Camping, Hiking, Fishing

A couple of weekends ago our lab had a camp-out retreat in Allegany state park. We had planned on the whole family going, but it has been getting pretty cold at night, and Caitlyn and Madelyn had been a little sick, so we decided that I would just go with Abygail and Jackson. We arrived Friday evening and stayed until Sunday afternoon. We missed Amber and the little ones, but I think she enjoyed having some relative quiet in the house.

Another grad student in the lab, Solon, arrived shortly after we did with his two slightly older kids (5 and 9 I think). Their dad is quite the naturalist and has trained them right, so they immediately went down the creek running alongside our campground and started turning over rocks in the hunt for any critters they could find. Abygail and Jackson were enthrawled. They insisted on going down to the creek with them, and even took their shoes and socks off so they could get into the frigid water and turn over rocks as well. We weren't fortunate enough to catch anything ourselves, but they enjoyed seeing the few little fish (barely bigger than tadpoles), water bugs, and crayfish that they caught. As you might imagine, I had a hard time keeping the two of them away from the creek the rest of the time we were there, especially Jackson.

My boss/advisor had rented a couple of cabins, but Abygail and Jackson insisted on sleeping in the tent so I finally set it up around 10pm by lantern light. (they are night-owls anyway, but especially when we are doing something special); it was a new moon so it was really dark. The stars were amazing!

We started Saturday morning with a breakfast of pancakes and bacon cooked in our iron skillet over the fire (I love camp cooking!), then went for a hike with the rest of or little group. I filled my backpack with snacks, water, diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes for the kids. Abygail and Jackson each had their own backpacks which they used to carry their own snacks and water. It didn't take long for the rest of our group to realize that I was serious when I said they shouldn't wait for us. As you might imagine, hiking with a 2 and 3 year old is not a fast-paced adventure, so the three of us ended up on our own.

I have to say that I was and still am absolutely amazed at how well Abygail and Jackson did. They asked to be held a lot when we first started out, but soon realized that I wasn't joking when I said we weren't on a carry, but on a walk, and quit asking. I actually didn't carry them at all over the entire FOUR HOUR hike. Well, not at least until the last 15 minutes when poor Jackson just couldn't handle it any more; he was actually trying to lay down on rocks and go to sleep. But I am getting ahead of myself. The hike was uphill the whole way (until we turned around) and the path was covered with rocks and roots. They insisted on taking time to turn over a few rocks and we actually found a couple of salamanders.



As we neared the top of the hill, we found that it was covered with enormous rocks, house-sized and even many times bigger. When we got to the very top, the trail brought us onto of a huge rock outcropping where we discovered a small hole in the ground. I should have gathered that we might find some caves since the trail was called "Bear Cave Trail," but for some reason I was surprised to find that this little hole actually led back pretty far into the rocks, perhaps a couple hundred feet following a very narrow and windy course.

I decided to go in as far as I could without getting too far from Abygail and Jackson, but to my surprise they followed me inside. We had neglected to bring any flashlights, so I used my cell-phone to lead them about a third of the way in. My cell phone didn't do much to penetrate the complete darkness, though, so they didn't go too far past where the outside light disappeared. When we turned around and left the cave, I was sure that that was the end of our caving experience, but they surprised me once again by asking to go back in. We made it perhaps a little further the second time, but not by much. Fortunately, some other hikers came along and offered to let us borrow their flashlights. Once we had some decent light in hand, Abygail and Jackson had no problem going to the back end of the cave.





We learned from the people we met on the trail that there were actually two other caves not too far off which we also ended up exploring. The entrance to one of them was a 10ft drop straight down, but we were able to enlist the help of a couple that was also there their kids to help get Abygail and Jackson inside. Once inside, we found that at the opposite end there was a crack in the rocks just wide enough to see outside. The same couple that helped us get in also took some pictures from the outside and e-mailed them to us. Thank you.



Later that evening we tagged along with Solon and his kids to watch them go fishing. I hand't anticipated that we would be fishing, so didn't bring any rods or tackle for ourselves. Solon was fly fishing and his son had a pretty nice rod that he was using. His daughter on the other hand had only a kid-sized, light blue and pink rod that she used for a little while, then let Abygail and Jackson use when she got bored/distracted. When it was Jackson's turn I helped him cast the line out perhaps 6-10 feet then let him real it in. As I watched him real in the line, I saw a fish move out of the vegetation on the bottom and move towards the line...wouldn't it be awesome I thought. And no sooner had I though it but the fish actually took the line and Jackson had him on shore (with a little help)! I could hardly belive it. His first cast ever and he caught a fish! It was quite the sight next to the fly-fisherman and his son who had not yet caught anything with their fancy equipment. After that Abygail was determined to catch a fish as well, but in her exuberance, only managed to snag her daddy's chest with the hook. I was afraid that she would be upset that she didn't catch a fish, but she wasn't at all sad; quite to the contrary she was very excited that Jackson had caught a fish.


