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?

Tucker taking out the trash

There are lots of Tucker videos.  Probably because a video of Whitney reading wouldn't be too exciting.  Tucker is proud of how big and strong he is.  This trash can is full.  It cracks me up how big it is next to how small he looks, even though he's a "big kid"

tucker shooting hoops, just like xavier

new toy

Whitney with her dancing clothes on.  Yes.  That is sunshine.  Why are we in the house????!!!

Tucker wanted a picture of him in his dancing clothes.  He tried walking around in the heels for a bit.  Got mad at them for not staying on his feet and dragged his heels the whole time.  Blackmail

Whitney's cube tower in the little house she made with Daddy's Ikea chair pad.  Note: What Do People Do All Day book very close by

I've been dragging my feet about making a decision about a car that can hold 3 car seats.  But I finally procrastinated long enough.  And we now have an awesome van.  Only a mom would say something as ludicrous as that.

The brakes went out in my Saturn and my hubby pointed out that the cost of fixing them would subtract from the worth of the vehicle if we traded it in for a car that can hold 3 car seats in the back.  Whatever.  Fine.  He wins the financial argument this time. 

I think the car companies, car seat manufacturers and law makers must all get money from each other.  Those booster things have a wide base, too.  Anyway, I was thinking about keeping my cool factor by getting an SUV looking vehicle instead of a van.  Hah!  What a pain.  I never even drove an SUV.  All I did was try to figure out how our 3 car seats would fit.  I was so mad and frustrated before I even sat in the vehicle, I didn't even bother asking for a test drive.  No wonder families have vans.  All car seats fit, you don't have to climb over a seat with wet, pine-needled feet every day, and you don't knick other car doors from your three year old insisting he can open it himself and opening the door all the way before you can stop him while you watch that the other three year old is not running out into the path of another vehicle.  Or do it all with a baby carrier in arms, too.  I'd forgotten how I've made a habit to park next to the trees and such so I can get in and out of the car with the door wide open.  Now it doesn't matter where I park.

We're all in love with our new toy.  Jim loves how it parks.  He always hated how long the front of the Saturn is.  He also never particularly liked driving so low to the ground when he is used to driving his truck.  Tucker is in love with all the buttons.  He figured out on his own how he can let himself in and out of the car by pushing his "car button" to open the sliding doors.  He clarifies with me each time getting in and out that I'm not to help him and to let him push the buttons himself.  He and Whitney had a bit of a tussle the first time he offered to help her with her door.  Nothing doing, Tucker.  They've also had fun with the different light buttons and other stuff.  They've been really quiet driving around town.  I keep glancing back at them in the really cool mirror thing that it has.  They are just looking around.  Probably seeing stuff for the first time.  But the most important feature of this van?  That the brakes are working.  Tucker checked himself to see if the tires were on and the brakes were working.  We have had lots of discussion over the past two weeks about why we weren't driving Mommy's car, only Papa's because "mommy's brakes don't work".  Tucker checked to see that they were installed and Whitney cried out "stop!" at the first stop sign we got to in that car to make sure they were functioning.

I'm in love with all the other bells and whistles it has.  Like the windows roll down on the sliding doors and it has a sun roof.  I remember dying of heat in the van we had as a kid because of lack of air flow.  No problem with that in this car.  Tucker and Whitney will never get how cool that is because they haven't known anything else.  And of course I also love the power doors, especially the back lift gate.  All in all it's been fun.  When Jim drove it home, he said "why'd we wait so long?"  No car payment, duh.  But I'm still excited about the amount we paid for such a fun car.  When I first started looking, I was depressed about how much used vans cost.  But then we found this one and it's fun.  Honeymoon is not over yet...

It's spring here.  That means we had a random snow storm and two sunny days in the 60's all in one week. BTW, 60's is warm here.  But today was one of the beautiful sunny days and what a lovely day it was.  Jim went razor clamming.  He said we should have come.  The waves were only lapping at the shore, there was only a slight breeze and it was easy to see all the clams out.  Tucker and Whitney would have been able to spot them and help catch them.  I agree.  Bummer.  I've never known the beach to be that way.  It's always been freezing cold due to a blasting wind and the waves really high so  that when they come in, they come in hard.  Oh well.  Live and learn.

