Bed head and princesses

Sam had some amazingly awesome bed head this morning so I had to get some pictures.



Anyone who knows Sam knows he's a little obsessed with princesses. We are hoping it is because he thinks they are hot. I guess only time will tell. I let him get these cheap little princess dolls, often as a potty reward since we have no girly toys in our house. The other day he got Jasmine and he is smitten. They end up naked most the time, which we are taking as a good sign. ;) But one morning they were all fully clothed and he and I had the opportunity to play a bit with them before Rex woke up. Again, sporting some awesome bed head.

Triops

Rex loves scientific stuff so when I was in Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago and noticed these Triop things, I thought they would be cool. Plus they only live for 30-60 days so good for me right? They were supposed to hatch in 24 hours. This is what they looked like when we first put them in.


48 hours later nothing. Three days went by with no action so I figured we must of gotten a bad batch or done something wrong. The next morning Rex woke up and we were getting ready for school when he noticed something and said, "Mom they hatched! It's a miracle!" Sure enough there were these tiny little clear things swimming around. So tiny they were practically microscopic. The neat thing about them is they grow so fast. You can literally see them change daily. Today they look like this.


I think they are a little creepy but the boys love them. We had six hatch but Mark and I may have fed 3 of them to our beta fish to see what would happen... he was a very happy fish.

Dirt

I had Bunco last night so Mark and the kids ate dinner by themselves. Trying to give my kids something fun for Earth Day, I made a crushed Oreo, chocolate pudding concoction with gummy worms. When I got home I opened the fridge and noticed that one of them was still there. I asked Mark how the kids enjoyed the dessert and he said Rex adored it. Sam on the other hand upon hearing it was "dirt" wanted nothing to do with it.
"I don't LIKE dirt!" he told Mark. After that no amount of convincing would make him believe that dirt did not actually exist inside that cup.

I got the idea here.

Just for fun

Sam looked so adorable the other day in the beautiful weather I had to take a picture. Notice the birthmark on his leg. He has had that ever since he was born and Mark was genius in calling it his "Sam spot". He proudly shows everyone his Sam spot.

Mark spent hours helping Rex make an eagle costume on Saturday. I have such a great husband.

Mama bear

Since becoming a mother I have learned the intense feelings that come with trying to protect your child. I admit glaring and having words with a 2 year old who pushed a cute, toddling one year old Rex, who landed smack on his head, at a play area in the mall. I also admit to telling a girl at a park who was lecturing my son for laying on top of a drain at a park with a water feature to not touch my son after she grabbed his face to see if he was listening to her. Um no he isn't lady, he has been taught not to talk to strangers!

Last week mama bear reared her ugly head again.

I can handle almost anything but someone laying a hand on my child to discipline, teach a lesson to or to hurt. I am ok with a little lecture. I know my kids aren't perfect angels. But the minute a hand is laid on my child inappropriately, all heck breaks loose. Normally I am a pretty passive aggressive person. Not something I like to admit. I don't confront people that I feel have wronged me very often, I usually just whine to Mark about it. Then, he of course tells me to confront the person and more often than not I don't and I carry a grudge for awhile. It's not healthy, but I am aware of it. That is until you mess with my offspring.

