Musikgarten

Art projects (sea turtles, nut sail boats, paper sail boats)

Dylan's seashell art project

Tomi, Amy, Maria & Baby Kylie

I was not exactly looking great...it was a LONG day!

Grandma & Preston

Dylan's class

Tomi and the kids

My monkey

Dylan & Diego- Buddies

Dylan went to summer camp last week.  It was from 9-11:30 every day.  It's a program called Musikgarten and he had a great time.  The theme this year was seashore camp so everything was about the sea.  They got to play in sand and dig for creatures, play with bubbles, play with ocean animals and even play with bugs.  They did a couple art projects every day too and of course sang songs.  It was so much fun for him.  On Thursday night, they have family music night for all the family to come and see what they've been doing all week.  It was great to watch.  Mason and Diego, Dylan's cousins, also participated in the camp.  It was fun to watch Dylan play with them and then go off on his own too.  La tia, Tomi came to watch and so did Grandma and Tony.  It was a lot of fun!  Here are a couple of pictures!

Asado (Argentine BBQ)

Can you tell we've been busy?  Summer's just crazy!  I got behind on my posts and am trying to catch up a little.

Monday Marcos' friend, Oscar, came over and helped us cook a real Argentine BBQ.  We had Marcos' mom, all of his siblings and their kids over.  It was great food and lots of fun.  The kids played awesome too!  They loved the playground, the tramp, the water table and just about everything.  Dylan was a cute host and ready to let everyone choose a toy to take home with them.  Hey, at least he's good at sharing.  One lesson learned, a million to go.  

BBQ With Venezuela Friends

Sunday we had a bbq at Dave and Laura's house with friends they knew when they lived in Venezuela.  We had to rush to get back from Idaho in time and about everything that could've gone wrong, did, but we made it and it was worth it.  It was really fun to get together and meet some of the people that Marcos knew growing up.  The kids played pretty well too, which always makes events better.  Here are a couple pictures I took.  

Kid huddle

Yep, mine's the one sticking him bum out.

Ah...parenthood!

Try to match the kids to the parents.

Don't worry, I can't do it either.

Brothers: Marcos & Esteban, Dean & Dane

Marcos' Trip To Idaho

Marcos was the biggest kid of all.  It was such a manly trip out in the country catching pheasants and playing on big boy toys.  Between the four wheeler, motorcycles and pheasant-catching, I rarely saw him.  It was his first trip to Angie's house and he loved it.  He thinks we need to move there and raise animals.  I'm not so sure.  Crazy kid.  You take him on one trip and he's planning a new life.  Here are a couple pictures I snapped of him.  Somehow we didn't end up with one picture of me.  You can tell who had the camera.  Marcos was having way too much fun to think of taking pictures.  

Preston's Trip To Idaho

Preston loved Idaho too.  He and Tanner were so cute together.  Preston is 15 months old and Tanner just turned 1.  Just three months apart and they're pretty much the same size.  Some of the highlights of Preston's trip were:

• Swings
• Chasing dogs
• Playing with Tanner
• Playing with Tanner's toys
• Popcycles
• Baths

Dylan's Idaho Trip

Well, this was everyone's trip to Idaho, but these are the pictures of Dylan.  We went to rural Idaho last weekend to visit my sister, Angie.  Dylan LOVES their house.  She has five acres so there's plenty of room for the kids to play.  He pretty much played with Connor, who is three the whole time or followed his uncle Justin and Papi around.  Their baby pheasants and quails were hatching so Dylan was particularly excited about that.  He loves the birds...he just loves all animals.  The first day he was sitting on this little motorcycle and I thought it was cute.  The last day, Justin brought out this motorcycle with training wheels on it for kids and Dylan was in heaven.  He had so much fun.  He held the birds, rode the motorcycle and four wheeler, played in a little swimming pool and on the playground and just had tons of fun.  What a great trip! 

What Was I Thinking?

I'm not exactly physically prepared for our stake trek, which just hit me is in three weeks.  We have a practice trek for the ma's and pa's this Saturday and then trek starts July 17.  I figured I'd do the best I could and wing it from there.  It's going to be tough, but I think I can do it.