That night another professor came with her two kids (3 and 5). They went to bed pretty early that night, but on Sunday morning Abygail and Jackson hit it off with them pretty well and had fun playing while we ate another breakfast cooked over the camp fire then packed up to come home home.

Way Too Much...

Jackson's Blue-Blueberry Birthday pancakes.

to post because so much time has gone by.

THE GIRLS:
The girls had their 4 month check ups a few weeks ago. Caitlyn is 12 lbs 1 oz and Madelyn is staying 1 pound ahead at 13 lbs 0 oz. Isn't it funny how they have stayed 1 lb apart since a month or so before they were born?!


They are getting strong too. Both of them roll from tummy to back and they both push up like pros. They have discovered their hands and it's fun to watch them stare at them and try to figure out how to move them or untangle them from each other. I've noticed Madelyn try to reach for or grasp for things. They also both suck their fists (mostly Madelyn, she would prefer it to a pacifier but hasn't abandoned the paci all together yet). They push with their feet and move in circles if they are upset or just annoyed that no one is paying attention to them.

Caitlyn recently got to 'test' a swing from Fisher Price. We had it for 2 weeks and they both enjoyed it. We also enjoyed that it worked (Jackson has broken the big one) and that it was so portable.

"Someone" got to the cake before the party started!

JACKSON:

Is 2!!!! He is so charming at times and others... well, he's in the terrible 2 period and you can tell. We had some friends over to celebrate his birthday. We had hotdogs and a fire (both are his favorites). It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed having people over to celebrate this fun day for him.


He talks like a pro! He had his 2 yr check up at the beginning of the week. Took his shot like a big boy and the Dr seemed very impressed by his speaking abilities. Apparently he should be saying 2 word phrases. Ya, he has 2 sentence conversations! LOL. Abygail was the same and we really enjoy that we can communicate with them both so well.


He's a total boy too! He loves bringing worms and rocks in the house and scaring or chasing Abygail with the worms. What a turkey!

ABYGAIL:
Has learned the advantages of deal making. I wanted to write a post titled "Let's Make A Deal" and talk about her deal making skills but as you can tell, I didn't. She was in the bath a while ago and it was time to get out, she didn't like the towel I had for her so she refused to use it. I told her that was the only towel we had for her and that she could use that towel or no towel. Well, she said, "Make a deal Mommy, make a deal!" to which I replied, "there is no deal, this is the only one we have for you". She insisted several more times for me to make a deal so I said, "OK here's the deal, you can either use this towel or no towel, which do you choose?" She chose the towel immediately. I guess as long as the 'options' are in a deal format she's ready to continue forward. Silly.

She loves dancing and singing (as does Jackson).

Here's the best part (and this is not an announcement, it's just an update), She has been in underpants for 2 days with no accidents. YEA, YEA, YEA!!!

JASON:
Has been working on the backyard and that is for another post. It's amazing how different it looks from when we moved in and even from last summer.

Our Week by the numbers

I was going to title this post 6 for Saturday taking a post out of Diana's blog, but as you will see there are more than 6 and 9, in case you haven't noticed, doesn't start with an S! So here's our week by the numbers:

1. Jackson and Abygail decided to be powder sugar ghosts. This seems to be the trend when the jar is left on the table...my bad, I should have put it away but, I had other crying babies/priorities to attend to. Jackson got quite the photo shoot out of it, here are a couple.



2. Speaking of photo shoots, Jason did one of his own. He was quite proud of himself this week. I think there were 13 shots of this screen. Check it out!


3. We have another champ in our house now. Abygail is a champ at opening doors now. She even opens the ones we don't want her to. She's found out that it's not so scary to go downstairs to the basement by yourself if there are super cool prizes to be found. Some of the things she's gotten this week: paints to make her own paintings, popsicles for her and Jack, ice cream for her and Jack and various other cool toys (old music tapes that unravel, little hand bags etc). We'll have to put a lock or latch on that door immediately!

