Chia Head

 I usually regret paying $2.50 for these cheap toys at Target but I got one for our trips in September and even though it popped almost immediately Henry enjoys making it look like he has a Chia head. 

Hen on the run

Henry has been so busy traveling with his family and getting to know his aunt Lucy who has been living with us. Since the last post we have traveled to Puerto Rico, Lake Tahoe, Boston, NYC, CT, Block Island, and Amish Country. In-between trips we have tried to get the house ready to sell and have been doing numerous holiday crafts, activities and cooking fabulous meals...which cuts significantly into blogging time. Look for back blogs soon!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Blogging hiatus

Many factors have played into not blogging for so long, but mostly because I have a new phone and now I don't have to sit down and email all night so i don't sit and blog anymore.  Also, I don't watch TV anymore and I'm getting up super early to exercise, but the main reason I'm not blogging is that I am so far behind! I just got home recently from a 5 week trip and now my sister is living with me and there is just too much to say.  Anyway, just thought I would say something to get me back on track.  Everyone is alive and doing well!

Caribbean in WV?

Yes folks, you heard right.  I think I'm falling in love with West Virginia despite what I originally thought of it.  I guess the only thing I knew was this joke....How do you know that the tooth brush was invented in West Virginia?   Answer: Because if it was invented anywhere else it would have been called a "teeth" brush.  I know, so funny.   Anyway, West Virginia is absolutely beautiful and every time we go down there for an outdoor adventure we are amazed at it's natural beauty and variety.

 Do you see Justin way up there?

This is where we went last weekend.  It's called Summersville Lake and the water is super warm and the lake is pretty clear so we snorkeled, did deep water solo rock climbing, kayaked, paddle boarded and played on the beach with the kids and our friends.  We even camped on a super sloped site with tons of neighbors and bathrooms/showers just to be near this lake(which I didn't use more than once.  That's part of the fun of camping-- no showers or toilets) I think this lake is owned by the Army Core of Engineers or something because it's totally undeveloped and you can't even rent a speed boat at this lake even though you can bring your own.  This limits the amount of people on the lake and we felt like we had it all to ourselves on our little pontoon boat.

We also checked out river rafters on New River Gorge and drove across what was until just recently the longest steel suspension bridge in the world.  From 1977 until 2003 it was the longest and highest bridge of it's kind in the world but France and China built some others that broke the record, but it's still up there in the top few and was pretty spectacular to see and drive across.

Our friends Christi and Dave were with us and Christi's parents joined up with us for a day and half which was wonderful because they watched the kids while we had some fun(for the first time in so long for me!)  It was a slightly painful drive but we hope to return next spring, hopefully with our other friend's speedboat!

Drama I didn't ask for

Today was a wild day.  I took my kids to my friend's house to watch while I took a scuba diving course in the morning/early afternoon and then I came back to Gulzat's house to be at a discussion with the missionaries who got lost and never showed up, then Henry wanted to go to soccer practice, but wouldn't participate (like last time) because the shirts Stef made weren't blue and then the missionaries showed up an hour and a half after they said they would and asked if they could come tomorrow, which I can hardly do because I have my other half of the course tomorrow and have to go to Costco to get diapers and food for my friend who just had a baby today.  Then I took my kids home, got some food, rushed out the door to get some gardening supplies for the YW activity tonight, buy a new charger for my portable DVD player (that still doesn't work) and pick up my CSA(community supported agriculture) box(vegetables are taking over my fridge) and while turning to get on the freeway I ran into the curb(around an illegally parked car) and shredded my tire and had to wait for Justin to arrive to help me.  While I was waiting, another woman did the exact same thing I did and she held my baby while I searched for her spare tire and tried undoing the lug nuts, which we couldn't do and many passing homeless men and strangers asked to help, the most notable was a drunk, one legged black man who had just gotten out of the hospital from having three stents put in his heart driving a power chair.  He was bouncing up and down on the wrench with his only good leg trying to get it to budge with no luck.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  One homeless man kept asking me for money and I gave him the hamburger I bought for Justin since I was out of food, except for raw vegetables, and my kids were screaming to be let out of the car on a busy street with drunks everywhere.  Then another drunk man came by and said he knew someone with a tow truck who could help us and he loosened the nuts for us for free.  Yea!  While I was out of the car, Henry and Bea destroyed my car with chicken nuggets and ketchup. Justin finally got there, I transferred all my stuff and the kids to his car, rushed up to the church while Bea was torturing the baby until she was screaming her lungs out and did my gardening activity with the YW and then I came home, gave my dirty kids a bath, put them to bed and I've been studying for my scuba class until one in the morning and I have to wake up in 5 hours. 