To physically challenge my out-of-shape, soon-to-be-30 mommy body even further, I signed up for a very difficult race on August 2.  I thought it was at the end of August until I read it after I'd already signed up.  But I probably would've signed up anyway.  There was total peer pressure involved and I fear I may have made the wrong decision.  Two of my sisters-in-law decided to sign up for the race and I couldn't be the only one not participating.  What the crap was I thinking?  It's straight up a mountain for seven miles and back down again.  Hello, I haven't exactly been exercising routinely.  

I've gone running or to the gym a few times, but it's tough to train for a race in the mountains at the gym.  So today I decided I would go running around town, but include a really steep hill.  I conned Marcos into going running with me.  We strapped the kids into the jogging strollers and off we went.  Not a good sign that I wanted to turn back two streets into the run.  Later I decided I must be sending myself too many negative messages with my doubts of my race capabilities.  I repeated all the "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it people like me" phrases I could think of, but to no avail.  I was still having to pick up my foot and focus to make each step happen.  I am not a good runner nor do a like running much.  Again, what was I thinking?  The ipod does help though.  

Poor Marcos.  He's always been a good runner and is currently playing a lot of soccer and tennis.  Then there's me.  At best, my "jog" is speed walking with more bounce.  To say that I'm slow would be a huge understatement.  But I've got to do this!  I signed up and the last thing I want to do is back out of this dang race (or not finish).  Marcos thought we'd be running the hill.  I'm sure I was quite a disappointment when I could barely walk it with the stroller.  He was so cute and motivating, trying to yell inspirational words over my noisy ipod songs.  Finally, he decided to just be my hero.  Picture this:  Marcos pushing Dylan in the jogging stroller with one hand, the other around my waist helping push me and my stroller up this ginormous hill.  Yep, cute, but embarrassing.  If this is any indication of how trek is going to go, I'm in big trouble.  I'm glad he has that much endurance.  On the way back, I discovered we had pretty flat tires on the stroller I was pushing.  Stupid, cheap stroller tires.  I decided that must've accounted for part of the difficulty pushing the stroller.  I doubt it, but it makes me feel a little bit better.  I got home and went for a drive to track our progress on the odometer.  It was 4.9+ miles so I'm calling it an even 5.  It took us 1 hr and 10 min, which is quite slow, but at least I made it home.  I definitely had my doubts.  

Needless to say, this is going to be a difficult month.  On top of what I consider to be a pretty full schedule, I've got to find time to train when someone can watch the kids or Marcos can come running with me.  Seriously, how do people do it?  For starters, they probably train for more than 6 weeks.  I must be crazy!  

Family Night

One of the many adventures we attempt with two little kids.  We figure if we are trying to hold something regularly that resembles family night, then we're succeeding.  Unless we do a family activity (which we do often) our family night usually goes something like this.  Here's how it sounded last night.

Me: Okay, we're going to sing, Give said the Little Stream.  

Marcos: Let's sing it in Spanish. (except he says that phrase in Spanish...something like Cantemos en espanol).  

Dylan: Yeah, let's sing in spanish.

Cringe.  I don't know that one, but I'll wing it.  

Me: Okay, let's sing it in Spanish.

Preston: Deedle, deedle. Bounce, bounce, bounce.  

Family: El arrollito da, siempre da, siempre da (yep, the words to the song).  

I try to follow Marcos.  Halfway through the song, he starts singing "do de do de do de do"  Nice leading, Papi.  Whatever.  Dylan just assumes that's part of the song and Preston continues waddling around the family room with a toy in his hand. 

Me: Dylan, do you want to say the opening prayer?

Dylan: No. (scowling)

Me: Okay, Papi, would you say the opening prayer?

Dylan: No, I want to say it.  

Me: Okay, Dylan say the opening prayer.

Dylan says his repetitious little prayer and we start our family night.

Me: We're going to learn about something really fun tonight.  

Dylan: Is it dinosaurs?  What about pirates?  Arrr, mateys. 

Sigh.

Me: Let's talk about the earth for a minute.  What's on the earth?

Dylan: Elephants.

Me: Yes and what do the elephants walk on?  

Dylan: Dirt

Me: That's right.  And what else do we have?  That we drink?

Dylan: Water.

Me: Right.  We're going to talk about dirt and water.  What did we just do with dirt and water.

Dylan: Planted a garden.

