All Hale!

I don't know what it is about these two cartoons, but I humbly bow to their creators! My kids will stop anything and tune in, paying total attention to the TV when they hear either theme song. Some of you are probably cursing my mothering skills now that you know I let my kids watch, or veg out, in front of the tube. I tell you what, I love to cook and the only way I get a healthy dinner on the table that satisfies my culinary tastes is to sit my kids in front of the TV for a little tivo'd magic time while I cook! What would I do without my DVR,
I can't believe I even existed without it. Pathetic, maybe, but I'm one happy mom today!

One more plug. I love to listen to these cartoons in the background too. They aren't annoying to me. I think Gerald Mcboing Boing is hilarious and the jingles that they come up with for the Backyardingans are just too great. My kids even sing them after they've watched them. I love that the cartoons are purely creative and about using your imagination. No name calling or anything to raise an eyebrow at, just pure creativity...gotta luv it!

Sleeping Babies

One of my very favorite times of the day, is checking on my kids after they've fallen asleep. Their is just something so sweet, innocent and precious about a sleeping baby. So tonight, after we enjoyed smores in the backyard with our neighbors, I went happily to Carley's room to just sneak a peek. What I found was just too cute, I had to grab my camera. She was zonked. Absolutely dead to the world. She didn't even flinch during the flash! Maybe we need to put the bumpers back on??? What do you think?

WHO DONE IT????

It happened one dark stormy night.....not really, the scene was actually my kitchen and it was a classic case of "WHO DONE IT". Followed by a round of straight faced denials! BUT, lucky for me the perpetrator left his or her mark. One, single, solitary bite mark...about the size of a certain someones tooth. (notice I did not say teeth) With the thief nabbed and thrown in the slammer (aka crib), the only thing left for me to do is mourn the loss of my most beloved spatula. She and I have some serious history. Together since college, she was a most trusted, loyal, go to kind of gal. Even in a pinch, she was always there for me, and never let me down. Alas, all good things must come to an end, this I know. Case Closed.

Happy Birthday Trent!

32 spanks is an awful lot...it's a good thing we didn't break out the spank machine last night! Yesterday was Trent's birthday and it was nice. We decided to stay home and have a nice evening with the kids. I got to get out the "You are special today" plate, which I think secretly drives Trent crazy, but it's a family tradition, so he'll have to get over that. I made some of Trent's favorite dishes for dinner: Broiled Salmon with Basil, Butternut Squash Risotto, Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette and for dessert he chose cheesecake this year (New York Style). I was a little surprised because he usually wants flan or creme brule, but cheesecake is always fine with me! Trent got a few cards and a lot of phone calls, thanks you guys! Our good friends Barry & Alisa came over for dessert. Luke gave Trent a new quarter for his collection, the Idaho one. Luke was so excited to give it to him, and Trent was excited to receive it. All in all I think the night ended well! Happy Birthday Trent!

What's In A Name?

I've been tagged by my sister, Alissa...I don't normally do this sort of thing, but if I don't you'd better believe that I'll hear about it. So here we go, it's me first, then Trent:

1.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Chocolate Macaroon
Carmel Raspberry Thumbprint
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
M-Pri
T-Pri
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Pink Hippo
Blue Bass
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name/maiden name, city where you were born)
May Santa Rosa
K Logan
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Primi
Pritr
7.SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Aqua lemonade ...I could never go public with a superhero name like this.
The Green Rock Star
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Douglas James Warren
Kay Fred Richard
9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Kay Norman
Jay Joy
10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 6th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Christofferson Cincinatti
Anderson Annapolis
11. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Fall Dendrobium Orchid
Spring Dandelion
12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Raspberry Hoodie
Mango Shortie
13. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Banana Japanese Maple
Red Vine Kapok
14. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
The Photo Sunshine Tour
The Fishing Sunrise Tour

If you've made it this far......TAG, YOU'RE IT!

The Pool is OPEN!

I am loving me some California weather!! While the midwest is still covered in snow and ice, we are enjoying beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. I am loving every single minute of it too. I'm pretty sure I was made for this climate.

Our neighborhood pool just opened up for the summer and we are going today!!

BUT first, we have to finish breakfast.

Children's Pool Beach

We went down to La Jolla today to view the seals & sea lions. The city had originally designated this beach for children, but the animals have taken over and now the beach is theirs. Although both harbor seals and sea lions visit this beach, we only saw sea lions today. We learned the major differences between the two: "Sea lions are larger, with longer flippers and are very vocal. Sea lions can support themselves on their two front flippers and actually walk. Sea lions are more territorial and aggressive. Seals are smaller and have a sleeker torpedo type of shape. They move with a rhythmic sliding or shuffling motion, and they don't use their flippers to support their body. Harbor seals are very shy and rarely vocalize." Anyway a little science lesson for ya-- Luke and Emry had an especially good time and they were sad to leave. I had a great time too! We'll definitely have to go back soon!

