belly pics

Bah Humbug.  I really liked the camera we had until it got stuck half way between open and shut again.  Last time that happened was in September, not too long ago, but I thought it was because I dropped it in the sand.  As far as I know, nothing has happened this time, except it was in Jeremy's pocket a bunch.  Maybe he has sandy pockets.  Wouldn't be the first time.

So I'll be explaining a bunch with words again.  Sorry!

We went for a walk on Mother's Day.  For some reason Tucker was feeling very snuggly.  He snuggled the flowers.  He snuggled the rocks.  But he also snuggled Mommy and made my day.  I wish I had a camera when he crawled under rhody bush and found a bunch of flowers blooming to snuggle.  He looked up at me in such a perfect picture pose.  But alas.  I actually didn't have a camera.

Whitney LOVES birthdays.  There have been a bunch of birthdays in the family and friends, so it's been at the forefront of her mind I believe.  She makes me lots of birthday cakes, usually with "strawberries" or "blueberries" in them.  Those are the pink and grey blue rocks she adds that we have in the yard.  Then she ends with a nicely pitched version of happy birthday.  I absolutely love it!

This past week a few surprising things happened.  Jeremy got home around 6:30 most nights of the week.  It was also sunny and "warm", summertime temps for here.  It was so, so lovely.  Amazing how rapidly my mood improved.  Fancy that.  The big kids felt the change, too.  They haven't been wanting to fall asleep before 9 pm, it's been so exciting.  Oh well.  I've heard the other parents say their kids aren't going to bed until late, so it's probably just a summertime struggle I'll have as long as we live here.

One of the things we did one of these nights was play basketball with Tucker.  It's worded that way on purpose.  Tucker directed the family team.  He would tell each of us when it was our turn and how far away from the basket to stand for our skills.  He wouldn't give us the ball until we were standing  where he wanted us.  Embarrassingly enough, my distance isn't too much farther away from Whitney's.  Papa could pretty much stay where he was and throw it really far.  But Whitney hasn't been into basketball too much, so it was really cute seeing Tucker encourage her to try and try again until she also got a few baskets.  Apparently this was very exciting.  Usually when I snuggle the big kids right before bed, Whitney talks to me a bunch, but Tucker flops around or sings to himself.  Not that night.  He talked to me for 15 minutes about playing basketball with Papa.

We also tried some candy from Thailand this week with Papa.  One of them was those sour coated dates with the seed still in them.  I still haven't figured out what that stuff is, but it makes my mouth pucker.  He also brought home some milk durian  candies.  And I learned about that particular fruit.  Apparently it is a love it or hate it fruit with lots of controversy.  Apparently it is very stinky.  So stinky, in fact, that Jeremy showed me a picture that is posted on a subway train in Singapore.  They have the usual pictures of no food or drink or smoking.  And in that list is a picture of a durian fruit saying no durians on board.  I had a really, good laugh about that.

Tucker talked a bunch on Monday morning after he had run all those errands with Papa on Saturday.  He normally doesn't fully participate in Joy School, often playing nicely off to the side, but Monday he was telling everyone about all the stuff he did with Papa.  Definitely loves his Papa.

Whitney was pretty cute about all the Papa time, too.  She asked who she was going to play with for Activity Days this week.  I told her Papa would be home to stay with her.  She said "I sure do like Papa".

With the warm weather we have also reclaimed our backyard.  The lack of the need to poop scoop to be back there has also helped in reclaiming it.  We've been playing on the deck and the underneath side.  Our yard  isn't totally fenced in and Tucker can easily open one of the side gates, but for the most part, it is an area where I can let them play now.  They've invented backyard games.   Tucker plays basketball with some hoop looking holes in the holly tree.  He also really likes to pick the holly berries off the tree, lecture anyone in hearing distance about  how you can only pretend eat those berries and then throw them up so high "it went on the roof".  He also enjoys reaching the berries for Whitney that she can't reach for her soups.

Whitney loves knowing flower names.  We have a camila bush in our backyard that is just ending its blooms.  The flowers fall off whole on the ground, so she has been collected her favorite blooms and saving them to float in bowls around the house.  She also picks not as perfect blooms and pulls them apart to use the petals for soups.

Their entertainment and media is definitely still very much a part of their play.  The other day they were playing "banana" with the rake and laughing hysterically about it.  Playing banana means mimicking the behaviour they see the minions in the mini movie associated with Despicable Me.  The other day they watched a bit of Madagascar and they were laughing hysterically at the penguins (minion like in movements, I must say) and the giraffe falling down all the time.  Now they play penguins.

