Saturday, June 28, 2008

June 23-27

This week we found new and fun ways to beat the heat. Every morning we headed out nice and early so we could get in a long walk and a little play time at the park before the heat of the day set in. On Tuesday we had a little pool party with our neighbor Chloe. She's in nursery with Alan. The kids had a lot of fun staying cool in the water and hanging out with friends. Logan didn't enjoy the pool at all. I think the water was just a little cold for him. This week we also colored a lot of giant pictures, did some water color painting, played a lot of Bingo, and built a lot of forts/boats/tiger cages. We pushed the sofa and loveseat together in the living room and they served many purposes, the most fun was when Emma and Logan pretended that they were tigers in the zoo. Logan was so cute playing along with Emma. He was crawling around and growling like a tiger. It was so cute. Logan really has grown up a lot in the past few weeks. He has gone from being a happy little baby to a happy mischievous little explorer. He loves to play on the floor and try to keep up with Emma and Alan. It is a little sad for me because he used to be happy to just sit and cuddle with Mommy, but now he wants to always be playing and exploring. This week he crawled over to Emma and Alan and helped them color a picture. It was so fun to see all three of my kids playing together.On Friday after dinner we went out for out Family date night (it is not quite as fun as a real date night, but at least we got out of the house together). We went to Petsmart and pick out a few new pets. We decided that Survivor (our only frog that's still alive) needed a friend. Emma and Alan were so excited from the minute that we walked in to the store. We had a bit of a hard time getting them to keep their hands out of the tanks. We ended up bring home a new african dwarf frog and a very pretty, shimmery white female betta fish. Alan was so cute carrying the betta out to the van. He was holding the little cup close to his chest, and walking so slow talking about how careful he was being, splashing water everywhere the whole time. Once we got in the van Emma and Alan traded pets so Alan had the frog and he said "He's so cute, I'm going to name himBaby Frog." And Emma named the betta fish Princess. After the pet store we had a little dessert at Arctic Circle and then it was time to head home and put the kids to bed.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Monday June 16

Well Monday was our 5th day of fun in a row. Grandma left Monday morning before the kids got up. They were sad that Grandma was gone, but I explained that Grandpa was all alone in Alaska and needed Grandma back. Emma only cried once and well Alan is a boy, so after jumping on his bed a little and attacking Emma he was fine. To make the adjustment a little easier I took the kids to play group at the park at 10. They had a lot of fun playing with their friends.
That night when daddy got home, we quickly got ready and went to the end of the year pool party for Emma's preschool at Surf-n-swim. For all of us, but Scott it was our first time at Surf-n-swim. Emma has recently gotten over her fear of large bodies of water so she ran right in with Scott while I stayed over by the steps with Shark Boy (Alan). We let him take his time adjusting to the water and by the time we left he was crawling head first into the waves attacking them like a shark. Emma saw a few of her friends there, but it was specially cute when her friend Kole came to over to say hi and they ended up holding hands swimming together. Then I realized we are in trouble if she is only 4 and already picking up guys at the pool. I think we are in trouble on both sides because I kept noticing the female lifeguards giggling about how cute our Shark Boy was being. It was pretty cute watching him riding around on Scott while Emma used him as a tug boat. Baby Logan was very sleepy and was a very good sport about being there. Even when I lost my balance for a moment and he went under the water he was totally content to just hang out in the baby sling cuddled up to mommy.
By the time we were leaving it was way past everyone's bed time, so we just headed home in our swim stuff and when we got home for the first time we just threw that all in the kids in the bath at once. Baby Logi is getting so big.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Sunday June 15

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful, hard working fathers. Emma, Alan, and Logan are truly blessed when it comes to their father. From the moment Scott became a father he has always been an example to me of what a kind, loving, patient, and fun parent should be and I know he loves his role as a father. Everyday he gets home from a long day of school or work or both and instantly takes over with the kids. They look forward to the time they get with him and I appreciate his desire to play with, teach, and love them. He is such a good teacher and friend. Thank you for all you do. WE LOVE YOU!
-Emma's favorite thing about daddy "eating goodies" (I am guessing she is talking about eating peanuts, popcorn, and popsicles with daddy)
-Alan's favorite thing about daddy "um he sings me Daniel in the lion's den when I am in bed"
-Logan's favorite thing about daddy "dadadada" (I take that to mean he loves their late night talks.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Saturday June 14


Saturday morning Emma had a princess birthday party, so Grandma, Alan, and I walked her over to the party. Cinderella was at the party and loved Emma's dress. When you are 4 it doesn't get much better than that.
After the party we all headed off to the Ogden Dinosaur Park. It was so much fun. They had a ton to do and see there. I think the kids liked the robotic dinosaurs the best. Poor little Alan really isn't built for heat and kept getting very flushed and wilting a little in the heat.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Friday June 13



