since i have a few days off in a row and the kids were cooperating (for the most part) i decided to mix in blogging my most recent photos that i am so eagar to share, with all the house work that desperately needs to get done!!
Daniel's new thing is hitting... he loves to walk up to you (kathryn has been his favorite lately) wind his arm back and whap! smack the crap out of you! lol. sometimes its worse than others, but last saturday! oh geez, every time daniel disappeared in the back i would hear kathryn start to cry and yell "don't hit me!" (is this payback for all the times she was mean to him??) i felt sorry for her after witnessing his attacks on his sister, and since he is being REALLY stubborn and hard-headded lately, of course he doesn't listen, so i told kathryn to start hitting him back. maybe he would get the message? until right in front of me dan hits her on the head, she says "OOOOW" and hits him on his head and he pops her on the arm and back and forth! AAAA! how do you get boys to stop the hitting? he used to be so sweet, now he's becoming a monster! lol. i don't even know where he picked it up from... ah, oh well... i gotta think of something, cuz time outs have NO effect on him. he gladly sits and once he's done he goes right back to the bad behavior...so that is my trial as a mother at the moment... and this saturday (today) he has learned how to tackle kathryn...and if she doesn't go dow easily, he'll hang behind her and run forward or backward till she falls down...now this is really comical and hard not to laugh when kathryn is so annoyed by it...and half the time on the way down daniel ends up hurting himself! i tell him it's his own fault, brush it off! well, he has been doing this all day to her, so finally i taught kathryn a few tricks...keep a wide base (feet apart, and staggered) and if he's pulling her back, she has to learn forward...and so he went up to her to do it again, and i coached her in action...lol. and it worked! and she was so excited that she could defend herself against daniel's moments...hahaha!
kathryn is beginning the imaginative play now...it's so cute. she's playing with the beanie babies alot too. i haven't decided when i will get the rest of them down! but that's good. i'm trying to figure out what stuff she should be doing at this age...but it's hard to try new things when dan always wants to be involved. she's been saying funny things like "oh, well, thank you mommy that's so nice of you to let me play at the park!" and stuff like that. it just makes me giggle. her new thing is "you remember the rules?" she'll say that as i say something or suggest something that is "against" mommys rules...lol. "having a piece of candy for picking up toys is not ok, we have to eat our healthy food first mom! remember the rules!" i can't seem to think of the other cute things she says, but she is cute. and as we were about to say a prayer i asked daddy to say it and she says "i don't like how he says the prayer" but we tell her daddy needs a turn, and she says she wants to say it, so we tell her she can have a turn after daddy...so daddy says his prayer, and ends it with "in the name of thy Son Jesus Christ, amen" and she says "no, i don't like how you say that, it's in the name of Jesus Christ" so i tell her there are many different ways to say a prayer, and they are all fine as long as we are making the effort to talk to Heavenly Father, he's ok with however we choose to say it. so she goes on to say her prayer, and she says in the middle "please bless daniel to not hit me anymore, and bless me not to hit daniel. bless us to be kind and love each other, in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, Amen" i just had to laugh...she always says how she doesn't like that daddy says it different, and then she goes and says it herself. funny little girl. and that she said a blessing for daniel to stop hitting her. she really understands what to pray for!
without further ado, here are my pictures, in no particular order...
so one morning i recall the kids coming in to wake me up around 7:20...it was a sat. morning, and i was still tired...so i told them to go play i would get up in a bit. they left alright... and when i got up by 8, and i didn't hear anything, i knew they were doing or had already done something wrong, and when i walk into the kitchen, i find this:
all 4 bananas split open, the 2 you can see were devoured the other two he didn't get all the way into...let me remind you that Kathryn doesn' like bananas... but being as how daniel is a monkey...yeah, he would've had all 4 gone if he'd had more time! haha...
so a few weeks ago John's grandparents from Utah were visiting and we went to Lafayette to go see them...i dressed kathryn up all cute in her new clothes, and even had hair bows to match... as soon as we got there she went down the slide head first and into the dirt she went...she thought it was hilarious, and all i saw was dirt stains... haha. this had to be me as a child.
so we were at Juniors house and they were BBQing...all the guys were congregated around the grill...haha. i had to catch this. oh, and at least our grill (behind Junior) found a new home besides the trash!
