men at work

david and his bike ran into some construction one morning...

go pro

pace loves daddy's go pro camera...one day i let him and max run around with it and take photos from his pov. he would point at something, then snap a picture.  throw out his arm and point, then click.  aside from my post-run, pre-shower look, i think he got some cute ones!  can you guess what they are?

daddy and his boys

looking back i just realized i'd totally forgotten to get father's day photos!  we did haircuts sunday morning, and we ended up having a few extra minutes before church, so i marched everyone outside for some smiles.  for father's day we gave david photoshop so he could work on his fightingmean.com photos a tad bit better than editing in iPhoto...ha ha.

recycling plant part II

this time around, i grabbed a couple of friends, turned it into a pizza/water party, and we saw the can crusher and car crusher!  hooray!

outside the box

max is starting to think out side the box, which is really fun to see.  his most recent sayings:

• he walks around the house saying "ginkie 'wet"--he wants his binkie and blanket and is wondering where they are.  i'll ask him, "i don't know, max, where did you put them?"  he'll stop and say, "hmmm....", then burst out, with eyes wide open and grinning from ear to ear, "head!"  [bed] then run upstairs to see if he left them on his bed.
• i'll ask him where his shoes/sandals are, and he'll again think, "ummmm..."  then shout, "'rodge!"  [garage], and run to check that's where he left them.
• if i ask max where pace is, he'll most often say, "ummm..."  then another grin, hands spread out wide in front of his face, "hide!"
• max really gets into playing with pace and david, and if i walk into the room, or stumble upon him playing with a truck, he'll look at me, grin a shy little grin, and point, saying " 'way!"  [as in, go away!]
• pace has gotten into "spooky ghosts" lately (not sure where that one came from), but whenever we play hide-and-seek, hear a noise, or david gets home from work, we always end up making "spooky ghost noises".  max gets in on it, too.  if he hears a noise, he perks up with his hand cupped near his ear and says, "hound?" [sound]   i'll ask, "what's that sound, max?"  "ookey host!"  [spooky ghost]

what is family home evening?

i found these frames at tjmaxx and decided they needed a project in them.  a friend of mine told me her one-time bishop told her this phrase "knees in the morning and knees at night", and it always stuck with her.  it stuck with me, too, so i created a cute little thing for the boy's room, and one for us (although i think the one for us would look better in a black frame).

we have our morning and bed time routines:  every morning we pray and read one scripture verse from our popsicle jar.  for bedtime we sing that month's primary song, talk about a scripture painting/read a scripture story, then read a fun book, then have prayer.  

confession: i have never pushed family home evening in our house.  excuses:  the boys were too young.  david's never home at night.  i'm the one always bringing up prayer, scriptures, do i really need to be the one to bring up fhe, too?  (and it's been a particularly long day, and david's been gone for 12+ hours, i get really  crabby and start saying things like, "i do everything around here!  why doesn't he do something?!"...and i know I'm probably the only wife evil enough to think something like that, right?)  i was having a conversation with bishka about something in relief society, something along the lines of sisters making the same comments as mine, and that fhe is a source of stress and annoyance and frustration, and what's the point.  i don't know if she made this comment, or another sister, but the essence was:  ultimately, this is what you want your children to learn, this is the testimony you want your children to have, and you want to be the one cultivating it.  the point isn't about the "priesthood holder" conducting your home evenings, or making an elaborate lesson with treats, etc., the point is about building a foundation in christ in your children's lives.  period.  that stuck with me.  i adamantly stood by the no-stress rule, however.  so i prayed to create quick, simple, lessons that would hold the boy's interest and be done within 10 minutes.  4 lessons immediately came into my mind.  it also dawned on me i could use a lot of the visual aids i've created for sunday school/primary lessons over the years.  (duh...)  this is doable.  

