May 22-31, 2010: Our Week With Grandma Stratton!

Last week Grandma and Grandpa Stratton came up for a visit. Grandpa went home on Monday and Grandma stayed to help me through my last week of work.



It was so great to have Grandma there to help out. It made the last week of work go by very smoothly.

Here are some of the fun times we had.













Thanks for the fun times Grandma! We really enjoyed having you, and we greatly appreciate everything you did for us this week!

May 28, 2010: Let the Summer Games Begin!

School is finally out! And for me this means no more work. Well, less work at least. Either way I'm excited for the summer, and I'm excited to spend it with my boys.

Here are the fine women I worked with this year.



Thanks for a great year ladies! It was so much fun working with you this year.

I told the teacher I work under that she has the baby class. The year before I came to work with her one of her aides had a baby. Then the next year I had the twins. Then this year her student teacher had a baby,- born in May- I got pregnant and the aide, that had a baby the year before me, got pregnant- she worked in another class this year though. The best part was that my teacher herself got pregnant at the very end. She's due in January, and I'm super excited for her.

Here's a pic of my teacher, me and the aide from the other class. All 3 trimesters in one pic.



After the kids left I met up with Craig and the boys in the park.






Then we went to the End of the Year Luncheon that the school put on.





My friends little girl- the baby that was had by the aide the year before I had the twins ;)- loved the boys. She started to stroke their hair. So cute!



The aides that are leaving all got a bag of chips as a send off because we are "All that and a bag of chips!" Thanks for the gift. I'll miss you guys, but I'm sure glad I can stay home with my boys now.

Happy Summer Everyone!

Dancing Fever!

One of the weekly activities I did with my nephew was to teach him a dance. His muscle movements are sort of like an explosion, and he was in need of some fine motor skills. I knew his mom would NEVER put him in dance, so I decided to try to teach him something simple myself.



What girl wouldn't love a man who can dance?

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf!

Fear of dogs is an emotion I may never understand. I understand it to be a real fear, but I myself just cannot relate. My children don't seem to have this fear either. They pounce on our dog with such glee and joy and they don't flinch at all when she gives them a warning nip- she knows not to bite them hard thankfully. That's why I was shocked to see the awkward, screaming child doing a sideways crawl away from my brother's dog. Yes, Little H was terrified of the pooch we all know as Buddy. He's a harmless dog. A little obnoxious, but quite harmless. But every time he'd come into little H's view. . .Oh boy. . .he'd let you know he was displeased.

So, judging from the above story, can you guess the reaction that would come when this little dog strolled into our yard?



Believe it or not. . .



This is a pic of Little H wanting a boost so he can get closer to the dog.



She licked them, she got in their faces and not once did these two show any dislike or fear at all. They even hitched a little ride.



This dog is extremely calm and gentle. I wish we could have one :) And she was excellent with the twins. She even brought along a little lab of a friend who was very social and liked to lick. I thought that Little H might dislike this dog since it acted more like Buddy, but he seemed fine with her.

P.S. The dogs owners were with them the whole time.

Fun in the Yard!

I've been excited to see how the boys would react to a little splash pool in the yard. It was a little cold to get in, but I still thought they would splash around for a good while.

Big H was great about it. It kept him busy for a good while.



I even put him in the pool and he was fine!



His brother on the other hand. . .



He kept crawling in the dirt and mud. It made what was supposed to be a relaxing moment in the back yard more stress then it was worth.

Craig and I thought it was was strange that little H wasn't into the pool, but we knew he loved slides. So we brought over a slide thinking he'd like the idea of a soft, splashy landing.



No such luck! He threw a fit that lasted a good hour or so.



The next day my children kept crawling away while I tried to sit outside and enjoy the weather in the front yard. I once again turned to slide to try and keep them at bay.



Once again it was a huge hit with Big H. He was climbing up and sliding down. He loved it!



But Little H not so much. This is the same kid who, on Sunday, was throwing himself down the slide so fast Craig barely had time to position himself to catch him at the bottom.



Little H is usually my thrill seeker. Lets hope this is just a short phase.

May 15, 2010: What a Day for a Car Show!

The sun was high, the weather was good and my Dad and I were headed to the annual UVU car show up at Thanksgiving Point. They moved it up to Thanksgiving Point a few years ago because it was getting too big for the UVU campus. I haven't been since the move, but I was definitely going to make it this year. The only downfall was that Craig couldn't come, but I had fun sharing something special with my boys, and a Daddy/Daughter date is always nice- he even paid ;)

Some Highlights










Some of Kaden's Picks




He called these the Bumblebee cars. I tried to explain that they looked like Bumblebee but Bumblebee was actually a Camaro, not a Plymouth, and we'd try to find an actual Bumblebee. No such luck though.



Some of My Dad's Picks






And mine. . .

I had to get a pic of the boys by my absolute favorite car. The 1967 Camaro. Isn't she beautiful? Sadly we never found my Dad's Camaro. His is a 1970 a hard one to come by. He actually owned one, and wishes all the time he had kept it.



Not a fan of Mustangs, but the Cobra definitely earns my respect.



I sort of have a thing for Pontiacs. Maybe because my first car was a Pontiac, or maybe because they built the first muscle car ever. Ladies and gentlemen the 1964 GTO.



Wish my Buick looked like this. I think I'll take our gas mileage though :)



My nephew made this Lego airplane and Big H somehow got his hands on it. He started blowing raspberries and making plane sounds. I thought, "Wow he knows what it is!" Then today he did the same thing with a toy whale. Guess it's just how he plays with toys.



We'll end with the car of cars. The Chevy Corvette. No matter what the year it's an impressive car- we'll excuse that little bit in the late 80's early 90's most cars had ugly body styles then anyway.