Thursday, July 14, 2011
Happy 4th of July
Ok, so I know that the 4th of July was 10 days ago, but we know that I've been a little behind. This year we decided to take the kids to some fireworks. They've never seen fireworks before, so late for them, but this year we decided to try it. We found out that you could get into the ball game for free after the 7th inning and then stay for the fireworks. So we decided to try it. The 4th of July was going well, we got Nate down for a nap and then about 5 o'clock, it rained liked it has never rained before. And, they postponed the fireworks and the baseball game. So, we decided to try again the next night. Eric also humored the kids and got pictures of them all decked out in their red, white and blue. And apparently there was some finding of Daddy's cap and gown. We went to the game the next night-made it for the end of the 8th inning and for the fireworks. After the fireworks we ran the bases. The kids really enjoyed that!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Happy 5th birthday!
Today is Gwen's 5th birthday! My oldest starts Kindergarten this year, summer is halfway over! I don't know really what to say about her. Most of the time she is a sweet, fun and great help around here. She does have times when I wonder what has happened to my sweet girl, but her brother is requiring more and more attention and I think the sweet one occasionally gets jealous and when I speak to her about it and give her some attention life gets much better. She adores Nate though and usually plays so well with him.
She is very affectionate, she especially loves babies and animals. She is planning on moving to a farm, she'd like goats and other assorted animals, which I think she has already named. Every time we see a baby she calls it a "cutie pie" and tries to help it in some way. I almost dread when the neighbors with dogs are outside because I know she will run down there to play with them and then I feel kind of awkward, because I don't really know those neighbors and then I have to make random chit-chat.
She is very timid. She needs lots of coaxing to try something new. And often times she can't be coaxed into something new. I am usually unable to coax her into stuff, which can be very frustrating. But, since going to preK she has become more confident and I am excited to see how much confidence learning to read next year will help her overcome her timidity. She is slated to spend the night at a friend's house this week. And although I am pretty sure that she can completely do it and I have the up most confidence in my friend, I will be interested to see if I get the call. I had a neighbor growing up that was often invited to spend the night and fortunately we were neighbors because it was a long time before he could make it through the whole night. I don't think I had a problem, but then again, why would I remember that? Sometimes I think if we make a big deal about something she gets more nervous. So, I've just casually mention it and telling her that she can come home if she wants or she can stay. I did mention to her today that her friend sleeps in the same room as her baby brother and her eyes just lit up with excitement, so I am thinking that might be incentive for her to stay.
I took some pictures and video of her today, opening presents and riding her bike. I have to mention she was real cautious about her bike today, which is kind of funny, since whenever we were in the store and she tried it she was all over the place with confidence. We tried to take her to the Tobacco trail today so she could get more confidence on the trail, smooth surface, no hills. But sadly, the easiest way to get there is by hooking the bikes into the bike trailer and towing the kids and the bikes behind Eric. On the way there, Gwen's bike tire was rubbing on the trailer tire and rubbed a hole into the tire and tube. Fortunately we found a new tube and Eric replaced it and as you can see from the video she was back riding the bike and racing on the street.
Here is the slideshow with pictures of her cake-which Eric made and I frosted...he made a light and fluffy cake, quite yummy, but the kids seemed to prefer my roses, which were so rich not as much cake was eaten (or maybe they were full from dinner!)
Here are 2 videos of Gwen opening presents, which I thought were quite funny-I am sad I missed the very beginning, because she received a "pop-out" card from her Godfather and she was so excited, when people asked her what she got for her birthday they mentioned the pop-out card. She has since popped out all the characters and played with them.
These next videos are of Gwen "racing" Eric. He's not wearing shoes or a helmet and he is using my bike, I'd say it was a fair race. She used to ride down the driveway on her old bike, but she apparently needs more confidence before she can start doing that with the new bike.
Another ride...
She is very affectionate, she especially loves babies and animals. She is planning on moving to a farm, she'd like goats and other assorted animals, which I think she has already named. Every time we see a baby she calls it a "cutie pie" and tries to help it in some way. I almost dread when the neighbors with dogs are outside because I know she will run down there to play with them and then I feel kind of awkward, because I don't really know those neighbors and then I have to make random chit-chat.
She is very timid. She needs lots of coaxing to try something new. And often times she can't be coaxed into something new. I am usually unable to coax her into stuff, which can be very frustrating. But, since going to preK she has become more confident and I am excited to see how much confidence learning to read next year will help her overcome her timidity. She is slated to spend the night at a friend's house this week. And although I am pretty sure that she can completely do it and I have the up most confidence in my friend, I will be interested to see if I get the call. I had a neighbor growing up that was often invited to spend the night and fortunately we were neighbors because it was a long time before he could make it through the whole night. I don't think I had a problem, but then again, why would I remember that? Sometimes I think if we make a big deal about something she gets more nervous. So, I've just casually mention it and telling her that she can come home if she wants or she can stay. I did mention to her today that her friend sleeps in the same room as her baby brother and her eyes just lit up with excitement, so I am thinking that might be incentive for her to stay.