Me: Good job, Dylan.  Did you know the prophet taught us to plant a garden. 

Dylan: Thomas S. Monson

Me: Yep.  And why do you think we were told to plant a garden?  What grows in a garden?

Dylan: Corn, tomatoes, broccoli, beans, squash, zuccini.

Me:  You're right.  And what do we do with those things?

Dylan:  Eat them.  Yum, yum.  

Me: So do you think the prophet tells us to plant a garden so we can be prepared in case we need extra food to eat.

Dylan:  Yeah.  

We proceed to do a bunch of hand actions to planting a garden.  Dylan really loved pulling the pretend weeds out of our garden.  We sang another song and had the closing prayer.  Now for those who are a little bored, here's where the story picks up a bit on the entertainment factor.  I tried to choose a song that had something to do with gardening or summer.  I threw out about five different song names and got shot down every time.  I finally suggested "Book of Mormon Stories" and Dylan seemed pleased.  Okay, he can choose the song.  Pick your battles, right?  

Marcos and Maria: Book of Mormon stories that my teacher tells to me... (actions and all)

We blink and Dylan is halfway up the stairs.  We try to call to him to come back and he yells down to us that he'll be right back.  Marcos and I look at each other and try to decide if we should keep singing or not.  We do anyway, complete with actions.  Hopefully Mr. Waddles is getting something out of this since he's now the only audience we have.  Dylan takes the last three stairs in one big jump and lands in a squatting position with his hand extended.  He is holding the lid to one of our plastic totes.  It's an oval shaped lid with a plastic handle that he had hooked to his hand.  Now for those without the creativity of Dylan, the lid was now his shield in his new activity of playing Nephites and Lamanites.  I'd worry, but he pretty much gets into character of anything he's thinking about.  It's just his thing.  The kid has quite the imagination.  So whether this cheers you up or just makes you think your life is more normal, I thought I would share our little family night story.  It's pretty much what our life looks like on a regular basis.

Sunday Entertainment

After dinner last Sunday, Esteban entertained us with his amazing stacking skills.  It added a little excitement to the evening.  Everyone was laughing and cheering him on, except Mercedes who watched in horror waiting for the dirty dishes to tumble.  Esteban had to throw in the pepper shaker and Dave's Diet Mountain Dew can to keep things interesting.  Thanks for the cheap entertainment, Esteban.   

Fun In The Sun

Even though the weather's been pretty unpredictable this year we've sure been taking advantage of the warm days.  We are outside all the time!  Dylan and Anthony play really well, but I have to keep my eye on my mischievous one-year-old.  Preston likes to "taste" everything.  I turn around to move the water in the garden and he's got a mouth full of dirt, rocks, or even flowers.  Crazy baby!  He also LOVES water!  We set up a little pool and he just sat there splashing around the whole time.  The water table's perfect for him to play in too.  He loves it.  It is so much fun to watch him.  He's walking (err...waddling?) so much more.  I love this stage! Anthony got two baseball toys for his birthday so his parents brought one over here.  It's this little setup that you can use for t-ball or for older kids it actually shoots the ball into the air so you can hit it.  The boys are good enough that we leave it on the battery-operated ball shooting setting.  It has been so much fun.  Dylan hits really well and Anthony loves yelling "Homerun, Dylan!" and chasing down the balls after he hits.  It's definitely been a fun summer so far!

SURPRISE!

Marcos' sister, Tomi, is here from Colombia for a few weeks and it was a big surprise for the siblings.  I have to admit, it's pretty difficult to follow through on the requests to keep things like that a secret, but I did my best.  His mom is way too into surprises sometimes!  It was all I could do to come up with an excuse of why Marcos needed to be at his mom's house when he had young men's, but I knew it wouldn't be the same without him there.  If I'm not mistaken, it's been over two years since we saw her last.  It's tough when family lives far away.  Anyway, I made up about 20 different stories of what would be happening to try to get Marcos to believe that he needed to be there without telling him what was happening.  And I have to say, I am a horrible liar!  He knew I wasn't telling the truth, but he couldn't pull the truth from me.  I told him everything from a surprise father's day party for the guys she was throwing to a group that was coming (a special musical group).  I can't remember what all came out of my mouth, but I was smiling and he was laughing through his own frustration.  Needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise for the siblings when they saw their sister (the baby of the family and the only one that lives far away right now).  I ended up too into conversation and chasing kids to take many pictures, but I did manage to get one of Marcos' mom, Mercedes, and the four kids, Marcos, Esteban, Laura, and Tomasina sipping Laura's infamous lava drinks.  We're so happy you're here, Tomi!  We love you!  

