Hull's Drive-In

On Saturday night we went to Hull's Drive-In to see Kung Fu Panda. We had a blast!

The girls took long late naps so they could stay up late. Ashley went to the store and bought goodies (even though just before we left, I asked if she grabbed the chocolate treats out of the freezer and she said yes, but actually forgot them). I packed the car with all the necessities.

When we got to the Drive-In, I set up our air mattress on top of the reclined seats. (If you have never seen how cool the Honda Element is with all the seats reclined for sleeping, see picture.) It made for a great viewing spot while lying down. We also had our camping chairs set up to eat the treats we did remember.

We had lots of fun and enjoyed the movie. Lucy never went to sleep, and was quite fidgety, but it was okay. Leland especially loved the whole experience and was an angel despite not going to bed until 11:30 PM. The only complaint we had was that we never went down to the concession stand to buy her popcorn. The line was really long. On Sunday morning, she told me, "Dad, I gonna take a long nap again today so we can go to the movie again tonight and this time we need to get some popcorn."

I was just gonna tell you the story and put some pics, but because Ashley told me not to make it long by including the story of Hull's, I thought I might throw in a few nuggets of informative gold here.

Hull's Drive-In has been part of Lexington's local heritage for nearly 60 years. It was closed in 1999 before the community saved it. Today, it is the only non-profit drive-in theatre in the USA. It still features the drive-in classics (car speakers, fresh food concession stand, double-feature films, and a fun drive-in experience). It was named "One of America's 10 Great Places to Cuddle" by USA Today.

Another reason to love Lowe's

If you didn't know already, we love Lowe's because we love Jimmy. Of course, Jimmy drives the Lowe's 48 car in NASCAR. But on Saturday, we found another great reason to love Lowe's home improvement stores.

On Saturday morning, we went to our local Lowe's to participate in the Build and Grow Clinic. The Build and Grow Clinics are free wood-working projects for children offered at every Lowe's in America.

It was so cool and I can't believe that coming from a carpentry family none of us have been to these things.

When you arrive, the kids get their own red Lowe's apron and a packet that contains all of the building materials you need and a set of instructions. All the tools you will need are on the tables. They have some employees to help with any questions, but for the most part, everything is self-explanatory.

Once you finish your project, you take it to the check-in staffer and they give you a certificate, a patch for your apron (like a Boy Scout merit badge), and a treat (juice box and chips/cookies). And it is all FREE!

Lowe's offers these programs on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, nationwide. Each one is a different project. On July 12, the project is a Dune Buggy (see picture).

At our clinic there were about 30-40 kids, most of whom had more than a dozen patches on their aprons. I highly recommend this to any dad looking for a good thing to do with their kids on a Saturday morning. Click on the link to sign up.

After we finished, my cute little country girl had to climb atop every John Deere in the place.

Today

Once or twice a month I sit down with my favorite cookbooks to make a list of meals that I want to make. I compile a grocery list from the chosen recipes. When I return from shopping I make a list to hang on my fridge of all the meals I can make with what I now have on hand.

My cookbooks of choice:
Taste of Heaven - cookbook from Hampstead Ward 2005. It makes me feel connected to my friends I don't see anymore.
The Bodell Bistro - Chuck's family cookbook. 475 pages of yummy tried and true food.
Kraft Food & Family - easy recipes with short ingredient lists. Get the magazine free
My binder - 3 ring binder full of recipes I have printed off the Internet to try and enjoyed.

An OCD mother's worst nightmare.....mixed colors of PlayDoh. AAAHHHHHH!!!

Our new backyard neighbor. Yesterday there were 2 deer, but I could not find my camera. I later found it along with my cell phone, home phone, keys, and some mail stuffed in drawers throughout my kitchen. Indeed the work of a 3 year old.

My sweet baby

My sweet baby Lucy. I feel like I don't write enough about her. She is getting so big. I feel like she has gotten really tall over the last few weeks. She loves her sister so much. It is really cute to watch their relationship evolve as Lucy is getting older.

Lucy still loves to look at books and loves to play with the tubberware. She bangs them around, stacks them up, and now has figured out how to wear them. She loves going to the park. The swings are her favorite although the slide comes in a close second. She is currently tyring to master climbing UP the slides.

Her newest fascination is the toilet which is no fun for any of us. If the bathroom door is open she will sneak in there to splash in the water (totally gross!) What's worse is that she wants to look in or try to reach in the toilet while you are trying to go. Like I said, No fun for ANY of us. Leland when she needs to go potty usually asks me to "Shut the door, so Lucy can't come in."

