No Words

To my sweet, kind, smart, generous, hilarious, fun and creative boy. I can't put into words how much I love you. Every day I love you more and more and just want to freeze time. You keep getting better and better.

I am so proud of how generous you are with others how good you are with sharing, I can't believe it sometimes. You are normally the one who gives up what you have for another, though it can be very hard for you at times, especially when Mr. Max insists on taking everything you have. You are so patient with him. And even with other kids when they want to play with your toys you usually give whatever it is up.

Almost every day you come to me wanting to do 'make a craft'. I'm pretty sure you get that from me. I think you could spend hours surrounded with glue, pipe cleaners, google eyes and paint. And if you can recycle something while crafting even better! It's so sweet. I foresee some great craft days in the future.

And I don't know how it happened but you have become SOOOO helpful when cleaning the house and doing other chores! You were already pretty good at it but would drag your feet sometimes and not do such a great job. Now I tell you to clean the living room and you do it!!! Everything's off the floor and for the most part in their rightful place. And you hardly ever complain when I ask you to do something. You are seriously the most helpful boy I've ever met.
Lately it seems like you've been soaking up information like a sponge! Several times a day you totally amaze me with all the big words you not only know but know how to use correctly. Hypothesis? What 3 year old knows how to use that?!?. Habitat, omnivore, herbivore, therapod....to name a few. Genius.

One of your favorite things lately is to learn about bugs, you love them. We went to the library today and about half the books we got were bug related. You've also been fascinated with bug/creature/animal documentaries on the Science, Smithsonian channel or Animal Planet, basically anything if it has to anything to do with 'creatures'. I'm pretty sure you can name more bugs than I can.

You are so inquisitive, wanting to know everything about everything. Most of the day is spent talking to me, asking questions about this or that and why things are the way they are. It is wonderful to see how your mind works. I love seeing life through your eyes.

Every day I get dozens of hugs and kisses from you (no exaggeration there) and many "I love you Princess Tendra"s scattered in random moments throughout the day. You love to snuggle with me and would sit on my lap reading books for hours if I let you. You melt my heart on an almost hourly basis.

We are best friends and I can't wait for all our fun adventures ahead of us!

Man Day 2011

It was a good Father's Day round' here (at least I think so!) A couple days before I let the boys go crazy with painting a poster for dad. They loved it.
Morning of "we" made breakfast in bed before church and remembering what happened Mother's Day with the boys wanting to join, had plates for all three boys ready to go.
When we were at the store looking for cards Levi knew instantly what one dad 'needed'. Guesses? It was a superhero music card. They both loved it, in fact Max carried it around opening and closing it for quite a while before he let me put it in the envelope for good.
And for the present, I asked Levi what he wanted to get dad. After a couple seconds of thinking he said "A transformer!" I laughed and told him to think hard about what dad would like and he said "A transformer, I broke his old one." Awwww! Jason had a transformer from when he was a kid that the boys had been playing with till it broke. So the seemingly selfish gift actuaully is pretty thoughtful.

Despite the fact the tranformer was for dad, he talked about it at least once a day till father's day, wanting to play with it, saying "Dad is a good sharer".
Now it is sitting in our bedroom on the dresser and is 'daddy's toy' though I'm pretty sure Levi has played with it a lot more than his dad, unless Jason pulls it out and plays with it when I'm not looking.
Then later in the evening we had some buffalo steaks on Jason's big Father's Day gift, a grill fit for the manliest man I know. We've already used it numerous times and hope to use it a lot this summer!

Hilarious Levi

Levi and Max were having differing opinions about something to which Levi says "I'm not going to be your friend anymore!" So I pull him aside to talk to him about how that's not very nice to which he said "But Elmo said he wasn't Zoe's friend anymore". FYI this is referring to "Elmo in Grouchland" a favorite around here. I don't know if he was getting the whole concept, Elmo was not being nice, it was a bad example not a good one.


While we were eating dinner.
Levi: "When you eat it goes in your nose (I think he was referring to smell), in your mouth, then belly and out your butt!"


"This is the best ______ ever!" he says this about just about everything.


"I have a climbing emergency here" when talking about the mountain of pillows and blankets he likes to climb.


"Abra-kadabra" he'd been perfecting his magic skills and putting things in hats then pulling them out. We might just have a magician on our hands.


After eating green beans, chili and cornbread (EVERYTHING on his plate, which was pretty amazing) said "I'm stuffed like a turkey"

Levi: Mom, do bugs drink?
Me: They do. All animals need water.
Levi: Do they pee?
Me: Yes but it's usually it's just a little bit because they're so small.
Levi: I think my hypothesis was wrong. I need a new hypothesis.


(Later we asked him what a hypothesis was "It's an idea you can test". My kids a genius. I think he gets it from me.)