4. Speaking of Paints, while Jackson and I were at the store Abygail got to use those paints for making her own pictures. They haven't gotten to paint for awhile and they really love it so it was a good day for her. She looked so cute, Jason had put one of his t-shirts on her and clothes-pinned it in the back so it didn't fall off. She looked like a little Picasso and there was not too much of a mess - at least I'm not the one that cleaned it up so it wasn't too much of a mess for me :)

5. Speaking of messes, I had some super coupons for another deal at CVS where their Fiber One chocolate chewy granola bars were on sale. I bought several and we gobbled them up - I think they are one of our new food loves. We had some down sides to them, we found that you can't eat more than one a day unless you want to spend your day in the bathroom and changing poopy diapers! Our children (especially Jackson) are regular enough so the bars are now off limits to them ;)

6. Not only has Aby been finding things on her own but she's been lying about it. Yesterday afternoon I was on the phone and holding a baby when I walked into the kitchen at the exact time she was coming upstairs from the dungeon. Very clearly in her hand I could see 2 Klondike bars (left over from my pregnancy cravings). I asked her "Did you go downstairs?" Her answer, "No". I ask "where did you get those ice creams?" Her answer, "I don't have any ice creams". To be honest I believe this is my fault. I've been not the best of moms when handling these situations. I usually tell her no and just take them away. Lately with the new additions I've been learning some patience and negotiation skills. I no longer get upset or berate her but explain why she can't have it, then stick to my guns and then coach her into handing over whatever it is. I hope this method will work, along with the 'lectures' on why we don't lie to mommy. It's tough keeping everything out of reach of 4 little hands!

7. Speaking of keeping things out...I got to go to playgroup for the first time in months. Although Aby and Jack have been I have not. This week was Jason's spring break so he stayed home with the girls while the rest of us went to play/socialize. A fun time was had by all.

8. Other news about getting out, with the amazing coupons this week and Diapers.Com deal I wound up purchasing 20, yup 20 packs of diapers! I'll give you my dollar total on the other website. I started this other site to keep my deals on and keep my shopping lists on to make it easier for myself but then my vision broadened to encompass any deal in Buffalo (The Buff) including what to do to entertain ourselves. Hopefully my Thrifty Friend will have some engrossing posts to add to it!

9. The best part of this week? NO ONE DIED!

And there you have it, a week in the life of our slice!

Because They're Cute...

You'll have to turn your volume up really loud ... but I promise it's worth it :)

Jackson and Abygail both love singing. Abygail has been singing since she could talk and so has Jackson. Jackson has parts of Itsy-bitsy spider, I am a child of God, Twinkle Twinkle and ABCs memorized. ABCs consists of repeatedly singing ABCD, ABCD, ABCD...etc. Twinkle Twinkle is more like Winkle, winkle wittel sar. And the others are just bits and pieces of various parts of the song.

Aren't they too cute!?

4 Little Milestones

Abygail and Jackson playing on the Thomas toy that James gave to them (you can see Abygail's bangs and Jackson's crew cut)

Another shot of the hair cuts. Abygail and Jackson playing together. I think he's giving her belly kisses.

Abygail's crazy outfit she put together while I was at my 'baby shower'. It consists of a 0-3 month shirt, a 0-3 month skirt, 2T leggings, snow boots and Diana's sun glasses. I think she's been picking up fashion tips from Sam!

Abygail: The Friday before the girls were born (1/16) she got a hold of the scissors and cut her hair. Her bangs are now SUPER SHORT! That evening she received her second hair cut

Jackson: Got his first hair cut on 1/16 as well. He hated it and cried the whole time. We did get a nice little pony tail from his mullet in the back.

Caitlyn: Moved out of her isolete Monday. She's been doing great and starting to take more of her bottles and needing to be gavaged less.

Madelyn: Also doing great and taking more of her bottles and gavaging less.

Last night Jason and I went up to the hospital for the 9pm feeding (sorry book club - I found a better use of my time last night :) Madelyn breast feed really well and then took a full bottle, and then kept sucking on her pacifier! Caitlyn got her first bath (that we know of) before feeding time so by the time I tried breast feeding her she had expended all her energy on crying and wasn't interested - but she wasn't interested in the bottle either! She was gavaged but that's ok, she saved her energy for the next time.

Jason spent most of the day up there yesterday. He needed a quite place to study so instead of doing it at school he did it in the NICU. I'm glad that he was able to spend some time with the girls.

