Colorado

So, we are in Colorado! It was a crazy two weeks, packing and still doing school. We had lots of help loading and time to hang out with friends. We planned on loading Saturday and finishing up Sunday and then leaving Monday. It just seems like we never get it all done when we think we will and then we're up late. Not this time! I'm so glad we planned for an extra day. It was perfect. We got to spend Saturday and Sunday night hanging out at the Tumultys' house. We will miss them!! We slept at our house, in sleeping bags. The girls thought that was really fun. =)

We drove Monday and Tuesday. We only got to Bozeman before dark on Monday, so we stopped there. It was only 6:30 our time (7:30 there) when we went to sleep. We woke up at 2:45 (3:45 there) and got back on the road. Right into a snow storm, lol! But it didn't last long. =P We had a good day and got to Greeley at 5 Colorado time. I listened to a Reb Bradley series on Philippians 2:14-15 on the way down, when I was awake enough that it wouldn't put me to sleep. =P It was really good!

Driving through Montana, Lainey said "This is a beautiful, beautiful land." =) It is.

Morning sickness hit hard the day we loaded the truck. It's been a week now and it's been pretty crazy. =P I'm just glad I haven't thrown up anything substantial or gotten meat up my nose. lol I feel awful if I eat anything sweet, which is good for me because I won't be hindering my iron absorption with sugar. =P

Bekah turned 2!!! She is so adorable! She loves that she is two now. When you talk about it, she gets giddy and hops around with a big grin. =) We had her Happy Day Day at Texas Roadhouse. She got to sit on the saddle and they gave her a yee-haw. =P And cake. =)

She is bringing me "Sop-sops" right now. I have no idea what the word is supposed to mean, but it is Cars. It might be Lightning McQueen. She has pointed out "Sop-sops" on a Pull-Up, on Titus' kiddie silverware, and on the movie. So I know it's Cars, but no clue what it actually means. lol =P Reminds me of when Emily called Toy Story "Mote" because Buzz Lightyear had a remote on his arm. lol

Ha! My husband needs me to go to Michael's. How awesome is THAT? lol =P He needs something for his tap handles. He's seeing if he can etch into a darker wood and put something (paint-like, but I don't know if I should say what?) inside the etching that will wipe off the finished handle or if he will have to mask the handle. Or if any of that even looks good. =P But yay, I get to go to Michael's. =P Later!!

Bekah's Adorable

A dog is usually a "dog-dog" and she really, really likes dogs. =)

dike it = I don't like it
duckum = you're welcome
dit-choo = thank you

Woooooooobekah!

Bekah is so very, very cute. We say her name with a looooong rolled R at the beginning, just being silly... And she repeats it "woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobekah!!!" Sometimes it's "wwwwwwwwwwekah!" lol But she holds that first sound as long as she can. lol =)

"Bob-a-wee cake-cake" is strawberry shortcake. Lainey has some little Strawberry Shortcake dolls and Bekah loves them. Last night we were headed home from the high school football game (where we saw Ben Stein, lol!) and passed an ice cream place. Bek said "bob-a-wee cake-cake!!!" I don't know why ice cream is bob-a-wee cake-cake, but she was excited. We were in the left turn lane and when we started to turn, she said "No! ....Noooo." Like, in total disbelief and disappointment. lol She is too cute! She kind of frowned the rest of the way home.

Haha! That reminds me of the beese conversations we used to have. Beese = please. She would ask for something and say "Beese?" "no" "Beese?" "no" "Beese." "no" Beese." "no" "Beeese!!!" lol Yeah, we put an end to that... But it was still funny how it went from a question to a command to a totally frustrated "Beese!!!" as if the word was supposed to be enough to get anything she wanted.

We went camping at Priest Lake last weekend and had so much fun! Harp and the kids went out on Joa's boat and we all went hiking and found a geocache and we went to some natural water slides that were freezing, but fun and very beautiful. We spent a lot of time just hanging out, too, which was fun. And the kids spent a lot of time building a fort with the other kids. We went with a family with 6 kids and a family with 5. Big families make for lots of fun! =P The kids played capture the flag in the woods. Oh and of course Lainey found her friend. =) Whenever we go with other people, she finds someone to snuggle her and carry her and baby her by giving her band-aids for every little scratch... lol She is too funny. I'm glad she's snuggly with me at home or I might be offended. =P She is a very friendly girl. And irresistibly cute. =P Shea was going into 9th grade and she was Lainey's buddy. They snuggled by the fire and Shea carried her for a large portion of our hike. And gave her lots of band-aids. lol =P

So, I have been playing with felt quite a bit and I made Lainey a shirt with felt letters on it and then I made Kaylee a shirt for her birthday that turned out super cute. And Emily and I made little stuffed dogs. We cut pieces out on the laser. Wool felt smells a big like a burning sheep, but bamboo felt only smells like a faroff campfire. So I'm going to get some more bamboo felt and make sure it looks okay on the edges (realized last night I have only used grey bamboo felt so hopefully it doesn't look nasty on the other colors) and I'm starting an etsy shop selling felt cutouts. Alphabets, shapes, etc. And scrapbook albums! =) I'm going to sell my castle album, at least. Maybe out of acrylic, too. That would be fun!

Oh and we had our first week of school. It was good! =)

I think today we will go for a small hike. =)

Math, Reading, Randomness

Today, the girls and I went for a walk on this trail that goes around part of the lake. We had heard of it, but never checked it out. It is beautiful and SO close! We will be going back there often, I'm sure. Well we passed a lady walking two dogs and Bekah said "two dogs!" Super cute! It's the first time I'm aware of that she has just pointed out that there were two of something. She usually counts "one, two" as we put her shoes on or put her arms in her sleeves or her feet in her pants... =) But she gets what two means! =) At least, that it's more than one.