Daniel loves rolling cars all around on the ground. he is boy thru and thru!
kathryn gathering up leaves in a cute wheel barrow...i would get her one of these, but i feel it would encourage her to dig in the dirt! and we kind want our grass to fill in...
it took me a second to figure out why Mimi is so happy...notice Kathryn's hand...yeah, Mimi just got her to say the Pledge of Alliegence...that is Mimi's thing... and Daniel is checking out his new boe boes...
funny story behind this one...kathryn has a Sobe Life water in her hand in this pic, but just before i snapped it, she came to me with a can of sunkist...i told her she couldn't have any of that until she finished her food (she would drink til she threw up if you let her!) well, she decided to be clever and give the can to Pop who unknowingly opens it, and i catch her right before she takes a sip as she smiles at me (with that naughty "whatcha gonna do" grin) and i of course take it away telling her once again she has to eat her food...and if she is thirsty she can have the Sobe bottle...she was very upset and starting fussing back immediately, "but Pop opened it for me!!!" like Pop trumps what mommy says...heheh... she is clever, but i'm tha boss! of course Pop felt bad for making her sad, but it's not his fault...he had no idea what was going on and what i had told kathryn...lol. so kathryn is looking at him defeated...
this is a cute one of Lily (Kelly and Mickey's oldest) who just turned 4 and Zeke standing right next to her who is almost 6! and they are the same height! poor zeke! he'll shoot up there one day.
i love this one...kathryn and Dan riding bikes...Dan followin kathryn wherever she goes.
this is a cute one of Jake and his Mom...the way they are grinning at each other... precious.
Zeke was trying to eat his food but the wind was kicking up the table cloth so much that he gave up and slouched down to eat under the table cloth...
daniel staring at the target: cupcake. how many bites does it take to finish this thing off?
well, he's going for 1... shoving with all his mite to get it in there...
mission accomplished! WOW...that kid is serious about eating! and we couldn't stop laughing!
they are getting started on the expansion of our subdivision... yeah...waking up to construction work and beeping trucks at 6:30 isn't so exciting. but Daniel is certainly attracted like a magnet to all the scooper trucks... yeah, he just isn't allowed outside in the front yard anymore.
so Kathryn had an easter egg hunt at school, and her teachers were telling me about how lately she has been "performing" for them with this boom mic...she sings all kinds of crazy things! and dances too. haha!
taking the tape off after the hunt...wow, she wasn't supposed to get that off!
the cute bunny cake her teacher's mom made for them!
coloring on the dry erase board...
climbing through the tunnel! yay!
i just love this face. i could kiss that face all day!
so this is saturday before easter. we went on an egg hunt at Corine's and had a group of kids over. Daniel and Kathryn came to play outside before we had the hunt... daniel has tried this jungle gym thing in the past with no success...i mean his not even 2 he shouldn't be able to anyway right? not this time! he watched kathryn and soon he had it!
oh but that's not the farthest he got, no, not daniel...
but still. that's not all! and he figured this out all by himself! this freaked me out!
then he would jump through! WOOO, that is amazing. in this pic i think he looks just like Zeke...when he was 2.
now for the egg hunt! the first egg daniel found he wanted to stop and open it! he didn't understand that the more eggs you had, the more candy! lol.
this is how he put them in his bucket...its just funny
he did good with finding eggs, although he was the youngest in the group so, he may have gotten 10 eggs before the rest were found...
kathryn stretches out to reach an egg in a tree... haha. guess all those games of "hide the toy and find it" paid off... she is good at finding those hard eggs.
well, since Zeke and Jaiden were the older two and much more aggressive about getting all the eggs, they had to let the younger kids get a minute head start... and when the door finally opened...they were bookin it out the door!
kathryn finding eggs that Jaiden and Zeke passed right up!