New vocabulary words (his choice, not mine): therapod, arachnid, omnivore, herbivore, carnivore. Thank you Dinosaur Train!


"I wish I was a llama" , "I wish I was a superhero", "I wish I was a ninja turtle". I heard him quietly saying this to himself one day. He's so funny.


When he was supposed to be on his way to bed he runs up to Nesie, throws his arms around her and says, "I think you need to read me this story because you are the best reader ever!" He TOTALLY has grandma wrapped around his little finger.


Max was having one of his moments during snack time where he threw his bowl of cut up oranges all over the floor. I did what supernanny would have me do, ask him to pick them up and when he said no, put him in time out. Then I brought him over to do it for the second time, "NO!" another time out. Again asked him to pick them up, and I suppose he wised up because he actually did. Levi witnessed the whole thing and when he finally picked them up said, "Max, now you're being responsible."

Cruisin'

Last weekend we went to Crusin' Sherwood, a car show that I heard was kid friendly. I thought it would be fun for the boys, who love themselves a good automobile.

Unfortunately Jason had to got to work so Aunt Rose decided she wanted to hang with us. I'm sure glad I had her, I might have gone insane otherwise.

The boys loved the car the got to go in (at least Max did for a whole 5 seconds before he freaked) it was really cute and had a super obnoxious horn so you know they were all over that.
For some reason this is one of my favorite pics. Max and Levi really liked the cars but there were SO many that by the end of it all they weren't really impressed. Max is doing his best to hold onto his balloon, Levi had let his go. Hilariously, he asked if Heavenly Father would have fun playing with it.
The model trains were a huge hit. I bet if we came to look at them for an hour or so they would have been just fine with it.

We got some snacks and a snow cone or two. I'm pretty sure the bag of kettle corn was gone in less than ten minutes and the boys hardly even touched it. It's my kryptonite.

Apparently Aunt Rose's snow cone was better than mine because they were all over her. I was fine with that though.
We even found some ants they could stare at for a bit.

Announcement

No, not pregnant, so don't ask!

But I thought I'd publicly announce today, on Father's Day, that I have the best husband, father of my children, ever. He's just the best and I can't get over it. He puts up with a lot.

Every day he gets up and ready for work before any of us even flutters an eye, goes off to work for 8 hours, then comes home and takes care of us. When he gets home he usually spends time playing with the boys while I'm trying to get my sanity back, sometimes even letting me get in a little bit of a nap. Then he works on household stuff, mowing the lawn, cleaning, cooking, errands (often with a boy or two in tow) while I get work done or make dinner. He takes such good care of us and completely spoils me.

To my boys he is known as "King Daddy", Papito, Mr. Fix-it of all broken objects, a living breathing jungle gym, the strongest man alive, shoulders to sit on, and according to Levi "a superhero dad".

To me he is my best friend, my cheerleader, my personal GPS in all my directionally challenging moments, a sound board for my crazy ideas, a personal engineer to help make any idea I come up with a reality, my new gym buddy, the best hugger in the world, my personal pedicurist (spoiled, I know), and my absolute perfect match.

Jason, I will forever be grateful you asked me to marry you. You are the most wonderful husband ever and the best dad ever. We're so lucky to have you!

Helvatia 10k

Ever think to yourself "I can't do that?" yeah, I do that with a lot of things. When my sis first proposed us doing a 10k a while back I was not so thrilled with the idea (but at least it wasn't the Hood to Coast which she's been trying to get me to do for years). But then I started running for longer and longer distances and thought, why not?

I did about a million times better than I thought I would, especially after the 5k I did the week before which was pretty much torture for me without my music and in the crazy heat. Luckily it was overcast and my ipod was charged and ready to go. I even had a fantastic friend Danielle of mine doing the half marathon (I have no idea how anyone runs for THAT long without dying. She did great!)
Scarlett did an amazing jobs as well and totally smoked me!
I was overall happy with how it went. I finished 6 minutes faster than I had done the week before, didn't stop once, and wasn't even last!

My pace was pretty steady and I even passed a bunch of people and stayed past them. I know it might sound bad but I LOVED passing people, a number of who were literally half my size.
Though I was exhausted by the end, I was SOOOO happy to have accomplished my goal. I'm pretty sure I'm doing this again.

All Wrapped Up

While we had the Carsten's over for a BBQ, Reagan showed the boys a fun new game. I think it was called 'Mummy' and apparently Seth had been wrapped up many a time with layers and layers as a kid. Levi loved it.
Dad even got into it and wrapped him up tight, making him look kind of like a taquito.
Joy.
Max on the other hand would have nothing to do with being wrapped up and protested the use of his favorite blanket. One day he'll love it.

So Sophie

While Emily was visiting we got to have Sophie all to to ourselves for a couple hours. She did great, though Max, as he has done in the past when there is a younger kid in the house that I'm paying more attention to, had a number of mommy moments. He'll learn. At least I always know he loves me right?

