Three for Thrunday

1. Baseball  I love that Matt loves baseball.  He doesn't believe me, but I am truly the original baseball fan in the family.  How does this kid know so little about me??  I love spending my evenings watching his games, especially when the weather is nice!  Matt works really hard and I'm proud of his persistance.  One of the coaches on his team pitched for a triple A team and has told Matt that he has the best mechanics of any of the kids pitching.  He has also told the coach that Matt should be pitching more.  As a mother, I appreciate anyone being on my kid's side!  He likes pitching but likes playing 1st base more.  I don't care where he plays, I'm happy that he's happy.

 He pitched at one of his games this week.  He did really good.  I was very proud of him.  He doesn't always throw strikes, but he doesn't have as many wild pitches as some of the other kids.  I loved the moment that he had with the catcher.  The umpire called a few of his strikes balls and after one the catcher, who Matt played with last year and they are good friends, stood up and yelled at Matt, "That was an awesome pitch, Matt.  Keep it up!"  Matt smiled, laughed and nodded at him.  I was so glad he was having fun and feeling good.  Sometimes, he overthinks and gets stressed out so in that moment, I was so happy for him!  I tried to tell him that was my favorite moment of the night, and he looked at me like I was a freak.  Ok, I get it.  I'm a little more touchy feely than I used to be!!

2. Fathers and sons campout  Friday night Jerry and Matt went camping for the annual fathers and sons campout.  The girls and I were very excited for a night together.  My kids always bring home coupons to restaurants for free kids meals.  They always go in the garbage, but Sara brought one home and was set on using it.  It was to the Spaghetti Factory which I love, but Jerry doesn't so I thought it was a perfect time to use it.

 Kate and Sara loved it.  We walked in they both exclaimed, "This place is fancy."  All night they were raving about how fancy it was and how they were being treated like queens.  It made me laugh, but whatever it takes to make them happy!

 Matt had a great time camping.  He got to ride 4 wheelers which he loves!  It rained a whole lot here while they were gone.  I imagined they would be soaked and miserable.  But it didn't rain as much where they were.  Luckily!

He also got to go fishing which he really wanted to do.  He didn't hook this fish, but our friend with him, Justin, let him reel it in.  He doesn't consider it a real catch, but still fun.

3. Bees Baseball games  Every summer we go to as many Bees baseball games as we can.  They are so much fun and I love that Matt gets really into the games.  The Bees are the minor league team for the Los Angelos Angels.  Josh Hamilton, plays for the Angels and is totally awesome, like MVP a couple of years ago, and has been injured so he's been rehabbing with the Bees.  He was supposed to play last night so we got tickets right away.  Matt was so excited to see him and then he didn't play.  What??  We still had a great time at the game.  The girls didn't love it as much but that's ok because we get tickets from someone that has season tickets but doesn't go to every game but she only has four seats so we usually go with Matt and a friend of his.  The girls sometimes get mad that they don't get to come, but now they'll remember they get bored and it's not so much fun!

 Matt wore all his angels gear.  His team this year is the Angels.

 Abby got to try cotton candy for the first time.  At first I gave her a big piece and it looked a little weird so she wouldn't open her mouth.  So I broke off a piece and gave that to her and she loved it.  Of course.  After that she went a little crazy!

She wasn't worried about the hot dog at all.  Usually I just cut up the dog for her but what do you do at a game?  So, I just helped her hold it and she didn't need any encouragement!

Five for Funday Sunday

1. Abby. Why blog about anything else! Abby is the joy of our house and she knows it.  The kids are all so sweet with her and she loves their attention.  She's already spoiled and will throw tantrums which just make us all laugh.

 Somehow I have managed to get all my kids addicted to milk first thing in the morning and hell will be raised until they get it.  The girls have all liked chocolate milk, Matt liked his warmed up just enough to take an edge off the coldness of the fridge.  Quite demanding monsters I created.  Abby is no different, but we all like it when we get to snuggle with her while she's drinking it and waking up.  She likes to hold your thumb and play with it.  She does this all the time when she's feeling like being cozy.  It's pretty cute.

 One day this week when I was vacuuming rooms, Abby was following me around like usual. She loves coming with me into Kate and Sara's room because it is often forbidden when legos or marbles are out.  Plus, she just bugs them sometimes.  So she was in heaven in their room.  She grabbed Sara's gymnastics medal and put it around her neck, you can see Kate's precious white bunny in the background, and she was playing with Sara's piano.  It cracked me up.  She thought she was pretty hot stuff!

2. Cavities  A month ago at the dentist, Sara had a cavity.  Oh, the drama this cavity has caused. That night she was in tears because she didn't want to sleep with a cavity.  And a couple of nights later she was in tears again because she was convined she had another activity.  Holy cow, that girl's power of convincing her own mind is strong!  We got it filled this week and it was a comical experience.  I love watching my kids on laughing gas.  This picture is her coming off of it and you can still see how goofy her eyes look.  She was singing to the dentist and when they were done the song Royals, by Lorde, came on the speakers so she was singing that loudly.  With her tongue, she was flicking the dentists tools that were in her mouth.  We were all laughing.  The hygenist was laughing saying, "We've never had anybody sing to us."  It was a really funny 15 minutes!  And now the drama of the cavity is over, luckily!

