Last night @ school was the Science Fair project awards and Einstein chior. Erin's teacher recognized the participants of the egg drop, math thing and science fair projects. It was a neat little program. After the awards, the choir sang some silly einstien songs.
...during the awards
My camera died, so I didn't get any pictures of them actually singing and moving around. blasted!!
Penny's new thing is to wear pants with pockets in them. She is loving sticking her hands in them and just walking around. Yesterday morning, she brought me a pair of pants, to change into, just because they had pockets.
This is Penny and Blaklee watching baby signing time. Here they are practicing the sign for sock.
This is the sign for water...
At the beginning of the dvd, there is a song about 'baby signing time' and Penny is following the signs and I caught her signing time.
Here Penny is signing shoes and Blaklee is signing socks.
hanging out @ barefoot landing... (Libby's in the teal shirt in the back...)
Here Penny is signing car to Clyde.
Grammy and Papa sent home this lovely matchbox toy box, where you can change a tire. It's a cool toy. Jacob has has lots of fun playing with it...he even slept with it last night.
Penny fell twice and scraped her knees this weekend. She came home limping last night. It was just pitiful. I gave her a bath and she cried when the warm water hit her knees. Once she was outta the tub, then I sprayed some dermoplast on it to kill the germs and to numb it up a bit. Ouch!!
While Clyde and the girls were off to Myrtle Beach for Daddy/ Daughter weekend, the boys and I went to Pop Pop and Bubbie's farm. After we kissed the girls and Daddy good bye, the boys and I lent a hand anything and everything that they needed help with. Pop Pop took each of the boys on a tractor ride up and down the driveway, which is long btw. We helped make dinner and had a fun night with them. We were all asleep by 9:30 and so it came to no surprise that we were all up @ 6:30. We took Uno with us, so that we didn't have to have her cooped up inside our house, in her crate. She was right on schedule with her wake up call..."hey- I have to pee" bark. We ate breakfast with Bubbie and Pop Pop, then Pop Pop took the boys to Weston's...a local seed shop. He wanted to get a few more seeds for their garden. He then took the boys to Wal-Mart and got them a yoohoo and some gushers. They came back all smiles after spending a few hours with Pop Pop. Once the fellas got back, we all went outside to plant some seeds in the garden. Their tomatoes are getting tall and hence needed some support. Dad and I carried part of a wired fence and placed it between the rows of tomatoes. Then he took some wooded steaks, hammered them into the ground to support the fence. Then Mom, Josh, and I used the twine left over from the bails of hay and tied the steaks to the fence. We put in 2 fence wires to support the tomatoes. Then Josh and I planted some onions. Josh had a blast poking holes into the dirt and putting the onions in. We also helped plant some watermelon & cantaloupe. The cute thing about the watermelon was the way that it was written on the bag..."wartermelon." Southerners... :) While we went planting and moving the containers about, Dad started to cut back some weeds and saw a copperhead snake. It was a bit of a baby, but dangerous nonetheless. He killed it with the sharp ho that he was using. He a few minutes later had something in his hand, which I thought was the dead snake, so when we went to fake toss it at me, I jumped back quite abit...it turns out that it was an ole horny toad. He got a good chuckle out of that. har har... After the planting was done, then we walked around the beds and gave them some yummy fertilizer and Mom gave them a good soaking of water. Dad had planted some grass and once it was mowed, the clippings needed to be raked up, so that they wouldn't kill the grass underneath it. I grabbed a rake and began to rake the back part of their garden. Mom and I raked it and when we were nearly done, she moved to a new spot behind the green house to rake it and saw another copperhead snake. I ran and got her the ho and she killed it, but once she had killed the one and threw it's corpse over the fence, we noticed that she had actually killed two of them because their was another dead snake body. She said that she kept seeing the tail of one and kept chopping at it, but it ended up to be two. spooky. While we were working on raking the grass, Dad started tilling up another part of their garden. The boys were running around jumping from tractor to tractor, pretending to drive and then running in and out of the barn to play with the horses. They had a blast! While Mom and I were making lunch, Dad and his tractor, went to the back of the barn, loading it up with horse manure and put it in the new garden spot. We watched him go back and forth 4 times or so. After lunch, Mom and I went to the new spot and spread the manure over it. Let me just say that it was ripe and quite stinky. Ahh... farm life! I am so grateful for running water and soap. Once we were cleaned up, we fed the horses again for their evening meal. My older brother, Doc, came to deliver some wood of a tree that he had cut down and asked if the boys could go home with him for a bit. They were thrilled