Why I Love Being a Mom in the Summertime

There are so many things I love about summer. Swimming. Long days. Popsicles. Ice Cream. Watermelon. Corn on the cob. There are a few things I don't like, mainly involving heat and too much sun, but the things I like outweigh the things I dislike about summer. Summer as an adult is different from summer as a kid. But when you get to be a mom, some of summer's childhood greatness comes back. As I think back to the great memories from my childhood, they mostly revolve around summer and Christmas--the two highlights of the kid year. As a parent, I get to try to give my kids some of those same great memories and traditions. And it kind of brings back the kid in me. I get to participate in all their fun summer kid stuff.

This is the first summer that my kids have taken swimming lessons, but it has brought back a flood of memories for me. Swimming lessons were always the highlight of our summer (along with our trip to Morro Bay). I don't know how my parents afforded to put all 5 of us in swimming lessons every summer, but we had them. Now, unlike my kids, we did not have a pool readily available to us. We had some neighbors with a pool who sometimes let us swim in it and then there were the Hunters around the corner who let us swim in their pool. But for the most part, swimming lessons were our pool time in the summer. We looked forward to them with great enthusiasm.

This started me thinking about other great summer things and I thought of Thrifty's ice cream. We used to go in there sometimes to get an ice cream cone. My dad routinely bought the great big boxes of their ice cream to keep in our freezer. Every summer when we went to Morro Bay, we would ride our bikes from the campground into town to the local Thrifty's. We'd all have a big triple scoop cone for lunch and then we'd ride back to the campground. Today I got a hankering for a Thrifty's ice cream cone and wanted to share that with my kids. Thrifty's got bought out several years ago by Rite Aid, but the stores that used to be Thrifty's still have the counter for ice cream cones and I think they pretty much all at least sell the ice cream in the freezer section. I decided that Thrifty's cones would be a great treat for after swimming lessons today and I checked where the nearest Rite Aid was, crossing my fingers that they'd have the cones. Well, we lucked out. It's very close to us and has the cones. (Sara--this is the one right by your house.) The kids loved it and so did I. And I couldn't believe what a good deal it was. It's a far cry from the $0.30 single scoops of my childhood, but is still a pretty good deal. We got double scoop cones (and these were pretty good size scoops) for $1.69 each. A single kids scoop at Baskin Robbins is $1.99. The kids decided that the double scoops were a bit large for them to eat, so tomorrow they are getting single scoops (at their own request). I had a double scoop of Pecan Praline, which is absolutely wonderful, and Chocolate brownie, which is also very good. Ruby got chocolate brownie and vanilla. And Russell, not quite sure how to decide on more than one flavor, got two scoops of strawberry. I love the scoops they use there. I wish I could get an ice cream scoop like that.

A fun tradition that I started with the kids and would like to keep up is the summer road trip. A few years ago I decided that it was dumb for me and the kids to be stuck home all summer just because Charles didn't have much vacation time. So, I decided to pack the kids in the car and take a two week trip to Utah to visit some friends and relatives. I had my cell phone and I used McDonald's online trip planner to figure out where all the McDonald's with play grounds were along my route and which exits I needed to take to get to them. I planned how far I would drive in a day and where I would spend the night and off we went. It worked great. Russell was still a nursing baby at the time, so we would stop and eat and I'd nurse Russell while Ruby played on the playground.

That trip was such a success that the following year we expanded it. We went for four weeks and visited Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. We had a fabulous time, but I was really ready to come home by the time the four weeks were up just because it was hard to be away from Charles for so long. And our last stop was at my mother-in-law's house in Idaho. I was already really missing Charles by that time and all the pictures of him at her house didn't help. Next time we'll fit her in earlier in our trip.

Charles loves it when we go on these trips. Whenever I suggest that the kids and I might like to take a trip, he doesn't even hesitate to say yes. Sometimes he doesn't even let me get the details out. While we're gone he watches movies that I have no interest in and he loves that the house is in the same condition when he gets home as it was when he left in the morning. He does miss us, though. Last year, due to the extremely high price of gas, we didn't get to do the big trip. We just did a short trip to Utah with my brother for a family reunion. It was fun, but I can't say I liked the whirlwind pace of the trip. If I'm going to drive that far, I like to stay a little longer. This year, what with moving in the middle of the summer, we haven't gotten to take a trip either. I've been hankering for one since the weather started getting nice in the spring. I'm thinking we'll have to do one during one of the breaks from school. Like the "ski week" in February or during spring break. Maybe a weekend trip up to see my cousin Carolyn. School starts in less than two weeks and it seems like the summer just barely began. I'll have to plan a good trip for next summer. Maybe we can take off as soon as school gets out. I'm hoping that these trips will be cherished memories for my kids when they get older. I know I enjoy them. I need to go camping, too. It's been a couple years since I've been camping. Maybe I'll plan a short trip up the coast to see the big redwoods. That would be fun.

