Bubbles

the past two weeks

They have figured out the joy of hanging.

Tucker and Whitney trading places on the tree to get a closer look at the ducks

I knew boxes were cool, but not this cool!

I'm so funny!  Sooo funny!

And I'm really cute.  Cuter than this baby wipes baby by a long shot

No more measuring cup!  Only blankie!

Look how happy I am with this blanket.  It's really funny!

And Mommy cringes some more at the filth of this blanket.

I love playing in the dirt, too!

Working, working, working

A close up of this dirty face and how much fun it is.

This week has been pretty fun and productive.  It has been sunny and dry for most days except Sunday and Monday, which are church and cleaning days anyway.  Since I was inside ALL DAY LONG on Monday I cleaned the whole house, made bread and made a delicious dinner.  The babies were pretty good, all things considered, but we did need to rough house for family home evening, that's for sure.  I have a really cute video of playing "box" that we made that night.  The babies also figured out that they really like to jump.  They do a lot of practicing of their new skill while walking around.  Or just having fun in the living room.  Another cute video I can't figure out how to upload.

The rest of the week was spent with lots of Daddy time.  Tuesday and Wednesday we traded babysitting with another couple.  I went to their house one night while Jim stayed home and put them to bed (see choco chip and fish crackers video) and she came here while we went out one night.  Thursday Daddy put them to bed while I went and played volleyball.  That night they skipped bath and clean up for playing with a new toy computer and playing wild.  Jim bought the toy computer in hopes Tucker would like it more than his.  Not a chance.  In fact, Tucker figured out how to unplug the computer.  That caused a lot of excitement and annimation on Dad's part that night.  And after all that careful planning and cutting up of the desk to conceal so many wires and buttons.  Bummer.

During the day and evening I have been doing a lot of yardwork in preparation for winter as well as this project of mine I decided to start up.  I thought it would be easier.  I went to Costco and saw these daffodil bulbs.  50 of them.  Costco size, bought at "the Costco".  Then I went home and decided I wanted to plant them among the rocks and hillside that I constantly look at in the winter (outside the playroom window).  But the plants in that section don't usually do well.  We decided to help it by tierring the landscape to minimize the water rushing off the plants.  So.  Since the daffodils in that areas didn't bloom (grew but no blooms), I decided I needed to tier the area before planting.  It doesn't look like that much dirt.  And then I discovered where the people that have lived here got all the rocks to line walkways and such.  And then the tierring I imagined in my head doesn't look beautiful, it looks stupid.  So Jim has this better idea of shifting the whole hillside back a few feet and moving the rocks we have to support it.  No problem.  Except that he hasn't spent the week digging only half of the area out.  And all because I didn't want to plant bulbs if we were just going to dig them up again.  I also have this aster plant......  but I think I'm going to leave it in the pot by the front door.

Tucker and Whitney have had a blast playing in the dirt with me.  Tucker grabs great handfuls and throws it on top of his head, just like the bubble video (another fun one to come one blog and one night at a time).  Whitney thinks he needs to have double the pleasure and throws fistfuls on his head also.  Of course they slide down his shirt and into his diaper.  And then she gets some in her eyes and cries out the dirt.  Crazy fun.  You should see the tub.

Tucker finally learned that rain boots are good.  He hated them at first.  Kicked them off in a fit.  But then I put them on whitney and she walked (very carefully) around the yard splashing in puddles while he watched inside.  All of a sudden he loves them!  Success.

Whitney is learning to hold hands.  Today she asked to hold Tucker's hand.  I was holding Tucker's hand and he was clutching his blanket with the other.  She went to Tucker's other side and looked for his hand under the blanket, not finding it.  So she asked me for help.  We went a good pace, walking back to the car, Whitney, Tucker and me, all holding hands, in that order.  So cute!

We went to a beach park today.  It was sunny and fun.  There were ducks in the water, babies with diapers only, and Whitney found a beautiful white cat that let her pet it three times.  Then wanted nothing to do with her.  So she threw some rocks down a grate.

We decided to go downtown and explore a new restaraunt.  One with a kids menu, of course.  Holy cow.  Whitney had so much fun.  She loved trying all the new foods and juice, sitting at the table in a booster, eating off of a real plate with a real fork and jumping in the booth.  And the kids play area.... Oh!  Life can't get better.  Unless you can shout really loud in the parking garage and have your brother copy you.

Hopefully I figure out these dumb videos.

the fish hatchery and other explanations

Check out the amount of fish in one pool

Whitney and Tucker looking down on the above pool

Tucker demos the size of these fish.  Tucker weighs about 26 pounds and looks to be about their same size, just a little thicker.  The lady taking a pic of Tucker is the mom of the twins below also looking in with Whitney and Tucker

All the twins looking for some fish

 

The fish are trying to jump over the dam.  Tucker and Whitney had a great time watching them

I haven't been good at blogging lately for several reasons.  Three of which are due to techy people trying to improve things.  I'm one of those that hate progress at times.  Jim set up his computer completely different while I was gone to Utah and I couldn't find any of my files until this week.  Annoying.  Then, the computer plug ins work different.  And Jim decided to get a new camera since he broke ours in the desert with Eric.  It's very high tech. In fact, it's so high tech, I don't think our computer likes it much.  It doesn't have an insert for the photo card.  Annoying.  And last but not least, Blogger decided to "improve" it's site and tonight is the first time I've been able to figure out how to upload any pictures.  Apparently it only allows for one video upload per night as I can't figure out how to upload any more videos than this one at the fish hatchery.  Bummer.  Because there are lots of cute videos to upload that are waaaaayyy cuter than those dumb jumping fish.  Oh yeah.  that's another thing.  Our new and "improved" camera has a 10 second delay for starting and ending a recording.  Which means I miss a bunch of stuff I want to record in the beginning and get a lot of boring garbage at the end.  So if the end of our videos seem boring, it's because it is.

