Exploring our Neighborhood in Color

Funny how one thing turns into another. I made the boys eggs this morning and then when I saw the empty egg carton I got inspired to create a color box. I read about something similar on a blog and so I got out my paints and the boys helped make each egg holder a different color. After it dried (well not totally dry we were too impatient) we went out on a walk to find things that matched our colors. I, of course, had a vision of them finding a yellow flower and then putting it in the yellow container but instead, and this is so Mason, he proceeded to show me how things were the same color like black asphalt, a green lawn, the grey sidewalk. I had to laugh to myself because it never goes the way one plans. I finally did encourage them to find small things they could place in it but they just told me to do it. And, unfortunately, most of what we found was litter. But, it was a fun exercise all the same. We did stop over at Mason Paul's house because the boys are just so fond of him. It was really cute. Talan looked at me and he signed Mason and then he screamed "Paul" meaning Mason Paul. We are forced to use middle names for obvious reasons but I did think that was clever than Talan used the same Mason sign and then used his voice (which we are always encouraging).

We got an unexpected phone call from Hailey's Grandma asking if Mason could come over and play. I said yes, of course, and hightailed it down there. :) Talan and I visited for 15 minutes or so. They now have pet goats. I was trying to explain to Mason on the drive over there that they now have pet goats and he asked me what is a goat. I told him it looks a little bit like a sheep but you can milk it like a cow and make goat cheese. Well, the rest of the ride over to Hailey's he kept saying "I don't know how to make goat cheese". I was cracking up! I told Hailey's grandma and she laughed too. There is a picture of Hailey and her grandma from the party yesterday.

Talan had a hard time leaving Hailey's because he is in love with their dog Skitter who is an ancient black lab and the sweetest thing ever. Talan was clearly tired (Mason now wakes him up in the morning and then wakes me up to tell me Talan is awake) so I had to endure him signing and crying "more dog" the entire way home. Poor thing. (Talan now insists on having his door open at night as he is scared. This invites Mason to come in first thing and wake him up so he has a legitimate reason to wake me up. Consequently, it doesn't matter how late Talan goes to bed, he now is up at the crack of dawn with his brother.)

Barclay has now taken Talan to go pick up Mason from Hailey's house so that they can meet up with Michael and his kids. So, guess what, I have time to myself. I did my sociology quiz which was 30 minutes timed. I had 55 seconds to spare and boy did that get my heart racing. But, it is done. I have also finished the documents that I needed to prepare for the homeowners association. I hope to mail them out on Tuesday. Now I am blogging, quickly, as I'd like to pack in a jog before the boys are returned to me. Whew. Quite the day.

Mason's Birthday Party

Wow, Mason is 5 years old today! Amazing. Its been a long five years! So we hosted a Power Ranger party at our house. The weather was drizzly off and on so while I did attempt to move the party outside that lasted about 10 minutes, if that. Each kid got a sword and a Chinese yo yo and that seemed to be a hit with some and not others. We did some spin art and surprisingly, to me, that was a huge hit. The cupcakes baked in ice cream cones were not a success initially but by the last batch I had it done. Aunt B was sweet enough to frost them all for me this morning, with a lot of help and encouragement from Talan. :)

I did not take a single photo. It was just too crazy busy. We had a good turn out. Barclay took a few photos when she was able to but Talan hogged her attention for the most part! Mason unfortunately opened all his presents as people arrived with them so now I have no idea who got him what nor do I know how any of them work (mostly power rangers and transformers). It's a good problem to have. :) Hopefully he will figure it out. I will just have to send generic thank you notes with apologies for not being more precise. :) Oops. :) That is just life with Mason.

I did hear from Barclay that Mason was very well mannered (and quite funny) when he opened his gifts. He told Aunt B "I knew I could count on you" when he opened up the Bakugan Battle Brawlers that go with the toy Joe bought him http://www.bakugan.com/en/index.html. Mason told someone else they were "so generous".

I am pleased how it all turned out and very relieved its over. Joe's cesare salad dressing was a hit! He will be pleased to know that his food was appreciated. As expected, I have tons of left overs so we will be doing just fine while Joe is in Indy this week.

