Favorite Activities

This hoola hoop that the kids are standing in is bent out of shape, but the kids don't care. It has become thier rocket ship. They climb inside and race around the house in it, taking turns being the astronaut captain in control. I love thier imaginations!

McKinley and Sage love to pull all the cushions off the couch and jump into the pile. They've gotten pretty creative with their jumping. It's fun to see how Sage tries to copy all of McKinley's tricks (spinning in the air, jumping sideways, diving, doing summersaults, etc.). Our living room -- the first thing you see from the front door -- doesn't always look perfect, but the kids have fun.

Treading Thin

I left McKinley and Sage with my parents today while I went to an appointment with my midwife in Boise. The girls love to go to their house and Sage always goes straight for the wooden duck in my dad's office. It's funny that this would be such a beloved toy since it's really just a decoration and there are plenty of other toys to play with. Sage usually just takes the duck and plays with it, but apparently, today she felt the need to replace it with something else. My dad said that after taking the duck, she returned a minute later with this silver knight and carefully placed it on the shelf, moving it back and forth until she was satisfied it was in just the right spot. We had a good laugh.

After loading the kids and myself into our mini van, my mom noticed my front tire was low and wondered if we needed to air it up immediately before driving back to Nampa or if I could wait until a more convenient time. I was wanting to get home for Sage's nap. My dad came out to give his opinion and noticed the belt showing through the tire and was afraid we'd end up blowing it. I knew the tires were wearing thin because I had to have a flat repaired a couple months ago and they said they couldn't legally put the tire back on our vehicle because the tire didn't have enough tread. They were nice enough to put a used tire on for free to get us through until we could replace all four. I guess we'd put it off a little too long as you can see. We were lucky we didn't blow a tire.

Thanksgiving

We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving this year. It was a small group consisting of my parents, my dad's mom, and our little family. Though there were few of us there, we were not lacking any food. We had a delicious smorgasbord! My parents went all out with very little contributed from us.
I feel very grateful that our kids get to know one of their great-grandmas and both sets of grandparents. It's nice living close to family.

The kids entertained themselves with Grampa's wooden duck (always a favorite), the doctor's kit, and other various toys. I worked on coloring file folder games for the girls and we all watched the movie Ratatouille. It was a great day!
McKinley wanted to type her name and a few others. She did hers in the sentence above and these are others that she typed: Sage, baby.

An Eventful Day

First thing this morning, the girls got started making Thanksgiving cards for grandparents and their dad. They got so involved drawing and gluing fabric scraps on their cards that it kept both of them busy while I made dough for the rolls we'll have tomorrow. As much as I love to have them help me, I have to say it was very nice to make the dough by myself. It's a lot faster and less messy that way. Their cards turned out so cute too! I was proud of them.
After lunch, I gave McKinley and Sage each a piece of dough to make their own monkey bread while I made the dinner rolls. It's kind of a tradition that they enjoy when I make rolls. Since they would only get one clump of dough (enough for a small loaf pan), they made it last. They pounded, rolled, cut, dipped the dough in butter and cinnamon sugar, and put it in the pan. One might think that would be enough, but they squished it all up after that and did it again. McKinley ended up with monkey bread made of tiny pieces and Sage had a cinnamon swirl loaf. My floor needs a good mopping now, but they had so much fun.


They were proud of themselves when they got to share the finished product with their friends who came over (ages 2, 3, & 4) while their parents went Christmas shopping. It was a full and active house, but we all had a good time.


With every busy day, it seems there has to be some fiasco for me. Today, it involved Teton. I freaked out the other night when I saw a mouse run into our garage. I put some mouse bait blocks in a couple places that I thought were safely out sight and talked to the girls about what I had done and told them not to try to get to them. I didn't have this talk with Teton and since he's hardly ever in the garage, I didn't think it would be an issue. Maybe I just wasn't thinking (sigh). Roy was in the garage working on the bunk beds that he's building for the girls and had Teton out there with him. Teton stuck his nose between the wall and the freezer and was able to get the poison. Roy had to rush him to the vet to get him to vomit the poison out. I, of course, feel very bad about the whole situation (to say the very least) and hope we don't see any negative effects from it. It's a painful lesson to learn, but I won't be using anything like that again!

