Science

A few weeks ago I decided I should kick our summer up a notch. Sitting around the house all day wasn't exactly creating fun summer memories. One day we made puffy paint by mixing equal parts of white glue and shaving cream. Then Clara painted with it. The dried product is super awesome. I want to do it more and after I buy more food coloring, it'll be fun to mix different colors.

The week after, we did colored volcanoes. 

Clara loved it and kept asking me to do more science stuff. 


Last week, I gathered ideas from www.scifun.org and we had a science day.

We tried to "bend water" and that didn't work out. Sticking with static electricity, we did the classic balloon on the wall trick. That one never gets old. And let's be honest, balloons are fun to play with regardless of their electrical charge.

Next, I showed Clara how you can stick a pin in a balloon without it popping. 1. put tape on balloon and get pin; 2. clara covers ears because she doesn't believe me that it won't pop 3. stick pin in balloon; 4. (not part of the plan) hazel grabs pin; and, 5. (not pictured) balloon explodes and hazel says "pop, pop, pop"

Then we made Clara's hands glow in the dark under a black light. This was pretty fascinating, but also disgusting. I'm still not sure if it was worth the trade off. Petroleum jelly is nasty! But hey, did you know you could make yourself glow with it? Yeah, me neither.

Fourth, we layered liquids. I've been fascinated with this ever since I watched someone make a "Killer Bee" at a bar. (It's a long story of why I was there, but it wasn't to drink.) Layer one (clearish): corn syrup. Layer two (blue): Dawn dish soap. Layer three (green): water. Layer four (yellowish): oil. Layer five (dark blue): rubbing alcohol. I wish I had food coloring besides blue, yellow and green (why does the red always run out so quickly?) so the layers were a little more visible, but I still thought it looked pretty neat.

Clara thought it was pretty awesome too.

But it was just too much to ask to let the layers be. She had to mix it up. That was fine because then we got to see how after everything got mixed up, the oil still separated.

The final experiment was cornstarch and water. I can't believe I haven't done this with Clara until now. I loved doing this as a kid and it is still so fascinating. We both had lots of fun and Clara played with it until all the moisture was gone and it turned to crumbles. At that point, she continued to play with it and sing about cottage cheese, with her eyes closed and her head moving back and forth. Some days I just watch her bursting personality and wonder where she came from.

Hazel was around for all the fun, but she spent more time running around playing with toys than she did experimenting.

Circus

Last week we went to the Circus and got to take Lucy and Elsa with us. We started with dinner at Chick-fil-A. 

Then we headed to US Airways Arena.

 

I was so worried about getting there late, but we got there a little early so we walked around for a bit. 

Once the party started, everyone was pretty entertained. Even Hazel sat and enjoyed most of the 2+ hours of Circus.

This might be my favorite picture. Everyone in their own little world.

All in all, I think everyone had fun. Here's everyone's favorite part in their own words:
Clara: everything
Lucy: I can't remember
Elsa: I don't know
Jason: the acrobats and the ball (meaning the motorcycles in the sphere)
Anna: the acrobats, the horses, the elephants and the midget
Hazel: the popcorn
The crowd was a little different than I expected. It's mostly people that you'd also see at the fair. The animals were pretty cool and I was definitely impressed with the human stunts. Jason and I spent the evening wondering how people end up being in the circus. Do they aspire to that? Do you grow up wanting to be a clown? It was something different to do and we might just go again, but probably won't make it an annual tradition.

4th of July

I got really emotional when singing Battle Hymn of the Republic before Memorial Day. Then again during the Star Spangled Banner this past week. What can I say, it's emotional to think about the divine inspiration that played a part (a huge part!) in the foundation of this Country. Unfortunately, it seems like more and more people fail to recognize the hand of God in our country's establishment. It's also emotional to think of those who gave so much to establish a free nation, those who've fought to protect it and those who continue to fight for our rights. I wonder how many of us really take the time to reflect on the history of our country and the sacrifices that were offered up. Songs are a good reminder for me and then I cry.

For the 4th, we cleaned during the day. Jason was so excited. My house is slowly getting back into order. I cried when I told Clara about the founding fathers, gave her a brief recap of why we celebrate the 4th and explained why it's considered "America's birthday" as she kept calling it. I want to do a better job about teaching her what it means to be an American. I want her to sing those songs and feel the Spirit like I did so she knows what it took to establish this great nation. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but it also took more than man had to give.