So, speaking of math... In Sunday School, the kids (and leaders) each got two teddy grahams on their cookie. (Yeah, I am not in charge of snacks - I reeeeally don't like that my kids get junk in SS and junk in AWANA but I live with it.) Anyway I covered the tray up and asked Em if there are 6 people and each person gets two teddy grahams, how many teddy grahams are there? She said 12. I said how do you know? Her answer totally surprised me. She said "Well, because 5 plus 5 is 10 and 6 is one more than 5, so it would have to be 2 more, which makes it 12." She does not have all her math facts memorized (something we'll be working on this fall, for sure) but she definitely understands the concepts and it didn't take her long to figure out the answer. Then I asked her if 5 people ate theirs, how many would be left. She said two. I said how do you know? "Because then only one person would still have theirs and they got two." =P I like to know how she thinks!

Em had her reading assessment the other day at the library. The lady that did it said it is the most widely used test and has an error of half a grade level. Crazy. Well Emily was off the chart for some of the exercises because they only went up to a 4th grade level. They thought it was going to take 10-15 minutes for a 5-year-old, but it took closer to an hour. They just had to keep going and going! We were there for an hour and 10 minutes. The lady was super nice and went through all Em's answers with me and just praised her nonstop. She said she's at a strong 5th grade level, going into 6th grade. Her comprehension was 6th grade. And she said if Em likes it, to go ahead with the 7th grade Grammar book that I have. It's not too hard for her. Wow. She got 75% of the 7th grade words correct, too. There were 20 for each grade level. She made me smile when she said she didn't recommend putting her in public school. =P

On Saturday, we drove down to Heyburn State Park and met Vickie and Jerry and Eric and Molly and Baby Micah. =) It was so much fun! We went tubing and I tried wakeboarding, but after getting water in my face three times, I was done. =P I got up for a few seconds, wobbled, and fell down. So I don't know if it's fun. But getting your face slammed into the water isn't fun. So I opted for tubing the rest of the time. =P

Next week is the county fair. We've never entered anything in anything, but Harper is going to enter some beer and some mead and I'm going to enter a scrapbook and some photos. And I might enter something in crocheting. I think I will. I just have to decide what. =)

Oh! Bekah is talking a ton. I mean, she has been. But she is using more complete sentences. "Hold this, Mommy!" Oh and she distinguishes between "nas-ee wow-ow" (nasty water, like from the lake or river) and "wow-ow, sink." So when she wants a drink, she asks for "wow-ow, sink." The other night, she was in bed and we had left the room, and we heard "juuuuuice?.....wow-ow, sink?.......pop?" lol She was sooooo tired. =P

Bekah saw a picture of Dora today and said "be-bums!" We have Dora Band-Aids. =P

And "be-bup" (clean up) has turned into this song, "be-bup, be-bup ca-nunna" over and over. We don't know what the ca-nunna part means. =P lol

Oh and Bekah has all her non-molars now. =P

Okay Emmy and I are going to make some tortillas. We've having chimichangas tonight, so we're making the tortillas early. =)

Bee-bup, No-nees

Bekah says "bee-bup" for clean up. =P Most of her words are normal, so the cute ones are extra cute. =P She says nose, but she can't say noses. It's "no-nees." When she has to go potty, she says "poopoop" no matter what she has to do. =P

Yesterday we went to CDA and got fabric to make Lainey's princess dress. Her birthday is in over a month, but we are pretty much busy until then, so I need to get movin' on it. We have two camping trips, a week of AWANA, and Harper's parents coming. I think her dress is going to be so pretty! It's a blue brocade with white chiffon sleeves and collar.

We have been having fun playing in the downtown fountain, at the beach, and having picnics. =) Summer here is so much fun!

Oh, the big girls and I hiked Mickinnick, to the top (3.5 miles one-way), and they are asking to do it again!! I didn't think Em would want to do it again, but she asks Harper every day if we can all go. 7 miles is a lot of hikin'.

Bekah says "EEEEAT!" =P I feel the same way. Later!

Book-a-bye

Bekah is SO into books right now - especially those little tiny board books. =) She calls them "book-a-byes." If you tell her you'll read her a book, she says "book-a-bye!!!!" and runs to get one. =) They are pretty much always scattered throughout the house right now. lol

Yesterday, the Bouchers left. =( We spent the morning helping them get their house cleaned and the cars loaded. There were many tears. =( Emily didn't cry until later, though. And I don't think Lainey cried at all. I heard her telling Ephraim she didn't know why Emily and Eden were upset. Guess it comes with being 3. =P We will miss them a ton.

Today Bekah peed on the floor and Harp offered Em $1.50 to clean it up. She was more than happy to. lol! Lainey had some money and wanted to go to Dollar Tree, so we were going to go. Em didn't have any money. So it was his way of avoiding cleaning it and letting her earn a little money so she could get something too. =P That was definitely an above and beyond job. Water is one thing. Pee is another. lol =)

Oh so we were going to have a garage sale today, but it's rainy. Tomorrow should be better. We will do tomorrow and next week, assuming next week is nice. =)

I found the drill today!!! YAY! So I can finish assembling my (their) picnic table. I decided since it has stains around the old nail holes, that I want to paint it. I think it will be cute. We're going to go pick paint in a little bit.

My house is a complete and total wreck. If I was loaded, I would hire someone to deal with it. We were just so busy all week (fun busy, though - hanging out with the Bous all we could until we had to say goodbye) that I let the house get AWFUL. And I don't feel motivated to clean it. We did tackle the kids' room this morning. I still think I'd rather make a picnic table than deal with the house, though. =P

Bekum

Wow, long time no blog. Again. =P

Bekah has been ending words with "um." Not her name, actually, but we jokingly call her Bekum. =) Words that she used to say correctly, like sucker... It's a suckum now. A buckle is a buckum. A pickle is a pickum. =P

She has stopped saying her name "Bekah tttt." I don't know where the t-sound came from, and there was always a delay before it. =P It was very cute. =P Sometimes it was "Bekah kkkk."