The boys wanted to play buttons with her so we pulled them out. She was a little skeptical at first but that didn't last too long.

A Rose Cake for Aunt Rose

Sometimes I think I'm just so silly for making things as much as I do, but I love making stuff for people espeically if I know they'll like it (after all, who wants to put time and effort into something someone might not like?). That's why I've been into cakes and such, it is a guaranteed handmade gift I know they'll like.

So a while back I saw the perfect idea for a cake to do for my sister over by Amanda at I Am Baker, one of the blogs I stalk. It just screamed "Scarlett", at least it did how I saw it in my head. I added my own little twist with the actual cake because an all pink center just seemed to fit my sister, also known as Aunt Rose to my boys, perfectly.
For the actual cake I used a white cake mix to keep things simple but I switched out applesauce for oil and egg whites for eggs, probably just to make me feel a little less guilty for all that rich vanilla buttercream frosting. Mmmm. I used three boxes, started with it white, added a bit of pink gel food coloring for every layer (some red for the darkest), stacked them and did a layer of frosting covering the whole things. And as far as the roses go it was EXTREMELY easy. Just use a large 1M star tip and make swirls. Looks way more complicated than it is. Just circles.
Happy Birthday Aunt Rose!

Hanging with the Carstens

We love going to the Carsten's house. It's fun being around family and for me I especially have always loved it because it is one of the few houses I feel I can go to with my kids and not be completely stressed out about them getting into things or getting into too much trouble. Their house is really kid friendly and full of fun stuff.

Seth graduated and Emily and little Sophie were visiting so we got to see everyone and have a great pancake dinner.
Both boys were SOOO good with Sophie, Max even shared a little.
Levi was quite the gentleman and was super considerate and aware of her, I was so proud.
They also showed her what fun is all about in their world. It mostly involved digging in the dirt and in this case throwing clumps of it at a big board. She seemed into it.
And then they attacked Reagan with rockets.
Games were played with Uncle Monte (a huge hit because it involved a bulldozer and knocking things down) And cookies with ice cream were munched on. It was a good night and according to Levi "the best time ever!"

Super Speed

I've been trying to be good about exercising lately and so for part of that I have been signing up to run in events, it just gives me something to work towards.

This one I even got Jason to do it with me! We ran the Starlight Parade 5k in Portland with a group of people from our ward. The theme our group was patriotic so I decided to do superhero shirts for Jason and I since we will be doing a superhero party for Levi soon.

Doesn't he make a great Captain America?
Yeah, check out those guns! I am Wonder Woman, NOT promoting WWF like some people thought.
And I even got to do it with my amazing friend Rachel (who did a great job by the way)
To be quite honest this was probably the worst run I've ever had. Ever. It was the hottest day we've had so far this year (I think), the run was hillier than I thought it would be and my music wasn't working. I have NEVER run without music, it helps to motivate me more than I thought. I was super slow but I didn't stop running once and I didn't finish last which is always my goal.

Memorial Day at Lake Merwin

This year we got to go to my dad and stepmom's place up in Lake Merwin, Lake Merwin Camper's Hideaway. It's a pretty unique place. All structures have to have some sort of 'RV' as their base (for legal/zoning purposes I believe) and it's pretty interesting what people come up with. Sometimes you just wonder where the RV is, it looks so elaborate, while others look like they haven't been visited in years. I love my dad's. It's simple and allows you to go 'camping' but with a lot of comfort but not so much like you feel your at a hotel or something. Perfect when you have little kids. There's even a 'backyard' area to set up tents if you'd like.
A BBQ and place to roast marshmallows. Mmmm. So many marshmallows. Also we are just a walk away from the pool which is nice. We got pretty wrinkly there.
Hot chocolate while we waited for Max to wake from his nap. That's right he napped. In fact they both did for two days in a row while Jason and I roasted marshmallows (ok that was mostly me) and played card games.
Did a little hiking off trail. They loved it, and so did dad. At the park area we worked with Levi on how to push himself. He's getting the hang of it.

It rained a lot more than we wanted, but it's the Northwest, go figure, and we watched a bunch of fun movies they haven't seen before. The Little Mermaid, The Great Mouse Detective and some other one I can't remember.
For some reason Max thought this was hilarious.
We even had a pet spider who made his home just outside the window. His name was Fred.
But want to know what we REALLY spent most of our time doing? Throwing stuff in water. They loved it. Levi even made a game called "Does it Float?"
Thanks to dad, world class rock thrower, they became quite good at it. You can definitely see the difference.
Silly daddy.
It was a great trip and I'm excited to go back again soon, which is perfect because I've looked at other campsites and holy cow, there are so many completely booked already and the sun yet to really make an appearance!!!!!