finding eggs, zeke was telling Jaiden how he just found a bunch of eggs by the shed! (they compete with each other about everything)
group of kids...
and kathryn being the last one in the previous group...everyone passed up this egg! haha.
everyone climbing fast to be the first to get those eggs on top! i think Braleigh won...(wearing the dress)
daniel finding one really hidden...after some help of course.
and he said, i'm done, i just want to eat them now! i love the little squat!
yummy candy...(next year we'll only put candy in a few!)
the group of kids that enjoyed the easter egg hunt...(L to R) Braleigh, Nevaeh, Isaiah, Kathryn, Zeke, Daniel, Jaiden
eating pizza... Braleigh's pizza! lil food snatcher!
lining all the mini skateboards up... haha. too bad he can't be this meticulous about all his toys.. i.e. cleaning them up!
kathryn found this hat and took braleigh's purse and was walking around like a miss priss with her hand up that was holding the purse and the other on her waist! now she is drinking...someone else's caprisun...not unsual at all for kathryn!
Daniel and Jaiden climbing! he was even better this time than a few hours before! Jaiden says "how'd he get up here so fast!" as she was trying to make it through the hole before him...to her credit, he did zip right up there!
they went at the same time...AHHH!
and he survives!
i just like this pic of kathryn...the sun hits her just right...
daniel finally pooped out...while trying to finish his chicken nuggets! he is too funny!
on game night jake decided to bring Amanda's cuddlebag out of the garage and into the house... and it was an immediate attraction for the kids... Jake is tickling Daniel here.
and Kathryn tries to give Kourtney some of her water! haha.
After a long day, cuddling with Daddy is the best.
you'll have to excuse the diaper blow out seen on daniel's shorts! the pantry had no light when i saw him and i quickly snapped the picture before getting him down and noticing it... but this little boy never ceases to amaze me... he figured out where the candy was...on the fourth shelf! and he climbed up there to get it!
so we really needed to water our grass one saturday, and so we had a fun day outside... the kids going to investigate the sprinkler going around in circles....
kathryn aiming it at daniel...haha...he went running and giggling...
on Easter Sunday we went to Grammie's house and ate dinner...Daniel puckering up fishy lip style to give Grammie kisses
and a sweet kiss! i hope he stays that way!
we also visited Grannie later on Easter Sunday and the kids wanted to play outside, so we let them play. i bent down to smell Grannie's amarylis, and they actually smelled good! so daniel mimicking me, bent down to...but i didn't quite catch that picture...
grannie has a little bench that they love to sit on...i need to get one! that is so cute
we were sitting on the swing... Daniel has his hand on Jenn's leg...she thought that was precious.
my adorable little daniel. he could be a baby model for that shirt huh? haha.
i love how chesy this smile is...he reminds me of john at his age...
so now, i will show pictures of my projects... i am proud of what i accomplish and want to document it =) so a few weeks ago, i pulled the van into the garage, and didn't pull in all the way cuz i thought i'd be leaving soon, well, long story short, john went to close the garage door, and CRUNCH the opener ripped itself from the door... via this angle wire (or whatever it is called) since it wasn't attached very well to the door... which i suppose is a good thing? since our sensitivity settings weren't set right...otherwise it would have ruined our door which is $700 to replace...yeah. well, after fidgeting with it for a bit, john got it back on...but it was sure to come loose again...and it did... a few weeks later...
this is where it ripped itself from the door... our door is so cheap there isn't much to attach the angle wire to... so it was asking for trouble... but we don't have money to get a better door, so... how to fix it...i asked john and he wasn't in the mood to even think about it... so i got to figure it out... and i came up with a plan...
with no help from anyone except the informative retired contractor at Lowes (thanks!) i put my plan into action...i got the bolts, new angle wire, snips to cut the angle wire, and got to work...the guy said it would be hard to cut the angle wire since it was so thick... yeah well, it wasn't so hard when you're determined to get this done! here is my finished product! and the best part is... it was under $10 to fix! much better than $700 for a new door! and it works!!! look out John!
