Thirsty anyone?

Since I have no husband within about a billion miles, I decided to have date night with my two cuties, Jackson and Joni. We went to Macey's for some groceries (Joni's all-time favorite store) and then to Cafe Rio for some food to go. We came home and had a picnic on the floor in the basement. We were having a great time, until, well....Jackson crawled over to my spicy salad dressing, and....

DRANK IT!





He then GUZZLED an entire glass of water. In about five seconds.

As my mom would say..."that's interesting"

One thing you all have to know about my mom, is her use of the word "interesting". She uses this word like someone would use the word crazy, unattractive, or maybe unusual - depending on the situation. Like if I were to wear a pink sweater with an orange mini skirt, and asked her what she thought of it, she would pause for a moment, and say, "Well, it's interesting." That's code for, "That looks ridiculous!" Or if Tom were to suddenly drop all he has done in school, and randomly decide to become a butterfly keeper, she would say, "Well, that's an interesting choice."

You get the idea.

Well, as you can probably tell from the following picture, Joni looked "interesting" today. She called herself a "vairy" (not fairy - I asked her if that was what she meant. Umm, apparently not).

Here's is a back view of her sitting at the counter to eat.


And this is Jackson being his own "interesting" today. This is how he looked when I got home from a lunch date with a friend. My mom had fed him a wide variety of foods - many of which ended up all over him, including in his hair. The wet hair in the front is some splashes of chicken noodle soup. Remember his "so big!" routine? Well, just starting today, he now reaches up high, and then smacks the top of his head. It turns out that it's not very pretty when you pair that with meal time.

More Heritage Park

Tom nicely reminded me today that I haven't posted any pictures of the kids for a while. So here are some pictures from our second trip to Heritage Park. Sorry. I know it's kind of boring to post two sets of pictures from the same place, but it's for Tom's sake. So deal. (I say that with kindness, of course).

I'll also include a couple of Ava's ballerina birthday party.

Joni riding a pony.

Is this the cutest thing or what? Jackson was exhausted and cranky. Malia (my niece) just held him and sang until he fell asleep. Miracle!

The kidlets (okay, and Kristin got in there somehow) all gathered on the grass at lunch time.

Daniel, Jackson, and Lily.

Ava opening her presents, with anxious little ballerinas watching on.

I'm mad at myself for not getting a picture of Joni once she was all ready for the party. But here's a picture that includes her so you can get the gist. She's the one kneeling on the far right.

Just missing Tom

The title pretty much says it. I'm just missing Tom, and feeling a little sorry for myself. I guess it's the ONE downside to having the most fabulous husband on the face of the planet - it's hard to deal when he, say, takes off to Jerusalem for two months without you.

For journaling sake, I'd like to summarize what days are like for both of us. First off, Tom. He starts his day first thing, with class starting at 8:30. With no car, he obviously walks to school so he gets a good head start. He was told on orientation day, that (and I quote), "We are NEVER late here in Israel." Ummm...okay. That's a pretty huge statement for someone who was called "Elder Slow-ards" as a missionary. Can you say chronically late? Yup, that was Tom.

He then sits through 4 to 5 hours of class, with his longest break being 30 minutes. And here's the kicker in my opinion - all those hours of class are in the same room! Whose idea was that?

He then has plenty of homework to complete before the day is done. He has a dinner of hummus and pita, protein shake, or a veggie concoction he fries up and slathers with hummus. Sometime after dinner he talks with me and the kids on Skype. He then loves to end his day with a trip to the University's gym.

Then there's me. The first things that comes to my mind are poopy diapers, a messy high-chair, and keeping a 3 year old entertained. I'm lucky to have the help of my parents. My mom is a great friend to Joni, and very often folds my laundry. My morning-person-dad gets up with Joni first thing and gets her going for the day. Thanks mom and dad :)

Once Jackson wakes me up, I usually go upstairs and get the kids dressed and fed, then the same for myself (on a good day, anyway). I try to get the leftovers of yesterday's mess cleaned up, and then love to get some kind of project done, which usually also includes cleaning, sorting, or de-junking some of our boxes. Around lunchtime I talk to Tom on Skype, then get the kids down for their naps.

This is getting boring, fast, so I'll sum up the rest of the day. I usually try to spend some one-on-one time with Joni, cook dinner, and watch some Olympics. I'm usually very spent by the end of the day, and very relieved when the kids go down for bed.

I hate going to bed by myself, and have had a hard time falling asleep lately. But I AM happy with what we're doing as a family - starting an adventure, and following the Lord. I look forward to Jerusaelm at the beginning of October, and until then I'll just enjoy being home with my family.

Okay, and maybe miss Tom in the process.

Jackson's haircut

I gave Jackson a haircut the other day. Even though it's technically his third haircut, it was a little weird to get used to. It makes it a lot easier, though, to spike his hair. Joni kept saying, "He looks like daddy!" or "he looks like Tom!"

This is just a cute video of Joni from yesterday.

Treehouse Children's Museum

We had so much fun today at the Treehouse Children's Museum. It is Ava's birthday (Joni's cousin), so we went there to celebrate. It's this super cool place for kids of all ages, that is supposed to help children "step into a story." Very cute.

Lily and Jackson playing at the toddler counter. Jackson was having a great time until he lost his balance, fell back, and pulled a section of the little table on top of him. :(

Joni being a little mommy.

Jackson inside a soft train made for kids to put together, piece by piece.

Joni and Ava (who has a band-aid on her head because she hurt herself just before leaving home. Sad!) The kids stayed and played on this fire truck for the longest time.


Joni in a fire-fighter's uniform. For a minute or two I thought I had lost her. I was panicking and searching everywhere. Turned out she was right in front of me, and that I didn't recognize her with her get-up on!

We went to a park afterwards and had a little birthday picnic. Jackson tried Cheetos for the first time. As you can see, he loved them. He kept crawling around trying to grab other peoples'.

Two little princesses

Tony and Andrea,

The girls wanted to show you the pictures of their curlers and curly hair, so I told them I would "put it on the computer" for you. Here ya go!

The "before"

"Pose!"

The finished product. I think Seth had something to do with taking the curlers out while I was showering, so the curls did turn out a little skiwampis (if there's an actual spelling for that word, I obviously don't know what it is) - but cute anyway. Two little princesses.