Quotes

Matthew: Whatcha doin' Mommy?

Me: I'm making dinner.

Matthew: Oooh. You're such a big boy. Good job!

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Instead of saying yes or no, Matthew now says "uh course" (of course) and "no sanks" (no thanks). Cracks me up!

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We have been helping Emma memorize the Articles of Faith. She knows the 1st and 2nd and most of the 3rd. However, Matthew surprised us the other night by saying the whole 1st article of faith, unprompted, by himself. I guess you never know when kids are listening!

Our Last Few Weekends

 So, just when I think I have Blogger all figured out, they go and change it. I used to add my pictures in reverse order so they would show up in order, but now they show up in the order you add them...what a concept!  Anyway, there are too many pictures to try and move everything around, so these pictures are all backwards.


We have stayed really busy the last few weekends. This weekend started out with the Megamind wrap party, to celebrate finishing the movie (which comes out November 5...you should all go see it.  :)  It is a good, funny movie.) We  got a babysitter (who generously offered to keep the kids overnight...thank you again Erica!) and got to enjoy a nice adult only evening in the city. Unfortunately our camera died but we didn't know it till we got there...anyone with a Canon Powershot ever gotten the lens error??? The lens just won't open...big bummer! But we had a good time. It was great to have a night out and to finally see Jon's work up on the big screen. He worked so hard and we are so proud of him.


Last weekend, we took our first family camping trip. We've gone with Jon's family several times, but never on our own. I was a little nervous, but it was so fun. The kids did great and we all had a blast. We went up to the Redwoods in Northern California. It is BEAUTIFUL up there. Jon described it perfectly when he said, "You get there and feel like you've shrunk because all of the trees are so big". Some of the trees were pretty amazing...many of them were over 300 feet tall.

 

 walking on a fallen tree

The kids loved all the "fort trees"

On one of our walks we found a bunch of wooly bear caterpillars. The kids thought they were the cutest, funniest things ever so Jon brought 4 home to see if we could watch them go through their life cycle and turn into moths. They are doing great so far.

Warming our feet by the fire

This tree stump was in our campsite. It was hollow at the top, so the kids named it the volcano and spent a lot of time playing in there.

Just some random tickling pictures that I thought were cute. These kids LOVE being tickled.

The last weekend in September, the Smithsonian Magazine did their annual free museum day. Tons of museums all over the country are free one day each year, so this year we chose the Hiller Aviation and Space Museum. It is right up the road from us and we have never been, so this was the perfect opportunity to check it out. It was really cool. I would have loved to be able to spend more time there, but the kids just wanted to get to the toys.

An old helicopter

The kids got to sit in a Blue Angels airplane

Quotes

We went to Target today and took the stroller instead of a cart. Emma wanted to walk, so I filled her seat with our groceries. As we were walking out of the store, she suddenly just couldn't walk and NEEDED to sit in her seat. So she started throwing a fit, screaming at the top of her lungs...you know the drill... I kept walking, knowing that she would keep following. As we got to the car she stopped and screamed as loud as she possibly could, over and over, "I can't keep going. I runned out of allergy (energy)!!!" She got quite a few laughs out of people passing by...and me.

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We were reading scriptures with the kids tonight. We have each of them "read" a verse...we read, they repeat. The end of Matthew's verse went something like this, "...the juice sought the wife of my father".   
Translation: The Jews sought the life of my father

Tidbits

Last weekend my old roommate Shayla, and her sister Lisa, came to San Francisco. We were lucky enough to have them stay with us so we could catch up with each other...it's been 5 years!

We went into the city with them one day...and I forgot my camera at home. But we took our first trip to Ghirardelli Square where we got some ice cream and yummy chocolate treats (the pumpkin spice caramel squares are AMAZING!). We also drove down Lombard Street, went to the completely fogged over Golden Gate Bridge, stopped at our favorite Baker Beach, where there just happened to be a wedding going on...random!, went to Golden Gate Park for a little bit, and ended the day with dinner at Panera...yum! It was a very busy, very fun day.

