Thank Goodness for Baseball

My Brother-in-Law coaches varsity baseball and his team made it to State again this year. Way to go Jason! Unfortunately, the trip down here was about as far as they went. The excellent part is that my sister came down with Dylan and Hallie. My mom was also able to join them. We had a great time. Kevin got to take Dylan on a very COLD fishing trip, while the girls spent the evening at Pojo's. We rode the carousel (several times), played lots of games and ate lots of candy. The best part of the Pojo's night-out was the bumper car ride that my sister and I went on. I do not think I have laughed that hard in a LONG time. I literally could not breathe at one point. There was a little girl on the ride with us that had it out for my sister. She was probably about 8 years old. The hilarity of it was that she kept looking at my sister and saying "You're going down!". It was hysterical.

It was so much fun to watch the kids play together. Sidney is finally old enough to really get in on the action. Her older cousin Dylan was more than eager to accomodate her. He "Drove Miss Daisy" all around the neighborhood.

On Saturday, we all went to the pool at the gym. Kendall was like a little fish. On previous visits, it would take about 30 minutes for her to even leave the steps. During this trip she was determined to keep up with the big kids. Before the day was over she was jumping off the side of the pool, dunking under the water and "swimming" to her Aunt Stephie.

Next weekend we are taking the girls up to spend a week with my parents all by theirselves. My mom made a countdown chart (complete with a sticker for each day) so the girls could see how many days until their big trip. I am really excited for them. It is going to be a very special week and I hope that we are able to do this every year. My Dad told Kendall that he would cook her breakfast every day. I am not sure he knew what he was getting himself in to. Tonight Kendall told Papa Mark that she really wants pink pancakes with chocolate chips in them.

While my mom was here I stole some pictures off her camera. Here is a picture of my gorgeous niece Hallie. She had a dance recital at the local college. My sister said she was just like a professional. At one point during the routine, her hat fell off. My sister said that she just kept on dancing as if nothing had ever happened.

For those who were wondering, Kendall is finally back in her bed. She spent nearly two weeks sleeping on the floor of her bedroom in this nice cozy bed she had made. Two nights ago when I went in to kiss her she was sleeping in her bed. I asked her about it the next day and she told me she was having a hard time falling asleep. So back to her bed it is!

Triple Post Day

Sheesh. Apparently I need to post more frequently. Kendall has been having this terrible cough that comes and goes. It results in near sleeplessness for several nights. Enough was enough. We took her to the doctor and as it turns out she has Asthma. They gave her a breathing treatment in the office. She really liked the cool mask.

They sent her home with her own mask to use at home and some medicine to take daily. After the breathing treatment, she came home and slept for 4 hours. She has been responding to the medication very well.

Double Post Day

I got a new bike this week. I have been wanting one of these for quite sometime. It was a choice between green, blue or pink. Pink won!

Bounce House - Take Two

Saturday morning we got the girls ready and went to browse the yard sales. Check out Kendall's "sassy" new haircut. We found a few good buys including a bead set and a couple of preschool books.

While we were out, we stopped by the fairgrounds to check out Idaho's Largest Garage Sale. Kevin and I were pretty nostalgic. It reminded us of the Saturday morning flea market in Ventura. They had three bounce houses and two GIANT slides. We got there early enough that we pretty much had the place to ourselves. If you recall from the last post, we were at a birthday party and Sidney did not want anything to do with the bounce house. This week it was a completely different story.


The girls had a blast. We all (yes, myself included) took our turn down the giant blow-up slide. It was pretty hilarious.
Kevin and I followed up the great day with a date night. It is amazing how three hours without the kids can seem like an eternity. We went to dinner, out for a drink and stopped by Mrs. Powell's candy store. It seemed like we were out forever.

On an odd "toddler" note...Kendall has taken up residence on her bedroom floor. She discovered this cozy flannel blanket in her closet a couple of days ago and proceeded to make herself a bed on the floor. She has been sleeping there ever since. Oh to be made of rubber and think that the floor is a terrific place to sleep.

Mmm Mmm Goodness

This weekend we made a batch of homemade power bars. This is a recipe that I won at the United Way auction at work a couple of years ago. They are full of yummy goodness - raisins, dried cranberries, coconut, walnuts, sunflower seeds, honey, peanut butter, flax seeds and best of all chocolate chips. The thing that I love most about this recipe is that I can alter it however I choose and they always turn out yummy. The girls got a lot of enjoyment out of licking the spoons.


Kendall and Sidney went to a birthday party yesterday. There was a "bouncy dragon" as Kendall called it. She spent most of the afternoon getting tossed around in the house. While Sidney would have no part of it. I tossed her in at one point, and she totally freaked. Then after pulling her back out she kept clamoring to get back in. I do not believe that she actually "wanted" back in, but she sure had fun trying to crawl up the dragon's tongue (the slide).