to go play with Jackson. Once it had been over an hour, I loaded up the car, kissed Mom and Dad and headed to Doc's house to get the boys. We had so much fun with Bubbie and Pop Pop! Anyway, when I arrived @ Doc and Tara's house, I found the boys running wild through their back yard and Jacob along with Jackson were soaking wet. Dad had given my boys a squirt gun earlier in the day and they had fun squirting each of us. Jacob had squirted Bubbie while she was watering the garden and she hosed him down completely, to his joy! So, when he was wet all over again, it was just funny. It was really nice to see Doc and Tara along with their babies. I told Josh and Jacob that it was time to head home and they were very angry with me that we weren't going back to Bubbie and Pop Pop's house to spend the night again. I hadn't packed us any church clothes, so had we spent the night, we would have been a bit rushed for this morning to get ready for church. They didn't understand that and again were very upset with me. We made it back into our neck of the woods all fine and the boys crashed. They even slept in this morning. That is a first for them. Jacob was ok when we got to church, but once Primary rolled around he was miserable. He had begun to run a fever and was very upset saying that he was sick. So, in fear that it could be something a bit more communicable, we left church early today. Once the ibuprofen kicked in, he was fine. We came home to the wonderful smell of the pot roast that I had crock-potted before we left for church. I love the traditions that we have begun with our children. Rock on Father / Daughter weekend, along with a weekend @ Bubbie and Pop Pop's for the boys and I. What an awesome...planting, manure spreading, snake killing, horny toad catching weekend!! I love my family!!
***Health Update*****
So, after Jacob needing to leave church early, and then again waking up with a fever on Monday morning, I made an appointment to take him to see his dr. We saw the PA and Jacob has strept throat and Penny, who has had nappy green snot for a long time, has a sinus infection. :(
Since our move, Jacob has been in friend withdrawl. He keeps asking if he can go to so & so's house and when they could come and play here. Jacob is surrounded by girls all day long, & as such, he needed a testosterone filled playdate. We decided that we would hold a boys day, where a few of his friends from primary could come and play. We had hoped to set up our bouncy thing, that is big enough for @ least 4 boys to jump in, and for the boys to be able to drive the escalade, but since it had rained for the past few days, the ground is just too muddy to play outside. I wanted them to be able to spend the majority of the time outside, but it didn't happen. We put Uno outside for the morning, so that the boys could have free reign over the house, without the fear of a dog. Clyde and Josh even participated in the boys day, taking the day off from work & school. It was nice to have extra hands. Clyde started the Wii and the boys took turns playing tennis, baseball, boxing, and golf. Penny has been taking early naps, so when 10:30 rolled around, she was a wet blanket on the boys day. Clyde took her upstairs to put her down for a nap, and then he didn't return, so I knew that he had fallen asleep. Michelle A. stayed and helped out too. I thought that they boy's day was a nice success!
tennis...
L and J playing more tennis...
here K is learning that Obi Wan Kenobi kills General Grievous...
T wanted to play with cars and other toys...
It wouldn't be a play date without some Star Wars action...
We belong to the Family Support Network...it is an organization for families, with children, with special needs. Last night the Family Support Network had a fun nite for the children and their families @ the Children's Museum down town. We had alot of fun, as you'll see in the following posts. This was taken before all the fun began inside!
She loved pushing this little cart! I think it is worth the drive across town to Lowe's supermarket so that she could push one of these in a real shop. Ankles beware!!
Libby threw on an apron and checked Penny out.
Peaches or apples??
This is right before we left. I told Clyde that he just had to see her in the supermarket. We split up, so that the girls could do their thing and the boys could do theirs. This was a way fun night! Penny was so cute in the museum. She was signing up a storm, words that I didn't know that she had picked up...words/ signs...airplane, train, apple were just a few. All the Wardlings were a delight to watch, but Penny was so animated and so thrilled to be in the museum. It was funny to watch her run around...We'll have to go back soon!
Josh love the rock climbing wall. He was a little acrobat while using the handles to move about the rock climbing wall.
This was way fun to watch the bubbles in this section of the museum. Erin and Libby had a fun time making these BIG bubbles.
This is a rubbing station, where rubbings could be made from these iron templates. Jacob had fun, until the bubbles caught his eye and then he was off.
Libby is still smiles after playing for quite awhile in the museum.
Here performers Josh and Jacob were very happy to flash their happy faces, while preparing for their next performance on stage!
