dandelions and more

Whitney using the sippy cup like it's supposed to be used.

I'm really impressed with this particular tree.  Last year it had hardly any blossoms because it was so overgrown.  I pruned it like mad, and even thought it died because I had pruned so much off, but this year, the amount of blossoms tripled.

Whitney likes to take pics by her daffodils

This is a favorite part of my yard now that they are blooming

Whitney wanted a picture with the pig, so here we are

She also wanted a picture by the horse...

.... and with the sheep

This is what Tucker is doing currently when I ask him to smile

The park after the tulip festival

Yep.  The park was the best part of the tulip festival

Me trying to be as awesome of a photographer as the photographer that was selling pics in the gift shop.  Yeah.  His pic is definitely worth more money.

An example of a tulip field

by the pink tulip field

Look!  Rojo!

Tucker is smiling at the tractor that just drove by

What a crazy and fun couple of weeks.  The sun has started shining every couple of days or so.  Now that I've been here for a year, I know that it won't really get much warmer than this, so might as well pretend it's summer and put on short sleeves and sandels.  Which is what we did.

We went to the Tulip festival.  Apparently a bit early as we could only find one field with some colors blooming, but it was incredible regardless.  Tucker thinks the tractor was the best part and Whitney thinks it was the scariest.

I feel like I haven't spent as much time playing with the kids as I normally do.  It was spring break here two weeks ago, so I took advantage and had the neighborhood girls play with Tucky and Whitney while I went to various appointments and weeded the yard like crazy.  I think it all worked out well.  Tucky and Whitney now have some great friends, a quarter of the yard is weeded and my teeth are clean, hair is cut and physical taken for me.

I went to a continuing education course all day one Tuesday, so they were at a friend's house all day.  

Jim also has been with them a bunch at night.  One night I went to a gardening class for this area, another night I went to Activity Days and then I did some babysitting swap nights with my friend so Jim and I were out one night and I was with her kids another night.   Another night Jim took them while I went kayaking (yep, not getting any warmer, so might as well go with good light) at night after he had gone razorclamming in the morning.  Tomorrow I plan on being with them in the sun (if it stays like the weather says) all day long.

Since I've been out of the house more these last couple of weeks, I haven't kept up with inside stuff as much, like cleaning and cooking or blogging, but I finally got it done today, even though it is sunny.  Feel lucky.

A note about dandelions. They are amazing little weeds. First of all, they grow, I'm sure nationwide. They've been in all lawns I've mowed. Amazing that they can live in temperate climates, deserts climates and a temperate rainforest (which is, I've found out,what I live in: a type of rain forest) there is even an intersection in town that bass a dandelion growing on the manhole dead center of this intersection. I usually can't stand those weeds, but Whitney taught me better this week. We were on a walk and I squatted down low to point out some forget me nots that were starting to bloom. We looked at and admired these flowers, then continued on. Very soon after, there were some dandelions. Whitney promptly squatted down, just as had, to admire those a dandelions. I didn't copy her behavior, so she promptly stood up, as if she wasn't supposed to do that. I felt bad later, as I had inadvertently taught her to value one flower above another. What is wrong with dandelions anyway? They are obviously survivor plants, and are even partly edible. It taught me a lesson, too, about people. May I never inadvertently teach her to value one person above another. Still on the subject of plant values. I went to a free gardening workshop a few days ago. They had the discussion of moss. It is very prevalent here. It's in everyone's lawns. There are services here that specialize in removing moss from lawn. I guess just like how there are services in Japan or remove lawn from moss gardens. Th grass/moss is always greener on the other side.

 Today Tucker was entertaining me by taking care of Baby. He started out feeding her banana, then played tickle with her feet and wanted me to make her laugh. Then he put her in time out. After that he went and got other baby and played "big snuggle". It's what they call it when I carry them both at the same time. It looks so funny to have him carrying two babies, but it must be what it looks like all the time around here.

Whitney is starting to go to the bathroom without supervision, including washing hands. She loves her independence, even though at times I cringe or want the process to go much, much faster. Today she wanted to go in our bathroom instead of hers, which has the stool in it so she can do all this alone. I died laughing when she came into our bathrooms, pants down around her ankles carrying the stool. She had walked all the way down the hall and around the corner like that. What a lot of work.

This week Tucker may have shown 5seconds of interest in potty training. Now that Whitney can tear the toilet paper off and throw it in herself, it might be worth it. He sat on the potty just for that reason. So he could tear the paper and throw it in. I have all my toilet paper rolls off the holders for a reason.

They love to pick out their clothes.  This is how it goes.  I give them a choice of two shirts (or underpants, or pants, or pjs).  They get a huge smile, hop from one foot to the other as they glance back and forth between the two choices, then grab the item of choice with both hands and pull down fast while saying "that one!".  Well.  That is, until I had Whitney pick out her Sunday dress the other day.  I gave her the choice between her Hawaii/daddy dress and another dress.  She didn't even look at the other dress, just smiled really big at the hawaii dress, danced and, before she could pull on it, Tucker said "Whitney!  That one!"  He, too, wanted her to wear the Hawaii looking dress.  It made me laugh.