Learning To Appreciate The Train

How do I explain?  Back to being busy.  When I was younger, I felt like my theme song was "I'm In A Hurry To Get Things Done" by Alabama.  Have you heard that song?  

It goes like this:

I'm in a hurry to get things done

Oh, I rush and rush until life's no fun

All I really gotta do is live and die

But, I'm in a hurry and don't know why

Don't know why

I have to drive so fast

My car has nothing to prove

It's not new, but it'll do 0-60 in 5.2, oh

I'm in a hurry to get things done 

Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun

All I really gotta do is live and die

But, I'm in a hurry and don'tknow why

Can't be late

I leave in plenty of time

Shakin' hands with the clock

I can't stop

I'm on a roll and I'm ready to rock Oh

[chorus]

I heard a voice

It says I'm running behind

I better pick up my pace

It's a race and there ain't no room for someone in second place

[chorus]

Okay, so you get the point.  I'm not sure why, but it's the perfectionist, over-achiever in me that just wants to accomplish WAY too much instead of enjoying the journey.  I think I've mellowed out quite a bit since my childhood, but I'm still pretty driven and lose track of life very easily.  I have to remind myself to enjoy the little things.  So today when we got stopped at the train tracks, I had to laugh at myself.  You know the scene well.  You're trying to get all the errands done and you have to hurry to get home and feed the kids dinner....yada, yada, yada.  And these particular tracks always seem to stop you at the most inopportune times and have the longest trains EVER!  Well, despite all this, I was so happy to be stopped by the train.  We were only two cars back and got to watch the lights come on and the crossing guard railing things close down.  I heard my inner voice cheering, so excited that Dylan got to watch the WHOLE train as it went by.  Once I realized how suddenly optimistic I'd become, I couldn't help but laugh at myself.  And I was not disappointed one bit.  Dylan commented on the lights, the train, the oil cars, how many cars there were, where's the caboose... I can't even begin to name all the comments and questions that came out of that one little experience.  I guess that's what kids are meant to help us do - learn things that would otherwise be pretty difficult for us to learn.  My patience and optimism are coming slowly but surely through these precious little souls that try so hard to teach me, yet I forget to listen.  

I remember my mom telling a story about my sister, Melissa.  I don't remember how old she was at the time, but she is 4 years younger than I am and I was old enough to remember this story very clearly.  She was maybe between 4 and 6 years old.  Something like that.  My mom had a similar experience.  She was in a hurry and ended up hitting a red light at a stop light.  She was pretty flustered and wishing she had sped up or somehow made the light.  And then she hears this little voice coming from the backseat say, "Yeah, now we're first in line."  My mom's mood was completely flipped upside down.  It put the smile right back on her face.  Anyway, that's what the train did for me.  I'm learning to appreciate the "trains" in life the way children do.  

Despite such a great experience, my patience flew out the window when I realized the stupid tomato cages were sold out AGAIN.  There goes another day of errand running.  On my flustered drive back, I saw a sign with the following saying on it:  "Genius is having eternal patience." -Michaelangelo  

Apparently I need multiple daily lessons to even begin to grasp some of these basic principles.  So off I go to learn to be a genius...  Wish me luck! 

Parties, parties, parties...