So, I'm sure I can't remember everything there has been to blog since weeks ago. We went hiking with the Bous and Rob and Janice to this really cool beach on Lake Pend Oreille. My parents came to visit the week after and we went there again, minus the hike (you can drive to it, too) because Harper sprained his ankle trying to get a geocache the first time. =P It was hard to get to. =P He was climbing up rocks that no sane person would try climbing, lol. At least, not without a rope. =)

My parents and I went to get some wood from the new Super 1 that is being built here. I have some pics, but not on this computer. They busted apart some pallettes so I can make a kids' picnic table. I stepped on a nail - ow. Harper and I were both gimpy for a few days. =P He actually reinjured his ankle this morning. =(

The wood has been cut for the picnic table, but I've been waiting to borrow a sander. =) I'm excited to build this table! And I'm glad that it is MY project. =P lol

The website (for our business) is allllmost done, but still not. =P Soon, though. We sort of changed everything. It was going to be mycrowncaps.com but then we decided to sell more than crown caps so we changed it to Wild Hops Print Shop. Got a nifty logo and we've been lasering samples. Actually, Harper has. =) Cap catchers, bottle openers (like the kind that mount on a fridge), and growlers. Fun stuff! It's nice to have stuff coming together! We got our ridiculously huge order of bottlecaps. Totally awesome. I bet we could fill half a bathtub with a rainbow of bottlecaps. =P

Bek has some more teeth, but I haven't actually checked recently to see how many are in. She's working on those last 4 front teeth. She won't look like a baby anymore. =P

Oh and she is doing better on the potty! Sometimes she will go all by herself! Still learnin' though. =)

Life With Cuties

Today, we ate the animal crackers that we made last night. We waited all day yesterday to make them, hoping it would work out sometime for Titus to come make them with us. But we just never had our schedules line up such that it would work. I let the girls decide if they wanted to go ahead and make them last night or wait until today and do them with Titus. They were ready to make those crackers. =P But they did invite him over to share them this morning. I love having the Tumultys as neighbors. Have I said that??? =)

We went around the loop (our road and another road make a loop with very little traffic and there is a sidewalk for part of the way, so it is really awesome!) with Anna and Titus and Lily. The kids all biked. =)

During the kids' naps, I fixed their princess dresses. Laine had stepped on hers and ripped out the stitching that made one of the lettuce bits. =P Emily cut hers up while cutting some plates and potatoes and cheese out of posterboard. =P So they were both very happy to have their dresses back. =)

Then I made Bekah a pair of training pants. This potty training thing... I'm tellin' ya, I think infant potty training is easier. Shoulda, shoulda, shoulda stuck with it. REMIND me of this next time around! =P I don't like touching poop. Potty training a toddler means dealing with nasty, stinky poop in the panties. Potty training a baby means only buttery smellin' poop, and never down the legs and on the floor. Well. Maybe it would be possible, but I guarantee I've dealt with more nasty toddler poop than baby poop. =P Babies go in the pot or in the diaper. Not in panties that smear the poop all over when you pull them down. Uh huh. Eew.

So anyway I want Bekah in cloth and I want her to hate being wet. Thing is, she doesn't much mind being wet, even in cloth. And then there's the poop in the panties... SO! I made her some training pants. I cut apart some store-bought training pants that we have had forever and used them for the soaker inside the new pants. You don't even see them! =P And I used super cute scrap fabric for the outside, some white fabric that came from an awesome-quality sheet I got at a garage sale for the inside, and some industrial-strength velcro my mom sent me for something totally different. (I sorta forgot about that towel, Mom.) =) So they pull on and off like panties BUT they velcro open at the sides in case of a poop-mergency. Wahoo! And the coolest thing is, she peed in one of them and totally hated how it felt. YAY! So maybe this potty training thing will happen after all. =) It's been a little frustrating to know that she knows what to do on the pot. She just doesn't do it on her own. =P

Anyway so I made another pair of training pants after the kids went to bed. So now I have two. Let's hope all the poops happen in those until I get some more of them done. Can you tell how I feel about poop in panties? =) =) =)

Oh, Emily woke up from her nap first today, so she and I took a walk around the loop together. She picked a bunch of daisies and she was wearing her daisy skirt. It was very cute. =P We talked about how fun it's going to be to start school in August and all of the fun things we are going to learn. We are going to start with weather in Science and since Titus is totally obsessed with learning about weather, he is going to join us. =P He may already know everything! lol =) He is too cute! And we talked about doing handwriting. She told me she doesn't ever write little e. I didn't realize that. =P So she'll be practicing lots of little e. =)

Today was a good day. Yesterday, I felt sad and depressed. I don't even remember what we did yesterday!

Anyway Bekah made me smile so big this morning. She and Lainey were in the tub and they each had a thing of soap. I got these colored soaps that roll on (like a roll-on deodorant container) from Avon a long time ago... Anyway Lainey took Bekah's from her to put the cap on and shake some more soap into the ball. Bekah started going ehhh, ehhh, ehhhh! And I thought she was going to freak out. But she stopped herself and said "Please?" (Beese?) Lainey finished getting the cap back off, handed it to Bekah, and Bekah said "Thank you!" (I think it's dee-choo, but I will have to listen more carefully.)

Bekah has been saying thank you all the time. I gave her a fork for dinner the other night and she said "Thank you!" She has been saying it every time someone gives her something, and sometimes when she gives something to someone else. =P lol! I love when they start being so sweet of their own free will. =P

The other day, Lainey was making a Mii. I said "Oh, are you making a Mii?" She said "No, I'm making a Grandma. You already have a you." =P Hehe!!

So, I'm hoping that we'll go hiking tomorrow. It is supposed to be a nice day. It has been raining for so long that a nice day is a huge deal. =P

Bobaweese & Bekah

Bekah called strawberries (and blackberries, and raspberries, and blueberries...) "BOB-a-weese" for so long. It was adorable! We went to video her saying it and she started saying "berries." =P Too late!!

