A whole week!

I'm usually better about blogging but the kids and Merril were sick and I got an infection from nursing Juliet and felt like I had the flu for a day. (Except for Maxine which has miraculously been immune from virtually every cold Jack has brought home from Nursery.) So here's some pictures that I meant to do earlier but didn't get around to doing.

This is Maxine during the graduation program. They sang songs and said the pledge of allegiance.


This next one is of Merril feeding the kids with chopsticks. Merril likes to take leftover sticky rice, warm it up and crack a raw egg on it. He adds a little soy sauce, stirs it up and eats it for breakfast. (Sorry if we made any stomachs turn out there in the audience. Sorry Grandma Campbell) The kids all thought it was especially yummy and took turns eating his rice. (I like my eggs with a little more flame under 'em but to each his own.)






And lastly, with Jacky being sick, I'd find him asleep around the house. Here's one on the couch. Poor kid. He's feeling better but still coughing. That should resolve itself soon.

Oh, one more thing! To those living in town, I just registered Maxine for some summer craft classes at the new community center through the college's continuing education. They're every Monday in June and July at 10:30 a.m. and last for an hour. They're $1.50 per class for ages K-6th grade. (Maxine loves to make crafts and it's something to do during the summer.) Just thought I'd let you know. Have a great week!

Alvin and the chipmunks...

In a throw back to Beka and her nesting birds, we were looking outside and saw some chipmunks. I saw one about a week ago and figured it was a fluke but today the kids and I watched 3 separate chipmunks play in the back yard. They've made their home in a rocky slope that separates my yard from my neighbors. The rocks have lots of good places for them to hide and make their home. As long as they don't eat my garden, I think we'll get along fine. Do chipmunks eat carrots?















I apologize for the quality of the pictures. I was shooting through a window and had exhausted my optical and digital zoom. They spook easily so I didn't dare go outside.














This one's standing on his hind legs. I think they're cute.















Also, I took some pictures of my garden. It's looking pretty good considering all the wind we've had. I was going to build some sort of wind protection this year but got lazy.














I thinned my carrots but it looks like I need to do it again.














Here's my peas! They're so cute but I always get them in too late. Hopefully I can get a few pods before they totally roast.














I'm usually not so picture heavy. Lastly, Maxine's swim party for preschool was today. There was pizza and water fun. Somehow those things always go together.



















Here's Juliet waiting for some pizza. I picked the cheese off for her. Alvin, Simon, Theodore! Doo, doo...doo, doo, doo, doo!

Call at 4:00 a.m...

When the phone rings at 4 a.m., that's never a good sign. Merril's Dad got up for work this morning (truck driver) and went to the truck yard to get his truck and drive off except it wasn't there. Someone had stolen his truck over the weekend. I was thinking to myself, "Who steals a whole truck??" It might not be as common as general car theft but I'm sure it still happens, I just never thought about it before. His truck is an older Kenworth, navy blue with a rather classic/clean design, squared off with 6" straight pipes. Mark loves his truck. I could hear the sadness over the phone as he said, "It's gone. It's just not here." Mark called the police to file and report and Merril left to go be with his Dad. Ah, but to top it all off, the truck only has liability insurance on it. Merril and his Dad have been making phone calls to all their buddies to keep the eyes open and faxing flyers to fueling stations. What a bummer.

On a lighter note, Maxine was eating an apple yesterday and said that her bottom teeth hurt. I reached in and sure enough, she has a loose bottom tooth. Yikes! That made me feel old. I thought I'd have at least until Kindergarten before I had to worry about that. So I'll probably be taking a lot of pictures of her before it falls out because her toothy grin is going to be not so toothy. So in memoriam, here's a picture of Maxine at 18 months when her teeth were a little newer. I forgot how much hair she had. Doesn't Merril look like a kid?

It's just like riding a bike, it's easy...