That night we bbq'd and swam at Ryan and Kathryn's. Clint kept everyone entertained by throwing Clara and Lucy in the air and across the pool. They kept coming back for more, despite some pretty hard belly flops. We had fireworks. My favorites, as usual, were the sparklers. Thanks to Karen and Dan for sharing their big sparklers. The bigger the better, no doubt. I'm considering starting a tradition of doing a sparkler party to celebrate the 4th. That was my plan this year but I didn't plan all that well. The good thing is, I still got some awesome sparkler pictures, which is the main reason I like sparklers, so I was happy.


After that, we moved the party to our house and played Mexican Train with Karen, Dan, Angela and Clint and ate homemade mint ice cream and homemade brownies. It was a great day.

Oh yeah, let me not forget to mention the weather. The weather was incredible! I might even consider going to watch an actual public firework show in the future if we could have a repeat of this weather.

2012 Shower #3

I've decided I could plan parties for a living. Or even just for fun all the time. I love it. I feel like it gives me an opportunity to branch out from my little black and white accounting world and discover my creative side. (It may be small, but it exists). I feel like I learn with each one and after another few, I might start calling myself an expert. I will say, it is really hard for me to plan when I don't know how many people will be coming. That's the biggest detail that tends to stress me out. Anyway, we had Beka's shower at my house and the theme in my head was 'how does your garden grow' which really just meant I wanted flowers every where. Did I mention I planted 50 flowers to give as favors? And did I mention they all grew? From seed? And what about the day Jason texted me saying he'd just destroyed them all with the blower, did I mention that? Luckily Beka's friend that helped me with the shower came to the rescue and made some delicious (and cute) flower cupcakes. (They were so good, I ate 3 in one day and I'm not a big fan of cake.) Back to the actual shower. Besides running really, really behind, everything turned out nicely. Beka's MIL came early to help and I can't imagine how much later I'd have been without her. I loved the streamers (although I would have liked double the amount and wish I had a close up to show you how awesome they were) and the freshly potted flowers on the tables. I also loved the giant flowers Karen let me borrow. Those will never get old.

We had a salad bar, fruit, rolls and dessert. I made some makeshift cherry limeade as a drink and I thought it was pretty gross, but apparently everyone else liked it.

I loved those potted flowers (and the eclectic collection of pots) so much, I still have them all sitting on my kitchen table.

Happy baby Beka!

Anyone else need a party?

Cousin Time

A few weeks ago my mom went to Utah and brought Emma and Lucas back with her. We took advantage of that and spent lots and lots of time with them and other cousins that week.

The majority of the time was spent swimming, but we also played with bubbles, watched Jason's softball games, had movie time at Kathryn's and had a few sleepovers. First, they all slept at my parent's and then a few nights later, they all slept at Kathryn's. With working, two sleepovers in one week was too much for me. I missed my little Clara a little too much and was having major withdrawals. Knowing I had to work the next day just made it worse.  Clara, on the other hand, had a marvelous time and I'm glad I let her spend time with her cousins. I just kept her close during the weekend and again on Monday to fill the void created from all the time apart during the week. 

 

Emma is a mini-Lilly and was ever so helpful. She's also polite and thanked me multiple times for doing simple things for her (like letting her come to my house). Lucas is a sly little guy and makes me laugh. He says the funniest things. Underneath his little tough guy deviousness, he's just looking to be loved and have fun like every other kid.

Daniel also came along and we went to dinner with him one night and got to see him periodically throughout the week. This picture makes me smile. I love to see my siblings happy and doing well.

It seems 18 months is so much older than 17 months

Hazel is a little riot. Words don't come close to expressing the joy she brings into our home. At 18 months old, she can say more words than I can remember. This week she said watermelon unsolicited. I got her to do it again so I had some witnesses and others to acknowledge that it's absolutely adorable. She also started saying garbage and loves to throw things away for me. Her first word every single morning is "shoes". She loves her shoes and wears them all day long. She loves them so much, she took a few bites out of them within the last few months. Awesome. After breakfast, I change her diaper, change her clothes and put her shoes on. When I stand her up, she says, "ready!" She is entering her phase of independence and is vocal when she doesn't get her way. She loves to walk around and says "walk" when someone's holding her and she wants to get down. She often walks around with her stomach sticking out along with a strut that makes everyone smile. The icing on the cake is when she begins to swing one arm back and forth while walking. The faster she walks, the faster that left arm swings. She loves gum and was so proud of herself for finding it in my purse and eating it before I realized what was going on.