Tucker likes to wear his chugga-chugga-choo-choo pjs.  They can get in and out of the tub now, so he will climb out and sing the whole name while he goes looking for it, all soaking wet unless I stop him.  There are a few favorites in the house.

a blog about Easter and and blog about me

The good picture of Tucker on the big boy swings
Eating fish and swinging
Aren't I cute?
The cute picture of Whitney on the big swings
"Sit! Right here!" A direct quote from Whitney while we were on our walk.

Tucker is happy to be aliveWhitney playing with her pebbles. And yep, I might be a native. That's a short sleeved shirt, only put on her because the sun was out when we woke up, not because it was actually warm enough.
Whitney posing with the daffodils she has watched over as they've grown.
The Kit Kats brought back from Japan by Jim's co-workers. I guess there they come in boxes and in different flavors. We had strawberry, blueberry and two different green kinds that were't labeled in English. I think one must have been seaweed flavor. Wasn't bad.
Whitney with her purse AND the bucket.


One of my favorite parts of being home with the kids is catching moments when they are so sweet. This week Tucker fell over, hard, on the driveway. Whitney rushed over and gave him a kiss on his forehead to make him feel better. She also said "Help!" and went to help me pick up my purse when I accidentally dropped it on the ground. She loves to help.

Tucker loves to drive trucks around and Whitney loves to collect and hold odd assortment of things. Jim noticed she really likes to have both hands full of these things at the beginning of this week. He suggested I find Whitney and Tucker bags for their things. Tucker for his 3 or more cars he likes to haul around and Whitney for her odd assortment of small items. So I got out Whitney's purse I got her for Christmas and showed her she could put Duckie, Whitney (a Little People figurine that looks like her), Battery, Rock, Dime and Bead in her purse. Boy did she love that! I gave Tucker the bucket to put his cars in. It didn't work out so well. Whitney discovered that she can fill the bucket up with small pebbles (something else she also loves to collect) and fill her purse with toys and carry them at the same time, usually in the same hand. So Tucker just carries his trucks around. He has a maximum hand capacity of three. He's pretty good at holding two trucks in one hand and driving his trucks over "little bump-bump" or "big bump-bump" around the house.

Tucker learned to say "come on" clearly this week. He does it most especially with Rocky. He mimics me. I get inpatient on how long it takes for Rocky to stand back up and walk back in the house after eating. He uses it with Whitney, too. He's been charming other adults by his ability to say "Bye-bye" and then some cute variation of their name. He gets pretty close sometimes.

I've noticed Whitney tells Tucker "look" a lot. The cutest time she did that was when we went on a walk around the neighborhood. I ask the kids if they want to wear shoes or boots when we go on walks. Tucker always wants boots and Whitney always wants shoes. Boots means you can splash in puddles and shoes means no puddle splashing. When we went on the walk, Whitney would spot a puddle, run over to it, pointing and saying "look! look!" to Tucker so he could splash in it. Tucker would run over to the puddle and analyze it for maximum fun. He checks out where he should stand so that if he runs straight, he can get the most amount of splashes and time in the puddle as possible.

The longest stop on our walk this week was a driveway that has a bunch of gravel. Whitney and Tucker were checking out the rocks, but most especially Whitney. We were there forever. I about lost my patience and wanted to make Whitney start walking again because I really thought we were going to be there all night. I didn't realize until later why we were there so long. Before bed she said "pink rock!" and showed me the rock she had picked out of that driveway and put in her purse. It does sparkle a purply-pink hue.

This week while I was working in the yard, the babies had a great time. They thought up all sorts of games. Most of them involved the dog dishes. These dog dishes are stainless steel. The first game was throw them off the deck or down the stairs. Lots of cool noises. The next game was "cooking" They used the bench as their cooking surface and "fed" each other all sorts of yummy rock, pine cone and stick meals. The next game was bouncing rocks around in the dishes while "cooking". That got Tucker laughing his jolly old St. Nick laugh. But in the process of all that, they somehow lost one dog dish. What I don't get is HOW could they have lost that. There isn't anywhere to hid them really. At least, not that I know of. How could I miss a big shiny metal bowl out in the forest?! But I can't find it anywhere.

Whitney noticed that the ice cubes in glass cups make a "bing, bing" noise. She keeps asking me to do "bing, bing", which means swirling the water around so the ice cubes hit the side of the glass. She also asked for that at Easter dinner.

Tucker also loves to anticipate when we go over speed bumps. He'll either say "ready" or "listo" before we go over a speed bump. It's very exciting when he can watch cars go over speed bumps. We watch the cars that pass on the way out of the grocery store. It's really exciting when a bigger vehicle, such as a bus or big truck goes over the speed bump and he can watch the vehicle really bounce.

He also points out tractors and calls them all backhoes. Probably because those are the only specific names of tractors I know and I point all those out. I guess I need to brush up on my tractor vocabulary. I'm sure Uncle Ryan could brush us all up on that.

