Minnesota

 A few weeks ago, there was a conference in Minnesota that related to Mckay's research, so he went to Minnesota. Rather than stay behind alone and bored, the kids and I went with him. The drive there wasn't too long and the kids kept busy in the car.

I brought some puzzles for Dallin and a metal baking sheet with raised sides, which helped to keep all the pieces all on his lap and gave him a flat work surface.

Connor read books and slept a lot.

At least he was comfortable.

My roommate for the first two years of college currently lives in Minnesota so we got to visit her and her family a few times.

It was so great to see Amy again. It's was almost 8 years ago that we met and started college, but I think we look pretty much the same.

 One day while Mckay was at his conference, we went to the zoo with Amy's family. Dallin and Connor got to be chickens.

They got to feed pellets to the goats.

Connor loved brushing the goats. He would move quickly from one goat to the next, one brush stroke for each goat.





I think he was trying to set a world record for how many goat he could brush in 5 minutes.

 It was a hot, sunny day, but we all had a lot of fun.

With 5 kids between us, we had our hands (and strollers) full.

 The kids were worn out by the time we got back to the hotel.

We ate at restaurants most of the time on our trip since we didn't really have another choice. I did not miss doing dishes every day. Dallin liked that he could choose exactly what he wanted to eat, and his choice was usually pizza. One place even had a "make your own" pizza option. They brought dough and toppings out to the table.

Dallin very precisely placed each pepperoni.

He was so proud of the finished product.

Yet he only managed to eat one slice. Kids...

We got to see lots of cool sights in Minnesota, like the Mall of America, the Sculpture Garden, the Children's Museum, and the Spam Museum.

More post on those places will soon follow....

Scout Camp

As assistant Scoutmaster in our ward, Mckay went to Scout camp at the beginning of June. That meant it was just me and the boys at home for several days. Before he left, we had a special dinner guest, a fly:

 

We went to the park many times to keep ourselves busy. On one trip, we stopped by the pond to feed the fish. I brought some flakes from a fiber cereal that I didn't care for (which is saying something since I usually like the bran, wheaty, high fiber cereals. This one was too "cardboard" for even my tastes.). We dropped a few flakes into the water.

 The fish nibbled on a few but quickly lost interest. Not even fish would eat this cereal. I did find one taker though:

Connor inhaled all the cereal I gave him.

 

Connor is a cereal maniac and has even learned how to eat cereal out of his own bowl with milk on it.

He drinks the milk when he's all done.

 

 The boys tried to be helpful while their dad was gone. They took the recycling out for me.



 

One morning was a little cold so they requested blankets to be wrapped around them.

 

 Dallin has been pulling his shirt up on his head:

 He'll walk around like this for a while. We're trying to teach him how to say "Cornholio."

 

We read lots of books while Mckay was away. Connor is developing a very good memory, especially for books. He remembers words or pictures in books very well and recognizes several books by their cover. Most of the books in this video are from the library so he's only been exposed to them for a week or two.

 

We managed to have quite a bit of fun while Mckay was gone, but we were very happy to have him back from scout camp.

Summer to-do List

Dallin is out of preschool, the weather is getting hotter and humid...er: it must be summer! These warm summer months mean a lot of playing outside, but it also means a lot of trying to stay cool inside during the miserable heat. And with Dallin being used to preschool every morning and a lot of structured play, I have a feeling he'll get bored pretty quickly. So I came up with a plan to keep us busy and also have some fun.

 

I made a list of fun things to do this summer.

Some of the things on our list are big family activities (Visit the Sand Dunes, Go to St. Louis, or a movie night). I also tried to come up with lots of smaller activities to do like a picnic lunch, catch bugs, or fly a kite.

 

Making the board was pretty easy. I used a big thrift store picture frame and put white poster board behind the glass, so now it's like a white board. I started writing with dry erase markers but the color wasn't very vibrant and hardly showed, so I used permanent marker in various colors. Did you know that permanent marker comes clean off glass with window cleaner? The fun things you learn being a teacher...

For a finishing touch, I cut out some sun shapes and taped them to the glass. Easy!

 

Since taking this picture, I've added a few more things to our list: Visit Minnesota, See the Mall of America, Meet Spongebob Squarepants, go the County Fair, and make ice cream.

 

I'm really happy with our list because I think it will give us a quick idea for fun activities when we're bored. And it will be cool at the end of the summer to see all the things we've accomplished.

 

Feel free to use our list to come up with ideas for your own family. And if have any more ideas for a summer fun list I'd love to hear!

Outings in May

We've been busy this month doing all kinds of fun things.

 

At the beginning of May, my mom and brother came to visit us. We took them to the zoo and went on a train ride.

Dallin and Connor had a blast.

Dallin keeps asking when Grandma is coming back.