Erin and Jacob, before his performance, set the lighting on stage.For the past few days we have had one major issue in our house. Well, besides needing a plumber to come out and finding that we need a valve that is expensive. The issue has been screaming. The non-stop screaming from the 3 little ones in our house is overwhelming this week. If one of them looks at the other one of them, then it is screaming. As I am writing this Jacob screamed the loudest scream, because Penny pulled his hair. Now, don't get me wrong, Penny did something that she should not have done, but is the blood curdling screaming necessary?? Yesterday Erin stayed after school to work on her science fair project. The Wardlings + 1 and I went to Wal-Mart to pick up laundry detergent. Meanwhile, a few of them had to pee. Penny was screaming and crying, while signing potty to me...she is still in diapers, so I am assuming that it is time to officially potty train her...anyway, she sits on the potty, Blaklee sits on the potty, so on and so forth. Then it happened and I just have to say that I cracked. Blaklee was washing her hands and in one of the 2 sinks. Penny goes up to wash her hands in the same sink and Blaklee starts in with the screaming. Penny is also beginning her scream. I ask her to be quiet and the screaming only gets louder. Then I tell her to be quiet and again the screaming goes up. I grabbed a handful of cold water and splashed her with it and the pure shock of the cold water got her to be quiet. She then kinda calms down but begins to cry because her shirt is wet. Penny got splashed too, btw. We left the store and headed to get Erin. We get Erin and the screaming starts up again on the way home. It rose so much that I even pulled over with a slight tap of the breaks to jostle them a bit to get their attention. Why does there have to be so much toddler screaming??
When I dropped Blaklee off yesterday I told her Mom what I had done. Blaklee has a big vocabulary, so I know that it would come out. Blaklee's mom said that her dad had done the same thing not a few days ago, so I didn't feel bad that I had done it. After having the screaming noise of children for the past 11 years, along with having our 2 nieces this past year, and let me say they screamed ALOT, I can just feel my blood pressure go up each time I hear any of my children's voices being raised. I now have to ask people to repeat themselves because I think that I have physically lost hearing due to the noise. I think myself to be a firm mother, so it isn't as if I allow them to scream without some type of time out or punishment...but it is the noise until I can get to them. Why all the screaming??
Betsy Ross, by Erin
Erin's group
with a friend from church
the grand finale...Saturday morning, Erin and Libby had a Stake activity girls, activity @ the Colfax Ward building, so we decided that we would go to the farmers market while waiting to pick them back up again. When we arrived it was drizzling, so we weren't too hopeful for a great farmer's market experience. However, it did stop raining long enough for us to walk around and pick up the fresh fruits and veggies that we wanted. I miss going to the farmer's market. It reminded me of Asheville. We got fresh apples, pears, celery, spinach, an avocado, coos coos, lilies to plant, & some yummy homemade wheat bread. It was a fun time. Jacob was so excited about eating a pear, that as soon as I paid for them, and washed it off, it was in his mouth! He loves pears because of Bubbie. Bubbie introduced pears to him and he loves them, but he loves Bubbie more. He asked us on Easter Sunday if Bubbie could just have him. We could visit him @ Bubbies house. Silly Jedi Jacob!!
After the Farmer's market, we still had a smidgen of time. so we took the 3 young Wardlings to Costco and got our usual grocery list. Since we were over on that side of town and oh so close to AC Moore, I dropped in. They for #1 had the knitting needles that I needed and b) they had the alpaca yarn ON SALE!!! Yeah for me! I used the gift certificate that I had gotten for my birthday from Audra to boot! Today, after picking up my children from school, I will be returning the bamboo knitting needles I bought last week to Michael's and will be continuing the Michael's ban.
This past week has been a bad hair week for our Penny. Even though we are always putting either a barrett in her hair or some type of rubber band, to hold back her bangs, we have had no luck in her allowing them to stay. Within an hour, the rubber band would be pulled out and her hair would look like this:
So, after struggling with it, we decided to give her bangs...
Here Penny is before church yesterday morning, showing off her new hair cut.