Friday morning we all got ready and left for a little shopping. Our first stop was Target for a few essentials then we headed off to the Gateway. Grandma took the kids to Build-a-bear. It was so much fun. It was our first time and Emma and Alan had so much fun. Emma chose a Hello Kitty and Alan got a dinosaur. We also got a cute curly haired bear for Logan. Alan got a little scared when they turned on the machine to stuff them. But got really excited when it came time to choose accessories. At first he wanted a skate board, then a car, then an MP3 player, but he finally decided on a motorcycle. Emma put her little kitty in a beautiful fairy tutu and she got a little blowup chair. My mom put voice chips in them so Alan's says "Grandma loves Alan." They said that it would play about 3000 times, but by the end of the day there were only 1000 left. Once we were all done at build-a-bear we decided to have ice cream for lunch. I know it is not the healthiest choice, but how often does Grandma from Alaska come to visit. This ice cream in hand we headed over to the fountain to play a little before we had to leave for Alan's appointment at Primary Children's Medical Center. Emma was the only one to actually play in the water. Alan was content to watch from the side.
At 2:30 we had to be up at PCMC for Alan's appointment. About a year and a half ago Alan was diagnosed with urinary reflux and had to be on antibiotics to keep from getting kidney, bladder, and urinary tract infections. The test for it is called a VCUG, I don't know what that stands for, but my pediatrician told me I didn't really want to know. The test is horrible and I am not going to describe it I will just let you know it includes a catheter, big table, binding his legs together, and a large x-ray machine that comes down on top of him. Oh poor Alan he was so brave. I had such a hard time not crying. Even now just thinking about it I feel so bad for him. I was so glad to have my mom there so I didn't even have to think about Emma and Logan and I could just focus on my poor baby boy. He was so cute and smart for the nurses and doctors before the test. First they have to do an ultrasound. and while we were doing that Alan was laying on a bed playing with a "super computer" and saying things like "E is for Elephant HUH" or "a says ah." They also had this thing on projecting colors on the ceiling and when asked what colors he saw he said "Orange, yellow, red, and green" which were all the colors there were. Then before the VCUG they had someone come in and try to tell him what was was going to be happening during the test. Alan kept happily paying with them and telling them all about dinosaurs.
Once we left Primary Children's we pick Scott up from work and he dropped my mom and I off back at the Gateway for a little mother daughter time. We shopped for hours and had so much fun. We hadn't had a mother daughter shopping trip in years. We got some great stuff, had great conversation, and a lot of laughs. When we were done we headed up to trax and then over to frontrunner so we could take a train back up to Kaysville. We waited for trax for like 10 or 15 mins then when we got over to frontrunner we realized we had missed the 9:25 train by less than 5 mins. SAD. So we had to wait around until the 10:25 train. Even though it was lame that we missed the train we still managed to have a good time waiting around for the train. We were definitely tired and a little silly by the time we got hime. While at the mall I got a call from Alan pediatrician and she said the VCUG came back clean and he no longer has urinary reflux, so we will never have to do that again.

Thursday June 12

The kids, Emma especially, were so excited to have their Grandma from Alaska come for a visit. The whole drive home Emma and Alan kept saying "I love you, Grandma" over and over again. It was so cute. Once we got home with Grandma we had to hurry and get ready for Emma's dance recital. I was very busy and Logan gave Grandma a nice surprise by letting her hold him. Emma did very well and had a lot of fun.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Where do they get this stuff

My kids have been so funny this past week, saying and doing all kinds of funny things. Here's a sample:

On Sunday while the home teachers were over, they asked the kids who Jesus is. Although I know that if they saw a picture they could point him out, actually putting it in words is a little harder. Immediately Alan announced "A Skateboarder." It was pretty funny and less embarrassing then when during last General Conference at Grandpa and Grandma's house Emma said "President Monson has a big head like Frosty the Snowman."

On Monday I found Emma and Alan "on a fly boat (one of their beds) going to Ice cream Pasagna where they eat fruit-snacks and strawberries." Alan has recently started putting a P sound on the front of a lot of words like, Pachine and Panana.

On Tuesday after I got home from giving a cake decorating class I gave Emma and Alan each a little bit of leftover fondant to play with, or eat. Emma always likes to make hers into a baby. Later that day as we were getting in the van, Emma said "Mom I am bringing my baby." I said "oh yeah?" And she said "yeah, he is in my tummy." Meaning she had eaten the baby. What made it all the better was when I later realized on an episode of Go Diego Go, Diego has an iguana eat strawberries so he can carrying the strawberry seeds in his tummy to Abuleo and then "poop them out." (those are Diego's words not mine). I am not sure they should really be teaching kids your stomach is like a pocket. Have you seen the things your kids will carry around in their pockets?

And today while making dinner I came downstairs to check on the kids to find that they had gathered together every large item/toy they could carry (including a baby gate and the cooler) and had fashioned a "pirate ship," which was more like a life raft. Emma was using the towel rod from her play kitchen as a "spotting scope" looking for land, and Alan was looking into the "treasure chest" (cooler) while singing a rowdy pirate song. They are saying "arrr" in the picture.

I know there are other funny/creative things they said and did, but those will have to do for now.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Strawberry Whipped Sensation

So I have made this few times now and everyone always LOVES it. For those of you that I told I would post this weeks ago sorry it took so long, but here it is.

Strawberry Whipped Sensation

4 cups fresh strawberries, divided
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 (8 ounce) carton whipped topping , thawed, divided
8 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Line 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with foil. Mash 2 cups of strawberries in large bowl. Stir in condensed milk, juice and 2 cups of the whipped topping; pour into pan.

Top with combined chopped cookies and butter; press into mixture. Cover.

Freeze at least 6 hours. To serve, invert onto plate. Remove foil. Frost with remaining whipped topping. Top with remaining strawberries, sliced.

Variations:
When I make it I use all the light stuff, like lite Cool Whip, light butter, reduced fat Oreos and everyone still loves it, so you may want to try it and save yourself a few calories. Also I like to add a dot or two of red food coloring to give it a pretty pink color. The other variation I like is chopping the strawberries on top smaller, just so it is easier to cut and stays prettier too.

ENJOY!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Playing with the kids

I took my camera along on our walk to the playground yesterday (mostly because Emma was still wearing her dance stuff and looked so cute). I took Logi down the tube slide for the first time. He thought it was very cool. I could tell be the look on his face. to bad I didn't get a picture of that.
Walking to the park




"oh no I think I'm stuck"
When we first got there I was taking pics of Emma and Alan, I looked over and saw Logan looking at me like hey can I play too?



Emma the monkeyLogan making his Katie faceA perfect blend of girly and rugged I am not sure why Alan is making this funny face. I have cute boys.