Lots of Tucker's one liners and sayings come from stuff they see or read.  He likes to walk around saying "oh what a ride!" or have Whitney push him in the laundry basket saying it.  It is from the book Fish Out of Water that he loves to read at least 3 times a day, if not more often.  He and Whitney have started playing "Mr Nobody", something they were very entertained with from Joy School.  It's an imaginary friend of theirs.  Whitney loves walking around the house saying Angelina Ballerina.  I finally checked out that book for her and we got out the stuffed animal version of Angelina to read it to.  She is in love.

Whitney has gotten a bit tired with all the late nights.  She had gone into her room to feel her sheets and read Angelina Ballerina.  It was about a quarter to seven.  I was playing with Tucker and didn't hear anything for awhile, so I went to check on her.  She was dead asleep at 7 pm.  Sweet!  I was not about to change her into pjs.  She slept until 7 am the next day, but was very confused about why she still had clothes on.  Tucker was concerned for other reasons.  Since she was asleep, she didn't get a bath.  Tucker asked me with a very serious face "Is Whitney stinky?!" before going to bed himself. Yep.

Whitney drew a "J" in a circle in one of her watercolor pics.  She said it was baby brother in mommy's tummy.

Whitney could only go up to her knees that day, and so her knees got wet!

Tucker only going in up to his knees.  Amazingly, they stuck to the rule

talking to each other in those tube things.  Whitney is closest, Tucker is in the distance.

Playing on the train together

Playing in the fort

We've been enjoying a few days at the park.  One day was warm enough for them to take their sandals off.  Well.  Warm enough for here.  The next day was back to regular temps and they were very sad they couldn't take their shoes off.  They've been enjoying jumping off the rocks at the park, too, since they aren't wet any more.  I love it when they help each other jump off rocks or slide down steep rocks or slides by holding each other's hands.  Melts my heart.

Tucker asked Jeremy to play Thomas with him.  That involved Papa setting up the track and the both of them staring at Thomas going around and around the track for 15 minutes.   Tucker would fix Thomas if he went off the track.  Tucker filled up Thomas's "wagon" with the fish from the fishing game he brought back from Japan.  Tucker likes to instruct us in correct orders.  He told Jeremy "first the track, then Thomas" when Jeremy mentioned Thomas needed new batteries.  He also said "first potty, then bath" when running to the bathroom to get his turn in the tub.

He also pointed out that Thomas is a boy, just like Tucker and Papa.  Boys night out in the living room, I guess.  We were having one of many who's a girl and who's a boy discussions the other day. I had a good laugh at something Tucker said.  It can be taken two ways.  We were talking about how Mommy is a girl. Tucker then said Whitney was a "little Mommy".  I think he meant that Whitney is a little girl, but it could be taken that she is a little Mommy in the truest sense to him.  I haven't decided.

I like the fact that I can take a little bit advantage of his boy love of mechanical things.  He squirted all the windows down with Windex for me and also squirted the vinegar on our wood floors.  Quite a good little helper that way.

We played with oobleck today.  Tucker loves that stuff.  I was impressed that Whitney remembered the nickname for it.

We also played tent.  Tucker liked smashing Whitney's, so it didn't last too long.  He wanted to play glow stick, lantern and with the other glow in the dark or light up toys they have for wintertime.

They played caterpillar this week.  They each found a caterpillar that they went on adventures with.  They usually let it crawl around in a shovel they carried about.  Tucker put one of his caterpillars in the dump truck and "dried him off".  Mina was doing laundry and he had the truck below the dryer vent.  I think the caterpillar crawled off the truck, because soon after that they had to take turns with their caterpillar friend.  Whitney figured out how to use two shovels to help the caterpillar back on a shovel.  She didn't want to touch it.  Neither did Tucker, but Tucker kept trying to convince her to pick one up.

They had a ton of fun with Daddy on the weekend.  We decided to clean up around here from the past 2 and a 1/2 years.  They got a power washer and rode around on the flat cart at Home Depot.  Whatever.  I let them push.  forget rides.  I'm already tired.

One of the errands was for Daddy to get his and Tucker's hair cut.  Didn't work out so well.  Well, I guess it depends on who you ask.  Tucker didn't want a haircut, but Whitney sure did.  So she got one and he didn't.

They also went to the dump with him to get rid of all these non working appliances that were kindly left by the previous owners.  Tucker had a blast pulling stuff to the truck and lifting what he could into the truck bed.  He's pretty good at it.

And of course they got a treat, lots of them, while with Daddy.

Some funny stuff Tucky said this week.  He calls brownies "frownies".  Not frownies.  They make me smile.  He also got a little upset at his left over pizza at lunch.  He broke in two pieces.  He doesn't like his food broken for some reason.  He was crying hysterically and kept asking for tape to put on his pizza.  I see the logic..... kind of.