Last Sunday we squeezed in a trip to the coast. We drove up Highway 1 through Half Moon Bay and then stopped at the tide pools in Moss Beach. It was a perfect day to go and we were able to see lots of wildlife. The kids LOVED it.


They especially loved touching the sea anemones. They thought it was hilarious to touch them and then watch them close.

Matthew, our resident rock collector.  :)

Me and Shayla

Thanks for coming to visit, Shayla and Lisa! We had a great time!



This was some time last week. The kids insisted that their pets (stuffed animals) were hungry and had to eat breakfast. Just thought it was cute.

The most exciting tidbit from this week is that Jon is done with Megamind! Done with 70+ hour weeks! Done done done! He finished at 3:30 last Saturday afternoon, so we went out to dinner to celebrate. It has been SO nice to have him home in the evenings again. It has been especially nice for the kids to have a dad again....to see him every day instead of every 3 or 4 days. They are so happy to have him back. We are all happy.  :)


And a random funny story to end on...

I teach the 7 year old class at church. During sharing time (when they have all the classes meet together for singing) I was sitting next to one of the girls in my class and put my arm up on the back of her chair. She reached over and starting playing with the flab hanging from my upper arm. Then she looked up at me and said, "Oh, I just love your wings. I want wings too! They are just so pretty!" I didn't know whether to be offended, mortified, or just laugh. So I laughed and then put my arm down.

I know my arms aren't stick skinny, but I've lost 35 lbs and I've been working out still, so they are fairly toned. Just kind of a little blow. I'm glad she at least thought my fat was cool. Haha...the joys of teaching primary.

Quotes

My kids say a lot of funny things. And I laugh and think I need to write that down. And then I don't and the next day I can't remember what it was that was so funny. Drives me crazy! I'm sure everyone with kids can relate...unless you're the one that actually DOES write it down.  :)

So I'm going to start writing them here, and titling them all Quotes...for me more than anything.


Today Emma got frustrated at Matthew and yelled shut up. We have been working on saying nice words and have threatened to wash her mouth out with soap if she says dirty words (hopefully I never really have to!). So I asked if we needed to clean her mouth and she immediately turned to Matthew and yelled Shut Down! Then she looked at me and asked very seriously if that was a clean word and if she could say that instead. I was caught off guard and laughing so hard that I just told her yes.

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Emma was drawing a picture of our family. She got to Jon, drew his hair and eyes and then said, "And Daddy has a really scratchy face too. I'll just put some spots on his chin.When she finished she said it was perfect. And it was.  :)

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She has recently started calling pinky fingers and toes "hanky pankies". Today she walked up to Matthew, who was laying down, and exclaimed, "Oh Buddy, you have the cutest little hanky panky!"

A Time Out and First Day of Preschool

So, these are two completely unrelated pictures that I'm throwing together because I'm feeling lazy tonight.  :)

This last weekend I was able to go to Time Out for Women, a women's conference put on by our church. Three friends and I set off for 2 glorious days with no kids, no responsibility and a lot of inspirational messages and fun. It was really great! The theme of the conference was infinite hope and it was just what I needed.

  

Then on Tuesday Emma finally started preschool. Oh happy day! It is the same preschool she went to last year and the class is the exact same except for one new little boy, so it was fun for her to see all of her friends again. We love her preschool and are so excited for this next year...her last year before kindergarten. It's still hard for me to believe.

Fitness Challenge

For anyone interested, I have started a fitness challenge...and a blog to go with it. I am doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred workout dvd. My goal is to do it every day for the next 30 days...except for Sundays because that is just too much work for Sunday!  :)

I have started a blog    http://shreddersanonymous.blogspot.com        where I will be posting my progess...kind of a way to be accountable. So far I have 5 other people who are joining me on this crazy little journey and we would love to have others join as well.

Nothing is set in stone and there are no concrete rules. I really just want to have a place where anyone who wants to set a fitness goal can come share their ups and downs and cheer others on. Having accountability is a huge motivator!

So, are you in? Set your 30 day fitness goal, whether you do the 30 day shred or walk 20 minutes a day or go swimming or chase your kids around the house...whatever works for you. Let's all get moving!

If you'd like to join us, let me know and I'll add you as a contributor!