Old MacDonald

Today at our local library we had a visitor. Ronald McDonald himself. Jacob insists he is not a clown, he is Old MacDonald. Even with the red nose, big shoes and crazy hair and outfit, he is not a clown.

Jacob was chosen from the crowd to help spell Library. While introducing Jake, MD said "everyone say 'yo marshall Jacob'....and the whole crowd chimed in.....'yo marshall Jacob'....He did magic tricks and made a sock puppet and from the back row even Tara and I had a few giggles....he was actually a little funny.

The past week it has been really rainy and we haven't really gone anywhere...so this was fun.

The kids each got a bookmark with a free coupon...so, we went right over to McD's for a snack of apple dippers....yea.....free things....we're lovin' it. We saw him again and asked to take a photo.

The kids at the pool party.
Emily, Emily and Audrey......Caris, Tara and Emma.

Jacob was finally happy swimming at the pool party we had yesterday. He's pretty comfortable in the water, though he still doesn't have the interest or maybe I should say patience to learn how to "properly swim". But, he did have fun with his buddies.

On the left is Josh Cruze, on the right is Josh Layton and in the back is Todd.

I didn't write much about Gene's scout camp before. But, I need to say this. He was working on organizing this thing for a good 6 months....well, longer than that. The past couple of months he had teleconferences at 7:30 am on Saturday mornings to coordinate all that would happen. Our stake hosted this 10 (ten) stake lds encampment. Gene was in charge of organizing the schedules of classes and parking and placement of all the people in camp. There ended up being about 600 boys and 150 leaders in a 300 person size camp at Camp Buck Toms. He also taught an aviation class and took them to an airfield. He did a fantastic job and I've only heard good things. He packed his own tent but ended up sleeping under a pavillion on just his air mattress. He got all these "thank you" awards from other stakes. He got to travel around the camps escorting the YM first presidency members around and met every boy. They awarded him a hand carved bolo tie that aren't sold...just given away. I can't find where he put it...but, I'll try to get a photo. It is an aviator....they didn't know he used to be in the Air Force, but thought rather he had an aerial view of the whole project and had the "big picture" in mind. I thought the t-shirt and theme was a very good idea. These "head" t-shirts were bright and practically glow in the sunlight so anyone who has a question could find them. Gene said it worked like a charm....he couldn't stand next to someone else in the same shirt...the glare was too bright.

Half way through two weeks without Dad

This summer has been quite busy. Things generally have mellowed out a bit. When I now get up in the morning and say "Hey guys, want to go to the park?" They say "Naw, we just want to hang out here." Great...I can catch up on the laundry or read my book.

But, I have included alot of photos lately without many words. So, I'm going to try to attempt to catch up a bit.

Tara asked the other day why we haven't been to the dentist in a while. (It's only been a few months, but she really wants braces-crazy, I know.) I told her it's because our dentist no longer takes our insurance and I haven't found a new one that does.
The next day I saw a note written on my dry erase board "find insurance dentist". Her handwriting has improved so much I thought someone else had written it. (I have her practice a little bit everyday.)
She began swimming lessons last week. We got some goggles and she is a pro at getting in the water (with no shaking), bobbing up and down, blowing air out through her mouth and nose. She even could go all the way under the water and fetch jacks on the steps. This is a huge improvement.
We've had some friends over to play and some have had younger sibilings and Tara has been so sweet and kind to them, taking care of them and helping. This "mother hen" mode is very unusual for her.
One night before bed she told me that she cries everytime someone says the word "die" or "death" and just got really upset. It led to a very lengthy conversation talking about life after this earthly life. We covered questions I thought she already knew the answers to. It made me realize she was just afraid of the unknown. It was difficult to make it through the conversation...many tears were shed. But, it has led to an evening discussion every night where she asks me "Mom, tell me something else I don't know."
Also, she has been, on her own, making her bed and combing her hair without being asked. I'm really pleased with the way she is growing up.

Emily is a ravenous reader lately. We started with the library summer reading program which required 12 hours of reading. She started out every evening reading to me...then one day I saw her just reading in the middle of the day in her room "Just for fun", she said. Soon after that she had a book in her hand all the time.....in the car, while others were watching a movie, and she even wanted to take it into the bathtub, NO WAY! She's reading big chapter books. One evening I was putting Jacob to bed and she kept running in and saying "oh no, Justin's been kicked out of the show" then she went away then came back in and said "they didn't realize he didn't have money for the costume" back and forth" now he's earning the money and back in the show." She was so excited about the characters in the book and was anxious to tell me exactly what was happening.
Emily won an award from the Knox County Public Library for her entry into the Create a Monster competition. I'll try to get a photo.
She's taken swimming lessons too....she mostly tiptoes bobbing around for an hour and calls it good.
It's been fun lately for her and me and hair. She lets me experiment with curlers and braids... and bows. In the past she has run when I come near her with a brush. She even let me put a Poofy pony tail on top of her head that looks like a fountain. She's got just the right bounce in her step to pull it off like a pro.
We recently saw "Mamma Mia"...well, the edited version...my version where I skipped over everything except the songs. She thinks Colin Firth is just as dreamy as I do . Yeah, I finally have my chick-flick watching companion for life. Tara's more into the sci-fi...Gene has less and less ability to endure that genre as the years go by and Jacob will only watch Phineas and Ferb.

