So Many on Saturday

Catching up (sort of)~

~I made it back from Vegas a week ago and have been settling back into life ever since. Both my mom and I were dead tired the first couple days back and thankfully, Milo let us rest and get used to 4 kids again. Mom is doing much better and every day she feels a little more like herself. She still has daily headaches and a nasty head wound but I'm sure it all takes time. Thanks for all the well wishes, prayers and concern. Family and friends are such a blessing in times of need.

~Kathryn's favorite Saturday job is cleaning out the van. In fact, I don't even ask her, she asks me if she can do it! She puts on her plastic jewelery, hat, sometimes asks for the ipod, and cleans away until there is not a crumb or rock in sight. It's amazing. Cleaning out a car is almost always on the bottom of my list so for her to take it off, is heavenly. Thanks Kat!

~A couple of Saturdays ago, we watched our two nieces while their parents went to the temple. A certain almost 7 yr old boy loved little Nora. He talked baby talk, held her binky, wanted to hold her even if she was crying and so on. We had a great time watching the girls. I think Dane's hoping we get asked again (hint, hint).

~Reed loves Buzz and Woody and a few weeks ago, Marion surprised him with these miniature figurines. He would not go anywhere without them for days. One night he was crying (stalling) at bedtime and he didn't have them with him. He looked up at me so pathetic and said, 'I need my tiny 'pecial Buzz and Woody'. For the record, they are hard to keep track of!

~A few days ago Kathryn found a praying mantis in some tall grass in the backyard. She loves to tell me about bug/animal habitats and was so excited to find this tiny guy. I had fun catching him in macro. Not the clearest photo but he was definitley staring back at me. All the kids took turns holding him on a sticks and I had to be the bearer of bad news when I said he wasn't coming inside.

Reed wanted a turn to hold him.

He crawled up the stick onto Reed's hand....

then jumped to Reed's elbow....

crawled up his sleeve....

and then jumped onto Reed's face. We all jumped and yelled but Reed just gave us this look and said, 'bug on my face'. Then we died laughing.

~I can't believe it but our garden is growing and producing fruit and veggies. I wasn't sure we could pull if off as rookies. Nathan has been patiently watching the banana peppers and decided to pick one and try it a couple days. He's working on a taste for all things spicy like his dad so he just chomped right in. He said it wasn't spicy but that it didn't taste good at all. Great, what am I going to do with all these peppers?

~Look at this sweet face. I wish I could say he never yells or throws tantrums but I can't. He's 2.5 and he very much yells about almost everything and tantrums aren't far from the surface either. He's in a phase right now with fighting sleep. We are constantly putting him back to bed at both naptime and bedtime, it's killing us. Maybe wearing us out is a better term. I just have to keep reminding myself it's a phase. It is a phase, isn't it??