camping

 We went camping at a little metro park.  They had an awesome swimming area that the kids loved.  We went fishing, bike riding and our camp site was right near a playgound.  It was awesome. 

 We went 2 weekends in a row because the kids had so much fun. The weather was great and minimal bugs.  What a great weekend.

last day of school

 Eliza's last day of school.  She loved kindergarden and she loved her teacher.

 When picking up Eliza Fenton had to wear his cowboy hat.  he is a weirdo.

cute things the kids have said

One afternoon I was trying to explain to Eliza that I wasn't perfect and that I needed to work on things everyday to become better.  That I wasn't perfect. 
And Eliza responded "Yes you are mama, you are perfect for Papa and that is why he married you".
I thought that was so sweet.

Carter calls "Cars" "duh duh cool".  It took me some association but he watches "cars 2" and the main theme song in the beginning sounds like James Bond and we sing it "duh duh du.. duh duh du...ect" and so he now calls cars "duh duh cool"

Also we play Mario bro and he loved Luigi.  I gave Carter a green Popsicle and he said "Luigi time" because it was green like Luigi.  I love his associations and it keeps me on my toes.

Heavenly Father answers prayers

I just needed to make a note to some prayers that were answered for me.
Yesterday I was supposed to meet a BYU alumni representative that flew in at 6:00.  I needed the church keys to meet him at the church and I was already running late and we couldn't find the keys.  As the time ticked away and my patience quickly went away I was searching in Eliza's room and was getting frustrated and stressed with the kids around me, I just stopped and said " we need to pray"  so we all got on our knees and prayed we would find the keys.  I got up and within about 15 seconds we found the keys.  I know that Heavenly Father answered my prayer.

Another incident in Grenada our car wasn't starting at the church and we didn't know what to do.  We kept trying and trying for about 15 minutes.  Then we said a prayer and David tried one thing different (holding the key in starting position) and it worked.  We couldn't believe it.  Heavenly Father hears us and answers prayers.

Chicago

David had a test in Chicago so we decided to make a quick trip of it.  We have never been there before so we were excited.  While David was taking his test I took the kids to the Lincoln park Zoo.  It was pretty cool.  It is free and so open and tons of people just walking through or riding their bikes.  We saw some cool lions and mountains lions.  Eliza loved it that the Lion was roaring, really loud.  They had some pretty cool bats and other nocturnal animals.  Their apes were awesome and they had a special little playland for the kids.  I called it the spider man play place.  They loved it.  They climbed and climbed around.  I had to go in after Carter because he wouldn't come out when it was closing.  We just hung out the played soccer outside on the river front park.  We had a great view of the city skyline.   

 We headed to the SHEDD aquarium the next day with David.  We were able to pet some sting rays.  the kids loved it.  We went there first because no one was there yet, but at the end of the day Eliza wanted to go back.  It was pretty amazing to be so close to these water flying creatures. 

 The jellyfish display was pretty cool.  All sorts of jellyfish and all lit up.  So cool and relaxing.

 This was a play submarine.  The kids loved it.  This is Carter trying to see putting all of his little toes to work holding him  up. 

 A rare moment when it was just our kids in there.

 They had a penguin exhibit and the kids could dress up like penguins and they had a little slide to slide on their bellies.  Carter and Fenton loved it.  Fenton was so cute waddling around and sliding on his belly.  I had to pull Carter away and he was sooooooo mad at me.  But what cute penguins they make.

 The sky line of Chicago.  I was really surprised with Chicago.  I didn't think it was going to be this big.  It was huge.  I went to the park and it was a happening place.  Tons of bikers, runners, tennis, kayakers, etc.  I couldn't believe it.  The neighborhood were awesome to have such a vibrant city.  It really made me realize how much Detroit is dieing.  Such a contrast for the big cities.  Detroit is so condemned and vacant and abandoned.  It seems that Chicago offers so many public places for people to get out of their house and be alive.  Such a difference from Detroit.  I feel they are telling us to go inside, stay away from the crime and hide. 

Anyway......It was a great weekend.

cute things the kids have said

Fenton "This was not my best day ever mom" in disgust before bedtime.

Fenton "you're only a little dumb mom, not a lot of dumb"

Eliza recently learned what sitting "shotgun" meant.  She asked me "can I sit that gun seat mom?"

Aunt Tiff was describing how hard it was to keep her boyfriend Ryan straight from his room mate Ryan.  Aunt Tiff then said "so when I went over to their house and would knock on the door and ask for Ryan, both would come to the door".  Eliza then said "so what did you do.  did you say "where is my love person?".  I thought that was pretty cute.

Fenton was at playgroup learning about the letter J and he was saying all the words that started with J.  He then said "Jewin, that starts with J right, Jewin".  The mom then said "yes Jewin starts with J, but what does Jewin mean?"
Fenton looked at her with complete confididence, " like 'what cha jewin?'" .  I laughed and laughed.  What a cute kid.

My handy work

 I knew that Carter was growing out of his crib and I needed to have options for him to sleep in and I also wanted a place for guests.  I knew that I wanted a bunk with a twin over a queen.  there are not a ton of options for that and it is quite pricey.  I decided to make a bunk bed.  I looked on Anna-white and found a plan for a bunk bed that I could do and I liked. So I bought the wood, borrowed some tools, bought some tools and started.  I cut the wood to the lengths and started sanding. Sanding and sanding and sanding.  I sanded for about 4 days.  My arm hurt and my shoulder hurt, but while I spent hours sanding I was inspired of a gospel principle I may share later... anyway. Here it is, stained, sanded, and it holds the kids.  I love it because when we get a bigger home we can just have a loft bed, we can have just a queen.  It is versatile. 

Also I wanted some place to store our skiis so I went to work and built this little ski holder in about 1 hour.  It works great.  I am looking for another project.  I got a really nice drill now and a new corner pocket tool to use.  Let the building begin.