While we were out test driving this week, Tucker pointed out all the "pink trees for Whitney" that are blooming.  Our tree in front has buds about to pop and a few that bloomed.  Whitney walked out the door yesterday and said, "Look mom!  Our tree is blooming!"  It sounds so funny to me to hear her say it, but she gets the concepts about flowers.  Tucker thinks all yellow flowers are daffodils, but not Whitney.  She knows the difference.  An artist would.

We still had a fabulously relaxing day in the sun.  I took them to a park we haven't been to before.  Whitney was a little upset when we got there because she wanted to go to the one with the web that we went to yesterday.  But we weren't at that park.  After awhile, she warmed up and went exploring.  And loved it.  They figured out how to hang and drop from a bar without falling over.  Tucker liked that the most, practicing it over and over while I clapped every time he landed.  Whitney liked having me hold her up so she could be a monkey on the rings.  Then they played on the ship and the motorcycles for the longest time.  I think they were so happy to be outside most of the afternoon without a jacket on.  It was so pleasant!!

Then, we came home and Tucker played hoops and pushed dump truck around while Papa worked on his battery and muffler.  Tucker crawled on top of Jim a few times when he was under the car to see how he could help.  Whitney was loving being in the house reading while feeling her sheets.  The sun shines on her bed in the afternoon.  She was very content to be alone.   She also helped me with the dishes and told me all about the stuff she did today.

They were so cute helping each other fill Easter eggs.  My mom asked if we were dying eggs.  No way.  Maybe next year with the whole spilling dye everywhere is decreased slightly.  I didn't feel like cleaning that up, so we are just filling eggs.  It worked out fine because Whitney liked helping me put polka dots on her eggs to decorate them.

Tucker melted my heart today when he covered me up with his blanket, wrapped his arm around my neck "to snuggle you" and gave me a kiss saying I love you Mommy all before bed.  Whitney melted Daddy's heart by giving him a huge smile and saying "I love rocks!"  when he announced at dinner that he had collected rocks and sand dollars at the beach today for them.  He also offered them mini ice cream sandwiches after dinner.  Whitney made him laugh when she looked at him and said "Is Mommy gone?"  It's true.  He totally busts out the treats when I leave, as well as Dora, Ipads and Kindles.

They are getting really good at helping at the grocery store.  They pick out my produce and know not to drop it in the bag as well as count out the correct number of stuff I ask them for.  Tucker cracked me up when he picked up wet celery.  He said "I need a bag to go with it" in the same voice he does while he reads If you give a Mouse a Cookie.

This morning they woke up at very different times from each other, which let me have a little one on one time with them.  Tucker picked to play dump truck, but also included My Little Ponies in the pretend play with Dump Truck, making sure to add in head butting to the games, too.

Whitney is in love with the Richard Scarry books.  We checked out a numbers one from the library and I found our copy of What Do People Do All Day inherited from when I was a kid.  There is a half a page missing out of it.  Tucker and Whitney both randomly comment that "Uncle Scotti wrecked it".  I said that once about a book and now all books inherited from Grandma that are drawn in or otherwise defaced are because Uncle Scotti did it.  You'll never grow out of your label, little bro.  Sorry.  Whitney was upset the other day and she specifically requested that book to "cheer me up" while she felt her sheets.  It was the book she read for an hour while Tucker and I played basketball outside.

We've had some first discussions about money and Whitney seems to really want to grasp that concept.  They both know what money is versus other objects.  Tucker knows to pick up coins on the street.  But Whitney was trying to figure out the budget.  We were talking about how much different items of food cost.  She would point to one ingredient then another, asking how much it cost.  I did it all in terms of dollars.  So I guess it would make sense that she told me one morning that Papa's truck cost 3 and Mommy's car cost 10.  I think she was getting this budget thing from all our discussion about cars, looking at cars, and then a blinds consultant came over.  There was some special on blinds being advertised through Costco.  Should have known that if  only the discount, not the price, was listed, then it was too much.  After she left, Whitney asked if we were getting blinds and I said no, they cost too much.  Since then she has made that comment on a few things costing too much and if something is ok to buy, that it doesn't cost too much.

This week we made some muffins.  Whitney and I really like muffins.  Tucker, too.  It's yet another bread product.  What surprised me is that in the tub that night, Whitney was "mixing up muffins" in her empty bubble bath container using her glow stick to mix and listing every single ingredient we put in.  Impressive.  She even forgot the salt like I forgot the salt.

