June Quotes

Jemma: Mom, can we have a treat?

Me: You just had a popsicle. That is a treat.

Jemma: That's not a treat. It's just a cold thing.

I asked Carter to go to the bathroom before he went to bed and this was his response:

Carter: I alweady went potty…last night affer dinner.

Poor Jemma threw up on a Saturday morning. Gavin kept trying to get the bowl that was next to her and she kept taking it back. Later that morning, she was still resting on the couch, and feeling much better, when Gavin came along.

Jemma: Here Gavin, you can play with this bowl now. I'm not throwing up anymore.
Gavin happily took the bowl and wandered off to play with it. (Don't worry, it was a clean bowl…she never did upchuck in it.)

Brandon: Carter, I just need to give you squeezes!
Carter: Fine. Go ahead.

Jemma: Some people just die with their eyes open. (She was quietly coloring a princess picture when she made that comment…random.)

Jemma overheard Brandon and I discussing who we might will our children to should anything happen to the two of us.
Me: Possibly so-and-so, or even so-and-so…
Jemma: No! You want to sell us?

Carter: Look at that flowa Mom!

Me: Isn't it pretty? It's a peony.

Carter: Ithsss not a pony. Ithsss a flowa!

Jemma: Carter, smell me; right here. I stink!
Carter: (Big Sniff) Yup.

Carter: When babies are sad, mommies and daddies hold them. When babies cry a lot, then they take a nap.

One evening, it was like 7:45 and Brandon still wasn't home from the clinic in Portland and Jem said this:
"Daddy's taking a long time. I think he's probably on time out…for not doing what he's supposed to do at work".

I took Carter to see Cars 2 the other night and on the way there, I asked him dozens of questions. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: What's your favorite color?
C: Blue & Gween.
Me: What's your favorite food?
C: Tacos.
Me: Who are some of your friends?
C: Jemma, Jemma and Jemma.
Me: What's your favorite thing to do?
C: Eat dinnew.
Me: What's your favorite toy?
C: Light Queen & Matah…can we stop talking?

Brandon was tucking Carter into bed one night and Carter was worried about there being a ghost in his room. This was their conversation:
Carter: Awe there ghosts in here?
Brandon: No, there are no ghosts in here.
Carter: Oh. Where do ghosts live?
Brandon: Far, far away.
Carter: Oh, where the Holy Ghost lives?

Please ignore the spacing in this post...I just can't figure out what blogger want me to do these days!

Swimming Lessons

The last 2 weeks, Jemma and Carter had swimming lessons. Every. Day. Which, I actually like...better than stretching it out for 5 weeks. Anyway, this was Jem's 3rd round of swimming lessons. She LOVES it and is a total fish...she's getting much better and even mastered the floating this time around. We'll have to keep up the practicing so she can just get a little more confident on her strokes. Every time the teacher would let go of her, she would get really worried, quit swimming altogether and start to sink...not good. But she'll get there.

This was Carter's first time...in the pool that is...at swimming lessons.

He has been many-a-time to watch Jem. He has always been wary around water...he slipped one time in the tub and ever since has been SO FREAKED OUT to have his face in the water.

Despite that, he seemed ok with the idea of swimming lessons. I think it was mostly because it's something Jemma has done - he wants to be just like her - only a boy version. Anyway, he seemed fine, which SHOCKED me, right up until they got in the water. Then, he was clinging to the edge of the pool, sobbing.

It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to just sit and watch. His teacher was so awesome with him though...she carried him around on her back for almost the whole first lesson while she worked with the other kids, just so he'd feel safe. Then, she showed him that when he's next to the wall, his feet can touch the bottom!!! That was literally the turning point. The crying ceased and he was a changed little man in the pool.

He did great and he's even doing a full on "big jump" (as he calls it) off the edge of the pool now so his head submerges and EVERYTHING!

And as for Gavin, he barely survived swimming lessons...he did a whole lot of this:

accompanied by intermittent yelling and screaming...poor third child.

But, yahoo for swimming lessons and progress and

especially that they're over. :)

Strawberry pickin'

One of the things I have LOVED about this area is all the fresh produce. This time of year is always so much fun with all the U-pick farms and the farmers markets...not all states have that and I am really gonna miss it.