Today while visiting the girls at their 12pm feeding the nurse said that if they can sustain taking their full bottles for 24 hours they will start to get them ready for release. They started getting PT (physical therapy) and OT (occupational therapy) today to help work on their sucking/breathing and also 'play' time or body movements. They will get their hearing tests today too!!! It's exciting but overwhelming to think they could be home this weekend. I'm not going to get my hopes too far up though because I know it's just the beginning signs of coming home - nothing has been set in stone or decided yet.

For Your Consideration

What do you think? Do the girls look like their older siblings? Answer on the survey on the right sidebar!

Abygail:

Jackson:

Dr. Barbara

Yesterday Jackson finally had his 15 month check up. I say finally because he's now 16 months old and in the past month we missed 2 of his appointments - we just plain forgot!

He has finally hit the 20 lb threshold...but just barely. I think he was 20.5 lbs!!! He is 10th percentile for weight, 20th for head circumference and 50th for height.

Abygail loves pretending that she is the pediatrician...Dr. Barbara as we like to call her. She came with us so she could get her flu shot too. While there she enjoyed watching all the things Dr. Barbara was doing. At one point Jackson started getting fussy and she said, "Dr. Barbara, I think Jackson is ready to go home now." We laughed and Dr. B. said she would hurry so that Jackson could go home. (She really says the funniest things, I need to start blogging them down so that I'll always have a good laugh).

Jackson has become quite the little talker. He loves learning new words, the parts of his body and animals. Here is a sampling of what he knows:

Animals: cow, frog, cat, dog, elephant, giraffe, fish, turtle, duck, bear, monkey, gorilla, and my personal favorite - monster :)

Body parts: nose, eyes, ears, mouth, head, knees, feet, belly, and my personal favorite - tongue

Words: nose (nooo), eye (I), ear (eaw), head (hea), belly(belbe), juice (ju), milk (mil), soda (doda), cracker (cackew), bear (beaw), Bill (as in Little Bill the show - it's his favorite), daddy, mommy, baby, no, poopy, pizza (peda), apple (appa), paint (pain), ball (baaa) and my personal favorite - dirty (deeeeerdieeeeee)

He understands so much too. I would say he understands about 80% of what we say (or more). He likes to help clean up, as well as make a mess with the movies. He loves to finger paint too. His favorite foods are: anything breakfast (pancakes, frenchtoast, eggs), black olives, rasins, apples - really any fruit, carrots, peanut butter (as long as it's just on a spoon), and milk. He's still comfortably wearing some of his 6-9 month clothes and starting to wear 12 month clothes. Pants usually fall right off his waist but his 6-9 month pants are getting too short.

He's a wonderful sleeper and I'm so grateful for that. I hope he can teach his baby siblings to sleep just as well (and his big sister too). He has a blanket that he adores and we can NEVER put him to bed with out it, it usually comes everywhere with us - but it keeps him so happy.

I almost forgot to say...he has 3 front teeth on bottom now and 4 front teeth on top and he's getting in one of his molars.

He is such a sweet and happy little boy. We love watching him grow and learn.

Nap-tastrophy

Another milestone this week...we've started a new nap routine, or rather, I have. It started on Wednesday so we've only tried it out for 3 days so far but, I have my fingers crossed and am hoping and praying that this will work, otherwise Jason is going to have to ship me off to the loony bin.

Here's the old routine: Jackson slept in his pack-n-play which is the only thing set up in the nursery, while I put him down (which only takes 2 seconds because he's the best sleeper in the world) I let Abygail watch one episode of Little Bear. Then it's time for her to lay down on the couch and either take a nap or quietly read books and play with other quiet toys. This has not really been working because I have to stay in there the whole time and do the same as her (read or nap). In the past month I think she's only taken a dozen naps which only gives me a dozen days of sanity. Something had to be done and done now before the twins come.

So here's the new routine and the solution: Jackson now takes a nap in his crib with is in our room, in his room there is a small fan that we run for quiet noise...in our room there is an AC which I just put on fan only and run it for quiet noise. I then put Abygail (at almost the same time) in the nursery in the pack-n-play or on the floor with pillow and blanket (whichever she wants because she can climb out of the pack-n-play anyway) and leave the room (after the snuggles and nap kisses of course).