She has also stopped calling herself Dotot. She says Bekah very well now. She is so cute!! =)

She loves berries, broccoli sprouts, and chicken. =P She has started hitting and pinching a bit and after we correct her, she is always quick to give the offended party a hug. Sometimes she just sees that we saw what she did and quickly hugs her sister. =P

Lainey has been wanting to do so much for Bek lately. Lainey wants to help her get her jammies on and help her get her shoes on when we are going out. Today she put a diaper on her after she tried to go potty. =P I tried to help, but she said she really wanted to do it herself. =) She is such a helpful girl! I was thinking about giving our kids buddies when the new baby comes and pairing Emily up with Bekah and Lainey up with the baby. But Lainey and Bekah seem to already be buddies on their own. =P

The other night, we made potstickers for dinner. Usually it takes a while and Harper and I do it together. We decided that night to make it a family effort. Lainey and I were on a team and Emily and Daddy were on a team. We put the filling in a bowl between the kids and gave them each a teaspoon. They had so much fun putting the wrappers on little plates and scooping filling onto them. Then they'd send the plates to us and we'd wrap them. Each team had two plates going, so everyone was busy the whole time. It took us about the same amount of time to seal the wrappers as it took the kids to get them on plates with filling. It went so quickly and the girls were so proud of themselves. Yummy, fun dinner! =)

We are totally addicted to kale chips. We have made them three times since Harper's cousin made them for us in Montana. That was just over week ago! =P The kids love them too.

We've been having fun in the kitchen this week. I canned a bunch of organic beans. They ended up way cheaper than even the non-organic canned beans in the store. I figured, adding in $2 for power (just a guess - I actually have no clue) that it came out to 33 cents per can. I did black beans, kidney beans, and red beans. Mmm!

We made bread yesterday with a new recipe. There are two soaks involved, so it takes a long time, but most of the time it's just sitting there, so it doesn't really take extra time, just a little planning. And Harp made soy yogurt today. Mmm!

Haha! Oh and we made cheese the other day too. That was kind of crazy. Some of it did turn out, but some of it ended up salty and nasty. Guess checking the pH is pretty important. =P And we really should have planned a bit better for that - Harper was up until 3am because there were so many steps that took so long. We were making mozzarella. =P If I make cheese again, I'm making ricotta or cream cheese, lol! =) They are quicker and easier. =P

Hehe! So today we took the kids to the dollar store because Emily's claw hair clip broke and she wore it all the time and loved it. We let her and Lainey each pick something. Em got a pack of 4 claw hair clips and Lainey got a jar of pickles. LOL!! She totally loves pickles. All of the kids do. Lainey shared her pickles with Bekah when we got home. =)

Bekah Cuteness

Bek ripped out one of her stitches on Friday, so Harper just took them out. =P Then the doctor called to find out if I made an appointment to get them taken out. Then asked me if I thought it could be infected. Like I can't take stitches out and I can't tell if it's infected? I need an appointment for these things. What?! They did actually offer me a prescription for antibiotics when she got the stitches, saying most parents would rather do that than have to look for signs of infection. I said I'd deal with it if it got infected. They probably think I'm nuts.

Bekah says "bap!!" and climbs into my lap. =) She says "upppppppppp" with a very strong, spitty-soundin' p when she wants up. =P A bug is a "bub" and a cup is usually a "bup." =P A book is a "gook."

I took the girls to Starbucks yesterday because my parents send a coupon for a free drink (thank you, thank you!) and we shared a decaf mocha frap. When we were getting ready to go, I told Em to get her shoes and her book and Bekah said "shoes! gook!" =P

Crazy Life

Whew. So. We have almost everything moved over to the new house. Some stuff is still in the van, lol, and in the cab of a friend's truck, but at least most of it is present in Ponderay and no longer in Sandpoint. =) Today, we will unload that, grab the few things that are left, clean the place like crazy, and go turn in our keys. At least, that is the plan right now. =) I have a roast in the crockpot, so dinner is taken care of. Yay. =) The new house is kind of a wreck, with stuff that needs a home everywhere. Our garage is actually mostly organized, but about half of it is taken up with garage sale stuff. We have been trying hard to dig deep and get rid of things. This new place is smaller than the old one and at the old house (shhhh) I don't think we ever parked in the garage. Stuff everywhere...

Bekah is so so so so cute. She calls Emily "Emily" or "Emiwy" and she calls Lainey "Nay-nay" and she calls herself "Dotot" or "Totot." Haha!! We got video of it, but right now our internet is through our phone and we have a usage limit that I'm a little paranoid about just because I have NO concept of how big all this stuff is. We will get cable internet again on the 6th, so then I can post more stuff.

Oh yesterday we stopped by the Tumultys' house so Em could run to the door and give Titus a toy that he left at our house. Bekah screamed and screamed and screamed. I said "Bekah, what in the world is the problem?" And she said "Titus!!" =P She wanted to go up to see Titus, too. =P

The weekend of the 14th is Lost in the 50s in Sandpoint. There are events at the fairgrounds and stuff, but I think we'll just go to the parade (of classic cars) and the street dance after the parade. Lainey is going to LOVE seeing all these cars. =P Jen and I are getting together and making all the girls poodle skirts. =) Fun!

Guitar Hero

So much to blog, so little that I actually remember when I sit down here to type... =P

Tonight was Ephraim's birthday party. He is four. =) The girls were each super excited to pick out a car for him, and we got him a nifty camping glow stick/flashlight/whistle. What every boy needs, right? =P Anyway after dinner, all the parents turned on Guitar Hero. lol I had never played before. FUN. =) We have no idea what all the kids did for the rest of the night while we all played Guitar Hero, but nobody was injured and, as far as we know, everyone got along. =P So yay!

Bekah had a checkup today. 32" long and 21.5lb. The nurse told me how she was too skinny and needed to eat butter and cheese and drink cow's milk because my milk doesn't have enough calories. Then the doctor came in and said she's doing great and it's good that I'm nursing her. I told her what the nurse had said and she totally contradicted the nurse. Ridiculously frustrating. But I'll go with the doctor. =P

Lainey also got some ridiculous concoction of vaccinations and Bekah got a tetanus shot - her first shot. Eek! I hate giving them shots. I would honestly feel worse if they died from getting a vaccination than if they died from a disease they weren't vaccinated for. But either way I feel like I'm putting them at risk and I'm a bad mom either way. I hate it. Blah.

Bekah is saying soooooo much and I love it!! =) Today she was pointing at all the pictures of babies at the doctor's office and saying "baby!!" =) Makes me smile! I love that she loves babies. She also says "Emily" and "Emmy" now and she said "Lainey" once today. She says "Essie" and "Lily," her two baby friends. =) Ha - the other day Harper smelled her and said "Bekah, go tell Mommy what present you made her." She ran over to me and said "Poop!" LOL!! She knew what he was talkin' about, alright!