Tucker is getting good at basketball.  He watched my friend's kid shoot hoops for a week, not really practicing.  But once we got home, he's had me drag out the hoop and put it at different heights all week.  When he makes a basket he tells me "Mom!  I did it!  Clap your hands!" and when he's done for the day, he says "I'm practicing and practicing, just like Xavier!"  He also is starting to catch on to playing catch and thinks it is so funny.  Cracks me up to play with him.  He gets to laughing so hard, he can hardly stand up.

During Joy school, we were talking about signs of spring.  I asked what spring means.  Whitney said "short sleeves!" and "Easter!"  She was wearing a tank top underneath her sweatshirt.  When I took off her sweatshirt for bath that night she said "aaaaahhhhh...... much better" once she only had the tank on.  Jim is always commenting on how he doesn't like anything constricting him.  Whitney may feel the same way.  She also has not asked for burritos for bed anymore, but Turtle (blanket on top and blanket on bottom) so her arms, feet and legs move freely.  The first day back that it was sunny after our trip, Whitney said to me "Mom, it's a good day to play outside".  She never says that kind of stuff.  We went outside and she hasn't said it since.  I think she had forgotten that outside here doesn't mean warm air, short sleeves and sandals.  Or no shoes at all.

We were talking ages.  Tucker still gets a little confused between being 3 years old and being Thing 2.  Whitney is not confused about her age.  She said "I'm 33.  I'm turning into a Mommy soon."  Close enough.  I'm sure she will turn into a mommy even more, looking after three boys.  Tucker, Baby Brother and Papa.  All of them need their hands washed.

Some days they just play and play and play.  One afternoon Tucker invented the games.  He came up with pizza box with a gear set box thing, which, does open and close like pizza.  Or it is a suitcase, depending on which way you hold it.  They push their plastic chairs around laying down on their backs and put the toy baskets on top to carry all sorts of toys around the house.  This can be cars or trains, usually trains, as determined by Tucker.  One time during a train time, Tucker really loaded up his car.  He kept saying "I'm pushing really heavy things!"  He was impressed with himself, but I'm impressed with his strength, too.  He can pull the trash cans full up to the end of the driveway.  A strictly Washington kid game was "raining outside"  They pretended to go outside while it was raining and put their blankets over their heads like rain jackets over and over.  Like my Papa says, only WA kids.

One day I asked Whitney what she wanted to do that day with me.  She said "make brownies?"  I wasn't going to turn that one down that day.  She was  pretty surprised and happy about the whole thing.  I didn't realize it, but I think that's what she thought we were making for dinner.  She was very, very, sad that's not what we had for dinner that day.  She tried asking to make brownies again the next day, but foiled again.  I think she knew it, though.  She asked in a way like "I'll ask, but I already know the answer is no" tone of voice.

Between being sick (lost my voice for three days and it just keeps going and going as far coughing), car shopping and some other stuff I had to get done for Joy School and Activity Days, they've played independently quite a bit this week.  One thing that was especially cute was catching both of them playing the piano nicely.  Tucker was sitting at the piano playing the keys as if he knew what was up and had his book open to "a small one".  That's his title for "I feel my Savior's love", his all time favorite.  It was so, so cute.  I caught Whitney doing the same type of thing too, the next day.  So cute!

For Easter I decided not to re-invent the wheel and use some ideas from the nursery lesson manual on Easter.  Apparently our nursery leaders did it with them, too.  There was a cut out picture of the tomb, stone and Jesus.  They saw that and knew to "roll away the stone!" and found the stone in the pics in the books.   It was cute.  They also knew some of the words to "Did Jesus really live again" which surprised me.   Maybe they've been practicing, who knows.  But it was a very successful family home evening, to use those types of activities. Maybe I'll keep it up.  Maybe.

Fun in the sun

I decided to finally visit my friend Stefanie after years of talking about it.  The sunny and warm place she lives also really sealed the deal.  When everyone elseis still having winter, they have summer.  They call it spring, but I call it summer.  Close enough.  When I rolled into town, it was about 50 degrees hotter than the weather I left.  Perfect.

I think the best part about being there is that it is a total kid resort.  My friend has 6 years worth of toys for birthdays and holidays, and has three kids in those ages.  When Tucker and Whitney got bored with one toy or friend, on to the next.  They never got bored.

The great thing for me is having a mom around on the same page.  We talked when it was time and did kid stuff when it was time.  It's been about 6 years since I saw her last, so we had lots to catch up on.  Not to mention she totally spoiled me by cooking and cleaning all week for us.  Warm weather, new things to do and explore, a place to stay, food to eat, no chores.  Sounds like a cruise, don't you think?

