Lawnmower & Rodeo

In Which Grant Speaks Foreign Languages

Wednesday afternoon we finally caved and bought a lawnmower. This lawnmower is definitely a Brian lawnmower. It’s a manpowered one. You just push it and the little blades turn, and it cuts some of the grass. It’s our way of going “green.” After I put it together, the boys wanted to try it. They pushed that thing over the whole back yard. They had a riot, and we got the lawn mowed—perfect combination.

Lately, Jackson has been giving us notes that have a list of questions for us to answer. He made one for Grant today, and when Jackson handed it to Grant, he said, “You can answer in any language you want.”

Grant was outside playing and pointed to a tree and said, “When I was little, I chopped that tree onto a tiger.” No idea where that came from.

Elle has two little teeth. Both the front ones on the bottom have broken through. She spends a lot of time playing with them with either her bottom lip or her tongue. Unfortunately, she’s been drooling like crazy. But they came in basically pain free.

Saturday morning we went to one of Jackson’s tee-ball games. We hurried home afterward and grabbed the kids’ Easter baskets. The city put on an Easter egg hunt. They had a great time gathering eggs.

After the eggs, we ran home for a quick lunch and then went to “Cracker Day.” We weren’t sure exactly what it would be, but Brian needed to take pictures for the paper so we joined him. It ended up being a rodeo with free lunch. The boys loved watching all of the events. Jackson was bummed we missed the bull riding, but he got to go in the arena and chase some chickens around. Grant chased chickens also, and he participated in a “boot race.” All the kids put one of their shoes in a pile in the center of the arena. They then race down, put their shoe on and race back. We ended the day practicing baseball in the backyard.

More T-ball pics

In Which We Make Air by Wagging

Monday Jackson and Elle had routine check-ups at the doctor. They both came away with a clean bill of health. Elle weighs 13 pounds and Jackson is 38. Last week when Grant stood on my scale in my bathroom, he also weighed 38 pounds . . . If you ask Jackson how much Elle weighed he says, “13 libs” meaning 13 lbs.

Grant was waving a book in the air. I asked him what he was doing and he said, “I’m wagging the book to make air so everybody knows it’s cold.”

Jackson wrote his name and phone number on a clothes pin and attached it to his shirt as a name tag.

Today Jackson randomly said that he wasn’t going to drink water because he didn’t want the pumpkin seed in his stomach to grow. He ate a pumpkin seed last June.

The boys have been playing a lot of baseball lately. Brian was showing Jackson how to hold the bat. Jackson said, “I’ll hold it up like number 20 on the Red Sox.” He meant Kevin Youkilis from the Red Sox who holds his bat very strangely. It was another odd bit of trivia to show that Jackson might have a good memory. Other times, he seems to forget that he has been asked a few times to go help clear the table…

Elizabeth

Tee Ball

In Which a Fever Strikes

Jackson had a fever this week, so he got to skip some school. He seems to feel the worst at the same time we have to decide whether to keep him home, and then he perks right up the rest of the day. But the school has had a lot of illness going around, so they have asked parents to be cautious. On Wednesday, we packed up the boys’ bikes and went to a park where they could ride. Since it was the middle of the week, there wasn’t anyone there, and we really enjoyed the beauty of Florida. We didn’t feel like making dinner so we splurged and went out. Jackson’s favorite thing of the day was “getting to eat somewhere nice.”

Friday night we went to a Dr. Seuss Birthday party at Jackson’s school. They colored a few pictures, and we ate dinner. They showed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in the school cafeteria. Jackson was alternately enthralled and terrified. Several times, he squealed at scary parts, so we made motions to leave, only to have him get sucked back in by the movie and sit back down. We ended up watching the whole movie.

Saturday morning we went to the Little League Opening Ceremonies. Jackson got to stand out on the baseball field in his uniform with about 500 other ball players. A few people spoke, the mayor threw out the first pitch, and Brian took pictures of it all for the newspaper.

After the festivities, he had a game. He was running around, jumping, and grinning the whole game. He got a couple of grounders and even got a runner “out” at home plate (no one is ever actually out in tee ball). Once, as he was running back to the dugout, he stopped and blew me a kiss.

Elizabeth turned 4 months old on Friday. We tried giving her rice cereal today, and she wasn’t too happy about it. I think it wasn’t fast enough. Maybe we’ll give it another week or so and try again.

New Car

Lowes Build and Grow

T-Ball Practice

In Which Grant is a Bad Guy

Tuesday Jackson had his first T-Ball practice. Last year he was really small compared to the rest of the team. Everyone commented on how cute he was. But this year he seems to be more evenly matched.

Saturday morning we went to Lowes Build and Grow. The boys each made a car/robot. They had a really great time and did a really good job. They couldn’t hammer in all the nails, but they sure tried.

The biggest news of the week is we finally bought a second car. I’ve wanted to do that since Brian and I got married. But we finally needed one, more than just wanted one. It’s a 2008 Chevy Cobalt with only 5,000 miles on it. We got a pretty good deal and it has already made life much easier.

Brian asked Grant what he wanted to be when he grew up. Grant responded, “A bad guy.” It looks like we have our work cut out for us.

Jackson had a fever this morning, so he, Elizabeth and I stayed home from church. After we’d been home an hour or so, he started to feel better. He felt fine all day and then around dinner time his fever came back. Norovirus (very bad stomach flu) has been a big problem here; they actually closed one of the elementary schools. I really hope that’s not what it is.

Brian got a new calling today. Our Stake is participating in “A Day of Service.” We are putting together care kits for a women’s shelter and for police officers to have in their cars for homeless or in need people they meet. Our ward of 40 active families is making 650 kits. Brian is the coordinator of the project for our ward.