I'm looking forward to a nice, semi-relaxing day with family tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Swimming with Grandma

We went swimming at Givens Hot Springs yesterday with Grandma Spaulding. Both girls jumped off the side of the pool a ton of times. Sage got a little too comfortable doing it and ran around McKinley to jump in by herself (where I wasn't waiting to catch her). It didn't take long to get to her, but it was enough to scare us. Sage was more apprehensive after that; she loved being in the pool as long as she didn't go under the water. For the rest of the time Sage felt the need to hold onto me -- even in the pool that she could walk around in. McKinley had no fear and couldn't get enough time in the water! We had a lot of fun and feel blessed to be so close to loving grandparents!

Teton: our mountainous puppy

My friend, Nikki, just shared a story on her blog about their 120 pound St. Bernard pup. While our puppy is just a light-weight (88 pounds) compared to hers, I could relate to the feelings of weakness when trying to control such a strong animal. I realized then that I haven't even mentioned him in our blog, so I figured it's probably time. Although I weigh more than Teton (our Retriever/Lab puppy), my muscles can't compete -- shocker, I know. I can no longer take him for walks with the girls as he is the one who ends up walking us.

Last night when Roy got home from work, he brought Teton into the house and practiced some tricks with him. (Roy is 6'2" so you have a reference for Teton's size). He's a good puppy, despite his hyperactivity, but he'll be a very good dog someday.

We have another good little puppy around. Sage pretends to be a cat or dog frequently and is very good at retrieving. :)

Tea and Birthday Parties

A few mornings ago, McKinley and Sage hosted a tea party with Roy and I as their guests. They were so careful pouring the "tea" (it was really water) and handling the fragile little cups and saucers. They were perfect little hostesses and we had a most delightful time. :)

I've had requests from my sisters to show them the cakes I made for Sage's birthday. My mom started a tradition when we were young that my siblings and I have tried to continue. She would ask us what we wanted for our cake and made the most amazing creations according to what we asked. She made Cabbage Patch Doll cakes that looked just like our own dolls, standing doll cakes, a basketball that was a perfect sphere, cars, and more without ever using cake molds. I wouldn't even attempt some of what she did. I just showed Sage some pictures of cut-up cakes that I found on line and had her choose what she wanted. She chose the duck, so I also made a duck pond to go along with it. They're not spectacular, but I enjoyed making them.

Last night, we celebrated Sage's birthday at Roy's parents' house. It was very nice of them to let us use their home since ours is a bit too small for all the people we had over. We ate spaghetti, had cake and ice cream, and opened presents. Sage's reaction was priceless when she blew out the candles and we all cheered. She was so proud of herself and really seemed to love the attention. I wish I'd gotten a picture of her face at that moment, but I wasn't fast enough. She also loved opening the presents and wanted to play with each thing as soon as she got into the package. I think one new thing would've made her happy.

Music and Movement

I take the girls to Music and Movement at the Kuna Library each Thursday. This past week, we took one of McKinley's friends, Hannah with us, and met their friends big Sage and Jada there (pictured). We sing songs, use props, and move around the room. The kids love it! Story time is right after that and then they do a craft. This past week, they read books about our country and then made these cute eagles out of paper bags. Sage, McKinley, and Hannah ran around with their eagles, moving them up and down as if they were flying and said, "caw, caw." The eagles

sounded more like crows to me, but they sure had fun with them. By the time we get home, it's time for lunch and Sage's nap. Sage was so tired, and had put these sunglasses on all by herself on the ride home. For some reason, she always puts them on upside down. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

I had to laugh

Last night, as I was getting the kids ready for bed, I noticed Sage standing on the toilet holding a mirror with a handle. You may just think she would be looking at herself, but she was actually practicing her mad face. It made me laugh. Roy had recently commented on her faces and had said he wished we could get pictures of all of them. I guess it made her curious. :)
On a totally separate note, I have kind of lost my brain since I've been pregnant. It happens every time. My mind just looses the capacity to think or something. Well, one of the kids' cups got stuck in the sink yesterday. It was just the perfect size to block the opening and I couldn't get it out to save my life. When Roy came home, he separated the disposal part under the sink and pulled out the cup, full of water. He then dumped the water into the sink, which was now open underneath, so the water came right through. Apparently, I'm not the only one suffering from "pregnant brain". I laughed so hard -- I couldn't stop. Those of you who really know me, know that when I get laughing, I keep thinking about how funny it was and continue laughing about it well after the moment has passed. This was one such time.

