Summer Love

I've never really liked being outside.  I love air conditioning and all other perks of living in the 21st century.  I can't stand being hot, and get angry, frustrated and terribly mean if I'm sweaty for long periods of time, which is why me pregnant is especially rewarding for Mike.  But my children could have been 1st generation cavemen and happily survived while still enjoying life; I'm certain of this.

They'd be content to live in the mountains with no indoor plumbing as long as large bodies of water and popsicles were accessible.

My family had a family reunion.  In the woods.  But we did have cabins.  It was only 2 nights, but Mike had to work most of it, so I drove up myself+ Emma, who did not kill the spiders in my car when I started screaming.

And since we just moved, Mitchell was really, extra, concerned when I packed Manny (his bear who hates bananas, and demands his own pillow and specific blanket, that keeps Mitchell centered when anything and everything changes) and "Baby Bear" (Manny's offspring who demands his own shirt, blanket, but must always sleep on the left arm of Manny, and next to Mitchell himself, which is tricky, because baby bear also can't have any blankets or pillows touching his face) in the car, with some books and blankets.  Followed by some pillows and other random bedding, Mitchell went nearly into hysterics when I told him we were "camping".  He has no idea what "camping" is.  I told him we were going to be outside, and sleep outside, and play in the water, and eat marshmallows, and Nana and Papa Tom were coming, and everyone was coming, and from that explanation he understood 2 things.  1. We were going on a bear hunt. (he loves this book.  I don't know why he correlated it to camping.) and 2. He was going to push Nana (my grandma) in the water.

Mitchell and Manny

I told him he could do both.

And then there was actually a bear (two, actually) at the campsite and the rangers were called and we stayed huddled up together with strict demands to not go anywhere alone (and especially not on bear hunts), and of course Mike wasn't there yet.  And of course right when we all escorted ourselves to cabins and only Emma and Madee were with me, Mitchell had to use the bathroom. Awesome. I think I told him to go water the bushes or some other sort of ridiculous thing because I'm a girl and have no idea how to raise boys, that much is clear.  But he, uh, did, and that sparked a hilarious second wind and Mitchell decided to throw himself his very own milestone/becoming a man party.  So at midnight or possibly later, Mitchell was jumping on the bed, "we having a parrrrr-teeeee, we having a parrrrr-teee" in a sing-song voice and I didn't think I was ever going to sleep again.

And it was like that the next night too.

They slept, for the first time, on the drive back.

And Mike did take him on a bear hunt and they went fishing too.  And Mitchell did try to push Nana  in the water, but I don't think he ever succeeded.

For Father's Day, both kids were sick, so Mike went to church alone. But then  I cooked him a big dinner.  He and Ali colored pictures.

That says "BY WHO?" instead of BYU, and "crap on Michigan" (nice, honey) and then the Ohio State symbol, because the man will take any and every opportunity to teach/force upon them the college teams we root for.  (and who we don't.)

Ali thinks Mike is hilarious.  All he has to do is look at her funny, and she's hysterically laughing.  Which makes everybody laugh, because she decided to laugh like Mike.

Seriously, Mike was dropping ice cubes out of his mouth. 

After dinner, Mitchell came down the stairs with a yellow shirt, 2 un-matched socks from Mike, pulled all the way up to his thighs, and a yellow (Michigan, actually) hat, with a ball and a stick and asked to go outside.  He wanted to play baseball.  The kid is full of surprises.  And so we all played baseball, and Ali and Mitchell loved it.

Improvising at it's best

My cherry tree was full of beautiful cherries, so we harvested half the tree, and all we could reach without a not-yet-bought ladder.  Seriously, this isn't even half.

I'm not sure why my kids never have clothes on.  And yeah, Mitch's underpants are (always) on backwards.  He insists that they are not.

And a few days ago, in 90+ degree weather, and after being gone all day shopping and what have you, I decided we should own a kid pool.  Walmart had a nice plastic one outside.  It didn't fit in the cart (quite frankly, it didn't fit in the van either.  I shoved it in.), so I carried the plastic thing on one hand, and Ali on the other, and Mitchell was "helping" me.  By helping, I mean making it harder.  But he tries so hard to be helpful I was letting him help.  Ali wasn't content in my arms and wanted to be in the pool.  And all this would have been easier if I would have just taken it inside, and bought it.

But no.  At that moment, I decided I wanted a new monopoly board.

Moving does funny things to me and Mike.  Mike hates packing, so it takes an enormous amount of self control to not pick up the drawer, dump it upside down in a box, seal it shut, and label it "kitchen crap" while I, prefer to just throw everything away.  So while the monopoly board was still functioning, it was old, torn completely apart, the money was gross, the box was basically non-exsistant, but the real reason was I was meticulously packing the "grown up games mike loses in" box, and, well, it didn't fit. And it didn't *look* nice, because it's our favorite and we play it the most.  So it went in the trash without another thought.

