I had a great day today, but now I can't talk

She loves her pillow

Tucker has chocolate on his face from the party treats

Whitney let no chocolate escape

This was actually fun.....for us not the busboys

playing at the beach three days after winter jackets.  Welcome spring

more cuteness

picking sand out of his mouth unsuccessfully

burying himself

I had a great day today, even if I was getting sick all day.  Toward the end, I finally couldn't physically talk.  The only bummer about that is that I love to chat it up with people and couldn't, even though I really wanted to.

It started out great.  It was sunny, Mina brought me up a surprise.  The babies only screamed during breakfast and Whitney screamed when leaving the park, but no other screaming.  They took a nap today.  It was a bit forced.  I drove for 1/2 hour for them to get to sleep, but either way, there was a nap, which means a lot less grumpy the rest of the day.  Two friends treated me and my kids to lunch.  That was a double special treat.  Not only did I have yummy food, but I also didn't have to cook or clean up after my kids.  Poor busboys.  The restaurant should be recommended, just because they accommodated a party of nine, 6 kids under the age of 3.  Whitney and Tucker both chowed down

After lunch and nap, we went to the local beach park.  Tucker and Whitney filled the bucket a bunch, threw rocks in the water, ate fish crackers for snack and we all basked in the sun.  Glorious.  Whitney had a fit all the way to the car.  She didn't want to say bye-bye to the playground.  A dad stopped and talked to Whitney.  He had a 10 month old in his arms.  He asked Whitney if she was ok and introduced his son.  I wasn't sure if he thought I was kidnapping her or if he just wanted to try to calm her down.  I got the feeling he thought I was kidnapping her.  Tucker looks like me, but Whitney looks like Daddy, so he might have been trying to check things out.  She was definitely hamming it up.  I think she screamed at the top of her lungs for the 15 long minutes it took to walk up the hill while she was having a fit. 

While she was screaming, Tucker was saying things like "oh look! Agua!" and "bye-bye playground" and watched a frisbee being thrown by another girl and her dad.  But the cutest was he said was "Oh! Tiene hambre, Whitney?"  He said it with such compassion, like he had figured out why she was so upset and he could offer her food to feel better.  It was very cute.  Especially since most the time when he's that upset it's because he is hungry.

Once she ate dinner, we had a blast again.  So Tucker was right.  She played with her butterfly wings, Tucker read "one drum"  book.  he can turn the pages and mimic the rhythms of the words pretty well.  Tucker gave me a jovial rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with his soy milk covered spoon keeping the beat.  Yep.  Gave them "o's" for the lazy dinner tonight.

I also was in contact with a bunch of close friends and family, which was awesome. And it was sunny.  Very lovely day.

Last week was cold and rainy, so we stayed in a bunch.  I bought an apple tree last Saturday.  On Sunday, three deer showed up and left footprints all around my tree that had yet to leaf out.  So I put up a deer fence in between temper tantrums and rainstorms.  Took me until Thursday to finish, but no lost leaves to deer.  The bunnies also hopped around the yard to check things out, but couldn't reach.

Tucker is really getting sentences out and his own thoughts expressed.  One day he pointed to the flowers and said "oh no! Flores!"  I didn't understand him for a few times, but he finally pointed to the flowers that had wilted until I figured it out.  He was very concerned for them and that I needed to know about them to help them out.

Tucker also played Grand Old Duke fully by himself.  He even did the rolls to the left, right, upside down and the knee bends while he sang the song.  He did it with one of the baby dolls.  Then he gave the other baby doll a turn.  He also tells me to "stop it, mom" and to "let go" if he wants to do it by himself.

Another time Tucker climbed up to play on the piano.  He was playing nicely on the keys and singing Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam.  Then he did it again, so I peeked in and saw that the book was open to that song.  Pretty cute, even if I'm not sure if it is coincidence or not.  He will sing in his crib up to an hour, instead of napping.

He is continuing to wrap my friend around his finger.  One time we left the house and he said "Buscamos Lorena".  He also said it before church and couldn't wait to see her.

Whitney's sentence structures and communication has also taken off this week.  I feel like this week every day was different as far as how well she could put together full sentences and communicate her ideas.  Here are some examples.

I picked up some chocolate chips at the store this week.  Whitney said "I want to hold it, Mom".  She then kept trying to pull the chocolate chip cookies off the picture and said " Mom, I want to eat it."  Yeah, me too, Whit.  She also told Tucker to "bite it" when she was sharing food with him and feeding it to him.

One day we went to the playground and when we pulled up she said "a different playground".  She also wants the Sunbeam song on repeat for going to sleep.

She loves to shop.  We finally found her Sunday shoes and she was so excited to hold the bag.  She also loves to give the clerk the products to buy.  And, hold on to your pocket book Mommy, because there are two pages in two different books that talk about buying stuff.  One is from the book "Life is Great at Grandma's".  In it, it says that "if she takes you shopping, she will probably buy a treat".  Another one is about daddies and it says "daddy will buy your favorite treat".   She smiles and grins at both pages rather big.

