Lizard Girl

Lilly put the jacket to our little Joker toy in her mouth. It reminded me of a lizard or snake tongue. I just had to take a pic.
As you can see in the background...I try to let my kids play with the couch cushions and I have this basket of toys for Lil that I dump out for her to play with. Kids are only kids once, right? I am trying to learn that my house doesn't always have to be spotless. I was thinking the other day that when I had two kids my house was a lot cleaner. Now with three, some days my house goes to pot.

Octopus Lunch

I work in the scouts in our ward and one of the ideas in our activity book striked my fancy. It was an octopus made from a hot dog. You just cut legs out of the bottom part, boil, and the legs curl up like an octopus. Then you are suppose to put it on shells and cheese. We decided to have tator tots as the eggs and carrot shavings as the sea weed. The kids had a kick out of it.

Ants in the grass

Last night Wes found this pile of ants when he was mowing the lawn. Yuk! There were so many of them that it was hard to tell that pile was actually ants. Wes sprayed and they are no more. Sorry ant lovers.

Wes got Braces

Wes got braces on Monday. His teeth were really sore the first day, but they are getting better each day. He got the clear kind on top and then he will get his bottom ones on in about 5 months, supposedly. He is self conscious of them, but you can't even tell he is wearing them unless you get close up. I think he looks cute!
I had braces for 3 and a half years. So, I know what he is going through. It would have been a lot easier if I had gotten the clear kind. :( I guess tough times make you stronger.

Love the Present

I'm reading this book called, "A Joyful Mother of Children" by Linda J. Eyre. I got it at a garage sale, but it is so inspiring to me. The top of it was soaked by some type of liquid. This book has been so valuable to me. It helps me realize that even though times are really hard with young kids, and kids in general, that it is well worth it. The last chapter I read was called, "Love the Present". I just wanted to share a few quotes from the book.

"Little things--kindness, sharing, obedience--frequently slip passed without being mentioned. When we let this happen, we lose a golden opportunity to let our children know that we think they are terrific, in spite of any minor flaws they may posses".

"We mothers do have fun watching these little ones learn and grow. Sometimes we're so close that we can't see it, so we have to step back a little and focus--and remind ourselves about how much fun we're having".

Dinner on the floor

The other night I thought it would be fun to move our dining room table over, put a blanket down and eat dinner on the floor. The kids helped set the blanket. We all made our own individual pizzas. It was a blast changing dinner plans up a bit. Sometimes life can get so routine and when we do spontaneous things like this, it makes life so much more enjoyable.

Healthy Inspiration

I just bought a wheat grinder from Honeyville Grain. We have used it everyday since. It inspires me to eat healthier. We just keep it on our counter and when we go to make bread, waffles, brownies, etc. we just add some healthy ground grains (we like to grind the 4 grain cereal blend from Honeyville Grain). We add about half white flour as well. It makes such a difference in the nutritional value of our meals. I can also tell a difference in my system (if you know what I'm saying). So, I guess the point of grinding your own wheat & whole grains is....it is a lot healthier, cheaper, and if you store wheat in the Kernels they last a lot longer than storing flour. Plus, it is so fun for the kids to help grind and participate in the cooking process.

More pics of us

Additives

Ethan likes to put stuff in his drinks at meals. Whether it's toast or carrots, he has a bad habit. I guess you pick your battles and this isn't one of them. :) He's silly.

Pajamas till noon

Sometimes it is nice to stay in our pjs till noon, at least. Right when we get up there is always house work or some type of thing to do. Sometimes it just gets annoying to have to get all ready when you know that you don't have anything planned that day. So, hopefully no one will come over on these days. But, sometimes it just feels good to be lazy and proud of it.
Wes is in his "comfy" clothes a lot. What's the point of being uncomfortable at home?

One bite at a time

Most of the time when I serve my family their food. (Yes, I am the one who does most of the meals around here). I taste the food before I give it to my family. It's just something I've always done. Call me crazy!

Slugs Dyed

The other day I went out in our backyard and saw these things on rocks & our patio. They almost looked like the ground does after you light a snake firework. But, I knew it couldn't be that. Wes said they were slugs. I thought it was so weird how they stained the area they were on just prior to or right after they died. So, I took some pictures to show ya'll.

Anderson Reunion

We just got back from Boise where we went to my mom's side of the family had a reunion. It was so fun! They had a big blow up water slide. I did some front flips and Liz and I did some summer salts down it. The kids had such a fun time. Especially with their cousins and uncle Rick. I love my family. We had some great quality time together!

Our Garden of Eat'n

We started box gardens this year. It was a lot of work! But, it has been worth it. That's one thing I have always wanted to learn how to do, is learn how to grow stuff. We have one with tomatoes and onions, one with carrots, and we just harvested our peas and pulled them out. We put banana peppers and cucumbers in their place. But, the cucumbers aren't doing so well. The tops of our carrots are doing well, but who knows what is down under. Our raspberries are doing well. When we got home from our reunion we had a few red raspberries. Yipee! It's working out. There is nothing like fresh produce.

It may be time to get seperate baskets for our boys!

I like to do our laundry about once a week. I do all of it at a time, so I don't feel like I am always doing laundry. I put the boys clothes in one big rectangle basket. But, I think it may be time to get individual ones for them. If someone were to talk too loud, the laundry would tip. :) It's definitely a balancing act. Wes and I still have this old blue duck taped basket we "borrowed" from mom and dad when we were first married. The duck tape isn't quite holding, so sometimes we get cut on the ripped plastic. There are some things we just refuse to buy new. We just need to buckle down and get a new one.
I remembered when we moved into our condo in Arizona and we got our first washer and dryer. It was sooo nice to not have to go to the coin laundry anymore.
We just got some hand-me-downs from Aunt Sarah's boys. Thank you guys! We love hand-me-downs. They save us so much money. Our kids grow so fast, we feel like we are buying them new clothes often. Our boys were so excited about all the "new" clothes they got from the Fossums. It was cute!