now for making my vertical garden frame... i used aluminum conduit 1/2" $1.87 for 10 ft and some rebar pounded into the ground to slip the trellis frame over... anyhow, i bent the top myself! WOO HOO! it was fun. i decided the next time i needed to bend this i would do it in the store...
that is the top ^^and below is the pipe bender and the angle wire...
so the top attaches to pre-cut (i cut them to the size i needed ahead of time) conduit via little connectors that are 50 cents a piece... they screw into the pipes to tighten... and voila! vertical frames! i think i needed about 3 10ft pipes for these two frames that sit 5 ft and 6 ft tall... i ended up boosting the 5ft one to 7 ft cuz of what it was going to be supporting... so all and all... these two frames including the rebar (1/2" dia x 18" long, or 24" long...$1.18 ea) that the frames sit on top of to keep them in place... this was a $13 investment because they will last forever...and when you are done for the season, you slide them up off the rebar, and put them in the shed! HA! awesome! they are missing their trellis netting which i seem to not have taken a finished picture of, but the netting was $5 for 15 ft and i still have enough left for a 3rd frame... and the netting will also last for years! so i'm excited to see everything grow!
i also took down the "fence" around my old garden, took apart the 2x4's enclosing the garden and disposed of them! then mowed everything. now i just have to distribute the extra dirt to all the low spots in the yard.
now for my garden pictures!!! so this is week 2 box 1... i have beans in the far corner, snap peas next to them and tomatoes next to that... in the middle is bell pepper, left side is okra, and basil on the right...the other herbs have decided not to grow!
this is week 3 box 1... the vertical frame is up and the peas are trying to climb! everything looks a little bigger!
still week 3 just a better look at the trellis first of all, and the beans, peas, and tomatoes...
week 4! WOW! the beans a climbing now, and the peas are taking over everything! poor tomatoes! next time i will put them by themselves...(tomatoes and peas) now you can see that the ones in the middle are bell peppers, and okras in the back, basil at the bottom...
so this is week 2 box 2 (when i say week 2 i mean the seeds were started 2 weeks ago) this box has honeydew melon and cucumbers along side tomatoes (which i don't think sprouted yet) zucchini in its 2x2 ft square and corn in the back with a baby sunflower...
week 3 box 2...the zucchini is by far the fast growing plant i've ever seen!!! they suggest spacing them 3 ft...they were right!! a 2x2 square isn't enough space! (you'll see why in week 4) so now you see the corn at the bottom doing great, and the sunflower coming along nicely next to the corn... cucumber and honeydew at the top next to the trellis... the empty 2x2 was supposed to be a yellow squash but it didn't germinate...(good thing!) and the other tomato didn't germinate either (empty square at top) they didn't germinate b/c the wrath of daniel digging in the garden destroyed the chances...
just the zucchini! i love watching this thing grow!
the mammoth sunflower plant...i am anxious to see this bloom!
week 4 cucumbers and honeydew (cucumber taking over!) and starting to climb
sunflower... check out the leaf on the left side... (picture to come in a bit)
corn! (needed support from the WIND of this past weekend...)
and of course you can't miss this GIANT zucchini plant! look at how it is taking over the tomato and corn!!
week 2 box 3 broccoli, spinach, lettuce, cauliflower
i managed to forget to take a pic for week 3, so week 4 comes next! look at the growth!! amazing what 2 weeks can do! so broccoli is in the middle, lettuce at the top! (real sized this time!!!) and spinach...
apple trees...they grow slow.
i love the way broccoli leaves do this with water!
leaf defect on sunflower... two leaves grew together as one on top the other!
leaf size of zucchini compared to my hand...
a baby zucchini soon to come next week!!!
the stems of the zucchini leaves are as thick as my thumb!
real sized romaine lettuce!!!
spinach! this stuff is sooo good!
this is how big the broccoli leaves are! they are giant too! now i will know what size the plants get to!
this is the lil cauliflower plant. i have only one. the other one was getting eaten by bugs... i am anxious to see just how big the head turn out to be on the broccoli and cauliflower
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