Boston Buddies

I just returned from a fantastic vacation to Boston! Thanks again to Dave for planning this and surprising me with it! My friend Alisha and I flew out to see our friend Laci who lives in Beantown. We have all been friends since we were five years old and they both always have me laughing. At risk of reporting our entire itinerary...I will do a brief overview of the events: Our first night we went candle pin bowling, small pins, small balls-easy you may think? Not so much, but I won, and I never win bowling here, so I was a fan. The next day we hit the road and began our historical adventures from Lexington to Concord. It is an incredible experience to be where our country began its road to independence and learn about the very first battle. We found our own private Minute Man (see below) who led us around the square. The Minute Man museum is really interactive, loved it and learned a ton. Pretty much I will forever have April 19, 1775 in my head...if you want to know more about that date, call me. We also drove to Walden Pond, which is incredibly tranquil and gorgeous. We hit up Louisa May Alcott's house and went past Emerson and Hawthorne's house as well. The weather was cool and drizzly and yes, maybe we grumbled a bit, but when the next two days turned out to be sticky sweaty, we wished for our rain back!
Later that night, we were off to Fenway to watch the Red Sox! I had been diligently trying to learn the names of the players before I went out there(well, okay not diligently, but I did watch Fever Pitch), but it was all in vain because none of the good players were on the roster! They lost, but we had a great time.

The next day we hit all of the city of Boston we possibly could. We started off at Boston Commons, on to the Boston Gardens and the Swan boats, walked the Freedom Trail to see so many great historical sites: the graveyard with Paul Revere and John Hancock, the South Meeting House, the Old North Church (apparently I never stopped asking about it all day and when I did see it, boy did I jump for joy!!), Feneuil Hall, Paul Revere Park etc. We also had to go to Mike's Pastry's and grab a bite there. We finished our day with a Sunset Sail and pretty much a photo shoot on the boat...here is a picture of Laci and I staring off into the horizon, wind blowing through our hair. The glamor shots and pirate pictures we took of ourselves were pretty entertaining as well. The next morning we were up for a walk around the Charles River and church in the good old boiler building.
Well, as the sun set on my Boston adventure...I realized that we had a fantabulous time and another stash of laughs and memories to draw from! Thanks again to Laci for letting us come to her house and showing us around...Christian, her husband for being our slave boy for the weekend and putting up with us rowdy girls... and McDuff the dog for not being too heart broken when I discovered I was allergic to his hair and had to break up with him.

Communication...

So I titled this blog communication because that is what I have been reflecting on here at our house. Heaven knows Dave and I are always working on ours...and we are loving interacting with Katelee as she is learning words. She has the cutest "uh-oh" exclamation I have ever heard! Grant on the other hand is tuning his skill of communicating through prayer. It is so sweet and fun to have him say prayers for us. They usually are lists of what the happenings were for the day. Here is a good example of one: "....we went to Costco...Katelee screams all the time...mommy did not exercise...Katelee screams all the time." That was Grant's prayer yesterday. Now the day before he asks for blessings to get feeling better (he had been sick) and a new petition I had yet to be a witness for. It went something like this, "...bless Jesus not to be bored." How thoughtful. The funny thing is, when I was little my mom told me I used to include in my prayers, "I hope you are having fun up there without me." So, Grant must be like me, just wanting to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves! Although I am pretty sure everyone on the other side is staying busy!! Here are some photos of Dave and Grant when they went to see David Beckham....I mean, they went to watch the Real Salt Lake game!

What's Your Number?

This may sound like a familiar query to anyone who has recently spoken with Grant. He loves to ask everyone for their number - especially girls! Occasionally, he carries around a little notebook where he "writes" the numbers down. He asked my friend what her number was, she told him, then she asked him why he wanted it. He simply replied, " So I can call you sometime." What a ladies man!

Who wouldn't want her number?!!! Nice hair!!!

While Grant has been tracking down girls' numbers....I have been chasing down 10 year old hoodlums.