Elder Abuse?

This old man is always dressed as some sort of fruit or vegetable every time we visit our favorite farm, Janoski's.  Justin and I think it's elder abuse.  What do you think? At least he looks happy in the grape outfit.  It was so blisteringly hot the day he was in the corn suit.  I asked him if he needed water.  I was melting in the sun and I didn't have a huge costume on!

Henry has been begging me and begging me to go to the dairy and after almost an hour drive to pick up fresh milk at the dairy he said he was scared of the cows and she and Bea wouldn't go near them.  I have to admit that their heads were rather gigantesque poking out of their pens, but they were so sweet, especially the calves.  The chocolate milk at Brunton Dairy is like melted chocolate ice cream and is to die for.  I gave some to the missionaries today and they were in heaven. 

Shame

The other day I took the kids shopping down to the Strip District before Bea's Birthday party and there was the usual table of Italian pastries out on the sidewalk, which I have already tried and don't particularly like.  Henry started whining for a small palm sized cookie with a ball of frosting on top the size of a golf ball and I told him I wasn't going to buy him that cookie because we were going to have Birthday treats the next day, but he couldn't get that cookie out of his head. When I was purchasing some flowers at the end of our trip next to the cookie table Henry came up to me and told me that the lady told him that if I was with him she would give him a sample of something so I reluctantly went over and asked the woman if she told him he could have a sample...and she said that she hadn't.  Ugh.  So once again I told Henry that I was not going to get him that cookie and he had a melt down on the sidewalk.  The lady, I guess, felt bad for Henry and said, "OK, you can have a cookie.  Which color do you want?" and she gave him the cookie with a huge ball of blue frosting and then she said she couldn't give him one and not his sister so she handed Bea a cookie with a huge ball of pink frosting.  That's when I realized I didn't have any wipes with me(you should see my stroller now) and I told her she didn't have to do that and thanked her nicely.  That's when she proceeded to take two dollars out of her own purse and handed them to the other guy behind the table to put in the money box -- right in front of me.  I didn't know how to respond.  I thanked her again and walked away.  As I walked away she mumbled something to the effect that I should just give my kids a cookie instead of let them suffer.  Pa-leeze.

Forgot to Think

 Another mud creation by Henry

I have been drilling into Henry's head that he needs to think about everything he does before he does it and decide if it would be a good decision or a bad decision.  He has come up to me a few times and apologized that he made a bad decision, which is very big of him.  Today we were at the park and I noticed he was playing in the mud.  I really didn't care because he was wearing dirty old clothes and we were just going home after that, but after he had finished playing in the mud he came up to me, covered from head to toe, saying, "Mommy, I'm sorry.  I just forgot to think." I almost laughed out loud but I kept my composure and thanked him for realizing that he made a huge mess and that he probably shouldn't have gotten so incredibly dirty.

 Cute bonding moment with Henry.  How can I not love this boy?

Luckily the pool was open and we got to use their showers to clean up Henry and his friend Daniel and it was no big deal in the end.  It was so cute though while I was cleaning him up because he realized that he wasn't in trouble so he started telling me all the things they were playing in the mud.  He was so cute about it and so excited about his mud creations.  He really is a creative little boy and I love seeing his mind at work.

Henry in the mountains

Panoramic shot of the Tetons thanks to Eric

Henry was so excited to go out to Utah and Idaho so he could climb into the mountains.  As we drove around Salt Lake City he would ask when we were going up into the mountains and was constantly commenting on how pretty they were as we drove along the foothills.  He even said at one point that he wanted to stay in Utah forever, but then recanted saying that he didn't want to leave our house behind.  I think he'll get over leaving our house when he gets out to Utah and we go hiking like every day!  Yessss! (can you hear the Utahn coming out in that?) First of all I have to give a shout out to Will, my brother, who graduated from BYU Idaho and which was the main reason for our trip.  The graduation and ceremony were really crazy since they were at night, which is really late for my kids, but we got through it and had some great memories from it. 

