Saturday Morning Hike

Now that we are having normal warm, summer weather, I instigated "Saturday Morning Hike" in our house.  At rei.com/passport, I was able to print off some family friendly local hikes.  

Here we are at the start of our first hike. 

If you are wondering, how family friendly it is, toothsome #4 was able to do it all by herself, wearing her clothes backwards and her shoes on the wrong feet. 

Toothsome #3 (with his current pose of choice) at the top of the hike.  The amazing thing about this hike was that it was close to our house and an amazing waterfall was at the end of it.  

Summer fun is definitely happening around here.

To all of you Parents who have picky eaters in your family. . .

I am coming clean on-line for all of you.  I am hoping this helps you parents who have picky eaters because there is hope for your children.  

Up until I was about 21, I was the ultimate picky eater.  I honestly remember waking up and dreading the day ahead knowing I would have to eat.  With the exception of a few items, I hated the taste of most foods.  I spent most of my nights growing up sitting at the table, while everyone left and my mom insisting I eat three more bites.  It would sometimes take hours for me to do it.  So, I get it.  I have been there.  When I hit my teens, I forced myself to eat healthy foods because I understood how important it was, but honestly I hated every bite.    

I really don't know exactly when the "switch" happened, but sometime in my college years, foods that I had hated before didn't taste so bad.  Mushrooms were delicious, sweet potatoes tasted wonderful, broccoli was edible.  When as a child, just the smell of any Asian restaurant would make me nauseous, as a college student, I could do it and I could find something on the menu that looked and tasted good where ever we went.  

Now to be completely honest, there are things I still don't like--green peppers, cooked string beans (even though I love raw, fresh from the garden green beans), most Indian food and sushi.  But, for the most part, I am now a very normal eater.  I even have had friends say in front of my family what an exotic cook and eater I am.  My family (my mother in particular) can't believe anyone would say anything so crazy.  

So, folks with picky eaters, not all hope is lost.  Your children may end up being happy eating adults.  Hope this cheers some of you up.   (And, if you are wondering, for some unexplained reason, I was not given one picky eater.  My kids eat anything and everything.  I know, you can all start hating me again.)  

Lessons Learned at the Swimming Pool

We just finished our first round of swimming lessons.  The past two summers, I have put toothsome #3 into lessons and both times, he burst into tears and refused to get into the water.  After lots of talking to him this year, I explained that he had no choice and he had to do all eight days of lessons.  The first day, he fell apart and in my clothes, I carried him back into the pool to his instructor six times.  The second day, I only had to do it 3 times and by the third, he figured out I was completely serious about this and he had figured out that swimming lessons really weren't that scary at all.  He successfully completed the session and proudly tells everyone that he is now a swimmer.  (He now can blow bubbles and make monster arms.)  

This morning, toothsome #1 started his first day of swim team.  Toothsome #1 is a great swimmer and I decided it would be good for him to practice his strokes, get some exercise and be part of a team this summer.  Toothsome #1 did not want to do swim team.  He cried, he tantrumed, he called me names but I stood my ground.  I took him over and stood on the side lines and watched him swim.  At one point, he came crying to me and asked to quit and I said no.  At the end of his first day, he said, "Thank you.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  It might end up being fun."  

As I was driving home, I decided to be the mother to myself that I have been to my kids.  I didn't want to exercise or clean my house today.  In my mind, I was tantruming.   I didn't want to do it.  Once on the treadmill, I still wasn't happy.  At one point I wanted to quit, but I thought about toothsomes #1 and 3 and didn't.  The same went with housework.  I didn't want to clean my house but I did anyway.  I didn't let myself quit and yes, just like my sons, I had the thought, "It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I'm glad I did it."  

I've Got to Quit Buying Non-alcoholic Beer

Dentist husband loves non-alcoholic beer.  He has never tasted the real stuff in his life (so he claims and I believe him) and he developed a taste for it when he was little and his dad would buy it when they went to the local team's club baseball games.  He says the flavor always brings back fun outdoor memories with his father.  