Brief summary: As I was relaxing during my kids' nap time, I heard multiple thuds. After investigating, I noticed some girls above my house tossing grapefruit size rocks at our little abode! I opened my glass door and told them to stop throwing rocks, they were hitting my wall. One of these little gals quickly snapped, "You know, we are just going to ignore you." Oooh, that made me mad. Good thing my kids were asleep, I ran out my door... down my street, up the other street and found those little hooligans. I told them to take me to their mothers, to which they refused...so I threatened calling the police, knocking on every door until they took me to their parental figures. Did they cooperate? NO! The little trouble makers tried to make a run for it. I chased them to their house and had a little chat with the mother there. My apology from the one girl went something like this, "Sorry dude." Little rascals. But, no shattered windows, no broken bones, I am just glad I have been exercising and able to keep up with those little runners!!

On a more pleasant note, I planted my first garden ever! We put two tomato plants in the backyard and I was planning on doing green beans. My trusty gardening partner, Grant, was way ahead of me. As I was placing the tomatoes in the ground, Grant the green thumb had already strewn the green bean seeds all over the place. So, who knows where they may sprout! Good luck to us!

come what?... MAY!

One thing I do not usually expect to do on May 1st, is scrape ice off my car, but that is what I was doing at seven this morning! Grant had been messing with my alarm clock, and it was magically set twenty minutes into the future, but hey, it helped me have time to scrape and be off to workout in the time I needed to go! April came and went in a flurry and we have just been plugging along. Lets just do a quick recap of a couple April happenings....Katelee fell down our complete set of stairs, scared me to death, but she got up and shook it off. Grant, who many of you may recall, is still obsessed with garbage, the garbage truck, garbage cans, and all things related to trash. He had my camera for a few minutes the other day and this is what he took a picture of:

Yes, the garbage cans outside our window!! I let him toss our newspaper away and the other day I was putting Katelee in her car seat, while Grant was busily throwing the paper in the recycle bin. When I called to him to get in our car...he was nowhere to be found...again I called his name. This time, I see the lid to the recycle bin slowly open and two little eyes peering out at me. Grant told me that he got in the bin so that the garbage man could take him. After a probably overly descriptive explanation of what would happen to him and the newspaper when they were thrown into the truck, he got out!

We got to visit with Grandpa and Grandma McArthur at the beginning of the month and Grant still says he "misses his Carfurs." It is always fun to see them! We took Katelee to get her pictures taken, see below:
Such a cutie! I catch myself looking at my kids and thinking how blessed I am with these two munchkins. Grant stares off all the time when we are at the dinner table and the other day I asked him what he was thinking about because it was one of those weird stares where someone is looking at you, but not responsive. He simply replied, "I just looking at you mom, cuz I love you." So, good thing the feeling is mutual.

A Wild Child...

That is what Grant has been lately, no surprises to most of you who are acquainted with the boy. I have come to the conclusion that punishments, threatenings, etc are frustrating to not only the child, but the parent!! I will tell Grant if he doesn't do such and such he can't go outside (punishment for me because I want to play outside!!)...I tell Grant if he hurts his sister again, he will not get to watch tv for the day (punishment for me because he sits in a trance for the full curious george program, giving me 30 minutes of rest and delight!), or my latest punishment was when I sprayed Grant's mouth, after he was talking back to me, with "sassy spray" (a mixture of vinegar and water in a little spray bottle), and it bounced off those taste buds into my eye!! Don't worry, the sizzling sensation subsides within a minute or so! Next week may be better...we hope!



We just developed about 7 months worth of pictures at Costco...so I thought before I deleted these bath pictures off of my camera, I would post them. We love the Crayola bath fizzies that dissolve in your water. I have loved discovering the differences in my kids' personalities lately. Bath time, for instance-Grant, not a big fan of water, doesn't want it in his hair, face, etc. Katelee on the otherhand, could lay down in it all day long. Katelee cries all day long and is so dramatic, Grant was not so much this way at the same age. I wonder at times if it is personality differences or gender differences...Grant likes to explain to me that a lot has to do with being a boy. Recently he was jumping off my bed onto the pillows on the floor, definitely an activity that both boys and girls alike would enjoy. Well, he only had on his underwear, and he decided to pull it up on both sides with his hands, creating a self-inflicted wedgie. I asked him why he was doing that and he said, "Cuz mom, it's just what boys do." Lets hope boys like to behave and share and be obedient this week!!!