Speaking of freaking out. Sidney hates the carwash. Her mild dislike for the carwash has turned into a full fledged panic attack. Who can blame her? I hope this passes as going through the carwash can be a lot of fun, and the smell is SO good. Especially the ones that have the "triple" soap.

Kevin was true to his form and made Mother's day a very special occasion. He arranged for a manicure and lunch with my girlfriends on Saturday. The ladies and I went to a Hawaiian Cafe that turned out to be VERY yummy. The french fries were a mixture of white and sweet potatoes sprinkled with coarse salt. Of course I picked out all of the sweet potatoe fries and ate them first! Then I awoke to a beautiful card and starbucks gift card on Sunday. Kevin wanted to take me out for breakfast, but was kind enough to listen to my cries of "NO WAY". I did not want to fight the Mother's Day breakfast crowd. So we opted for homemade pink pancakes with chocolate chips instead.

Happy Mother's Day to our mom's. They are two of the most loving ladies I know! Both of these women are a true testament to the fact that Motherhood does not stop once the kids are out of the house.

A closing picture for today - Kendall getting a kiss from Coco. Not sure she was too thrilled about it:)

The Fish is "Floppy"

These are the words that Kendall used to describe the first fish she caught. In my last post we were headed up to the lake, Dora fishing pool in tow. Kendall threw the line in (with Kevin's help of course) and she quickly got a bite. She was full of excitement as she worked very hard to reel her first fish in. Just like her mom though, she refused to touch it!

Sidney and Kendall have been really into dolls and dress-up lately. Here is Sid taking her doll for a car ride. She absolutely loves to play outside. Yesterday she kept spinning herself around in circles and trying to walk. It was quite funny to watch.

Grandma Juanita has come for a visit. The girls snuggled right up to her. It has not taken Kendall long to figure out that Grandma "Nita" gives the best backrubs ever! I am a little bitter though, because the more time that Kendall tries to squeeze a backrub out of her the less time for my backrubs. Hmmm...not sure how to handle that one:)

Below is a small glimpse into Sid the wild child hamming it up for the camera. My sister does not believe me that Sid has transformed into this crazy little character. As for the matching outfits...Can you believe that Kendall goes out of her way to match outfits with her sister? I remember being a child and 'detesting' matching outfits. I swear Kendall watches what I am going to put on Sidney and will run into her room to try to find the same thing. Wonder how long that will last?

A Love Hate Relationship

Before I get to the title of this post, I will give an update of our happenings this week. I must warn you there are very few pictures for this post as I have been very lazy.

Kendall was pretty sick on Friday. I stayed home from work with her, which was very warranted since she did not leave the couch all day. She also did not eat a thing for 3 days. How do little kids do that? It was a bummer deal, since her friend Hannah was supposed to stay the night on Friday. All day Kendall kept saying "I feel good mommy. Hannah can come over." To which I would reply "Okay, then how about a bite of toast?" To which Kendall would reply "No thank you". Well, at least she is polite. Unfortunately we had to postpone the overnight stay. One of the most impressive things on Friday was that I made my first attempt at trying to work from home. I got an incredible amount of work done. This was quite shocking to me! I suspect it is because Kendall was so lethargic and Sidney was at Rebeccas...

Saturday morning Kendall woke up feeling much better. By the afternoon, she was ready to roll. So Hannah came over to stay the night. The girls all had a blast. They played very hard. We painted toenails and fingernails, crafted, played in the bathtub. It was an all-around good time. I must say, this was one of my first observations of Sidney the wild child. She was out-of -control with laughter. She was acting so crazy that she actually went under water in the bathtub at least 5 times and it did not even phase her.

Another Saturday morning event was Sidney's first "playdate". Her little friend Emily invited her to bring a friend day at The Little Gym. I can just imagine the conversation when Emily was asking Kristin if she could invite Sidney:) Kevin and Sid met up with Chris and Emily for the morning. Kevin said that she was a little daredevil. After observing the events of Saturday night this does not surprise me a bit. Thank you to the Brandts for inviting Sidney along for such a fun experience!

Now to the title of this post...

The other day Kevin says to me "I really wish you loved doing yard work more". I responded "Why is that?" He replied "Because then you would do it all and I would not have to do any". UGH. Well at least we have both come to agreement that we hate doing yard work. The concept of this mystifies me. How can two people that love the great outdoors so much, like doing yard work so little? At least now that it is out in the open I do not feel so guilty about it. We should have thought more about this before buying our home. In retrospect, a penthouse apartment or a condo would have served us better than our 1/4 acre subdivision lot. That being said...I love my backyard. To that end, Kevin and I decided to join forces and tackle the yard today. Four huge barrels and a couple of garbage sacks later, our yard is looking much better. We actually have visions of raking rocks and making room for a new playhouse for the girls next weekend. We will see what the future holds. For now, we are off to the lake to relax in our boat. Don't get too excited folks. I am speaking of our 15 foot aluminum fishing boat. Just perfect for a cruise around the lake!