The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

So that's what we'll do! ...or did.
I got brave this year. I have never had much success with plants, but I thought I'd give it a try this year. To be honest I was a little surprised when I started seeing little plants poke up out of the dirt. We have 3 kinds of tomatoes on the far left, in the red we have red onions, garlic, red peppers (which have not come up yet), in the short black ones we have 2 kinds of cucumbers, and more onions in the little pot.

Lydia also has her OWN watering can and she has her own baby plants that she waters every day.
We also started an herb garden. I had my seeds started in an egg carton. I decided to harden them and I took them out side. Well as I was watering my garden that day I noticed they were a little dry, so I watered them too. Well inside I usually water them with a little spray bottle, and the next morning I noticed that they didn't look so happy. I KILLED them. ALL of them!!! *sigh* so I have to start my herbs over.

In the front where it's cool I planted my spinach and lettuce.I had a little more room so I poked a few more red peppers in there too.
You probably can't see it from this picture, but I have 2 spinach plants in the right, and 5 in the left, nothing else has poked up.



And today I had some mending to do and Lydia wanted to help me sew. I told her when I was done I'd help her make something. Danton had some jeans with holes in the knees so I cut them off and made him shorts, and used the cut offs for Lydia and I helped her make a bag.
She sat on my lap, I put the pedal on a box and she pushed it with her foot and I guided the fabric. She thought it was pretty cool.
She also got a hair cut today. Isn't she CUTE!

My new chair

I've been wanting a nice recliner for a LONG time and I finally got one. It's not the "perfect" chair. I knew exactly what I wanted and I sat in MANY chairs, and none were "perfect" but I liked this one. Very comfy.
I picked it up on Friday in the truck. It was on the North side of town so I went around 65 instead of going through town. Well on the way back that 60-70 mph wind did not make the box happy, it ripped it open, and blew out the plastic, so I rerouted and went through town.
Getting it inside was a bit of a trick. but I did it, all by my self.
I backed the truck up as close to the door as I could. Opened the box and brought the back of the chair in first. Then I slid the box off the tail gate and set one end on the ground and had it propped up on the tail gate. I got it close enough that the side of the box on the ground was actually on the door step.
So then I tilted the box up and squeezed as much through the door as possible. running through the house, out the back door and around to the front and back again to push and pull the box....ok, it it might have been a little easier with two people, but I didn't want to wait.
The door got in the way so I still had about 6 to 8 inches of box sticking out the front door, so I crawled in the box and started shimmying the base of the chair out.
I think the whole process probably took about 15 mins. The back just clicked into the base and val-la! I have a chair!
Then I shoved the box inside for the kids to play in.
Lydia thought it was pretty awesome.

Danton didn't care for the big box as much as he did for the new cubby between the couches.
and this is the chair, TA-DA!

Now when I set it up and sat in it, the top portion was a little more plush then the floor model. I'm hoping it will squish down with wear. In the mean time I have to sit in it with a pillow behind my lower back. But I don't mind that. But I have been paying more attention to how messy Danton is when I let him out of his high chair.

messy eater

We had spaghetti last week, the kids LOVED it.
This picture I accidentally deleted off my camera, but Garry helped Mark retrieve it. Garry has MAD picture saving skills, best brother ever award goes to him. Thanks Garry.
And I can't take a picture of Danton with out taking one of Lydia too. :)


Danton LOVES oranges...in particularly the orange peel. He has pulled them out of the trash to eat them. I would say that is weird, but I use to like the peels too. Who knows, I still might, I haven't eaten one in years, but I'm pretty sure I'm over that. I don't care to see if I still like them or not.
ANYWAY, the kids love these little oranges. Danton helped him self to the bag that was on the counter.
He has two and he is eating them like apples.

Man! My kids are cute.

I love spring! I love being able to go out side, and let my kids go out side and play. They love it too. They spend a lot of the day out side, when ever it is nice enough to. Lydia knows the rules. Since we share a back yard with about 30 other units she is not aloud to just run around. We have "lines" she is not aloud to cross. And she doesn't. She is very obedient and stays with in the lines. The lines are basically as wide as our apartment and it goes back to the fence, which is really not that far, but it's enough grass for a 3 year old. Sometimes we go down to the swing set, but she has more fun on our back porch with her bike, slide, chalk, and imagination...oh and you can't forget the rocks. :)As you can tell, Danton is always thrilled to be out side as well. Can you see his little knee? Yeah, it's bleeding. Lydia tried to tell me he was bleeding but I didn't see where cause he was standing and his shorts were covering him, PLUS he never complained about it so I figured she just THOUGHT it was bleeding. But no. That boy has so many cuts and scrapes on his legs and feet, but he is tough, he never even winces. He does not however like stepping on rocks.

