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Flashback Friday

Not much going on here so I thought I would start a new tradition. Each Friday I will post something from the past.

One year ago:

Mancation

Dan is at interbike in Las Vegas with some friends. Dalls went from SLC, Kyle from CO, Rob from MA and Dan from ID. I think they are having lots of fun, living off the complimentary energy drinks. I wish I was on vacation. Oh well, I guess now is a good time to post some yearbook pictures of Dan.

Female version:

I'm the last five, in case you can't tell us apart.

First Day of Preschool

And last. I signed Stella up for preschool when we moved here thinking she would be potty-trained in time. I was wrong. Her teacher said I could bring her once to try to get her excited about it and motivated to get trained. When I picked her up she told me how much fun she had. As soon as we walked in the door I told her to sit on the potty. She refused. I said, "Well, then you can't go to preschool." She said, "I don't want to go to preschool." We have used all sorts of bribes and rewards. Nothing keeps her interested. I'm going to try candy rewards. Wish me luck (and patience).

She is three and has an HSM back pack. I let her pick this one out hoping that she would continue to want it as badly as she did in the store and, thus, be motivated to poop on the potty. She still hasn't earned the bag. This was a one-time loan.

Maine: Part 3

Fortune's Rocks is a short drive from the beach house. It has waves (sometimes big enough to surf) and sand and seagulls and tide pools.

Here we have Fred modeling his new swim diaper. Doesn't he look fast?

Yummy sand:
The water is warmer in the tide pools:

Fred bookin' it down to the ocean--or as Stella calls it, "that big swimming pool thing." (I have very intelligent kids.) I think the water is cold but Fred didn't mind it:

Dan's sister Kristen and Sala:

Why did it not occur to me to put her hair back?

Dan's dad:

Jumping waves:

Surfing in whitewater kayaks:
Me:

Fred's suit got left behind this day:Memere and Fred
The Hyldal family came up from Massachusetts for the weekend. Rob and Dan went for mtn. bike rides and Rowe, Kristen and I played tennis. It was fun to have our boys play.

Paddle ball (I cropped my saddle bags out of the picture for your viewing pleasure):
The end.
More pictures on flicker

Calling All BYU Fans &/or Do-gooders

A few months back I deleted all my blog feeds except for people I have actually met. For you youngsters it might be the equivelant of deleting your myspace friends--who am I kidding, youngsters aren't reading my blog. Anyway, nienie dialogues was one of those blogs. Why was I wasting my time reading about someone else's life? Well, awhile later I came across her blog again and she had started adding "daily inspiration" to her posts--usually a link to something on lds.org. I put her back in my favorites. I've never met her but I admired her. Her posts weren't long anyway so I wasn't wasting much time.
Stephanie and her husband were in a plane crash (up-dates given on her sister's site). It is all over the blogging world, the news, the new york times, the today show. There are many on-line auctions to raise money for their hospital bills. My cousin Chanell started one on her blog. Lots of our blog readers are friends from our beloved and deeply missed Lehi 26th ward. I know lots of you are BYU fans so you will like this auction. Please tell others about it. It is for a good cause.
I know there are so many people out there that need help with hospital bills but here is another sad story and auction if you're looking for another good deed.

Maine: Part 2

Dan's great-grandfather built this beach house with lumber from the sawmill he owned. Dan's mom's share is one week during the summer (and a couple in the winter).

Dan, Fred and Pop in beautiful beach sunset lighting:

Nice snaggle:
Stella wanted a turn:

Warrior princess:

Great-grammy and Fred:

The porch:
These are Dan's cousins, all adopted from China:

Pepe rocking Stella to sleep:
The beach in front of the house has lots of rocks (not much sand and waves). It is good for climbing, hunting crabs and snails, collecting shells and exploring:

Maine: Part 1

I have no idea how many parts there will be to our Maine trip but I'll start with our birthdays.
We celebrated Fred's, Dan's and my birthday while at the beach house. Thanks to Kristen we had pulled pork tacos and cupcakes for Fred. Dan got homemade sushi rolls with lobster, salmon and shrimp and chocolate cake for dessert. On my night we had a lobster bake and cheesecake. I guess it is the east coast's version of dutch oven. The lobsters were trapped nearby and delivered to the beach house the same day. It doesn't get any fresher than that.

Chloe trying a steamed clam. She liked it and had more:

Side note: Chloe is such a weird eater. I asked her what food she doesn't like: strawberries, oranges, wheat bread (or crust), green beans, peas, tacos, tomatoes, pineapple, raisins, corn, watermelon, pears, onions (most fruits and veggies), chicken (except in nugget form), hotdogs, ham, tomato sauce, hamburger, meatballs.

But she loves beans, avacados, sushi rolls (except the seaweed), rice, edemame, pasta w/out sauce, french fries, gyoza, cream of wheat, fried shrimp, lobster, clams (I think she liked dipping them in butter), AllBran cereal, jerky, pistachios, steamed broccoli (again because of butter), cherries, eggs (hard-boiled only).

I really don't like the meal planning and preparation part of motherhood.

1st Will Be Even Better

Yesterday I went for a run and decided to stop and let the girls play at one of the parks we passed. When we got home I put Fred down for a nap and then noticed the clock said 12:42. Chloe's class starts at 12:50. I hurried and did her hair and gave her a yogurt to drink in the car on the way (good thing they get snacks). One of the big pro's about our new home is that it is 200 yards from a new school. I can drop her off and be back home in under 5 minutes. (So I left Fred sleeping--don't turn me in.)

Her class gets out at 3:40. Fred slept until 3:20. Stella is really good at pretending and playing by herself. I think it is a nice break for her to not have Chloe dominating and dictating. At one point I realized it had gotten really quiet...I found Stella like this:Taking a nap!

And today while Chloe was at school and Fred was taking a nap Stella asked me to open a box of toys. When I told her she had to first put the other ones away she had a melt-down. So I said, "Why don't you go lay down and take a nap like you did yesterday?" "NOOOO!!!" But then she did it! She stopped taking naps almost a year ago.

I LOVE KINDERGARTEN!!

Favorite Spot

This is Fred's favorite spot. If the door to the bathroom is open you'll find Fred in there playing in the water. You may be thinking, "aren't you afraid he'll knock his other teeth out?" No, not really. The flooring is linoleum. But I am worried he'll break his neck. We try but he is really quick.

We also need to keep the girls door shut now:

He had his eye on that sippy cup.

Finally

We were in Maine all of last week. I'll post about that after I sort through the hundreds of photos from the trip.
In other news, today was Chloe's first day of kindergarten. (Everyone else started last week but we were gone--oops.) While she was at school Stella played at Annie's and Fred took a long nap. It was nice and quiet. No my-baby-is-growing-up tears were shed.



We compromised with a blue (instead of pink) Camp Rock backpack. I guess you shouldn't take your kid to the store with you if you want them to have a character/disney-free bag.