Maxine has never been what I'd term "athletic". What she doesn't have in athletic ability, she makes up for in stubbornness. Most of her friends have been riding bikes without their training wheels for a while now and she was always too afraid to take them off. Anna, who's staying with us for the week, wanted to get her bike and ride it yesterday. So we got her bike and she was riding it around and Maxine said she REALLY wanted to take her training wheels off. So I put Juliet and Jack down for a nap and we took off one training wheel. She rode around like that for about 15 minutes and then we took the other one off. She was pretty shaky and crying, so I asked if she wanted to take a rest but she wouldn't give up. She started the adventure in flip flops and a skirt but the outfit evolved into pants, tennis shoes and gloves. So I ran behind her for an hour, trying to help her get the feel for it. Then, Juliet woke up so I had to go inside. Maxine insisted that she wanted to stay out and practice. She practised starting off a million times and went a little farther each time. She fell a couple times but she started to get really good! We came outside and helped her practise some more and then I went inside to start dinner. She kept at it and by the end of the day, she looked like this:

She still needs to learn to brake a little. I can't believe how fast she improved! She went from scared and sobbing on her bike to singing and confident in one afternoon!

In this picture, she told me that she loves to ride her bike more than anything else! The wind was blowing so her hair is in her face a bit. The wind actually helped because it'd push her and help her get started.

When Merril got home, we all played outside until dark.

He got new biking shoes so he was trying them out. Maxine kept yelling at him because she was afraid he'd "crush her bike to little pieces." Looks like a clown bike with Merril riding. Looking at the pictures now, we might have to invest in a bigger bike because that one looks so small. So yeah, I'm very proud of her and her stubborn streak. :)

P.S. Merril told me while reading my blog that I'd misspelled 'practised'. I went to edit my blog and ran spellchecker and it didn't catch it. So I looked it up online and found that 'practised' and 'practiced' are both considered correct spellings. Kind of like 'grey' and 'gray' are both correct. Who knew?

P.P.S. Funny thing. Maxine's friend, Jocelyn, learned to ride her bike without training wheels the exact same day. Her Mom blogged an almost identical post. Click here http://amyhummel.typepad.com to see it.

Poor Anna...

We're watching a friend's daughter for the week and so far it's been just fine. Today she didn't eat very much breakfast and mid-morning she said her tummy didn't feel very good. So we had a little snack and decided to go to the McDonald's PlayPlace because the wind was blowing. So we ordered food and the kids are playing, except for Anna. Then she says, "I think I'm going to throw up." So we run to the bathroom and nothing. So we hang out for another little bit and she says the same thing. We run to the bathroom and still nothing. So we pack it up and head home with me a little wary and watching the rear-view mirror every couple seconds. We get in the door and no more than 2 minutes later, she heads to the toilet and...well...you know. I feel so bad for her because it sucks to be sick and her Mom's not going to be back until late Friday. I just hope she starts to feel better soon. She and the kids are watching cartoons in the living room, the best perk of being sick.

Other than that, I had one of those 'duh' moments. Juliet was pretty fussy over the weekend and I just figured she still wanted to be held all the time from being sick the previous week. So on Monday, she yawned and I saw an extra tooth. Woops! She's exceptionally happy today because her tooth is cut and done now. Had I noticed earlier, I could've at least thrown a little Tylenol her way. Sorry baby.

In happy news, we're starting up work on the basement again! I'm calling painters to get bids this week. (I might still paint myself, depending on how expensive it is.) Then it's finish carpentry, lights & switches, and then carpet/tile. Merril thinks we might have it done in a month! (I'm a little pessimistic (realistic) so I'm thinking 1-3 months.) Yeah! It'd be nice to get Juliet out of the closet. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Can you imagine coming across the plains with a wagon full of kids and being pregnant or having an infant? No, I have much to be thankful for.

What did you get for Mother's Day??

For the first 4 years of our marriage, I never received anything for Mother's Day, simply because Merril stated, "You're not my mother." I was a little bummed but got over it quickly because I couldn't disagree with his logic. A few years ago, Merril asked, "Why don't I get anything for Father's Day??"

I replied, "Well, you didn't get me anything for Mother's Day, so I returned the favor."

"Hmm." he says.