Here are some of the things we did.  We saw the air show, ate lots of authentic Mexican food, ate shaved ice and slurpees, went to synagogue, went to a swap meet, went to a St. Patrick's day picnic, had a cleaning meeting with her friends, and went to parks almost every day.

As soon as we walked in the door, Whitney and Tucker beelined it to the kitchen/grill/ice cream shop and didn't really leave it for quite some time.  Tucker couldn't get over pushing the ignite button on the grill to cook cupcakes and oranges.  Whitney found a papa ice cream cone ( chocolate), a mommy one ( large strawberry) and a small Whitney one (small strawberry cone).  The next morning the first thing Tucker did was turn on the grill.

They have spent a lot of time climbing in the "dollhouse", climbing ont the dome to play birdies eating frozen veggies ( worms are green beans, bugs are the rest of the veggies).  They are proud of the fact they learned to climb up to the top to sit.  They also figured out the slide, both climbing up it and sliding down it.  It is really steep and slippery.  Tucker talks about how he gets bigger and bigger every day as well as practicing and practicing to figure it out all by himself.

Xavier taught tucker how to shoot hoops.  Tucker likes to watch Xavier practice with the hoop at the highest notch.  The hoop says different things each time you make a basket.  Tucker knows how to turn that feature on and off.  Whitney and tucker both think the "swisher-roo baby" phrase is hysterical.  They repeat it often.

They also love how the kids here are Dora and Diego fans.  Their favorite book of choice is a Dora book of some sort.  They've started using some of the Spanish vocabulary since hanging out with their new friends.  Some other favorite toys around here are the wall tracks using the cars, the remote control cars, the outside "sink"' and the car tracks.  And last but not least, the dirt pile.  Who doesn't love the dirt pile????  Whitney makes cakes and cupcakes.  Tucker digs and operates the trucks.

Whitney has been collecting rocks at almost every stop.  There are some from various playgrounds, some from the air show, some from some parking lots.  She has enjoyed all the new food.  Tacos, tortas, ices, shaved ice, muffins, etc.  She also has been the biggest fan of looking at the stars and moon each night before bedtime.  Another way for our night owl to stay up just a bit longer.

Some amazing feats that have occurred are getting here on the plane and the air show.  I came prepared with activities that don't require a plug, plus food, in addition to the kindle and laptop.  We were supposed to be traveling 6.5 hours total in confined spaces.  And they only used the kindle and laptop for the car trip from the airport, about 2 hours.  Amazing, amazing, amazing.  I couldn't believe it.  I kept saving my big guns for melt downs and boredom, but it didn't happen.  Tucker really liked doing play by plays of take offs and landings.  Whitney had fun sitting next to me and just talking.

The air show was also amazing.  I don't know how far we walked, but it seemed a really long way in a lot of heat and dust.  Stefanie's oldest, 6 years old, pushed Whitney or his sister in the stroller the whole way.  Lots of the dirt was soft.  Amazing.  I can't believe we went with 5 kids under the age of 6, 4 under the age of 4.  Go us.

This is the first thing they played with when they walked in the door.  Tucker immediately started grilling cupcakes

Whitney started sharing ice cream with me and with herself.  Tucker wanted to grill it first

more fun with ice cream store and grill

Whitney would fill up the tank with gas so Tucker could go to work.

Our first attempt at playing at the park.  This was after about one hour in direct sunlight.  Clutching water bottles, flushed and generally not moving too much while staring into space.  Isabelle looking them like they are weird.

This toy was the bomb.  They played with this every day once Stefanie got it out for at least an hour, or until they muddied the water.  The sink pumps the water through the faucet.  How cool is that.  Literally.

Taco trucks are the bomb

Playing at the park at the end of the week.  A bit more adjusted.  The whole crowd.

The words half way up this tower say "sea level"  I was so amused with being below sea level.  I don't think I've ever been without having a wet suit on.

The coolest room ever for us to stay in.  Note, thing one and thing two also painted on the wall.  Wooooowww!!

What is life without a dirt pile?

One of the best play areas ever.

Daddy in charge

blowing bubbles at joy school. 

Tucker driving the car they made out of cushions.  Whitney riding in the trailer.

Whitney asked for this picture.  We were all loving the sun.