(Note: This is more for my journaling to recollect if this happens again.) On Monday, afternoon Lucy broke out in a rash. She had small red bumbs covering only her stomach and back. By the evening it spread up her neck into her hairline. She had had a fever from about Thur to Sat (peaked at 101) and was very fussy. Everytime she went to the bathroom she would scream and cry. I noticed the rash first the previous Sat. Then it was only on her belly and lasted only for a few hours.
I took her to the Dr on Monday. She thought it was a reaction to the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine that Lucy got 3 weeks ago. An infant could have a reaction up to a month after the vaccine. There is nothing to do treatment wise and if it was just a vaccine reaction, then the rash should not come back.

Now for Lucy's walking debut.....

You can't totally see it from the angle, but Lucy has the tip of her tongue hanging out of her mouth just like her dad does when he concentrates on something. BTW-It's not just the lighting I do have a major farmer's tan, nice.

Chores and Games

I created a chore chart for Leland. There are 3 things that we decided she needs to do every day: make her bed, put away the clean silverware, and clean up the blankets. Her new favorite thing to do is to take ALL the blankets out of the basket in the living room and stuff them in the crack between the bottom of the couch and the floor. She persists that there are monsters under there.

The chart has pictures of her with each thing "To Do" or "Done". There is Velcro on each side so she can flip it. So far it has worked great. She loves the idea of turning the picture to the "Done" side. I am sure that soon I should upgrade to a chart that shows her progress over a week. But for now I am trying to get her to understand the "chores" concept.

I loved playing Mancala growing up. I remember always playing with my cousins and my sisters. I decided I should teach Leland the game and she has learned quick and LOVES it.

Although sometimes in the middle of a game she will decide to spin the board around, so my side becomes hers, and hers, mine. It's pretty funny. Another quirk is she will decide that she does not want a particular color stone. I will drop a green marble in her bin and she will say "No green ones mom. I only want your purple ones."
Note: Lucy's update to follow when I find the time tonight.

Leland and I are so excited!

Tonight is the night Leland and I have been waiting for! The premiere of Wipeout on ABC at 8 PM.

Every time this show is advertised, Leland makes me rewind it, screaming, "Dad, I want to see the people crash again!"

Also premiering is I Survived a Japanese Gameshow. It will be interesting to see which one we like better.

At the park with Dad

Dad is always fun to go to the park with. He is such a kid at heart.
He gets in the tire swing

He does the zip line

We play hide-n-seek and tag

He teaches me how to walk on the balance beam

Where are the boys?

Friday night we went to another free summer concert. The band was really good and it was a beautiful evening. Leland enjoyed dancing and running around with all the little girls. Where are the little boys in this town? It was 10-1out there.

Lucy even got into the dancing, shaking her head and arms. She also clapped at the end of every song. It was really cute. Lucy wants to do everything her sister is doing. She wanted so bad to be running around with her. This girl just has no interest in walking right now. I was fine with it, but she is starting to get too heavy.

Big Sister

Driving down our street I stopped to talk to a neighbor. Her daughter Carson is Leland's age. As I said goodbye and drove away Leland asks, "Where is Carson?"

Me: "She is at the pool with her big sister" Her mom mentioned it during our conversation.
LJ: "Big sister? Who is MY big sister?"
Me: "You don't have a big sister, you ARE the big sister to Lucy"
LJ: "But I want a big sister!"
Me: "Well Leland mom and dad didn't have any babies before you. You were the first one born, so you always get to be the big sister"
LJ: "I want a big sister!"

This went on for several minutes, with me tying to explain again how she does not have a big sister but she is the big sister to Lucy. I also included how she has a little sister instead of a big sister. Every time her response was "I want a BIG sister!"

Until finally I said: "How about I will be your mommy AND your big sister?"
LJ: "OK!"

That was a good enough answer for her and then she was happy.

McBride visit

My sister-in-law came to visit last week. I don't have time to load all the cute pictures, so check them out here. She posted a lot. We had such a fun week. Leland and Lucy are going through cousin withdraws.

Missionaries

We had the missionaries from our church over for dinner. Leland gets so excited when they come over and waits by the window for them to arrive. We have had the same guys for a while now so she has warmed up to them. Tonight she sang her favorite song "I Love to see the Temple" for them.