We have a neighbor who for lack of a better word is a little anal. His yard is perfect, not a weed, mowed at least twice a week with completely straight lines, you get the idea. He decided to put a brick path from his garage to the backyard last week. He had the area cut out perfectly, with not a speck of dirt out of place. Rex and his grandson who lives with them are good friends so when he wanted to go out and play with him last week, I made sure Rex understood VERY clearly not to go on the dirt. I knew this guy would freak out if he did and I don't trust him when he is angry because I have seen how he behaves when he is angry with his grandson. There were 4 boys playing on their driveway and this man came out from the back of the house and noticed that one of the boys had driven their scooter in the dirt and made a tire mark. I was watching out the window at the time and saw him get this crazy look in his eye and start yelling at the boys. They of course were all petrified, but one of them squeaked out that the man's grandson had done it. So the guy was already pissed. He starts to smooth out his precious dirt, when Rex caught sight of a bug (he told me later) and ran over to the grass right next to the dirt path. Never once did he touch a speck of that dirt. The guy flipped out and grabbed him and yanked him across the grass back to the driveway very aggressively and started yelling at him. I FLIPPED out! I ran outside immediately and told Rex to come here and go inside. He comes running across the street, crying his eyes out, obviously traumatized and I took him inside. He was asking me why he grabbed him, etc. I told him because he was a jerk. Not the best move on my part but I was angry! Rex had left his scooter there so I went back out to retrieve it. I calmly told him as I grabbed the scooter that he is not allowed to ever lay his hands on my child and if it happened again I would call the police. The guy never said anything. I got back home and immediately called Mark and told him what happened, as I am shaking and crying. I think I said something about that being so wrong and Rex yells outside, "My mom says you're wrong." Oh great, that'll help the situation. I start lecturing Rex about how that was inappropriate and that we don't talk to adults like that and the doorbell rings. Of course it is him and he says, "That was inappropriate!" I told him yes it was and I was taking care of it but that what he did was unacceptable and that if he has a problem with my child he can come talk to me about it. He tells me that I can't control my child and I tell him that just because my child isn't afraid of me like his grandson is afraid of him doesn't mean I can't control him. We exchanged a few other not so nice words and I shut the door. I was livid the rest of the afternoon.

Mark came home and immediately went over there to talk to him. He is good and being calm in situation's like this. Got the guys side of the story and calmly told him that he isn't allowed to touch Rex and to come talk to us if he is upset about something Rex did. Mark seemed cool with the outcome and so I was fine with it, although I am still pretty mad at the guy and probably will be for awhile. Mark and I have decided that Rex can't play on their property because we just can't trust this guy to keep his temper in check.

Rex has taught me quite a few lessons during this whole thing and I am very proud of him. Sunday he saw the guy outside and asked us if he could go apologize to him. I personally don't think he had anything to apologize for but I would never tell him he couldn't apologize so Mark took him out there. He is forgiving of what happened and even said hi to him when he saw him outside today. This is why I am confident that we are raising our children to the best of our ability, regardless of what a neighbor might think. Such a good lesson to me, but my old and hard heart will take a little longer to get to that point.

So who else out there has a mama bear side to them?

Self portraits

by Rex:

All I want for Easter is a scooter...

Since our kids both have winter birthdays, I am always itching in the Spring to get them some sort of outside toy. However, I hate buying a huge thing without it being a birthday or holiday or something. Mark and I decided we will spend a little less on Christmas and spend a little more on Easter each year. That way our kids won't be getting toys all at one time of year and we can get them fun outdoor toys for Easter. The boys were very excited when they woke up to their gifts. I actually bought Sam's with he and Rex right there. Rex already announced to us all that his Preschool teacher told him the Easter bunny wasn't real so no need to sneak around. I am ok with it, one less mythical creation I have to be. If she had busted Santa though, she would have gotten an angry phone call! Unfortunately the weather has been rainy and yucky (until today! YAY!) so they have been riding their toys in the house since Sunday.


Our neighborhood has an Easter egg hunt every year. Last year we got there right on time and it had already started! My kids got like 5 eggs between them! This year we made sure we were early and they luckily waited for stragglers. It was a lot of fun and the boys loved it, even though it was windy and cold.



I love this action shot!





I loved having General Conference on Easter this year. It made the day so relaxing and enjoyable. We had a big Easter dinner and David and Kristi's house but I always seem to forget my camera when we go there. Overall a great day to remember our resurrected Lord.

Zak's new sidekick

The kids and I packed up and headed to Twin on Monday. It's Spring Break and I was itching to go somewhere... anywhere. Grandma's house it is! The kids love Grandma's house and especially her work so they were stoked. Little did Rex realize that a fun new friend now lived there. Uncle Zak! Since Uncle Zak lived in Utah before, my kids don't know him too well, but now he is another fun attraction at Grandma's house! Rex instantly became his sidekick. I was worried that Zak would get irritated by a 5 year old who wouldn't leave his side, but he seemed to enjoy the attention. Apparently it is pretty boring to live in a house with two 50 somethings and a 90 year old. I had to capture some pictures of their adventures. Most of which were spent in Zak's room playing video games while Rex watched and chatted non stop. Payback for Zak's incessant talking as a child.






Sam got this sword at Kings and literally hasn't put it down since Monday. He carried this and a flashlight around Grandma's house for two days, calling it his "collection".