That reminds me that this morning, I was surprised to find that Bekah had a dry diaper. I asked Harp if he had already changed her and he said no. So I stuck her on the pot. Nothing. Then I asked Em if *she* had changed Bekah's diaper and she said "Yeah, it was just peepee, so I wiped her and put a clean diaper on her." lol! Do I have a weird 5-year-old? She did a good job!

And THAT reminds me... Yesterday I was putting off making lunch. It was so nice outside and I was out there drawing some things for our business, thinking I really should go in and make lunch. And right then Emily came running up to me with a big smile and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. =) She made our whole family PBJs before she made her own - and nobody even asked her to make lunch. What a sweet girl! She was very proud of herself, too. =)

Em and Laine have been wanting to ride bikes 24/7. It has been soooo nice out the last few days. Lainey has been riding the LikeABike and she's gotten so good at it. She said today that triking isn't really that fun anymore. She can go much faster on the LikeABike. =) She is probably ready for a real bike now.

This morning, I left Em home with Harper while I took the littles to the doctor, so when I got home, I put the littles down for a nap and Em and I rode bikes to the park. There is a big loop (and some smaller loops, so lots of variation) at the park and we rode around there and stopped to swing for a bit and then came home to make lunch. It was fun going fast with her. =)

This week is Awana Fun Fest. Em is SO excited about it. =) I think it will be fun, too. Next week is the awards night and our neighbor Miss Judy is going to come to it. Very cool! =) The girls love to take her pictures and food and show her their bike tricks. =)

Hmm. I don't know what else to blog. I have lots of pics to post and I really do want them on here, even if it's just for my own backup... It's so much faster to put them on Facebook but then they are low quality. =\ Guess I just have to do it. =)

Kids =)

Bekah is so, SO proud of herself when she helps clear the table after dinner. =) Her smile is HUGE and pretty! =) I love it. =)

Emily was telling me the other day how if I sent her to school, she would ask to go to the bathroom and then just leave. Then she told me this whole long story about how she would hide in the bushes, make this fake Emily and put it at the front door and then ring the doorbell and say "I'm home!!" but then go hide... Well I told Harper all this and he said it's straight from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. lol!! I don't like how naughty Calvin is, but Harper thinks it's funny and Emily thinks it's funny... =P I wonder how many devious things Emily's gotten from Calvin and Hobbes. Hmmmmm, does anyone put bubbles in a dog's water bowl in Calvin and Hobbes? lol!

The other night, we were at the Bous (Lainey calls the Bouchers "the Bous") and Jen was dishing up dinner with Lainey and Ephraim sitting next to her. We hear Lainey say "Ephraim, do you want to lick my tongue?!" LOL Jen put her hand in between their faces, as they're sticking their tongues out and heading for each other - like 3 inches apart. Eeeeew! I'm glad Jen was there, lol!

Tonight some people came over and we made parachutes for VOM to drop in Colombia. Diedre, Bonnie, and Jen came. Emily was super helpful, going to get scissors and markers when we needed them. I didn't even ask - she was on top of it!

Have I said that Bekah is in a toddler bed? We took the side off of her crib, so now she feels like such a big girl. =) She has fallen out a few times. When we move in a few weeks, we will leave the crib in the garage and she can sleep on the trundle bed. The big girls have been looking forward to when they will all three sleep in the bunk bed! =)

Today we had a picnic with the Tumultys at the park before swim lessons. Em did 6 laps for the second time. Yay! And after the jumped in the pool, she swam back with a kickboard without help two times.

Tomorrow we have eye doctor appointments and then we're going to look at another unit over by Tim and Anna. We could move in across the street or down the street, but on the same side, where we'd share a back yard. Either way would be cool. We're looking at the down-the-street house tomorrow. Hoping it's brighter than the across-the-street house (which has a wooded area in the back, where all the windows are) and hoping it has a lazy susan in the corner cabinet (some do, some don't, but across-the-street house doesn't)! =)

We've been playing with the laser... Harp etched our laptop for fun. =) We made some chipboard letters and an owl tonight and tried etching a photograph onto glass, but didn't get the contrast we wanted. Harper searched the forum though and found a little plugin thingie that will make it good. So we'll try again tomorrow.

Bekah likes pigtails and asks for them. =) I think she is teething again. She has 12 teeth right now. =)

We were waiting for something the other day and I had a pen and notepad so I gave Lainey some words to read. She read CAT, BUG, somethin' else, and then JOY, TOY, SOY, and BOY. Well then Emily asked for some words to read. Funny joke. So we gave her some words to read. I gave her flabbergasted. LOL!! And she read it! So I told her what it meant. Then Harper thought he could stump her with unbeknownst, but she read that too. Tee hee! I was cracking up. =P

There is a spider crawling along the top of the wall. And I'm gonna go to sleep. =) Night!

Much News

Hey! So there is lots of news. =) I'll start with Bek.

For a while now, she's been saying "ow!" instead of crying when she gets hurt. Not cute to get hurt, but awfully cute to hear her say "ow!" =)

She also says "poop," which is very convenient. When she decides she's gonna tell us she has to go, at least she has a word for it and we understand it. =) Right now, she uses it to tell us after the fact. =P

Bekah's newest adorable word is "pompoms" (the girls got some from Grandma A).

No, I'm not pregnant. =)

The other news is that Harper got laid off at Quest. It's technically a furlough, and they are going to reevaluate in August and maybe hire some people back. So they told him there is a chance he'll have a job in August, but not to count on it. We're not counting on it. =P He would totally go back to Quest, but he's not going to look for another aircraft job right now.

We don't know yet if we are going to stay here or what. Well, we can pretty much guarantee we will move at least across town. Maybe on Tim and Anna's street. =) That would be pretty cool!

Anyway so the other news is that we bought a laser machine. Woo hoo! It's something we talked about when Harper got laid off at McCauley. And actually maybe even before that, when we were thinking about a side business. Well we started talking about business opportunities, so we could do something together and Harper could stay home. We seriously thought about everything. Even an organic chicken farm (hey, don't laugh 'cause people come from over an hour away to pick up organic chickens that are trucked into Sandpoint from Montana!). =P But we found this laser machine, used, and got it for about 21% of the cost of a comparable new one. And it's in Montana, so we can go pick it up. We will be heading out there tomorrow, we think. We have a list of I think seven different things we might want to do with it. I think we're going to try out a few at a time and just see what we can do. =) I'll keep you posted.