"fishing"

This weekend I went to a friend's wedding.  Daddy was in charge and boy was it fun!!  The first night I called to talk to them they sounded very excited.  Whitney told me all about the special O's she ate for dinner and Tucker was excited about chocolate rice pudding.  Whitney also commented about how she got to watch "Dora on Papa's ipad" (his kindle that he hasn't really used as much as they have).  When I talked to Jeremy on the phone he said Whitney had thrown up the night before and all day Saturday, she was perfectly content to be still.

I guess Saturday was a beautiful day outside.  It worked out pretty well.  Jeremy said Tucker played outside pretty much from 11 to 5 while Whitney sat in a chair watching Dora.  Jeremy said he rotated her around the driveway to stay in the sun (a desirable thing around here).  It sounded like he was taking care of his little plant.  The next day she was grumpy but back to running around.  Tucker played outside while Jeremy worked on my brakes.  Of course Tucker wanted to help.  And being outside was heavenly for everyone.

On Sunday when I called, it was in the afternoon and there was a lot of whining going on in the background.  I asked if he wanted me to call back a different time and he said no, that it probably wouldn't matter when I called. They were grumpy that day.  I didn't even bother asking what time they went to bed the last two nights.  Or what they had to eat the day before.

 Jeremy was chuckling at Whitney when I was on the phone.  Apparently she made herself a fort to keep Tucker from touching her while he was randomly moving about the room, flinging his arms about.  While she was in her fort, she watched more Dora.  This was about 2 in the afternoon when I was talking to him.  Jeremy insisted, though, just as I got on the phone with him, that all that was happening and she hadn't been watching Dora until just then, that it was the first time she was watching Dora all day.  He seemed pretty proud of that.

Tucker was having fun playing "purse picnic".  They went on picnics around the house, filling up the purse with food.  True.  When we go on picnics, I fill up a reusable bag with food.  It looks like their play purse.

When I got home, my hubby and I were talking about laundry.  It was then I discovered that the kids hadn't bathed all weekend, nor did they create much laundry since he put the same outfit on all weekend.  He said he had to get tricky because if he pulled it out of the dirty clothes where Whitney put it, she would get mad and say they were dirty.  I did ask specifically if he at least changed their underwear.  Everyone knows the answer to that, but in the same sentence he said no, he said Whitney had no accidents all weekend, even though he pretty much fed them two entire large containers of Odwalla juice, one green and one pink, through the weekend.  I have to admit, even though they had a lot of sugar, he did make sure they got their greens.  So, not everything was done exactly the way I would have done it, but they were sure having fun with Dad.  I do remember the same thing growing up.  All new rules when Mom was gone.  I loved having that fun with Dad, but being happy when the normal routine showed up again.  Whatever.  They are alive, happy and no one had bad dreams when I got back, so we're good.  And I had a blast!

Friday also ended up being beautiful for a half day.  We went to the kid's museum in the morning, but stopped at the park on the way home since the clouds had dissapaited.  I wasn't anticipating being outside that Friday, so we went to the park jacketless!  Hence the picture without their jackets.  It was definitely cool, but once you started running around, the temperature was tolerable for an hour.  They had so much fun playing on the playground and walking on the path.  While they were climbing up the corkscrew ladder, Whitney was instructing Tucker to be careful so they didn't step on each other's fingers.  She said "I'm the big sister!" and Tucker said "Yeah!  You are the big sister!" agreeing completely and with such enthusiasm.  I had a good laugh about how he totally agreed and that's why she could make the rules about when to climb up and down so they wouldn't hurt each other.  We collected flowers, threw rocks in the water, Tucker jump in puddles while Whitney went around (Tucker was wearing boots), and went "fishing".  They collected lots of different sticks, dipped them in the water and fed their "fish" to me.

While we were at the kid's museum in the morning, we played climbing in the tree house, looking through the microscope, "loud, loud water", in the water, painting on the glass on the side of the fish tank, trains, building towers with a bridge across to each tower and in the sand box.  Whitney also found the face painting station and immediately requested to go there next.  She got a blueberry on her face.  she left it on all day.  All in all we had a really great time on Friday just playing together!!

It was good to play together because during the week they played pretty nicely together while I did a bunch of stuff.  Joy school was at our house this week, plus I was in charge of the Activity Day girls activity this week.  It meant a lot of time prepping for each thing. One time while I was prepping, Whitney asked me what I was doing.  I told her I was getting ready for Activity Days and she asked, "Where are you taking us?"  For most of the past 6 months, I've had to take them to a friend's house to watch them while I went, due to Jeremy being gone so much.  Whitney was VERY HAPPY to hear that Papa was coming home to be with her so she didn't have to go anywhere and "be scared".  She prefers to be at home during those times.

