Seen and Heard

There has recently been a sighting of 32 jars of canned peaches (that my friends and I made) They are sooooooo YUMMY! Another spotting of Shannon and Aaron at Starbucks! If you don't already know they make fruit smoothies (no coffee) and they are TASTY! We had "Orange Dream." Another sighting of Sydnie Wesley and Samantha playing like old pals together! Syd and Sam are good buddies. Sydnie wanted to skip her primary activity so she could play with Sam. Another sighting of Taya and with kiddies! What a fun weekend we had with them!

Funny Wesley

I was plucking my eyebrows in the bathroom last night and Wes came in and saw me. He said "MOM are you PICKING your NOSE" I said no, I am plucking my eye brows. He said plucking your "eye elbows?" I was laughing so hard I couldn't even answer him. He has such a funny way of hearing things and his perspective is so hilarious and innocent (ha, probably not really that). I love that kid!

This n That

Not too much news, just some thoughts! On Sunday Syd wanted to bring her new water colors to church so she could use them in Sacrament meeting. I told her no way because it will make a big mess. She said "and we REALLY shouldn't make a mess in God's house." I thought it was cute that she totally got it. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I have been baby sitting like mad (and not making money because I do it for free to help my friends who are struggling) but I feel like I am a mean mom and not really nice to my kids or the kids I am baby-sitting. Where is my patience!?

We went house hunting yesterday. We didn't fin anything that we HAVE to have, but it was really fun. We saw one that was in Mead (which has the best school district in Washington, OR so I read) and I REALLY liked the house and it was on a half acre but it was only a 2 bed 1 bath. WAY too small! We hope to buy with the next year and hopefully sooner. Our realtor is really nice (he is LDS) and really patient with us so that is nice.

It's raining here today and I am really not used to the cold because it has been so hot here for so long (not like Arizona though). I actually turned the heat on for a while this morning to take the edge off! Time to get out the down comforter!

This weekend will be so fun! Tyler and Taya and Shannon and Dave (maybe, haven't confirmed yet) are coming to play and to go to the temple! YEAH for family coming!!!! Next weekend me and my 2 friends are driving to Seattle (WITHOUT KIDS!!!) and just having a girls weekend out! We are staying at Greg and Bonnie's house and going to IKEA!! Happy day! I will tell ya all about it later! TTFN.
SHAN

I need to vent!

Okay, so I KNOW I live in an apartment where you have to be courteous of your neighbor and live by "the managers" rules but it is getting ridiculous! All summer the kids (naturally) play outside. When it was real hot I would fill up a little kiddie pool and put out on the lawn and they would get cooled off and have a good time. Half way through the summer I got a notice that kiddie pools were banned. I was bummed but it was okay. So no more pool, so they have been riding their bikes on the sidewalk which happens to go past people's windows. I got a notice on the door "please do not let your kids go on other peoples porches and look into their windows." I talked to my kids and they no longer do this (they didn't in the first place either...I am ALWAYS out there with them and I see what they are doing all the time! Anyhoo, they water the lawn here AT LEAST 3 times a day and so when it was hot, since they couldn't swim or ride, they would run through the sprinklers. As they were running through one day (minding their own business) our manager come over on her golf cart and says, they kids are NOT supposed to be playing in the sprinklers. AHHHG! So I get them out and tell them no more of that! (By the way this complex has TONS of kids and is really well kept up and always looks really nice...see the picture, but there is no playground, pool or anything for them).

So TODAY we are outside and the kids are collecting bugs in a jar, therefore they moved some bricks to get some worms etc (temporarily, of course, we do this quite often) and the manager came over in her dumb little golf cart and said "are you going to put those bricks back?" In my head I said "no I was planning on leaving them all over the sidewalk like this" but what I really said was yes, of course, we do this all the time and we always put them back. Anyhoo, she said well, they don't like it when you do that, so put them back! First of all, I don't know who "they" are (probably HER) and second...what CAN my kids do REALLY? Anyhoo, I DO understand this complex is nice and they want to keep it safe and good looking but honestly! It's not kid friendly at all and neither is the management!

Thanks for letting me vent, I already feel better...am I over reacting? It's too bad so many people want to sue the pants off everyone these days, I think that is why all this "NO" business. It's time to buy a HOUSE!

daddy day

I have been avoiding the myspace and facebook craze much to the dissatisfaction of shannon, but to be a good hubby i am putting up my own contribution to the banks family blog. Shannon had a garage sale last weekend so I watched the kids all day saturday. It was fun because it seems like I get to busy for them sometimes with work, two callings, exercise, and studying for the cpa exam. I decided it would be fun to build a fort together, and I knew if we did they would play in it for hours. I wanted to make a big one so it took almost an hour to build and a lot of ingenuity. I ended up pulling the torn down crib out from under the bed and lashing it together to make the main horizontal support. The first part was the tunnel in between the kitchen chairs and the couch then it wrapped around the couch and the wall; at that point the kids had another tunnel that was between the front of the couch and some more chairs. This part was cool because the kids could actually lay on the couch and you can see the crib supporting all the blankets on top.

The whole project took 3 sleeping bags, a crib, and all the blankets and chairs we own. We had a great time and it was one of my more memorable days with the kids. We ran errands, watched movies, and built a fort. Throughout the whole thing Sydnie kept saying "I know we can do it, this is going to be great" and Wesley said "this fort is awesome dad".

FYI, Shannon just informed me that Sydnie and Wesley went to the doctor today; which, means they were both weighed. They are almost 2 years apart by a couple weeks. And the weigh in is:

Sydnie 34.5 pds

Wesley 34 pds

I occasionally look at all your blogs and love them so keep it up.

Aaron

Geocaching

If you don't know what geocahing is, you are missing out! It is where coordinates of a hidden treasure are downloaded from the computer into a GPS unit and then we go out and find the hidden treasure! The GPS tells us how far we are from it (2 miles, 200 feet etc) and literally points (with an arrow) the direction to go. So once we get with a few feet, we search around and find it. What the "treasure" consists of is a waterproof box filled with all kinds of things such as a toys, trinkets, cards, a log in sheet and anything else people wish to leave. We can take some of the treasure as long as we leave some as well. Some of the spots are "micro caches" which means it's REALLY small. These are harder to find but we have found 2 so far! This activity is so exciting for kids and adults and it is also good exercise for us! Some of the "hikes" are strenuous and some are very easy. This summer we have found close to 10-20 of them and within a radius of 80 miles from Spokane there are over 2000 caches! That will keep us busy! Here are some pictures of us hiking to find some treasure. Wesley is holding a squeeze car that we found! FUN. Come visit us and we will take you!

The STORM!

I was baby sitting last night and a HUGE storm came through. All the kids were going crazy so I let them out in the back to run around. There was wind, thunder, lightning, REALLY black clouds, rain, and even the sun came out for some of it, causing everything to have an eerie glow! It was actually really cool. When I was little I used to be deathly afraid of thunder and lightning. I think I am over that fear now, I wonder what makes us overcome our fears? The last one was just me and Aaron being dorks out in the storm! HAHA.