 Henry hiking down the mountain.  Can you see my dad carrying Bea? He carried her half way down and said his arms weren't even tired.  What a burly man!

All three of us with the Tetons in the background.  This is what the East just does not have.  No amount of trees can compare with the mountains.  

Uncle Will, Henry, Me, Bea, Nanna B and Lucy

We did get to ride up the lift at Grand Targhee resort and hike down which he loved.  The best part were the millions of wildflowers all over the mountain that Henry was enthralled with.  He also got really attached to Uncle Will and held his hand the entire way down, showing him all the flowers he found.  Henry is also in love with hot tubs and the two giant hot tubs at the condos we stayed at were heaven for him.  We also had an indoor hot tub in our hotel in Salt Lake and we hung out in it together every day we stayed there.  Thank you Nanna B!

Henry and his wild mountain flowers/weeds

Henry got to hang out with his cousin Colton and Eli and his second cousins Jack, Wil, Emma, and Kirkham.  Henry has almost no themed toys so Jack's collection of Toy Story toys had Henry jumping for joy.  I got to get together with many of my girl cousins who I don't get to see more than once a year, which was so much fun.  I really miss them.

 Henry and Colton at Gateway mall

At the Salt Lake Children's Museum riding an old rescue helicopter

The kids with Nanni and Papi in front of the Snake River in Rexberg, Idaho

I really love this photo.  Not only were my kids wading and climbing, they were drinking the filthy water.  I'm glad it smelled like chlorine because the water was pretty murky.  Yuk! I just love that no one said anything to them.  Utahns are so laid back!

We got to walk up to my grandma's grave and spend some time with her.  Henry and Bea spent most of the time playing in the gutter with the water flowing down from the sprinklers that were watering the cemetery.  Brings back memories of when I had nothing but the gutter to play with.  I even washed their faces with gutter water.  Aahh the good ol' days:)

So this is the weirdest tree in the world.  The trunk is the same all the way up but somehow another tree sprouted in the trunk of the lower tree and is thriving on top of it.  This is what you can sit and ponder as you sit on my grandma's bench.  It surely fits her rebellious nature.  You go Grandma B!

And guess what we found all around our campsite?

More blueberries?! Our campsite in WV this weekend was surrounded by little wild blueberry bushes and Henry was so dedicated in picking them all.  We had a blueberry feast after he was done gathering them all up.  They were so tasty but really small compared to what we get at the store.  We also saw a ton of wild strawberry plants and some raspberry plants.  The river was FULL of crawdads and I'm sure has plenty of fish as well.  We decided that if we were pioneers, we wouldn't mind living there and being hunter/gatherers in that area. 

Blueberry Bliss

This year the blueberries ripened really early and I found some really tasty ones at the grocery store for a great price so I bought 60 pints.  You might be thinking, "wow, that's a lot" but I bought 50 pints last year and we ate or gave away about 10 pints and we ran out about four months early and I was rationing them every time we took out a bag from the freezer.  So this time I ended up freezing 50 pints and this year Henry helped me during the entire process!  When I bought all those blueberries, the first thing Henry said to me was, "Mommy, what were you thinking?!"  with his hands up in the air.  Couldn't agree with you more my son. 

His job was carrying a crate of 6 pints over to the sink and emptying each pint into a colander and rinsing them off.  He also had to stack each crate and the empty pints in neat stacks.  I poured the washed blueberries onto towels to let them dry and picked out the squished ones and stems.  After they were dry we put them into bags and carted them down to the freezer.  I have rarely seen Henry so dedicated to his work.  He even came up with a few songs about blueberries while we were working.  This was the best one...

