Penguins

Jennika’s dance class performed the dance they have been working on nearly all year in last week’s performance of Mary Poppins. The performance was wonderful, very well done. We weren’t allowed to take pictures at the actual performance, but here are a few photos from the dress rehersal.

Make up on, hair in a bun, costumed and just waiting to go on stage.

Onstage with Mary Poppins, Burt, and Miss Shawna (their teacher). I have no idea which one is Jennika. :-)

Finding their tape to stand on

“Flip your flippers up and down,
Look at the sky and turn around.
Bill forward, raise fillers.
You waddle, you waddle, you waddle, you waddle.
Flip your flippers once or twice…..”

“…take two steps and fall on the ice!
Pick yourself up and fall down again.”

“That’s doing the penguin!”

I may be a bit biased but in the performance our little penguins were the cutest of all the adorable dancers and won the crowd the minute they waddled on stage.

 

Running

By 4 p.m. this Saturday Kris will have run over 20 miles. I will have run 18 and our housemate will complete somewhere around 23. No, it’s not a marathon, it’s RAGNAR!!!

This is what we’re doing: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/race/wasatchback

If you think about it, say a prayer for safety, fun, and protection from injuries for our team of 12 and the 1200 other teams out there that are running.

Hopefully I’ll post pictures next week. Hope you’re weekend is fun too.

 

 

 

Not Quite Ready

I know I’ve posted a lot about Korban recently but this one is too good to keep to myself. :-)

Now that our little guy is two we’ve been talking about potty training. I am not trying to hold him to the same standard as Jennika but by the time she turned two she was completely potty trained. So the other night when Korban was getting ready for bed he said he wanted to go pee on the toilet. I was happy to see him expressing an interest. So I took him into the bathroom and sat him on the toilet. I said, “Okay, Korban now go pee!”
After sitting there for a minute he looked at me and made a strained face. Then he looked at me again and said, “It’s not working!”

Maybe we’ll have to wait a bit longer. :-)

 

Korban’s Birthday

On Friday we had a small family celebration for Korban’s 2nd Birthday. Here’s some photo highlights of our day…

Opening presents in the morning

This one is from Jennika. I love how excited she is about it.

At the zoo’s AMAZING bird show.

“I’m two!” (We’re still working on getting that second finger up.)

“Sure Mom, I’ll put my hand in his mouth, but there is NO WAY I’m sitting on this dinosaur!”

On the way home from the zoo. Even two year olds get tired!

Let’s try this again.
“I’m two!”
Almost got it!

The cake: A dump truck filled with dirt cake and a front loader with it’s bucket also full of cake.

Dumping the load onto his plate. He loved it. :-)

Another view of the cake.

Worms in the cake!

The Birthday Boy.

Menu Monday: June 6-12

Summer is finally here! My enthusiasm for warm sunny days is reflected this week in the many grilling items on the menu and the fact that we will be gone camping this weekend! :-)

Monday–Burgers, Corn on the Cobb and Strawberry, Mango, Jicama Salad.

Tuesday–Grilled Garlic Chicken and Steamed Broccoli

Wednesday–BBQ Chicken Salad

Thursday–Leftovers

Friday–Camping!

Saturday–Camping!

Sunday–Zuppa Toscana Soup and Crusty Bread.

PS As you may have noticed from my links I also found a new blog I’m way excited about! :-)

Two Years Old

My Boy,

Today you are two.

You were so little when you arrived…

but your personality has always been big.

You’ve always been well taken care of by your big sister, 

and by your buddies.

Here’s some things I love about you:

-You are such a snuggle bug.
-You have the most amazing vocabulary for a two year old. There’s nothing you won’t try to say.
-You love praying.
-You can correctly identify a backhoe, bulldozer, excavator, steam roller, front loader, skid steer, and dump truck.
-You, obviously LOVE all things related to construction and farming equipement.
-You will follow your sister just about anywhere.
-You call Jennika “Jackie”, even though you can say Jennika.
-You sing, all throughout the day.
-You can eat an incredible amount of breakfast.
-You are so relational. You often stop me when I get busy, point to the chair next to you and say, “Mommy, sit.”
-Your smile
-Your golden hair…I’ve always wanted a blonde baby. :-)

Happy Birthday Korban.