I've been sewing on Lainey Joy's princess dress. I have had some really pretty fabric sitting in the stash for way too long and I wanted her to get a new dress to wear to the play on Friday, since Daddy said Em could wear her princess dress. =) We're going to Little House on the Prairie, the musical, in Spokane on Friday. Anyway Lainey wanted the top like Em's but with "circles" on the straps (I finally figured out that what she meant was sort of Cinderella-ish - I made a sample and she said yep that was what she meant) and she wanted the bottom to be like lettuce. I don't know how to describe that, lol! =) But it will be gathered up in random places, like so many wedding dresses we've seen. Laine saw that style on the David's Bridal site and picked it. Kinda like this. =) Okay, gonna sew more.

Skirts, Flowers, Skiing, and Things

I've been trying to think of what we have been up to. =) I have spent some time making Emily and Lainey some skirts and pretty flowers that match for hair clips. I have fabric to make Bekah a skirt too, which I was thinking about doing tonight, but then I realized I had pics I better edit. So maybe Monday. =)

So while pics are uploading into Lightroom, I thought I'd blog and maybe post some other pics I forgot to post. =)

Yesterday I took the girls skiing. It was a free ski day so I figured why not try? Emily and Lainey did so well last time and Bekah was just traded off between Harper and me. I thought it wouldn't really be a problem to hold Bekah. Well, it was okay, but not ideal. =) We all went up the lift, but Bekah cried because her hands were cold. We fixed that problem when we got off the lift, so she was happy. But about a third of the way down the first run, Lainey peed her pants. She had told me at the parking lot that she had to go and I should have just taken her as soon as we got off the lift. Oops. =\ Add to that a face plant in the snow and Lainey was a total mess. I would get her up, but she was so upset that she wouldn't think about skiing and then fall again. At one point I actually had all three kids crying. lol I laughed. What can ya do? Anyway a very nice man came by and offered to let Lainey ski down holding his pole, the way he let his daughter do when she was little. =P I think they both had a lot of fun. Lainey actually did ski a little more all by herself at the end. Emily did great and Bekah got heavy, but it was fun and if Lainey hadn't peed her pants, I think we might have gone for another run. =P

Anyway so today I took Emily up to ski alone. I wanted her to have the chance to really ski and not have to stop and wait. We had so much fun! We did 11 runs and Emily tried the ski jump 5 times. She was so brave! She didn't land it, but I was impressed that she kept trying. She saw some kids do it that "looked like they were only four," so she was sure she could do it if she practiced. =) That reminds me that when we were on the lift, we were trying to read the last chair number. I said it looked like 89. Em said "So if you count to 89 and then to 89 again, that's how many people can be on this lift." (It's a 2-seater.) Multiplication lesson on the ski lift. =P Cuteness.

Bekah has another molar. One more to go! =)

Okay Lightroom is ready for me. Later!

Potty Time!

Today, I cleaned up the baby potty. Actually, Emily did. =P She was having fun with the hose so I gave her some stuff to hose off. =) So we took it inside and Bekah sat on it and thought it was cool. Then at bedtime, Harper called for the kids to go potty. I told Bekah to try to go potty too. So she sat on her pot and pushed and pushed and made a poop! =P We all clapped and cheered and she pointed to it and did a cute little Bekah dance about it. =P We dumped it in the real pot and let her flush it down. =) She feels so big!

Kid Stuff & Grandma and Grandpa

Hey! Wow, this might be the longest I have gone without blogging. =) I don't know. But, again, I have been having fun not being on the computer. =P I really do like keeping up with friends that are now far away, but I also really like real life. =) lol And I like the days that I don't touch the computer. =) Anyway...

So, my parents came this week! They got here Sunday afternoon and left today. We had a lot of fun. They got to see the kids ski and have swim lessons and it was nice enough to go to the park. We went to a restaurant one night and Lainey said that the next day, she didn't want to go to any stores or restaurants. =P My cute girl. We stayed home all the next day. =)

Cute Lainey quote: "Mommy, you need to remind yourself to get myself a Band-Aid." =P She fell leaving Cubbies tonight and cut up both of her knees. =(

The girls have adjusted well to sharing a room. When I was moving stuff around, Em said that when Bekah first saw her crib in their room she said "uh oh!" Too cute. I love how she says that. =) Anyway last night Bekah snuggled the pillow on Lainey's bed and looked at me like I'm big enough for a pillow! See? =) So I grabbed a pillow for her and put a quilt on her bed and she is sleeping like a big girl. =)

When we went skiing this week, Em and Laine both did such a great job. They turned and stopped well and Emily went without the edgie wedgie (aka noodle) and was so proud of herself. Tomorrow morning, Harp is going to take Em up to ski and I am going to help Lainey make a pillowcase out of car fabric. =P

Bekah says so much now. Upstairs, downstairs, more (meh), Ben, dog, dad, bubble, bath, shower, juice! Haha! She calls my milk juice. When she wants to nurse, she pats her chest and says "juice, juice!" lol I don't know why she calls it juice because we don't even drink much real juice. But it's super cute! =)

Oh, a couple days before my parents came, Bekah got her 7th and 8th teeth in. Now she has the 4 in front on the top and bottom. It was really cute when she only had 3 teeth on the top and bottom! =P

Have I blogged about Animaladiah? When Lainey recites the books of the Old Testament, "Amos, Obadiah" used to be Animaladiah. She doesn't do it anymore, but it was so cute and funny! I wonder if she thought it was a book about animals dying? lol

Oh, last week in school we read all of 1 Samuel. One day I let Em draw pictures of what was going on. So when we finished I looked at her paper and there was David cutting off Goliath's head. lol! We did 8 chapters a day (Mon was no school), which took a lot of time (especially with explaining things and we would summarize every chapter and every few chapters kind of recap what had happened in the last 3 or so chapters), but I think it worked out really well. And Emily remembers so much from it. I think next week we'll do 2 Samuel. It's shorter. =) Then I think we'd better do Leviticus. There was a lot that wouldn't have taken as long to explain if we had done Leviticus first. =P