Whitney likes comparing how she is the same as other people.  She said "Whitney and Papa collect rocks".  She says collect so cute.  You understand her, but the pronunciation is off on collect.  She also said that "Danny and Whitney both like cutting paper" while she was cutting up little shapes like "octagons" from paper.  Danny is the kid in the book It Was Jake! who cut up paper for fun.  The one that drives me the most nuts, though, is how she compares her toes to Papa's toes.  They have the same toes, which means they both like to pick up objects off the floor with their toes.  Which means she likes to do clean up with her toes.  It. Takes. Forever.  Tucker pretty much does clean up on his own now.  I have to plan lots and lots of time for clean up.  Because I'm not picking up toys or anything else off the floor at the moment.

For Joy School this week I made a man out of pipe cleaner.  Random, but Tucker loves Man.  He brings him everywhere.  He puts him to sleep in the iphone box he got from Papa.  He likes to cart the box around, too.

Tucker tripped the other day.  So he's been showing the family his owies.  The first time he showed Whitney his owie he said "Whitney, want to see my owie?"  She looked at it and kissed it.  He was so excited he ran to tell me how kind she was.  Yep.  Whitney told me this week that girls help their mommies.  She certainly does.  But they both helped weed today, so they are both my big kid helpers.

all of these pics are from a friend's camera and are purely belly pics

the reason for no pics

Jeremy got back from being in Laos yesterday afternoon.  He's had the camera for 10 days.  Now that he is back and alive, I feel safe putting that on the Internet.

He called it an adventure of a lifetime.  I'm still not entirely sure what he did.  I was trying to get him to tell me about his trip when he was very jet lagged and had only slept maybe 2 hours in the past 24 hours.

He flew from Seattle to Bangkok starting April 25, but I think it took 2 days to actually get to Laos.  After giving him a hard time about not going to Thailand without me, he ended up going anyways.  He says it's because he didn't calculate the dates right.  Hmph.  He spent a day in Thailand.  He liked the papaya salad and seafood he ate there.   Went to visit a big temple there.  Mentioned he wanted to go to a seashell museum in his email to me saying he was still alive, but didn't recount that when he actually got back here.  He did say he resisted the temptation to go to the beach or ride an elephant in Thailand.  And that Bangkok was a bit of a disappointment to him since it was very metropolitean and there were so many people and tourists around from all over the world.  Sounded a bit like New York in that respect.  Apparently most people there looked at him and saw American, not Asian.  Yep.  I agree.

He spent most of his time with a guy named Jordan, who somehow knew him while they worked at Omniture.  Do not ask me how they hooked up for this trip.  I'm very confused about it, too, but somehow they did.  And this Jordan dude knows another dude from his current work at REI here who set up some of the trips plans that Jeremy and Jordan did together.  Some of the time Jeremy was with them and some of the time Jeremy was wandering around in the country doing his own thing.

Jeremy spent most of his time hiking from a nearby spot from the capital of Laos to another town Luang Prabang.  Through the jungle.  He said he saw some bears.  I'll include the photo of that.  They stayed between some mountains and a river for their bearings.  When they would come into random towns, they would eat street food.  He said he liked that.

Some other specific stories he had was a night he decided to stay in a hotel that had been converted from something else.  It wasn't uniform.  A lizard was in his room.  I think Tucker would think that is cool.   He kept slipping in the tub and the water went from hot to cold.

He got up to see the monks being fed in a particular town and had some pictures of that.

I know he went up and down the river in Bangkok and took a ferry to the temple (I think).

He also mentioned how he met a couple (I don't know where) and the woman was six months pregnant, miserable, and "snappy".  I can only imagine, in that heat.  Apparently Jeremy smiled when she made the comment to her hubby it was all his fault.  Husband of mine, are you remembering that I'm eight months pregnant?

He said his favorite thing about coming home was seeing us get excited about the presents he picked out.  And that I wasn't as grumpy as he was anticipating.  Thank you grumpy woman half way around the world for putting into perspective for him how awesome I am!  Whitney and Tucker were very interested in seeing all of his pictures and hearing about his trip.  And he did pick some very good soveniers.  Things that we would all like and not just candy that will be eaten and forgotten about.

If anything more cognicent comes out of his mouth this next week, I'll be sure to write it down, but I'm not too hopeful.  He's back into the work schedule again this week, probably busy with being gone.

The other cute things Tucker and Whitney did this week that I haven't mentioned, I have no pictures of.  But that's ok.

Tucker decided one afternoon to wear my flipflops instead of his to the mail box.  Amazingly, he can walk fairly well in them.  It made me laugh.  I also got a sheet of masonite so he can practice tap dancing.  He really liked it.  Lots of noise that is ok to make.  Jeremy also thought Tucker might be able to copy some of the stuff I do on the piano.  He practiced with Tucker and was right.  Tucker pushed the right keys after him.