3. Summer  You know it's summer when I'm hot enough I let my kids play with water.  They'd be playing in their swimming suits in 60 degree weather if I'd let them!  We pulled out the water table for Abby and she loved it.  It kept her very entertained.  I bought this thing for Matt for 20 dollars and all of my kids have loved it.  Best 20 bucks ever!  Abby played while I finished some work in the backyard.  After a snake in the yard each of the last two summers I'm trying to make it less inviting to them.  I've taken out a bunch of rocks so they aren't warm for resting on and cut down rose bushes so they can't hide so easily.  We'll see.  My friend had one in her backyard this week and she tagged me on instagram and said, "Come save me!"  She was being very sarcastic knowing my phobia.  After I got my phone back from across the room where I threw it after seeing the picture, I commented back, "Off with it's head!"  She didn't.  She had her husband move it to a nearby field that I run by often.  Time for a new route!

4. Adam's farewell  Today we got to go listen to Adam speak in church and tell him goodbye as he gets ready to serve the Lord in Tampico, Mexico.  He's a pretty good guy and very excited to get going.  It amazes both Jerry and I how far ahead spiritually some of the kids these days are.  He'll do a fantastic job.  Sara loves her older boy cousins, especially Adam, Michael and Jacob.  When we got home from saying goodbye, she went into her room and cried because she missed him.  Then she started writing him a letter.  Oh my drama mama!

5. Conversations  Abby babbles so much.  She doesn't say too many words plainly.  She does say doggy, kitty, did it, got it, there it is, mama, dada, and forms of Matt and Sara.  She will have full blown conversations with me though and it cracks me up, if only I knew what she was trying to say!  She always starts with, "Mom."  I'll say, "What?" (If I don't say what, she'll keep saying, Mom, Mom, Mom.)  Then she just goes on and on in babble language.  Make sure the volume is turned up!

Four for Sunday

1. Gymnastics Festival  Yesterday Sara had her gymnastics festival, a chance for them to show their routines without being judged.  She was very excited and nervous for it.  She has worked really hard this year in gymnastics and has improved quite a bit.  She loves the uneven bars the most.  I'm excited for her and hope she keeps enjoying it.  

 Before the event started I was waiting with her.  She was talking a mile a minute and jumping up and down and all around.  That is just like me.  It made me laugh.

Afterwards she wanted to take a slew of pictures.  Oh my you should see this girl pose!  I narrowed down my choices to just these two.  She was feeling pretty proud of herself afterwards.  Yea for her!  Here are her routines for those who are interested.

2. Happy Mother's Day to me

Does it get any better than this?  On any day of the year?

3. Things that make you laugh  Matt and I saw the funniest thing on a car rear window this week.  Have you seen the cars that have stick figure family decals?  They are really popular in Utah.  There is a lady in my church that has 15 kids and one of her sons gave her stick figures of everyone.  That one cracks me up.  They have a big 15 passenger van and their stick figure family goes along one whole side window. It's really funny.  But even more funny was what Matt and I saw.  It was a decal of a few stick figures running away and a bigger stick figure chasing them with a baseball bat and it said below that, "Nobody cares about your stick figure family"  Oh my gosh we laughed for 15 minutes over that.  Hilarious.  Why can't I think of these funny things?

Also, I was hanging out with Matt on Friday night and we were talking about baseball.  They have played three games and have had three games cancelled because of rain.  It has been a slow start.  Matt said to me, "We're going to have to have so many make up games that we're going to have to go back in time to play them!"  We both laughed hard and he thought he was pretty cool for making a real joke.

4. Singing Time  There is this song that Abby loves.  We sing it a lot for Family Home Evening.  Tonight we took some video.  I'm so sorry you have to hear me sing, but she is so funny!

A twofer Sunday catch up

The past couple of weeks have been great ones to live in Utah.  We've had lots of people coming through town that have stopped in for a visit.  First we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Frank, then Great Grandma and Grandpa Burlingame and last weekend Grandma Johnson was in town.  That is what we love about living in Utah; it seems like lots of our family and friends travel through and visit us.  We love having visitors!  I hung out with my mom last Sunday evening instead of blogging so I've got a little catching up to do!

1. Back on Track  Last Tuesday the kids went back to school after 4 weeks off.  I really love having them home with me and I was so glad we had so much fun while they were off.  In fact, I was exhausted and ready for them to go back.  I hate that it is such an adjustment.  The first week back is always hard getting to bed on time, getting up, remembering homework and school lunches and just all that stuff.  I hate that with year round school we have to go through that first day of school adjustment four times.  Sara had some tears the night before and for a couple of nights after, not wanting to go to school because her teacher is a little grumpy sometimes.  Ugh.  Knowing how hard I worked while they were off, Jerry took Abby and I to breakfast at a fun new cafe after I dropped them off at school the first day back.  He's so good to me!