we do a song, scripture, and an activity.  first: i pulled out a "magnifying glass" from an old lesson (thank you, cardboard, aluminum foil, and saran wrap), and called it the what would jesus do magnifying glass, and talked about trying to be like jesus.  second:  we talked about building a foundation in jesus and had two paper houses--one set in the grass, and then the other one we stuck in-between bricks labeled with things that would bring us close to jesus...and then the storms (water from the hose) came and we saw which house was left standing.  third: we talked about building a stronghold for our family, and used drawings i'd had from a lesson on captain moroni's strongholds.  this past monday night:  we played the obstacle game.  i drew a road with obstacles along the way.  then i drew six bridges to help us cross over the obstacles. the boys had to go pick a car, and make their way from earth back to heavenly father and jesus, and put bridges along the way to cross the obstacles.  each bridge we turned it over and talked about a bridge jesus provides for us to get back (they were faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, the temple endowment, temple sealing).  not to create any illusions here...when i say we discussed jesus' bridges, it went like this:  "pace, look at mama.  pace, listen to mama.  pace, look.  pace, focus.  pace, look at this bridge!  pace, what do you see in this picture?  pace, put the car down for one minute and look at this!"  ...and so on...

anyway, since starting, my first excuse was seriously debunked.  pace will randomly tell me things jesus can do for us, and things we need to do to be better.  a couple weeks ago i was tucking them in for bed, and after talking about our scripture story, pace said, "mom, we can build on jesus."  the boys LOVE the obstacle game and always ask to play on it with their cars.  they love getting to the obstacles, and shouting, "hurry, mama!  it's a tornado!"  the first time i told pace to get a bridge and cover it up so he could get back on the road.  he said, "but mom, jesus has to build our bridge!"

the first day i told pace it was family home evening, he asked, "what is family home evening?"  now he knows.  it's fun, we learn about jesus, and we do it together.

indian obsession

an indian grocery store opened up down the road, and i've invested some time, energy, and love into creating some indian cuisine with authentic spices.  YUM.

pace creations

a couple cute pace creations:

all those up and down squiggles?  a sound wave.  i think this is due to watching bill nye's episode on sound.  david asked pace what he was drawing and he said a sound wave.  david asked what a sound wave is, and pace said, "it's when you get a big microphone and it goes hummmmmm [high-pitched noise], and then it bounces in your ear drum, like that." 

we got a new workbook for pace to work in over the summer.  he told me he liked this new one, although there have been plenty of days where he's complained and said he wants nothing to do with the workbook.  this page asked him to draw something that was red.  he saw a red fish on his sandals and wanted to draw it.  its eyes are the two open ghostlike things on the top, its fins are the two dark squiggly marks toward the bottom, its heart is the little squiggly mark in-between, and its tail fin is the antenna thing coming out of its head.

this workbook page asked pace to draw his favorite animal.  he wanted to draw a dog.  so we talked about what a dog has vs. what he had (two legs vs. four legs, type of ears, eyes, tail, etc.), and this is what he came up with!:  the circle is its head, the antenna out of the head is its tail ( i love how pace sees this 3-d...at least that's what i think he's representing...), its ears are the lines on either side of the head, then four legs!  and of course, its eyes, nose, and tongue!

4th of july

 mr. popular had two invitations by two different groups of friends to do two different work outs and then two different "hang outs" on the 4th.  david picked riding  his road bike and a brunch.  while he was out riding, the boys and i decided to go check out the hot air balloons in provo.  we made it down there kind of late, just in time to watch one land, and then i wanted to hightail it out of there so we wouldn't get caught in the parade--the traffic was already starting to pick up!

