Wednesday Night

Typically, Wednesday nights are pretty busy for us. We drive the 25 min to the church for scouts, activity days, and young womens. It's nice to have them all on one night instead of being spread out all over the place. Chelsea hasn't had YW most of the summer. I guess with the group being so small and everyone taking vacations, it isn't worth it to have activities.
Brianna has had some wonderful activity leaders. We took this picture because Jackie (in the middle) is getting married and moving out of our ward. She also happens to be the most famous person we know in Springfield. She is a news reporter for the local early morning NBC news. It's kind of fun to see her on TV and say, "Hey, I know her and she is one of the nicest people I have met". We will miss her.

In scouts they have done several wood working projects from Home Depot. Tonight they got to build a bird house. Mason just love it when he gets to use a hammer!! We have been working on his bear and he is half way done.
I also wanted to give a shout out for the nursery, "YEAH NURSERY!!!". Life on Sunday has been so nice now that he is old enough for his own class. He was our easiest kid and has not even cried once. After struggling with the other 3, we deserve him! He was even trying to sneak into nursery early he liked it so much. On Wednesdays, we just go hang out in the nursery while the other kids are busy with their own activities. It's not worth it to drive there, go home, and drive back. Either Mike or I will just take a book and read while he plays, or I use the time to socialize with other parents who are there waiting for their child. I have come to realize that being active in the church out here is a much bigger commitment. The church isn't just down the street and the sisters in the ward are easy to get to. But it is still worth it.

Her blood is Alldredge

Chelsea had the wonderful experience of getting 2 cavities filled today at the dentist. After the procedure they called me back there to get her. The dentist told me that "she had a little reaction to the anesthesia" which made me a little concerned. Come to find out, she has the Alldredge curse. After they gave her the shot of Novocaine she reacted to the pain and about passed out on them. When I got to her, she was a white as a sheet and weak. After the dentist explained everything, I told him I wasn't surprised because it happened in my family a lot. He said, "why didn't you warn me?". I just didn't know that most of her blood was Alldredge :)
I'm not sure what kind of drugs they give out at that dentist office, but she almost looks drunk. She spent most of the day chillin on the couch.

Summer in Forest Park

I have decided that this is officially my most favorite place in Springfield. Mike took off early from work today and we went to Forest Park. It's a large park close to where we live. There is the most peaceful, laid back feeling there. There is a large duck pond, a rose garden, a small zoo, a pool and splash pad, and did I meantion that it's HUGE. I can't wait to see all these trees in the fall. We had a picnic near the rose garden then went into the zoo. I was surprised at how many animals they had there, plus they were pretty active. I guess that's what animals do when it's not 100 degrees outside. After the zoo we let the kids play on the large playground while we just sat and enjoyed the nice weather. Mike did say, "days like this almost make enduring the winter worth it." I thought I'd document it so that at the end of February when we are so sick of being cold, I could refer back to this day and what he said. We had a lot of fun being together.

Kids in the rose garden
If you look closely you can see the spotted leopard.
Nice big playground to let the kids get their energy out.
Chelsea enjoying her book, still very much a daddy's girl.

They learn so fast

One thing my kids have had to learn early is that when mom's sleeping, you have to fend for yourself. Cord has learned quickly. He can reach the cupboard where the cereal is. I have found him several times sneaking in there and carrying around a box of cereal. At least I know he won't starve.

Perfect day

Ever since we visited the lighthouse point beach in Connecticut with my parents, I have been anxious to get back there. The weather has not been very cooperative around here. I've never seen so much rain in my life. It has rained almost everyday for the last couple of weeks, and I don't mean just sprinkling, it's a thunder storm and pouring rain shower. I happened to have Saturday off and the weather looked like it would cooperate so we packed up the kids and headed down to the beach. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. The weather was in the 80's with a light breeze. Mason and Brianna actually got all the way into the ocean and I enjoyed watching them play together. Chelsea enjoyed sitting on the beach next to her daddy and reading while soaking up the sun. Cord and I wandered the shoreline as he picked up rocks, shells, sand, or seaweed and threw it into the water. Cord also loves chasing the birds and dipping his toes into the waves. He doesn't like to get his whole body wet though. He just likes to splash.
We had a picnic lunch at the park at the beach and then set up shop on the sand.

Mike enjoyed just sitting in his chair and reading. He had been telling me that he was starting to feel claustrophobic with all the trees around here so he enjoyed the big open horizon of the ocean.
There is also a splash pad right there on the beach that the kids enjoyed. The water here was much warmer than the ocean was.
There also was this carousel ride right along the beach. Cord didn't even scream on the horsey this time (he didn't like the ride at Busch Gardens) but he did get upset every time I tried to hold onto him so he wouldn't fall. We all enjoyed being together and relaxing. I can feel the summer coming to an end as the days get cooler. We have been able to turn off the A/C and just open the windows with a fan. I know you folks in Utah are getting ready to start school. We still have 3 weeks of summer. We have a swim pass to the local outdoor pools and hope that the rain will stay away for a little while so we can get some swimming in before we have to think about school again.

more beach pics

Brianna and Mason were brave enough to get all the way into the cool water.