Joy school was especially fun this past week.  The lessons were full of types of activities I've been wanted to do with them.  I like doing science-like activities and the lesson had lots of ideas.  We blew bubbles using a straw in a cup full of soapy water.  That turned out really fun.  One of the kids made this huge mountain of bubbles out of the cup.  Tucker prefered to stir and stir with his bubbles, making lots of froth.  Whitney stirred a little, then painted her bubbles on her paper.  We added a little food coloring and that was even more fun.

I also made the cornstarch/water oobleck stuff.  No one was really interested in it except for Tucker.  He absolutely loved it.  He played with it for a good half an hour instead of playing with his buddies during free time.  He also played with it off and on during the day while I cooked, cleaned and prepped for some more joy school.

I read this kid book called Flap Your Wings by the Go Dog Go author.  The first time I read it I could hardly stop laughing.  Tucker and Whitney chuckled a little bit at first, but then they were not amused and stared at me like I really had lost it.  Then they got annoyed that I wasn't turning the pages fast enough.  But what got me laughing so much was how it was such an epitomy of me/Jim child raising.  Jim is just so happy to be with Tucker and Whitney, but I get all upset when things don't go how I envisioned them in their perfection, whatever that might be.  See if any of you see that in that book.

We had a magic show this week.  Their favorite and most fascinating trick was me "taming" an egg.  They tried standing the egg up on one end, but not having success, while I could do it the first time!!  The dissappearing pencil was also the object of conversation the rest of that day with Whitney.

Whitney continues to be a good little big sister.  Every time her tummy fills up, but there is still food on her plate, she says to me "Mom.  It's ok for you to eat it.  Baby Brother is still hungry".  One time this week someone asked her what the new baby's name is.  She looked at them very seriously and said "baby brother".  It might be his name for quite some time yet.  All I've established is I don't like boy names much.

Here are some cute things they are doing.  But out of all of them, Tucker tucking me in like a burrito and scrubbing my head like I "scrub" his head to make him go to sleep just melted my heart!

I caught Tucker reading the Economist on the bathroom floor.  He was turning the pages and saying the words to the book If you Give A Cat a Cupcake book.

Tucker likes helping me clean all the toothbrush drawings he puts on the mirrors.  He really likes squirting the windex.  He got in a cleaning mood and we washed all the windows and mirrors in the house.  Kind of nice because they really needed them.  But he also loves scrubbing the toilet.  Good, but stresses me out because I REALLY DON'T WANT THAT BRUSH OUTSIDE THE TOILET, if you know what I mean.

Above there is a picture of them in their pillow car.  They like to go to all sorts of places, mostly the bank and to swim lessons.  When they get in the "car" they give each other sunglasses.  One time when they went in their "car" they went to the store and Whitney got out with her list.  I asked Whitney what was on her list.  "..... spinach, mild, purple juice, mushrooms and toys..." Not too bad!

We had a great time playing pony this week.  We played in the doll house with them a bunch, plus floating in their boat in the ocean or swimming in the ocean, just like swim lessons.  They have a lot of ponies, but there are only about 3 they like to play with specifically.  Tucker has a Tucker Baby Pony who is different than Tucker Big Kid Pony.  Whitney has a Whitney pony and a Whitney Baby Pony.  I have a specific Mommy pony.  I'm not allowed to change, I've noticed.  And it is a pony that is orange, not pink, with straight, not curly, hair.

This week I've been trying to sit down and just play with each one of them each week.  Now that they play together so nicely most of the time, I started noticing I could go an entire day next to them, but not interacting.  It has made my week much more satisfactory.  Now.  If only I was able to stay focused on that all the time.  We have had lots of make believe play together as a result.  Whitney was my Whitney Yellow Big Kid Birdie one day, using the outdoor small cushion as a bottle to feed me or a worm to feed her.    We also just played with toys randomly.  One time, after Activity day night where they were with Dad, they got out the trays from the tool bench toy.  They turned the trays over and were pretending they were Ipads/kindles.  Tucker studied the sticker on the tray carefully at one point.  He pushed the drawing of the top of the screw and said "history!" then pretended to watch "Happy Train" ( a video about the alphabet with a train).  The top of the screw picture does kind of look like his history button on the ipad.

