:: That'll shut him up ::

We have a new game to play during church, we call it "sticker leg,"
pretty inventive, I know. It was really the only thing that kept him
quiet during sacrament and the only thing that kept me from giving him
a boot to the head.

I feel that I have tried a lot of things to entice my children into
reverence, or at least to get them to try to keep it down to a dull
roar. There doesn't seem to be a lot I can to do to keep from having
everyone stare at our crazy family mulipule times during an hour long
meeting. It's not as bad if you happen to be at a different ward than
you usually attend, at least then you can pretend that it's not your
poor parenting skills that lead to your son's need to see the crowd
from the stand. It could be that this just happened to be a hard
Sunday for him, the little wipper snapper. However, your home ward is
much harder to fool, eventually they will realize that your daughter
doesn't have turrets and is just repeating words she has heard you use.

If I was to ever consider another religion, it would be something with
outdoors time, or maybe just two little seat belts on our bench to
keep them in one place, though I could just start bringing a roll of
duct tape to church.

For now, I'll just buy more stickers.

Birthday Pics

Since my parents got home on Saturday, we decided to have a belated family birthday party for Josh and Jane so that Grandma and Grandpa Jones could be there. Camille told the kids about their birthday cakes (rocket ship and princess) a few weeks ago and they ask about them and talk about them everyday. So yesterday was the day and the kids were super excited! We were excited about having our good friend and talented photographer Emilie Campbell over to take some family pictures. Below are a few of them with more to come. Thanks Em!

:: Old Books, Old Crush ::

I love children's books, but I especially love the work of Maurice Sendak, Mercer Mayer, Tomie DePaulo and Beatrix Potter. These are some of the Authors/Artists that my Mom read to me when I was little. Anyway I ordered these books from Powell, and they came in the mail today. Hooray! I love mail and I love books in the mail (who doesn't). "In The Night Kitchen" is for Josh and "Outside Over There" is for Jane, and the rest are for our library. I just can’t help sharing my excitement over new/used books and their beautiful artwork.

:: Battle Wounds ::

The Twins like to tell me about their "ouies" and how they got them, and why they need a band-aid for a scrape that healed two weeks ago and is now barely decipherable on their skin. Here they are comparing their "hurties" with each other. Just in case you are wondering, nope, my kids never wear pants.*

*Pants are so 90s

Future Boston Celtic

Here's Jane going up for the lay up.

:: Skadoosh ::

The twin’s birthday was so much fun this year. As always the kids got a home made gift from me, and this year they both got dress-up clothes. Jane is really into the princess thing, (I really don't know how this happened, but I am learning to embrace my inner princess too) so I made her some little skirts and veils.

I made Josh a tool belt and a shop apron, I didn’t have time to make him any super hero clothes, but I want to make them both super suits, (maybe for Halloween). Josh also got some tools and a cute construction hat. We wanted Jane to know she had options so we got her a Dr. kit too.

The day started with a trip to the park then we went to the Pizza Factory for lunch and then caught a matinee of Kung Fu Panda. I love Jack Black (who doesn’t, I mean really is there anyone out there who doesn’t like him?) and the movie did not let me down.

My parents come over for Dinner (Cafe Rio, cause the kids love it) and then watched the kids for an hour so we could sneak out to a friends wedding reception. The reception was beautiful (the bride, the flowers, the cake, the garden, everything was amazing) and it was nice to have a mini date with Kgordee. We ended the night with the kids and a lot of bed time stories and songs.

:: Yep, still three ::

At the park.

:: Helping Mommy Water::

The kids helped me water the garden.

Happy Birthday!!!

3 years ago today, our little family doubled in size by the birth of 2 beautiful babies. Here they are this morning trying to show off their new age with 3 fingers instead of 2. We have a super fun day planned including a matinee of Kung Fu Panda, farm animals at Thanksgiving Point and dinner with Grandama & Grandpa Holmes. Plus some fun presents. More pictures later.

:: Summer Reading ::

I have found lately that I have slipped into reading books without a lot of substance. I need to fix that, it's not that reading fluff doesn't have it's time and place, we all need the superfluous in our lives. However my goal is to make that the exception and not the rule. My sister Kitti always inspires me read better books and Nat has done the same with her summer read goals.

I have started off the list with two quick reads; The Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan and The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy. Both were amazing and reminded me that I want to be reading quality literature again. I'm slowly but surely gathering a list of books I want to read in the near future, I would post it for all to see but then the list would look like homework to me and I would never pick them up. For some reason making a list on Goodreads does not feel like homework, more of a suggestion list to work from. If you haven't checked out Goodreads.com it is my new favorite, it's the best way to keep all the books you have read or plan to read organized and you can get ideas from friends on what to read next.

So I know I have asked for Book Club recommendations before but, (this being a little different) is there a book that comes to mind when you think of books that have been meaningful in your life. Something that inspires you and makes you want to pick it up again and again?

:: New Do ::

This was supposed to be a mohawk, however this little punk couldn't
sit still. The back ended up all wonky and off center, so this is a
faux-hawk.

Whatever you call it, I think it looks rad. Now all we need to do is
dye it purple!

:: I need one of these bad boys ::

:: Furts ::

Josh and Jane love to build forts, on the couch, under a table, basically anything is a fort just add a blanket and insta-fort is ready to go. Josh calls them furts btw. The only blanketless fort is a
couch pillow fort that is highly coveted. They are constantly fighting over the realestate the fort is built on, the materials with which it is built and other disputes end in tears. The reason for this post is to honor a peaceful fort moment on our house. I'm pretty sure this won't last.