Day 1: She cried for 45 mins, then started saying ow, ow, ow, so I feared that she had stuck her finger in the socket and electrocuted herself (there seriously is nothing else up there and they love unplugging the fan). I checked on her to find her perfectly ok except for a poopy diaper. I changed her and told her it was still nap time, put her back upstairs and left. She cried for 20 mins and then fell asleep. What did I accomplish during this time - SOOOO MUCH!!! I got the living room cleaned and vacuumed, ate my lunch in peace and rested. It was a very good sanity day.

Day 2: She cried for an hour and a half, kept Jackson awake almost the whole time and then woke him up shortly after he finally fell asleep (I forgot to turn the 'fan' on for him this day - won't forget again!). Finally after an hour and a half I was DONE listening to both of them screaming and figured it was good enough.

Day 3: Same routine, she cried for about an hour and then feel asleep. Jackson woke up shortly after and I brought him downstairs waiting for Abygail to wake up. By 4:30 I went up to wake her up only to be confronted with the WORST, NASTIEST MESS I'VE EVER SEEN OR SMELLED IN MY LIFE!!! Apparently she had gone poop again, only this time she had taken her clothes off, her diaper off and I don't know...maybe danced in it!!! She was covered in poop and so was the floor and her discarded clothes. (I didn't get a picture - I don't think one wants to see or remember that). It dry too, dried on her hands, feet, legs, floor, clothes YUCK YUCK YUCK!!! I had left her in the room just to sleep on the floor and when I opened the door she was in the pack-n-play...I think she wanted to escape the poop and find a clean/poop free place to sleep. When I cleaned it up I just threw her in the shower (that stuff was so caked and dried on I couldn't get it off any other way) and I wound up throwing the clothes away - they were stained anyway and who want's to wear poop stains even if they don't smell on the outside of your clothes!!!

No matter, I will deal with poop, I will listen to screaming and crying, I will handle the police when my neighbor finally calls them because I'm sure they can hear my child screaming and think she is being abused. I will survive this until she sleeps, there's no turning back - it will work, it must work, I will it to work!!! And in the end we will all be the happier for it and I will lavish in my 'alone' time, and enjoy the few months left before we start training two new little ones about sleeping.

Family Time: Part IV

Jackson Picks Some Apples

Family Time: Part I

Saturday we took some much needed family time. We took a trip to Brown's Berry Farm (on a tip from some friends :). Any-who, we got there around 4:30 and they close at 6, so we didn't get to play in the playground area or go for a hay ride or even build our own scarecrows but we did get some fun berry and apple picking time. It was a perfect day, the weather was just great and a few trees were showing their colors. Fall is certainly in the air :)

Abygail was very intent on the job at hand. She loved picking raspberries - I don't think she ate as many as the rest of us, in fact...I never saw her eat even one, while she was picking! Jackson on the other hand was a pick and eat-er! We didn't wind up with as many as we thought we would, they seemed pretty over picked and we were running out of time. The blackberries, well, they were non-existent, guess we should go earlier next time.

Jackson really enjoyed picking apples, but Abygail just wanted to sit in the stroller and look at her basket of raspberries, and munch on them - she was very proud of her handy work.

After all the picking we had ice cream (well, I had a salad and everyone else had ice cream). I wish we had pictures of the fun mess that was made. Turns out that Abygail doesn't like eating the cone. She likes having a spoon and eating her ice cream out of the cone with the spoon - then giving the cone to Daddy to eat. Jackson - well, he likes it all!!!

On our way home we stopped at a state park that was just on the banks of Lake Ontario. It was beautiful! The kids enjoyed seeing the lake and then swinging on the swings. We tried to take a walk in the woods but the sun was going down and Abygail DID NOT like being in the woods when it was starting to get dark...guess we know a little more about her night problems now.

The kids fell asleep before we even got home and they stayed asleep too!!!

This is definitely something we will do again, it was such a good family experience.

Carpe Diem

Jackson's sweet ride for the hike

When I think of Carpe Diem I think of Dead Poets Society and Newsies. Seize The Day! Or as the Newsies song goes, "Let us seize the day".

Abygail picking flowers and running down the path

This weekend we had the opportunity to go camping with several other families. Knowing that I (we) have a limited amount of days left to go camping before a) I'm a rollie pollie b) the weather changes c) we have too many lil' uns to keep track of and d) Jason goes back to school and work, we SEIZED THE DAY!

This necklace got around!

