First Annual Pie Eating Contest

For Father's Day this year we had our first annual pie eating contest at my house. It was quite the experience. Hans was nervous for the whole weekend. He knew Jeff could eat. Both guys are ridiculously skinny. Melanie and I decided we were better off doing the contest next year. Especially when it's pudding pie at stake. I was kind of jealous he actually had a reason to down the whole thing. He didn't even need to feel guilty or run 8 miles the next day to make up for it. Hmmm....that's a whole other issue. So, it was fun. And Jeff creamed Hans.

I love this picture of Hans staring at Jeff's pie like he doesn't stand a chance of catching up. They were both very civilized about the whole thing. Jeff did it in about 3 minutes. Hans took his sweet time. They couldn't eat dinner for about 2 hours after that. The kids thought the whole thing was interesting. They were nervous they wouldn't get dessert, but I had made ice cream cake. And both guys had a piece even. So I am making Hans practice this year so it can actually be competetive next year:)

Bugs, Bugs, and a Butterfly

We love bugs at our house. Ashley is even having a bug party for her birthday in a couple of weeks. And she is only inviting girls. It should be interesting. We have bugs living all over our house. Mostly in bug catchers and containers they decorate and cover with foil. Then we look on the internet to find what they eat and what they like to live with and we try to acommodate. We've had milk bugs, lady bugs, daddy long leg spiders, other spiders, and many other bugs I don't even recognize. But this past week, we finally caught a butterfly. It was very exciting. She caught it in a net and put it in my largest container and made a home for it. But we decided after a day that we'd better let it go free if it had a chance of surviving. Even Ashley realizes the mortality rates of bugs in our home are dismal. So here are some pictures of the event.

I love Justin watching the butterfly with complete interest. He loves his big sisters. They are very awesome to him. He loves to imitate everything they do. As you can tell from the picture with Katelyn, it is definately Ashley who is more the bug lover. Katelyn keeps her distance. Ashley tried to let the spider crawl on Katelyn so she could have her turn and Katelyn about had a heart attack. I told Ashley that she needed to ask if Katelyn wanted a turn before just assuming because I certainly don't want a turn letting it crawl on me. Good times.

We Yove Justin

We are all happy it is finally motorcycle season. Justin loves to ride on Hans' little bike and so do the girls. It fills our evening time after dinner and before bed. They go on rides looking for stuff. Justin is so 2 right now. I can't get him to listen or sleep. I might tolerate either one alone, but together it's really annoying. Last night I got up to feed Mia at 2 am and there he was, sitting outside his door just staring. Seriously? He'd gone to bed at 10 and he was up for the day at 5:30. He does nap, but it's only 2 hours. I thought about getting rid of the nap, but he was too miserable. He loves to eat cannyyoup (cantaloupe) and watch a show. Usually mickey mouse clubhouse. He also "reay yikes yoyyipops." He needs one at every moment he's awake. He says y for his l. I yove it.

You've got a little something on your lip...

I hate it when I get a sweet potato puff stuck to my snot and don't even realize it.

Mia has a lot of "looks." She can look at me like I am the source of all her problems. It makes me chuckle to think of that look. She looks at me with pleading in her eyes too. And then, of course, there's the look of complete joy.

She is officially 8 months old today. She learned how to crawl. She can scoot her way forward now and get up to sitting and she can big girl crawl her way three or four times forward before dropping and scooting. I pulled parts of a nerds box out of her mouth day. And she was furious. She ate two ritz crackers at the pool yesterday and she started on yellow squash today. Not sure why I am feeding her ritz crackers when I am so slow to introduce the other stuff. I just needed something to appease her. She needs to be eating. I am at least teaching her to feed her crying. Got to learn that at an early age, I suppose.

I'm tired

I think I took on a little more then I can handle. I signed up for the triathlon in August, the half marathon on September 1st, and the century ride the end of September. And I'm tired. This was my first week of training (whatever that really means) so I am hoping it's the worst, but I had a little humbling yesterday when Jeff and I did a 30 mile ride. I had a hard time keeping up. I hate that. Rachael taught me how to do flip turns at the pool and gave me some swimming pointers. I just haven't really figured out how to balance all the working out with not being too tired to function. I'm trying to be competetive, but not kill myself. How do I do that? I hate losing.

Beautiful Mia

She is growing so big. 7 months old! She can get up easily on all 4s and has crawled forward a couple times. It'll be full-time all too soon. She learned how to push herself from on her stomach up to sitting. Impressive. I couldn't believe it, actually. She's just so small. 13 lbs 8 oz. As of wednesday at the doctor's office. I thought she had an ear infection, but she doesn't. She loves to eat sweet potatoes and oatmeal cereal. And now some sweet potato puff cereal things. She has quite the pincer grasp. She is a cute gal. She loves to laugh.

