From the Mouth of Braden

Dad: "Who's da man?" (hoping it is dad)
Braden: "Jesus"

Braden: (running into the girls room with a shirt and diaper on) "Hey guys, I'm naked."
Don't worry he loves to say this when he has even less on too.

Braden: "Slug bug blue one, I got that."
Kelsey: "No I got that one."
Braden (the parrot): "No I got that one."
Kelsey: "No I got that one."
Braden: "No I got that one."
Kelsey: "I got it."
Braden: "I got it."
Kelsey: (in tears now) "I got it."
Mom: "Kelsey, Braden is just copying everything you say. It is how he learns to talk and communicate. Just stop saying anything and know that you got it."
Kelsey: "Braden, I got that one."
Braden (still the parrot): "I got that one."

I call the game up above "Let's annoy mom in the car" game. I am now really sorry I put my parents through this game. After five minutes in the car I am ready to pull my hair out. The worst part is there are no clear rules except the Queen of Hearts knows all the rules (aka Macy). This means Kelsey will end up crying every trip.
Here are some of the rules that I believe I have picked up on before I start to shout and tell them they are playing the game separately.

1. They have no added "bingo" to the beginning.
2. You must shout.
3. There isn't just slug bugs anymore. They have added other types of cars such as: tahoes, suburbans (unless you are Braden then it is a burbon), Stef's car, buses, dad's car and jeep's.
4. You must also say whether it has a top or not (a convertible) and the color.
5. You must end with "I got that".
6. You must include everything to get a point. For example: "Bingo, jeep, black one, top on, I got that." 
7. I believe if you finish saying everything at the same time then you have to share points.
8. If you forget a part then Macy gets the point.
9. Macy will always get 2 points to Kelsey's 1 point. She will always win.

At least no one has told them about the slugging part. If anyone does, you better watch your back.

Braden has peed four times in the toilet. This has nothing to do with talking but I wanted others to share in the celebration. But alas, this mother is not ready for toilet training a two year old that still can't pull down or pull up his own pants. So I will let it be and encourage him when he wants to sit on the toilet himself. I have my fingers crossed he will be like his sisters and one day he will magically be potty trained.

Another note about Braden. He is for sure two and very much like Macy. He is stubborn and independent. There are fits about doing it himself in nearly every aspect of life. I pray for patience.

A Piece of Advice

Just in case you were wondering, I did find that missing sock. My still stands at 1.000. Do you want to know where it was? Someone mysteriously put it in the whites. I blamed the owner and the owner blamed Braden. Who knows and who cares.
Again we have been busy doing summer things like swimming lessons, trips to the pool, one glorious boating trip (hopefully more to come), two hikes with the yahoos, a visit with AZ/BYU friends, a preschool reunion party (Ms. Patti is such and amazing teacher) and Fourth of July celebrations that included a little parade and some wonderful fireworks. Oh yes and one over due library book that I found today that I had no idea we still had. I am sure that is not all we did but I don't want to be boring. It has been the good life. The girls have even remembered how to play with one another. If I am not around they play for hours. If I am in ear shot then there is screaming and crying from Kelsey every five minutes. But Macy is not the only culprit. Kelsey likes to make things known through her lungs and Macy keeps it under her breath with a little pinch or squeeze.

So after all this I have one piece of advice. Walking to the grocery with your kids is a great way to incorporate physical activity into everyday living. However, going to the grocery store to get a watermelon because you think it will fit under the stroller is not a smart idea. Mainly because it won't fit under the stroller like you envisioned which means you will be caring the watermelon in your jumbo reusable Costco bag you luckily grabbed for the other few items you picked up. I at least grabbed the bag with the big long straps so I could at least carry it on my shoulder leaving red marks that lasted a couple of days. My advice use the car to get the watermelon.

The only way to hike to Donut falls, as long as you are on top.

The closest we could get to Donut falls because of all the water this year.

Yo, Peace out. Which is what we said when we tried to hike to Lake Mary on July 2! There was too much snow for the kids to make it.

Where, Oh, Where has My Veggie Peeler Gone

So I pride myself on the fact that my washing machine doesn't eat socks. If it does it eats them in pairs. Oh what, I just lost one but I don't count that yet because I really haven't taken the time to look for it. Maybe tomorrow I will remember to take a peak in the dryer. But that is not the topic of this post.

Right now I have to ask, who snags a vegetable peeler? I have looked in every drawer, cupboard, pantry and even the fridge. There is no sign, no clue. I understand how socks disappear because they go everywhere. They go on vacations, to school, to parks, through puddles, etc. But a vegetable peeler only works in the kitchen. Seriously, where would it have gone. It was such a nice instrument especially compared to my two previous, really cheap ones. I am at a loss. So it is off to the store to buy a replacement. Sniffle, sniffle :(

Thinking of cheap, anyone else notice how cheaply made small appliances are made these days. I have been through 3 hand mixers, 2 toasters and 1 blender. That is ridiculous. I remember my mom's blender from working forever. In fact, it would probably still be use if the jar part hadn't broken. It was so old she didn't feel it worth scouring the country for a replacement.

