The Beginning of Summer...

Yesterday I went to the kitchen to start making dinner and all three of the kids' straw cups were in the sink. I didn't put them there. What followed was a little proud moment knowing that some things we say to the kids sink in such as, "put your cups in the sink when you are done." For some reason though, "do not steal things from, scratch, bite, or push your siblings" still hasn't quite stuck. Guess we'll keep working on those. I read an article online that said as parents we should never say the phrase, "how many times do I have to tell you?..." because kids need constant repetition and it's just part of the process. Definitely creates some challenging moments though when you really feel like you've said something 100 times.


So the kids are getting super quirky. I don't know if that's just a toddler thing or a personality thing. Zachary is the quirkiest and has developed some OCD tendencies about his toys, where they go, which bib is his, etc... His attention for detail is pretty astounding and we've had to start marking cups, clothing, and toys with the letter 'Z' so he can see the letter and not have any meltdowns about what is or isn't his. Ownership at this age is important so again, I don't know how much is the stage and how much is personality. However, from what I've heard, and I've heard quite a lot, is that Clark was VERY quirky and OCD'ish as a kid so Clark has a deeper understanding and patience for it than I do sometimes. We've had to start locking him in his room at night because he was coming out so much...for no apparent reason, just standing in the hall and crying subsequently waking the other two. So the baby monitor is back in action and he's been told if he needs to go potty, to talk into the monitor and NO CRYING! Sounds cruel when I write it down but it has worked and we hope to break him of his habits soon. Last night there was no noise from anyone until a sweet voice came through on the monitor at 4am and said, "mama, I need to go peepee." So we did our thing and went right back to bed. Perfect.

His favorite songs at night time are Jesus' Baptism and Nephi's Courage (only the second verse about the boat). One funny thing I want to remember about Zachary and hope to catch on film sometime is that he LOVES to chase birds. One time at a park in a matter of 30 seconds, he was a whole soccer field away because he just loves to keep on chasing them. Not sure if he thinks he will catch one or maybe he likes it when they all fly in the air. Either way, it's something he CANNOT resist doing if there are birds on the ground. Definitely keeps the birds out of our backyard!


Caleb's quirkiness is a little different. We've always said he is passionate about everything and he definitely still is. If he's not screaming at the top of his lungs about every hour, it's not a normal day. Sometimes he plays REALLY well with either Leah or Zachary (never all together) and sometimes he is in total loner mode and wants to be left alone. If anyone comes near him, the screaming commences. I was at a playdate recently and he started screaming and the other moms jumped up in panic mode like Caleb was trapped under a piano or something. No. Leah had just messed up the way he had his cars arranged. That's what I'm saying.  And the way his face gets all contorted when he cries it's hard not to smile when he's coming toward you for assistance. His stubborness and need to be independent has been taken to a whole new level lately. No helping, assisting, choosing for, or hurrying up this guy. He's on his own schedule and runs his own life.

Getting him to fold his arms for prayers is a whole huge ordeal every night. Clark starting doing candy bribing for that and what do you know...Caleb has starting being compliant at prayer time. Caleb is having trouble right now differentiating between real life and pretend. He really truly believes he is Penny from the movie Bolt and asks us to say, "Goodnight Penny" (as opposed to his real name) when we leave his room at night. He tells me he is Penny about 50 times a day. We've tried to tell him he is just pretending to be Penny and that his name is Caleb but he's not buying that. He's Penny and that's just the way it is. He's also obsessed with Christmas music. When we ask him what song he wants before bedtime it's always Jingle Bell Rock or Frosty. Then when we're in the car he requests a Christmas CD to listen to. So currently we are listening to Kidz Bop Christmas Album in the car. Whatever.


Leah is quirky in a whole other girly way. She's constantly changing her mind about everything. One night she will die if she can't sleep with five different bears and blankets. The next night, she cries if you try to put those same things in her bed. She suddenly wants nothing to do with them. One day she wants to try to use the potty; the next day she cries if I even suggest it. I tell her sometimes, amidst all the indecision, that she's driving me crazy. So she says to me the other day that I'm driving HER crazy!  Ha! I'm sure I do drive them crazy but they've never told me until now.  She is like a last-trimester-pregnant lady all the time. She loves to nest. She nests everywhere in the house. When she wakes up, the first thing she does is grab some bags, fill them up with random toys, take the bags to a random area of the house, take out and line up everything, then totally desert everything. Only to start up a new nesting area somewhere else.