I also didn't realize that I've never brought my kids through a carwash before and that I, myself, am a little rusty.  You know what happens if you don't follow directions?  The car wash stops, the guy comes to ask you to roll down your soapy windows while his mouth is full of food because he thought he was going to get a break while you were in the machine, and tells you to put it in neutral.  Hah!  I forgot about that.  Apparently leaving it in drive puts you off track.  And I didn't look for signs while I was rolling up all the windows.  Whatever.  Whitney got scared while we were in the carwash.  It was kind of dark going through all those sloshing things.  I held her hand.  I later heard them playing carwash and part of it was Whitney holding Tucker's hand to comfort him while he put his car through the "carwash".

Whitney spent 40 minutes coloring in nursery yesterday.  Apparently they talked about families and the family sheet they gave them to color matches ours.  A brother, sister and baby brother.  When I came to pick her up, she was showing baby brother in my stomach the baby brother she had painstakingly colored.  Tucker did an amazing outline of his hand on his own.  He went to nursery this time, but only with Whitney holding his hand.

I think most of the pics with people are in Thailand and the scenery ones are Laos.

bears on the trail. apparently already eating

on the trail.  probably why he wanted to go. 

market pic

feeding the monks

market pic

on the trail

working on a wat

mural at a wat

river scenery

farmer field

housing in a village along the trail

mountains

This is one that whitney liked

Too hot.  Need to bring your own shade

gardens Jeremy liked

last week of adventure

I decided to be really crazy and travel.  But believe me,  I have no desire to travel after this for another year.  I'm pretty sure.  Until next February when I really start missing the sun again....

Anyway,  my youngest brother graduated from college.  Trust me.  This is no small miracle.  So I decided to go out and witness said miracle.  I didn't actually see it, but my mom saved me the program.  His graduation where they called his name started at 8 pm.  Bedtime.  No worries.  I knew I'd miss it due to crankiness, both on my part and my kids, but it was still fun to see the family.

After that graduation, I decided to visit a friend that lives 2 hours away if I was going to go all that way.  We stayed with her most of the week, and here are the cute things Tucker and Whitney did during this trip.

We stayed at a hotel with a pool the night of the graduation.  Heated.  Indoor.  It was lovely!!  This is the first time where having a hotel with a pool is a big deal for our kids.   They didn't realize the fun of it until a little later.  The pool was the first thing I showed them.  Even before our room for the night.  Whitney kind of looked at it, but Tucker walked in and started acting like it was a self flushing toilet or port o potty.  He was saying "I don't need to!!" and "I don't want to!!" as soon as we walked in.  I guess swim lessons were a little more traumatic on him than I realized.  He had no desire to get in without me.  Grandpa got in with him first, but after he saw Whitney get in the floatie and play with Grandpa.  He was much more content when I got in the pool, too.

They both ended up playing in there for at least an hour and a half, maybe two.  Thank heavens for grandpas.  My dad stayed in with them the whole time.  They liked making big splashes and the floatie most of all.

My grandpa, whom I call Papa came to the graduation.  This was a bit frustrating for Whitney.  All this "my papa" and "your papa" was a bit much for her, I guess.  Finally, she said.  "No, Mom.  Just Jeremy"  when I referred to her dad as her papa.   She also figured out this week my first name, that Mommy isn't my only title.  She was pretty proud of herself for that.

Some of their favorite activities have been playing "in the dog house", picking flowers, taking care of their bulbs, smashing rocks, and playing with the other kids and their toys.  They are learning a lot from the bigger kids.  I heard Whitney talking to herself while in the bathroom listing out all the Mommy stuff she can do to help the other kids playing doggie.  Put the dish in the oven, go get the toys for the other dogs, give them cookies and water, etc.  She really enjoyed playing Mommy doggie to all the other kids in the "dog house"

My friend's oldest boys take clogging lessons.  So we went to watch.  I was surprised how long Tucker and Whitney wanted to watch them do the same dance over and over again.  This past week after we got back, I discovered Whitney is big enough to fit in the tap shoes I found second hand.  But Tucker is the one that wants to stuff his wide feet in those shoes and dance with me onstage when I'm at clogging.  I guess he really likes the noise and the music.  Ok.  Tucker it is. 

The dog house is the hide out name for a corner of the attic that is carpeted and lit.  Most of the kids went around on all fours, barking, while they played this for a good hour.

Tucker saw one of the kids get up on the trapeze swing.  He had to try it and figured out how to do it.  Another thing that really surprised me is that Tucker chose to stay inside after lunch for an hour playing with toys while Whitney went outside to be with her new friend.  That is quite the reverse of what happens at home!