Jacob is pretty much the same. Loves playing Mario on the Nintendo game cube and watching P&F whenever he can. He's moved up to Emily's old 1st grade math book.
He's in the mode of "Mom, how do you spell......?"all the time. It's good that he's asking. But, Tara always knew how to spell.....is a pro. Emily just sounded it out on her own and wrote whatever she felt like. But, Jacob has to know how to spell it right...won't even try on his own.

Gene has been at scout camp this past week. He left on Sat. the 11th and came home Sat. the 18th about noon. He called Tues. night and said he had the night off....he got home about 10:30, took a shower and fell asleep immediately. He woke up, took another shower "just because he could " and was back to camp before I got up. Saturday he unpacked , fell asleep and then took us to a movie. Ice Age 3, Dawn of the Dinosaurs . The kids each got a free coupon book for completing their summer reading. One of which was a free dino sundae and Brusters....So, after the dinosaur movie, we got a dino sundae. FUN!
Gene spoke as a high councilor and Tara and I sang a pioneer song in church with the YW and Activity Day girls. Gene then took another nap, packed for Chicago, played bingo with us and was gone again.

Last week I spent every evening except Mon. at the church. It was very unusual. Tues. was a class on food storage, Weds. was the YW pres. meeting and volleyball activity. Thurs. was scrapbooking session and Friday was a Memorial service for a sister in our ward who passed away. The kids did a good job all those hours playing by themselves and being patient. We miss Dad, but we are managing ok.

Icee teeth

Tara was so lucky today to coordinate her teeth with her outfit.
We found a new flavor of Icee....blueberry!

Swimming lessons

We have a sweet sister in our ward who has volunteered her time and pool to teach the kids to swim. Tara is totally ready to learn. She has an activity day pool party coming up next week....so, she has a goal in mind and she is focused and relaxed and not afraid to try anything.
Emily has done well....she's making an effort but, is a bit reserved and really feels better if Tara goes first.
Jacob, who loves water and I thought would do the best, spent the whole first lesson saying "no way....I'm gonna die....I'M GONNA DIE!"
So, every day this week, we are at the pool.

A little like me

We were recently going through photo albums. Jacob's kindergarten picture was out as I was going through my photos....and I realized there was a little similarity. Then we got out Emily's....and yes, I think she does look a little like me.

This is me in Kindergarten (1977) next to Jacob's kindergarten picture and then Me in 1st (1978) grade next to Emily in 1st grade(even though the picture slot says 2nd grade).

911

Jacob's been in the "helpful" mode lately. He has the bug catching and squashing thing down to an art. He takes great pride in being called when we girls are in need of a bug catcher. He also has taken a great like to wearing the new blue 'officer' hat. He puts a flashlight in his pant's waist and hooks on a gpf (geographical place finder) on his belt loop and carries around an empty paper towel cardboard tube (as a night stick).

The other morning he woke up first thing and told me "Hey, Mom, if you need a bug catcher you can just call me 'bug boy' and if there is an emergency with bad guys you can just call me 'cop boy'."
Emily came around the corner and quietly said sideways...."Mom, if there were an emergency....I would call 911.... if I were you."

Tee hee...leave it to Emily to be the thinker.

My painted wall. It's awfuly shiny.......that's because it was supposed to be paint for the front door. But, now it's my study/phone/kid's homework spot. It works for now.

Daddy's hat

Gene just went through some old boxes and had a pile of things he was throwing away. One of which was his old air force hat. Jacob tried it on and fell in love. He's keeping it! One man's trash is another boy's treasure.

More 4th of July pics

Happy 3rd and 4th of July

We celebrated a little bit early this year because we had visitors come all the way from Miami to visit us. Ok...so, they were in this neck of the woods for a reunion, but still...we had visitors! Heidi and Dan Tyler and their kids Emily (11), Danya (9), Caleb(6) and Carson(2) came in on the 3rd and we decided to have a party. I knew Heidi in High School and Dan in college...but, the kids and Gene had never met. Thank you facebook for finding long lost friends.
Everyone enjoyed the night. We grilled dinner, played with screaming balloons, the slip and slide, had a short respite while Danya had a very brave first aid moment, put on USA "tatoo" stickers, played Mafia, caught lightning bugs, lit sparklers and had a fantastic fireworks show put together by Gene. I was so in awe, I didn't take many pictures. The kids were screaming with delight. We then had rootbeer floats and played spoons ...and then the kids just collapsed.
It was so fun. Thanks Tyler family for the great holiday!

What's new with the sea wall

We added some life to our sea wall this week. The kids picked their colors and places to paint....so, nothing is proportionately correct...but, they are excited about their dolphin, sunken sea chest, starfish,oyster with pearl, glowfish, and seaweed. The kids love the "show and tell" for Dad each night about what's new with the wall.

our first tomatoes

I needed some green onions from the garden last night for dinner and Tara and Jake came running back saying there are lots of red tomatoes. So, I had them run back down and get some....I think we will send them running before every meal. They sat quietly and Jacob actually stayed in his chair during the meal.

Jake and the bean stalk

Jacob planted a bean seed in his kindergarten class this year. He brought it home and nurtured it, watered it and planted it in the deck flower box ...and NOT overnight...but, in some very good time there is a bean!