This week has been gorgeous.  I guess the good weather only comes in the fall.  We've had the most sunny days in a row during September.  But, as you can see, it is still really cold for a lot of it because our kids are bundled up in the sun to see the fish.  Whatever. 

I think I'll finish the rest of the week on the previous blog. See if I can get any cute video going. For anyone wondering, the trip to Utah worked.........and then it didn't.  Bummer.  Better luck next time.

the last three weeks

I'm a big girl now!

I ONLY like big boy swings.  No baby swings

Happy in my house

I'm ready to go out on open water now

These are the coolest chairs ever!

It's stuck!  The tongue depressor is stuck in my front teeth!  Help!

Finally.  Back home in my own turf.  Why are we watering again??!!  It's been beautiful and sunny the whole time??!!

I've got to take good care of these strawberries, Mom.

Dad SAID to wash off!

Tucker serious pose

Tucker smily pose.  (Note the measuring cup in hand)

Another serious pose

Crab apples are no good for eating

Mostly what we saw driving around Mt. St. Helen's

A five second clearing of the clouds

Some destruction.....

The real destruction.  Still looks like an erie war zone 31 years later.

Not time for church!  Time for climbing!

Maybe I should explain why I didn't blog for three weeks.  I was in Utah for two of those weeks and then Jim was gone for the next week.  He had re-configured his computer while I was gone.  Bored, I guess.  But then I couldn't do anything on it because everything was all hidden and worked weird and I just didn't have the patience to figure it all out.  So here I am.

We loved the sun and the heat.  Well, I did more than the babies.  There were many times in the afternoons where I wanted to be outside and Tucker just sat really still in the shade with his water bottle(s) in hand.  Jim drove us out there and back and flew back and forth so he could be here to work.  Crazy, huh.  He decided night driving was better than entertaining them for 14 hours all day.  It's a toss up.  Whitney hates being in her carseat in the day and Tucker hates being in it at night and didn't sleep for more than 30-60 minutes at a time.  

We stayed in Willard (Kristy, I know you're jealous!  Wishing you were there, too!) for a good portion of it with some amazing friends that put up with us and fed us for two weeks.  Then we went to St. George for Labor Day weekend.  One of my old roommates drove us down there and back so all of us adults in the house could hang out with Sue and her boot.  We had a blast!  One of the videos we watched on You Tube had something of the effect of Talking Twins in the title.  I think if you search it in You Tube it will be the first to pop up.  It is two boy twins that look like they are a little over a year old, talking to each other.  It was just great to be together.

Some other trip highlights was getting invited to go swim in a pool, going to the play place in the mall (with AC, much to Tucker's delight.  It was the most he played the whole time we were there), playing with all the other kids toys and playsets, and for me, going to lunch and dessert with some friends at different times during the trip.  I had this great idea to can peaches while I was there, but the canning peaches weren't ripe until the day before I left.  The nerve.  I brought them home and canned them here just fine, though.

Some of the favorite things that Jim has enjoyed since they've been home is their word vocabulary.  He loves to hear them talk.  Whitney is pretty good at imitating now, so she can copy a bunch of stuff.  You can hear her say "stuck" pretty clearly in the video.  

They reacted quite different to Jim coming to pick us up after not seeing them for two weeks.  He stood outside the room they were playing in when he got there.  Tucker noticed right away.  He walked over to an arm distance away from Jim, stopped short, pointed at him like "I've seen this guy somewhere before", then slowly edged his way toward me, always with his face toward Jim and had me pick him up until he was ready for a hug.  Then after that he remembered and didn't let Jim put him down.  He still is having a hard time when Daddy leaves.

Whitney was really involved in a toy while all of this was going on.  She finally looked up and saw Jim, then immediately threw her toy down and ran into her Daddy's arms with a look of "where've you been all this time!  I've missed you so!"  She hugged and snuggled him until Tucker started demanding his attention.

While we were gone, we had 9-12 church both weeks.  Tucker did amazing during nursery both times, so I thought he'd be good this time, too.  Hah!  I was in there the whole time.  And Tucker finally fell asleep in my arms the last five minutes.  It was really interesting to see how Whitney is in nursery.  At home, Tucker is somewhat of a top dog.  He hits and takes things and she just screams about it.  But in nursery, she is the first to volunteer, loves the attention of the other adults, takes all the toys she wants and loves the singing.  Tucker likes snack.

As the video demo's, Whitney is really liking this climbing skill.  She definitely has some guarding angel at her constant attendance because I have NO IDEA how she has been able to walk away from things like she does.  She fell off the playground when she slipped once, fell down our wooden stairs and fell onto cement while playing.  Each time she is really scared, but then soon stops crying and can move all her extremities as well as have pupils that appropriately dilate.  I have no idea, like I say, but I'm glad she is happy and healthy.

Well,it's good to be back.