A 3 mile hike

This morning Simeon & Johann went on a hike with the cub scouts. It was suppose to be 3 miles, but it sounds like it may have been closer to 4 miles after they walked in a circle from getting lost.
Simeon really wanted to take the camera along to take pictures of any animals that they saw. Here are the pictures that they took.


A deer head that they saw.


The lake that they walked by.


The screaming tree. (I need Simeon to refresh my memory of what they called the tree.)


The dead snake that was already hanging on the branch.


A wolf footprint in the dried mud.


A monarch butterfly on a dandelion.


All the boys who went on the hike.
I was told Simeon was at the front of the group most of the time and that he didn't complain while on the hike.

Only the best will do

This afternoon Ammon wanted to pick a daisy, so I showed him one that he could pick. It had a bent stem and was pretty, but wasn't the prettiest. He said "No Mom, I want to pick this one." It had the tallest and strongest stem and was one of the prettiest daisy's on the plant.

After picking it, he loving said "Mom, it's for you." and handed me the Daisy. I then realized why he didn't want the bent stem daisy, but the prettiest one-he was giving it to me-his mom.
What a loving little boy Ammon is.

Cell Phone ad

I was making dinner and glanced over at the 4 medicine bottles that I had just picked up today (which were by the way in this order) and it instantly reminded me of the cell phone commercial about having "more bars" on your cell phone. I think it's AT&T, so I had to take a quick picture.

For those wondering from smallest to largest-Methotrexate (weekly chemo), Predisolone (steriod 5 days a month), Bactrum (antibiotic-daily) and 6MP (chemo-nightly).

Bronze Leopard Challenge

The bronze leopard cub

This school year Mr Bacon wanted the school to earn a bronze leopard statue for the front of the school. To earn the statue each family needed to work on the "Bronze Leopard Challenge" activity sheet at home. We received our sheet in February and they need to be turned in my May 8th.
During spring break we got alot of things marked off our sheet. The goal was to get 10 different things marked off the sheet. There were different categories to complete: Academic Support, Community Service, Visiting Area Attractions, Family Fun and Family Fitness. We had such a fun time with the activities on the sheet that we didn't do 10 things, we did 17.
One of the items to mark off was to go on an ABC hunt around town. We decided to turn this activity into a bigger project and make a scrapbook out of the ABC places we visited. Currently that scrapbook is under construction!

Corrine during the unveiling ceremony

On May 22nd there was the unveiling of the statue at the school. The steel drum band form the University of Iowa came for a concert, then after the unveiling ceremony the PTO sponsored a picnic lunch for the kids and family.


Simeon play kickball with his friends at the picnic.


Jaelynn, Olivia and Corrine at the picnic.

All the kids had bubbles that they blew as the statue was unveiled. What a neat experience it was to be there to see the statue that the kids worked so hard to get unveiled.


The kids with the leopard.


This is our challenge sheet that we filled out. Our picture is from our flashes of HOPE taken at Dance Marathon this year.

Can he get any dirtier?

Ammon thought a dirt bath sounded like a good idea. When he got up and walked he had a cloud of dust around him like Pigpen from Charlie Brown.

To add to it I told the kids to go run through the dandelions (which were in seed) by the field. Corrine & Ammon thought that was a fun thing to do. If I see a dandelion in our yard I dig it right up or if I can't get to it right then, I pull the top off and put it right in the trashcan. So the kids never get the chance to blow on the seeds.

Walk off HOMERUN

It was Simeon's teams last at bat. They were down by 1 run. Nick was on 2nd base and the next 2 batters struck out, then it was Simeon's turn up to bat. He hit a great hit and ran his little heart out around the bases and slid into home base to WIN the game 18-17.
He hit great the whole game and his running tonight was very smooth and it didn't seem as much of an effort as it has been lately. It was so neat to see him so happy with himself and to have his whole team cheering and clapping for him.
Tonight was also Simeon's snack night and he made sure that every boy had a snack even if it meant he had to run to each as they were leaving to make sure they had one.
We are so proud of Simeon's hard work, effort and kindness on and off the field.

