more laundry woes...

This time, my laundry woe results from my own lack of watchful parenting.

.

The incident took place in our bathroom this morning while I was showering. So at least I was in close proximity when the incident took place.

.

On a side note, I've totally been meaning to get a child proof thing for the drawers in our bathroom b/c discipline isn't enough to keep Evie out of them.

.

Terry found her in our room in front of the mirror getting pretty like a big girl. What exactly is on her face you may ask?

.

WATER-PROOF MASCARA!!! .
She's a smart one. She figured out how to twist the thing to open it. Honestly, I'm not sure if Noah could figure out how to do that now, at four years old. He would just ask me to do it and not try it himself.

.

You can even see it on her leg above. And I was originally concerned that she was sucking on it b/c that is something she would totally do. But as you can see from the close-up, she didn't. She painted her upper lip, but didn't put it in her mouth. It was on her shirt, in her hair, on her thighs, even in her ear!

.

So pretty right?

.
Since Evie was getting her picture taken, Noah wanted to as well. Notice how clean he is...

.
Here is her shirt. She just painted it!

.
Here is what I used to get it out - and Shout and a serious scrub brush. Did it work...?

.
YES! Note to self: Prevention is key.

.

Oh yeah. How did I get it off of her? I put her in the bath and smudged it all away w/some very appropriately named baby oil - and soap. For her hair, I just kind of scraped it off between my fingernails...

Da Da

As this picture testifies, my kids have the best daddy. They LOVE their daddy. Noah wanted to read just like him and Evie wanted to play as near to him as she could get.

Noah should be used to daddy going to work in the morning, but this morning he was just really upset about it. He wants daddy to be w/him always. He occasionally goes to work with him and loves that, though I'm not sure daddy gets all that he wants to get done... And, since we've let Noah go occasionally, he wants to go all the time now. Breaks his heart when he can't.

.
And when Evie hears the garage door open, she just drops whatever she's got in her hands and lopes out to the big room and yells, "DA DA!" It's so cute. And then she wants him to hold her for much longer than she needs me to hold her during the day (not that she doesn't like me too).

.

Our kids just love their dad. =)

workin boy

My dad was in Wyoming at the same time we were in Laramie. Except he was in the northern part. He bought these work gloves for Noah b/c he just couldn't help himself:

I didn't think they would fit at first. When I finally got them on him, they were more than adequate. It took a little work to get them on b/c he's used to mittens. Just the thumbs in those give him a hard time, so you can imagine fitting TEN fingers. But we managed.
Good job dad =). Now I guess Noah needs to get to work, which means Terry or I do too...

big girl - how did that happen?

Yeah, exactly. How did our little baby get big enough to do this:

Noah thinks it would be fun to push her back down so he can have his turn...

Finally, Noah's turn.

I just don't know where the time went. It seems like I was just pregnant, like I just brought her home from the hospital. I can't even properly call her a baby anymore since she's nearly 17 months. But I still do. She's still my little squish.

disConnect

From Monday August 3rd through Saturday August 8th, Terry took 12 students to Laramie, WY, Table in the Wilderness Ministries. And since I didn't want to be all alone for nearly a week, me and the kids went too!

It was our FIFTH trip of the summer (1. Mexico, 2. Michigan - Nathan and Ana's wedding, 3. home - Shari and Jesse's wedding, camp), but it was really great. I was so glad that I went instead of staying home. In addition, I got to see my matron of honor and great friend SaraJane b/c she lives there! It was a win win situation.

The kids did pretty good - just okay. Noah did quite a bit better than Evie who did more than her fair share of whining. But it was better than the alternative.

.

.
Tuesday, Day 1: Repelling. I didn't go and Terry didn't take any pics w/our camera that I can find. I took the kids to SJ and Micah's house for the afternoon and had a nice visit.

Wednesday, Day 2: Rafting/Canoeing the North Platte River in Saratoga, WY. We also took in the hot springs there. I obviously couldn't take Evie so she and I hung out in the springs. Noah went w/Terry on the raft and did really well! We spent the night at "the land" in the mountains - the students camped in tents and me and the kids stayed in a nice little apartment!

The kids had to play in the water while we waited for the group to be ready to head down the river.

Our group

How cute, eh?

Would you believe Evie hardly got sunburned.

Terry's raft is just leaving. Anita is on the left. She was the other leader.

I raced down the road, over the bridge in time to catch the whole group going by. I was so proud to have helped w/the extra filming for the video... =)

Noah throwing rocks in the hot springs.

Here are the students in the water where the springs exits into the river. The hot water took a little time to get used to but even Evie was comfortable here.

We got ice cream afterwards. Noah is begging off of Rebecca.

Here is a field at the land. They're playing ultimate frisbee.

Terry's like, I'm the boss and I call the shots!

.

.

Thursday, Day 3: Mountain Biking! This was by far everyone's favorite activity, including me b/c I was actually able to participate (a couple staff watched my kiddos for me - so sweet of them). It was SO fun. I loved it! We slept at "the land" again.

Here is a pond they made w/a back-hoe in front of the lodge at the land. The creek was so pretty and the kids had fun throwing small rocks in until they got in trouble (which is kind of a sore spot for me...)

Evie explores around the land.

Here's the proof that I actually went on this trip. I LOVED mountain biking! I could do it every single weekend if we didn't live in a flat place...

Terry is rolling his bike back of this slope that he rode down 3 times. I thought he did pretty well. It's on the video.

Noah is hanging out at the campfire while the students play capture the flag.

Ricci, Jon and Terry guarding their flag.

Here is the lodge thing. Actually, it's just a kitchen and bathrooms right now. They will build an actual lodge later.

Behind this group is the apartment where the kids and I stayed.

Terry is about to walk behind the campfire.

.

.

Friday, Day 4: Hike Medicine Bow Peak. This was the most challenging activity. A lot of the kids had a hard time w/it, but as I recall, it's very rewarding (I went w/Noah and Terry two years ago - that's where the pic at the beginning is from). The kids and I were waiting at "the land." This part of the hardest part of the trip b/c the kids got bored and it was mommy's turn to get cranky... By this time, we were all ready to go home.

Before they hiked the mountain, they saw five huge Moose's!

They're just starting their hike.

So pretty!

.

Saturday, Day 5: Leave Laramie! The kids and I went home. Terry and the students went to a suburb of Denver for "Heavenfest," a large Christian music festival.

Here is the video Terry made. It is long but very good. It's too bad youtube took the sweet Skillet music off though...

salmon, cookies & yakking...

Can I just say that I think VeggiTales and 321 Penguins on NBC Saturday mornings is great? I've finally been able to finish Angie and Ernesto's video and blog that I've been working on for 2 days!

.
Anyway, I made this potato crusted salmon for dinner the other night from an America's Test Kitchen recipe. It was SUPER. I also made sauce to go w/it in case it needed it, but it didn't. The potato crust has kettle baked chips, bread, dill and lemon zest food processed all together. It seriously took like 10 minutes to make in the oven. Very good.

.

Secondly, Noah came in to our room this morning to get me up and he announced that we had to make chocolate chip cookies. He wanted me to do it right then. Sorry bud, that will have to wait til this afternoon.

.

Thirdly, Evie has a bad new habit. She likes to make herself gag w/her finger... Yeah, they were just in the big room watching tv as I'm working on stuff and I hear her gagging. Noah was laughing, which makes her laugh, which makes her want to do it more. Except this time she finally yakked. Yuck. And then what did she want? Snacks. Yeeeah. I'm hoping this isn't a sign of what's to come... Binge and then purge? But wait, first she purged and then binged...