manic monday

monday was busy! it started early for all of us. kg took flower to the gym with him. i took river to her 18 month check-up. i'll write a separate post on that. after that she went with me to my endocrinology check-up. they have to change the thyroid dosage AGAIN! so annoying. you'd think i'd be used to it by now since it pretty much happens every 3 months. oh well. she thinks my weight loss has contributed so i supposed that's a good thing! my vitamin d and iron are holding strong though and that's a new thing so i'll take it!
when we got home i put river down for a nap and got some one on one time with flower.
first we started her summer school work books that my parents gave her for christmas. i hope to have her do these books a few times a week to better prepare her for kindergarten and keep her interested.
the first one is all about cutting, gluing and matching.

the second one is all about reading and writing. she did really great at both.
then we painted her fingernails.
and toenails.
finally we played sorry! and she won.
river woke up right as we were finishing. we then had scrambled eggs for lunch and lounged around the rest of the day doing laundry, playing on the balcony and watching tv.
i really enjoy having mondays off.

early father's day and birthdays!

on sunday the 13th the girls and i went to roger's to celebrate an early father's day and birthdays. happy birthday to amanda, sandee and kassidee. and happy father's day to my dad and brothers. they are all excellent dads!

the girls and i arrived early with their bikes in tow so we could go on a walk before the party started. roger's kids joined us. torta had fun 'trying' to ride river's big wheel. it was funny.

i love that flower was giving river a pump.

we got back to roger's at 6 and everyone had arrived so let the party begin. they each opened gifts and cards and then we had dessert.

evidently the spoon wasn't working as well as sticking her face in the bowl. :)

then sandee, amanda and i took all the kids on another walk. this time we walked to some sheep in the neighborhood. it was fun to listen to the sheep baaa and 'talk' to each other.

the kids were trying to lure them to the fence.

eventually it worked and all the sheep came running.

then we took the long way back to the house. i got left behind with river and met up with a lady in my brother's ward and three of her girls. we had such a great conversation. two of her girls are adopted and we shared our stories. turns out she has heard of amanda. her friend has volunteered at starfish. so cool! it was lovely to meet her.

this is river and one of her little girls playing in the gutter water.
they were so sweet together.

they let river wear their sunglasses against my advice and sure enough, river broke them. :(

we got back to roger's at 9 and i gathered the girls to leave. i had to send river down the steep driveway a couple more times. her face was hilarious and she loved the speed! she went so fast she'd cross the street and make it to the side walk on the other side, all while holding her feet up, coasting.

i love her brave spirit. flower wanted nothing to do with it! ;)
it was a lovely sunday!

cookies and a nice long walk

flower had been asking to make cookies. so last monday, the 7th, that's what we did. river helped, or should i say watched, the first part of mixing the dough. then i formed balls and flower rolled the balls into cinnamon sugar. we made snickerdoodles.
in texting with kris i discovered she was near by at matt's golf tournament for the day. we decided after we were done with the cookies to go on a walk to see her and take her cookies. i totally underestimated how long that walk would take. the double stroller has flat tires so i took the single stroller and flower walked. she did amazing but does not like the heat so we stopped a lot to put water on her head and stand in the shade. :) keep in mind it was probably only 70 degrees that day. we are in for a long summer with that girl!
the girls were so excited to see buffalo grandpa stopped at a light as we were walking by! too bad we didn't have enough time to give him some cookies!
flower stopped and took pictures of the pretty flowers.


after walking about 2.5 miles with at least that much further to go, kris was ready for a break from golf so instead of us walking to her, she met us at the snow shack a half mile away, which was where we were going to go after the golf course. :) i'm so glad we did that. i'm not sure we would have made it home other wise. we enjoyed a nice rest while talking to her and eating our refreshing shaved ice. when it was time to go flower said she needed a rest and wanted to ride in the stroller. as we started walking river automatically climbed in the basket underneath. fine by me! she cracks me up!

a few blocks later we stopped at dairy queen so flower could use the bathroom. since we were there we shared some chicken and fries. finally we were on the road again. after that, river walked for about half a mile, then got back in the basket and went to sleep. :)
by the time we got home i was beat. we were gone for 3 1/2 hours. and walked a little over 5 miles. with all the stops we made i think we averaged 2 miles an hour which isn't bad when a 5 year old walked 3 miles of it and an 18 month old walked half a mile of it.
unfortunately i forgot to put sunscreen on and my right arm was fried! i've been dealing with blisters all week. yum.
but it was worth it. i liked being outside with them and just enjoyed the day.