Exploring we Go

This morning Ammon & I decided to get out of the house and do some exploring. I've always wanted to walk across the bridge by The Iowa River Power Company restaurant. I wasn't sure what to expect considering the area completely flooded this time last year.
Before we could go explore the bridge we needed to make a pit stop at a small grocery store by our house and get fruit-roll ups. For some reason Ammon was smelling them this morning and just had to have them. Since I don't ever get them, these are a treat for us. At the store they have kid sized grocery carts that Ammon loves to push around.
When we got to the bridge Ammon looked across and saw "a beach" of sand right by the river that he wanted to go check out. We walked across the bridge and found that the river split many times and there were many small water falls (just a few feet high) to look at. When we got across the river we saw that we could easily get down to a very slow moving area to throw some rocks in.


Then we decided that if there were people fishing on "the beach" that we too could get over to that area. So we headed down the other side of the bridge. We had to cross a small stream that someone had put rocks across to make it a dry crossing.
What we found when we got over the creek totally surprised us. We found beautiful SHELLS. They were all over in the sand. Some were broken, but many were still in great condition.


The closer we got to the main river, the more muscles shells we found. Some were a good 5" across.


There was a HUGE pile of logs that were piled up. When Ammon saw the pile he said "That's a HUGE pile for a fire!" One was out far enough to walk on. Ammon balanced his way across the entire tree and jumped off at the end.

We never made it to "the beach" Ammon had flip flops on and the sand was bothering his feet, so we headed back under the bridge to get a closer look at the waterfalls. What we were walking in was where the flooding was last year, and you could still see some of the debree.
Ammon by this point was ready to go back onto the bridge and walk over the BIG waterfall, so we headed back up to the bridge (but not before he had a potty break in the bushes-which he thought was a pretty sneaky thing to do).
He had a great time stopping and looking out over the river. He was afraid his sunglasses would fall in the water, so he handed them to me, then decided to be a cool dude with his hat backwards.




After walking on the bridge we went and got a sandwich and headed to Upper City Park for a picnic. He was so excited to see that the pool was almost all full of beautiful blue water. Then he played at the park.

He loves the merry go rounds and doesn't seem to ever tire or get dizzy from them. He took a ride on each of the animals and even sang me a wonderful song complete with hand motions while spinning.


He saw the log cabins at the park and wanted to go explore them. There are 2 cabins, which really could use so work. The bigger one had a room with screens on either side of it. Inside there was a bird flying back and forth. It was so scared to be stuck and was flying around really wildly.


Ammon really wanted to get the bird out, so he stopped to think about how to get the bird out.


We walked around the building to see what we could do. He decided that maybe he could call the bird to the hole under the door (it probably flew in through this hole to begin with), but that didn't work.

Then he thought that maybe he could take the building apart, but decided "that's too hard because it was built with nails." He was sad to leave the bird, but he did his best to get it free.


We had such a fun time exploring, and decided that we'd like to take the rest of the family back over the bridge to "the beach" and look for more shells, but this time we'd wear tennis shoes!

Flag Football

Simeon has been so into football lately and really wanted to play flag football. The recreation center had a spring league. We told him we had to get it cleared with Dr. Rolla. She thought it would be fine for him to play since counts especially his platelets were doing so good. The only caution was "ABSOLUTELY NO TACKLING"!

Simeon LOVED practicing and playing in the games. The 1st practice was really nice a warm and lots of kids showed up. After a week or 2 half of the kids stopped showing up. When it came to game time only half of the kids were there, so all the kids were placed on the Cowboys team and they played a very small numbered game. The weather turned cold and wet for 2 weeks, but they would wait out the rain and then play the game.
Then we played our last game at Willowcreek park and it was so hot that Simeon didn't have the energy to play so he sat out most of the game.
In the end it was a great experience for him and it made him want to play football even more!