Our big adventure for the week was to ride the train to a planetarium.  It involved getting everyone in the car to get to the train station.  That took an hour.  We just missed the train (someone stepped in dog poop, something that wasn't calculated into the usual taking forever) so we ate lunch while waiting for the next train.  Probably a good idea.  It made for a relaxing and happy train ride and walk to the planetarium before it was snack time.  Which was pretty much as soon as we walked in the doors at the planetarium.  That is one good thing about being pregnant.  Instead of getting annoyed with always dealing with food, I'm right there with them and totally agree it is snack time....... again.

Our car was in the parking lot all day while we were at the planetarium.  I had to laugh.  Whitney is obviously a WA kid.  We got in the car and she kept asking me over and over to turn off her heater.  The car wasn't on yet.  The windows were up because it was really cold outside.  I couldn't figure out what she meant, but I finally figured out that she thought I had the heater on full blast for how warm the car was.  Yeah.  I guess that doesn't usually happen at home.

In the planetarium there was this three story high machine thing that kept tons and tons of ping pong sized balls moving using gravity for the most part.  The only motorized part was the elevator that brought them to the top.  The balls hit and bounced all over all sorts of levers and chimes.  Tucker couldn't take his eyes off it.  He stood in one spot holding the lunch suitcase (which is what you need with 7 kids, one pregnant lady and one nursing mom full) for about 1/2 hour.  After that, he let go of the suit case and sat down to watch.

While Tucker stared in a daze similar to video games, Whitney and I checked out all the other displays about planets.  She grasped the concept of the world globe look from space while we were there.  I realized this on the way home when we turned on a video in the car and the Universal Studio song with the world turning came on and Whitney said "the world!"  She was also more interested in her globe when she got home.

She discovered Jesus on the globe near the Sao Pablo Brazil dot and got excited about that.  I think that is where she thinks Rocky and Sammy live.  I tried to explain Rocky and Sammy live with Jesus and Heavenly Father above the earth.  Not sure if that sunk in.  Only that Rocky and Sammy got old.  Then she asks me what old means.  That one really has me stumped.  I haven't figured out a good way to explain it yet because she keeps asking me that.  That and how is baby brother going to pop out of my stomach.  She is looking for a window and doesn't like my answer for that one either.  Bah humbug.  How does a 3 year old stump you so fast?

So, as you might be able to tell, Rocky and Sammy passed away April 17th.  The vet recommended lots and lots of meds for Sammy or putting down both together.  Rocky wasn't doing so hot either, but Sammy is the reason Jeremy brought them to the vet in the first place.  Stopped eating, falling down while walking down the hall with no obsticles, and suddenly seemed to go blind and deaf in a short period of time.  Not to mention other symptoms.

He did it while we were out of town.  It was kind of weird to come home and they weren't there anymore.  I stepped over where they used to sleep automatically for a few days.  The lack of noise was different.  My neighbor came and knocked on the door, but I didn't hear it for the lack of barking I'm accustomed to listen for.  The bunnies like it.  They have new plants to eat as there is no longer guarded territory.

Whitney talked about how Sammy and Rocky got old for about day and where they live.  Tucker must have internalized it.  Or doesn't get it.  He hasn't mentioned it.  Or doesn't seem phased, just content to listen to Whitney and I talk about it.  I'm not sure he's really processed it.  In the two weeks since we've been home, a few things have happened that make me think he doesn't get it. 

One time Whitney dropped play dough on the floor.  Tucker wasn't happy with her doing that.  He asked her if she wanted Sammy to eat it.  Whitney yelled back that there is no Sammy.  Another heart wrencher was the UPS guy.  There is a delivery guy that always leaves two dog treats, one for each dog.  He left them for them a couple of days ago.  Tucker didn't know what to do.  He was sure Sammy and Rocky were in the backyard and went looking for them to give them their treats.  He didn't see them at the back door, so he went outside.  Still couldn't find them.  So I tried explaining again.  He looked at me and said "I'm not a dog, so I don't need these treats".  The first few days we got back Tucker still held his food high above his head getting it to the table so no dogs would eat it.  He has recently stopped holding his food up.  Maybe it is sinking in.

The car trip was an adventure both ways for different reasons.  Overall I was surprised at how well they did traveling so much.

On the way out I thought we were never going to get over the mountains.  Whitney apparently gets car sick.  Didn't know that about her.  Either that or she was not used to the swaying of a van going over mountain roads.  Once we got on straight roads, though, she was fine.

I broke up the driving over three days.  Jeremy drove me 8 of 12 hours on the way out, then the whole way on the way home.  The other two times I drove with Tucker and Whitney, they were very patient and not demanding, which was good, since I had no more hands.  Whitney collected rocks at all the stops.