Attack of the Five-Foot-Tall Weeds

Yesterday was a cool morning, so I decided to tackle the weeds in our front/side yard. We had gotten a notice about them last week. I hardly ever go on that side of the house, so I hadn't noticed how bad they were. Some of them were seriously about as tall as I am. I also pulled out some things that had died and some baby palm trees that had decided to start growing on their own. Some of these put up quite a struggle. A couple of the really big weeds had roots at least as big around as my thumb. I ended up having to saturate the ground with water and then dig out the roots. After filling by trash bin with weeds and such, I came to the conclusion that I need a yard trimmings cart. The park handles all our trash service so I spoke to them about getting one. I should have had one already, but apparently somebody took it.

Unfortunately, the yard is planted entirely in succulents with a few actual cacti thrown in. The stupid plants kept stabbing me while I was pulling weeds. I've got scrapes all over my arms. I do plan to rip the plants out and put in something that actually looks nice, but I have to come up with a plan and present it to the park for approval first. Luckily, they are not likely to object to the removal of the existing plants. And yes, I had already planned to remove them before I was attacked by them.

The kids and I had picked up some plants at OSH last week and we finallly got around to potting them yesterday after I pulled out the weeds. They are mostly in front of the house now and I think they look nice.

I'm making progress on the house. I can actually sit on both couches and my rocking chair now. The dishwasher repair man is supposed to come fix our built in dishwasher today. It has taken much too long getting this fixed by Sears. Next time I'll get an actual GE repairman for my GE appliances. They actually have the parts on hand. The dishwasher was already broken when we bought the house and we got a credit from the seller to pay for the repair. In the mean time, we're still using my portable dishwasher from the apartment. I want to sell it, though, so I'm in a hurry to get the built-in working. The only appliance left that we need to buy is a dryer and my dad just found a used one at a flea market sale for $30. I figured it would be hard to go wrong for that price, so hopefully we'll have a working dryer by the end of the day. Woo Hoo! That'll make the mountains of laundry much easier to deal with.

I managed to find the camera this morning, so I'll be able to post pictures soon, just as soon as I get things straightened up a bit more.

Yes, I'm still alive.....

Okay, I'm totally lame and haven't blogged in ages. I haven't been reading my friends' blogs either. I have a good excuse for the recent months, but before that, not really.

Here's the update:
Yes, I made that bacon explosion. I did a half recipe, though. And I did it in the oven because I don't have a smoker. Oh, and I substituted breakfast sausage because I had it on hand. It actually wasn't bad, though you only want to eat a little at a time.

Ruby had a flurry of field trips at the end of the school year, which occupied quite a bit of my time. She finished Kindergarten and then cried that night because she missed school. She always wants to send pictures to her teacher, who we both just loved. We have registered her for her new school, which starts on the 24th, and is just a short walk from our new house. She loves school and is really excited to start again, even though it will be at a new school. She keeps asking how many days until school starts.

We moved!! No more apartments for us! We are living in luxury in a three bedroom manufactured home. The yard is small, but it's a yard. The house is fabulous. The kids are loving having their own bedrooms. We painted Ruby's pink and Russell's is blue. We also painted the laundry room (yes, we have a laundry room!!!) a different shade of blue. All the other rooms, except the bathrooms (yes, that's a plural) have been recently painted and look nice so we didn't bother with them. Our kitchen has a breakfast nook, which we have turned into my sewing area. The dining room had carpet. I ripped that out before we moved in and put down resilient vinyl plank flooring. It is awesome. It looks just like a wood floor, feels like a wood floor when you slide the chairs on it and stuff, was super easy to lay (I did it all by myself), and it's waterproof! I'm also going to put it in the master bathroom, which is presently carpeted, but I'm going to deal with the boxes and stuff first. We're totally loving all the space we have--and the closets! Our whole apartment had enough closet space to make one mediocre closet. And we had virtually no cabinet space in the kitchen. Now both of the kids have good closets (with storage space above them) and Charles and I have a walk-in closet. And the kitchen is fabulous! We went from having about 834 sq. ft in the apartment to about 1290 sf now. We're loving life! One of these days I'll find my camera and I'll get enough boxes unpacked to actually take some pictures. The kids have made some friends here. There seem to be quite a few other kids on our street. And it's a private street, so there's not much traffic.