This was Danton's first bowl of cereal with milk and a spoon. Can you tell how much he LOVED it? He LOVES spoons. I've never poured him a bowl of cereal, I just give him the dry cereal cause he can't have milk. But DUH, (blond moment) he drinks soy milk, so I just put HIS milk on the cereal. He actually surprised me how many time he got cereal on the spoon. (I had to fix the spoon in his hand a couple times)

And Lydia needed her picture taken too. And why not when you have such a cute face?

Guess who Danton's FAVORITE person is...

And this is how Danton must sleep. He has his teddy bear (which is pretty close to HIS size) and he sleeps ON TOP of the bear. He likes to cuddle, so this way he can cuddle all he wants. That bear was a good find. I got it at a thrift store for $3...or $6, I don't remember now. But I wanted to get him a big animal cause he loves Lydia big monkey so much. This bear I think was probably really expensive when it was first bought. It's a very well made, soft, and durable bear. I put it through the wash and it came out looking like new. Every other toy I have f=put through the wash has needed some TLC when it was done.
But anyway, Danton is cute, and he loves his bear.

AWE!.........................

A pictureless Birthday

I have had a lot of birthdays, and they come at the same time every year. They have all been pretty good. Most have involved strawberries...and angel food cake. Some have coupled with April Fools jokes, but yesterday was one of my favorites so far. Maybe that's just cause I can remember it the best. I don't know, maybe it's just cause it was just that good. Sorry, though. I have no proof. We didn't take any pictures.
It started off great. On My happy Birthday Eve, we decided to get some good walking/water shoes for Silver Dollar City, and we got them both on sale. Oh yeah, love a good bargain.
I woke up to...nothing. No children climbing in my bed, no crying, no nothing. I didn't sleep as great as I'd have hoped, but the fact that I woke up on my own terms make me wake up happy. So as soon as Danton woke up we started getting ready to go. We took the kids over to Granny and Papa's house, and went out for breakfast (for the 2nd time in my life). Had to go to IHOP. I LOVES my pancakes.
When we were full fat and happy, we drove down to Branson. It was suppose to get up to 72 so we wore shorts...ummm it was cold. Well, the breeze was cold. Once we got into the park the hills and trees blocked all the wind so it was actually rather nice. Not nice enough for water rides....Oh no.
We went on rides we had never been on before, they were SO fun. It was fun just to enjoy the day and not worry about anything or any one but our selves. We even had time for a street show before we left. We left the Park early cause it was going to rain. But we got back to the truck before we got wet.
Came home, dropped off Mark to sleep off his motion sickness pills, and looked up some movies on red box, and then went back to get the kids. I printed up some birthday coupons for schlotzkys and papa murphys. On the way home I stopped and got some Andy's frozen custard for Mark and I, and got the movie. Put the kids in bed early and enjoyed a mediocre 2012 and some frozen custard.
Not to mention all the "happy birthday's" I got on the phone and on Face Book. It was a fun day.

Danton's Flavor

Now that you had a taste of Lydia, (and boy I still missed a lot. I didn't even touch on her imagination...holy cow! She gets bored with toys so quickly cause they are what they are. Give her a box, and a stick and she has endless possibilities. ) I'll try and show you Danton's flavor.
****please don't lick my children next time you see them***
Danton is one of the happiest 1 year olds I think I've ever been around. Also one of the busiest. Like Lydia, Danton only has 2 speeds "Fast" and "Off". I didn't realize how constantly busy he is till I watched him at church with the other kids that are his age. There are several that are about a month or two apart. Danton is CRAZY compared to them. It wore me out watching him play AT (not with) them the first time. He is such a monkey. He has been able to walk since he was 9 months old, but didn't like to till he was about 11 months. We got him a little push walker toy to get more confident with walking, and once he figured out how to use it, it became his portable step stool.
That boy can CLIMB let me tell you. AND he is a problem solver. If there is something he wants and can't get it, or something he wants to do and can't do it, he works his way through the problem till he gets what he wants. It's amazing to watch this little one year old do it sometimes. We have two 30 gal rubber maid tubs stacked on top of each other in the living room to block him from cords and we keep the xbox and wii up there. He got mad cause he wanted to play with the consoles and they were just out of his reach. I took all of his step stools away, and he walked around the tubs for a minuet then grabbed the top one and started shaking it hard till stuff started falling off. That satisfied him for a few days but he still couldn't reach the buttons on the xbox, so he held on to the top on and CLIMBED on the bottom one. He was at an awkward angle but he didn't' give up, I had to pull him off.

