Catching up with Talmage

One of those huge benefits of being a Stay At Home Mom is that I can do fun things like go on my kids' field trips. When I was working I never knew about these things far enough in advance to get myself off. Leah and I accompanied Talmage's Kindergarten class to the Tautphus Park Zoo. Thankfully, I only had to be responsible for him and 2 other kids as we followed our docent about.

Every time we go he has to hop on this tiger and get his cheesy picture taken. "Mom, Take my picture!!!!!" After the zoo they had lunch at the park and then got to play lots of games like kickball. Amazingly it was one of our few hot and sunny days this spring.

Tuesday, May 26th was Talmage's Kindergarten Graduation. It was sooo cute to see the kids all march in to Pomp and Circumstance with their little blue caps on. They regailed us with the school song and a few others of which my favorite was "Wiggle Like a Wiggle Worm." For the Principal's remarks he called a few of the students up and asked them questions. When he called on Talmage my heart sank as you never know what your son is going to come up with when he's in the spotlight. For the most part he was cute and fun, "Yes, he liked school and his teacher." When he asked him what he would do for the summer, Tal said "Sleep In." HaHa. On school days I have to threaten, bribe, and ultimately drag him out of bed for school. But on the weekend or a day off from school he is up with the sun at 6:00 and waking the rest of the house up too.

Tal really liked his teacher. His favorite was when she would read "Skippy John Jones" with all of the different voices.

Tal's last soccer game was rained out so this one ended up being the last. It was fun to see Tal and the rest of the Fireballs improve to where they could pass the ball to each other and try to score goals. The best part was always running through the tunnel at the end and the treats.

Catching up with Abi

Blurb.com is finally supporting Blogger's platform again. Yeah!!!! For me, this means that I can slurp my blog into a book and with a little tweaking I can call it my journal and one day even print it out. For you, dear readers, this means I will strive to be much more consistent in my blogging. And if I'm actually blogging, hopefully I will snag a minute or two to read and comment on all of my friends as well. :)
Abi had waited and waited and not so patiently counted down to this day for years. Getting your ears pierced is a big day in a girl's life. She had to wait until she was eight, if you can be baptized you should be responsible enough to get your ears pierced we reasoned. However she had to wait until after soccer was over so that pushed the big day back until June. My sister Kalene and I took our daughters, Gabby and Abi, together to Claire's ( the same place we had gotten our ears pierced except that we had to be ten.) Abi picked out a cute little pair of emerald studs because they are her birthstone. She was a bit nervous but she hopped right up in the chair after Gabby decided that Abi should be first. She was very brave and even told Gabby that it didn't really hurt, just a little pinch.Here they are modeling their newly pierced ears and dreaming of when 8 weeks are done and they can buy some of these fun, new earrings to wear. Abi already has her heart set on some flip-flop earrings.

Abi's Activity Day Group threw a Parent's Night Out for us, their parents. With their leader's help they went shopping to price different menu options, created a menu, bought the food, made the food and served us dinner. For dinner we had salad, spaghetti, garlic bread, punch and cake for dessert. The girls did a fantastic job and passed off one of their Faith in God goals.

For our evenings enjoyment we got to hear a talent from each of the girls that they had been working on. Abi has been learning to play the piano from me and played "We'll Bring the World His Truth." Congratulations Abi on all of your hard work. Huge shout out to their leader, Sharlene, who is so amazing, creative, exciting and talented.

Activity Days Girl's Day Camp

I was such a lucky mom and got to tag along with Abi to Girl's Day Camp at Krupp Scout Hollow with the Activity Day Girl's. Abi LOVES Activity Days and the friends she has made. She happily chatters along about the activities and her goals and what she wants to teach the other girls next month. It has been really good for her as she is the only girl her age not only in our neighborhood but also in our ward. She has already completed a "Super Goal" of reading her scriptures every night for a month. But back to Day Camp. After several rousing rounds of Capture the Flag against the staff we gathered at the amphitheatre for flag ceremony, some instructions and a few scout skits. I had to giggle because they are still doing the same songs and skits as when Kris was on staff at Treasure Mountain.

The theme for our day was Space so each station had a spacey name to go along with the activity. This was "Laser Guns" and although they aren't really laser guns the girls had a great time plunking away at pop cans with the BB's. At each station they also earned a bead that they can work into their bead necklace.

Here the girls are making rockets. They launch a little plastic bottle out of a cardboard tube using the pressure created by mixing an Alka Seltzer and water in the bottle and then corking it. The girls decorated them so cute with paint.

Our last station was "Rocket Cars." The girls had a blast :) racing these little Go Carts down the field and around obstacles. It was our last station because the rain which had been holding off all day came pouring down in sheets. We tried to wait it out in the "Town Hall" while playing "Down By the Banks" and singing "The Princess Pat" but after 20 minutes it was not letting up. So we packed up early and headed home. A quick little stop at Arctic Circle for fudge dipped cones rounded out a great day of fun.

Postscript: The next day I could barely walk from all of the running during Capture the Flag. Hope that doesn't mean I'm getting too old :)

Projects and more Projects

Before the rain started we embarked on a few projects as a family. I just have to brag on my fantastic little painting crew for a minute. We decided to give our deck a facelift. A little paint somehow evolved into a whole new roof, new sections of flooring, lattice work around the outside to keep the neighborhood Tomcat out, and a new coat of paint. Over Memorial Day Weekend Abi, Tal, Leah ( in the backpack), and I painted our fence a lovely muted sageish green while Kris started on the deck in a darker "Shade Tree" green. P.S. Green is one of my favorite colors.