She has recently started holding my face in between her hands and pulling me close to her face. I love it. I then usually give her some slobbery kisses and she smiles. When Emma and Lucas were in town, I got lots of one-on-one time with Hazel. It was fun to slow down and take a few extra pictures of her.

A few weeks ago, she bent down to pick up a water gun at my mom's house. My mom was in a different room but saw her stand up before grabbing the gun, start taking steps backwards while saying, "bug, bug". Right next to the gun was scorpion. Earlier that week, we had a scorpion in our garage that Jason had killed. He showed it to Hazel and said "ow" over and over and told her not to touch those bugs. I am always amazed (and in this instance very grateful) at how smart kids are at such a young age and how well they remember. This pictures makes me laugh. She was holding so still to avoid messing up the sunglasses. She wouldn't even  move her mouth.

She got one of her bottom canine teeth in a few weeks ago and the other last week. The top aren't far behind. We took away her pacifier and it made me sad. We got rid of Clara's between 9 and 10 months. With Hazel, I've been worried if I take it away, she'll resort to her thumb. Plus, she only got it at nap and bed time. The other night I couldn't find it and decided it was a sign. While she was still fussing, I found it, but within minutes, she'd stopped. I was proud I stood my ground. She hasn't really missed it since her being sad that first night. I'll miss her huge smiles and belly giggles when I'd take it from her mouth with my teeth, but I'm glad it's gone. I just hope she doesn't resort to sucking her thumb. So far, so good.

She loves to rub her food in her hair. Usually she waits until she's had enough to eat and then she styles her hair with whatever she's eaten for breakfast. She loves Jason and asks for him almost every morning. She always wants to check and see if he's in our bed. She is pretty happy and easy going, but I have the hardest time getting her to look at the camera, not to mention smile. The plus side to this is that I have hundreds of pictures that show off her darling little profile. She's got the same head shape as Steven and I and I can't keep my hands off it.

She is still a good eater and loves her fruits and vegetables (for the most part). 

She knows what money is and says "money" when she finds any type of money around the house, real or fake. She's really into doing things to get a reaction. She will fake laugh while she's on the phone to Jason, blow air out her lips pressed together tightly (almost like spitting) and pretend to fall down, doing a full roll onto her back. That last one is especially entertaining on the tile since she uses caution with the hard floor in mind which makes her fake fall more dramatic and in slow motion. She can climb into the car by herself and loves to walk out to the car and take the big step down into the garage all by herself. She usually says "step" before she does it. She's officially in Nursery and went happily for her first official day. Halfway through, Jason found her hysterical and went in and comforted her. I have mixed feelings about her being in Nursery that are no different than pretty much every other phase of a child's life. I love to see my kids learn and grow and advance, but a little part of me inside just wants to cry. But I don't because there is too much joy and cuteness to absorb.

An Important Work

After my little accident a few weeks ago, I felt so, so strongly that we are watched over and protected for a specific purpose here on earth. I just felt a little overwhelmed wondering how I'd be able to figure it out. The thought that I had a job to do, important enough to be kept here, would not leave my mind. I felt a little anxious thinking of having to figure out exactly what that might be. How would I know what it was? Instead of going into my client after the accident, I drove home to be with Jason, Clara and Hazel. The whole family went to Clara's last swimming lesson and then I holed myself up in my room to work remotely while Jason played mom. I got a lot done, but I also had a lot of welcome interruptions from my two little sweeties. Each interruption brought a simple message. They are precious. They need you. This is your job. This is important.