Easter was a great success. We had some people invite us over to join with them and their family. She is my mom's age and she invited her son and his wife. She also invited her parents, so it was kind of like being at home. I asked if we could do an egg hunt with everyone after dinner and everyone was all for it. Tucker and Whitney totally grasped the concept of looking for eggs. We hid slips of paper that had testimonies of everyone there in the eggs. After all the candy was dumped out, we guessed who's testimony was whose and had first and second prizes which were pictures of Christ. After everyone was done, we read the Living Christ document together. It was great to have the whole mix. Fun, the real meaning of Easter, and good company and food. Tucker and Whitney were good and didn't break a single thing or throw up at dinner. Phew! A true success. And that is even without Whitney taking a nap. Tucker only took a 15 minute nap. I guess they picked up on it being an exciting day and couldn't sleep. Nursery included an egg hunt and candy, so the cat was let out of the bag way before dinner was over in order for the egg hunt to start.

At the house we were at, they have a front door that is easy-open. While I was getting things together to bring out the car, Whitney threw all our shoes out on the front porch. When I went to go put stuff in the car, I asked Whitney where my shoes were, and she opened the door, went and got my shoes, and arranged them on the floor so I could easily put them on.

I don't normally blog too much about what I'm thinking about, but I've decided to blog about food. It's what I think about, at least 4-5 times a day, if not more, when I'm planning about what to do for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. And don't forget Mommy and Daddy snack that is after baby bedtime. This is when we eat something we just want to enjoy and not share or be rushed about. I'd love for it to be just chocolate, preferably Lindt truffles, but it's not that great on the bod in more ways than one. Bummer about getting old.

So. These thoughts are my current thoughts about food. I usually hate Jim's question about "what's for dinner". I know what it really means. He says it's so that he can "get his taste buds ready", but it really means how big of a lunch should he eat so he can eat enough of what I make to not make me mad at him for not eating my cooking, but not be hungry.My cooking lately has usually too healthy tasting (plain disgusting) or too kid food-ish for him (when I'm tired and I just give them a bunch of stuff I know they'll eat so I don't have to hear about it). And there is never enough meat for his taste. Man. That's what's tough about being a mom. You have as many opinions about dinner as you have family members to feed and then there is your own opinion of what they need to eat to get the nutrients they need. It's a tough world in that kitchen!

Jim likes to watch all sorts of cooking shows. Usually ones that involve competitions. There is one show that he watches sometimes where they go in and "save a restaurant". Usually this is how it goes. There is some family drama (or staff drama akin to family drama), the head cook has "lost his passion for food", and the ambiance is horrible. Hmmmmm. This is beginning to sound like my local restaurant: my kitchen. The new chef comes in and fixes it all up, starting with a new menu. And this is what I want to blog about.

I have a friend that reminded me of bountifulbaskets.org. I heard about it for the first time soon after the babies were born and have heard snippets since then, but I finally looked into it. I love it! Not only do I get a bunch of produce for less, it makes me change my menu around from week to week to accommodate the stuff that is in season. Funny, since that's how we're supposed to eat anyway. I've gotten random combinations of stuff that has me changing my menu AND looking for new recipes at least once a week. I used to think all those food/mommy blog things were so silly, but now I'm all about great recipe sharing. In my search, I've found some really yummy recipes that meet my love of sweet food without all the sugar and fat (a melon/asparagus mix that is fabulous) and my love of spicy food. I've still had to eat a bunch of food that no one else eats because of my cooking mistakes, but I've found my "passion for food" returning again. It's been really fun, even with the entire pot of chili I had to eat myself for a week because I used dry beans that I apparently didn't soak enough and didn't taste it before I added the cheese, but, whatever. It tasted good enough that I could crunch through those things to the very end. I've also been using more spices to flavor my food instead of fat or sugar and have found that food is more fun to eat that way. I've discovered I really like fennel seed, something I've never put in a recipe myself, but has that savory flavor my hubby craves. Anyway, long story short, if there is a healthy recipe that you are very excited you found, but maybe your family hasn't been as excited about it as you have, send it on over. I have a few I can send back.

Another thing that has made me laugh lately is how the weather here is always a joke, and no one seems to tire of putting the weather as the butt end of their jokes, either. Here are few that made me laugh. I'm only laughing because today was sunny. Mostly I give a tiny chuckle because, really, it's not funny. I miss the sun more than I realize. But then again, I saw a bald eagle flying around us while we were at the park, so I guess that also comes with living in this climate. That was pretty cool to see.

1. Last weekend was pouring. I mean, really pouring. I went to a meeting and someone made the comment as they were enthusiastically starting to talk to a large group of people. It went like this: " I'm glad you all could make it here today on this beautiful Pacific Northwest spring day" Funny now, not then. And typical comments here, at least once a week. I put it in because it is part of daily life. The weather and the jokes.

2. This one still tickles my funny bone. We were discussing how to make wheat and bean sprouts (apparently this is good to know because the amount of vitamins released in the sprouting process is phenomenal). We were told to put the beginning sprouts in a dark place, like maybe a cupboard. But then, one lady piped up and said "sooo... we could all put it on our front porches and it would work just fine." We all about died laughing, because, sadly, it's true.