Indoor Camping

Tonight the boys and dad were suppose to go to the Father and Son Campout with church, and Corrine & I had a girls night planned, but plans changed when the campout got rained out. Ammon had been talking about the campout for a few weeks and we knew he was going to be dissapointed that it was cancelled, so we brought the camping inside.

For dinner we made tin foil dinners. Then Johann made a fire in the fireplace and we roasted marshmellows and made smores.




We put the kids tent up in the front room and they all slept in there with thier sleeping bags while mom & dad got to sleep in our comfortable bed.



Even though it wasn't camping outside the kids made some great memories, and Corrine was alright with our night getting changed.

A trip to the farm

This morning Ammon and I went with the library to Eden Farm for thier bus story time. Part of the fun of the trip is riding a school bus to and from the farm. Today was a great day to go as yesterday we had rain all day-but because of the storm yesterday the temperature was cooler then we were expecting. Luckily we wore pants and jackets.
When we got there we meet with Mr Eden first. He showed us the ducks, then brought us into the garage to see the 3 baby kittens in there. Ammon just loved the kittens and spent the next 20 minutes petting them. He was so gentle with them.

Mr. Eden showed us how he makes the animal feed. He has a machine that he hand cracks that takes the corn off the cob, then he has another hand cranked machine that grinds the corn into the feed. The machines are over 80 years old, and everyday he uses them to make the feed.


We also saw pigs, cows and chickens. The kids also got to climb on a tractor.


At story/snack time the librarian read a story about a pig who had a really, really long nose. The pig was so proud of his nose that he showed it off to all the animals he met. Then one day he wasn't watching where he was going and ran his long, long nose into a tree and it scrunched up his nose. After that all could say was "oink, oink."

Bus story times are always lots of fun, but they are hard to get tickets for as they only take 60 people. I really wanted to go on this trip, so I had it on my calendar to call right when they started handing them out.

Handy Man Ammon

Ammon is such a great helper with jobs around around the house. He always finds his gloves and safety goggles and goes to work.

Todays' fixing job was an old bike that (according to Ammon) needed a bolt hammered.

Ammon all packed and ready to go...

to Grandma's house. His clothes-where are they you ask? In the bag-packed of course!!!

Ammon had spent yesterday with Grandma Smiths and got the idea in his head that he was going to have another sleep over at her house sometime in the near future. So this afternoon he decided that he better get ready for it. We were having a slow day and he stayed in his pj's until he packed them-underwear and all, because they were his favorite and you ALWAYS take your favorite things to grandmas for a sleep over.

After the picture we went and put on some "not his favorite" clothes so that his cute little "booty" (as he calls it) wasn't showing to the world.

I love this little guy!

Best friends to cuddle with

This post is dedicated to the special stuffed friends that make life so much brighter.

SHADOW

Simeon made Shadow for his 6th birthday at Build-A-Bear. When Simeon got sick we watched the movie 8 Below while waiting to go into surgery, and then again in his room later that week. Since watching that movie he fell in love with Husky dogs. One of the dogs in the movie was light gray and white and was named Shadow. A friend gave Simeon a small husky dog which he named Shadow, but when he saw this dog at Build-A-Bear, he wanted a big Shadow. Shadow has been washed and has lost alot of his fur and his nose is no longer soft. When Simeon broke his arm, Shadow even had a fall and broke his leg and got it casted neon green to match Simeon.

HIPPIE

Corrine's special friend is Hippie. When Simeon was in surgery we were given a bag with a treatment binder and a hippo stuffed animal. When Corrine saw the hippo, she really liked it. Simeon saw how much she liked it and thought that she needed to have it.. When he was gone in the hospital Corrine would hug Hippie, as it reminded her of him, and she really missed him when he wasn't home. Even though she LOVES baby dolls, she always finds a spot for Hippie. Sometimes he's their toy, and other times she puts Hippie in the front carrier and she becomes her baby. Corrine has really attached to Hippie and will search all over to find her.

