Pony rides and corndogs

This is Bear two years ago on Honey:
Here is Bear yesterday on Honey:

And this is Bug on her pony Fancy

We went to the Evergreen State Fair yesterday and the kids had a blast. We saw all the animals, had tons and tons of fair food including corn dogs, elephant ears, funnel cake, and strawberry lemonade. The kids got to go on the pony ride which they loved. Bugs pony was at a full out trot the entire time bouncing her all over the place making her laugh. I took out Bears pony picture from two years ago and he has been talking about Honey for the last two weeks and was happy to be able to ride her again yesterday. We went and saw pig races and the lumberjack show too. We also went in a museum of "artifacts" (that's for you mom) from the early 1900's. And it was all hands on. The kids got to operate the water pump and make the trains go. There was even a tractor he could sit on and make a flag go around by pedaling. The kids had a blast and I was beat by the end of the day.

An artist is born

Okay, not really, but today was the first day that I gave her a writing utensil and she didn't put it right in her mouth. She started drawing on the paper(my homework) and so I thought I would try her out with crayons. This is her masterpiece:

What we have been up to

A car for Cars (thanks Gephry)

The blackberries

"Mommy, I am just going to sit here and think about the blackberries." That last about 10 seconds. His little bucket of berries was gone soon after that.

The blackberry pie we made

The fly that Bear found and Bug carried around like a dear friend for 20 minutes

Yogurt goatee

So Bug has for the most part mastered the spoon. However yesterday she decided that she needed to get the yogurt into her face a little faster than the spoon would allow. So she took to just drinking it out.

And this was what she looked like afterwards.

This is the kissy face that she has been making for months but I haven't been able to catch on camera very well. She makes this face all day long and if what my mother told me was true when I was little, her face is going to get stuck like that.

One of Aunt D's friends got a new kitten and it came over to vist the other night. The kids had so much fun playing with it and have been asking about it every day since.

Jo has really started talking lately. Her sign language is coming along and she is repeating words. Or trying too. She usually just says the beginning of the word. Dog is "daw" and so on. She loves to yell for her brother although I have no idea where she learned that. :) She will stand two feet from him and yell, "OAH!!!!"

I have been taking them to the pool for the last month. Bear is still a little timid in the water but I can just stick him on a noodle and he will swim around by himself. I took her last Friday and stuck her in one of those baby floaties, she was fine until I took her out and let her swim around in the water. After that she wanted nothing to do with the floatie, and I could not keep her face out of the water. At first she was just drinking water but then I taught her how to blow bubbles. We all went on Tuesday morning this week and I had them taking turns jumping off the wall to me. I could not keep her on the wall. She kept jumping in. And I was letting her whole body go under before I would grab her. She was having a blast. So I tied a noodle onto her and let her swim around with Bear for the remaining time. Bear is still a little timid about putting his whole head in, he is fine if he jumps and his head goes under but he just won't do it willingly on his own. I was kind of worried about how I would handle both of them in the big pool, but it worked out nicely and I am looking forward to taking them and watching them learn how to swim.

Patience

We went berry picking today. Blackberries grow wild all around here and this is the time of year for them. During our walk yesterday we saw people picking them on the side of the road and Bear asked what they were doing. So we walked over and I introduced him the blackberries. So this afternoon after nap we walked down the elementary school with our buckets.
Bear got two in his bucket before he decided that he was done gathering and his berries started going from bush to mouth. Every fifth one or so he would pick one for Bug who sat patiently in her stroller the entire time. After a while he realized that I had a bucket full and he made a suggestion.
"How about we just sit down here and eat your berries too mommy."
"We are going to take these home so that we can have some there."
"I don't like that idea mommy. I think we should just eat them here."

So I came to the realization that I should probably not take the kids to one of those u-pick fields. If I did I would have to weigh my kids before and after and then just pay according to the weight difference.

A new phase.

So Bug has discovered that putting underwear on her head is fun. Then Bear realized that he must be missing out on some fun so he stuck some on his head. I love the simple things that entertain kids.

**The underwear used in this photo shoot were clean.**

Can I get some cheese?

Ever since we got back from California, there has been a monster in Bears room. At first I tried talking him out of it. "There is no monster." We prayed about it. Then I thought maybe if we make it into something fun, he wouldn't be afraid at night. So I made him tell me what it looks like. It is blonde with a mustache. He plays with it during the day. Tells me what it says to him. Can even point it out when it is in the room. He has showed me where he sleeps back in the corner of the closet. He laughs with it during the day. But as soon as bed time comes, he freaks out. I mean throw a fit scream to high heaven upset. It takes me two hours to get him calmed down and in bed. I have tried everything.
Nightlights, music, taking the slide off the bed so the monster cannot get up, covered the ladder for the same reason, put a GI Joe at the ladder to protect him, I went into the closet with a fake gun and shot the monster(Bear informed me that I missed and the monster could not be shot and was laughing at me) I gave him a picture of me to sleep with. I usually have to stay in his room with him until he passes out from exhaustion.
He finally gets to sleep and then usually wakes up a few hours later screaming bloody murder with leg/foot cramps. I think he is on a growth spurt again and has to be rubbed down and stretched out.
By the time I get him settled down and I get my mind turned off, she is waking up for her early morning breakfast. I can usually get her back to sleep thank goodness.
I do not know what I was thinking going back to school. Bug has decided yesterday that she has become an avid reader. So she brings me book after book and wants to sit in my lap. I am so excited that she is finally taking a love for books, but it is kind of bad timing. I don't know if she is teething, I do not see anything, but she just wants to be on me. And has stood there and screamed at me nonstop everytime I picked up a school book to read today.
I don't know when I am going to do this school work. Right now, all I want to do is sit in a corner and cry right along with Bug.