She is also a big helper.  She cleans up without asking often.  She also got the diaper rash cream when I asked her to get it.  She knew right where it was and brought it right to me.  She is mastering stirring.  One morning she even stirred the pancake batter without spilling once.

They went to their first little kid birthday.  I guess they had a great time.  After we left, Tucker kept saying "buscamos jake's".  Whitney said "Whitney happy at Jake's"  Jake was the birthday boy.  I did feel really bad for Tucker.  He was in time out for 10 minutes at the party by accident.  He hit someone, but I didn't have a timer, so he was so good in time out, I forgot to get him out.  Poor kid.  He gave me a big hug and a smile anyway.  They had a blast.

back to the beach

April is flying by.  I think it's the good weather.  I continue to skip out on work to go be outside.  We went to the beach this week and had a blast.  I went with a friend that is actually Tucker and Whitney's friend, I think. They both smile really big when they see her and love to play with her.  For example, Whitney found all these huge rocks at the beach.  She would point to one and ask her to chuck it in the water for her, to get a bigger splash than Whitney can get herself  (big splashes are called "big bloops").  Once Whitney got tired of bossing her around (she found clam shells to dig up), Tucker took over.  He liked throwing a clam shell in, waiting for the water to clear, then pointing while saying "right there!" to the clam shell in the water so she could go fetch it for him.  The water was freezing, by the way.  She's really good to them.

They have been getting better and better at imitating.  This must be the phase when it is embarrassing at times, for a parent, because home behaviors are also publicly displayed, bad or good.  So far I haven't been to humiliated by seeing a reflection of my private self in public, but I'm sure it's to come.  There have already been loud, play-by-play discussions of Mommy needing to poop and the result in the bathroom, but I usually go out in public to stores during quiet times of days when other moms would also be present, so I've been lucky thus far.

Some of my favorite imitations are long phrases.  One time  Whitney asked for a "different spoon".  Not so cute the sentence itself, but the way she imitates adult behavior and fluctuation of voice in such a little tiny body.   Tucker and Whitney have also started playing the game of repeating a phrase I often say "Mommy will be right back, ok?"  Tucker goes around the house saying either "Tucker will be right back, ok Whitney!" or "Papa will be right back, ok Tucker" when he goes in another room to get a toy or when Papa leaves for work.  Another favorite is when we go down certain roads that have playgrounds.  They start saying "buscamos el playground" repeatedly until we pass the playground.

Some other imitation behaviors that are really cute involve putting on lotion.  Whitney puts lotion on my face after her bath while I put lotion on her back.  Tucker helps me put lotion on my legs after bath.  They are pretty good at it.  They also finally figured out how to give each other boo-boo kisses.  It's super cute.  They both figured out kisses to Mommy and Daddy, this week, too.  Whitney and Tucker ask Daddy for a kiss before he goes to work.  If he accidentally kisses me first, they instruct him to give me a kiss after they get theirs.  One time I left the house, only planning on being gone a half an hour.  I started to leave with my keys in hand and Whitney let out a big howl.  It took a few seconds for me to figure out she was saying "kiss!".  Once I figured it out, I turned around to give her a kiss.  She immediately stopped crying, gave a huge sigh, then said "bye-bye Mommy"

They are also rapidly building their song repertoire.  They added row row, row your boat, london bridge, I know my Father lives, and Listen to the Still Small voice, Patty cake, and Insy winsy spider, all without cueing from me.  There are also many other songs that they have names for and request that I sing.  Sometimes it's a bit confusing and frustrating, though.  Whitney will do this most often.  She requests a song, so I start singing it, then she screams for me to stop.  Don't worry.  I won't quit my day job to sing.

Toward the end of the week I decided to stay home and get some stuff done outside.  I don't think we could have been happier as a family.  Tucker and Whitney threw rocks, dirt clods, dog dishes, swept, raked, dug in the dirt and played "around and around" name game with everything (blossoms, plants, Sammy, Rocky) while I weeded and dug a hole for the apple tree.  It was great.  They were worn out on those days.  It did get a bit frustrating at one time in that they wanted to snuggle in the pit and jump to the "island", but once I wrecked their fun, it was ok.

after the water

I love my hat and towel.  They are so cute!

I'm really cute, need I say more!

Me trying to capture the cuteness of their swim stuff.  All for under $5.  Even better

Rocky was snuggling with my strawberry plants, but he moved to here by the time I got the camera.

Tucker was holding this pull toy saying "Big Snuggle Woof Woof", all while walking around the moat/pit I made for the apple tree

In the pit

Tucker snuggling in the pit and Whitney jumping on/off the island

Everyone has a place to work

Sunshine is the best.

The videos are of just them being at the beach.  If you listen carefully (over the background noise of the tractor clearing the boat ramp) Tucker is saying "right there!" to Lorena, then chucking the clam shell back in the water.  Whitney is working hard.

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.