Wow!  When did life get so busy?  Or maybe it's just the summer season.  I hope life isn't always this busy.  I feel like we are constantly running from one thing to the next.  Friday I worked all day and Amy tended the kids.  Marcos picked them up and met me in Bountiful for Mylo's 3rd birthday party. He had a cute skateboard cake (he loves skateboards and snowboards just like his daddy) that Laura (Marcos' sister) made.  It was super fun - good food, friends and family.  Saturday I got up and went to my friend's house to practice the violin.  She played the piano with me in church on Sunday.  I went straight from there to the gym.  I figured it was the only chance I had of getting in some cardio.  Luckily I am super hooked on the Twilight series books so the gym flies by as I turn page after page.  I never thought I'd like them but I do.  I came home from the gym, showered, gave the baby a nap and went to Anthony's 3rd birthday party.  It was a pirate party...kind of like a block/street party.  They had dutch oven cooking that was delicious.  The best part though was watching Anthony and Dylan walking together, holding hands and playing like little kids should.  They are just such good buddies.  Anthony was totally ready to ditch his party to play with Dylan.  He was so excited to have him come to his house instead of coming over to our house for once.  His parents even commented on how close the two of them are.  They always knew how much Anthony loved coming to our house, but they don't get to witness the two of them playing together the way I do.  It was so cute and eye-opening for them.  He really is like a part of the family.  We had to run from that party to my nephew, Tanner's, 1st birthday party at my mom's house.  We had some pizza (the second dinner of the day) and a pinata and the kids played and had a great time.  It got a little late so everyone was fussy at the end, but it was really fun.  Click here to view some pictures from Anthony and Tanner's birthday parties.  I don't have any from Mylo's because I forgot my camera, but Laura took plenty and posted them on her blog.  

Back to being busy.  We sat down and figured out our summer.  We were trying to plan a weekend to Idaho to visit Angie and Justin.  Between my sister's trips down here, family reunions, trek, a temple sealing, two baby blessings, work stuff, tons of summer birthdays including my 30th in August (yikes!) and many other things I'm surely forgetting there are hardly any weekends not already booked.  Man, I need life to slow down for just a minute.  It's getting kind of hard to juggle all those balls I've thrown up in the air!   

Church

Okay, I'll admit, whenever I see the cute little girls in their church dresses, I wonder how it would be to have a baby girl.  So much different than what we have here.  Rough, tough, rumbly, tumbly, noisy little boys.  But looking at them in their little outfits today reminds me just how much I love boys!  I couldn't get that perfect picture I had envisioned with all the wiggles and giggles, but you get the basic idea.  They looked so cute in their little vests and ties.  It makes me smile to think of these handsome young boys with whom I've been entrusted.  They're my heart!  

By the way, the day went great.  Even though I had to get everything ready alone, I was ready to go by 8:45 a.m.  I needed time to tune my violin and get set up to play in church.  So what happens?  Dylan needs a bathroom break right before we walk out the door and it was not quick.  We walked in right when it was time to start.  Despite a couple setbacks, the song went well and the primary class I substitute taught was darling.  Marcos took Preston went home about 45 minutes early because he was just too grumpy so after church Dylan and I decided to walk home.  It was so much fun talking to him while we walked home from the church.  And then...Preston took such a long nap that Marcos and I were able to put on a movie for Dylan and both get in a little nap before he woke up.  Wa-hoo!!

Tagged

Let's see how this goes.  Thanks for the tag, Lau.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Starting to fall for Marcos.  We had our first date in July 1998.  We'd been friends long enough that by the time we actually went out, I had a pretty big crush on the kid.

2. Living at home still and hanging out with my sisters when I was actually at home.  Ah, the good old days.  Very few bills so my small paychecks could basically be mine to spend.  

3. Going to Weber State.  Taking lots of credit hours to finish my degree quicker, including loading up on classes during summer semester, orchestra classes to keep my scholarship and peer leadership stuff I did through the early college department.  I was pretty busy with my scholastic achievements back then.

4.  Hanging out with my best friend, Lisa.  The two of us were pretty much inseparable throughout high school and college.  I'm so lucky to have a friend that kept me on the straight and narrow.  We had a ton of fun, but we were good kids...our parents would approve of most of our memories.  Sure, we broke into a few fraternity apartments, but other than that everything we did was legal.  Seriously though.  We had fun hanging out playing games, playing music (on the radio or our instruments), going on road trips and dating boys.  That was the life!  

5.  Working random blah college jobs that ranged from "on-campus" jobs to the crappiest janitorial job ever!  Some memories I'd rather just leave behind!

5 things on my to do list:

1. Buy new shoes for Dylan.  His tennis shoes are totally falling apart.

2. Paint my new paper shelves in the office.  Yes, I know, that's been on my list for awhile.  I thought they were good, but I'm thinking I might need another coat.

