I found it

I'm talking about 40. Happy Birthday to me. So far it's been good.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

If you wanna win the game you've gotta take good aim
And get the most marbles with your hippo
Playin' Hungry Hungry Hippos
Hungry Hungry Hippos

The boys got a new game yesterday. They are really enjoying it. Oldest keeps singing the song. Littlest just feeds the hippos. It's kept them busy for hours.

It's just like I remember, Loud and Frenetic. It's been fun to play with them.

Lights Out

The power went out yesterday at 5:14 pm. I know that was the time because when the power did come back on that was the time that was blinking on the clock on the stove. The reason the power company reported was that a car crashed into a pole. The power was out for less than 2 hours, not tragic, but I was nervous about how I was going to keep the kids busy without power. It proved to be a non-issue.

The boys were unfazed when the TV went black in the middle of Curious George. Oldest asked if he could play a game on the computer, but I told him that the Internet didn't work when there was no power. So we played some games, sang some songs and they took their baths early because they needed them and again I didn't know how long the power would be out. We found out flash lights and the head lamp I used during the Wasatch Back and we were ready for a dark night.

Littlest was crabby tired and I got him to sleep by 6:30. Summer has been wearing him out!. Oldest and I played some more games and then, the air conditioning started up. Hooray! It was starting to get warm in the house. Oldest checked all the lights to make sure they had power. I restarted the Dryer and Dishwasher.

We made it! We need to disconnect more often. But let's keep the power on.

~Peace and Power

Chocolate Milk

My kids drink Chocolate milk. Neither of them would drink plain white milk when they first turned 1 and it was OK for them to drink it. My feeling was and still is if adding a little bit of chocolate makes them excited to drink milk it's OK. We don't have soda or juice in the house so they drink Water and Chocolate Milk almost exclusively.

Yesterday, Littlest and I went to Costco to drop off a prescription and I knew we needed milk. Costco is still by far the cheapest. Littlest lead the way to the back cooler area and we get a gallon of chocolate milk. He wanted to carry it, so I let him, with some help of course. I noticed quite a few smiles from other shoppers as they watched Littlest over the top excited to be carrying the gallon of milk. He carried it all the way to the checkout, then to the car and finally into the house when we got home. He then got a cup for himself and one for his brother.

Yummy!

~moo

Pedicure

I had my first pedicure right before Littlest was born, so I was 37. I loved it.

I had my second pedicure this weekend, 2 years later. Why did I wait so long? Well, for one I'm not one for spending money on myself and I will not go to a nail shop to get one, too many germs. So my only option is a spa, and that can get expensive. So I dropped a hint to my husband before mother's day that my feet could use a pedicure. He got it.

On Saturday morning I headed to the spa and got my pedicure. It was relaxing. Soaking your feet, getting a massage and then topping it off with great polish that will last a lot longer than anything I could do.

There was a lady there, at least 60's. She was getting her first pedicure. She liked it. Someone commented that it is something you can do without until you've had one, then you are hooked. I can't wait until next Mother's day.

Haircuts and Lollipops

I don't have a lot of haircut memories as a young child, but then I'm a girl and had long hair for most of my life. But I do know that for boys, getting a haircut cannot be too much fun and they get them often. But we have a place here in Salt Lake that does nothing but kids haircuts. I gotta tell you it's such a great idea.

The place is called Cookie Cutters. They have a slide in the lobby. Kids get to choose a video to watch and each cutting station has a different vehicle to sit in. They've made it fun to get your haircut, or at least not a horrible experience. After the haircut they get a balloon, with a weight that is a cookie cutter and a lollipop. Our appointment was for 5:00 we were out of there with 2 kids hair cut by 5:17. Very efficient too!

Why can't my haircuts be like that.

Paper Airplanes and Dinosaurs

Last night Littlest had a gym class that my husband took him to. I stayed home with Oldest. He was getting restless during dinner, so I asked him if he new how to make paper airplanes. He did not.

We got out some paper and I proceeded to show him where to fold the paper. He thought it was "kinda cool". Our airplane flew around the kitchen, then the living room. Soon his was the Scooby Doo plane and mine was the Backyardigans plane and they were chasing each other.

They crash landed in Dinosaur world. My next idea was to get some of his dinosaurs out. They chased they planes for a bit, but it morphed into dinosaur school time. The moving T-rex was the teacher and the others were the class. They were headed to a field trip to the dinosaur museum, which in their world would just be the museum. Tomorrow would be bike day. He did a great job at controlling the class and answering the little dinosaurs questions.

Our hour went by so quickly that Littlest got back from class. Tired and ornery. He had had a long day. Time for Littlest to go to bed.

My husband took Oldest out to ride his bike for a bit then came back in to play a dinosaur card game for a while.

Great night using our imagination.

