fruits of our labor

We are starting to see some progress in our gardens this year. !super exciting! Brennen was helping me water my tomatoes when he pulled one of and asked "Whats this?" ahhhhhhh! Now we have a couple of tomatoes and limes, and lots of yummy smelling blossoms. Every time I make my kids work in the garden I sing that primary song. The prophet said to plant a garden. They hate it but maybe that's just my singing.

Duck cage

Our house was starting to smell like a compost plant if you know what I mean. So it was time to make the duck pen. I bought the necessary supplies at Lowes. William and I set a date to make the pen. Unfortunately we picked the hottest day we have had so far (in the high 90's). But you know kids, they do not back down easily. I dug the holes for the posts in the toughest ground ever. I had to break out the pic axe. It took me over an hour to dig 5 post holes. keep in mind everything takes longer when you have little helpers.
Sometimes I wonder "am I really teaching them lessons like how to work and the joy of completing projects? Or am I just a glutton for punishment?"
The gate was the hardest because everyone wanted to help with that, including Peter. So 3 days later voila we have a duck pen.

Potty Time

I am sure every mother can appreciate this news. We have been trying for F-O-R-E-V-E-R to coax Brennen into using the potty. We tried everything you can thing of!!! Those of you that know me know what I am talking about. Well. . . yesterday right after swim lessons he asked me if he could use his potty?!?1!? "OF COURSE YOU CAN USE YOUR POTTY" (me trying to contain my excitement) so he just went and peed in his potty. HURRAY!!!! He had me check it out. We did the whole over the top celebration thing. and that was the end of it. (he didn't touch the potty the rest of the day)
Today right after swim lesson he didn't even ask he went right to his potty and peed. He came and told us. Another over the top celebration. A few minutes when by and he peed in his pants. He came over said "mom I need new pants I peed." with a look of disappointment I asked "why?" He looked a little confused and forlorn. Next thing I know he's in the bathroom again and comes out with POOP IN THE POTTY!!!! right after we cleaned it all up he asked for a diaper.
So I guess we just have to go swimming every day. j/k I know its just the beginning but at least its SOMETHING!!

My life as a kid by Ellie

Wow, this is one of the places for me to escape to I have three brothers and two pets plus all my chores ,Yep my life is very busy .my brothers are crazy one time William tried to fly out the window with a blanket tied to his wrists and ankles ,I stopped him before he could .Brennen is really crazy brother once he escaped a diaper change a bare butt .Putting on a knight helmet he rode his shake and go cart all across the patio ,crazy kid .Peter is a very cute boy but he's done some crazy things one time he was so tired he was reaching for his bed .But mom didn't notice .Despretly he said Ma .Well that's my story,Catch ya later ,Ellie.

garden

We decided to try a garden again this year. Last year we failed horribly. This year we decided to create an ideal place for the garden so it wouldn't have to compete with anything. I cleared the land (this turned out to be a little more work than I expected) then made this 4x6' box, lined it with weed blocker then filled it with dirt. So far so good everything is growing nicely. Our only down side is that it is a little small so we could only do a few veggies. Although if this one works out I might build a second one next year. I am excited to see the results.

Sunday Walk

One of my favorite things is to go for a walk every sunday. The kids complain every week but as soon as we get walking they love it. So why do they complain? who knows. I guess it is just their way of trying to make us crazy. Brennen usually brings his "shake and go" car. This sunday Peter wanted in on the action. It was such a sweet moment of the simple things in life I had to keep it.

Ducks

Williams kindergarten class hatched ducklings this year. Because it is the end of the school year they had a raffle to see who would take the ducks home. (with parents permission) Guess who won that raffle? Yes I said it was okay to take home ducks because they are my favorite animal.
We brought them home and one didn't make it through the night. The move was just too tramatic. So I spent the rest of the next morning trying to find a place that sold ducklings. Not as easy as it sounds. I finally found a place and we bought the yellow one with the funny hat. It is called a crested duck. Its a little bigger than the brown one but that doesn't seem to matter.
Now the trick is trying to keep the dog from eating them.

wave runners

These are our new toys a couple of '99 sea-doo's. Or as William calls them "Ski Runners". We were so excited to get them, we have wanted some of our own for a long time so we finally made it happen. This is our first trip with them. We went to Castaic Lake because it is only 12 min away. It was a great place to just see how well they actually ran. They were awesome by the way. We had a blast!! Although we probably wont be going there again they have too many rules and only a small area, with no beach where jet skis are allowed. We mainly went there just to make sure everything worked okay. The yellow one is super fast!!! The purple one has a lot of power but is nice and smooth. All in all I was very happy with them. The water was good the kids had a blast. Even peter loved the lake I brought his tube and he would squeal with delight just bobbing in the water. This is the beginning of a great summer