Dance Recital

Last weekend was the girls dance recital. I did much better than last year. No embarassing mom moments for me and I really enjoyed the show. The older girls at this studio did a really good job and it was fun to watch their talent. I can't say that I wasn't a bizerko mom. I never danced and my talent does not lie in make-up and hair dos so the stress of trying to do precisely as I am asked and get the girls to a location on time does not bode well for me. I got a tiny bit stressed. Oh well. At least there was improvement from last year. I remembered everything including make-up and flowers (those were two of the things I messed up on last year).

Macy and Kelsey did fantastic too. Kelsey smiled the whole time on stage. After dress rehearsal Kelsey ran to me and said it was so much fun. She told me she got to go on the real stage and now she wants to do dance next year. (As if I wasn't watching the rehearsal.) Then she asked if was going to get flowers after the real performance.  Macy says she is done with dance. It is softball and soccer for her next year (that is what I overheard her telling a little dance friend during rehearsal).

Frogs and Toads and Snakes? Oh My!

So my sister is friends with a guy who owns a company called Scales and Tails. This company does animal shows with all sorts of interesting creatures. None of which are my favorites, but Stefanie loves them. I guess about monthly they do these little shows/exhibits for kids and she wanted to take my kids to one. I went along because Braden wanted to go.

Kelsey enjoyed herself and went because she wanted to hold some snakes. Yes she wanted to hold snakes. A few weeks ago she asked me if she could have a pet snake after she played with her cousins new pet. The immediate answer was no. She followed up with "one day she would let her kids have a pet snake." I said that is fine as long as you are not living at my house.

She was a little hesitant with these snakes because they were a little larger than what she was expecting. This place has a snake that currently weighs 113 lbs but at one point the snake weighed 140 lbs. I guess the snake had been sick and so lost some weight, but I was assured that she is all well now. Whew! I was worried.

Braden didn't really get it and didn't really care one way or the other. He touched a frog and looked at salamanders (the show that night was about amphibians). But mostly he just goofed off.

Macy on the other hand pretty much freaked out. It is not her thing. She was a good sport and sat by the play pool when they let loose a bunch of hopping frogs. She called it quits when a frog hopped right in her lap. Kelsey came to the rescue and grabbed the frog and put him back.

Here they are after the show playing some games.

 This little froggy hopped 3 feet.

 This tiny frog hopped just shy of 1 foot.

And look at this little froggy in action who hopped a whopping 5 feet.

This Is the Place

One of these past Fridays was free entrance and free ice cream up at This Is the Place Heritage Park courtesy of Jon Huntsman Sr. So my friend and I packed up our kids for a visit. So did all of Utah. I said anytime you offer free admission to something during the summer and you will get all young Utah families to come. Throw in ice cream and you will get the rest of the people.

It still turned out to be a great visit despite the huge crowds. The weather was not too hot and not too cold. The park had a scavenger hunt instead of some of the regular activities. This was to better accommodate the crowds. The kids absolutely loved this. They ran from place to place looking for each item so they could get it checked off. All this work was so they could get a treat when they turned in a completed paper.

I was dreading the line for the free ice cream and I knew the kids would not let me get away without getting theirs (they found out about the ice cream when we entering the parking lot because they had people stopping each vehicle to hand out the tickets for the ice cream). To my surprise the line wasn't too bad. The staff knew what they were up against and had 3 different locations around the park to get your ice cream.

And of course Braden got real dirty.

Elllllllieeeee!

Right as school ended my sister came home for a visit. She is currently in Denver. We took advantage of some of her down time between events and had a lot of fun.

Brian beat Jake in Settlers of Catan on a Sunday evening. Then Jake and Emily ripped us apart in hand and foot. We took the kids down to the Gateway believing the weatherman that it would be sunny and one of the hotter days. By the time we finished lunch and reached the fountain the clouds had made there way to us and the wind was ripping. Kelsey and Ellie had a blast. Macy finally got into the fun after Kelsey and Ellie were too cold. Braden was tired and cranky from lack of naps the past few days. He also was really scared of the misters that are now part of the fountain. I believe he thought they were smoke from fire and again this fear might be traced back to that fateful night in St. George.

We also went up to Memory Grove. We went on a perfect day. I had never been there before so didn't know what to expect. It is a park dedicated to Utah soldiers just in case you are as naive as me. It was pretty and there were lots of other families enjoying the day. There were also lots of employed people taking a walk on their lunch break. They are my heroes because I don't know if I would ever do that.

I attempted about five pictures with these hoodlums but at least 2 children are looking away in every shot. They did not want to cooperate. I guess it was at the very end of our visit and they all were getting tired.

Here's the fam minus me (I was taking the photo because I have such skill) showing off their coolness and this memorial. If I had been in the picture it would have knocked your socks off from the shear beauty and I didn't want to do that to anyone.