of English! I'm very excited for him and for all the doors that are opening for him.