I took some pictures and video of her today, opening presents and riding her bike. I have to mention she was real cautious about her bike today, which is kind of funny, since whenever we were in the store and she tried it she was all over the place with confidence. We tried to take her to the Tobacco trail today so she could get more confidence on the trail, smooth surface, no hills. But sadly, the easiest way to get there is by hooking the bikes into the bike trailer and towing the kids and the bikes behind Eric. On the way there, Gwen's bike tire was rubbing on the trailer tire and rubbed a hole into the tire and tube. Fortunately we found a new tube and Eric replaced it and as you can see from the video she was back riding the bike and racing on the street.
Here is the slideshow with pictures of her cake-which Eric made and I frosted...he made a light and fluffy cake, quite yummy, but the kids seemed to prefer my roses, which were so rich not as much cake was eaten (or maybe they were full from dinner!)
Here are 2 videos of Gwen opening presents, which I thought were quite funny-I am sad I missed the very beginning, because she received a "pop-out" card from her Godfather and she was so excited, when people asked her what she got for her birthday they mentioned the pop-out card. She has since popped out all the characters and played with them.
Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.
Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.
These next videos are of Gwen "racing" Eric. He's not wearing shoes or a helmet and he is using my bike, I'd say it was a fair race. She used to ride down the driveway on her old bike, but she apparently needs more confidence before she can start doing that with the new bike.
Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.
Another ride...
Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.
Friday, July 08, 2011
My garden
I thought I'd post a couple pictures from the garden, these were taken at the end of May- you see lettuce (that I think reseeded from last year), bell pepper and dill.
This is the tomato section, some of these I planted from seed, some we received for free from the farmer's market and some were moved from other sections of the garden were they apparently reseeded themselves from last year...we have Roma, cherry, big boy and purple Cherokee. This picture is also from May
This is the tomato patch from May.
This is 1 of 2 berries I got before the birds got them all! Blasted birds...I have a plan for next year though, we'll get some, next year!
This is also from May, we have beans and sunflowers in the back row, watermelon and squash in the row up from that.
Ok, so this is the watermelon now...2 plants lots of trailing going on now and i see a lot of flowers, I have found at least 1 melon growing, but I've only looked at 1 little section...I am hoping to have lots of watermelon slushies in my future!
This is the strawberry patch now, you can see we've had a lot of growth and we are having a lot of trailers that are making more strawberry plants. YAY! We are well on our way to a strawberry patch!
These are my green beans, so far I have 2 that I picked, not sure what to do with 2, next year I will have to plant more, closer together...now I know! (you can also see another tomato plant that I did not plant, but is just growing there...)
Here you can see more of the garden, you can see my sunflowers are getting big, my lettuce is going to seed, and I didn't plant any of those marigolds either.
I've decided next year I can plant some stuff closer together. I also hope that I will have some compost to go into the soil and if we keep the garden this wide, I can get at least one more row in there. I also think this year I gave the tomatoes plenty of space, but maybe they should go in the back...I am having fun planning and doing all this stuff...I just feel like I need more space! Damn reseeding marigolds, tomatoes and lettuce!
This is the tomato section, some of these I planted from seed, some we received for free from the farmer's market and some were moved from other sections of the garden were they apparently reseeded themselves from last year...we have Roma, cherry, big boy and purple Cherokee. This picture is also from May
This is the tomato patch from May.
This is 1 of 2 berries I got before the birds got them all! Blasted birds...I have a plan for next year though, we'll get some, next year!
This is also from May, we have beans and sunflowers in the back row, watermelon and squash in the row up from that.
Ok, so this is the watermelon now...2 plants lots of trailing going on now and i see a lot of flowers, I have found at least 1 melon growing, but I've only looked at 1 little section...I am hoping to have lots of watermelon slushies in my future!
This is the strawberry patch now, you can see we've had a lot of growth and we are having a lot of trailers that are making more strawberry plants. YAY! We are well on our way to a strawberry patch!
These are my green beans, so far I have 2 that I picked, not sure what to do with 2, next year I will have to plant more, closer together...now I know! (you can also see another tomato plant that I did not plant, but is just growing there...)
Here you can see more of the garden, you can see my sunflowers are getting big, my lettuce is going to seed, and I didn't plant any of those marigolds either.
I've decided next year I can plant some stuff closer together. I also hope that I will have some compost to go into the soil and if we keep the garden this wide, I can get at least one more row in there. I also think this year I gave the tomatoes plenty of space, but maybe they should go in the back...I am having fun planning and doing all this stuff...I just feel like I need more space! Damn reseeding marigolds, tomatoes and lettuce!