Thanks to their most generous auntie, the kids are taking swimming lessons this week and next. They just finished for this week. Ruby LOVES them and has made good progress, learning to do almost all the level 1 stuff. Russell, on the other hand, is not so thrilled with them. You see, his teacher wants him to actually move his arms and legs and--horror of horrors-- wants him to put his face in the water. He did fine the first day. The second day he got out for a few minutes until he saw the big floatie hippo all the kids were going to ride on. Then he got back in. Yesterday he got out crying about half way through the lesson. I let him stay out yesterday but told him he had to do his whole lesson today. Well, each time it was his turn to do the individual instruction with the teacher, he climbed out of the pool and tried running over to me. Unfortunately for him, I was unsympathetic and stuck him back in the pool each time. So, after about 4 attempts to get out of the pool, he finished his lesson. I told him he doesn't have to go back for three days. That is, not until the next session starts on Monday. Luckily, our mobile home park has a very nice pool so I can work with him and hopefully he'll be more open to the face in the water thing by next summer.

The only down side to our new location is that Charles now has an hour long commute each way. We're only about 11 miles from his office, but we only have one car and I am not giving it up. So, he gets to take the light rail. We're about a mile from the station and it's a bit of a walk between his office and the station he gets off at, so that's why it takes so long. It's cheaper than driving anyway. And he get excercise and some down time to read his scriptures on the train, so it's not really a down side. Just the part about seeing less of him is. We were spoiled by his previous five minute commute. The other thing is that I have to do all the shopping now. I can't ask him to pick stuff up at the store on his way home from work. I can live with that.

Well, time to stop procrastinating and get on with the unpacking....

Heart Attack on a Plate

So, Charles sent me a link for this recipe: Bacon Explosion. It was forwarded to him by a buddy from work. I'm going to give it a try tonight, since I happen to have most of the ingredients on hand and my bacon and sausage are about to expire. I'll be cutting the recipe in half, though. I don't think our little family needs a four pound log of bacon and sausage. Two pounds is more than enough. I'm going to make mashed potatoes to go with it, and some veggies. I suspect it will probably last a couple of days. But Charles does like meat. And I have to admit to being a bacon fan. And a fan of BBQ sauce. If I only eat a slice of it, it shouldn't be too bad. I'll let you know how it turns out. Perhaps some of your meat-loving husbands would like it. All my brothers are drooling over the recipe.

So, my knee is finally doing better enough that I've been walking Ruby to school again. I started walking again on Wednesday. I was still wearing my leg brace thingy the first two days, but I couldn't find it this morning and did okay without it even though I was hurrying. I'm enjoying walking again. It is a huge stress reliever and I've noticed that I'm much more prone to back pain and headaches when I'm not walking. Also, dealing with the car and taking Charles to work and picking him up in the evening was getting to be a pain. I prefer not using the car unless I need it for something else.

Yesterday was our weekly trip to the library. Russell checked out a "Bob the Builder" DVD. He loves Bob and does this often, but we haven't seen this particular one before. Anyway it's a super cheesy western one and the kids think it's hilarious. There's this one part where Spud, the scarecrow, farts a whole bunch with super obvious sounds like someone blowing raspberries on their hand or something. The kids just laugh their heads off at this and think it is the height of comic genius. They're practically rolling on the floor saying, "Mom, Spud is farting!" Ah, to be young.

I think I'm going to skip the February trip to Utah. I'd like to do it because I think temple open houses are a good opportunity for the kids, but I prefer not to do whirlwind trips like that and I don't want to risk the bad weather. Perhaps the other temple being built in South Jordan will be finished and open to the public at a more advantageous time of year so I can take the kids to that one.

Like my new background?

I snagged this background from my awesome friend Alison's template blog. She made it. If you'd like to check out her templates, there's a link in the sidebar.

Some new photos

Ruby & Russell decorate a gingerbread house

Ruby & her friend with Santa. Ruby was too nervous to visit him alone.

Russell with Santa. Russell wasn't a bit afraid of him.

Ruby & Russell at the Oakland Zoo in November.