Anyway, back to the babies. The videos are of the egg hunt and the singing they are working on. The video of five kids playing running are of the babies with the family has twins 2 months younger than Tucker and Whitney and their older brother. It just made us laugh to see all those kids the same size running around.

some videos

Spring is only indoors

Tucker with Auto
This made me laugh. The stickers say what I'm thinking "Thank you, thank you"

Sammy reading the Friend. Rocky looking like a seal in the background.

Tucker snuggy before bathtime



It poured here this week, so not much outside of music time and clogging happened. We spent lots of time indoors. The outdoor video was from a few weeks ago, I just barely got access to it. Oh wait. There is an outdoor pic. It was in the five minutes we were at the park between storms before it started being really windy and pouring again. He's only smiling because Auto is in hand and he is a die hard outdoors lover. Whitney wasn't as excited to be out in the cold.... again.

We walked around the stores and malls a bunch. It can be tempting to walk around the mall. You see all sorts of things you don't need to buy. But we also stopped in a shoe store to find out that Whitney is a size 7 and Tucker is a size 8. That's at Payless Shoes. But wow!! their feet are big. My babies are growing up. Whitney and Tucker had races in the mall, but Whitney won most of them. I guess her longer legs and lighter weight are the advantage right now.

We went to the grocery store after the walk in the mall. Tucker opened the cumin while we were checking out. It was actually good timing instead of spreading the stuff throughout the store, but definitely embarrassing. And Sammy couldn't stop sniffing Tucker when we got home.

We also saw the Easter Bunny while at the mall. He was just going on picture duty. Whitney had picked out a bench for us to eat lunch at that was across from his booth. As soon as he walked out of the dressing room, the babies were watching him with rapt attention until he sat down and stopped moving.

This week I've learned they have been saying a phrase I haven't previously understood. It is "right there". Tucker uses the phrase when he points to where he wants his "dip" placed. Dip is anything from hummus for bell pepper strips, applesauce for pancakes, and salsa for anything. He still makes faces when he eats it, but eats it by the spoonful. Whitney uses the phrase for the same reason, but more for pointing to where she wants kisses placed after some minor bump or scratch. They picked up on each others use, so they both use the phrase for either now. All of them melt my heart.

They have Twinkle Twinkle down and are now working on Insy Winsy Spider and Follow the Prophet.

Jim was in Utah last week for "work". He did work for four days, but had fun for two. I was waiting to post his pics, but he accidentally deleted them. It's ok. It would have made me jealous to see all that warm sun look that can only come from slot canyons.

Hoping for warmer outside play this week.

The videos are of them eating every last oatmeal flake out of the bowl that I mixed the granola in. I started taking video because they were saying "Mmmm, mmmmm!" really loud while eating just before I turned the camera on. Another one is Tucker "blowing up" the balloon, and the last one is Whitney and Tucker saying 'daisy'.

plans for fun in the sun

Even Tucker wanted to try on his suit. He doesn't normally like to try on any new clothes
Crocuses opened the first time yesterday.

Whitney's Daddy dress. Check out how light it is outside at 7:30 at night!! Summer is coming!

Taking a sitting break at the park.
Whitney climbing and Tucker holding the chain out of her way.

Throwing rocks in the water. No good Tucky pics this week. He looks silly in all of them.


The end of this week was spring again. I've decided that the reason why Whitney has been protesting going outside for so long is she must be her father's daughter. I think it has just been no fun because it's been too cold. They both hate being cold. These past two days she has played outside with Tucker for long periods of time without complaining. She prefers not to have her jacket or shoes on. It's not that warm, but it was warm enough where we were able to take her jacket off. Today we went to the park and there were lots of people out there without jackets and even some in shorts and short sleeves. I thought I was getting to be native, but not so. Notice in the park pictures that they have jackets on and other winter attire. Crazy natives!

All of us are happier because it's been sunny for two days. Tucker is doing better because he's sleeping better with all the normal amount of exercise he's been getting. Whitney got to play outside without a jacket on. Mommy is just plain happier. I got a huge burst of energy. All that sun made me want to be outside. I was probably a little too over productive. Between the babies playing nicely and naptime, I did the following in one day: poop scooped; cleaned up 3 flower bed areas of pinecones,needles and branches; climbed up on the roof and cleaned all of that same stuff off; washed the skylight window and put down Moss Be Ware while I was up on the roof; cleaned off the driveway and garage of debris; thoroughly vacuumed and cleaned the car inside and out. In between all that I talked to the neighbor about her upcoming trip to Hawaii (she is really enjoying retired life) and went to a Just Between Friends Sale to find stuff second hand I really can't find at other consignment stores, plus the usual feedings and such. I felt like a wonder woman. Until the end of the day when I was really sore. It was a bit much for the babies, too, because by dinner they were in melt down mode. Not enough Mommy attention, I guess.