Danton is FAST. He could crawl fast and he can run fast. If the front door is open more then 5 sec, no matter where he is (except in his high chair) he will make it out the door.
He is fast at everything. He can unload my utensil drawer in 10 seconds, he can slide down the stairs on his tummy faster then I can go down them, that is hilarious to watch.
He loves people as much as Lydia does. He keeps up with Lydia pretty good. And he is rough and tumble enough to hold his own. Lydia will get annoyed or angry with him and pushes him HARD square in his chest and knocks him down. What does Danton do? He CRACKS up laughing. He thinks EVERYTHING is funny. Always has. He REALLY thinks gross things are funny. His favorite word is boogers. Every time you say it he laughs. He loves to wrestle, and if Daddy lays down on the ground he is fair game for Danton.
He can be a little sensitive too. If we yell at him for getting something that he KNOWS he isn't suppose to get it hurts his feelings. He has the saddest face ever. No drama, just hurt. Gets me every time. When you hurt his feelings he just needs a good hug. He will slowly walk up to you with his arms open and his little "why did you do that...I'm just a baby" face on and lays his head on your shoulder while he hugs you.

He is a very sweet boy and loves to give hugs and kisses. But sometimes he makes you work for them. He is a bit of a tease. He will go in to kiss you and then fake you out. And of course thinks it's funny. It's hard to punish him cause he thinks everything is funny. Oh and peek-a-boo is the most hilarious thing ever invented. I love playing with Danton cause like I said he laughs at everything, and he has a good laugh too.

He loves Hyper Time at the end of the day. You know when kids are tired but it comes out as hyper instead. You think he is energetic during the day, you should SEE him at hyper time. He and Lydia get each other going, and it is at those times when I wonder why to we pay for tv.
He is a good napper, just so long as he is at home. I say it's time for a nap, lay him in bed with his bear (his bear is the same size he is, and it's his pillow) turn on his music and he almost always lays down and goes to sleep. He still takes 2 good 2 hour naps for me during the day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. If he doesn't get his nap and we are at home he cries a lot, and it a little hard to handle. BUT if we are anywhere but our living room, he is fine. Out side, at the store, at grandmas, the Dr. wherever. Which amazes me. Now if he is hungry that is a different story. You do NOT deprive that boy of his food. So as long as I have snacks with me I'm usually good.
He does sleep through the night usually. But still once or twice a week (more if he is teething or sick) he wakes up at night to the point that I have to go in there. If he is not feeling good then he doesn't know how to relax and go back to sleep. If I put him back in bed to cry it out he will just get hysterical. (no all the time, usually he will go back to sleep, but when he doesn't feel good he does) There have been nights where I'm up with him for 3 hours before he finally goes back to sleep. Luckily for me Lydia and Daddy can sleep through almost ANYTHING. But that is probably the hardest thing about Danton, is some nights randomly he just doesn't sleep all that great.
He is SO easy going, and just happy to do what ever. EVERY time I take him ANYWHERE I get stopped by more then one person that has to tell me how cute he is. I gotta say I just love that.

You know I always knew I had high energy kids. But I guess I didn't realize just HOW high energy they really are till I went to that Relief Society Spring break over night a couple weeks ago. Once I got down to Branson with my friends I started getting jittery, and I couldn't stop moving. I was getting hyper and I didn't even have LUNCH that day. I felt as weird and crazy and hyper as I did in High school and College. Remembering how much energy I really use to have. Then I realized, I STILL have that same amount of hyperactive energy, it's just usually focused on my kids. Keeping up with them, keeping my house....well clean isn't really the right word, just keeping it from TOTAL destruction. And not having my kids around to focus on all that energy got built up and I didn't know what to do with it. It was the weirdest feeling ever. But it made me realize that when I'm tired, I'm tired for a reason, it's cause I have FREAKIN CRAZY KIDS!!! But I love it. They make me laugh so much...and they make me yell so much too, but hey, you can't win em all right. :)

Well that's the readers digest of my kids. To really know what they are like you have to EXPERIENCE them. :)