One the way back we made really good time for the first 9 hours.   So we thought we shouldn't push our luck and stopped for awhile.  We found a random old school playground that has a merry go round and swings with very long chains still left.  Jeremy might have gotten a little carried away.  Tucker got sick and was green for about 45 minutes after the last merry go round ride.  Jeremy thought it was funny.  I didn't.  Driving over the pass on the way back no one got sick.  Probably because it was white knuckle driving over the pass with the amount of rain coming down.  Glad I wasn't driving and don't know how we didn't get in a wreck.  I couldn't see the lines and there was lots of construction cones, plus someone tailgating us, making it extra hard to see.  Phew!  We're alive and glad to be home.

Whitney made me "birthday cake" by putting rocks in her upside Frisbee and putting on my "birthday hat", turning her small bucket upside down.  Tucker got in on the fun and found rocks that were fruit, since he knows how much I love that, too.  He served me on his Frisbee in between throws.

Jim showed them his trilobite collection from when we lived in Utah.  Wow.  Were they attentive.  Very fascinated by it.  Tucker liked the "buggies".  Whitney continues to mention that papa wants to bring her to the beach to collect rocks.  That was part of their conversation while he was showing her rocks.  I think she thinks she is going to find a rock like that.  He also showed them some of his topaz.  That was also very exciting.

I was a bit distracted when dinner started today.  No worries.  Tucker took care of it.  He told Whitney to stop eating so he could say the prayer.  This was very surprising because Tucker is the most irreverent one when it comes to prayer time.  He usually talks loud and silly and gets one thing in so he can move on to the next thing, meal time.

Another surprise is that he opted for Mommy snuggle over food and toys.  For some reason he didn't want to go to nursery. My theory is that he didn't like breakfast and thus didn't have enough food to make it through church not grumpy.  I told him he could go to nursery and have snacks and food, or he could sit on my lap and sit through my classes.  Amazingly to me he chose to sit on my lap.  He was very quiet and snuggly.  I thought he was deathly ill and kept checking his forehead for a temp, but nothing.  I guess he just needed a bit of Mommy time.  After class was over he asked for food and told me I "need to go get Whitney"  When we got to nursery, Whitney said she "waited and waited a long time for Tucker", but she had fun in nursery because she had a happy day.  She did.  She was very, very well behaved today in church.

Whitney is trying to figure out the seasons.  I must admit, it's a bit confusing here.  This week it was "warm" enough to have short sleeves on and flip flops.  Not really, but we pretend.  Today the sun came out after the morning rain, so Whitney was convinced it was short sleeve weather, due to the sun.  Not quite.  Still 55 degrees.  Then she started saying "what comes after winter?", "what comes after spring?" "what comes after summer?", etc.  I don't know Whitney.  It all seems the same here.

This is what Tucker did during Aaron's baptism.  He was having a very hard time being reverent so I let him finish the entire sheet of stickers.  He was very amused with his belly.

Sarah and Whitney smashing rocks together.  Sarah was smashing off parts of a geode.  They did this for about an hour

The hideout.  Or doggie house.  Another source of entertainment for long periods of time

watching the birds build their nest just outside the window

Tucker perched on top of the playhouse.  He didn't like Starlight coming up to sniff him too much, so this is where his refuge was when she was out.  I guess he's afraid of dogs bigger than him, even though he has his own dogs.

Tucker stepping me through how he can put his own coat on now.  He puts his hood on and then slips his arms through.

Sarah dug up a bunch of flowers and their bulbs to send home with Whitney.  These are the cups they replanted the bulbs in so they could be transported back with Whitney.  They were watching the dirt get wet after water was added

Reading at the library

Sarah did Whitney's hair.  Whitney felt very beautiful

Tucker playing cars with baby brother.  One of his favorite cars to borrow from Henry

Whitney snuggling baby brother

Mommy downing a malt so she didn't have to share too much.  Tucker already ate his ice cream cone and was salivating

Whitney coloring and waiting to be fed more ice cream

Riding the train

All the tulips!

more tulips

Tucker shaking the chain around the tulips

A potentially dangerous combo.  These two were behaving and being cute at the moment, but I don't know about those vixen faces......

Tucker and Henry.  Unmoving.  Fascinated for at least 15 minutes.  In this exact position

Tucker on the "moon"

Whitney on "Mars".  She really, really liked these rocks

Tucker still lugging the lunch box around

Getting into trouble and having an absolute blast.  Note: Henry and Tucker each have a Thomas.  They bashed these together throughout the day.  They threw all the clean clothes on the floor to climb up on the dresser and threw out a bunch of shoes and Henry's toys.  Made a general disaster of the room and disobeyed the climbing rule.  Did you see any of that in the pic?