Kindergarten is Over

I love Mrs. Meyers. She was the greatest Kindergarten teacher ever. There was never any question that she loved Ashley and all the other students. She said a teary farewell here at school and then on Friday at the zoo. Ashley has already planned out a trip to go see Mrs. Meyers again. She doesn't think she'll like 1st grade as much because there's going to be so much more learning. She has learned a ton in school this year. She learned how to read, write, spell, and do basic math. What else is there?!

Pictures for May

Following are lots of pictures: Katelyn took a bunch of them. She loves the camera. Pictures of pre-school graduation, Justin on his bike, field day, Ashley losing her tooth and with her tooth fairy stuff, making jam, planting the garden, cookies with the Conleys and more.

Lists

I've resorted to lists of what we're up to. It's easier. And the battery died in my camera. Right on my first attempt of a picture at field day. Now it is charging. And I will post pictures. So, here I go:

1. Ashley lost her tooth! She's only 5. Her permanent (Katelyn says peruven) tooth is almost in. The tooth fairy came. She left a nice note and a dollar. A whole dollar! Wow. Not sure the tooth fairy can keep that kind of donation up. Hans is offering to help Ashley run a business where he brings teeth home from work and they leave them for money. Luckily, Ashley is too honest for this.

2. Mia got her two bottom teeth! She's a big girl! She started rolling all over the place keeping her siblings entertained. She even rolled under the couch at the Conleys. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. Any day now. She is terribly sick today. Sounds like croup. Why does it always happen on the weekends?!

3. Ashley also has been sick and missed her first two days of school this week of the entire year. I wanted to send her just to keep her perfect record. But she couldn't speak. And she had a headache and was really tired. She even napped. That's a sure sign of illness around our house.

4. I LOVE my bike. I even have a picture of it on my camera with the intent of doing a post on it. I'm in love. I rode with Hans on tuesday night. Jeff let him borrow his bike. We had a great time. I rode with Jeff last Saturday and we're planning on riding as much as possible together. It's great. I feel pushed. He's too competetive to let a girl beat him. Although I beat him in Moab. And plan on beating him home next ride.

5. It's nice weather!! The kids are playing outside and we're taking walks to the park and all over the place. There are ducks living in our water feature when you enter Wolf Ranch. We've taken several trips down there to feed them bread. Ashley is searching diligently for a nest for eggs. Ducks lay eggs, right? I'm not much of an animal expert. I know nothing. She asks me stuff like - where do ducks live? what do they eat? where do they go in the winter? how do they sleep? No idea on any. I couldn't even identify a cow (unless it looked like book pictures of cows for pre-schoolers) when Hans and I got married. And I married a self-proclaimed farmer. Oh well.

6. I am sorting through children's clothing. Mia could wear a different item of clothing for the entire summer. I seriously have that much stuff. I have filled Hans' trunk with Goodwill items. I organized my closet, Justin's closet, and am in the process of Mias. She has a LOT of clothes. It's slightly ridiculous. My craze in organization was jump started by my friend Jen. She's some sort of organizational guru. Stuff that seems so obvious after she tells me how to do it. I didn't realize that Melanie was neater then me either, but yesterday she informed me while she helped me sort my closet that she used to put masking tape down the middle of our room. I thought this was for territorial reasons, but she says it's because I was messy. Me? Really? We weren't the best communicators, I guess. I always thought I was fairly neat. Now my closets are getting there.

7. I am painting Mia's room purple. And Hans is putting up crown moulding and wainscoating. Yea! Mia is 7 months old and will finally have a room. If only I can get Hans to work out and get strong enough to move the treadmill down to the basement.

8. Hans is building shelves in the basement. They are huge! And awesome. No wonder his friends in Maryland called him handyman. Now we get to go on a date to Walmart and purchase food storage supplies. I plan on doing it all in one gigantic trip. Over and done with. Check. Check. Get it off my list.

9. Justin is a nighttime wanderer. Not sure what to do. He goes to bed at 8:30-9. Meaning we put him in his room. They he comes out and wanders. He knows better then to come downstairs now so I get some peace for a few minutes before going to bed. One early morning this week I couldn't find him in his bed and panicked. Turns out he was sleeping in my white ikea chair by the computer. He's a crazy kid. Melanie said, "Wow, it sure is peaceful in your house when Justin is napping." He can't stop talking.

10. Last Wednesday we hear the doorbell in the evening. Hans is at work. It's Warren. Uh, Hans is at work. He's here to see Justin he says. He has his dirt bike. Justin is in heaven. He talked about that for days. He still does. Warren is like some sort of mythical superhero in Justin's eyes.