I made up for it by playing fashion show with the summer stuff I found. It's pretty awesome here. Second hand summer attire looks brand new, if you can find it, because like, anyone is crazy enough to by summer wardrobes. Last year I couldn't find certain stuff second hand at a price I'm willing to pay for 3 weeks of warmth. A swimsuit for Whitney, shorts for Tucky and by the end of the summer, I was really wishing I had water shoes for all the outside water play in the yard. I also used sandals quite a bit with them, even if they wear pants, so I wanted some of those, too. I didn't pay more than $4 on any one item, and most items were $3, so I was excited. I also found Whitney some jeans that actually fit. She is 2T in length but 12 months around without those diapers, so finding pants that truly fit her second hand has been hard (she says "oh no! Pants" multiple times through the day every time they fall down). But I found some!!! I was pretty excited. The only item I splurged on is the dress she is wearing. I call that her Daddy dress. Spent $5 and it isn't totally necessary as she has plenty of church dresses to go through next winter, but isn't it a fun print! I'm sure her Daddy would have gotten it for her if he had been with us shopping, so that's why I call it her Daddy dress. Whitney LOVED playing fashion show, but I did make the mistake of putting her in the dress first. I had to try everything else on underneath it, except for the swimsuit.

This is another reason why Whitney is definitely her father's daughter. I told her it was her swimsuit and she immediately said "swimsuit!" very clearly and excitedly. She then proceeded to "swim" around her room in it while she had it on. Mind you, this is her first swim suit. I have no idea where she got this because that is her first swim suit and we didn't go swimming much last summer. It's been 7 months since she last went swimming. Unless you count the bath. But I think she thinks she was born in a tropical place.

She's been having a great time with pretending in general. Today at the park she was "Whitney doggy". We played pretend "make mommy sandwich" with her and Tucker being the bread and she caught on to it and kept up the game. She's pretty much gotten Twinkle Twinkle down and is now working on the Slippery Fish song and the Snowman song. Today at dinner they were practicing getting "tall, tall, TALL" standing up in their booster chairs. I had to walk out of the room first to smile safely, then instruct in correct table manners. She also likes to direct play

At the park this week she showed Tucker how to hold the chain out for her so she could climb up the bouldering wall for little kids. She then ran around the bottom of the slide and held out her hand up toward Tucker to help him not feel scared to go down the slide. I went to hold the chain out on the second time up the wall and she said "No!" and motioned to Tucker that HE is supposed to be helping her out. Great! I can actually sit down for a few seconds at the playground. I don't think I've done that yet. She also learned how to use "texture" on the bouldering wall. It made her Daddy proud.

I've been getting a kick out of her love of flowers. She likes to learn their names and point them out when she sees them. She found a whole bunch of crocuses (pronounced cookies) on a walk in the neighborhood this week without any coaxing from me.

Poor Tucker. He has been playing with his take apart truck, but it keeps coming apart. He knows how to unscrew everything, but often comes to me saying "It broke!" I think it's been a bit frustrating. He still loves Hop on Pop. They yell it at each other sometimes, some of the phrases, like it's a song or something. He has started giving Mommy kisses on her boo-boos, which melts my heart every time. He's also started to figure out how fun it is to kick and chase a ball. I think it's really helping that he can actually run for long periods of time.

He and Whitney were playing Whitney be Mommy and he helped her through putting a diaper on over his clothes. He lifted his legs up and laid down appropriately, all things he doesn't necessarily do for me. He was trying to make it easier for her to learn to be Mommy, I guess. He seems to find great comfort in his diaper, still. Likes to put it on the stuff animals, use it as a hat for him and other family members, carry it around pressed against his belly like an apron. No signs of wanting to potty train. Seems to like being snuggled and doesn't mind diaper changes. That's ok. I'll take all the snuggles I can get and keep him baby as long as I can, much to Uncle Ryan's dismay.

first hair cuts and more

A sleeping Tucker pic. He tucked his arm in his blanket right as I was snapping it, but is was hanging out of the rails.
Tucker at the play place. I just missed his huge grin
Whitney rolling out cookie dough
Whitney getting her first hair cut. Cute bob with a bit of an a-line.
A St. Patrick's Day idea that someone brought to the girls night. Apparently they were all over Pintrest, but I have yet to get addicted to that site.
Of course. We were reading Hop on Pop
Whitney showing Daddy Elmo
Whitney loved just putting on her cape to get her hair cut. Tucker also got a cut. My friend cut it at our house and brought him a dum-dum to get him to stay still. Totally worked. He didn't let that thing out of his mouth but once, when he was done, only to show us the remains of his half eaten stick. First time of having a sucker, too.



This week the babies learned a whole bunch. It was a week of snowing three times and pouring rain the rest. I guess it finally decided to be winter now that it is almost spring. Just another way to kill my daffodils. So we stayed inside a bunch.

There is an indoor mall play structure with those plastic soft structures. I have resisted going all winter due to the fact every time I go, the babies get sick. But I got desperate this week and we went twice. And I'm glad I went. I think it was worth the sickness this time. When we went, Tucker was so, so happy. He had this look on his face like "Mom! Did you see this? This is great! And did you see this one over there? I love it too!" He was hopping around and jumping off of everything for an hour and I had to talk him into eating lunch, something he normally doesn't forget to remind me about. They both got fevers, snot and the whole thing, but now that Tucker has the inhaler thing, it's not such a bad gig at night as he is breathing better.