Whitney reading the map.  She is telling Papa how to get to the playground.  Papa wasn't following directions, so Whitney drew him a map to get to the playground.  It had lots of pink markings in lots of squiggles.  We ended up turning around a bunch and making turns, so I guess it was an accurate map.  Jeremy was surprised Whitney grasped so many map concepts.  I got a good laugh about that.  Duh.  How much Dora did Whitney watch when he was in charge a few weekends back?

Tucker played with this propeller on this plane quite a long time in the car.  I think that was money well spent, Papa.  Also a good shot of Tucker's car face

on the merry go round.  should have been named Mr. Toad's wild ride.  tucker was green for about 45 minutes after this and threw up a bunch. 

Learning to pump with Papa

Tucker played with this helicopter for a long time, letting the blades (they are made of foam) hit his face or head.  He also has on "flip flop sock", something else he invented on this long car trip back

One remarkable thing about the car trip.  Tucker truly has a bladder of steel.  And he is still deathly afraid of self flushing toilets or port o potties.  Just as we crossed the OR border, Tucker asked to go potty.  so we stopped at the first rest stop.  It was really nice.  Had automated everything.  So Tucker opted to hold it.  Along with every other rest stop in OR.   I can't believe it.  He held it all the way across that section of OR until we got to a less updated rest stop in WA.  Good thing we only cut through a corner of it.

Since we've been back, I haven't taken any pics.  More on that later. So I'll just add a bunch more text to this already long blog. 

We've been trying to web cam with my parents.  Not working out so well.  Jeremy's web cam doesn't have sound.  Mine doesn't have video to send to my parents (we can see them).  So now that Scott has the ipad, my parents want to do face time.  But before all that, we were trying to fix the camera on my computer.  Tucker was being very helpful during this.  While we were working on it Tucker said "Click that one.  Here, I'll help you fix it!"

When Whitney woke up while we were in Utah, she smiled and said "Look Mom!  I'm a quesadilla!"  I didn't do burrito once with them.

I bought Tucker a change of sheets finally.  Too much snot throw up and no sheet to put on the bed while washing it.  I didn't realize what a big thing it was going to be.  The cutest, least expensive option happened to be the microfiber sheets.  Oh dear. As soon as I put those on Tucker's bed, it was lots of fighting.  Whitney no longer wanted to feel her sheets.  She wanted to sit on Tucker's bed and feel his.  Which meant lots of him kicking and hitting her because she wouldn't get off his bed.  Finally I put cotton sheets back on both of their beds.  Jeremy's solution was to get Whitney microfiber Hello Kitty sheets.  The perfect gift!  Almost.  Tucker loves "meow, meow", but at least he doesn't have to touch the sheets.  He'll just point and meow.

Tucker has come up with some odd assortment of games.  He likes to occasionally play Tucker slug.  He lies on his back on the floor and pushes himself around with his legs.  He likes to pretend the black playdough is peanut butter.  He loves to play the piano.  What amazes me most about his piano playing skills is how well his form is with his fingers.  He's already picked up on that.  I had so many beginning students not grasp that for 1-2 years, usually playing with straight stiff fingers instead of relaxed curved ones like Tucky.  He was picking songs out of books for "activity day girls".  Random.   

He is getting very good at Frisbee.  I like this one because he runs around chasing the Frisbee.  Nice and tiring.  He also zipped his jacket himself including putting the zipper together once this week.  He hasn't done it since, but getting better.  He likes clean up time better because he throws the toys in the baskets just like playing basketball outside.  Fine by me.  Only time he's been interested in doing clean up and does it so fast that Whitney doesn't clean up half the time.  I'm sure that will be short lived.

Tucker also knows how to cook oatmeal.  He instructed me step by step of what to do the other day.  If I would just let him turn on the stove or stir the pot that moves if you don't hold on to it, he would doit, I'm sure.

He also knows how to give a baby a bath.  He demonstrated this with Thing 2 in the play kitchen for me.  Made me laugh.  Turned on the sink and everything.

He has learned to pedal his bike on flat or downhill surfaces.  I've come to realize plastic wheeled bikes are total lame sauce.  They prevent learning to pedal because there are so many surfaces that they don't work on.  Driveways that are usually wet or full of pine pollen.  Or gravel.  He often just uses his legs to push himself around.  We went on a 1.5 mile walk around the park and he pushed with his legs around the entire thing.

A new skill they are both acquiring is how to jump well on a trampoline.  I have friends who have those big things in the back yard.  Full of moss and pollen.  But they love it at the moment.  At first Tucker called them jumping beds, but now they call them by their proper name.  The best part about having those friends is that it tired Tucker out the first day he was on one for this season.  He instandtly fell asleep at 8 pm (he usually actually falls asleep between 8:30 and 9:15 pm) and slept until 8 am the next morning.  The sun gets them up around 6:30 this time of year.  What an awesome thing.  But rest assured.  If we had one, they wouldn't love it or play with it as much.     



