Homework assignment

So after my last post, I decided to catch up on some other blog reading. Needless to say, I was given a homework assignment from Petra's: 7 things I LOVE and HATE. (By the way, I have been out of school for...many years, I thought homework was behind me!)

Well, here goes!

7 LOVES:

1. Quote from my kids: "Mommy - can I tell you something? I love you!" (I know, it brings a tear to your eye.)

2. The male "after the shower" dance. Come on ladies - you know what I'm talking about. Your hubby gets out of the shower and feels the need to flex, dance, and whoop around with the towel before getting dressed. You can't tell me my husband is the only one that does this.

3. Friday nights. No matter how bad the week has been, I know on Friday nights that I have two great days before it starts all over again on Monday.

4. Clean sheets. There is nothing better than making your bed with fresh, clean sheets and sliding into bed. Especially when they're Egyptian cotton!

5. One of my favorite memories: When the University of Texas won the national football championship and Erik circled the neighborhood in underwear, tennis shoes, and his longhorn flag.

6. A bubble bath in the jetted tub. This is what heaven will be like.

7. Digital cameras. Feel free to snap away kids - we can always delete those pictures of nothing but fingers over the lens! (And yes family, I am well aware that I need a replacement digital camera for the brick I currently have.)

7 HATES:

1. Monday morning. The antithesis of number 3 above.

2. The Magic School Bus books. We read to the kids every night but these books are so LONG and of course, always the kids' choices.

3. Cleaning the same room in the house - over and over and over again. Its amazing the natural talent of young kids to messy up a room.

4. Flies. They have all that fresh air and room outside of my house. Why must you venture inside every time a door cracks open?

5. Trying to explain where kids come from. My last attempt ended abruptly when Tyler asked "Did you eat me?" as I was telling him he grew in mommy's tummy. Sweetie - since you're the health teacher you get to have those "special chats" with the kids when they get older.

6. Baseball season. Erik, yes, I love coming to your games, but I don't enjoy being asked about which bleachers or fences or uniforms would look best - especially when we're cuddling in bed!

7. When you go to the store, spend $200 on groceries, come home and can't find a darn thing to have for lunch.

Hope that satisfies Petra - I give myself an A+!

Revenge of the birds

So a couple of Sundays ago, we decided to go out to the Great Salt Lake. I had never been before, and didn't realize how close we lived to it until one Saturday I was driving home, on the phone telling Erik which way he needed to go, and consequently missed my turning off the UT-201. I had to drive about 10 minutes before being able to turn around - and thus saw the sign for the Great Salt Lake.

Anyway, so I thought this would be a fun after-church activity -- a way for the kids to get out some energy and have a little adventure! Well, we got out to Salt Air. One word - STINKY! But we were there and so decided to hike (literally, about a 1/2 mile hike) out to the water edge. Along the way, we saw many picturesque things - dead birds in the sand, trash, salt, and the occasional seagull.

But we journeyed on, bread in hand. We finally got to the water and of course, the kids couldn't resist. Rylie hadn't been impressed with how dirty her feet had gotten on our "hike", so she welcomed the water, no matter how organism-infested, to wash her feet.

Our last part of the adventure was to feed the birds. We had only seen one or two seagulls circling, so we didn't know how much of our loaf would actually be consumed. However, when the bread started coming out, so did the gulls. It reminded me very much of the movie/book "The Birds". There were times when I thought we ourselves could be swallowed up by the hungry gulls. When the feast was done, however, Tyler had no problem telling them that (see video). If you listen closely, you'll even hear Daddy Hansen "ca-cawing" in his ultimate bird seagull impression.

At last our Great Salt Lake adventure was complete, and we hiked back to the car. Luckily, Salt Air provided a foot wash, which I believe Tyler and Rylie thought was the best part of the trip. They spent more time washing their feet and shoes than at the actual lake. Ah well, whatever makes them happy!

Fish dookey??

**Sorry if this topic will be a bit too much for the faint at heart!**

So last Sunday just before Erik and I were headed up to bed, I went to check on our fish. We have aforementioned fish because I admit it, I was suckered into it by the kids. I really didn't have a choice -- when we were driving home one evening, Rylie told me that she wanted a pet - a dog. Not being a canine lover (or feline, or any type of -line for that matter), I told her no. Both her and Tyler gave me the puppy-dog eyes, clasped hands, and "please, please" most of the way home. Not wanting to disappoint, I suggested goldfish, thinking that they could be pretty easy to take care of. Well, $50 later, we were headed home from PetSmart with five goldfish, tank, and accessories. The kids named them:

- Tiger (for the black and orange one)
- Scrappy Doo (for the black one)
- Fishy (yes, very creative, thanks Rylie)
- Fairy Godmother (actually Tyler's suggestion)
- Monkey Dude (not sure where that one came from)

Well, we are now down to two fish - Fishy and Fairy Godmother. Tiger, Scrappy Doo, and Monkey Dude have all gone to that great big fishy heaven in the sky. (We believe it to be death by water filter.)