After dinner finished she knew the routine, she grabbed our Book of Mormons off the shelf and went to the couch. The missionaries brought their chairs over from the kitchen table, so LJ went to get her little chair. She plopped her chair down next to one of the Elders and scooted it as close as possible to him. I think he was a little embarrassed about it, but I thought it was cute. (not a great pic, but still cute)

Their message: 2 Nephi 9:39 ..to be spiritually-minded is life eternal. S.M.I.L.E The closer we are to God and are spiritually-minded, the more we will smile and be happy.

The Lord's work: both the missionaries walking and the beautiful view.

Lucky

2 princesses to be exact. I love it when I am lucky enough to have both girls asleep at the same time. I can read and do a little more digital scrapbooking. Here is my first actual page.
Nothing fancy, I'm still learning. I am using GIMP the free version of Photo Shop and there are all sorts of free kits out there. Thank you to all those people that believe ideas should be free and take the time to share them with others.

Leland and the Beanstalk

These crazy tall weeds are growing all over in the field by our park. Every time we see one, Leland stops to tell me that they are beanstalks and they are going to grow as big as her.

Leland's first real injury:
Tonight Leland and I were making rice krispy treats. I decided to use cookie cutters to cut them into shapes. Leland happened to drop one of the cookie cutters onto the floor. I just left it and gave her another one to use. As we were finishing up, she slipped, fell out of the chair, and stepped right onto the cookie cutter. She started wailing, as it was getting late I thought her cries were a bit exaggerated. I looked at her toes and she did have a small cut on the outside of her little toe. She asked for a Band-Aid so I carried her back to the bathroom to get one. As I set her on the bathroom counter I noticed blood all over her foot.

There was another gash in between her 3rd and 4th toe. It was at such a weird angle, I'm not sure how it will heal. As we tried to clean and bandage it, she was screaming. It just broke my heart. Chuck wrapped all of her little toes together. In the midst of all the commotion Lucy shut her fingers in the cabinet drawer. No blood, of course, but she added to the noise level.

How does anyone manage more than 2 kids?

Apron

Since today was between Chuck's birthday and Father's Day we had a little celebration. Chocolate chip muffins and his new homemade apron. Leland says his apron looked like an American flag. It sort of does and that actually is very fitting for Chuck.

25 cents each

Pandit Books, a large warehouse-type book store, was going out of business, so we took advantage of the liquidation sale. Between 2 visits we picked out 129 books, videos, and books on CD for 25 cents each. Some of you will be getting packages soon. (Kim you would have gone crazy. Be grateful you moved BEFORE the sale.)

Real Life Tag

I was tagged to take pictures of my home with no cleaning, clearing, wiping, changing etc. allowed... Here goes:
#1 Laundry Room. I actually love my laundry room. It's right off the kitchen, so it is great to have room for trash and recycling. I also love the shelf/bar above the machines. I can hang things to dry and my bags for recycling.#2 Favorite Room. Our living room is where it all happens: family prayer, dancing, wrestling, and cuddling. We can see groundhogs, bunnies, squirrels, blue birds, cardinals, and butterflies from the french doors.I LOVE my rocking chair and our couch is comfy (but not as great as our old couch we sold in CA). This is 1 of only 2 areas that we hung anything on the walls. I feel so temporary in this house even though we will live here for 2 years.#3 What are the kids doing? Lucy was sleeping when I was taking pictures. She likes to cover her face with blankets while she is trying to fall asleep. That's usually how I can tell she is really tired. Leland was helping me take the pictures.#4 Favorite pair of shoes. My Old Navy flip flops I have had longer than my husband, for about 5 or 6 years. I wear them almost every day, when I lived in CA it was every day (except Sunday). I already have my tan line back on my feet. #5 Toilet. While I was looking at the blog where I was tagged, Leland starts to giggle and says "Mommy, someone took a picture of a potty. That's so silly!" I replied "It is silly. Do you want to take a picture of your potty?" So, of course, we did. #6 The sink. I really like to have an empty sink. I have an awesome husband that helps load and unload the dishes a lot, so that makes it easier. On the window sill is my cilantro that I had to bring inside because it is so stinkin' hot. I hope I can keep it alive.#7 Fridge. I chose an inside picture. The white canister in the freezer.....homemade strawberry ice cream. Yum!#8 Self Protrait. Me and my picture taking helper Leland.#9 My closet. Our closet is very small. I also have Rubbermaid tubs in the corner of my room that act as part of my closet.#10 Dream Vacation: Ireland. I've actually gone twice before, but would love to go back with Chuck.
I tag...1st Daughter, Kira, and Shana.