3. Buy new tomato cages.  Last year our tomatoes did really well and the dang cages broke.  We're going to invest in the sturdy kind this year.  I need to think about doing this sooner than later so the plants don't get too far ahead of me.  

4. Type up my recipes for the recipe swap I'm going to tomorrow.  Yum, desserts.

5. Which brings me to my last item that hopefully happens.  Seeing as how I'll be eating my fair share of desserts tomorrow, I've got to try to get my exercising in at some point tomorrow.  Maybe in the morning?  Hmm...I haven't thought it through yet, but I'm praying I have enough desire to get up and get it done.

5 favorite snacks/food:

1. Brownies.  I never liked the dang things until my pregnancy with Dylan and now I have to make myself stay away from them.  Stupid chocolate fix! 

2. Pasta.  I love most pasta dishes.  I love fixing them, eating them, experimenting with them, etc.  I love pasta with fresh vegetables from the garden.  I can't wait until that garden starts growing!  

3. Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  I don't know where this came from either.  My sisters think I'm so weird that I love it so much.  It's seriously my favorite lunch ever!  

4. Okay, so I love sandwiches.  I love turkey with provolone sandwiches with lettuce, tomato and a little bit of light miracle whip.  So tasty.  My other favorite - don't laugh - is peanut butter and banana.  I seriously could live on those dang things...preferably toasted.  

5. Fruit.  I really love sweet things, but fruit is always a favorite.  I love fresh fruit and look forward to the fruit that ripens at different times of the year.  Melons, strawberries, bananas, grapes, peaches, cherries, nectarines...you name it, I pretty much like it.  

5 things I would do if I was a billionaire: 

1. Pay off the car and the house.  I absolutely hate debt, even the kind that is supposedly acceptable.  Okay, that's a lie.  I'd probably upgrade the house just a little and then pay it off.  I don't need some crazy dream house, but maybe something a little bigger and nicer.  And I'd buy a minivan too.  I know, SO extravagant.  I hate not being able to fit everyone in one car though.  Even though we're only a family of four, we can never give people a ride.

2. Travel.  Marcos wants to go to Argentina so bad.  I'd love to see the world, although the thought of traveling with kids makes me crazy.  I'd probably combine my travels with humanitarian projects.  I'd love to help with some of the humanitarian aid in 3rd world countries like digging a well or building a school or something.  Just get my hands dirty and learn to appreciate how blessed we truly are would be awesome. 

3. I'd want to help people, but I'd try to be smart about it.  I think people come out of nowhere when you have money, so I'd really want to have a plan for who and how I helped others.  I'd also want to set aside a certain amount of money to invest and plan for the future so I could only ever have access to a percentage of my money.  I think it would be way too easy to go crazy and blow all of your money...no matter how much you start out with.

4. If I had money, I'd probably hire someone to help out with the housework and maybe even hire a chef for a couple meals a week so I could spend more time with the kids and not always feel like I was running around trying to accomplish a million things.  

5.  The geek in me would probably always take classes of some sort.  I LOVE learning and to have stress-free learning just for the sake of learning would be awesome.  I would just take a class here and there so I could really study and learn, but I would love to be able to afford (and have the time) to take classes for fun. 

5 bad habits:

1. Taking my shoes off when I come in the house and not putting them away.

2. Leaving my drink cups out on the counter.  I love having a cup to get refills with, but it drives Marcos crazy!

3. Losing my patience with my kids.  It's more of a character flaw, but it's a bad habit too.  I try hard, but they test me to the limit on a daily basis. 

4. Not filing my mail right when I get it.  I HATE that part of being a grownup.  Trying to keep the important stuff organized drives me nuts.

5. Going to bed too late.  This is a big one.  Then I'm so exhausted the next day!

5 places I have lived:

1. St George

2. West Valley

3. Pleasant View

4. Bountiful

5. Salt Lake

5 people I tag:

I don't know...everyone who reads this!  I can't pick just 5.  Don't make me single you out, just do it! 