***

 

This one actually happened in April, but we went to Purdue Spring Fest. It's a big outdoor fair and all the colleges set up tents and displays.

The best part was the insect petting zoo. Dallin got to hold a tarantula.

It didn't last long but I'm proud of him for trying.

 

Connor fearlessly went right for a hissing cockroach but freaked out a little when he discovered it could crawl up his arm.

 

 We stopped at Taco Bell after Spring Fest for some lunch. We had to really convince Dallin to try a bite of cinnamon twist.

But after the first bite, we couldn't get him to stop eating them. 

***

 

We went camping with some friends. While the adults set up the tents, all the kids climbed into the car.

 ***

 

 

 

 Dallin's friend had a "Halloween" birthday party. In May.

The boys had a lot of fun. Everyone dressed up in costumes. The 4 closest neighbors knew about the party and let the kids come trick-or-treating.

 

 And then everyone had cupcakes and played under blankets.

 Oh the simple joys of being a little kid!

Wheels for Williams

 I've mentioned before that May is Williams Syndrome awareness month. We've gone to a walk for WS every year since Dallin was diagnosed in 2010. Each walk was in a different location: Utah, Indianapolis and Lafayette, Indiana.

 

This year, May snuck up on us and we hadn't really planned on attending a walk. It's kind of difficult when the closest walk is over 3 hours away, but we still felt like we needed to do something. The night before, we decided to attend a different kind of WS fundraiser: Wheels for Williams.

 

It was a classic car show with all the proceeds going to the Williams Syndrome Association.

 

And it was only 2 hours away. Totally doable! In case you've ever wondered what Losantville, Indiana is like, I'll tell you: It's a tiny town in the middle of nowhere with fewer than 300 people, a fire station, a few houses, ... and that's about it. No stop lights, no stores. Only 8 miles from the birthplace of Wilbur Wright! (Also in the middle of nowhere.) The drive there was quite an experience.

 

This event is a pretty big deal in the area and people drive from near and far to display their cars.

This car was probably my favorite. Flames come out the back when you hit the gas.

 

There were quite a few other WS families there.

 

 We got to meet some new families and see some old friends.

Dallin and Jonah are buds.

I think I get a picture of them "growling" at each other every time we get together.

 

 There was a little pedal car that the kids got to ride around in.

 

We did get to do a little walk around the outer streets of town. The whole loop was less than a mile.

 

And there was food and music.

What more could you ask for?

 

Going to this event reminded me even more that I want to host a walk in Lafayette next year. If I start planning now I can actually pull it off, right? All our friends and family are welcome to come here and walk with us. Mark your calendars for May 2014!

More felt food

A friend of Dallin's had a birthday so I made her some felt food.

It's been a while since I made Dallin's felt food for his 2nd birthday. It was fun to pull out my felt again and make my favorite food items. Most of them are repeats from food I already made Dallin. My sewing skills have come a long way in 2 years and these looked way better than my originals.

 

The brown paper bag was a new attempt. I made it from this tutorial. I was imagining it would be more grocery sack size, but it was more like a paper lunch bag.

Dallin threw his foot in the picture to give some size perspective.

 

I am in love with this felt "paper" bag. It was such a quick, easy sewing project. I want to make a bunch of them and use them for everything: gift bags, party favor bags, actual grocery sacks...

Cinco de Mayo!

We were invited to a Cinco de Mayo celebration hosted by one of Mckay's volleyball league teammates. We were told to dress up, so we did.

 

Our very own little mariachi players!

 

We had so much fun putting these costumes together.

I added the black pompom fringe to Dallin's sombrero. I sewed up two quick black felt vests for both little boys and we decorated with silver ric rac ribbon and fabric paint. Mckay pinned/stapled the silver ribbon to the boys' pants. And Mckay made a card board guitar (technically a vihuela) from an internet image. Top it off with a sticker moustache and you get the cutest little mariachi!

 

 Mckay and I got in on a little moustache fun too.

The moustache may have been the best part of Mckay's costume. He's been growing his beard/moustache for several months and shaved just for this occasion. A few people asked if it was real. It sure is--- real creepy. :) (see what I did there...?)  Mckay's serape was a challenge but a work of art. Trying to make his costume inexpensive, we bought some burlap by the yard (I didn't know you could buy such things at a fabric store and that it came in colors like "Idaho Potato"), trimmed it and painted stripes with craft paint. Cheap and effective. So effective that he won "Best dressed Male." I'm so proud of my mustachioed man.

 

I've now typed "moustache" so many times that the spelling looks weird so lets move on...)

 

The boys each got a turn to hit the piñata.

 

It took the help of several other kids, but they finally made some progress.

Connor found a donkey to ride.

 

The boys (Mckay included) went running when the candy fell out and they collected a pretty nice stash.

 

There was also a lot of great food, including homemade tamales. It was a lot of fun, but we needed a little siesta afterward.