We love to froze blueberries

We love to froze blueberries

We love to froze blueberries

Wash 'em, smush 'em, put 'em in a bag

Apples are disgusting

Let's eat 'em all up

I have to agree with him that we haven't eaten a good apple in a really long time. Afterward, Henry and Bea built some awesome towers with the cases.  Here are the proud architects!

Thanks Henry for helping me do the blueberries this year.

Dad Time

Henry and Bea have had some really great Dad time recently.  They have had so much fun together, however you probably won't hear about much of it because Justin won't write it in the blog.  Here is a pic of the three amigos and the card that Henry made for Justin for his Birthday last week.  Henry made the whole thing and it's of the two of them fishing, even though they didn't catch any fish and some guy gave them one to take home since he felt bad for Henry.

Great Big Brother

Henry wants me to take photos of him and Clementine all the time.  He has been pretty good at protecting her and unless he's seeking for attention, in which case he copies what Bea is doing to her.  I can tell, though, from the sparkle in his eyes that he really loves her.

End of Soccer

,

Henry spent the last couple months playing soccer with a bunch of his friends.  It took a while for him to get into it but in the end he really loved it.  We had an awards ceremony last week where they all got a cupcake and a medal for participating.  Thanks to Stef Chou for putting it all together!

The kids in the photo are...(from top to bottom and left to right)
Henry, Daniel, Stef's neighbor Chloe?, Kaitlin, Emmalee, No idea
Avery, Thomasin, Wee-o, Kennadee, Katherine, Hudson.

Scarf Clug

Yesterday while Henry was sitting on the potty he took the end of the toilet paper roll and put it in the toilet and then he wrapped it around his neck a few times to create a scarf to keep himself warm while on the sat.  When he emerged from the bathroom he said, "Mom, if you see a scarf coming out of the toilet, don't flush it or else it will become clugged".  Good thing Justin watched the whole thing go down so he could explain it all to me. Thanks for the good laugh Henry. 

A Sweet Son

Henry drew me a picture today.  I'm holding Clementine and the circle next to us is the earth.  We talk about the earth like it is part of our family.  Henry is still obsessed with throwing littler away and is always shocked when he sees people "messing up the earth".  Reminds me of the day he ran after the garbage men yelling, "you're messing up the earth!" when they let stray garbage fly away as they collected the trash.  I really love my boy! He's been so good with Clementine too. 

Here's a close-up

Introducing.....

http://clementinerebecca.blogspot.com/

Critter Heaven

Ever since it warmed up we've been enjoying the outdoors and Henry and Bea have had so much fun outside finding all sorts of bugs and animals.  The other day a toad hopped past me so I caught it to show Henry.  He was so excited about it that he played with it too much which caused something inside of it to hemorrhage and it eventually died.  It's still in our tomato garden, totally shriveled and Henry still insists that he's just sleeping and shows all his friends.  Poor little thing.  Henry also discovered a tiny wasps nest inside our deck umbrella when he observed a wasp going up into the cover.  We opened it up and found the nest with ten or so little larvae inside.  We kept it for days and those gross little maggots were still moving in there with their little alien mouths begging for food.  It was pretty gross and entertaining.  Then, one morning I noticed that the ants that have invaded our kitchen were piled massively over the little hive, which I left on top of the microwave, and I guess they had finally died and the ants were desperately trying to get what they could from them.  (shudder).  We're working on the ant problem but I don't want to do anything toxic! Any suggestions? 

Just yesterday we caught the most beautiful moth.  It's a Giant Leopard Moth and I think he's on his way out because he put up no struggle when we caught him.  He's the most beautiful moth I've ever seen and he just hangs out on my finger, hanging on for dear life.  He's still alive, but shows no signs of vitality.  One of the most fun things Henry likes to do is take his tennis racket outside and swat the wood boars.  They have such crazy personalities! They love to come right up to your face and hover, checking you out and egging you on like an annoying sibling.  They when you try to swat them away, they skillfully avoid you and then fly right back into your personal space as if to say, "haha, you missed me." Henry's oversize tennis racket, however, is tough to avoid and he hits them quite often.  I always see little wood snowflakes falling down on me as I'm gardening by the deck as they dig their way through the only pieces of real wood on it.  A real bumble bee landed in our pitcher of water the other night as well and after we flicked him out and sent him on his way with a fork, Henry and the other kids were excited to drink the "honey water". 