Any-hoo. Strawberries are finally in season. It felt like it took forever with all the unseasonably cool and wet weather. So last Saturday, while Brandon worked on his presentation for the docs and residents at the VA, Jemma, Carter and I headed off to Dyucks Peachy Pig Farm to pick some strawberries.

No, it wasn't raining...but Jemma insisted on wearing her hood.

We also got to see some of the animals on the farm...several of the hens had little chicks scurrying after them. Very cute.

There were lots of baby pigs...but these little guys were BRAND NEW. Born just the day before. Pretty cool. Both the kids and I were surprised/impressed with the size of the mommy pigs. You can't really tell in the picture, but these ladies were MASSIVE.

They also had a horse, lama, goats, rabbits...and I did spot a rat who scurried under the floor boards when we approached one of the pig pens...that freaked the kids out and Carter insisted I carry him after that. It made me think of Templeton on "Charlotte's Web".

Since bringing our strawberries home, we've made our freezer jam (seriously essential. pb&j's are NASTY with the store bought stuff), a strawberry pie on Father's Day (a little tart, but I sorta just winged it...next time I'll find a recipe, or at least add more sugar), had smoothies and just eaten them by the handful. Delish!

Zoo...again.

I'm sure some of you are thinking, "man, how many times can these guys go to the zoo?"...well, we have a season pass, and when we've been cooped up due to rain for lengthy periods of time and the forecast finally says 'no rain' for 24 hours, we have got to escape. So, escape we did. To the Portland Zoo, again. And you know, I thought it was a brilliant idea because school was still in and we were getting there at 9:30 in the morning...we were gonna have the zoo to ourselves and I was stoked and the kids were pretty excited about it too.

Wow, was I ever wrong. It must have been field trip day for every school in the area cuz it was INSANE...pretty comparable to $2 Tuesdays which is saying A LOT. (I did that once, and that's the day I decided a Zoo Pass was a brilliant idea.)

Anyway, despite the crowds, we did get to see and do all we wanted to and then some. They had the penguins in a section of the Polar Bear exhibit for some reason, so we got to see those guys for the first time. Sad, huh. They are so darn cute, and I always skip them...too many big cats and other cool things we've always got on our agenda I guess. Carter LOVES the movie "Surfs Up", so he was pretty impressed to see some real penguins. :)

The dinosaur exhibit was up again, but I wasn't willing to pay the extra fee to get inside, so Jem just played on the T-Rex outside and Carter watched. There was no convincing him to climb on that thing.
We also saw the alligator for the first time. I remember my friend posting a picture of it on her blog and me being shocked that they had one of these guys...I had NEVER seen it. Well, now I know why. He's little. Much smaller than I was picturing, but impressive none the less.

As is tradition, we checked in on the baby elephant. He's almost three years old now. CRAZY! He was brand new when we first moved to Oregon. He is still so fun to watch. He follows his mom around, pushing and pulling on her with his trunk. Reminds me a lot of Gavin these days. :) There he is, holding onto his mommy's tail as she walks away, trying to get a little space...I've been there.

The crazy trio.

Hooray for the Portland Zoo!

Clover

I fell in love with the clover fields our first spring in Oregon when we were driving to and from Stake Conference. The color against the green landscape is breathtaking. It rivals the tulip festival for me...that is the absolute truth. So, when I noticed the fuchsia blossoms starting to appear, I knew I had to get some pictures out there...(again) especially since this is our last spring in this incredibly beautiful part of the country. Well, today was Stake Conference...how appropriate and convenient! Brandon agreed to a brief stop after conference...so, if the kids (especially Gavin) look a bit ruffled, wrinkley, or tired, it's because they just sat through 2 hours of church and the littlest one missed his morning nap.

So, here a many more pics of Gavin because I have been meaning to take his 12 month pics, and well, this was as good a time as any, minus the messy shirt and flood pants...oh well. At least he's smiling and adorable and these pictures just make me want to freeze time and keep him this small and sweet forever!

Tracy, that chair you gave me is coming in really handy! :) I might not even do anything to it. Do you want it back? (I hope not.)

This one is probably my favorite...I just love candid shots...and besides that, just look at those little toes, the chubby fingers wrapped around the clover blossom and his practically bald head. A-dor-a-ble.

I am going to miss this place.