11. Field Day. For Ashley. Kind of crazy. Haven't quite figured out how to do a sick 7 month old and a demanding 2 year old. We survived somehow. Mia found a blueberry nutrigrain bar while I was tending to Justin and ate half of it. Her very first real food. And last for awhile. She likes to scoot and roll to peices of carpet lint and eat them. I just finished vacuuming. Again.

12. We took a trip to Garden of the Gods and hiked. Love that.

13. Elder Holland came to speak last Saturday night and Sunday for Stake Conference. I didn't make it Sunday (it was at 2:00 and I have 2 babies) but Saturday night was great. He talked for over an hour on hard times. It was great to hear an Apostle in person. He seemed more real to me. He emphasized that we should imagine him talking to us in our living rooms. I felt like he was speaking just to me. He talked about the struggles of mortality. That we all need to remember that mortality was meant to be a test. That we are going to have hard times. That everyone does. To not feel like we are the only ones with problems. He quoted Abraham Lincoln who said something to the effect of - God must love the common man because he sure made a lot of commen men. He said that God does love the broken hearted. That He is here to help us. That we need a broken heart and a contrite spirt in order to really know God. He used a lot of analogies from the scriptures. It was great. I felt the Spirit. The Stake presidency also spoke. President Porter spoke on feeling the love of the Lord. And how he's felt it. Specifically in an experience with Elder Holland. It was great. It was interesting for me to think that a stake president might have issues feeling the Lord's love. It made me realize that we are all in the same situation trying to be the best that we can. The Denver Temple president ( I can't remember his name) spoke. I felt the importance of service and of attending the temple more regularly. Sister Fotheringham (the mission president's wife) gave a great testimony on how easy it is to share the Gospel. I felt how easy it was. I need to be better. My heart was definately pricked. I have so many great neighbors that I have great relationships with. I need to be more open with the Gospel.

14. Hans is busy at the office. He makes enough money to pay our mortgage now. Yea!

15. We planted our Garden. Zuchini (1 n or 2) and green beans. We planted Ashley's sunflower by the trampoline. I mowed the lawn. I love mowing the lawn.

16. I've been running outside while listening to conference talks. I love the early morning run. I feel like I can do anything after a run and feeling inspired by conference talks. And then it hits 2:00 and I crash I'm so exhausted.

17. I might be turning into a Whole Foods snob. I'm not sure. But I like going there.

18. Gymnastics ended. And then I signed the girls up again for the summer. They get to go "competetive" in the fall.

19. We are going to see Indiana Jones tonight. Anyone seen it yet?

20. I got a really bad haircut. My worst yet. It's going to be a summer of ponytails.

21. I think I'm done, although I am certain I could sit here and type forever.

Computer

The Computer is having some issues again, but we are back in business. Luckily it didn't crash until I had the chance to order some cute shorts and capris and shoes online. Love the online shopping. It's worth every penny of shipping to not have to drag everyone (although they are behaved and willing) to the store to shop for and try on clothes. Since last summer I was pregnant and the summer before I'd just had Justin, I am lacking in presentable summer clothing. The kids are taken care of thanks to Whitney, Jen, and my sisters. Love the hand-me downs. I miss Cher's cast offs for me in Maryland. I haven't found anyone here to give me their clothes yet. I have missed blogging about my family. We are well. Can't really remember what we did while the computer was down, but we were happy and busy. And for the most part healthy. Justin has some sort of intestinal virus that just keeps on giving. I bought him a new mattress and mattress pad since I couldn't stand to look at the other one. If you ask him what he did today he'll say, "I threw up on my boy bed. It was yucky. I'm filthy." He hates being filthy. He is funny. He talks NON STOP. He seriously doesn't stop. He talks to everyone and anyone about everything. This includes the daycare ladies at the Y, anyone he can find at church, and mostly me. He likes to pull my hair and then ask me if it hurt. "That hurt, mama? You okay?" Then he'll kiss me. Mostly he still talks about bikes and such. Katelyn and Ashley are doing well with May craziness. We have field days, zoo trips, school programs, gymnastics, and now I'm dragging them out to ride bikes around so I can get outside. They are nice to do it for me. They are great riders. Katelyn rode about 5 miles one day this week. Ashley was at school and got out of it. She didn't even complain. They LOVE gymnastics and their teachers, especially for Katelyn, are either appealing to my ego, or actually think my children have talent. Katelyn is moving up to the "competetive class." They have reserved a spot for her in the class for fall. They talk to me about keeping her in. Ashley is more graceful, but more fearful. She gets to move with the older kids pretty soon. I'm surviving. I feel grateful to be able to stay home with my kids. What a blessing. They are great and I wouldn't be anywhere else. I'm still running and riding. I did 7 miles in 48 minutes yesterday. Brag, Brag, Brag. I wonder why I do it sometimes, but I realize for the most part it is to do something on my own and the pounding of my body somehow releases stress for me. Justin is climbing on my lap now begging to watch you tube.