So far it's all been fun and games but when the Japanese Beetles come to eat my raspberries, the war begins and now I have an organic defense option! I can't wait to use it.  Muah ha ha!

Henry's Mother's Day gift

For Mother's Day the primary put together jars with slips of paper in them with thoughts about all the mothers.  This is what Henry said about me....

My mom's favorite sport is......baseball
My mom's favorite thing to do.......go home
My mom's favorite place to go......playgroup
My favorite meal my mom cooks.....candy
My favorite thing to do with my mom....watch a movie
My mom's favorite color......blue
My mom's favorite food.....everything

 I think he may have me confused with someone else. lol. 

T Ball Drama

Henry is on a T Ball team this year and so far, we've had some pretty interesting experiences.  His first practice was filled with tears and frustration which was mostly my fault.  I really had no idea what he was supposed to wear and I forgot to go get him a glove so we show up in shorts and a tee shirt when all the other boys are wearing mini professional uniforms with gloves.  Henry would not participate or focus and when he finally did, he cried every time he didn't get the ball and when all the boys dived into the dirt, Henry's legs got all scraped up and he cried even more.  To top it all off, when it was his turn to hit, which he actually wanted to do, he had no idea what to do after he hit the ball and decided to run after his own ball which he picked up about 20 feet from the T and all the other boys stood there, confused, and one boy said, "uh, you're out".  All the parents thought it was hilarious, as did I. It was pretty painful though and I wasn't sure if he was ready to play. 

Since then he's done better and has generally participated and has enjoyed it.  The games are really fun because every child gets to run the bases every inning and no one counts the runs and even if the kids manage to get the ball and throw it to first base before the runner gets there, they're still not out, so no one feels bad and everyone scores.  This is the way Henry needs to play a game: no winners or losers.  Last weekend he went to the father and son's campout with Justin and didn't get to bed until midnight and woke up early to get to the game the next morning.  He was understandably cranky and distracted.  He sat on each base to rest, came in from the outfield when he saw our friend's daughter eating candy, wanting some, didn't focus at all and the last time he hit the ball, he dropped the bat, lowered his head and slowly walked to first base with his hands hanging down to his sides.  I thought it was hilarious, but Justin said that it just stresses him out to see his son so distracted and clueless.  Well,  it's hard to teach your son every sport during residency so we're just going to have to deal with it!

All in all, he's having fun and learning a ton and I'm glad we signed him up!

Brother River

We took Henry and Bea down to VA to visit our great friends the Romneys since we haven't seen them in months and it was an eventful trip. Justin and I went to the temple for the first time in probably over a year while Christi watched our kids trample the temple ground flowers and make a mess all over the grass.  After the long drive down there and the dirty clothes I bet some passing people wondered if they might be homeless. Lol! I do love dirty kids though.   Henry had a great time playing with River, whom will hopefully end up being more like a brother to him when they move next door to us someday(fingers crossed).  They played outside trying to avoid getting attacked by the family's crazy dog and spent some quality time talking together on a short hike where Henry caught a frog all by himself.  Since River is almost two and a half, he's not at Henry's comprehension level yet which led to this hilarious conversation....

Henry: (Talking to River about frogs and other things for about five minutes)
River: (Speaking softly, with no inflection indicating a question and repeating about a million times during the conversation) What. What. What. What.
Henry: Hey River, do you even know what I'm saying? Do you know what I'm saying, River?
River: Yes.
Henry: Then why do you keep saying, "what"?
Henry and River: (giggles)

It was an unforgettable moment.

We spent some quality time listening to General Conference where all I heard was that I had to be a better parent.  Were there any talks on any other topics? Haha! I guess that's what I needed to hear from our Prophet and Apostles.

Sunday morning we all went down to see the cherry blossoms in downtown DC.  River tipped over in his dad, Dave's pack and now has an identical cut on his lower lip to Henry's and Dave's.  Justin, however,  is not in the cut lip club, although he was very excited to be able to use the vial of human superglue that he always keeps handy for emergencies.  He glued the cut together and we were on our way!