School is already kicking my butt so I need to quickly change gears and get ready for my first lab tomorrow. I am looking forward to nap time so I am do homework and clean up this place. :) The glory of being a mom. I am so thankful Barclay was here to help set up and tidy up. She was a godsend. Yippee for Aunt B. :)

North Idaho Fair

We took the kids to the fair. Actually, Barclay took the kids and we met up with her and Michael as well as his three kids. Barclay was already looking exhausted after one hour! Poor thing. :) Here is the link http://www.northidahofair.com/. Apparently the mutton bustin' is the best thing and we knew nothing about it. Oh well, maybe next year.

We had a great time tromping around. There were some cool fun and free things for the kids to do. It took work to get them to leave. We saw lots of livestock which was fun for all of us. Mason and Mavrick played a wicked game of NASCAR with help from their dads. Mason won but his car was going backwards as it crossed the finish line to give you an idea of his skill set! The other kids really enjoyed watching the race and the guy running the booth was very strict about who got candy (all players get candy). Talan snuck a piece anyway which I thought was funny but disobedient.

Oh a funny thing that happened this morning. We made the boys Dutch Babies for breakfast http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1718,149183-244206,00.html. I don't think they have ever had them. I can remember the first time I ever had them and the name of them fascinated me. Well, after Talan ate his last bite of food, and we were all already finished, he signed "more" and "baby". He wanted to eat more Dutch baby. It was so cute. We felt bad we didn't save any to give him more. We certainly weren't about to make more, it is a project. Poor Tal. He giggled too when I was showing Joe how cute he was being signing "more baby".

I am pooped. We landscaped and did the fair and cleaned house and its just been a busy busy day.

"More Five Eat"

The past couple weeks when I have tried to put Talan to bed he signs and says "5" like he wants to stay up for five more minutes. Usually, he does this a couple times and each time five minutes is up he wants five more. Of course I have learned to start the whole process earlier so I still get him to bed when I want him in bed.

Tonight, Joe and I were telling Talan it was time for bed and he signed and said "more five eat". We both laughed and Talan giggled too. He is at the stage where he is looking for any excuse not to go to bed. Mason was classic during this stage. He would say he couldn't go to bed because he needed water, he needed to pee, he had a booger, his bed was too small....on and on. Mason was in the room too when Talan said "more five eat" so then we all chanted in unison "more five eat". It was funny. Laughing followed by tears when Talan realized he was not going to get out of going to bed. :( So sad.

So, I did land the property management contract for our homeowners association! I learned this on Thursday evening. Friday I set up a fictitious business name with the state of Idaho and got an EIN number from the Feds. It only cost $25 to do that. Essentially I am a sole-proprietor. My business name is P3 Management Services. The three Ps stand for Property, People and Prosperity (if you have a better idea tell me as I have time to change one of the Ps). Ironically, Joe works for Rick out on the race circuit and Rick's business is called PPP Services which stands for Pots, Pans and Plates.

So in a few days, I will be searchable on the Idaho business database, supposedly. I have a lot to do and with school starting, I am going to be busy. I also potentially will be teaching 4 sign language classes this semester. Plus, I am throwing Mason's birthday party on Thursday, his real birthday. This has really been my main focus of late. Particularly cleaning and organizing obscure places in my home, you know, the "kitchen drawer" and the office area. Places my friends and guests will surely investigate! ha ha

Not too many people can come which is going to make it very manageable, I had invited about 30 people which is really too many but I have a lot of friends! I just checked on my goodie bag order and it should arrive by the 26th. Mason and I had a blast doing some online shopping for the "treasures" he is going to share with his friends. I am buying one nice gift for each child rather than a goodie bag filled with a lot of small things. I am still on the fence about a pinata. Good grief, I am so tired of those things and it is such an expensive component to a party. I want to steer away from candy and focus on being wild and active. Which is truthfully what Mason is all about. I also can't decide on a cake or cupcakes. Nor do I know if I am going to try to make it, please no, or if I am going to buy it and if so where and should order soon I think. Me thinks I am making a mountain out of a mole hill.

That's it for tonight. Cheerio!

Active Weekend Enjoying Northern Idaho

My friend Lori organized a bike ride on Saturday on the Hiawatha Trail http://wallace-id.com/skilookout/taft.html which was beautiful. I did fall right at the beginning while in the first tunnel as my eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness yet and so I got to spend the day with one very wet foot and two little boys asking if we were going to crash again. I think they had fun despite the shaky beginning. The first tunnel is about 1.8 miles long so you are in it for awhile. We stopped many times to feed chipmunks, which made Talan squeal with delight. We had a few mechanical problems with Stephen's bike but eventually got it straightened out. It ended up being a long and hot day and we were all filthy by the end. When we went back through the 20 minute tunnel I forgot to put the mud flap up on the bike trailer so the boys were splattered in mud and it was so funny we all look pictures of it. They didn't complain at all. I think they were nervous about crashing again. Poor guys.

