Good News

Natalie's arm is feeling better!

I won mother of the year!

This afternoon after Natalie's nap I was taking her downstairs via piggyback. At the bottom of the stairs I swung her off my back by holding her hands. Her wrist made a popping sound and I knew that it had come out of the socket. She was crying and I felt bad that I hurt her. After 30 minutes of crying I knew something was really wrong. I was able to take the two older kids to our friends down the next street and they were so nice to watch them the 2 1/2 hours that I was at the Urgent Care. I love going to that place! Catch my sarcastic tone....
I do appreciate being able to go somewhere that is able to treat us and not have to pay the ER co-pay but wow they can be cranky in that place and I love the looks when you have to explain what happened to your child. ("uh-huh...sure we believe you...an accident").



After what was a very long time in the waiting room (As soon as I checked in the sign reading "It is 1-2 hour wait to be seen" appeared) they checked Nat out and had x-rays done on her hand. She was not a happy camper when anyone came near her arm. They couldn't find any fractures so they put it in a splint, bandaged it up calling it a sprain. They told me that if it isn't any better in 3 days to bring her back and they would check it out again.
She is so cute. She keeps looking at her arm and saying "oh no owie" It is still really hurting her and she can't move it much. She won't even stuck her thumb, so I know that it must really hurt. Makes me sad to see and in the process allows me to win mother of the year. Yay for me!



Trying to eat with her left hand. Poor girl was starving by the time we got home (7:00 pm)

You got to love those chunky little legs!

Spilled milk

I blissfully went grocery shopping with just Natalie after dropping off Julia at preschool. What a treat!! I have been holding out for this day to arrive. Good thing it finally came because the house didn't have much food left! When I got home I lugged in my enormous amounts of groceries and then promptly dropped a gallon of milk on the floor. It broke and I had a huge mess to clean up. A gallon of milk on the floor is A LOT of milk. Good thing it was just spilled milk.

Preschooler!

How can it be? Julia is going to preschool!

Julia has patiently waited for her turn to be a big girl. Today was her big day. She was so excited to go to school. She was hoping to eat lunch there and stay all day. It was a disappointment to tell her that she would be eating lunch with mom and Natalie. On the way to school she asked me if her teacher was going to blow a whistle when recess was over. I had to laugh since her preschool is by a member of our ward in her house. When I dropped her off she gave me a big hug and ran inside. She is definitely a different sibling than her brother. I am not worried at all how she will do. She will be great. Julia is 4 going on 14....

She made sure I took a picture by this tree because on Cameron's first day of preschool he had his taken in the same spot.

Last night Cameron wrote Julia a note for her first day of school. They can be so cute to each other. He had Mitch tell him how to spell the things he didn't know how to.

This morning he went into the office and wrote this note all by himself and gave it to her.

Ruff Ruffman

There have been a few people asking me what the deal is with Ruff Ruffman and who he is. Here is the low down:

"Part game show, part reality TV, FETCH! features real kids, real challenges, real science, and an unreal host named Ruff Ruffman."

This is hands down my kids favorite show at the moment. It is on PBS at 5:30 Monday-Thursday each week. It is of the utmost importance that we watch it. I haven't met anyone except Kierstin who has even heard of the show. All my kids love the theme song and as soon as it comes on they start dancing and going crazy. Cameron must wear his Hawaiian shirt and shorts to watch the show every night, he pretends to be Ruff and Julia is Blossom (Ruff's friend that is a cat). In one of the episodes the contestants wear "Ruff" costumes and ever since then Cameron has told me he wants to be Ruff Ruffman for Halloween. I have looked online for costumes but haven't found a thing. Any ideas would be welcome.

Art Kits

They did it! Cameron and Julia finished their summer reading charts from the library and got the finisher prize of an art kit!



Cameron had to read 1,000 minutes and Julia had to read and do fun projects. We worked on it all summer and were so excited that we finished Saturday.

FIRST GRADER!

Cameron was very excited and little nervous this morning. He changed his clothes three times, he was afraid he was going to get too hot (the boy is just like his dad). At the bus stop he gave one big hug and was smiling from ear to ear. He sat in the very front of the bus and every other kid was in the way back. He is so cute. I was going to meet him at the school to see him off to his classroom but the traffic and parking were a joke. By the time I got to his door he was already in the classroom. We practiced a few times last week so it was no big deal. What am I going to do with my boy gone all day?

Lunch!

Right before he left for the bus Cameron gave Julia a big hug and said "Julia, I am sure going to miss you when I am at school today." They are best friends (and enemies at times).

Birthday and our 20 hour vacation

Happy Birthday Mitch!
(Mitch tells me that I am not allowed to post anything about him, but it is my blog and I am going to. )

For Mitch's birthday I asked Laura if she would watch our kids while we went out for a night. This was the first time since Cameron was born that we both left our kids together for a night away. Sad but true...