I add, "Mother's Day comes first every year so when you're ready for a Father's Day present, I'll be waiting." *grin*

Since then, I've always received some type of gift for Mother's Day and rather appreciate it. Never jewelry because I think jewelry is just a cope out when a real gift can't be thought of and jewelry commercials are so condescending. (But that's just me.) So I awoke this morning to a new shower caddy (because mine was super old and peeling) and (you'll never guess) a motorcycle stand! Basically they securely hold the motorcycle so it can be cleaned or worked on. I just think it makes the bike look sexy with the back up like that. Rrrrrrrrrrr.

Sweet Jacky...

Today Jacky toddled into my room and I said, "Good morning Jacky."

Jack with an injured look on his face said, "I don't like it when you call me Jacky. My friend Jon calls me Jack Jack and that makes me happy."

Me, "Okay, I won't call you Jacky anymore."

Jack, "That's very nice of you."

So the influence of the bros is already upon my 2 1/2 year-old son. He won't even let his Mommy call him Jacky anymore. Oh well, I knew it was coming sooner or later. Jacky never was a very masculine nickname anyway.


Merril snapped this picture the other day when Juliet wasn't feeling well and had a fever. I laid down with her in an attempt to get her to take a nap but I fell asleep first. She was playing with my hair as I fell asleep and that's why my hair is pulled over my face. She was so beat down from throwing up and was hardly eating but she's back to her usual self now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Oh I almost forgot!! I've been eating a little dairy for the past week and a half with no noticable reaction from Juliet! I've just been having skim milk on my cereal to help but I usually sneak in a little cheese and a few bites of ice cream too! I've had some chocolate too! Wahoo! I got sassy and had a huge peanut butter sandwich and she totally broke out in a huge rash all over her torso. So I'll hold off on the peanut butter and relish in my single scoop of ice cream. It's soooooooooo good. Yeah!

Green with envy...

Ever since Amy and Beka have started smoking the edges of their pictures, I've wanted to do that so bad! My program, PhotoImpression, does lots of stuff but not that. But I downloaded a program and voila! I've just messed with a couple photos so far and I don't think I'll do it to every picture I mess with but I think it's fun! I love this picture of Juliet. Looking at it again, I would've done an oval instead of square. And lightened the opacity. Maybe next time.

She looks so old to me. I'm just waiting for her to say, "Can I have the car keys?"

My Dad turns 60 on Saturday. Seriously, I never thought he'd make it. But I'm excited that he's still alive and able to celebrate his 60th birthday. I can't believe it's Wednesday tomorrow. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo on Monday with margaritas, fajitas, home-made guacamole, and chips and salsa. I like to celebrate little holidays. Anticipation is one of my favorite emotions and it goes with holidays so well. There's always something to look forward to. It was so nice outside tonight that we porched it while the kids played with the neighbors. Nice. Well, I'll stop rambling and head off to the dishes. Cheerio.

First feels good...

As I've mentioned earlier, Merril has been hitting the gym a lot and gotten into really good shape! Merril and his brother, Jared, are training for a marathon in the fall. On Saturday, our ward had a mini triathlon and Merril asked his brother if he wanted to come and race. Jared agreed and the two boys battled it out. Jared has always been faster than Merril, a lot faster. They used to mountain bike race together and Jared has never lost to a younger brother, until now. Merril came in first place overall in the triathlon and beat Jared by 4 minutes. There was a 2-mile run, a

















7-mile bike, and a 200-yard swim. Merril's in the foreground in red shorts and a black shirt. Jared is in the background in a grey sweatshirt and red swim trunks. This was the transition from run to bike. Merril's final time was 45 minutes and 56 seconds. Jared finished in at 49 minutes and 45 seconds, I think.

Here we have the kids with hot chocolate. Always a crowd pleaser! From left to right: Maxine, Stephanie, Elizabeth and Jack.














Here's my sister-in-law, Emily, with her sleeping baby, Caroline. Caroline is like 2 months older than Juliet so they'll be pals.




















Here's Juliet and me but she was refusing to take a nap. She was a tad on the sick side and rather grumpy on Saturday.














And here's the podium after the swim. 1st and 2nd place. Merril's never come in 1st for any race so I was pleased and excited for him. Not bad for 30.