Fast forward to dental school.  We were married and poor and were always looking for free things to do on the weekends.  We lived close to Golden, CO where Coors beer is brewed and they offered a really nice, free tour, which we took a lot because it was free and it gave us something to do.  At the end, you got two free glasses of beer (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) or lemonade.  I always got the lemonade and dentist husband got the non-alcoholic beer.    

So, now, for special occasions, I buy dentist husband non-alcoholic beer, Coors Brand .  It says non-alcoholic on it but it is written quite small and it looks just like the real stuff.  I buy it maybe four times a year--his birthday, Father's Day, our anniversary and the Super Bowl.  Every time I do, this is really what always happens.  

I put it in my cart, and then proceed to run into people I know.  I go to the store sometimes three times a week and never see people I know.  I put a six pack of non-alcoholic beer in my cart and I run into the stake president, the gossipy self-righteous neighbor, the young impressionable teenage girl or the family of one of my Cub scouts.  It never fails.  

So, today being the Saturday before Father's Day, I put the Coors in my cart and run into THREE people I know.  This time it is the young impressionable teenage girl, the 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency and the lady in our church who is a spiritual giant who when she teaches a class, people skip out of their other callings to listen to her. 

Maybe I should take it as sign and quit buying it.  I think I am developing a reputation for something I am not doing.   

Jason Mraz does it again

First and Lasts

Toothsome #3 Last Day of pre-school

1st Day of pre-school

1st Day of 3rd Grade

1st Day of 1st Grade

Last Day of school

Time flies.

Mothers and Daughters

Last weekend was our ward's Fathers and Sons outing.  When toothsome #2 was little, she was very upset that toothsome #1 got to go on a special outing with Dad and she was left behind.  Thus began, "Mothers and Daughters".  

Past years, toothsome #2 would come up with a long list of activities for us to do ranging from painting finger and toe nails to staying up late watching the stars to going to the store to get a special treat.  This year was much more low key as school had gotten out that day, and truth be known, we were all pretty exhausted.  Instead, we stayed home, ordered pizza and watched a movie.  Below are our attempts at capturing a picture with all three of us in it.    

Yesterday, I spent about two hours pulling out some bushes that never did very well in front of our house and planting these, green spire Euonymus,instead.  I gave myself a huge blister doing it but it was well worth it.  My front flower bed finally looks like how I envisioned when we built our house.  I still need to find a cute bench to go under the windows but that is lower on my priority list right now.  In about a month, the flowers will be in full bloom and I will be happy.

Swine Flu and Other Events

Things have been crazy around here.  Really crazy.  My oldest had been sick for about five days and just be on the safe side, I took him to the doctor for a strep test.  The doctor said it wasn't strep but had all of the classic "Swine Flu" indicators, so he was tested for it.  What did I say out loud to the doctor at the doctor's office?  "You are kidding me?  Swine flu is real?  I thought it was just something made up by the Obama administration to create fear and more dependance on big government."  Yes, I said that out loud.  

Anyway, he didn't have it.  It was just a nasty virus, but since the rest of us got it a few days later, I was relieved to know it was nothing serious.    

Besides that, I have been creating a web-site for my husband.  He was Senior class president his year of high school and his 20th is fast approaching.  Until a week ago, I knew nothing about creating a web-site with the exception of doing this blog.  But, now I know a ton more and thanks to me, a reunion web-site is now up and running.  (It seems like I might be the last person to know that itunes is different than an MP3.  Adding a song to the web-site took a ton figuring out.)  

I also got up bright and early to get my kids registered for swimming lessons.  Check that off my list.  

Tomorrow is the last day of school.  It is a 1/2 day and we will celebrate our normal way by heading to Barbacoa for lunch.  I do have to say that I recently discovered the Ensalada Bajio at the Bajio restaurant and I am a fan.  It is closer to my house too.  

Oh and the annual beginning of summer dejunk every room in the house has begun.  I did the master bathroom this morning.  Tomorrow is the master closet.  If I could just stop toothsomes 3 and 4 from destroying the other parts of my house while I do the dejunking, we might actually have clean and organized house by the end of June.  

Happy Summer folks.