We are so glad we did. The kids loved it so much! We had foil packs for dinner and smores for dessert, enjoyed an abundance of company, fun and talking with new and old friends and even went on a little hike before leaving. The kids did great all things considered. There were 10 families there Friday night (9 stayed the night), so it was a LARGE group and it took some extra vigilance to keep track of the kids IN THE DARK!!! Abygail slept pretty well too. Jackson did get woken up a lot which is unusual for him so he had a hard time going BACK to sleep. In the middle of the night (3am-ish) he was having such a hard time Jason took him for a ride in the car, that did the trick.

Having fun rolling down the hill (or across in Abygail's case, or scooting down in Jackson's case)

Saturday afternoon 3 of the families took a short hike. We caught a frog and the kids liked that. Abygail picked flowers and we all had fun rolling down the hill at the end. We topped it off with an impromptu picnic.

Impromptu picnic

When we got home Jason reminded me that this was his last free Saturday until next semester. So I'm so, So, SO glad we SEIZED THE DAY!

Just like his sister, Jackson loves animals!

Busy Week So Far

Yesterday the kids and I went to the zoo. We had lots of fun, as always.

Jackson is learning his animal sounds now. So far he knows: cat, monkey, dog and giraffe (at least those are the ones I can name now). He's working on several others. He is also learning the parts of his body, so far he's mastered head and nose. We continue to work on eye, ear, and mouth. Abygail is so cute, she loves showing her brother how to learn and doing the animal sounds with him.

Speaking of Abygail, I'm amazed every day at how conversational she is. She speaks in full sentences and usually uses several at a time. She's become very descriptive too. She likes to pretend and make up stories, like she is reading.

Today we went to a kiddie pool for play group. Abygail was out in the pool playing around like she was a big kid. She has no fear of being far from mommy!!! It makes me very nervous but also proud that she is so independent. Jackson stayed right by my legs the whole time, good thing because I had to fish him up a few times.

They both enjoyed playing on the playground as well. They are very independent on the playground and go to the slides and swings, which ever they feel like doing, whether mommy is on her way or not. I caught Abygail climbing up a tall rock climbing wall, too tall for her to climb on her own was my thought. Nope, not to tall for her, she climb to the top all by herself and 3/4 of it was before I saw her doing it.

Speaking of independent, she loves to put her cloths on and her shoes on all by herself. She is also starting to insist on buckling her own buckles in the car. It's nice most of the time, unless we are in a hurry.

Last night after dinner the whole family went for a bike ride to a playground. The kids got to pet two dogs and play for awhile before it starting getting dark. Total it was about a 4 mile ride round trip.

OK, updates on the picture situation...we HAVE FOUND the cord but...the camera is broken. We have to send it in for repairs, and knowing us it may take awhile before we can find the receipt! So don't expect any pictures anytime soon. When we finally get the situation cleared up I'll come back and put in pictures where I can...too bad I can't take any new pictures between now and then.

Kids Playing

Here are some video clips I took with my phone last Friday after the activity at church of Abygail and Jackson playing with one of their friends. (By the way, Amber was in charge of the activity and did a great job organizing and presenting it.) I don't know if you will be able to hear it, but every time Jackson fell down he just broke out laughing.

I know there are a lot of clips but I only posted half of what I took (I couldn't leave any more out) and they are all only 30 seconds long.

The one fall which didn't result in laughter, resulted in a bloody nose. I wasn't taking video at the time but got a picture. Jackson, always the trooper, only cried for a few seconds then was back on his feet playing with the others.

It's June Already?!

Here's just a few things that have happened since the last post.

~Abygail's friend James was over on Wednesday, I got some great film of them dancing.





~Jackson got a bloody nose from playing so hard on Friday at the Ward Activity

~Jackson bit his tongue last night

~I got a new calling, Activities Committee Chairman - now I have keys, is this a good thing or bad thing?

~More planting: Corn, Carrots, Lettuce, Zinnias, Peppers

~Garden growing like a weed, weeds are growing too :)



~"We're in the spinach", we've had spinach every day for the last 4 days. In eggs and salads.


(Before the first harvest of baby spinach leaves, The first dish with spinach in it)

~We rode to church today. Jason left me 2 miles behind...but I finally made it just in time for the announcements :)

~Jason sold his 2 month old bike and got a new one

~I've ridden to the store a few times with the kids. Here's a picture of Abygail after one of those rides :)



****UPDATE****
~And apparently my daughter got in a fight with one of her very good friends in nursery...what a crazy girl! Her father took care of it.