Oh, last week Lainey cried and cried and didn't want to stay at Cubbies because Miss Sunny wasn't there. She really likes her Cubbies leader. =P And I think it just shocked her because I told her to go into the Cubbies room and give her book to Miss Sunny and then go potty and I would meet her in the bathroom. Well she got in there and Miss Sunny wasn't there, so she put her book down at the table and started to look sad. She asked Miss Carol if she could go talk to Mommy for a minute. She was heading for me when I walked in and she was trying not to cry. I asked her what was going on and she said she was sad. I asked why she was sad and she said she didn't know. So I asked Carol if she knew what happened and she didn't. Then Lainey told me she was going to give her book to Miss Sunny, but Miss Sunny wasn't there. I asked if that is what made her sad and she said yes. She really didn't want to stay, so I let her hang out with us at the Bouchers'. This week Sunny wasn't there again, but Lainey was fine. And there have been times before that Sunny wasn't there and it was never a problem. I think she was just sad when she expected to see her because I told her to give her the book...and then no Sunny. Funny girl...

I am so ready for bed. =P Tomorrow's Essie-Poo's birthday party! And making a pillowcase with Laine. =) It's going to be a fun day. Later!

Free Speech and Bekah and Girls

Yep here's a rant. =) I just read a onenewsnow article about a group (I think AIG) that is sharing the gospel at the Olympics. Just handing out tracts and talking to people they are in line with. I heard there is a girl at our church going with AIG so I'm thinking that is what the article was talking about. Anyway the Facebook comments were horrible! I have never noticed comments on articles before, but this was ridiculous. I know Jesus said himself that it would be this way, but I don't get these people. Do they not know what the gospel is? Or do they realize that what they are saying is they can't admit that they are sinners? It's crazy. They're even talking about limiting free speech to make evangelism illegal. No joke!

You and I and every person down your street has lied, we've stolen, we've taken the Lord's name in vain, we've worshiped things other than the One True God. He is a holy and just God and we absolutely deserve - every single one of us - to be punished for being lying, blaspheming, idolatrous thieves. Goodness, that's only four of the ten commandments! What good judge would NOT punish that? Nobody would call a judge in their own town a good judge who let rapists and murderers and thieves walk free. And these people are offended because the message of the gospel is that God, in his mercy, sent his son to be a substitute for us? He took the punishment for our sin. And this is offensive to people? He was buried and resurrected, just like had been foretold for centuries. And they are upset? Because we care enough to tell them that they are in need of forgiveness and Jesus offers that? Because we don't want to see them go to hell for eternity? Do they not understand this? Do they think we want them to join a special club so that we can feel happy having more people in our club? We want to see people saved because we care about them. So even if you aren't a believer, can you please understand our intentions and not be upset with us?

I understand that there are people out there asking people to come to Jesus for peace, happiness, and prosperity, and those people probably DO just want them to join their "church" so they will give them money - because they aren't preaching the true gospel. Jesus didn't come to give us a fluffy life on this earth. He came to give us forgiveness. And if anyone is preaching anything other than that, they are wrong. And if anyone comes to "faith" in Jesus for anything other than forgiveness, they are not saved. I don't want to hear the prosperity gospel, either. But I'm not going to call for limiting their freedom of speech. I'd be happy to tell them why I disagree. What is it that makes someone so upset that they would rather limit free speech than have a conversation about it?! It's psychotic.

Anyway.

=) How about something cute? Like Bekah? =) Every time I sweep, she comes running after the broom to help me. =P Since I don't want to deny her and I also don't want my dirt pile ruined, we take turns. =) She loves it and she dances around excitedly waiting for her turn.

She also loves taking the dishes out of the dishwasher and bringing them to me. We're working on understanding when they are clean and when they are dirty, lol. =) But it is very sweet to have her help me unload the dishwasher. And she is so proud of herself!

Bek also likes to help me move the laundry from the washer to the dryer. That is awesome. I am so glad I got a front-loader! =) Bekah thinks it is so much fun. And the big girls help me with that fairly often, too.

When Emily was a baby, I hardly ever vacuumed because she would scream and cry and just be terrified the whole time the vacuum was on. Bekah is so the opposite. I turn it on and she gets giddy and squeals and giggles and runs in front of me, wanting me to pretend to vacuum her!! lol It is adorable. Emily and Lainey do this too, so it is kind of a game while I vacuum, pretending to vacuum the kids. lol They have so much fun. Harper didn't know about our game and he started to vacuum one day and was like what are you kids doing getting in my way and thinking it's funny?! lol

Anyway tonight Harper is at JD's house having a guy night and the girls keep getting out of bed. They never do this. I guess it's just different not having Daddy here and they can't sleep. I have no idea what is going on in there now and I hear noise, so I better go be a mom. =) Later!

Bekah's Job, Emily's Trust

Bekah is so big. She follows directions, like "put that back" or "close the door" or "close the drawer." So now she has a job. She is so proud of it. =) Whenever I change her diaper, I ask her to go get me a fresh diaper. She walks over to the diaper stacker and gets one and brings it to me with such a huge smile. =) It is precious. She is also getting into doing what we're doing, even more than before. She was doing downward dog (yoga) in the living room while Harper was doing yoga. =P

She says "good" and she says "more" while she signs it now and sometimes she just says it without the sign. Oh and she says "monster" too but I can't remember how. She loves her monster that I made her for Christmas. =) Today she told me "no-no" pointing to the drawer that has my potato peeler in it. =P And she definitely says "down" and points down while she says it. =)

Emily finished her Sparks book last week and she has a review book to review all the verses she's learned. So last night I quizzed her at dinner. She knows them all. I thought she might have forgotten some of the older ones, but nope. She has a good memory!