I think the favorite thing that Whitney got to do this week was help me make clover sugar cookies for the neighbors. She helped me mix the dough, roll out the dough, cut the cookies and mix (taste) the frosting. I was working in the kitchen for about and hour and she didn't leave my side. It was pretty cute about the frosting. She has learned not to eat dough from me making other doughs that don't taste good as dough, so when she got frosting on her finger, she was upset and wanted to help to clean off her fingers. I told her it was ready enough to eat and after that, she wanted many more samples. I let her lick the fork when we were done. She was actually really good at rolling out the dough and cutting out the shapes. I'm still surprised, but she's shown the skill before.

This week I feel like their language skills are taking off even more, both English and Spanish. Tucker's pronunciation is getting more clear. So I figured out this week that they almost have the Twinkle Twinkle and ABC song words down in addition to Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam. Tucker practices for about an hour at night in his crib before going to sleep. It's pretty cute, even if he refuses to adjust to the new time change.

Tucker's appetite is up as usual, but he did surprise me this week. I usually try to feed them whole grain stuff, but this week I was running late one day and fed them cheerios, something not as filling. Tucker ate three bowls. They are the little kid bowls, so it's about the same as 1.5 of our regular bowls. Crazy amount of food. Makes me glad that I usually feed them whole grains. Either they don't eat as much because it doesn't taste as good, or because it fills them up faster. Who knows.

Tucker is also working on his big brothering skills. He washed the baby doll in the bathtub and saw that I hadn't snapped the back of Whitney's shirt one day. I heard Whitney screaming one time and went to investigate, only to find Tucker trying really hard to snap her shirt for her.

Whitney has three additional molars all of a sudden. The other thing Whitney loved this week is that Daddy brought home flowers for Mommy AND for Whitney. Through the week, Whitney would point to which flowers in the vase were hers. Very cute.

This week the babies filled up the heater vent in their room with their cars, played change light bulb, and invented a game of playing in the shower that was oh so entertaining for some reason. When they change the light bulbs, they put their small chairs under a light in the ceiling that wasn't on, looking up repeatedly to make sure the chair is right underneath the bulb, and then reaching over head and moving their hands like they are unscrewing it. When they play in the shower (water is off and the floor is dry) they open and close the door while they shut the other one in the shower. When they filled the heater vent with cars, they ran to the playroom and gathered one car at a time, then shrieked with laughter as they threw another one in the vent. Good thing they are all still the chuncky cars. I knew they were up to something, but it didn't sound dangerous, so I let them continue until I finished my project.

Which brings me to another thing. I was painting this week. Too much time indoors this week made me realize I have all sorts of home improvement stuff that hasn't gotten done. Last year I painted during the day with them, so I thought not a problem this year. I have no idea what I was thinking. This year they can climb and do much more in a short amount of time. I didn't get very far at a time, having to stop to do something, but I got four small shelves painted. I let them destroy the house a bit more so I could work, but then found another solution that was pretty fun. I let them "paint" with water all over the bathroom. What a mess, but it didn't take too long to dry the walls, floor, Sammy and clothes for the trade off of finishing my project. I felt productive this week.

I also had a blast going climbing with my hubby this week as a date at the community center and the girls night at our house went really well. It was a good week for all the rain, snow and sickness.

haven't decided.... winter or spring?

Whitney is saying "oh no! Daffodils"
Tucker is a little distressed about his wet hands
My view out my bedroom window
Snow trying to cover up spring
Whitney's two snowmen



February and March are such teaser months. You start getting all excited because it's starting to feel like maybe spring is around the corner because it is getting light earlier and later. For example, now it is fun to be this far north. It starts getting light around 6:15 am and the sky isn't completely black until 7 pm. That means tonight it won't be completely black until 8 pm!!!! But then this happens. Snow. I'm always so glad daffodils are fairly sturdy flowers because I'd be really bitter at the snow every year if they weren't. Since we moved to Utah and ever since then, it has snowed on daffodil blooms at my house, but........ the daffodils still make it through the snowy weather. Monday morning I woke up very surprised at the snow. When we went to bed, it was bitterly cold, but that's because it was perfectly clear, moon out and everything. So I was shocked there were enough clouds in the night to pass through and dump snow. The ground wasn't frozen, so I knew the snow would melt quick. That and there wasn't any snow on the roads.

As soon as I saw the snow, I went in the babies' room to wake them up. I pulled the shade up and Whitney immediately smiled a huge grin and said "Snowman?", pointing outside. So, before breakfast and before Daddy left for work, we went outside and built two snowmen. They lived only 24 hours, and only that long because we built them in a shady spot where the warm sun didn't get to them later that day. While we were outside, Tucker got out the mop bucket, because, you know, every time you go outside you've got to give the mop bucket a push up the driveway and back, even when you are getting in the car to run errands. Whitney checked out the daffodils and was very concerned for them. Then we were done. I'm glad I did that because the snow did melt quick. And I remember being little and being so excited about something I couldn't eat. After that, they ate a hearty breakfast.

