May Extras

Within the first week of living in our rental, I discovered tiny, fast sugar ants all over the kitchen.  They came out whenever I would cook, and they smothered anything sugary that they could find (i.e., drip of honey on the jar).  They were in the pantry and in the cupboards along one wall in the kitchen.  And I was freaking out - I do not deal well with bugs in the kitchen.  And I can already hear Brandon and Brock commenting about me not being able to serve a mission - fine, I'll take that - these bugs were driving me NUTS.  I began my quest to get rid of the ants - I watched them and tried to find their entrance holes.  I got my own bug spray and began nuking them.  One night, I saw more than 50 and just lost it.  The owners of the house were very kind and had a bug sprayer come and spray twice in two weeks to help take care of the problem.  I emptied the entire wall of cupboards and emptied the entire pantry and bagged everything so that nothing was exposed to air.  Taking care of this bug problem was taking up most of my "free" time during the day.  I don't know what was worse - the ducks or the sugar ants.  Seriously.  I am happy to report that we finally took care of the problem and they are gone!  Adios!

The last weekend of May (on the three-day weekend), Brandon came home from his church meetings and said that he was going to take the big kids camping.  An hour later, they were out the door and Kendall and I had an evening & morning to ourselves.  It was awesome.  One of my favorite things is being home alone in a clean house!  (I wasn't technically alone, but I didn't have any tornado mess makers around.) The report I got from the campers is that they had a lot of fun exploring in the woods and that it was a little cold at night.  Apparently, Brandon gave them the two good sleeping bags, and he got the kid-size Barbie one.  Good daddy!  He also took the old, leaky air mattress on accident, so the kids were right next to him as the mattress lost air.  He eventually deflated it and they slept on the ground.  They really did have a blast and so did Kendall and I!

Funny Andrew quotes, "Mommy, my blankies taste like han-itizer.  I can't eat 'em."  That's because he had just wiped his hand sanitizer hands all over his blankies.  He just loves to chew his blankies (all 3 of the exact same brand - we got him new ones to replace the old ones, but he's just added to his collection) and he likes to wad them up and use them as a pillow.  What's funny is that Kendall is starting to do the same thing with a pink blankie that is the same brand as Andrew's.  He also always says this a lot, "Get me a 'nack (snack), mom!"  If I ask why, he responds with "Because you're my best friend."  And in his nice, polite voice, "Mommy, can you get me a treat (or otter pop), please?" hoping that because he's saying it nice, I'll say yes.

Kendall continues to be such a messy eater, but she's not picky, so that's good!  She is sleeping good too.  After our Utah trip, I stopped swaddling her and rocking her to sleep and just put her in her crib and let her go to sleep on her own.  She did great, and made it so easy on us.  She's pretty much the best baby ever.  Other than the spit up, which is ridiculously A LOT.  And people never believe me when I tell them to watch out because she's a spitty baby.  Then she really barfs on them and they finally understand.

Rachel wrapped up her preschool year with Miss Arlene, and it was such a good experience.  It exceeded my expectations, and it is fun to see her progress with all that she has learned.  I already have Andrew signed up for Arlene's preschool even though he won't be old enough to attend for a few years (she has waiting lists).  Rachel loves going to school and is really looking forward to all-day kindergarten, which starts August 7!  At the end of May, Rachel had her dance recital through Jeanne's Dance in Mesa.  She performed two numbers, had a great time, and she was just darling.  It's so fun to watch your own kids perform.  Other people's kids - not as fun - but watching your own is the best.  :)

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NOW ... I have some beef with this whole dance thing (and don't get me wrong - I love/loved dancing and wish I had done it more seriously in my teen years and if it ends up being Rachel's thing I'll totally support her).  Ok, here goes my rant.  For starters, it is pricey!  Rachel was in one class that met for one hour a week ($48), not to mention the registration and recital fee and the fact that we only got 2 free tickets to the concert (any additional would have cost $10 each - and I'm sorry, but the entertainment was not THAT good, not good enough to charge $10).  But the craziest part was the costume.  $65 freakin' dollars for her costume.  I can't remember the last time I spent $65 on an outfit for myself, let alone for a dress up type outfit for a five year old.  And I couldn't help but count the costumes (more $) of the more advanced dancers - they had 6+ costumes that their moms brought in on racks to keep them all nice and neat.  Oh geez.  I might NOT be cut out to be a dance mom.  This is a little too intense for me.  The next concern is the types of dances and their level of "sexiness".  Most of them were tasteful, good and fun, but there was one (performed by the 16-17 year olds) that Brandon leaned over and told me that he would not want Rachel in that dance because it was too risqué, and I agreed with him.  There are a few other little things - like how a lot of dancers get a huge bouquet of flowers from their parents after the recital (which we didn't know about our first recital and totally botched it last time - we have since learned).  I asked Rachel if she wanted one rose (only one because if I give her a dozen roses when she's 5, what am I going to be giving her when she's 14?!) or if she wanted to go out for ice cream afterwards.  To our surprise, she chose the flower.  These dance studios are running a serious business, and I'm finding these issues to be pretty standard across the board.  I would love for Rachel to be able to try a lot of different things, until she figures out what her "thing" is, but I feel like there's a pressure to commit to only one extra curricular activity all too soon.  Not only from a competitive stand point (in order to be competitive, they have to start young and really commit), but also financially, I don't think it's affordable to put kids in lots of different activities, which forces them to choose just one at a time.  Grrrrr!!  That's all for now.

Rachel after the recital

Walking out with daddy

Last day of preschool - Maddie, Abby, Luke, Jaycee, Max, Brooklyn, Steven & Rachel

Rachel, Ellie, Sutton & Nolan (missing Elise)

Twinner dresses - Kendall does not look as thrilled as Rachel, who just loves everything about having a little sister (for now!)

Kasey Perkinson had her fourth baby at the very beginning of May - they named him Blake and he is adorable!  This is him and Kendall when he was just a few weeks old.  This pregnancy/delivery came with many challenges, but we're so glad that he made it here safely.  Kasey was a trooper through it all!

Messy, happy eater!

Camping with dad in Payson