Jim also told me he gave Tucker and Whitney a sip of his Sobe.  Tucker got really excited.  He ran and got his cup and requested "lots of sips" from Papa's drink.

They helped me make perogies the other night.  Worked out pretty well.  They played with their play dough while I made the dough.  Whitney stuck with it for a really long time and mimicked all the stuff I put in, too.

last week of swim lessons

Whitney with the necklace she made with all the beads.  She was pretty impressed with herself that she made that with all the beads and got it to hold.  The beads are from three different sets, so the holes aren't exactly the right size for all of them.  It is rather hard to get the ring to hold.  She liked how big of a necklace it was, too.

Tucker feeding Meow Meow a treat at his table

Tucker playing splash and eating a fake tomato at the same time

Whitney playing splash

This week was a quieter week.  I decided my goal was to work on inside stuff and take frequent play breaks with Tucker and Whitney during my indoor projects.  It has actually been very rewarding and made the days very fun.

I worked on our 72 hour kits, rotating food and clothes and making sure it has stuff for wet and cold weather.  Not together yet, but closer to what we would most likely need in this climate.  I also started moving stuff around in our closets to prep for room switch ups.  I'm hoping to convince Jim that the downstairs should be his man cave/office area and his office should be Whitney's room.  I think he's convinced, but there's a bunch of organizing to do to move storage and stuff so he feels like he's got his own space.  It was a fairly productive week and fun, too.  Tucker and Whitney have been playing really well lately and I had a blast laughing at the games they came up with.  Here are several.  Read on only if you are grandma....

This week was the last week of swim lessons.  I think Whitney is glad, just so she doesn't have to take a shower.  That is her biggest beef of going to swim lessons.  She gets wet, freezes on the walk out and then freezes in the pool.  Then she gets out of the pool and freezes all the way back to a lukewarm shower because everyone is in there rinsing off.  I have to admit.  That is the part I hate about swim lessons the most.  Getting them all showered and such.  Not to mention they still aren't particularly fond of getting their face all splashed on in a shower.  But because of swim lessons, they've invented a few games.

They invented "splash" a whole bunch, multiple areas of the house.  I think their favorite part of swim lessons is getting in the pool by jumping in.  They call this jumping in " splash".  They do this off their bed, off the couch, off the jumping bed, and my favorite, into a box filled with mostly deflated balloons from their birthday.  When they did the one in the box, they would wait for the other to help them out of the pool (box).

I've also heard them singing Insy Winsy Spider at the top of their lungs.  This is what their swim teacher does when she wants them to scoot along the wall of the pool.  They also tell each other to "blow their bubbles", something else their instructor says a lot.  Whitney likes being a yellow fish in her yellow ocean.  She practices "floating on her back" or "swimming on her stomach" on her bed, which has yellow sheets.

In one of the video posts, there is a video of them reading the Diego book.  This is one of Tucker's favorites.  Today I was eating lunch and taking even longer than Whitney to eat.  Tucker finished eating a long time before and wanted me to read his Diego book to him so he could push the numbers on his phone.  Whitney Mommy was super cute and told Tucker she would read to him.  He totally accepted it.  He gave her the book and they went in the other room while Whitney said the parts of book and then he would push the numbers.

On the day I made bread, Whitney helped me mix and stir.  I use really hot water in my bread to keep the dough warm enough by the time I add everything else.  Whitney is very well aware of this.  As she was mixing the flour and water together, Tucker got wind of it and wanted to skip to the eating a small portion of the dough right then.  Whitney said to him: "Don't eat it Tucker.  It's too hot.  I'll stir it fast so it cools down for you" and proceeded to mix it up rather rapidly. 

She also often checks for any scratches on me or Tucker, notes them, and gives them kisses.

Another Whitney mommy thing that happens often is this:  when Whitney's tummy is full and she still has food on her plate, she hands the plate to me and tells me that Baby Brother's tummy is still hungry and he can have her food.  If she doesn't have any food on her plate, she clears the table of her dishes and puts them on the counter.

She also tells Tucker what he's supposed to eat.  Today in the car on the way home from church they were making their food requests for lunch.  Tucker kept asking to eat fish crackers for lunch.  I was kind of ignoring all the requests until Whitney said to Tucker "No Tucker.  Mommy said no fish crackers for lunch today"  I said no such thing, but she knows that I generally try to get them to eat real food or something other than their snack food requests.  Today Tucker won. 