So this week started out with snow. It was sunny until Thursday, so by then, it warmed up to the upper 50's. Very balmy for here. We went to the park on Thursday and Tucker figured out the joy of taller slides. He was having such a blast, with this big grin all the way down the slide. I wish I had the camera with me to take videos and make the grandmas jealous enough to come visit. Whitney likes the slides, too, but still loves the teeter totters best. They threw rocks in the pond to attract the ducks and watched ducks for awhile. We had a picnic and they really liked sitting at the big picnic table. By Friday and Saturday, it was really cold and rainy.

I found out Tucker is a die-hard outside kind of guy. On Saturday Jim and I divided and conquered. Tucker went with me and Whitney stayed with Daddy. Tucker had to go to a baby shower with me, so I promised him after that we could go to the playground. In order to keep my promise, we had to go to the playground when it was pouring, with a very frigid wind whipping around us. Stupid me. What was I thinking when I said that?? As soon as we got out of the car, I was done, but not Tucker. He had so much fun getting soaking wet. He also yelled "Wet!" at every piece of playground equipment and laughed. Every single piece, including the poles. It was interesting to me though, that even though he was fine getting wet, he has his limits. Not his hands or pants. He didn't touch any of the wet stuff with his hands. Smart boy. Turns his hands really red, since he won't wear mittens. He also stood at the top of the slide to wait for me to dry it off (all moms here go to the playground prepared). I thought this was a very pointless activity, but he had to learn. After the third slide down, the towel was just as wet as the slide, so I didn't get too much of the wetness off. He got pretty wet going down, but he also sat just right on his rain slicker and went really fast down the slide and landed hard at the bottom. He didn't go down any more slides. I eventually had to talk him into "finding the car", my trick words for "time to go" after 25 minutes. I was freezing and he was happy.

Another interesting and great thing I learned about Whitney and Tucker this week is their ability to play together. They played for an hour and a half almost completely independently. I couldn't believe it. To reward them, we went to the park for the same amount of time. Thank heavens Thursday was a nice day. What happened is the girl that normally plays with them while I'm at the women's clogging group wasn't there. I knew she wasn't going to be there, so I loaded up on "new toys" that have been in the closet since before Christmas. And they played! No fighting. One time, Tucker had a moment and couldn't see me on the stage from the gym. He yelled "Snuggle Mommy" a few times. I leaned over the edge and gave him a kiss and he went back to playing. I still can't believe it. They also did amazing during Stake Conference today for two hours. Good thing, because Jim wasn't there to "snuggle Papa", a huge thing that usually gets us through church. Yeah stickers and fish crackers. They were also really good on Monday and .......... drum roll....... I got the entire house cleaned in one day on Monday. Good thing. Prepped me for a sick week at the end.

One thing I really love about Whitney is how she isn't a complainer. Unlike me. I love to complain, which is why Tucker is my child. I'm getting payback. But Whitney is an example to me of not complaining. She has been very sick these past few days, full of snot and a fever that makes her body ache. She also was hoarse talking a few days, probably because her throat hurts. And probably her ears, but she didn't complain. No screaming, just snuggling and a lot of tossing and turning. I really hope Tucker doesn't get this cold, because it's a doozy for Whitney, so I don't even want to think about it for him. He's been happy ever since we got the inhaler figured out a week ago. Running around like crazy, sleeping through the night and no throwing up with jumping or running. He also no longer has a continuous runny nose, something I didn't notice until it was gone for the first time in... I don't know how long. It's great!!!

Something that just makes me laugh is what Whitney and Tucker are learning to say. Half the time I don't remember who makes up what, but one will make something up and the other quickly copies it. Here's an example. For some reason they have picked up names for age groups. The only way I can think of them thinking of this is that there are a lot of Grandmas and Aunts in the family book and they are all the same age, so maybe they think one name applies to the age group. If they can't fit the person in the age group, they just get a smile or a stare. There is a friend of mine that has a three year old named Lincoln. So now, when we go out in public, any kid bigger than them up to the age of about 5 has the name Lincoln. They shout at those kids to watch out "Lincoln" or are genuinely sad for "Lincoln's" ball to have rolled out of reach. There is also a girl about 13 years old with long blond hair who plays with them at clogging class named Brynn. So all teenage girls, especially those with long blond hair have the name Brynn. Like the girl in the bathroom today, who was not Brynn, was named Brynn. Duh, mom. This also applies to anyone that may seem like family. We were invited over to a home that is kind of family in a round about way. When we left, Tucker promptly said "Bye Grandma" I don't know if it is a category or if he feels like she must fit in the Grandma category.

Tucker figured out how to ask a question. He must really like the varied responses or something because he does it a lot. Kind of like "why?" but three words. Boy, he's really going to like why. One word, lots of responses. He figured out "what papa doing?" He thinks he's really funny.

Did I mention they are good at disciplining? This usually applies to any and all family members. Tucker even says "bad tucker. Time out!" and runs over to time out after giving Whitney a "soft" (soft touch on the head or shoulder, instead of a hug or kiss, as those are scary to Whitney, too). Whitney disciplined Rocky for sitting on the daffodils, getting my attention and yelling at Rocky to "move!"

