Sam loves to Shower!

So, along with potty training comes a lot of cleanup. We are almost in the clear, but we still have the occasional accident...Anyways, tonight, he said "I need a shower" after an accident. Well, what he thinks that means is he stands in the bathtub and I hose him down quickly with the shower head (we have a clawfoot bathtub with a telephone faucet shower head - very old fashioned). However, I remembered that he loved the shower at mom's so I mentioned that to Jared and he decided to try the real shower. HUGE hit, this is the first picture I got, when he was telling me "I'm in the shower!!!" He never wanted it to end, but, like all good things...I think he inspired Pearl to give it another try (she is deathly afraid of getting her eyes wet...). Hopefully this won't inspire more accidents....

Girl Scout Activity

Today Pearl's girl scout troop met with an organization called Faithful Stewards that delivers meals to the homeless. Each girl in the troop brought part of a lunch and they put together about 25 lunches for the homeless. Pearl understood that they were giving food to "poor people." It was such a wonderful thing for the troop to do, I am really grateful that she has this opportunity to be involved not only in our little community (all the girls go to her very tiny school), but also in the greater community. I have also made lots of good friends with the other moms, which has been wonderful for me. Plus, isn't she adorable in her uniform?

Bacon Tie

This hideous tie dates back to Jared's bachelor days...I typically don't allow him to wear it, as it blares "fashion challenged," however, his sister, Maryann likes to encourage these things in my husband. (I doubt she would encourage Brian to wear the bacon tie...) This Christmas, she found the piece that had been missing from this ensamble all along...an egg in a frying pan tie tack. What better to go with a bacon tie. Thanks, Maryann. I think.

Creek Walk

Ok so we had a sunny day!!! Our friends Makayla, Evan, Teagan, and Payton came to play with us. We had a fabulous time, I mean, just look at Sam, don't you wish you were a little boy with your own creek? Pearl was doing pretty well, then she got all wet and decided she didn't like creeks any more. Fortunately, the rest of the children were not of that opinion and fun was had until they were shivering in their boots! Yes, I did get in with Sam, wool socks really do keep your feet warm even when wet! We had a great time, and are so grateful to have good friends crazy enough to play in our creek in February - it would not have been as much fun without them! The bonus for me was that the kids went to bed at 7:30...ahh...just enough time to process all of the pictures and blog before my bedtime!!!

Baby Chicks

Ok, so I am a total sucker for baby chicks. Call it the farm girl in me. We have absolutely no need for baby chicks. Our current chickens are laying 8-10 eggs PER DAY (we got 11 today, 4 green and 7 brown) but whenever we go to the feed store and the baby chicks are in, I get suckered in...I mean, look at how happy Sam is! Wouldn't you give in if he kept tugging at the locks on the cages and saying "it's locked, oh no, what are we going to do?" I figure this is a good week or two of entertainment, as long as we can keep them from any injuries...we actually have already had one casualty (yep, down to nine) but I'm not sure it was our fault...

Our creek

We decided to drive Uncle Brian's jeep down to the creek in the rain late this afternoon. Despite the quickly diminishing light, I got some good pictures.

This is from the road above the meadow

Kind of pretty, huh? Who's ready for a boot walk now! First sunny day, and I think we'll be putting our boots to good use...

Katie's blessing

Ok, so I know I'm no Sara, but we at least got a picture of Katie smiling in her blessing dress! Quite an accomplishment, not possible without Auntie Annie, who has the uncanny ability to make children of ALL ages laugh! Yes, Annie, you are that funny!

Pearl's first piano lesson

So, I finally did it. I actually ordered some piano books for Pearl, and they came today. We had our first lesson, about 15 minutes long. We are working (and I mean hard) on rhythm. I think if we practice every day, we will get it. She was very proud that she could not only play a song, but read to me what the lyrics were:). I don't remember my first lesson, I'm sure my mother taught me things before formal lessons started. I do remember my first formal lesson being very quick and skipping through lots of things, which made me feel very successful, I want that for Pearl. So, here she comes, the next perpetual primary pianist in the family!!!!

Snow!!

We woke up this morning to SNOW!!! Luckily, it was a school holiday for Pearl, so we got dressed and went outside to play. We didn't last very long - Pearl said her feet were frozen. Always the idea of snow is more exciting than actually being in it...which is why we live in California! She was so excited "oh my gosh of the bosh I can't belive it!!!" Oh, to be 6 again...

Sam was pretty impressed with his snowball throwing ability, Pearl contented herself with setting snowballs on top of Sam's head, what funny kids I have!

Pearl works out

Inspired by her Yoga pants, Pearl decided to do some exercises. So, she got her Dad's magic push up equipment, along with the spinal relaxing board he has and went to town!!! She told me all about how the exercises she was doing will make her strong...this remains to be seen:)

Sam and Jack

So, now that Jack is older and obsessed with Sammy's hand me downs, Annie and I have been trying to get them some alone playtime together. Unfortunately, they both seem to enjoy the idea of each other more than actually being together. Today we went to the park, and Sam had no nap so he was particularly onery. He kept taking Jack's hat off (which is a HUGE no-no) with his teeth, to which Jack would of course then retaliate. Looks like we're going to have to work on that relationship a bit more...with all of the girl cousins, these two are going to need to stick together...I'm sure by the time they are 5 and 6 they will have a blast together (especially if Annie lets Jack come get dirty in the creek at our house), but for now, we are still working on civility and manners...

Pearl is growing up...

Pearl came to me yesterday and told me she has a wiggly tooth! We can tell this is my oldest because I did get a little tear in my eye, she is getting so big!!