Cord always gets a kick out of chasing the birds. I wonder what he would do if he actually caught one. I'm more afraid of what the bird would do if we got close enough.
Chelsea and Daddy enjoyed reading and soaking up some sun. You can see the splash pad and the playground in the background.
Cord wasn't sure what to think when the waves came up around his ankles.

Breaking Dawn

Chelsea, "Mom, would you take me down to Barnes and Nobel at 10:00 pm because they are having a party for the release of Breaking Dawn?"

Mom, "I don't know Chels, I have only had 4 hours of sleep and I have a monster headache."

C: Please?

M: Let me think about it.......................................... OK, fine. But just for a little while to see what's going on.

We had pre-ordered the book for Chelsea on Amazon which we later found out wouldn't be here until the 8th. We went down just to let her feel a part of the excitement since she has been counting down all summer for this book. At the store there was a "Midnight Prom" where we found ourselves seriously underdressed. Most of the teenagers there were wearing their prom dresses or were dressed up in vampire goth attire. They were having a trivia contest where two people could race to answer a question. I tried to get Chelsea to participate, but she was content to just sit by and whisper all the answers to me. Brianna went with us because she was board. She just wandered around looking at books and came home with a list of books she wants to save her money for.

C: Can we please stay until midnight and buy the book? I just can't wait?

M: I'm not staying until midnight, I'm so tired. We'll leave in a few minutes.

30 min later...

M: If we did happen to stay, I signed you up and you are number 134 in line.

30 min later....

M: If we did stay, you would have to clean my whole kitchen.

30 min later...

M: I wonder if they have any cheap treats in their starbucks?

So we ended up enjoying some hot chocolate and monster cupcakes while the costume contest was going on.
I guess we stayed until midnight. So much for being consistent. I couldn't help but to let her enjoy being around others who were as crazy for this book as she was. They even had this crazy countdown to 12:01 like it was new years or something. She was excited to tell you people back home that she got her book 2 hours before you did. We thought about texting Lindsay to see what crazy party she was at and kept imagining her in her "I love Edward" shirt. As soon as we got home I fell into bed. It's now 10:10 am and she is still unresponsive. I wonder how far she got in her book last night? All I can say is she better not be cranky!!!!

Mason's scout camp

This week Mason was able to attend a week long cub scout day camp at the Moses Scout Reserve. It was held monday - friday from 9-4. They got to participate in so many fun activities such as fishing, archery, BB gun shooting, swimming, crafts (tie dye t-shirts, treasure chests, etc) , cub scout activities (color guard, compass, knots, fires, etc), sports and games, and nature. He had so much fun and couldn't stop talking about the day when we picked him up. I was able to be a parent volunteer on tuesday and enjoyed my day with "Momma and Mason". Friday ended with a family BBQ where we got to eat together and then watch the cubs put on a little skit and have awards. The only draw back of the camp was that it was 45 min away. So that meant about 2 hours each morning and afternoon to get him there and then back home. Even though the drive got really old, it was well worth it and I hope we can do it again next year.


Mason was able to get a bulls eye the day I was there with him. He as so excited. I was surprised how quickly they caught onto archery. He was able to earn a beltloop for this and the other activities down below.
I think this was his favorite part. He has decided that he wants a BB gun for Christmas, but I dont know where he would shoot it around here. The day I was there he got 3 bulls eye, dead center. Another day he got an award for being a sharp shooter, where they have to get 5 shots in the black center.
Whenever he was fishing, he was thinking of Jacob Davies. I think the only time he was fishing previously was when Scott took them before they moved. These little fish were tricky and kept finding ways to eat the worms without getting caught. But Mason was able to catch a little fish on a day I wasn't there. He had to grab it, unhook it and put it back in. He thought that was gross. On the other side of this lake is where they would go swimming. Each day he would come smelling ............ well like a boy who has had a lot of fun outside :)

Motherhood

As you know, there are some days that you just love being a mother, and there are others that you wonder what in the heck you are doing and want to call child services yourself. I see other blogs where the mothers report the cute things their kids say and I remember back to when my kids were little and we had those fun conversations. Well, the other day, one of my dear children (who wishes to remain nameless) said to me "Mom, if you didn't wear your pants so high, your bum wouldn't look so big.". Isn't that cute?????

Then the other day I was making dinner, I happened to look out the window and see this.....
One of the moments that my kids are actually getting along. I live for moments like this!!

Cord's Vacation

I've posted a lot of pics from our recent vacation, but I keep looking at this one of Cord. It's one of my favorites. Whenever we were downstairs at my mom's house, he would run to this little chair and climp in. He LOVED it. So I just wanted to post this cute pic of my baby. This was probably one of his favorite parts of the vacation.