I was talking to Papa on the phone (my mom's dad) this week and he was asking about how big they were. It got me thinking about how it doesn't seem possible that they could be big, but they are growing up. They can find almost all the letters of the alphabet (Stef, thanks!), Whitney is potty trained, they can play for an hour and a half, walk, talk two languages.... kind of, and make me laugh! They seem too little to be doing it all, but they are babies no longer. But, Ryan, to answer your question, I still call them "the babies" They still seem to be little to me and now I'm starting to hold on to baby moments because I know they'll be gone very soon. Makes me feel old.

But I can't be too old. I'm very impressed with myself. I set up the WiiFit again. Jim was happy for other reasons, but I'm happy because I did my Wii age and it says I'm 27. That program is really smart. It knows what to say to make me keep playing games on it.

Book of the week: Hop on Pop...... still

This week I'm looking forward to going climbing at the community gym and a ladies night out at my house. Happy St. Patrick's day!

just another cold, indoor week

In Daddy's truck, holding a truck. Sweet dreams!
I didn't realize how dangerous the potato head ear parts can be. They must have made the stubs short so they don't damage kids ears. She gave us a scare the first time she did this, but don't worry, no penetration of the ear canal. She walked around saying "Ear!"
Dipping fries. Yum!
Tucky dipping his cajun fries
Whitney taking care of baby.





This week we had some just really sweet, family time together. Two of those moments were watching Tucker and Whitney take care of "the babies" and driving in the car. This week they spent a half an hour or so just taking care of the baby dolls as a team. It was just a fun, enjoyable and relaxing time. They each would take turns or work together, to feed the babies a bottle, give the babies a snuggy, put the baby to bed and feed the baby fruit and veggies at the play table. I don't know why it was so cute to watch them, but it was.

The other cute and fun time was when we were all driving in the car together. We were in the car about a half an hour and they were saying "Another one Tucky!" or "Another one Papa!" or Whitney or Mama. after that, whoever was called on would sing a phrase of a song. Tucker and Whitney usually picked Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam or ABC's. They took whatever they could get from us! It was a pleasant car trip where I felt like we were just plain having fun as a family.

The screaming has come down a notch this week. If they started fighting at the meal table, they had to take a 2 minute break in their rooms. So now they stop screaming if I ask them if they want to take a break from eating. Hopefully it is not too cruel of a consequence, but it is a lot more enjoyable to eat this week.

Yesterday they were with Daddy for four hours while I went to the caucus meeting and got my hair cut. Daddy didn't feel well, so he tried having them watch a movie. They watched Toy Story. Or should we say, Whitney kind of watched Toy Story and Tucker played with Daddy, totally uninterested. Whitney did recognize Mr. Potato head.

We also were lucky this weekend and got invited to two meals, one a lunch and one a dinner. Tucker and Whitney got to eat some really yummy things, including ice cream, not to mention the yummy things they got to eat while Daddy was watching them. Luckies! I was just so glad not to think about meal planning twice on the weekend.

A couple of cute things I caught them doing this week included Whitney reading to her cars and Tucker running/slipping on the carpet with slick newspaper ads stuck to his bare feet. He laughed really hard about how hard it was to run on the carpet with slippery paper stuck to his feet. It made us laugh really hard, too. The reason he discovered this was because he took out all the leaflets that come in those value pak envelopes and threw each one over the back of the couch, then ran through them once they were all scattered on the floor. What great fun! He also was very tickled pink that he was able to lodge a ball in a rocking chair slat at a friends house. He did it on accident, but really wanted to do it again since it made him laugh so hard.

We went to a baby blessing, in which Jim was asked to go up and help. Tucker yelled "bye-bye Papa several times in an outdoor voice when Jim went up. Very reverent indeed!

The books of choice this week include "Just like me" a book about twin sisters that Whitney really likes, and Hop on Pop. They like the pages about three fish in a tree, Brown and Black and of course, the two kids hopping on Pop that look just like Whitney and Tucker.

They continue to be very interested in letters. I went through the alphabet and they can recognize most capital letters. We're just missing letters like X, Q, U, I and Z . I'm having a hard time thinking up daily things that start with those letters. This week they have been more interested in numbers (mostly Tucker) and colors, especially yellow. Tucker likes the number 8.

We finally figured out the inhaler thing for Tucker and he is sleeping and playing well, so we'll work with that for a bit. Which means he wants to go outside more. Whitney didn't really want to be outside much this week. It was really cold. The only way I could convince her to be outside was with bubbles and sidewalk chalk as long as I would play with her. She also really liked going on a walk around the neighborhood, but we only did that once. Tucker insisted on pushing his mop bucket around on the walk, but since it has small wheels it is hard to push on the side of the road where there are lots of pine cones, pine needles and small gravel bits of debris from the snow on the road earlier this winter. He really wanted to push it in the middle of the road the whole time and kept saying "Stop it mommy" (in a kind voice, amazingly enough) if I directed the bucket to the side. Not conducive to car traffic, so we didn't do it again. Way too stressful for me to keep him out of traffic.

Our smallest daffodils bloomed, but Whitney insists, still, the un-bloomed ones are the only daffodils in the yard. Whatever. Daylight savings is next week and it is already light until 6 pm now, so next week it will be 7 pm! It feels like spring might be here soon! Can't wait!