We went camping!

In our backyard!

It was General Conference weekend and we spent most of it bumming around the house while we listened to conference on the Internet. The weather has been gorgeous so hubbie took out our very first tent and went camping with Rowan in the backyard. Baby steps in preparation for our "Surviorman" trips.

Upon leaving the tent for a while with the door open Rowan was dismayed to find bugs inside. I thought we were in the clear as far as insects go after observing scads of dead worms on our pavement which were seeking relief from our fabulous AstroTurf. I guess the worms didn't share our enthusiasm for low-maintenance landscaping but the ants and various other creepy crawlies give it several thumbs (antennae etc) up.

FLASHBACK WARNING

This tent actually holds a lot of memories for us. Namely being squashed while we travelled cross country in KOA campgrounds to get to our now beloved hometown. When we decided to move out to "Middle America" (yes it is a Counting Crows reference) we, with the help of hubbie's family, packed up our cars until we could not see out of any windows and then proceeded to strap our remaining possessions onto the top of my car. These items were secured from falling off, unlike one of the U-Hauls we encountered on the road which proceeded to throw a queen sized bed our way. However they were not secure enough to negate the need for a watchful eye. Also we were (and still are) cheap. So we stayed at various KOAs after driving 8 hour days and were rewarded with hot showers, bumpy grounds and questionable neighbors. Did I also mentioned we moved in August and I was the lucky one who got to drive the car without air-conditioning? Hubbie wasn't blessed with the ability to drive a stick shift. The weather was so hot I ended up driving with a bag of ice in my lap. So that's our trip down memory lane for today- hope you all are enjoying good weather as well!

It's finally resolved

The funny thing is I tried 3 pictures in total. The first one said that #1 looks more like me by 3%, the second weighed in hubbie's favor by 3% and the third gave me this result. I've never really been able to pinpoint who Rowan looks like and I guess this is why.

Tractors on the brain...

I got honked at yesterday, and not in a good way (those days, if they ever existed in the first place, seem to be behind me). As I was reaching to get something for Rowan, apparently I was also veering into the other lane. I don't know about the general population, but it seems that I have become a worse driver since becoming a mother. For those who knew me back in high school, yes I was a bad driver back then but at least it was deliberate.

The worst distraction lately is due to my son's obsession with tractors. Sometimes in the church you'll hear stories about the pioneers crossing the plains and how, at particularly desperate times, they would look at a rock in the distance and make a goal that essentially went "I'll walk to that rock, then I'll give up and die" repeating the goal over and over until hopefully they arrived at their ultimate destination. Sometimes I feel that way in car trips with Rowan, only the rocks are tractors, the dangers of death are due to me pointing out the tractors, and I only feel like I'm going to die if I don't find some more tractors to soothe my fussy 2-year-old who hates being in the car. I find that there are times when I look more at the construction sites we pass, than at the road. This continues even when Rowan is not in the car- "Wow, a grader and a skid steer- what a score- too bad Rowan's not here." It's a dangerous game of hopscotch that really just needs to end. But honestly how do you concentrate on the road when your child can reach octaves you never knew existed? I think I just scared the grandparents - I'll try to do better!

Snacktime- Thrilling I know

Well, it's thrilling if you're here anyways. 5 open cups of water- enough said. I told them to give me their orange smiles and this was the result. Alyssa showed me her half consumed orange- Preston seemed to be the only one who knew what I was talking about.

Preschool

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently in a preschool coop of sorts with 4 other moms in our ward. So once every month and a half I get to watch 5 toddlers and try to teach them about a certain theme. With the dissolving of the preschool because of impending moves and craziness of summertime vacations, I decided to jump on the bandwagon to document as much as I can of these events. What I didn't realize is how difficult it is to orchestrate a lesson and use a camera at the same time. So here's some after the fact pictures. We learned about Spring today and made some "Mr. Grassheads". Hopefully they will grow "hair" which the kids can then style if they so choose. Only two of the cups got knocked over- a mild success.

Delayed Easter Experiences

So, apparently Rowan didn't do a very good job finding all of his Easter eggs. There's nothing like 5 toddlers roaming the house to effectively find the remaining eggs. 5 kids with 2 Nerds+2 Laffy Taffies=4 candies and certain destruction. The solution? A communal candy bowl, which was well received.