After church I'm rarely in the mood to be picky about what they eat.  I'm hungry, they've been contained and usually well behaved for three hours and I'm totally fine with whatever they want.  Whitney picked up on that and asked for grilled cheese sandwich.  Hey Mom.  Where do you think she got that trait?  Me or Jeremy?  Just kidding.

Whitney is also continues to be very consistent in asking Jeremy to wash his hands as soon as he walks in the door, so he doesn't get sick.  Jeremy is still humoring her.  I think it's working.  He hasn't been sick for the entire five weeks she's been doing it.  Hah!  Go Whitney mommy!!

As my stomach rapidly enlarges, Whitney has taken up snuggling with me sideways and rubbing my belly with her hand.  Tucker likes to point at it and say "Look!  There he is!  Baby Brother!"

One of the girls that babysits Tucker and Whitney a lot asked them what their new sibling's name is.  Whitney looked at her very seriously and said "Baby Brother".  She's right.  It's the only name we call him.  Let's just hope the ultrasound technician was right because switching over to baby sister would be a bit of a shock, but a fast adjustment for Whitney, I'm sure.

They are both getting pretty good at praying on their own.  The thing that melts my heart about Tucker is how he thinks of all these things he is grateful for, different every time, and he is very sincere about it.  The other day he said thank you for his bowl and spoon, along with Mommy and Whitney.  I have to agree.  I've never really thought about bowl and spoon, but I'm sure grateful for those things when it comes to eating cereal or soup.

I really tried to focus on taking play breaks with them while they were still playing nicely this week.  I think Whitney picked up on it.  By the end of the week Whitney started asking specifically how she wanted to play with me.  Her favorite request?  "Mommy, will you play pony with me?"  Tucker likes it too and usually joins in at some point, but we act out all sorts of live situations with ponies.  We played in the "pool" with ponies, making them splash to get in or taking a shower in the dollhouse in preparation for swim lessons.  Tucker usually joins in with the play and ends up hitting another pony, Mommy or Whitney.  This leads him to playing time out with the pony and putting pony in time out.  He also likes to use tank to "clean up" any "messes" his pony makes.  Whitney just makes them talk and talk and talk.

Tucker figured out how to put some necklaces inside the beads to make a shaker.  He likes to pretend he is giving us our vitamins, something he really does every morning for Whitney and I.  He also likes to pretend that it's salt and he, Whitney, or I am a cucumber to eat. 

Tucker loves to be a gentleman.  Whenever we go places that require opening a door, he runs ahead to open it for us.  He then proceeds to say that he is a gentleman and Whitney and I are ladies.  Sometimes he specifies that Mommy is a lady and Whitney is a dentist.  This frustrates Whitney a bit and she corrects him, but he is kind of right.  See another video post about that.

Another thing that Tucker is really good at is taking out the trash.  He can now do all sized trash cans and full ones, too.  Not heavy full ones, but full ones none the less.  He accomplished this task on Monday.  When he did it, he said to me "I'm strong enough, Mom!"  He also continues to be able to take the paper up to the neighbor's no problem.

Tucker figured out how to snap and zip up his pants this week.  It is a skill that he still needs practice with, along with buttoning, but he is getting it.  And I love it!! 

This week I had one of those moments all parents have about how our children mirror us.  We were walking up toward our house when Whitney started telling me about our apple tree.  It is surrounded in a fence so that it lives to adulthood due to the tame deer we have around here.  Whitney was describing our tree and said that it has a fence so that "the stupid deer don't eat our tree".  The exact way I often describe the deer and crows around here.  She used the word stupid as if it was such a normal word, so I had to explain to her it wasn't a kind word and that if she heard me saying it to say Mommy, no, no.  I fully expect to be corrected soon.

Wednesday was a rather pleasant day.  I don't know how warm it was, but it wasn't frigid out and it was misting only off and on.  Time to go to the playground.  I was only planning on stopping there for about 45 minutes or so after joy school to get some energy out, but they ended up playing almost two hours.  I was amazed.  Whitney hasn't wanted to be outside for such a long in a long time. 

They played make soup, make salt, look at mommy through "glasses",  and spider on the ropes.  They were also really cute in that that lifted each other up to reach the bar to hang on to.  Whitney found a few flowers in the grass and picked them, saying we needed to take them home and put them in water because looking at the flowers made her feel happy.  Stuff I often say about flowers.

We had a lot of fun together this week.