Playground

We used to live across the street from this park. I miss it. It was clean and has shade. We visit on occasion. MY kids still love it.

Anneke has always loved the swings. (Remember Cari, telling me she wouldn't be sleeping in a swing when she was in kindergarten? I think she would if she could.)

 Marcus thinks he is too big for playgrounds, but he loves helping Mallory.

 Luke is just busy. (Notice his "apron pants")

 Mallory loved exploring. I still can't get her to wear shoes.

 Here she is smiling at Marcus above her:

 Another cute Luke shot.

This was the highlight of our Saturday. What did you do?

Day off

Monday my older two children didn't have school, but Andy still did. I wanted to make it a fun day, but because of the active weekend, the house was a mess. So, we spent an hour or so cleaning together and then headed to the park. (How do you teach your children how to clean so it is actually clean? I went back and recleaned everything after they went to bed that night.)

We brought dinner rolls to feed the ducks and geese.

We played on the playground and had a picnic lunch. I love that Marcus was willing to push Anneke.

We stopped to get a juicer so we could make lemonade from the lemons on our tree. Marcus had never tasted them before and seemed to enjoy them.
I didn't realize how hard it is for children to juice something. Anneke did a pretty good job, though.

Marcus is so serious sometimes. We juiced 8 lemons for about a gallon of lemonade.

Where we live has pomegranate trees and a lemon tree. We left the pomegranates alone because they aren't ours thinking our landlord would do something with them, but they are just rotting on the tree and the ground. So, I don't want the same thing to happen to the lemons. I have asked for ideas for using my lemons and have gotten quite a few. If you have any let me know. The lemons are not all ripe, but pretty soon.

Happy 16th Birthday Uncle Brian! Have a great day!

P.S. Andy was t-boned on the way to mutual last night in our mini-van. In keeping with my resolve from yesterday: I am thankful he was not hurt. I am thankful we paid a bit extra so that if our vehicle was totaled our insurance company will pay off the rest of our car. I am thankful that a ward member is loaning us their 2nd car until we figure out what is going on with "Mimsy".

A few things

Yesterday we went to Centennial Hills Park or "Butterfly Park". It was a lot of fun. I even played in the water. We had a picnic there. Our apartment complex had no water from 8:30am until who knows when. So, we spent the day out of the house. We then went to Circus Circus and watched some of the acts. If you have seen "America's Got Talent" you have probably seen the acts we saw. We hope to go back someday and ride rides and get an old-time picture done.

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Andy shaved his goatee. When Marcus was four months old Andy had jaw surgery. He had a strong jaw in more ways than one. His teeth lined up perfectly so that eventually they would break off unless the surgery was done. His jaw bone was so strong it broke a saw blade. Anyway, they took about an inch of bone out total and he now has screws in his mouth. Two months after the surgery was done he felt the need to shave. Because of the nerve damage it was quite painful. Every few months he tried to shave because I did not like the beard. We compromised with a goatee when we realized that it hurt too much. Fast forward to last Halloween. Andy shaved for a costume and felt the need to keep it off. Marcus did not like that and made a convincing argument about it. So, the goatee came back. Monday Andy realized that for a lot of the jobs he wanted he needed to be clean shaven, so he shaved again. Who knows when the facial hair will return. Andy thinks it makes him look a lot younger without it.

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Here is some advice: Don't read to your children. If you read to your children, they will learn to read to themselves. They will love books. Books are expensive. By reading to your children you are establishing an expensive habit. To save money and time I suggest never reading to your children. (Hee! Hee! This came about because we were reading Beezus and Ramona. In the book Ramona has a favorite story. None of us could choose one from our many books, except Anneke. Pinkilicious was her choice of course.)

Last Day

It is my last full day with Andy. I can't believe that he will be gone. Everyone is so worried about me, but I am so independent I won't tell if I am having a hard time anyway. He leaves tomorrow afternoon at 2:50 to go to the airport. He is taking the air shuttle.

I updated pictures. My new primary is Anneke and Marcus on the CU buffalo. I also uploaded some of them at the pedestrian mall. The random squirting water fountain is great on a hot day.

Life is great. My mom and sister got me some great clothes (and some not so great.) It is nice to feel cute while you are pregnant. On July 17th I will have an ultrasound. The next week I have a regular check-up. Two without Andy kind of sucks. Anneke turns three at the end of the month and I am unsure if I will do a party or wait until Andy gets back. Hmmm...

There is a great park here known as the dinosaur park. We are going later today. The highlight is the water trough. I may post pictures later if I remember to take any.