Running with the Big Dogs

Jared's entire personality is formed by being the
"second born". He thinks he is a 5 year old, but in a three year old body. He is stuck to Nathan like glue- like a little shadow. Everything Nathan can do, he can do and...he can do better :)
One of the activities at the Children's Museum
is an obstacle course that ends with two poles- one pink and one orange. The pink one is easier to get down, it is closer to the edge and easier to grab. The orange one is just a straight pole and is alittle farther away from the edge.

Cautious

Fearless

Don't Tell Annie...

what we have been doing with the boys. This first picture is Jared eating ice cream after only eating chips and ketchup for dinner. It was such a nice evening that we decided to "eat out" for dinner-- outside that is. We had a picnic, of hot dogs, chips, salsa and strawberries, out on the deck. Nathan loved it all, but Jared pretty much only ate chips and ketchup. But we knew we were going to really be in trouble, when the boys were playing in the grass, and Nathan said, "Woo hoo, we are playing outside on Sunday!" They also got to play with little Lego cars all during sacrament meeting and stay up late last night watching a basketball game. We'll have to see what kind of trouble we can get into tomorrow!

I have a new memory game called 2by2- it is animal picture cards. The boys were amazing- Jared has a very long attention span for a three year old and loves games and puzzles. Nathan beat us every time- we decided that the only person he should play games with is Alex !

All I can say about the next picture- is yep, he looks guilty of something! If nothing else, he is guilty of sitting ON my coffee table. It was rather dangerous to be a student in our temple prep class this afternoon- seems like we had at least one problem with a yellow plastic ball being thrown from the porch across the living room :) Usually I help Ron with the lesson, but today I had other things (and boys) to chase around.

Ron's next idea was for us to play hide and seek- here is how the boys hide. They are not very good seekers either- neither one of them like looking in dark rooms, closets, or bath rooms, knowing the Ron might be hiding in there. I told Ron and the boys that I would play if I could hide and nobody finds me :) They also hid in this same spot every time.

These last two pictures, Ron is teaching the boys about the "straight edge pieces" of a puzzle- to start by putting together the edges and then filling in the middle. Of course Nathan caught on right away- and it really was amazing how well Jared caught on for a three year old. And yep, they are still sitting ON the table.

Those Blooming Weeds

When I went out walking this morning, I saw a tree in someones yard that was surrounded by some beautiful ground cover, with cute purple flowers. At a closer look, I realized that it was actually bind weed. Then I started thinking about the world in which we live where sometimes the weeds are just as appealing as the real plants. My next thought was about the fact that the weeds seem to grow easily with out much effort, but the real plants require lots of work.

It reminds me of the scripture about the wheat and tares growing together. The battle between good and evil is very subtle. It's easy to be tricked and not recognize the difference between the wheat and the tares, when they appear to be the same. Or when the weeds appear to be just as beautiful as the real plants. By the way, I had to hunt for this weed in our yard- Ron works very hard to keep them out.

GPS

When I started the store and I have all of the store book keeping to do- we decided that Ron would have to take care of all of the home book keeping. For many years that was my job and he had very little idea about the checking account and the bills, now I have no clue about the home checking account and the bills. Plus he got double duty with this deal because he also helps me with the store book keeping. Anyway... the reason I bring all of this up is Ron has his own GPS system on me. He can sit at home, looking at the computer and know exactly where I am by the charges on the debit card showing up in the checking account :) Yep, she's at Walmart, nope, she's at Walgreens, oh, there she goes to Randalls...

I have asked Ron to just give me a cash allowance, twice a month. That was working fine for a while, but lately I have been having trouble staying in my budget. Now when my cash runs out, I have to resort to my (GPS) debit card. One of my recent budget breakers was I have decided to start a new hobby- making my own jewelry. To make a long story short, I have trouble buying jewelry that fits and that I like. It seems like I can't ever find exactly the right color or size. So when Hobby Lobby put all of the beads, wire, jump rings, stretch magic etc. on sale, I decided that would be a good time to start. Ron would say that he can't afford to save that much money :) I haven't been able to start yet, but I have my pile of stuff. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm sure that Karen is thinking, "It's about time".

It's Monday

Remember, I was taking the weekend off and then I would be responsible again on Monday. Well it's Monday and I've got a few things on my list for today. I guess I need to go out to the store and see how much water came in the back door on Saturday evening. :(
Then I need to clean up the two extra bedrooms so that Nathan and Jared can stay with us next weekend. :)
We had a fun weekend- thanks S&A for letting us hang around with you. I took my camera with me thinking I would take lots of pictures, so I could blog about the various activities, but instead I only took one picture. At least the girls can't complain about me taking pictures of decorations and "non people" stuff. (They hate it when I do that :)
By the way- it's fun to see that almost every one updated the blogs in the past few days-
stayin connected!

Go Go Go Stop

Some times life is just go, go, go. Things to do, work to be done, day after day, can't stop. The most important things get done, the other things keep piling up on the "I'll get to that later" list. Seems like for almost a year, my life has been a huge "to do list". Just about the time one event would be finished another was just starting. Go, go, go... then all of a sudden the weddings are all done, the prom season is winding down, the taxes have all been sent in, and not an over whelming amount of work at the store right now....stop. A3 will relate to this- what do I do now? I have been going in high gear so long, I'm not sure what to do now. The obvious answer is to tackle the "I'll get to it later" list, but some how the motivation just is not there. Usually what happens when I get to this point is, I sit...for the first time in a long time. Which lets me notice all of the dust that has been collecting while I was busy doing other things. So I start cleaning, it's one of those mindless jobs that lets you work, but think about other things. While I'm cleaning, I'll try to prioritize that "get to it later list". Soon...I'll start on that... but first I'll stop and take a weekend off. Just hop in the car with hubby- eat out, go to a movie, celebrate Aud's "go go go" job, and get someone else to take care of all of our Sunday responsibilities. I'll go back to being responsible again on Monday, until then I'm dusting...

Custom Made...

And you thought The Silver Hanger only did custom made jackets. Whenever I get a spare minute, I also do taggy blankets. Shyla and Jane- I know you are out there, do you want to put in a color request? Otherwise, I will just have to pick a color myself and send it :) Or, anyone else want one? Just send your request. They are a small square, fleece blanket, 18" by 18". It makes a great lap pad, floor pad, car seat or stroller toy, chair cover, security blanket etc. The one in the picture is Ashley's.