Yard Work = Hard Work

One of the reasons I only posted once last week is because of all the work we've been doing in the yard.  With the weird off and on weather this year, we just didn't get outside to work on anything until this week.  Talk about feeling old!  My body was definitely tested this week.  I guess I'm getting geared up for the abuse it'll take during trek next month.  Here's how it all went.  Tuesday evening I weeded everything.  The next day I spent pulling up bulbs, rearranging perennials and cutting down the dead stuff.  Thursday I bought and planted some annuals and tilled the vegetable garden.  And finally, Friday evening we got the vegetable garden planted.  We're branching out this year with the vegetable garden.  We planted fewer tomatoes, but still have 5 plants.  Hopefully that's not a mistake.  We always have SOOOO many, but I love them! Then we planted four different squash plants (zuccini, banana squash, butternut squash, and yellow crookneck squash).  We also planted cucumber and an eggplant (What am I going to do with eggplant?  I don't know?  If the plant does well, I'll need some recipes).  We also planted cantaloupe, watermelon and honey dew.  If they don't do well this year, I'm not going to try them again next year.  For some reason, fruit doesn't do as well in our garden.  We didn't get around to peas or beans this time because it's too late and they didn't have any starts at the nursery so we decided to try a row of broccoli plants and a couple rows of corn.  Then Dylan planted some carrot seeds in the little side boxes of this old bench we have so we'll see how well they do in that weird soil.  I told him it was his job to water and weed and help them grow.  That'll give him something to help with and keep him from over-nurturing my garden...hopefully.  I have Preston, the quick-moving dirt and plant eater for that!  Talk about a lot of work, but we're finally caught up.  Let's just hope we can stay that way.  Here are a couple of no-so-good pictures of our outdoor projects last week.  

Saturday Is A Special Day... (la la la)

I spent quite awhile posting about my sweet little Preston Friday night after the kids had gone to bed.  Well, as soon as I put in writing that Preston was starting to stand, but still not taking steps, he started walking.  Hold onto your boot straps folks, we're crossing into toddlerhood.  I'm not sure I'm ready, but it's coming anyway.  Marcos and I were just playing with the kids on Saturday morning and Marcos held Preston away from the couch and told him to walk.  Sure enough he did.  He took 2-3 steps towards the couch.  We all went crazy shouting and cheering.  Next thing you know, I've got the video camera out and Preston is taking his careful little baby steps from Marcos to Dylan and back again.  You should've seen the big grin on his face.  He worked up to about 6-8 steps at a time, but is still pretty wobbly.  Once he falls, he remembers how much faster crawling is and resorts back to his tried and true method.  I have to admit, I didn't think I'd be this excited. With your second kid you just know what to expect a little bit more.  But I guess no matter how many kids you watch learn to walk, it's still pretty amazing to witness. I was pretty giddy as I called everyone on the phone to tell them about Preston while I was still filming the little guy.  Half of the video has me talking to someone in the background.  What an idiot!  I just couldn't wait.  It's just one of those proud mommy moments that you have to share.  I can't find my cord to upload the video of him walking.  I might have to break down and buy another one.  Hopefully by the time I post it, he hasn't been running circles around me for months.  Yeah little man.  Congratulations on your big accomplishment.  I sure love you, baby boy!

Saturday afternoon we went to my dad and Suzanne's house for a little party.  We had a bbq, hung out, played in the yard and ended up getting wet.  It was such a fun day visiting with family and just relaxing.  It seems like so many times when we get together there is work to be done or someone has to leave early.  It was nice to just have everyone together and the kids all getting along.  It was quite the miracle, but being outside always helps.  Thank you spring/summer weather.  Preston missed his afternoon nap and was still so good all day.  It was amazing!  Towards the end of the night, we looked over and realized the older four boys had been stacking bricks.  They had built an entire fort and were just sitting inside it.  We watched Tony (the ring leader) tell them all to scoot down and take their places, which ended up meaning he was putting them in order of their age.  They all just obeyed and scooted down.  It was so much fun to observe without their knowing we watching them.  We were having so much fun watching them play together and then it hit us.  Hey, over half of the kids are sitting nicely together.  Grab Tanner, Preston and baby Kenya and let's try to get a picture.  Well, we got one.  They're never perfect with young kids, but no one was screaming or running away so it's a million times better than the last time we attempted a cousin picture.  Click on the link below to view the video I put together of some pictures from yesterday.  Like I said, I wish I could have added a little video clip of Preston, but just know that he looks really darling trying to balance while he swings his chubby little legs around.  

Party at Dad and Suzanne's House (click on this link)