Anyway, so at Walmart, with my hands more than full, I walked around trying to find their toy department.

The Walmart by my house decided to be the exact opposite of Target and exactly backwards of every other Walmart I have ever even seen.  I must have walked every square foot of that stupid store.  With Ali trying to jump into the not that light of a pool and Mitchell helping, but not, we looked like a circus parade.  I had to set the dang thing down to re-adjust every so often so my pathetic excuse of an arm didn't fall off, and every time I put it down, Mitchell would lay it flat, and Ali would throw her (ever increasing) temper tantrums demanding in baby language she be inside of that awesome, alligator printed, plastic blue circle.

Yes, I realize now I could have just set it up front somewhere, and then went on a parade, but I'm not that intelligent on the spot.

But finally, we found the toy department, and the 11 dollar monopoly board had a "save 4 dollars now" coupon attached and I was happy again.  Because my "intelligent" brain *did* figure out that this purchase was now only $7.  Score.  Totally worth the parade.

And also, it came with a "speed dice" which screwed up our game and strategies in brilliant ways, we can't get enough.  It's been a long time Monopoly.  Thank you for giving me such an easy way to ruthlessly destroy my husband so he can owe my dinner and diet coke for the rest of all eternity.

That box *is* fudge from gardner village.  This is what we call date night when all our babysitters go to girls camp.   Gardner Village just moved blocks away from my home.  Oh wait.  I moved next to them. That was a bad idea.  My waist just got bigger.  I love their fudge and their free 1/4 pound with every 1 pound purchase.

And then I found the most amazing fabric at shop hop.  Fell in love with it before I realized it was twice as much as regular fabric.   Seriously, it's a linen-cotton blend from Japan.  Not even organic.  But it's adorable and so I made a bag with a chevron print lining, because I love zig-zags.  And then, to counter-balance my frustrations of all the extra fabric I had (seriously I only needed maybe half of the fabric.  I would have been okay if it was normally priced, maybe.)  I made a matching wallet and tortured myself with the top stitch (including un-picking the stitches over and over until it was "far from perfect" instead of "terrible, I'm just going to throw it away."  All without a seam ripper!) only to find out my mother never does a top stitch on wallets. or bags. (okay, so mine could have been perfect too, if I didn't try!) but it's fine.  I've got fabric to make Ali a dress and Mitchell some shorts, oh, and that fabric to make Mike a quilt.  It's easier to get done when I have a room to make a mess in, so hopefully that "never finishes anything" phase is coming to an end.  Though, it's more a "lifestyle" rather than "phase" after 20 years, right?  Here's to change! Get Manny, Mitchell! Mom's going to finish some pants!

Emma spent a few nights with us, for kicks and giggles I guess.  She came to church with me "This is my sister, Emma, she's visiting......from Draper" it was sort of random, but it was fun to have her hang out with the kids, since Mitchell always needs more people to do his "check ups" on, with Ali has his nurse (she'll make sure your eyeballs still hurt when you poke them hard, and also make sure your nose says "beep", and now she shoves hair in your mouth, which is why hair elastics were invented, I'm convinced).  Mitchell says "hold still" and wacks whichever body part he feels like, with whichever item is closet to him.  And then he gives shots with pencils and medicine with what I hope was water.  I'm not sure.  This is all learned from the Disney channel, I think.

They're so incredibly destructive together, it's really amazing.  They're still co-teaming me and eating all the fruit snacks.  They're lovely though.  Ali loves cuddling, and loves loves Mitchell.  She lets Mitchell put his arm around her, and drag her across the entire house.  She gives the best hugs.  And she says "mommy" now, which is so cute, and says "mitchell" clear as day.  And talks and talks and talks about Dada.  Also, she has not-so-officially reached the terrible two stage, and wow, that's been just lovely.  She can throw a tantrum like nobody's business.  She's so great at ignoring me, and also really talented at flailing her arms, screaming like a siren, and throwing her body limp when I say "No" or anything else that involves her being safe and/or healthy and/or Mitchell safe.  When she gets mad at Mitchell she goes right up to his face and scratches/smooshes/punches it.  We've taught her "soft.....soft...." while gently moving her hands across Mitchells face, which they both think is funny.  Now she's just sits at cries really loudly till Mitchell gives her whatever she wants.  Ha.  We're working on it.  Mitchell says "you're fine, goo.  you're fine" quietly and calmly, making me seriously wonder where he came from, until he starts being defiant "I will NOT go to my room! YOU go to YOUS ROOM!" which is, also, quite lovely.

But, he's so helpful and kind- it's been so nice.  He keeps begging me to let Ali sleep in his bed, we will probably let them sometime soon.  And possibly "camp" out in the backyard (no bears there!)

*sigh* We've been so busy it feels like summer should be over, but it's still June.  Amazing.