Thursday, July 07, 2011
I think I have mentioned that between Gwen and Nate, Gwen is more reserved, more pensive, more a watch and see kind of kid and Nate is more I LOVE THAT. We have a new found appreciation for the public library, air conditioned-age specific activities, what's not to love. Last year we participated in the summer reading contest and Eric won a prize! So we've decided to try it again. The libraries have kick-off events where you can pick up your forms and they have stuff for the kids to do and some free food. FUN! The kids decided to get their faces painted. As you can see:
Gwen the ever present ham:
Nate-he was so proud! He told her he wanted to be Captain America, she asked him if he had a red mask and white stars. I should have videoed his reaction he was like "YEAH". I know that you can't really tell that is who he is.
Today we got the met the mail man as he was delivering mail, sadly I did not know that Gwen was going to receive a little package from Grandma. I have successfully hiding all the cards, but when the mail man hands it to her, what was I to do? I gave her the choice to open now or on her birthday. She obviously chose to open it immediately. Then proceeded to put everything on. I made her pose with all the stuff on so I could take a picture so Grandma could see it...
If you look closely you will see 4 headbands and a skirt. Sure I probably shouldn't have let her open it today, but we are 3 days to her birthday and you can't say no to the birthday girl, can you?
Gwen the ever present ham:
Nate-he was so proud! He told her he wanted to be Captain America, she asked him if he had a red mask and white stars. I should have videoed his reaction he was like "YEAH". I know that you can't really tell that is who he is.
Today we got the met the mail man as he was delivering mail, sadly I did not know that Gwen was going to receive a little package from Grandma. I have successfully hiding all the cards, but when the mail man hands it to her, what was I to do? I gave her the choice to open now or on her birthday. She obviously chose to open it immediately. Then proceeded to put everything on. I made her pose with all the stuff on so I could take a picture so Grandma could see it...
If you look closely you will see 4 headbands and a skirt. Sure I probably shouldn't have let her open it today, but we are 3 days to her birthday and you can't say no to the birthday girl, can you?
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Hi! How've you been?
I'd like to say we've been really busy, but I am not sure we have been really busy. Mom was here, then she wasn't, then we did Vacation Bible School. And now we are done with Fourth of July and almost to Gwen's birthday! I know, summer is almost over and I have pictures that I haven't even posted. I have been feeling like I haven't been finishing anything and have projects weighing on me, I guess not necessarily anything I can say hey guess what I did, but piles of crap that I have to accomplish are not still there, so YAY me. But that doesn't leave much time for blogging. So, maybe I will start blogging more, but I can't make any promises!
The kids have recently received lots of cash and since we don't often splurge on them or buy them anything Eric decided to just take them to Target and let them pick something out. Here is what they picked out:
Nate sure gave lots of people in Target smiles, he almost ran through the store yelling "I AM CAPTAIN AMERICA". He might have added sound effects at the end, you never know with that boy! He definitely is a very vocal boy, and has no problem showing every emotion and letting us know about it. Seriously like to yell excitedly about stuff, I don't know where he gets it from, cause Eric Gwen, and I aren't like that. But he certainly keeps the older generation entertained, it is kind of fun to walk a little behind Nate and watch the wake of smiles he produces. I also find myself talking to a lot of random people who seem to feel the need to talk to me about his enthusiasm/energy level.
I made Gwen pose with all her accessories. Ok, so I didn't have to beg this time, she willingly went over and posed.
We were hoping to throw her a princess tea with her best girlfriend whose birthday is 4 days after hers, but all the other girls from her class will be out of town, so we've scrapped the idea and we are going to just do family thing together. Maybe we'll do something more later. Gwen isn't super princessy anymore but since we were planning the tea, I encouraged her to get the accessories also. She hasn't really worn the whole thing together, but I often see her fussing over the tiara, bending it back so it is just so (that is how you know it is high quality!). Purple is her new favorite color, if you must know!
The kids have recently received lots of cash and since we don't often splurge on them or buy them anything Eric decided to just take them to Target and let them pick something out. Here is what they picked out:
Nate sure gave lots of people in Target smiles, he almost ran through the store yelling "I AM CAPTAIN AMERICA". He might have added sound effects at the end, you never know with that boy! He definitely is a very vocal boy, and has no problem showing every emotion and letting us know about it. Seriously like to yell excitedly about stuff, I don't know where he gets it from, cause Eric Gwen, and I aren't like that. But he certainly keeps the older generation entertained, it is kind of fun to walk a little behind Nate and watch the wake of smiles he produces. I also find myself talking to a lot of random people who seem to feel the need to talk to me about his enthusiasm/energy level. 
I made Gwen pose with all her accessories. Ok, so I didn't have to beg this time, she willingly went over and posed. 
We were hoping to throw her a princess tea with her best girlfriend whose birthday is 4 days after hers, but all the other girls from her class will be out of town, so we've scrapped the idea and we are going to just do family thing together. Maybe we'll do something more later. Gwen isn't super princessy anymore but since we were planning the tea, I encouraged her to get the accessories also. She hasn't really worn the whole thing together, but I often see her fussing over the tiara, bending it back so it is just so (that is how you know it is high quality!). Purple is her new favorite color, if you must know!
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