We went to Seattle and stayed at the Hilton across the street from Benihana. As you might have guessed we ate dinner at Mitch's favorite place-Benihana of Toyko. We stayed up late watching a movie and slept in and had brunch at the Issaquah Cafe. We made it home by 1:30 in the afternoon rested and ready to see the kids. It was a short 20 hours but fun. We are hoping that we might get away sooner than in another 6 years and maybe make it a whole 24 hours!

Our hike to Twin Falls

On Saturday after the triathlon was over we decided to go on a hike to Twin Falls. We had been promising the kids to go there all summer and our summer is almost over! Twin Falls is in North Bend and the scenery is beautiful. Cameron and Julia hiked the whole way and did fantastic! Natalie rode on her dad's back and was content to ride. Cameron loves to hike and kept saying "This is so great, I love hiking" He was non-stop chattering the whole way and everything was exciting. At one point we passed a dog on the trail and he said " Wow, that dog has the longest tongue I have ever seen." (He has decided that he is going to get a dog and if that dog has ears that point down it will be named Murray.) So anytime we passed a dog that fit his description he was sure to say hi to Murray. Julia was so proud that she was a big girl and could make the hike the whole way without being carried. (So was I)

In our house we are fascinated by waterfalls so when we got to the falls and walked out on the bridge it was so exciting. I felt like a true mom when the kids were on the bridge. I felt a sense of panic that at anytime someone was going to fall. When did I get old? I was much more relived to be walking back on the trail.

Round trip I think the hike is about 4 miles. (Everywhere I look said something different) I hope that next year we will be able to do even more hikes. When I get out there I remember how much I love to hike.

Too Cute

Cam made this tonight and hung it up on the wall. He was laughing and laughing.

A whole lot of laundry

Nothing like 8 loads of laundry to start your day off right! Ahhhh.......

Beaver Lake Triathlon

Dale, Mitch, and I competed in the B.L.T. this past Saturday. We weren't crazy enough to do the whole triathlon individually but did it as a relay or team. Dale was our swimmer and swam the 1/4 mile swimming portion. The swim looks tough when you look out in the water and see how far it really is. He did awesome! Mitch rode the bike, 13.8 miles total (off the Issaquah plateau and then back on, that is no picnic!). He really did well. I did the run which was 4.3 miles. I was happy with my time (about 7:56 a mile) I am getting better each race I do. There was 14 teams that competed and we got 6th. It was really fun and I was so glad that I was able to do something with both of these guys. We said that we will do it again when Dale gets home from his mission and try to beat our time.

Zoo

Last week we went with grandma and some cousins to the Point Defiance Zoo. We had a good time looking at animals, having a picnic lunch, riding the carousel, touching the sea animals, brushing goats, feeding sheep (did we go to the zoo or a farm?), watched the animal program (both Cameron and Julia got to give a parrot a dollar bill), played on the playground, and the most exciting-- we got to ride a camel. It was an event packed, fun filled, exhausting day!

At lunch the kids decided to leave the crust of their sandwiches for a big hungry seagull that was sitting on the top of the roof watching us. As soon as we left the table he swooped down and put the whole crust of a sandwich in his mouth. It was pretty funny and the kids laughed and laughed.

These guys were cute!

Julia the octopus

Cameron hopped right up when it was his turn! Not scared at all.

Tayler

Grandma Stuard

Julia on the other hand had to be convinced to get on the animal. As soon as it was over she was off!

Makenzie

Gum sniffers

My kids are gum sniffers. Anytime I get in line at the grocery store Cameron and Julia feel the need to handle all the packages of gum, pressing their noses up against each one taking deep breaths and inhaling. I have gotten some strange looks from people. Should I be worried that I am raising "scent addicted children"?

I love this flavor of gum. It is my favorite.

Blueberries and Bees!

This week I read in the newspaper that it is a fantastic blueberry season. I called Kierstin and we decided to go picking at Larsen Lake in Bellevue. The blueberry farm there is big and cost $1.25 a pound for the berries and not far way so we headed out with the kids in tow. We were a little disappointed to see that the berries were small and not the big, round, juicy things that we imagined. The man told us that we might need to go farther back on the farm because a lot of people had already picked and to be beware of bees in the bushes. Words I should have heeded!

The kids loved it, Natalie and Mesha were eating the berries off the bushes fast as they could pick them. Soon I came across a rather large nest in the bushes. I called the kids over to look at it...big mistake! We bumped the bush and angry bees started flying out of the nest. I have never seen bees attack but that is what they started doing. They were landing on me and I couldn't get them off. I then told the kids to run away from the bush and the bees. In the end I got stung on my arm and my face (I think maybe twice on my face). Man, that hurts! Cameron was screaming and crying, Kierstin and I think he might have gotten stung on the head but we never could tell. He was screaming "This is terrible, this is just terrible!" After the excitement of the bees died down the rest of the blueberry picking wasn't as eventful. In fact the berries were so small that after an hour we both picked only about a pound each. They are good though and we had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Cameron and Julia haven't stopped talking about the bees and probably won't until next year! When we got back from picking Cameron gave everyone else a good impression of me telling everyone to run for it. We all got a good laugh.

What an adventure!