What a difference a day makes

It's so funny to me how monumental birthdays are when kids are young. I forgot to mention this in my last post, so since this is kind of my journal, I thought I'd better add this little story before I forget. The night before Sage's birthday, I asked the girls whose birthday would be tomorrow. Sage said, "me" enthusiastically and McKinley spoke excitedly about how Sage would be 2 and would be able to say more words. I tried to explain that things like that don't change over night and it would still take time for Sage to talk really well. The next morning, Sage woke up to the sound of the garbage truck and ran out of her room, pointing toward the front of the house yelling "truck"! The girls love seeing the garbage truck. Anyway, McKinley started asking her to say all kinds of words. She would say, "Can you say baby doll?" or any number of other words, and would praise Sage when she repeated what she had said. It was so cute! Sage was so proud of herself too.

Happy 2nd BIrthday Sage!

Yesterday, Sage turned two. I can't believe how fast those years have gone! Since Roy works long hours and has to commute to Boise, we got an early start on the birthday celebration. We had german pancakes for breakfast and then Sage opened presents before Roy left at 9:00. (It was an extra long day for him).

We packed the activities into the day after that, starting with a visit to their Great Grandma Hansen. We don't get to see her as much as we should, so that was a treat. We certainly love her.

From there, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's and then to Roy's work to meet him for lunch between his meetings. We went to a nearby park and had delicious peanut butter sandwiches. :) Gourmet -- I know. We played in the leaves for a while and really wore the kids out. It was really fun and I was glad we got to spend that time with Roy since he doesn't get home at night until around 10:00.

We stopped by Gramma Lydia and Grampa Warren's and had a little sherbet. When asked how old she is, Sage replies by saying 2, while holding up one finger on each hand -- it's so cute. Grandma and Grandpa Spaulding weren't home, so we didn't get to stop by there, but Grandma came by in the evening to wish Sage a happy birthday. We are so lucky to live close to grandparents and are grateful for all they do!

We'll have a family party for Sage on Sunday, but we got to do some fun things on her actual birthday. I'm sure she won't remember this birthday very long, but I will. It was a good day!

Reading together

McKinley was such a cute little teacher one night last week. She was reading a book to Sage about babies (parts of the body, things to eat, pets, toys, etc.). When they were reading about parts of the body, Sage would point as she repeated the word. She's trying to point to her back in this picture. It was one of those moments that just made me smile and be glad I am a mom. I hope they'll always be so loving and kind to each other.

Check-up and Halloween

Monday, we all got to go to my check-up as a family to see how the baby is growing. The girls had so much fun with the little twisty stool while we waited in the room! They took turns spinning each other around and then gave their dolls turns. Their dolls would fly off when they'd spin the stool fast, which they thought was so funny. When we listened to the baby's heart, Margie (my midwife) asked the girls if it sounded like a horse galloping. McKinley laughed and said there isn't a horse in there, but Sage looked so confused!

Roy had to go to work from there, but the girls and I stopped by my parent's house to let them trick-or-treat at Gramma Lydia's and Grampa Warren's. Sage hated having her hood up and kept trying to take her costume off.

The girls ended up wearing completely different costumes for Halloween. McKinley ended up being some kind of princess and Sage was a ladybug. We got together with my friend Maaike, whose husband was out of town, to trick-or-treat at a nearby high school. Her girls are about the same age as ours and have fun playing together a lot. For those of you who have heard McKinley talk about her friend "big Sage", this is her.

We did have a trunk-or-treat that we went to briefly, which Grandma Jeanne came to, all dressed up as a clown, and passed out candy while we went around. It was very nice of her to come and I wish I'd remembered to take a picture of her with the kids.

McKinley and Sage loved passing out the candy and pencils when the kids came to the door. Roy dressed up in the mask we got in Italy. His favorite thing was scaring the bigger kids that came trick-or-treating. Some of the kids thought he was just a prop sitting by the door. Then when they would turn to leave, he would move toward them to see what a big scream he could get. I have to say he scared some of the kids pretty good!