Chompo bars and MMs

It's Ben's birthday on Saturday and Amelia loves birthdays. Every day she has run to calendar to see how many more days until Ben's birthday and tries to get him excited about it. I think she has enough excitement for both of them!! We took a trip to library last week and got a birthday book, "A Birthday for Frances". If you haven't read this author's Frances series, you are missing out. They are fantastic. here you can look at it more. To sum up, Frances decides to buy her little sister a Chompo candy bar and 2 gumballs with all her allowance for her birthday. On the walk home from the candy store, Frances accidentally eats the gumballs and then decides that her sister is too little for a candy bar and maybe she will just eat some of it and give her what's left. She resists and in the end she gives her sister the uneaten Chompo bar and an IOU for 2 gumballs and is really glad she gave her sister the candy.
Amelia was counting her piggy bank money yesterday and decided that when we went to the store, she wanted to buy Ben a present with her money (she had about a dollar in change). I didn't want to squash her generosity, so I told her she could buy something and I would pay for the rest. Then Phil had a brilliant idea that she buy him some of his favorite candy, MM's is what we call them, like Frances and the Chompo bar. Amelia ran the entire length of the mall to Target to get it. She had her purse with the money inside and the checker was so sweet about it. Then she wrapped it up in a bag and put it in her purse to hide it then ran all the way back to the other end of the mall to find Ben and say she got him a present but he can't look!!! It was the cutest thing I think I have done with her in a really long time. She keeps going to her purse and checking that it's there and then hiding it then changing the location of where she is hiding it so he doesn't find it. Waiting another 2 days is so torturous for her. I am so proud she hasn't spoiled it yet.

I think summer is finally here!!

Anyone who knows me knows I need a minimum of 80 degrees to feel warm and it has only reached that like twice here. I was so excited to see that we are reaching upper 80's this week and then when it hit, I quickly realized that 70 degree weather is probably more comfortable for our house. (no a/c or ceiling fans!!) It was so hot in the house, the only other alternative to napping the day away in a pool of your own sweat while trying to wake from what feels like a comatose induced sleep, was to set up the slip in slide. It was no match to our solar heated pool last year but a bargain deal at Target!!! I took it to UT and tried it out with my friend's kids and the girls had a lot of fun. Ben wouldn't get in because it was too cold. The hose we were using there was irrigation water which I believe is basically snow melt, so it was FREEZING. I don't blame him. It was much warmer here. Amelia had a blast sliding on her butt and army crawling through it and then crap crawling through it. It was almost like she had a work out routine of different moves she had to complete down the slide. Ben sat on the sidelines for the first hour, deciding if he really wanted to get wet.

For some reason telling him he could get his rubber duckies from the bath and put them on the slip in slide was a total deal changer. I think little kids in water of any kind is the cutest.

The best is seeing them all wrapped up in what they call "bear towels". This is them pretending to be bears and growling at each other.

Enjoy keeping cool where you are!!

cabin trip

Me and the kids spent the last week on a little impromptu vacation to UT. Ben managed to throw up 7 times on the way there and made it 6 times in the bucket without us having to stop. I think that's pretty impressive. They liked finding rocks and getting filthy, but walking more than a few steps in the hot sun was too much for our, as Jim Gaffigan would say, "indoorsy" Ben. Check out his sweaty, hot, little face and his filthy feet here.















There was still lots of snow on Cedar mountain so we had to stop and touch it. Ben told me that, "I think we should be wearing mittens and snow shoes." I guess flip flops and crocs are not snow appropriate attire, but I will have to agree that although it was only an inch of snow in 3 foot patches and it is JUNE, it was still way to cold for my California family.

I attempted to get some nice sibling pics of them but after so many attempts with grumpy, dirty, sick kids, this is the best of what I got.

They are still pretty cute, mismatched, hair everywhere, dirty little faces and all!!

Funny things my kids said

We went thru an automatic carwash with the kids a few days ago and when we drove out after it was finished Ben said very matter of factly, "well, that went well". Not a phrase you expect to hear from a 3 year old.
Philip later that evening was stating that Amelia was going to make a great lawyer because she is always trying to find the loophole and do what you didn't say instead of following the bigger picture idea you are trying to convey. He said her first case will be her emancipation from us. She asked what that meant and he said he didn't want her to know to get any ideas. She says, "just tell me......I'll give you some candy if you tell me". See what I mean.

Mustache May

This is what the month of May grows at my house every year.

Delicious Disaster

Guess what you get when you add this : My adorable Amelia















with this: Goat cheese swirled brownies. These might be my new addiction. They are better than cream cheese, I promise. (tried to do a dairy free cheesecake option for her and she said it was delicious when she took the first bite, then the second one made her throat feel "weird")

You get this: A total allergic reaction that gave her hives from head to toe for hours!! I guess you add goat's milk to her never ending list of allergies.


BTW: We gave Amelia a digital camera to use and she is becoming quite the photographer for a 5 year old. The top picture she took herself with the self timer. I am working on compiling a collage of her best work, so wait for that.

Joined a club...

I think Ojai has left an impact on Ben. He has found himself bonding with the drum circle crowd and taking to listening to reggae music.