we've never gone to watch fireworks with the kids before.  i'm that kind of a mom, i guess--they're still little, it's way past their bedtime, and pace has never likes big, loud noises, so what's the point?!  this year, however, pace has been hearing the neighborhood fireworks going off at night when he's in bed, and has to lift up his blinds to try and see them.  and for three nights preceding the 4th, repeatedly told us he loves fireworks, he wants to see them, he was "so excited" about them, etc. etc.  so we decided to do fireworks, of course, from the best view in the valley...we hiked the Y.  let me just say hiking the Y with a kid on your back is a very different experience from just hiking the Y.  holy cow.  i felt like i'd never worked out a day in my life!  the whole way up, max was crying and saying "home"--he has decided he hates the hiking backpack, but pace was very happy on david's shoulders.  once we got up there, max was happy to sit on the blanket we packed and play around, but pace suddenly was very scared, wanted nothing to do with fireworks, wanted to go home...

so we got up there around 9, and the fireworks didn't start until 1020...an hour and a half of pace complaining, being scared, crying, and zoobies singing hymns, patriotic, songs, and frozen (does it annoy anyone else that byu students spontaneously burst out in song wherever they go, or am i just jaded?  i mean seriously, is this a mating ritual or something?!)  at one point on kid had their phone on playing a patriotic celine dione song and pace asked what that was.  i told him it was someone's phone playing a song and he said he didn't like it.  i told him to cover his ears.  quarter after 10 we decided we'd tortured the kids long enough and we may as well go home.  we watched the fireworks as we hiked back down to the car. 

we put the boys in their beds at a very late 1145.  when did they wake up?  you ask?  6am.

the game du jour

a couple new games pace has invented:  

tube talk

this is when pace and max decide it's really fun to talk to each other through the gross, disgusting shop vac tube.  pace sits on top of the picnic table and yells instructions to max, "max, say pilcher!"  max responds, "er!"  "max, say fofent!"  "ent!"  "say shoneshun!" "un!"  "no, max--shout louder!"  pace then spied me spying on them with the camera, and turned the tube into a fighter...

i don't discourage tube talk for a few reasons:

1. even though putting the tube to one's lips is kind of gross, that just means they are building up their immune systems, right?
2. pace is helping max build his vocabulary, albeit imaginary words...
3. somewhere in there they are learning something scientific about sounds and how it carries/travels, so what kind of mom would i be if i turned off their curious, scientific minds?!

stuffed animal nest

this is when pace and max decide to throw all their stuffed animals down the stairs and make a big pile at the bottom, and then snuggle in it together.  "c'mon, max, throw it down, like this!  good job, max!"  "yah!  nown!"  "go get more, max!  good!"  

and even though i am usually always the one cleaning up after this game, i also refrain from nipping it in the bud because

1. the boys are actually playing together.  collaboratively.
2. pace tells max he's doing a good job.
3. they snuggle in their "nest" after the throwing is all done, and it's really cute.

i have also recently caught pace being a very good listener to help max!  one time we were outside and max was crying and upset over something.  i was weeding or watering the garden, and usually max is crying because he doesn't like walking on wet grass.  i let him cry that one out.  but pace walked right over, sat down next to him, put his hand on max's shoulder and had an entire conversation with him, asking him what was wrong, listening to max's gibberish answer, then telling him it was ok, and taking  his hand.  then they ran around together in the grass.  very sweet.

the other time was just today.  we were heading upstairs for nap time, and lately max has gotten in to the habit of simply laying down on the bottom stair after pace and i have made it to the top, and then shouting a very exaggerated, "heeeeeoupe!  heeeeeeoupe!"  until i go down, pick him up, and carry him all the way up, max giggling the whole time.  today, i was about to walk downstairs, and pace said, "mommy, i'll go help max, and you stay here!"  i peeked around the corner and watched pace go down and say, "max, what's wrong? are you tired?"  "yeah.  erd."  "i'll just hold your hand!  c'mon!"  and up they came!  

we also took another shot at homemade pasta last night for dinner.  pace loves being my kitchen helper.  he wanted to take turns, "mommy, now i'll cut the noodles and you be the impact hammer."  (use the tool to push the pasta dough into the machine)  "now you cut, mommy, and i'll be the hammer!"