Henry, Bea and River played really well together and when they were apart because of nap time or because Henry and Justin got lost on our hike they were constantly asking where the other was and truly missing each others company.  Good thing they'll be hanging out all weekend this weekend up at our place! We can't wait to host them at our house. 
  

Craziness

Henry has had some pretty serious melt downs lately.  These can come from anything including when I cut his strawberry wrong, when I drew a wrong line on a picture we were supposed to be drawing together at school and whenever I refuse to dress him and undress him like he can't do it himself. Yesterday I was driving in the car and during a calm moment we had this conversation...

Mom: Henry, what I can do to help you to be happier and not freak out so much when things go wrong?
Henry: Well, I was thinking...if you just give me what I want every time I want something I will always be happy!
Mom: You know I can't do that Henry.  What if we always talk nicely to each other and work out problems together when things go wrong?
Henry(very seriously): Mom, I just don't think I can do that because I'm crazy.  I just keep getting crazier and crazier and I just can't stop the craziness. 
Mom: (laughs out loud and starts getting seriously worried about when baby #3 arrives)

Well, if any of you can help me "stop the craziness" I will invite any suggestions.

Shark Party Details

Ok, so I realize that Henry's Birthday party was over a month ago but if you can believe it, only yesterday did I just finish scraping the last window that I painted with glue and poster paint to look like an aquarium with sharks swimming around.  I wanted to have his shark party at the zoo, but that would have cost 500 dollars just for the space so I made my own aquarium with the many windows in my living room complete with over a hundred balloons covering the walls to look like the water.  

This party was pretty much out of control and whenever I don't blog about something ever(like my trip out to the NW by myself for two weeks while I was in my first trimester of pregnancy=exhaustion) or very late it means that it's taken that long to recover or it's just a blur from being too tired.  Some details of the party include...a total of 45 people in attendance, a really cool shark pinata filled with 20 lbs of candy and probably weighed more than Bea, singing the jaws song, playing pin the fin on the shark, reading a book about sharks, playing shark attack with a giant shark balloon to the theme music of JAWS which really scared some of the kids.  It really makes you realize how music influences how we feel.  Some people deny it but you can't deny a two year old who has never seen JAWS freeze in absolute fear after hearing the movie theme music.  We, of course, ate a ton of really yummy food that included shark cheese crackers, shark shaped sandwiches, three types of seafood dip with crackers and a giant fruit salad.

 

 The highlight was, however, the cake, which I painstakingly made over two days time.  I tried to copy another woman's cake on this awesome website but my perfect shark head coming out of the water turned into a super scar-faced shark with a collapsed mouth. No one noticed though and the kids all loved it.  It was also pretty scary!  The bottom of the cake was the most delicious cake I've ever made though which was a whole wheat version of this dulce de leche cake.  Best cake I've ever made and possibly ever eaten.  I also made my dulce de leche from scratch using a real vanilla bean and milk(as opposed to using a can of sweetened condensed milk), and that took three hours in itself to make.  I highly recommend it.  

After the cake we watched Henry's 4th Birthday slide show which was the best yet and he still wants to watch it over and over again.  I did it to one of my favorite Coldplay songs, "Death and all of his friends," which seems like a weird song title but I didn't even know exactly what the words were until I uploaded it for the show because they're almost inaudible and most of the song is just an instrumental, and a really fantastic one at that.  Anyway, the show was great and I know those slide shows make Henry feel really special so I'm going to keep doing them as long as I can manage.  I'm getting faster at creating them anyway. 

Henry then opened all his presents which were mostly transformers and other action figures.  He really needed some age appropriate toys since everything we had was either baby oriented or just blocks and puzzles.  He really loves his transformers and he and daddy spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to transform them and they also love playing with legos together now too.    

Henry still tells everyone, especially complete strangers, about his shark party. The best part about it was that we were able to coordinate it with Gammie and Grandpa Hohl along with favorite aunt Courtney(she chases the kids for hours on end) who helped out immensely.  I couldn't have pulled it off without them unless I had woken up at 4 am to get things started that day.  Thanks to everyone who helped out and who came to the party! I hope to never do anything that crazy again.