Tanner's Game

Tanner had a ball game tonight. He really enjoys baseball. I think it's because he really isn't that competitive yet and it's a nice slow pace. He really likes sitting and waiting his turn to bat and cheering for his team and socializing. He loves being up to bat, and he can hit it pretty far. He also really likes that he doesn't have to run far or for very long like in soccer and basketball. When he is out on the field he does well, but he really doesn't know the rules. When he catches a ball he doesn't know where to throw it and by the time he does throw the play is long over. I know he will learn the game with time. I'm just glad that he has found a sport that he really likes! This is Tanner and his friend Magnus.

Life

We really haven't had much going on this week. On Thursday I had lunch with Shana, Jenn and Tif, which was a lot of fun. We've been getting together every week and have lunch at my house or at Jenn's (we are the only ones with kids so we figure it's best to keep it at our houses for their benefit).
Barry has been studying for his exam that he takes on Thursday. The kids and I have been trying to stay out of his hair so he can get as much studying in as possible. He is going to take Wednesday off and just relax for the day. Then he is going to stay the night in Madison by the testing center. After he finishes his test the plan in to head for Omaha and stay the night there and then caravan to Heber with Erin, Lynn and gang.
We are all getting excited to be back with our families. It's been over a year since we've all been out there. Tanner and Kara are especially excited to see all of their Grandma's and Grandpa's on our trip.
Now I just have to pack! This stresses me out a little, I've got to do laundry and I'd like to have the house clean before we leave and this includes the basement. We had some pretty heavy rain this last week and on Tuesday morning Barry went down to the basement to study and stepped into a puddle of water. He discovered the drain by our washer and dryer was clogged, so water had accumulated during the night. Once Barry used the plunger on it, all the water drained. We only had a few things out on that side of the basement and they didn't get damaged, they just got really wet. The next night it rained hard again and water came in again, but luckily it wasn't as much and it all drained. I'm just hoping that nothing crazy happens while we're gone.

Seen Kendra

Kendy has discovered the stool in the kitchen and she uses it often. I caught her here trying to get herself a rice crispy treat. Kendra is a girly, girl! She loves purses and carried this one around all day long...no matter where we went.
Kendra is also know for carrying around Kara and Tanner's underwear the same as she does with purses. Almost anything with two holes she will find a way to cart it around like a purse.

In this picture Kendra is trying to climb up the stairs through the rails. She started with her pants up, but she got stuck and every time she moved her pants came down...which caused more of a problem for her to get through. Eventually they did come off and she was successful at climbing the stairs.

Kendra is 15 months now and we thoroughly enjoy her. She makes us laugh all the time and is becoming a copy cat. Tanner can get her to copy him stomping his feet, jumping up and down and riding a stick horse.

She is starting to say more words like....mama, dad, hi, ball, book, up, banana, dog, Tan, Kar, uh oh and up. I was holding her today and she said, "up" when she wanted down. She is understanding more each day too. She will go and get a diaper when we ask her to and she'll run to the bathroom when we say it's bath time.

If a door is open she runs as fast as she can outside. She loves rides in the wagon and on Kara's scooter. She likes to color with Tanner and Kara up at the table and will often be on the table. She also likes dolls and building with Mega Bloks.

Barry has been studying for his exam lately down in the basement and Kendy has discovered that he has crackers down with him. She frequently sneaks down to visit Dad for a snack and then comes back up stairs to play.

Barry just got put in as nursery leader so Kendra gets to go to nursery with him. She cries every time she has to go. Barry says she's the worst one in there because she's the only one that cries and the only one in there with a parent. It's weird because she really likes Barry, I just think she doesn't like to be shut in. Kendra doesn't like going to the YMCA child watch either even when Tanner and Kara are with her. When anyone gets after her she whimpers.

Saturday is a Special Day!

Last week I decided that we needed to start chores for Tanner and Kara on Saturday mornings. It seems like we haven't had a free Saturday morning forever because of soccer and basketball, so I had to take advantage of all our free time. I told them that they would have to learn how to vacuum, dust and sweep. They were both jumping for joy at the chance to learn these new skills. Both of them loved the vacuum and were very careful about not running over the cord or their toes. They have done such a great job with their new chores....we even went to get donuts this morning after everything was all clean!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a really great 4th of July and hope that all of you did too! We went to a BBQ at Sam and Amy Andelin's house.

The kids had a great time playing with water balloons, and getting soaked with the hose.
Inside the bucket in front of Tanner, is a frog with just three legs. Tanner carried that bucket around for a long time keeping an eye on the frog. He is sitting next to Natalie, Luke and Ryann all friends from church.
Tanner and Joshua giving themselves rabbit ears for the picture.
Kara loved playing on the trampoline with all the other kids. Barry and I played a game of horse balls (or ladder ball) and lost. Then we played a game of ultimate football. We went all out this year and bought sparklers and pop's for the kids. They were so tired from the BBQ that we didn't even tell them we were missing fireworks, but we did see them last weekend so don't feel too sorry for them.
In case you were wondering, it's face paint not blood on Kara's face. The kids got a little carried away with it.

Stuck in the Canal

Today was eventful...as it always is with kids. Kara was in the living room with toilet paper in her ear. Barry saw her and asked what she was doing. Kara started crying and said that a perler bead was stuck in her ear. He asked her if she did it and she said that Tanner did it. After questioning Tanner we realized that he obviously had nothing to do with it. Kara then admitted to putting it in her ear. We tried every we could think of to try and get that tiny bead out of her ear. We tried flushing it out.
Tweezing it out, but all the tweezers we had were too big. We even called Dick and Nancy to see if they had any small tweezers. Dick came over with some small tweezers, but they were still too big. We even tried to have her jump with her head tilted. Nothing was working.
We finally called up our friend Dr. Judd Anderson (a medical resident) and he met Barry over at the clinic. He had the perfect little tool (a Kelly clamp) and got it out in seconds.
Kara came back holding the Clamps with the bead in them and also a handful of stickers. Thank goodness Judd was avaliable to help and we didn't have to sit around an urgent care for hours.

Dusty Submarines

That describes dinner tonight. I made homemade mac and cheese and I thought it would be a hit. I was wrong, except that Kendy loved it. Tanner was dry heaving trying to swallow every bite. I asked him what he didn't like about it and he said the swallowing part, after all the food is chewed up. I asked him what it was like and he said it's all dusty and hard to swallow.
I also cut up some fruit to go along with dinner. After Kara had unwillingly finished her dinner she asked if she could have a submarine. We all looked at her and said they're nectarines. She said yep...I want one of those.