2. Babysitting  My good friend Kayce went back to work a month ago after having her baby.  She had a college student she knew babysitting her baby and then the college student up and graduated and got a big girl job.  What?  So I offered to help with babysitting.  I have known Kayce for almost 11 years and we shared a wall for 9 of those and I know if I ever needed anything, she is the one who would drop everything and do what she could to help out.  So, I try to look for ways to help her, too. And it's good for Abby to be a big sister a day or two a week.  The first couple of days were a bit hard for her and even still she has moments where she just wants me to hold her, but overall, she's really cute with Beckett.  She tries to hug him and he pushes her away which is exactly what she does with Kate so it makes me laugh a bit.  It has been fun having a little baby around again.  I don't know if there will be a Nielsen #5 so this will do for now! 

 Beckett has not taken a bottle at all, but I am the bottle master and he takes one great for me.  The first time I gave him one, I did it like this... held him tight so he couldn't squirm and held the bottle with my chin.  It worked!  He's much better at it now but each morning, I have to remind him not to be picky!

We went on a walk one day and I was trying to keep him protected from the sun and I kept asking Sara if he was covered up but she would barely look at me before answering so then I thought, I'll just take a selfie and then I can see how he looks!  Parents these days have it so easy...

Abby has been much more interested in babies since having Beckett.  The days that he is here she carries a baby almost all day.  She wraps the baby in blankets and uses a burp rag but she won't let me put clothes on them.   Not sure where that comes from! 

3. Saving money  All the kids have some bigger items that they want so we've made the deal with them that if they save their money to pay for half we'll pay for the other half.  Sara was first with her ukelele (can't remember of that got posted), Matt is still saving for his ipod touch, and Kate had to decide if she wanted to use her money for an American Girl doll or a hamster.  She finally decided for sure she wanted the American Girl doll.  She and Sara really got into them last year and wanted last year's doll, but we decided to wait and see what theme this year's doll was.  When we saw that it was a ballerina, Kate was so excited!  So she saved her money and decided for sure that was what she wanted and we finally got to order it last week.  We tracked the shipping every day and the day it was scheduled to arrive, she checked the mail every 30 minutes until we had to leave for dance.  It came while we were at dance and Jerry picked it up for her.  She was so excited, it was like Christmas morning.

 Isabelle, the blessed doll!

She has had so much fun with her.  Every night she puts the doll in some jammies and every morning she dresses her and fixes her hair.  It is so cute.  She is just loving it!

4. Check out my homemaking skills  So last Saturday it rained like all day.  I love running in the rain and so I wasn't tempted to skip my run.  In fact, I ran 10 miles in it and was soaked, but I loved it!  I ran with my group and there was only one other girl there.  She was telling me about her husband who is also the Elder's Quorum President and how he bakes bread every week and takes fresh bread on his visits.  She kept talking about this bread and I started craving homemade bread.  So when I got home, even though I can count on one hand the number of times I've made homemade bread, I made some.  I just got the recipe off of pinterest.  While the bread was not perfect (it was kind of dense) it hit the spot.  I got the smell of fresh bread and a warm slice right out of the oven and that was just what I needed!  So fun!

We have also been loving our bountiful baskets.  This week we got an extra cinco de mayo pack.  We made fresh pico, a creamy tomatillo sauce, grilled some steak and made a salad out of all that.  Then we cut up our watermelon and cooked some corn and had the best meal!  Fantastic!!

5. Baseball 

When my mom was here, Matt was supposed to have a baseball game.  It was a very rainy weekend though and his game got cancelled which was bittersweet because after the rain came cold, and we were all secretly dreading sitting out and watching.  So I promised I'd take some pictures and post them.  The next game he got to pitch which was exciting, although he likes first base the best.  His team is decent.  All of his games have been close and it has been fun to watch!

6. Audrey Hepburn

 For Kate's spring recital her class is dancing as Audrey Hepburn.  They had their class pictures the other night and I thought she was so cute!  She loves the tiara and pearls!

6. Reading

 Abby loves books.  Now she climbs up on the couch and reads to herself.  It's so cute.  I should have taken video because she's saying, "baa da, ba ba da."  And then she turns the page.  I love it.  It reminds me of Matt.

 7. Mountain Biking

Jerry has gotten more into mountain biking again over the past couple of years since there have been some bad wrecks with cyclists getting hit by cars and such.  We went mountain biking together a lot before I was pregnant with Matt, but then life got in the way and I haven't been on an actual trail since before Matt was born.  So with Jerry getting back into it and Matt and Sara riding some it was only a matter of time before I was itching to go.  Jerry is so nice to ride slow with Matt and me and then go on a long ride after that.  We had a great time yesterday and it was so fun to be back on a trail!  Matt was so funny.  Jerry rode in front and then Matt and then me.  Matt kept calling back at me to make sure I was doing ok.  We had joked about me not riding in a while but I really think he thought I couldn't make it.  What the what?!  I told him I'd ridden on trails that make grown men cry.  I think I'm hilarious, but sometimes he just thinks I'm weird!   That's funny though, right?  Anyway, it was fun to ride and I hope there is a lot more of that this summer!