That night, as we got ready for bed, Hazel joined us for family prayer and scriptures. I'm trying to get her in on it more often so she can practice holding still and folding her arms (instead of putting her to bed before so we can do it in peace). Tonight, I was super glad she was there. Not because she started screaming during the prayer when I wouldn't let her down. But because during scriptures, she was so excited to sit on Clara's bed all by herself. The look of joy and satisfaction was priceless. And then she went around our family circle and pushed each of our noses, one by one, saying, "Beep!" with each push. She was "hitting" Clara's back and I told her to be soft so she started rubbing Clara's back and head. Then she touched Clara's eyes and said, "Ice!" and her hair and said, "Haairrrr" and grabbed her belly and said, "BELLY!!!" in a really gruff voice. 


In that moment, my feelings and thoughts from throughout the day were cemented into this: the important job I was preserved to do will most likely be nothing more than what I am already doing. I may never do anything beyond my role as a mother and I am okay with that because there is nothing more important than just that. If I have accomplished only one thing when my life is said and done and that one thing is being a good mother, my life will have been a success.

All Good Things...

My emotions ran high on Clara's last day of preschool (back in May). I spent the day being incredibly proud of Clara and how much she's learned, so so grateful I decided to put Clara in that school despite the cost, sad that it's over and a little anxious about Clara growing up and having to start Kindergarten next year. The final program was a recap of all the habitats they have gone through this year. They finished it off with the President's song, in which they sang every single president of the US. Some of my other favorite songs were them singing hello in 18 different languages (Clara was Russia: pree-vee-at) and they collectively sang all of the states of Africa. Because they sang from around the world, each child was dressed in authentic clothing from their country. Clara was a little Russian princess. Another thing that made this program special was Jason being there. Clara was so proud, we overheard her telling another kid all about him missing work so he could come to her program. (Good thing he did because if he hadn't, the girls wouldn't have seen him from Sunday until Friday. Wednesday morning was the only time he saw them all week. Lame.) Back to preschool... it was incredible. I just hope they are around in three years for Hazel. :)

Here's their class, all dressed to represent a certain country.

Clara and her friend Brighton, the little girl we carpooled with all year.

Clara and her teachers. They are just above and beyond. Incredible seems like an understatement and I don't think I could have been happier for the experience she had.

Family Traditions

Last year we had church at 8:30am. That meant I would have to wake up, get showered, nurse Hazel, make breakfast, feed myself, feed Clara, get Clara ready, get Hazel ready and get myself ready and out the door by about 8:20am. During one of these stressful mornings, Jason made the unfortunate mistake of complaining about the green smoothies I'd made for breakfast. I smiled and congratulated him on earning the new responsibility of making breakfast every Sunday morning. Jason took his new task in stride. He takes this responsibility seriously and actually makes breakfast. Not only do I love not having to worry about breakfast, but I really enjoy almost everything he prepares. It's a great tradition we started that I don't ever plan on letting come to an end.

{Mushroom, avocado & jack cheese omelet}

Life These Days

Yesterday Hazel ate a few big bites out of Jason's deodorant. She smelled so good. I can only imagine how awful it tasted.

Today Clara attempted going down the slide head first at my mom's pool. Somehow she twisted and almost flipped over the edge. Meanwhile, her face slide down the slide. It scared her so bad she cried. She doesn't cry easily. But she wanted to keep going down the slide.

We ate cookies for breakfast and made up for it by eating only raw fruits and vegetables for dinner. That's my definition of a balanced diet.

Tonight Hazel hit me. She hit me yesterday and had to sit in her crib for time out. After she did it again tonight, I told her we don't hit and asked her if she wanted to go to time out and she said yes. She then walked straight to the wall by the front door and sat down with her back against it and cried. Even funnier than her putting herself in time out was that she's only been there for time out once. And she's only been in her crib for time out twice.

Clara is really usually pretty nice. Every now and then she talks in a really mean, rude voice. She always tattles on herself, so I know about it even if I don't witness it. On the way home from my mom's, she said she talked mean to my mom. We always talk about it, but apparently that's not solving the problem, so I decided to give her vinegar when she does, in hopes that she'll think of the taste and it will remind her to be nice. Tonight, I gave her a drop of raw apple cider vinegar mixed with water to show her what it tasted like and she loved it. Major backfire, she thought it tasted like pickle juice and wanted more. Hazel liked it too. I did give her some straight regular apple cider vinegar and she didn't like that, so that's what I'll do.