The next day, Sunday, Lori organized a float down the Coeur d'Alene river which is in Kingston, about 45 minutes from here. We went with a big group of people and it was really fun. The boys were very brave and enjoyed themselves. Lots of people go floating with their dogs so Talan absolutely loved all the animals. He kept wanting the dogs in our raft but that never happened. I borrowed Mr. Matt's raft and my friend Katherine's oars. I need to get my own because it is so fun. I can't wait to take Joe and Barclay floating. They have never been.

So there are entirely too many pictures to post here so go to http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=96xkajv.4q79j7wj&x=0&y=-paia1k&localeid=en_US and http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=96xkajv.66y2aeub&x=0&y=hi9ort&localeid=en_US to see more of them.

Back from California

I had such a wonderful time in California. I hiked three times. Once with Megan and her new dog Kippy. Once with Talan on my back which was strenuous but really nice. I pointed out slugs and lizards and had him smell bay leaves, rosemary and licorice plants. We saw birds and dogs. I knelled down for every dog encounter so he got licked by five dogs to his total delight. :) My last hike was with Mason and it was very slow and imaginative. Mason pretended that we battled monsters and evil forests. We collected sticks and rocks and feathers. We only did half the loop as it was getting late and we needed to be back to drive to the airport. It was really nice to spend time with each boy alone. I don't do that enough. Hiking is such quality time too. Mason really likes to hike. I am not sure what Talan thinks but I am hopeful that he enjoys it too.

The main reason for the trip back to CA was Heather's wedding reception. It was really nice. A beautiful day. The kids had a blast swimming, at least Mason did that is. My dad was great about life guard duty with my mom assisting too. This enabled me to wander around and socialize with some of Heather's friends and family members. It was very cool to run into Shelly Miller and Andrew Mitchell from MA. They are dating now. Shelly is a nurse anesthetist so I talked with her about that for awhile. Andrew runs 100 mile races so I talked with him about that for a bit as Joe and I are entering the racing world.

The hors de vors were delicious and the fruit display was very attractive. We all took Polaroid photos of ourselves and wrote notes to the happy couple next to where we pasted our photos into a memory book. I did a similar thing at my wedding and I love looking through mine so I think they will get a big kick out of it later. Heather and Evan wore "wife" and "husband" shirts which they had made up for the occasion. Very cleaver and cute. A great idea. We left before the band started to play as the boys were tuckered out. Poor Mason was in the pool about three hours and was a giant prune.

The party for Mason at Boyle Park was awesome. I got to see my friend Kelly and her boyfriend Gokan whom I haven't met before despite the fact that they have been dating five years. Megan came with her boyfriend Chris which was a pleasant surprise. He was handsome, mild-mannered and smelled divine. I would have liked to speak with him more but I was too busy mingling. Talan was infatuated with Randa and followed her around the party which was very sweet to watch. I didn't need to worry about him at all. Mason only disappeared once to the playground so I feel grateful for that. Usually I don't have too much time to mingle as I have to keep really focused on the boys so I enjoyed the opportunity to actually visit with my friends. Lots of Barclay's friends showed up to so it was nice to see them. I have always adored Stephanie and Mason plays well with her son Kyle. Jen Marsh and Deirdre are also very cool people so I enjoyed what little bit I got to spend with them. Grandpa Fred showed up to the party. We had met up with him in the morning to have breakfast with him at Momma's cafe. He looks really well and I always enjoy time with him. He is very easy to get along with. All in all the party was a success. I think I bought too much food but that is OK. Hopefully over time my parents will work their way through all the left overs. :) Please notice the worm sitting on the table by Mason while he is blowing out his cupcake. We lost track of the worm and hopefully he was not ingested!

I did manage to have a quick play date on Monday morning with Christy, Wyatt and PK. It was short but great to catch up with her. I haven't seen her in a year as the last time I was home she was in a cast and couldn't drive and my visit was very brief in December. I always look forward to conversations with Christy. I have known her since sixth grade so we go back a long ways. The only friends I have known longer than her are Hillary and Jennifer (Megan and I went to grade school together but we weren't friends until high school). I would have enjoyed more time with her but hopefully next time. Mason and Wyatt played well together and all the kids seemed to enjoy the water park to some degree. Talan always on the periphery.