Anyway, back to my original story: last Sunday with me checking on the fish. (After only two weeks of fish and already three deaths, checking on the fish has become a nightly ritual.) Well, I did my nightly check-up and realized that Fairy Godmother seemed to have something orange and stringy attached to him, about an adult middle finger long. Upon closer looking, I realized that it seemed to be hanging from where a fish butt could theoretically be. I checked Fishy. He/she also seemed to have something orangy and stringy attached, but only about a centimeter long. I called for Erik - something must be wrong. My initial thought was fishy hemorrhoids or fishy intestines hanging out. As we both investigated (actually more along the lines of staring, not investigation) Fairy Godmother's attachment dislodged itself and floated down to the bottom of the tank. Then it hit us - it must be fish dookey. I honestly didn't think fish pooped, having never witnessed the event myself. But it stands to reason if you feed something, that food will eventually come out - from somewhere.

Well, my two fish have mastered pooping to perfection. I couldn't be prouder, I guess??

Side note: We have gone a whole week without a fish death. Long live Fishy and Fairy Godmother!

Babe Ruth (or maybe Baby Ruth)...

Well, with Erik being a baseball coach, it stands to reason that we would sign Tyler up for T-ball this year. We were a little apprehensive about trying the sports route again. (A year ago, we tried him with soccer. He lasted two (not complete) games. He couldn't understand why everyone was trying to steal his ball.) Anyway, we thought T-ball might be a better option as everyone gets a turn to hit and its a teency bit more organized than soccer.

The night before his first game, we went to get him cleats (I know, he's only four, but we just had to do it) and baseball pants. (Thank goodness for Wal-Mart's $5 clearance pants, which slightly justified the forking over of $30 for cleats).

Tyler's first game was on Tuesday and we couldn't have been prouder. Erik picked him out the number 3 jersey. This was apparently Babe Ruth's old number, and with Tyler's team being the Yankees, he thought this was fitting.

As a mother, you are always a little apprehensive putting your child in a sport for the first time. Will he do ok? Will he run off the field crying? Will he get a bloody nose from a rogue ball? However, after the first "inning" those fears were put to rest. Fortunately, the league is quite relaxed and really there for the kids to start to learn about team sports -- everyone gets to hit and everyone gets to run round the bases. I have to admit - my little slugger brought tears to my eyes. Maybe I was just overly emotional that day (a shocking thought, I know), but it was great to see him and his daddy in the field together.

During the whole game, Rylie was a great supporter! She and I sat alongside and cheered, and as long as I continued to take pictures of her, she loved every minute of it. (Thank goodness for digital cameras.)

Needless to say, we think that the T-ball experience may last a little longer than the soccer - he's already gotten through two games!

Jurassic Park

Well, for Labor Day, we decided to take the kids to Utah's own Jurassic Park - George Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden. We woke to pouring down rain and heavy chances of thunderstorms. I, in my wisdom, decided this would be a great day to go to a 13 acre outside park, with two small children, as it wouldn't be too busy.

As we clambored into the car and started to drive, the grey clouds turned more of a blackish color in nature. When we pulled over for gas and Erik was literally sopping as he filled up the tank, I started to doubt myself just a tad, but we forged onward. (Bless Erik's heart for going along with my idea and not saying a word against it!)

As we pulled into Ogden, after a small 10 mile detour going the wrong way (darn your directionally-challengedness google maps) the sky was beginning to clear and it turned out to be a beautiful day.
It took about 1/2 the park for Rylie to finally get upset because they weren't "real" dinosaurs. (I know, a bit backwards!) But we were eventually able to convince her that these were a much better alternative to the real thing.Tyler has had a thing for dinosaurs ever since Auntie Carole gave him the "Berenstain Bears: Day of the Dinosaur" book. (A quite popular choice of his for his night-time reading). Tyler has never been afraid to speak his mind, as his daddy found out one night whilst reading said book:

Tyler loves to ask the name of every dinosaur on the page. Sometimes this takes some geniosity, as the book doesn't give you every name. One night is was getting late, but Tyler continued in his ritual to get every name from Erik. Erik was having a hard time remembering some of the dinosaur names and finally, for one of them, shouted out "its name is Megatron". Tyler gave him a complete look of disgust and eventually said "daddy, thats not a dinosaur, thats a transformer!" Needless to say, Erik did not repeat the offense.

Forced Into Blogging....

Well, I decided that in order for Petra to stop bugging me about blogging, I needed to get started. Every time I told her something cute about the kids, she would respond with "why isn't it on a blog??" Given that we don't really journal (shame on us), we (somehow Erik gets credit for this too??) thought that this would be the next best thing.

I can't promise creativity, but a few good laughs about the terrible twosome will definitely keep you entertained!