Ruby & Russell show off the new outifts they got from Granny Spud for their Build-A-Bear toys.

Russell enjoys one of Baskin Robbins' 31 flavors on Halloween.

Ruby loves her Rainbow Sherbet.

Russell on Halloween. I don't know why the picture loaded sideways.

Ruby at school on Halloween

Ruby and Russell enjoy a ride at Chuck E. Cheese. We went there to
celebrate Russell's 3rd birthday.

Ruby and her Build-A-Bear, which she also named Ruby. Granny Spud
took the kids to make these when she was here in October.

Russell built a dog instead of a bear. This is Fluffy. Russell had taken a nose-dive
down the stairs onto the concrete that morning. That's why he has the giant
band-aid on his forehead and a scraped up nose.

I love this picture of Russell, despite the scraped up face and the blue marker that
Ruby drew on him with. Maybe I can photoshop it or something. This was taken
on The Carousel at Arena Green on Russell's 3rd Birthday.

A New President

I couldn't help watching the inauguration today. I cannot say that I voted for our new president, but I think it's a great thing for our country that we were finally able to put a black man in the White House. I have to admit that I was a little emotional watching this and thinking about how we are experiencing a day that will surely go down in history.

I am hopeful that President Obama will be able to use the good will he has generated to make a positive difference in the way this country is run. I was particularly struck by the prayers that were included in the ceremony--and somewhat surprised to see that prayer is still a part of this process. I thought during these prayers about what they were saying. At some parts I wondered if they were really praying or speech-making, but the overall idea of commending this new first family to the protection of God and praying that our president will be able to lead with integrity and honor and wisdom really struck me.

We had a lesson in church on Sunday about leadership and the one of the ladies there mentioned that we ought to pray for the leaders of our country as well as the leaders of our church. She quoted Ezra Taft Benson saying that his family always prayed for the leaders of our nation when he was a child, but he doubted whether that practice had been carried into subsequent generations. I thought about that today and I decided to kneel down and pray for our new president. I prayed for the things that I hope--that he will be able to do what is best for our country and help our country to heal from the various problems afflicting it right now.

It's a new year, a new presidential administration, and a new era in American history. May we move forward with hope and progress as we do as President Obama requested and return to the values upon which this country was founded.

Peanut Butter Recall

Just in case any of you haven't heard, there's been a recall of some peanut butter products used in food service and food production. I had heard that Keebler recalled their peanut butter crackers and stuff, but assumed that my Austin crackers were safe. Not so. I just got a call from Costco informing me that Austin crackers are also included in the recall. Apparently Keebler, Austin and Famous Amous are all subsidiaries of Kellogg's and are all included in the recall. And the FDA has confirmed that salmonella has been found in some Austin peanut butter crackers. Here's a link with more info. So, if you've got some of these crackers, throw them away. I'm wondering now if perhaps my kids' vomiting might not be related to the crackers. They have been eating them recently. But so have I and I'm okay. Hopefully it's just a run of the mill stomach virus.

An interesting week

So, I sprained my knee about a week and a half ago. I sprained it doing something really exciting--walking through my apartment. I think I was trying to avoid stepping on one of the million things the kids had left on the floor, but I can't say for sure. It was all very sudden and unexpected. So, I've been having to use the car to take Ruby to and from school. No school today, though. Or tomorrow. I'm hopeful that I'll be up to making the walk again by Wednesday. Of course, it's supposed to rain on Wednesday.

There are some definite perks to living in this area, even if the price of housing is not one of them. It's been in the 70's for the past week. Yes, in the 70's for over a week. In the middle of January. Ha ha!

Charles lucked out and got a pair of free tickets to two Sharks games last week. One set he had gotten for Christmas and it was for the game against Calgary so he decided to take our friend Ryan, who is from Canada and is a big Calgary fan. I generally encourage him to take friends along when he gets the ticket because it's more fun for him to go with someone who is really into the game and have a guys' night out. And we don't have to find a baby-sitter. Anyhow, Tuesday he happened to have some tickets given to him that day by a former co-worker who is a season ticket holder and couldn't attend. We called everyone we could think of who might want to go with him (though I did think of one other person afterward) and everyone was busy. So, my friend Sara offered to watch the kids and Charles and I had a date. It was my first time attending an NHL game, though I had previously attended a game of the Las Vegas Thunder (remember that, Lisa?) and seen the Provo Ice Cats play. I do like Hockey and actually know a little bit about it, so it was fun. Thanks, Sara!