She loves bags. Not like purses or hand bags but the bags I used to put my piano books in. They are soft and can hold a lot. Some nights she wants all her blankets stuffed into a bag. So weird. She hates playing alone EVER so is usually bothering someone in some way. This is a bummer because it often results in timeout which she HATES with a passion. However, if one of the boys is in the mood for her chasing and pretending, it's pretty fun to watch and can last up to an hour sometimes. After someone prays, she always comments on what a wonderful prayer it was and whenever I put her down for a nap she says she hopes I have a good nap too! When I dropped her off in nursery last week she yelled across the room, "See you next week mama!" Still working on the concept of time. :) Her favorite song at night time is Nephi's courage but she likes all three verses and will sing the chorus a really awkward way....emphasizing the wrong words.  Pretty funny.


All quirkiness aside, their lives are all about just looking for a good time.  I thought going down to the local arboretum would be a good time but I was totally wrong.  It was fun for about 20 minutes but how exciting can looking at flowers really be for these guys.  They wanted to poke things, run where they shouldn't, jump in the fountains, etc...  However, before they all got difficult,

they ran across the bridge...

smiled for some pictures...

showed me how old they were...

gave hugs...

explored the pioneer area...

made funny faces...

and chased birds.

We finally made it clear across the park to our final destination.  The petting zoo. 

Caleb and Leah weren't interested and said they'd rather sit and eat crackers.  Which they did in their awesome shades.  I'm sure onlookers thought they had been abandoned.  Zachary really liked touching the animals and pet a bunny for a while as well as a couple goats.  Sometimes I hate to have certain kids miss out on things they enjoy just because the whole group doesn't want to participate.  We may have to start breaking off more and more as they develop hobbies and interests that will likely be completely different.

After a horrible walk back to the car, we made it home and I said I would not go back until they were much older or I was prepared for them to play in the water areas.  Not the best outing we've had but I suppose they all can't be perfect.

Clark was gone to California for a week at the end of May.  It just so happened that we received a TON of rain that week and our grass grew to record heights.  It was so long.  The boys were LOVING pushing their trucks in it, hiding in it, and laying in it. Too bad we couldn't keep it long.  Long grass attracts ants, chiggers, and a bunch of other unwelcome bugs.  They enjoyed it while it lasted though.

Clark encouraged me to join a local gym so that I could go enjoy some classes while the kids were taken care of in the Kids Club.  It's been great so far and we've even signed the kids up for swim lessons as a bonus from my joining.  They get four, 30-minute lessons and had their first one last week. They basically stayed in the shallow area, learned to blow bubbles, kick their legs, scoop up water, and lay on their backs.  They all hated being on their backs and just wanted to play with the water rings so I felt bad for the teacher who was having difficulty controlling them all.  I stepped in a tried to help with what she was doing and hoped that she wasn't secretly thinking I was being totally overbearing.  Next week they'll be in the deep water so I'm not sure how it's going to go.  Our expectations for these lessons are not for them to become awesome swimmers right away.  We basically just want them feeling more comfortable in water, learning how to move their bodies, and being ok with getting water on their heads and swimsuits.  Surprisingly this has been an issue in the past.  It was pretty sweet though to see them all lined up listening to their teacher.

Clark's trip to California was fun and relaxing for him.  He spent some time at his folks house and also up at a friend's cabin near Lake Tahoe.  Of course weekends like that always go so fast and are jam packed with activities but he said it was really good to get away and not have any work obligations to attend to.  While up at his friend's cabin, they went for a 'run tour' as he called it.  They had no idea where they were going but set off to see what they could see, exercising along the way.  They came across some incredible trees and he says the pictures don't do them justice.  Apparently they were HUGE!  After three hours of running and exploring, they found a place to eat and had some well-deserved juicy burgers.

With this trip piggy-backing his Brazil trip, he was GREATLY missed at home by all of us.  It's always a welcome relief, for many reasons, to see him come through that back door.  The kids didn't have anything to complain about especially after he pulled out his old pog collection, old He-Man toys, and a Polly Pocket from Gram to play with.  They have LOVED all that stuff.  Who knew Pogs could be such a cool thing for two-year-olds.

In preparation for Father's Day, we met up with some friends and did a special craft for their Dad's.  I even brought the popcorn maker so that we could make some after crafting.  The kids LOVED it.  Popcorn really is pretty fascinating AND delicious.  Perfect combo.   Wish I had a picture of all their excitement and delight.

Lastly, Clark has recently recovered his long board from a friend and was dying to take the kids out.  He took them one by one down the street and they could not have been more excited to do this with him.  They could hardly sit still while waiting for the next ride.  However, in my neck of the woods we rode our skateboards a little different.  Everyone piled on and we leaned and swerved together as we rode down the sidewalk.  Always made for a good time so I set the kids up.  Although Clark was totally skeptical of my approach, they all loved cruisin' down the sidewalk together.

Summer is in full swing around here so we'll be looking for ways to stay cool while also preparing for our big family reunion next month.  Should be an quite an adventure flying with these three crazies. Not any crazier than going to the grocery store I suppose.  :)

As Zachary would say, "Bye!  Love you!  See you soon!"