Until Christmas

Jennika’s concept of time is growing and developing. She will often ask me what time it is and what day it is. Currently her form of measurement for anything that is or will be a long way off it “until Christmas”. This also applies to anything big–she hasn’t quite distinguished between length of time and amounts. This simple understanding will lead to statements like the follow:

“I’m not going to talk until Christmas!” This is a popular saying in our house. There are times I want to respond with, “Yeah, I wish!”

“You can play with my doll until Christmas.”

When asked to wait for something, “It’s taking a long time. It’s taking until Christmas!”

And my personal favorite:
“Mommy I love you so much…until Christmas!” Which does not mean she will love me a lot until Christmas and then stop or just love me a little less, but that she loves me a whole, whole bunch…or in other preschool terms “a super-duper-duper lot” :-)

Run For Freedom!

Utah residents! This weekend is the 2nd Annual Stop Traffic 5k/10k Race and I encourage ALL of you to come out and participate. There is something for everybody in this race, strollers and running kids are welcome and there’s even a 1 mile fun run/walk for those who don’t want to run. The race is one in a three part series hosted by Operation 61, a LOCAL non-profit organization whose mission is to “REACH those that are lost, RESCUE those held in bondage, and RESTORE people back to a place where they can experience freedom from the very thing that is oppressing them.” So they cover everything from drug addiction to human trafficking and are doing a very important and much needed work.

By running in this race you will be raising awareness of the very real problem of human trafficking here in the U.S and also financially supporting Operation 61′s very important work.  The race is Saturday morning, so even if you have plans for Saturday you could probably come out, show your support and even get home in time to shower!

You can register for the race by going here. I hope to see you there!

P.S. For non-Utah residents, you can also make donations to Operation 61 here.

Menu Monday: May 9-15

I’m getting this out a bit late, but I’m very excited about the new recipes this week.

Monday-Chicken Pot Pie with Cream Cheese & Chives BiscuitsThis was wonderful…of course, almost everything from Joy the Baker is stellar! Perfect for a rainy day. 

Tuesday-Tapas: Herbed Chicken, Meat with Garlic & Sherry, Tomatoes & Garlic Bread Rounds, and Assorted Olives–from Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Meals book

Wednesday–Kung Pow Chicken with Rice and Steamed Sesame Broccoli–A foodie friend of mine just got back from visiting China. Here’s her favorite recipe for this classic dish. 

Thursday–Lettuce Wraps

Friday–Date Night=Leftovers!

Saturday–Kids cooking: Pizza Without Red Sauce

Sunday–Grilled Chicken SaladAnother one from the Pioneer Woman. Not sure about the blueberries in this…but then again, she’s never led me astray. 

What’s cooking in your kitchen this week?

The Talker

My almost two year old son is an excellent talker. He can say almost anything and is talking most of the day. When I tell him to do something he responds with, “Alright!” He has no trouble expressing himself.
Here are a couple of his most recent comments and conversations that have made me laugh.

Jennika is learning ABC bible verses. This week she is learning her C verse. So we say it often throughout the week. Usually when we are saying verses together Korban will also repeat as much as he can. Here’s today’s conversation:

Me: Jennika, can you say your new bible verse?
Jennika: No.
Me: Korban, can you say it?
Korban: No, tractor.
Me: Let’s say it together. Children…
Jennika: Children…
Korban: Tractor
Me: obey your parents…
Jennika: obey your parents…
Korban: Tractor
Me: in all things…
Jennika: in all things…
Korban: Tractor
Me: for this is well pleasing to the Lord.
Jennika: for this is well pleasing to the Lord.
Korban: Tractor, tractor!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kris, a non-coffee drinker except in cases of exhaustion, has a  bad habit of sneaking drinks of my coffee. He knows it irritates me, I usually offer to pour him his own cup but for some reason he prefers mine. This morning my cup of coffee was sitting on the counter and the kids were eating breakfast nearby. I ran upstairs for a minute and when I can back down Kris was in the kitchen and Korban emphatically exclaimed, “Mommy, Daddy drink foffee!”
The look on Kris’s face was enough to tell me that he was BUSTED!