Last Monday our apartment complex began ripping up sidewalks and replacing them. They gave us no warning that they were doing this, except for a note placed on our doors as the jackhammers started. I was pretty mad about this, especially considering my sprained knee and the fact that they started with the part of the walkway at the base of my stairs. Yet another reason why I hate the management at this complex. Russell and I spent the morning trapped in our apartment with the windows closed even though the weather was screaming for us to open the windows. We had to leave very carefully to get Ruby and come back in just as carefully over the rubble. The next day I left for the morning to take Ruby to school and then did some shopping and hung out at my visiting teacher's apartment until it was time to get Ruby. Then Ruby had a play date with a friend, so Russell and I went and picked up Charles and went out to lunch. We picked Ruby up from her playdate at three and then ventured home. We learned then that they would be pouring cement the next day. Well, they were already placing the rebar and everything really early the next morning (like around 7) so we packed for the day before taking Charles to work in the morning. We took Ruby to school and then Russell and I spent the day hanging out at my dad's house. Since I have to pick up Ruby at 12:45, I didn't want to risk being trapped in our apartment. Well, as we were leaving the school from picking Ruby up, Russell puked. Luckily it shot out of him and none actually got on him. He didn't puke any more, but he was running a fever. We went back to my dad's for a while and then arrived home around 4:00, just as the work crew was packing up. It was perfect timing. (They put plywood down so we could get to our stairway as long as we didn't mind climbing through bushes, too). Super fun with a sprain. Russell napped for a while and I gave him some Tylenol and then he was fine after that. It was a less-than-24-hour bug.

Well, Saturday night Ruby was griping and moaning that she wasn't feeling well and thought she was going to throw up. Stomach bugs usually hit her hard, so I was all prepared to stay home from church with her on Sunday. But, I was very surprised to find in the morning that she hadn't thrown up and was feeling fine--was even full of energy. So I thought we lucked out and the bug was past. No such luck. She started puking during the night last night. I had made arrangements to baby-sit one of Ruby's friends today. Her daycare is closed for the holiday but her parents don't get the day off. Neither does Charles. We were planning to go to the Children's Discovery Museum. Of course our plans changed. I'm still baby-sitting Jane, but we're at home. Ruby alternates between swearing she's fine and begging to go outside to play and being completely miserable. She's laying in bed now.

I gave Charles and Russell haircuts Saturday night. I always cut Charles' hair. It's an easy style and saves $$$. I cut Russell's, too, but he gets his cut less often. Well, I took advantage of his desire to be like Daddy and cut his hair right after I finished with Charles. They got identical haircuts. A two on top and a one on the sides. Russell looks much better without the poofy hair. He wore his suit to church on Sunday and looked very handsome. People were commenting on how cute he looked in his suit with his hair cut. I intended to take a picture of it, but didn't get a chance before he got chocolate on his suit.

Russell's been growing a lot lately. He's getting very tall and lean and looks very much like a little boy instead of a toddler. People always think he's at least a year older than he is. He's only about 2 1/2 inches shorter than Ruby now and they wear the same size shoe. I think he's definitely going to take after his "Heepaw" Pogue and be very tall. Now, if we could just get him potty trained. He did surprise us and stay dry overnight Saturday night.

I got a couple of gift certificates for Christmas and decided to spend them on pampering myself. I got a Homedics Shiatsu massaging seat cushion with heat. (It's a seat cushion, but it massages your back, not your "seat.") I've been using it on the couch. It's great. Now I just need to put some really relaxing music on my mp3 player and lock up the kids when I use it and it'll be a perfect little break for me.

To Utah or not to Utah?

I've been pondering the idea of taking a very short trip out to Utah for the Draper temple open house. Ruby has four day weekends for Martin Luther Kind Day and President's day. I think it would be nice to take the kids to it, but it's not exactly the best time of year to be traveling. Weather is a really big consideration. Plus, it'd be a REALLY short trip. Then there's the issue of who to stay with if I go.... I'd also either have to have Ruby skip school one day or else do a temple tour Monday morning and then head home right after. Of course, I'd still have Sunday available for visiting. The President's day weekend is the only weekend of the two I'm looking at that still has tour tickets available for Saturday and Monday. Of course Martin Luther King weekend is the first weekend of the open house, so it's no surprise that those are gone already. I'm still really debating what to do. Any comments or suggestions from the peanut gallery?