Here’s an oatmeal sensory bin even the very oral Mr. C can enjoy-

And here we are, all painting clouds. Don’t worry, Mr. C’s paint is sour cream.

PB is getting better at drawing. These are people. A bit scary, but fun to see him go beyond scribbles.

And this wonderful slip’in’slide came with the apartment. Too bad a tan for PB and Joe wasn’t included.

Potty training with PB is finally gaining some momentum. Except then he got diarrhea. Fun.

We hiked up Willard canyon. When Joe and I were dating we went on a perilous journey on the south side of the canyon. The trail, if there ever actually was one, was covered in rock slides. This time we went up the north side. I thought it would be a nice easy hike. It actually involved a lot of scrambling and cardio and took an hour longer than planned.  We hiked up to the end of the trail and found a nice cascade:

Hiking back, I realized there was a turn that I had missed earlier. (It was marked in orange ties, I guess I wasn’t looking.) That trail switch backed up the side of the mountain and went to the bottom of a waterfall, but we were about done and didn’t follow it the full way. The waterfalls (there are two) were not too spectacular anyway.

PB had a blast, acting like it was giant playground. (Where better to climb around then on a hike?) Alternatively he was tired and wanted to be carried. We have big boys to lug up mountains, good thing both me and my husband are still young and athletic. After a certain point I told PB he had to walk. My legs were done carrying all that extra weight. (My husband is amazing fit and after hiking went and moved dirt around for a friend for another three hours.)

I also was able to capture some great shots of my kids.

My kids are loud. And tiring. They are so happy lately, it is hard to get them to do things like eat, put on clean clothes, use the potty, or not eat dirt. Mr. C just loves helping his mom. He helps unfold the clean laundry, empties clean dishes on the floor and snitches bread dough. He tries to pretend and do what everyone else is. He’ll demand a fork and plate just to play, while he continues to eat by handful.

PB is still into his music and cars. He’ll shut himself in his room and line up his cars in parking lots. I think both activities give his mind the down time we all need. I’m always trying to get him to do different activities. He is good enough to play along.


The play-dough pictured here was an accident. I was going to do goop, with cornstarch and water. PB put in too much water and I was out of cornstarch. So I added baking soda and flour and we ended up with a very interesting and fun sticky dough. There is room for lots of accidents when playing.

The following activity I do not recommend. Not that it wasn’t a lot of fun. It was a blast.

Vinegar kills plants. The spot where the giant volcano was is now bright yellow. I think it will recover in a few weeks.

I lost the keys this past week. Twice. The first time we were playing a game of hide the keys. On hindsight that is not a very good game, no matter how convenient and appealing keys are to hide. I lost interest and forgot to go find them after PB had hid them. They did turn up later. Later in the week, I couldn’t find the keys again.  I got the spare and went out and discovered I left them in the car. In the ignition. And turned on. Guess I killed the car with the clutch and never bothered to get keys. The battery was dead. I felt like a total idiot.

C has taken to screeching when he want anything. But he also is picking up language pretty good. He says ma-ma and da-da and a bunch of other baby words that don’t mean much. And then he’ll pop out and say stuff that sounds like “Thank you” and “Hi there” and “Bye-bye.” We sometimes attempt sign language and he’ll wave good bye and do all done when prompted.

Picture time!

We went to the park. I found it incredibly one dimensional. There was a climbing structure, shade trees, picnic tables, and a whole lot of grass. That’s the norm out here. Out in Georgia, many parks had forested areas, streams, rivers, or ponds, and certainly more than two types of plants. I miss the variety. A trip to such a full park would take up a few hours. After the play-structure got old, there was ducks to admire, frogs to find, flowers to pick, and streams to wade in.

There will probably never be quite as full parks as there was in Georgia. The climate doesn’t grow as many trees or include as many waterways. But  as I was sitting at this park, which became dull in a half-hour, I wondered how hard it would be to include some sort of  wilderness area or garden. I remember several parks growing up that included overgrown areas. We could explore there, enjoy forts made from sticks, find insects or birds, dig in the dirt a bit. One of those parks has recently undergone a transformation to “beautify” the place. Lawn replaced the areas that had long been ignored. And it ceases to become a place for exploration, but turns into a one-dimensional place that will only engage a child’s mind for so long.

Too often our yards and landscape mirror this trend. In my own yard, my sons does not spend his time playing on the grass. He watches the flowers emerging and blooming, he spends hours digging up dirt with shovels and dump trucks. He picks dandelions and weedy hyacinths.

Many in my community strive for long areas of green grass. There is no place for weeds, for shrubs and perennials. A good park or yard seems to be one that looks nice. But I go with my children and I miss the wild overgrowth that speaks so strongly to children to come explore. I doubt I’m going to convince anyone to let the weeds grow up…but maybe instead we can put in a garden. Flowers can come up and bring in insects. Shrubs and trees can provide homes to birds and make places for hiding and discovery. Children need more than lawn and climbing structures: they need nature they can interact in.

I love doing school with PB. We focused on spring this last week. Here are some of our activities.

Simple spring sensory bin.

The box PB is painting was just a piece of cardboard I got out to avoid paint on the table. He decided it would make a better cocoon.

Butterflies the next day to complete the metamorphosis.

Otherwise, life was uneventful and a little too cold. We tried a bike ride and froze. On Saturday, we went to the park and played disk golf. Good remedy to sitting around and getting distracted by screens. I tied Joe, at least with an extra throw on ever hole. It was a little rainy and so we had the course to ourselves  It was also the first time we’ve played disk golf since Georgia. There are not as many trees to hit here. And I wasn’t pregnant or wearing a baby so I could actually throw a disk.

I want to know everything.

The garden requires faith that the seeds I sow will grow.

I live impatiently.

The garden will not grow or thrive unless there is time.

I love to go out on adventures.

The garden calls me home, creates a sanctuary of deep roots not easily abandoned.

My mind whirls in activity, enjoys intellectual challenge.

The garden proves there is decency and honor in simple labor.

I am overcome with emotion.

The garden is a place where I can channel anger into a pickaxe, frustration into weeding.

I plan the details, try to make everything perfect.

The garden thrives or fails on far more circumstance than I can control.

I am cloistered by walls.

The garden brings me beauty.

I have paid better attention during Conference. The whole time I was thinking that I’m very glad these come out in writing so I can actually get some inspiration from them. I read better than I listen. I already have them on my Kindle and I am enjoying reading the talks. My favorite was this one by Elder Holland.

We did encourage PB to pay attention. Here are two activities that worked:

Sensory Table: With his hands and playful spirit engaged, he actually listened a little bit

Find the apostle: I put the pictures of the apostles up and as one spoke he could go and find who it was.