Last night after Awana I was putting the kids to bed, already late, but then we started talking about all sorts of good stuff. =P I don't even remember how it all came up but we talked about how Jesus comes into somebody's heart, about how God wouldn't be a righteous judge if he didn't punish sin (which led into an illustration with a doll, a cow, and a little girl toy 'cause Emily didn't know what a judge was), and about what it means for Jesus to have taken the punishment for our sin. And Emily quoted "For he who keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles at just one point, is guilty of breaking all of it." James 2:10 Yup, we are all guilty of breaking it all. And how important it is for people to know about Jesus to be able to trust him. Emily said maybe we could go to Thailand and if they still believe the story about the peacock, then we could tell them about Jesus. =) There was a story in her Highlights about a Thai legend about a peacock and I think a crow. Anyway so we had talked about what happens when babies die (which came from talking about whose hearts Jesus was in) and then I asked Emily if she knew when she was sinning that she was sinning against God, like if she thought about it and realized that she was sinning against God. She said yes. So I asked her if she died, where she would go. She said heaven. I asked her how she knew. She said "because I'm trusting Jesus to forgive my sin." I told her when she was a little tiny baby I looked at her and thought I wonder if she will trust Jesus or not and I am so glad that the answer is yes. =) It was a special Mommy and Emmy time. Lainey was playing with the girl and the cow, lol. =P I love these ladies.

Bekah is running around jabbering. =P And playing with my dry embossers. She looks like she wants them to be castanets. lol Too cute!

It has been so warm here that we have almost no ice left in our grass. There is nothing left on the driveway at all. It's crazy! We were going to walk to the library yesterday, but it was a little windy and the kids have been sick and Harper was actually sick yesterday too (which means he worked today - bah) so we ended up not going.

Harper picked up Twilight for me the day before and I am done with it. I thought it was okay, but the movie was better. The book seemed like it was written by a high school girl. Which, maybe it was. I don't really know. And I guess it's told from the perspective of a high school girl, so maybe that's why. But the movie was better. Although, you learn more in the book. Maybe I will read the other books.

Lainey has been doing great in Cubbies. A couple months ago, she freaked out twice about wiping herself and had a fit (twice) on the potty because I wasn't there to wipe her. Yeah. She wipes herself now. lol =)

Emmy started swim lessons on Thursday and it's really neat because I can take the little kids and play in the pool with them while she has lessons. And the best part is there is a hot tub!! Woo hoo! I have been wanting to get in a hot tub. =P I was about to go ask a hotel if they minded... lol

Ooh! Which reminds me, we are going to take a little vacation in April. Yay! We are going to spend a weekend in Spokane and I am taking the big girls to Little House on the Prairie, the musical. We have to get some more books read or some things might be spoiled. Actually I Googled the show to see how close to the books it is and it is going to give away some stuff if we don't read them all first. It's not just Little House on the Prairie because we've read that and there are characters in the play that are just showing up 4 books into the series. Em and Lainey wanted to dress up like pioneer girls for the show until I mentioned that such people are called bonnetheads. Emily did NOT want to be a bonnethead. lol =P So she decided she will just wear a dress. =)

Okay everyone is up from naps and I think Bekah might be stinky. Later! =P

Bad Words

Today, Lainey came to us with a comb stuck in her hair, above a really bad tangle. She said "I need help with this weird, stupid tangle." I think she was testing out using the word 'stupid' because it was a first. And she said it again at dinner. All of the insides fell out of her burrito and she said "stinkin' stupid horrible burrito." I cracked up while Harper said "I know I have said those words and I'm sorry I have and I don't want either of us to talk like that. Your mom thinks it's funny but she's wrong." LOL I am cracking up again... She said it in such a girly voice, which I think only made it funnier. Yup, I get the Bad Mom Award. lol

Today after lunch I took Emily skiing. It was fun. We only made it down one run. And really we only made it maybe 50 feet before she decided to give up trying to ski and asked me to pull her down the mountain. So I ended up dragging her down the mountain about 95% of the way. =P She had a harness on and I just pulled the reins to the front and she slid down face first on her belly, laughing the whole way. She thought it was awesome. lol She was ready to go down again, but she hit her head when she fell at the top of the lift and then she said she'd rather just go home. But she does want to go back again sometime. Yay! =P I think real skis will help. We were using plastic skis that go on ski boots and I don't think she could get an edge. I also don't know how to teach a kid to ski, so maybe that's part of the problem too. =P

This week we're going to start swim lessons. We found out about homeschool swim lessons and the kids were just asking when we could go to a pool, so that is awesome. I can be in the pool with the littles while Emily has her lesson. Should be lots of fun!

Bekah runs. She fell in the driveway and has a red forehead, but she still runs. =P

Oh! On Friday, we met Scott & Alyssa in Spokane at a children's museum. The kids all had lots of fun. Bekah ran around in circles around a play thing. =P She is so funny. And she liked the big rubbery fish they had. I got a year pass there so we can go when we pick up grandparents and stuff. And I hope to go on a little vacation there sometime. The Little House on the Prairie musical will be there in April and I think it would be fun to take Em. Has anyone seen it? I wonder how like the book it is.

Yesterday we shopped around downtown and tasted coffee at a roaster's studio. Then we went up to Schweitzer for fireworks. Very fun! The kids loved it and the echo down the mountain was so cool. =)

Bek has been signing thank you for a while now. I think it's so sweet! This morning when Em got up, she saw that Bekah was naked (we had just given her a shower) and asked if she could put a diaper on her. I said sure. =P So Emily put a diaper on Bekah and I asked Bekah to say thank you to Emmy and she signed it. So sweet. =P

Bekah says blob, shoes, mama, ih-tuh (sister), yes, down (or done, I'm not sure which it is, but it's when she wants down from her high chair)... I don't know what else. She says an awful lot of things that sound like words and sound like she means them but I'm just not always sure. But those I am sure of. =)

Emily loves puns. And rhyming. We like to sing Down by the Bay in the car and the kids take turns making up verses. Emily's are always good. Lainey comes up with some good ones, too. Sometimes she can't think of a rhyme that works so she just makes one up. At least it rhymes, lol! She makes up words all the time. "This is my chigget." Or whatever. I made that up. But so would she. =P lol So it's perfectly normal for her to make up words in a song anyway. =)

Okay. I'm tired. Off to bed! Later!