Another thing that still, but shouldn't, amaze me is how much verbal stuff is sucked into their brains.  There is a Clifford book about going to D.C. that has some demonstrators in it with signs.  Whitney asks me "what are they saying" in many books.  She asked me that with this book, so I said one side was saying "yes, yes, yes.  Let babies live" and the other side says "no, no, no, let mommies choose"  She repeats that every single time we read the book.  Even though all the signs in the picture actually say "for" and "against. 

 

This rings true for disciplining each other or me.  Tucker told me once he was "not happy with my decisions".  I think I put him in time out (again) or didn't follow a rule or something.  

 

Whitney really helped me out the other day.  We got a take and bake pizza and I wasn't paying attention to it.  Typical.  She ran to find me to point out the dough was rising VERY RAPIDLY on one side and needed to be popped.  I didn't know she knew this needed to be done.  I'm sure she'll want to take over cooking for me as she'll get frustrated with my skill and taste in food.  Can it be age 5?

 

Whitney also likes to do puzzles.  She put together a 48 piece puzzle herself the other day.  I didn't know she had the visual skill or patience for it.  Cool!

 

Together they took care of worms.  I was weeding when it had rained in the morning.  Tucker and Whitney spent lots of time covering worms back up with dirt and pine needles to care for them.  Very cute!

 



Tucker really made me laugh about his "dancing shoes".  He likes to walk around in the house with those pink plastic things I gave Whitney for Christmas.  He pointed out to me that he really likes them because his foot fills the entire toe box.  Now he can walk in them.  Loudly.  The faster he goes, the louder it gets.  He even did a demo for me that they stay on his feet so well he can jump on his bed.  In high heels.  Just picture that.  It should make you laugh.

I was trying to type a letter out today.  Gave up and put on the minions mini banana movie.  It's been at least a month since I've shown it to them.  they asked for it about 10 times while I tried to finish my task.  Whitney would say "more banana!"  And Tucker would say to me "It's ok to watch it again!" in a very reassuring voice. 

I was really impressed with some things they did.  One time we went to the park for a very short time before Tucker started having a melt down that we all knew wouldn't get better any time soon.  So I told him that we had to go home if he couldn't calm down. He chose to go home.  Whitney was so good and just came, even though it was her kid brother that made her have to go home after 10 minutes of play only. 

Another time a very friendly kid attached himself to them.  He kept wanting to touch them.  Give them hugs, hold their hands, (take their toys, rocks or flowers).  I was getting very annoyed with this kid, but Tucker was so patient with him.  He would tell him no about taking his stuff, but would let him hold his hand.  He wasn't keen on the hugs either, but just told him no.  Whitney hid behind me and yelled at him if he got too close.   I didn't correct her too much because she was just voicing how I felt about this kid.  But I was impressed how Tucker handled the whole thing.  FYI, the mom was very close by and constantly on her kid to listen to Tucker, but he needed the constant reminder.

My favorite thing this week so far is them working together to make my birthday.   While I was weeding this week, Whitney decided it was my birthday.  This is a very popular game since we've had so much birthday stuff at our house with hubby and friend's b-day.  Whitney "played on her piano" (rock) and sang me the song, then told me to blow out the candle she stuck in her mud cake.  Tucker took a half hour to make me a chocolate cake in my weed bucket with leaves.  They were very diligent in giving me a great b-day.  And Whitney randomly remembered that I want to watch whales for my b-day.  You're right, Bear!  But I doubt a captain would take me on a boat in my condition.  Either way, this was a sweet gift.  Close enough.


And now.....  I'm parking it here for a year.

cupcakes!!!!

We play "spout".  That is code for me doing dishes while they play in the rinse water.  For some reason Tucker calls bubbles baking powder.  He repeats that over and over.  Not sure why.

playing under the pink canopy of blossoms.  My favorite time of year for this tree

playing with rocks and the bucket. 

being cute

Car eating pizza.  The balloon is folded into the right shape and the corner is shut into the hood

anticipation for papa's b-day.  Whitney couldn't wait to make him cupcakes

When they see some of the pictures of baby Jesus, they call him burrito baby Jesus because he's all wrapped up snuggly in his blankets like they are each night by their papa.  They even noticed the light in the picture being held by Joseph and called it "flashlight just like papa".

Today Whitney randomly remembered the ward Christmas party.  Our assignment was to bring veggies, so I brought kid friendly veggies of cucumbers and carrots.  She remembered that I gave her cucumbers and that I forgot to bring home the rest of them.  She remembers this today.   Then she said, "we can do a lot of things at the church.  We can watch people get baptized, we can eat cucumbers.  we can....." and couldn't fill in any other blanks.  But random.  Where do they come up with these things?