Today I had a few errands to run after dropping the kids off @ school. We had a bit of a late start this morning, but we made it to school with 8 minutes to spare. I had to go check the mail @ our old place, and then I wanted to go to Michael's. My errands were because I wanted to go, not out of necessity. Anyway, I have been working on a sweater for Penny lately. It has taken me awhile, but I did just move. Anyway, somewhere in the move, I lost 1 of my double pointed knitting needles, and I need 4 to finish Penny's left sleeve. After searching for the needle to no luck, I decided it was worth the $5 to get another package of 4 needles. Michaels doesn't open until 9am, so I had about an hour to kill. Thankfully Target, opens at 8am, so Jacob, Penny, and I went there and cruised for an hour. After the hour was up, we went over to Michaels to get my needles. Here is my recent, ongoing issue with Michael's....they never have the size needle or the brand of needle that I need for a project. Today was no different. They didn't have the size 8 dpn's in Susan Bates, but in the bamboo, which is nearly double the price. I need the needles to finish this sweater, and we aren't going to Costco this weekend, so I can't justify driving across town, with gas being $3.28 per gallon, to get the needles from AC Moore. (AC Moore is beside Costco...) When I went up to the counter to pay, the sales gal asked me if I found everything ok, and I told her my issue. I think it was a bit much @ 9:20 in the morning for the gal to hear. Nonetheless, I think that I am forthwith banning Michaels for my crafty supplies, until the alpaca yarn goes back on sale that is.... I am going to continue ordering the right size knitting needles from Amazon.com, saving myself the stress and the gas, (since I have to pay for shipping) and get what I really want, even if I have to wait a week for them.
On a separate note, I was able to see Mary and her girls today, so that made my day brighter. They came over and looked at the new house, boxes and all! Hopefully, one day soon, I will have everything organized and out of these blasted boxes...
*****MICHAELS UPDATE 4-16-08 *********
I was really bothered by Michaels so, I gave the company a call. They then turned my info into the store manager and he, Andrew, called yesterday to talk about my complaint. I told him exactly my complaint and he was obviously taking notes. He said that he was going to check out the situation, to see if the knitting needles were even something that they carried. I told him that they had 3 walls of yarn and only a small section of the supplies needed to knit or crochet that yarn. I also told him that AC Moore had a bigger selection and even though they didn't have every needle size, I am able to find what I am needing a good 85% of the time. After we hung up, he called back about 30 minutes later, saying that I was quite accurate in my description of the knitting needle / supply wall. He was going to turn it over to his DM, to see if they can start ordering more supplies to be more competitive. Whoopie. However, this is why I am continuing my Michael's ban...they did nothing to get me back into the store...not a sorry, here have a $10 gift certificate to keep me coming back. (Macy's sent me a $25 gift certificate after a really bad shopping experience. They are on the ban list as well. That is another story.) There wasn't a guarantee of anything happening to resolve my issue until about a year from now he said. I at least got the ball going, but in the mean time, I will be letting amazon.com or AC Moore supply the supplies that I need. AC Moore honors Michael's coupons and sales so, minus the gas of going a bit farther, it'll all work out. Thankfully Costco is close, so I do have a reason to go over there a few times each month.
Due to all the recent rain, our lawn has taken over. I like to think that it is producing oxygen. We bought a new mower, before we even moved into the house. We had to get a push mower, because of the hills in our yard. This is my handy man putting the mower together. At one point the holes didn't line up, to put the screws in. Clyde used the hammer to knock them into place. While swinging the hammer, he was talking to Jacob, missed the mower, & hit his knee. Poor guy! He has the biggest legs ever, so a direct blow to the knee was quite painful. He did continue onto mow the lawn. What a trooper!
See how high the grass was?? Our first strip of grass cut. I know this must be silly to those of you who have had lawns to mow for a long time, but this is our first, so it is awesome to us!
Jacob was so eager to help mow, that he was wearing Josh's shoes. He lost it during his session of helping out.
We got Jacob's shoes on Jacob and so he was ready to help once more.
Josh's turn to help Clyde in the back yard. Part of it was still muddy after all the rain.
Jacob climbing his widdle heart out...
Josh being goofy. He got new glasses this week. He stepped on his other pair and thankfully we had a warranty on them. However, his old frames were discontinued, so we had to choose another pair. I like these. More importantly, Josh likes them.
Our pretty Libby. Isn't she just beautiful?!!
Penny loves the slide. Yes, she is in her PJ's. This is happening quite often these days. The night of the Powder Puff game @ SWRMS, Penny didn't sleep well @ all. We all get up around 6am, and 6 am came way too early for Penny. When we came home yesterday from taking the big Wardlings to school, she played for a little over an hour, but was exhausted by 10am. I laid her down @ 10 and she slept until 1:20pm. By the time, she was up and not cranky & thus didn't need to be held anymore, it was time to get the big Wardlings from school. To be honest, I had forgotten about Smart Club, so I wasn't planning on getting them out of the van. Oh well...to be 2!
This is a cool tunnel @ the park, leading to the big slide. Moments before, Penny & Blaklee had their heads through the holes, beside Jacob. They moved and couldn't be convinced to put their faces back through the holes for a picture. Maybe next time.