Luke's first REAL artwork!

We just attended an open house at Luke's school and we were so excited by what we saw. Over this past school year he has really grown and changed. It seems like our sweet little boy is growing up so fast. Lately he's really been improving in the area of art. He no longer scribbles, he actually tries to stay in the lines...an amazing feat. He has even branched in the area of color...he used to only use black, green and occasionally red. He now uses all the colors, very exciting. Well, at the open house he showed us his classroom, his plant, the pets (silk worms, butterflies and tadpoles), and on his desk were samples of his work from the year. We were so pleased to see this picture he painted. We loved it so much that we're talking about framing it. I can't explain what a proud parent moment it was...it's one of those keepsakes that mothers cherish forever. I remember my mom used to keep her favorite art projects in her under ware drawer for safe keeping. I guess it's my turn to find a secret place where such precious memories won't get ruined!

The One Tooth Wonder

Today was a milestone in Carley's life. Not only has she stopped whining about the one tooth that has taken center stage in her mouth, but she was happy ALLLLL day! She didn't cry at all today, and that is a serious step in the right direction. She has also, thanks to her pearly white, learned to eat cheerios! She can't get enough of them, it's pretty funny to watch her shovel handfuls in. I hope this new version of my daughter plans to stay awhile because I could really get used to this side of her.

A Little Girls Love...

Emry is all GIRL! She loves for me to paint her finger nails and toe nails. She loves for me to put lip gloss on her. She loves to play dress up and especially loves to wear my high heels around the house. Well, her latest love is curly hair. She loves to sleep in braids and have her hair be wavy the next day, so I thought I would attempt tying her hair up in socks last night. I may have created a monster! When she got out of the bath, we sat down and brushed out her hair. And as she patiently sat still, I divided her hair into sections and wound each grouping of hair into tight circles around socks. Finally I tied the ends of the socks so the balls of hair would stay put. She was all smiles and couldn't stop giggling when she saw herself in the mirror. She was so excited and happy to go to bed that Trent and I just laughed. So, of course she was up bright and early this morning, all smiles wanting me to take out the socks to reveal what she thought would be the best hair ever! So after breakfast and getting dressed I sat her down and took out each sock as she twiddled her little hands and fingers in anticipation. When I was done, she touched her hair and just smiled. She was officially in love again!

Baseball Practice

Here is our little slugger in action! Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, Luke has baseball practice. We love going to watch and the boys have really come a long way from the first practice...and I mean a long way! At the first practice, 5 weeks ago, the boys were throwing the ball like mad men what ever direction. Not many of the boys could hit the ball off the tee and all of them played in the dirt whenever they got sidetracked, which was often.

Now that the season is half over, the boys on Luke's team are doing much better. For the most part they can all throw in a straight line, to the base their coach calls out. They have a pretty good handle on how the game is played and some of them have emerged with pretty impressive batting skills. It's almost like the pros....it only takes 1 good hit, right???

Anyway, we have had a great time playing and Luke's team, the Cubs, is really good. Our team really has some outstanding players, and IF they were keeping score, we'd have won all our games so far! Go Cubs!

General Conference

I was thinking during President Monson's talk during the Sunday morning session.....he was called to be an apostle in October 1963 when David O. McKay was the prophet. That means he's had an intimate working relationship with 6 of the presidents of the church (David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter and Gordon B. Hinckley). Considering that their have only been 15 previous prophets in this dispensation, I think that is saying something! It's just incredible to wonder about the life experiences of President Monson.

Upon reflecting on the talks given, I feel a renewed sense of self and determination to do better...as well as extreme thankfulness that my kids actually let me hear some of them. So I'm going to try an experiment. Since I don't have the best track record of rereading the conference talks and applying their principles in my everyday life, I've set myself a goal to do just that over the next 6 months. I'm going to pick a few of the talks that I felt were applicable to my life at this moment and read them over and over, in the hope that I can really try to do as President Monson suggested and incorporate the teachings. So stay tuned to hear the progress!

Everyday Life

Even though this photo is about 2 months old, I just had to post it. Trent and I love this photo because it is a true, unprompted, very raw representation of our kids. This is what they look like to me everyday! I stumbled onto this photo op and am so glad I decided to grab the camera. Carley had been playing in her room and was all wrapped up in one of Emry's toole skirts (thanks Grandma May!). It was just such a precious girlie moment. Anyhew, Luke and Emry decided to dive into the picture and this was the result. Luke is constantly wearing camouflage these days and this is what Emry looks like when we don't do her hair...a little something we like to call orphan Annie hair.