TEDDY

Teddy is Ammon's friend. When he was a baby we gave this to him so that he could have something to attach to. His 1st year pictures are taken with Teddy. He liked Teddy and attached to him, but then he forgot about him and he ended up in the stuffed animal basket. A few months ago-Teddy was found in the basket and it has become attached to Ammon's side. Teddy has a bow that Ammon would get upset if it came untied, so I was constantly tying it. The last few weeks he wants the bow untied so that he can hold the ribbon in his hand and play with the end of it. Teddy follows Ammon around and LOVES to read books with him.

A Loft bed for Corrine

Late fall 2008-Johann was helping his parents clean out their garage when he came across the wood from his water bed he had as a child. He had been thinking about a bunk bed for Corrine's room, so when he found this wood he drew up some plans to make Corrine a loft bed using this wood. It's going to have a book shelf at the head of the bed. We will eventually add another bed underneath, but for now under her bed will be her play area.



April 8th-We bought all the supplies thinking it would be done for her birthday in February, but forgot how taxing tax season is. Some work was done on it during tax season, but most is having to wait until after. But it HAS to be done before the baby comes in July.


Johann cutting the legs on the bed. (4/1/09)

Corrine watching dad closely to make sure he's doing it correctly. "The saw is REALLY LOUD!" (4/1/09)

We originally were going to strip the old finish off the wood, and stain it-BUT the old stain was so hard to get off and we went through many sand belts before we gave up on that idea and decided to paint it white. In the end the white looks very nice in the room because the crib is white.

May 8th-with Grandpa Jenson's help the bed got made in Corrine's room. It ended up being too wide to just put slats under the mattress, so Johann ran and got a piece of plywood to put between the mattress and slates. Now all it's missing is the ladder and bookshelf. Corrine's bed is done enough to sleep on!!


May 11th-Today we put the ladder on the bed and now Corrine can climb up and down on her own and sleep on her new bed. It's still missing the bookshelf-but that will eventually get on it.


Corrine LOVES her new left bed. She told me "It's a dream come true! I always wanted to sleep up high and now I get too!"

It took alot of hours and lots of stress to get it done. It is such a strong bed that as Grandpa Jenson puts it "A Football team couldn't shake that bed apart!" it will last for a long time.

In the end we used 48 8" bolts and another 3 dozen screws. It's not going anywhere anytime soon!!

Mothers day

Today was a beautiful day. Our busy weekend extended into today. At church Johann was released as a counselor in the Young Mens Presidency and called to be the Ward Clerk. He was set part which both his parents and my parents were able to be there to witness.
Since this weekend had so many things to celebrate we had 1 big party for all of it. We celebrated Simeon turning 8, Simeon getting baptized, Corrine's dance recital and Mothers Day.

Simeon wrote me a poem and planted me a flower. On Friday when he got home from school he told me that he made me something that he had to give me right then. So I actually got his flower a few days early. The poem says:

Mom
Reading, cuddling, baking
On the bed
in the kitchen
loving, nice.

Corrine made me a flower with her picture in the center and on each petal it says something different:
"My mom tacx (takes) me to the sdor (store)"
"My mom haps (helps) me"
"You are nis (nice)"
"I Love my mom"
"I Love you mom"
"My mom Love me"

The kids loved giving me their presents and giving me big hugs. At church they also made me each a card with their picture in it. In the picture they are holding a heart that says "I Love you".

For our celebration dinner we had some really good steaks and all the fixings. Again we had too much food in which all of it was so yummy.

Simeon wanted to have ice cream sundaes for dessert since we were also celebrating his birthday. He made himself a very yummy sundae and liked being able to put the candle in it.

This year Johann and the kids got me what I'd been wanting for along time-a food dehydrator. Now we can make fruit leather and dried fruit. I am so excited to try it out!
I have been so blessed with a wonderful family. I love being a mom to Simeon, Corrine and Ammon and our little girl who will join our family this July, and a very loving husband. I feel so lucky to get to stay home with them each and everyday, and to be able to watch them grow and learn. They teach me so much about patience and life that I wouldn't have learned without them.