Four days was the perfect amount of time to visit. We only drove my parents' slightly nuts. Now that we are gone I am sure the house is too clean and quite for them! ha ha

Week in Review

So I find I don't post when I don't have pictures and that is just silly. So, here is what we've been up to this past week.
Saturday we took the boys to the Street Fair and the Taste of CDA event. It was hot and fun. We ran into a lot of program friends. I bought Mason a gun that shoots ping pong balls using basically a rubber band. It was $12 and worth every penny although it is currently out of commission until we pick up more ping pong balls. Talan lost half and Mason lost the other 2. That was our first day of no nap for Mason and has started a new trend. :(
Sunday we went back to check out what we missed, primarily the Art on the Green. The kids were not interested in the kids activities which I had envisioned them loving, thus is life. We did hook up with Barclay and Michael and his three kids. We hadn't met Michael yet but we liked him immediately. Joe and Michael had a lot in common: real estate and the restaurant/hotel business. I, of course, loved his kids. They are all so sweet and cute. Mason and Mavrick took an instant liking to each other and were holding hands and running all over within minutes. I just adored baby Merrick and was very impressed by his agility and talking, he will be two next month. Meadow seemed to stick close to Barclay so hopefully she will open up more later. She is a bit over powered by all the boys. We all ended up swimming, some nude, in the river across from the festival. Joe's back was hurting so Talan and I gave him a hot river rock massage. Joe liked it and found it relaxing. Talan, despite how dirty it all was, got into it too. ;)
Monday we had a play date with our friend Barbara K whose grandchildren were in town from Canada. The twins were 3.5 and a perfect fit for my boys. They played in the kiddie pool, shot water guns and then enjoyed Barbara's hot tub. We nibbled at lunch and then headed home to nap (sort of).
Tuesday we went to Kirsten P.'s house which we haven't seen her or her boys in almost a year. Zane and Mason had some friction due to differences in playing style. The twins are 3.5 now and Talan enjoyed watching them. Kirsten and I got a chance to catch up, a little, and then it was time for naps. I was so tired I made the boys nap with me in Momma bed. Quasi successful but restorative nonetheless.
I set up for the first time this giraffe pool that I bought months ago. It was a slide and the giraffe's head sprays water if the hose it hooked up to it. The kids loved it. Terran tried to go down the slide and was far too big for it so I had to tell him it was off limits. Some of the new neighbor boys wanted to join us but I told them no. Mason has made some very poor decisions when playing with these two boys (ie. going into cars and stealing coins so he can buy ice cream from the ice cream truck) so I am not letting him play with them. This was not well received and I felt mean but I am not going to support that friendship.
Wednesday I met with Margaret at Mother's Haven in the morning while Missy watched the boys for me. I have agreed to teach two sign language classes starting in Sept. We made a flyer and sent them off to the people whose names she had collected as being interested in a sign language class. It was a very productive meeting and Margaret was impressed by how much we got done. This is all due to Joe. He is always emphasizing taking action steps. So instead of doing the flyer later and getting the addresses later etc. I just did it right then on the spot. I had brought my jump drive so I was able to reconfigure the flyer to Margaret's new letter head. She was amazed and thought I was very savvy. :)
Missy had a tough time with the boys as her Mason did not want to share anything with my boys. I remember that stage. I reassured her it is all normal. She has agreed to babysit the boys for me while I teach my sign language classes through the Post Falls Park and Rec. I will pay her, of course.
The boys and I ran home to change into our bathing suits and then we met Harini at her house to head up to Silverwood. It was so packed at Silverwood it was unpleasant, in my opinion. It was a lot of work, loading my car seats in her car etc but the boys had a great time. That is until the tipped my stroller over and the both banged their heads on the rocks they landed on. It was surreal. My fault thought as the stroller was on a incline and I was distracted helping Harini get her boys ready to leave. Talan feel asleep in the stroller (so of course I worried about a concussion) and missed out on ice cream. I had a Gatorade as I was feeling so dehydrated (it was 92 degrees). So we eventually got home at about 6pm and I needed to pack and do laundry.
Today, this morning, we are hooking up with the mom's from speech therapy (I now call this my 2 year old mom's group) for a couple hours at Blue Grass park. We are bringing Missy and Mason. Then I need to do some very last minute packing and then we are off to the airport for a 4pm flight. Whew! Busy busy.