A random post before I take a short break to move

I saw this little Mike mess as we were moving our stuff out of our house. It made me smile. His work pants cause he can do things like build me houses. His dress shoes because at the end of the day he can take me to the theater. His cow, Norma, who has traveled all over the world with him and a movie because no one I've met knows movies like Mike.

So, I kinda glossed over the fact that we're moving, or rather, that we've moved! We sold our house!! Now we're doing that long, long amount of paperwork it takes to complete a transaction such as this. We are currently living in my parents' basement. Ahh, the circles of life...

My house is actually more done than this now but it seems to change nearly daily, which is a good thing.
Mike and Dad are wiring and plumbing so we can get it insulated and get sheetrock up.

This is how cold our summer is. I have NEVER seen snow in the middle of July on Hatcher's Pass before. It's not left over from winter, it, is, fresh snow. We're averaging around 52-53 degrees. It's wet. It's rainy. It was 39 degrees in Palmer the other day. So, it really begs the question, Will Summer even come this year??? Three days that reached (barely) 70 degrees do NOT a summer make.

And I'll leave you with that happy little thought.

Riding in Cars with Emma

The above picture has nothing to do with my post but it's one of my favorites that came back with Mike from Emma and her Daddy's big trip.  This was taken in Salt Lake City in Temple Square.

So, Anyways, back to my title.  Riding in Cars With Emma.  The day after she came back, she started right back into our routine of breakfast while mommy makes frantic phone calls and then a trip to a hardware store.

Emma from the backseat - "AWWWW, a little spider!"

Mommy, cautiously - "A real spider?  Or a pretend spider?"

Emma, upset, "A REAL SPIDER MOMMY!!"

Me - "Okay."

Emma, "AWWWW, it's SO CUTE!"

Me (curse you Charlotte) - "really?" 

Emma, "Mommy!  The spider is coming to say Hi!"

Me "What??"

Emma, "the spider is coming to say hi to you!!"

From this point on the conversation stops.  Or at least on my end because unlike my daughter, I do not want to play with a spider.  I look behind me, and sure enough, there's a little grey spider coming around the back of the seat.  

So, here I am, trying to be like, "no big deal" while turning around to blow the spider away from me and also trying to look at the road since I'm in a very large truck with a trailer behind me.  

Then I hear the lovely words,

"Mommy she's coming back to say hi to ME!!"

Another disaster miraculously diverted.

Sad

We really, really, hate being apart as a family.  I don't mind Mike taking a "guy weekend" once in a while or traveling for a quick visit but I really, really hate it.  He's been taken away by work WAY more than we were expecting.  He and Emma have been on an adventure the last week.  They get in tomorrow morning.  Even Jack has been mopey.  Maybe mopey isn't the right word.  Extra screechy is the right word.  On Friday morning he was walking around with Emma's shoes.  I explained that they were too small.  He just shook his head with confused eyebrows.  Then I asked him if he wanted to go outside.  Again with the head shake.  I ask him if he wants his shoes.  "YEAA!"

"Do you want to go outside?"

headshake, "Nooooooo"

"Do you want to go for a car ride?"

"YEAHHHH!!!"

cautiously, "Do you want to go get Emma?"  He's still holding her shoes.

"YEAAA!!!!!!!"

Oops.  That won't happen for another 4 days.  It was still really sweet.  It's not as sweet now since every time we go somewhere and pull back into our driveway without Emma he's mad.  He screams, he pouts, he tries to put himself back into his car seat.  He screeches around the yard and screams when I touch him or try to comfort him or talk to him or don't talk to him...

It's kinda cute and kinda drives me insane.  But I totally understand because I feel the same way.

We're up first thing in the morning to pick them up.  So here's hoping their plane is on time because I don't think I could stand the mad screechy craziness at the airport.

The Rule

IMG_6261, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

So I went out to see how Abe and his friend were doing on the house. Before I left I said something like, "Don't fall off the roof, we're not insured yet."
Abe says, "Well you know the rule right?"
Me - "No..."
Abe - "If we fall off the roof and don't hit the ground, we're fired. If we fall off the roof and DO hit the ground, you're trespassing."

Works For Me!

Trusses!!

The person on my roof setting my trusses is not me, it's not Mike, and it's not my dad.  When you do everything yourself, it's a really beautiful thing to have work done on your house that you do not do.  I did make the guys cookies, buy the materials, coordinate the workers with SBS and keep SBS in line as to what we needed and when.