Quiltin'

I don't post a whole lot of my sewing projects on this blog, but this baby merited a post. I have wanted to make a quilt for the spare bed in Gavin's room ever since I finished my 1st quilt...and ever since I found out I had a boy! (The room was supposed to be unisex, but clearly it was more girl than boy...my intuition was way off.)

Moving on.

The size of a quilt for a twin bed just sounded HUGE. And frankly, it was more the actual quilting of the thing rather than the piecing (which by the way took FOREVER) that had me scared...I was pretty sure, my poor machine couldn't hack it. But somehow, me and my babylock pulled it off. (those of you in and out of the sewing world alike are probably asking, what in the world is a babylock? it's my machine...ya, i'd never heard of that brand either...but i had a budget...so babylock it was.)

Enough rambling. My amazing friend Alison shared her quilt patterns with me and I decided to use her skipping squares pattern. (She's pretty amazing by the way.) I just added an extra row to the top and sides and a border around all the edges to get a bigger size.

Getting ready to baste this bad boy.

There's my babylock...you know, for all the mocking and poking fun I do at my poor machine (and the crazy loud racket it produces when I sew...sorry Skinner family! I guess it's a good thing you were gone when I was quilting this guy) I really do love and appreciate it. I have put it through sewing boot-camp in a way and, despite the fact that I have never had it serviced (THAT IS TERRIBLE! I KNOW!) it is yet to give me a problem. Thanks Babylock!

Here's my other helper...this boy is a crazy good climber! Bad. Very bad.

Finished and on the bed.

I had to wait to get a picture of it being held up because I wasn't tall enough. Brandon, who is 6' 1" is holding this high above his head and it's still touching the ground and he has it a bit folded at the top...(and honestly, I don't think I made it quite long enough...I am very happy with the width, but if I did it over...which I'm not...I would have one more row of squares across the bottom...oh well. I'll keep that in mind when I make one for me and Brandon's Queen...) :)

Anyway, here's to my biggest quilt ever. (so far)

Quotes from May

My sister Sharee does this each month with the things her kids say during the month and I LOVE reading that post...in fact, I look forward to it...it's a new month, she's gonna be posting stuff her kids said last month any. day.! So, I thought, ya know, I ought to be documenting the things my kids say. I mean, kids say the funniest, weirdest stuff and I LOVE IT! So, here was my first attempt at keeping track of some of their remarks from May(and "some" is an understatement...by the time I got to the computer, I had usually forgotten what it was they said that I wanted to jot down...I'll try to do better this month).

Just a disclaimer, the spacing in this post is all wacked up...don't know how to fix it, so, sorry 'bout that. It's bloggers fault.

Jemma really likes Star Wars...Carter, not so much, but he agrees to watch it with Jemma if she covers his eyes during the scary parts...
Star Wars Narrative: Carter: Cover my eyes!!! Jemma: Don't worry. This is not a scary part. It's just a man. (pause) With a pink face. (pause) And purple eyes. And a black hood. (Sounds scary to me.)

Jemma: I did choose a shirt with a butterfly and pants with flowers because butterflies land on flowers. (So that's how she chooses her clothes and justifies what matches and what doesn't...)


Jemma has been exercising with me lately. I told her that I didn't want her to use weights because it could stunt her growth. So, tonight when I was tucking her into bed, our conversation went like this:
Jemma: I'm almost gonna be six.
Me: In seven months. I think you should just enjoy being five and not think about growing up too fast. I want you to stay my little girl.
Jemma: If you want me to stay like this, then I have to use weights.


Jemma: Hey Mom, whenever Christian (a boy in the neighborhood) rides his bike, I always see his crack-bum (bum-crack) and I go like this: (eyes open wide and jaw drops) .

Jemma: What's gonna be happening tomorrow? Me: You have your preschool graduation. Jemma: I'm gonna graduate before Dad!

Me: Carter can you say the prayer for breakfast? Carter: Hm. I guess so. (That's his response to everything now...unless he just says "no"...it's rarely a "yes" anymore.)

We've been doing a lot of decluttering and so the other day, I mentioned to Carter that we needed to take some things to Goodwill, to which he responded in reference to our home, "And this is Badwill".

Me: What do you guys want for dinner? Jemma: Spaghetti! Carter: No. I want some cocky-bo-bo. (That's just one of his nonsense phrases for, well practically everything...and he thinks he's hilarious whenever he says it.) Jemma: Sorry Carter. We're all out of cocky-bo-bo.