The red was an eyesore before but now our deck is a place we will love to hang out - if it ever stops raining. Kris is my amazing handyman.

Quite the improvement. I love how the green makes it cool and inviting. We enjoyed dinner out on our deck one evening.

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

I must say that I can get quite contrary if I don't get enough outside time in. Gardening is my therapy. Just me and my little plants that grow and change providing flowers and fruit, plus they don't talk back, don't make messes, and I can see the changes they make week to week. These are my little square foot gardens. Don't let them fool you, they really produce a lot of food. This year I gave one box, the closest left, to Abi and Tal to plant whatever they wanted. We are growing peas ( snow and sugar snap), beans, radishes ( 2 kinds), lettuce, swiss chard, green onions, carrots, a squash and a cherry tomato. I moved the majority of my tomatoes and peppers to the back of the house hoping that they will get a lot of heat there and hopefully give me a bumper crop.

My little front garden is really filling in this year. I added white bleeding hearts and some daylillies new this spring. I took this pic after the tulips had bloomed and I cut the stems back. I'm hoping to take pics throughout the season so that I can see how it changes. The dianthus are just about to bloom in this pic and then we'll have some more color again. My big project of the spring was my new perennial border along the front of my house. My aunt was digging up her perennial bed and she got me started. I bought a few shrubs but mostly my flowers came from friends and neighbors. It is fun to see your flowers and remember the people that they came from.

Abi's Baptism

Abi had been counting down to this day for over a year. I can't believe that I am old enough to have my baby baptized. I remember the little curly haired, brown eyed, chubby cheeked baby she used to be. She was baptized and confirmed on Saturday, June 6th by her father, Kristopher Meek, at the Kearney Stake Center. We had lots of family attend as well as her school teacher Mrs. Holcomb and her Primary teacher Sister Casper. Sis Nelson and Br. Queen from our ward gave excellent talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost respectively. Then each of the children got to come up and be introduced by a member of their bishopbric. Br. Jolley was conducting from our ward and added that Abi is a great Wii boxer. Abi was a little nervous but she had practiced with her dad and as soon as she was back in the dressing room she told me "That was so easy!!!"

This is all of Abi's cousins ( minus Sterling who was hiding). Kris gave her a wonderful confirmation blessing and blessed her with many good things to come in her life. She told her dad that it was "too long." Afterward we came back to our home for a little luncheon of breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, and fruit that got rained out off our newly painted deck, but we all crowded into our little home and had a wonderful time. As I was putting Abi to bed that night she said " I can already feel the Holy Ghost."

Happy Birthday Leah

My little Lulu turned 1!!! How did this happen; she grew up way too fast. We celebrated her birthday on Sunday May 31st, although her birthday was actually Wednesday June 3rd. We had a house full of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. However, like most one year olds, she was quite oblivious to the fact of her birthday, although she really seemed to enjoy the cake. I made a little purple Carebear cake for her: chocolate of course because it is her favorite.

Leah was thrilled to have her own cake and ice cream and dove right in. At first she would just bend her head down to her cake and bite it but then she just decided to grab the whole piece and go for it. The ice cream was too cold for her to hold, but she loved it when I fed it too her with a spoon.

I shopped all over to find just the right baby doll for my baby. At Toys R Us I was pulling them off the shelf to look at and she grabbed this one out of my hands and started giving it kisses. "That is the one", I knew. She loves to touch her baby's eyes and mouth and will hug and kiss her. She takes her baby to bed every night.

Nana and Papa Fife gave her this fun little ride-on toy. Papa Fife picked it out. Leah will ride on it and say "Whee!!" as Abi and Tal push her around the house. But this is her favorite, walking behind it. Abi and Tal help her turn corners and get unstuck from the walls that she drives into. The morning after her party she figured out how to pull up and walk behind it. She walked around and around the circle of our kitchen, dining room and living room. I was sure that her little legs would be sooo tired from all of the walking. But if you stopped her she would squeal and squeal to go again.

Although Leah is growing so big, she is still my skinny little baby. At her Dr's appt she was 30 inches tall ( 80%) but only 17 lb 6 oz ( 4%). She had her shots that day as well but I kept up on the Tylenol and we got by with only a little fever and fussiness. She is also cutting teeth and coping with allergies so runny noses and crankiness and just a part of our days and especially our nights right now. Leah finally has enough hair to put up in little piggy tails. The hard part is keeping them in. However she likes to watch herself in the mirror and chew on her toothbrush while I do her hair in the morning. She has also learned to say "No, No" and will point her little finger at you and wave. Leah adores being outside and will squirm, wriggle, scoot and cruise to get outside. She suprised me by scooting down the stairs the other day, face first no less. Thankfully I caught her and got her turned around so we could try a safer way. She is sooooo close to walking. She loves to hold onto my fingers and walk me all around the house or outside. She can stand by herself for a few seconds but then chickens out and sits down. Kris and I had her walking between us the other night and she would take 2 or three little running steps before falling down. What a sweet baby!!!