The man up on the roof of my house is my hairstylists husband.  This is when living in a small town is really, really nice.  

Happy 4th

We are NEVER in town on the 4th.  We've always been fishing, flying or boating or a combination of the above activities.

This year we were in town and even here in teeny little Wasilla, we have a 4th of July Parade.

We got there on time, which is apparently very early in Parade Time.  So Gramma chased the kids around some poor person's yard who happens to live next to Main St.

Here's Emma and Gramma.  There's a dog on one of the bikes.  If all the floats had dogs, Emma would have been thrilled.  It's funny because even Jack, in the backpack, laughs and points at every dog that goes by.  It's great.  It's cute to see him doing something that he obviously learned from his sister.

Here's a good friend of ours on her horse, her son is on the other side on his pony but we didn't get to see him at all.  I don't think Emma recognized them because there were DOGS behind them that were "so cute!"

Hope y'all had a good one!

What I'd always rather be doing

When I should have been doing something about this...

I was sewing this.

It was totally way more fun.

I love this little dress.  I made two for Emma's big trip with her daddy.  She LOVES to tie her dresses in the front so I added extra long sashes on both so she could have a big bow with long tails on the back or a big bow with tails in the front.  She loves her fancy bows. 

Being a Younger Brother of an Older Sister Strikes AGAIN

We had our neighbors over the other night.  Their daughter is the same age as Emma and their son is about a year older than Jack.  They're both products of stay at home mommies and older sisters.
Can  you tell?

The Wagon Great Granddad Made

My mom's dad and his wife just moved out of their roomy home into a smaller space.  This meant sorting through some things.  This wagon was made by my Granddad for my Grandma Beth for her gardening.  Now we're the envy of the neighborhood because our wagon is totally cooler than anyone else's wagon.

Here's Emma, very nicely pulling her brother around for a little ride.
She's even pulling him nicely up the hill.  I love the worried expression on his face.

Then she decided to let him have a ride by himself back down the hill!

Just as Gramma was taking pics.

As she said, it's amazing that this picture doesn't have a crack across the frame as the camera hit the ground.  Don't worry the camera didn't hit the ground.

Oh, and Jack survived just fine as well.

Sheep Creek

Sheep Creek, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Mike went into work on Monday. His boss had taken the day off to go King Fishing, thinking the crowds on the weekend of the 4th needed to be avoided.
He apparently called the office to see if anyone wanted to join him. I think that as a general rule, when your boss offers you a day off work to go play, you should take it.
So he did. And we did too.

Daddy Had a Great Time

Daddy Had a Great Time, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Emma Had a Great Time

Emma Had a Great Time, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Jack had a great time.

Independent, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Even poo CAN have a silver lining

I Don't Even Know What to Put Here, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I know, you're looking at this picture and you're thinking, "What could possibly be going on here?"

So, let me give you the back story first.

Today Jack had to go to the dr. He screamed about people touching him. He screamed about standing BY HIMSELF on the scale. He screamed when they opened the door. He screamed when they closed the door. He screamed when the doctor talked. He screamed when she stopped talking.
You get the point.

By the time we got back home, I was fried. Last time I took Emma she was this great little helper, this time wasn't so good. So, now I know, don't take Emma to Jack's dr appts.

We get home, Jack poos in his diaper. This is normal, no big deal. I let him air out for a while during lunch. When I take him out of his high chair he pees on the floor. I think, okay, at least it's on the wood floor. No big deal.

Then I got distracted because my lunch was ready.
I realize there's weirdness in the playroom. Jack is scratching his bum.
Wanna guess why?
He pooped.
On my rug.
And there was still poo on his bum.
He's now sitting in my white chair, wanna guess what's on his bum? And now on my chair? And ALL over Jack??
Yep.
Poo.
I really nearly lost it in the sink. Even after the hundreds and hundreds of poopy diapers I've changed. I'm actually, I'm sure, well over a thousand poopy diapers which is actually a little depressing.
Anyways, sweet little Emma says, "Mommy, I'm good at cleaning up poop!"
Here's Emma, excited about cleaning poo off the floor. And you know what? She did a pretty darn good job! When I was cleaning off Jack (no baths after shots) she even scrubbed the chair. She did a good job with that one too.

I think the days where her helping actually creates more work are all over.
That's happiness.
Found from poo on my rug.