Plumbing 101

So our toilet has been running lately. Not constantly, but about once an hour to refill part of the tank. Saturday we decided to fix it. We discovered that the rubber ball in the tank had a small hole in it, thus the leakage and refilling. My husband turns off the water to the toilet , pulls out the ball and we head to The Home Depot for a replacement.

{foreshadow}
Turning off the water to the tank was not an easy task. The valve didn't had a handle and we needed a screwdriver to turn it. How long has that been there unturned I wondered? Maybe we should replace that too. What if we needed to turn off the water quickly some day in the future.

We get our part easily at Home Depot and head home. The repair was quick and we continued on with our day. About an hour later, on a whim, I check the floor behind the toilet. The valve has a leak. Back to the store for my husband, this time Lowe's. He calls me to ask what size it is, 3/8 or 5/8? I measure as best I can but what I measure is not an option. Someone at the store says that 3/8 is pretty standard. He heads home with that.

Turn off the water to the house, remove the valve from the toilet side, remove the valve from the wall side. Remove the valve from the wall side. I said, remove the valve from the wall side. This puppy will not budge. Finally it moves, or so we think. We then realize the valve is not turning but the pipe attached to the valve connecting to the wall pipe is turning. Not good. What do we do. It is 3pm on a Saturday. We have no water running in the house, cannot turn it back on and a plumber would cost a fortune. I call a neighbor.

John comes over with some tools, the right tools and he and my husband manage to re tighten the pipe to the wall and get the valve off. We then realize that the new valve is the wrong size. We need a 1/2. I head to Home Depot one more time.

It's fixed! No leaks! and we upgraded the toilet for a future overflow emergency. With 2 young boys I know this will come in handy!

~Peace

On your marks, get set, GO!

Oldest and I watched part of the Olympic Swimming Trials last night. When I turned them on he announced that it was a swimming race. He's very into competition right now.

I love the Olympics, always have. Watching the incredible athletes always sparks a fire within me. We moved to Salt Lake in 2000 because of the Olympics. Not compete of course, but my husbands job as a sports journalist allowed the opportunity to live in an Olympic city during the games and attend events. We probably never would have been able to do that otherwise. The experience was incredible and I hope that someday my children get experience the Olympics live and in person.

Last night swimmer Dara Torres made her fifth Olympics at age 41. Maybe 40 really is the new 30?

We recently go a gameboy game. Mario and Sonic at the Olympics. Oldest has gotten pretty good at some of the events. Littlest has picked up a new phrase, " On your marks, get set, GO!"

Independence Day

Today is the 4th of July. It is the day Americans celebrate their Independence. It has turned out to be a big independence day for Oldest too!

Our neighborhood has an annual parade. The children in the neighborhood ride their bikes or scooters or wagons around a couple of blocks, neighbors cheer and then we all have a potluck lunch. This year the local fire station brought a fire engine to lead the parade. They stayed to cool everyone off with the hose. We even had the fighter jets fly over again this year. It was a very enjoyable couple of hours.

Oldest wanted to ride his bike this year. About a month ago we took the training wheels off of his bike and he has been working on riding on his own. For the last month he hasn’t had too much luck. Baby steps of progress but he wasn’t ready to ride it by himself in the parade.

Then last night, when my husband told him he didn’t think he was ready to ride it in the parade, Oldest had a breakthrough. He started riding without any help. Not only that, but he turned corners and braked all on his own.

He rode his bike in the parade today. All of our neighbors commented on how well he was riding. He was very proud of himself. So were we. He loves his new found independence.

Happy Independence Day!

SING!

Littlest has been singing. He doesn't say the words necessarily but he know the rhythms and inflections. It's very cute. And very loud.

Oldest's favorite TV show is SpongeBob SquarePants (we will not let him watch Power Rangers) Littlest was singing the theme song. Maybe we are watching to much TV.

Keeping Cool

Watching the weather forecast on this mornings newscast made me feel hot. It's going to be hot. Very Hot!. Highs around 100 degrees. Overnight lows somewhere in the 70's. Summer has arrived with a vengeance. At least it's a dry heat. :)

This year we have had to recharge the AC in our 11 year old car, replace the compressor and recharge the AC in our 10 year old car and replace the 25 year-old furnace in our house so that it could actually blow the AC in our house. A lot of money for keeping cool. But when it's this hot you really have no choice. I am grateful that we are in a position to be able to do that and that that is all we had to do.

There is always something to complain about, gas and food costs are rising. We had to spend extra money to replace a "luxury" like air conditioning. The kids are grumpy and don't want to listen. But in the larger scheme of thing they are pretty insignificant.

I look at the news and the thousands of people in the Midwest who have lost everything because of flooding. I look at some friends who are dealing with illness. Yesterday I heard about a friend of a friend who just found out her 5 year-old has cancer. I don't know them but as a mother I can't help but feel sad. Please help me send prayers and/or positive thoughts their way.

So, starting right now, only positive thoughts, focus on the good stuff. No complaining. I'm in a good place.

~Peace