dandelions and light cycles

Because we are too cheap to have a professional spray our lawn, we have dandelions...and lots of them.

We also have the ugliest brown slow growing grass in the neighborhood, and I truly think the growing brown patch in the back is grubs. 

...but that is another story entirely.

Back to the dandelions.

Last week Steve told Carter he would pay him five cents for every dandelion head he popped off the plants.  As Carter popped, I followed behind and dug out the weeds with a screw driver --rudimentary,  but effective.  (My stained brown hands from this hard labor were disgusting.)

After working for about an hour, I realized that Steve made a gross underestimation of how many dandelion heads were in our lawn.

Carter sorted the heads into piles of twenty.

He then counted the piles.

And finally did a happy dance when he realized he made THIRTY dollars!

I now feel poor.

(That happy dance went away real quick when Steve told Carter he had to put half of the money in his mission savings.)

Other than "saving" for their missions, the boys are still obsessing over anything and everything Tron.

Steve purchased the Tron soundtrack and now my white Toyota "light runner" packs kids to school and back with its own movie theme music. 

Listening to it makes me want to wear a white skintight jumpsuit, wear really dark eye makeup and call myself Gem.

Too bad I cannot claim to have the perfect system- I think all white would accentuate my non perfectness.

 Here are some examples of their Tron artwork.  They have been begging me to put examples of their drawings on my blog forever!

They are hanging on each of their bulletin boards (Carter pronounces it billitin board) in their rooms.

Carter

Colby

(He's barely five.  I'm impressed.)

Andrew- top view.

Andrew- side view.

 The light cycle that looks different, Andrew calls "vintage."

Where in the world did that kid learn the word vintage?

And if Saylor had theme music, it would go something like this...

'

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty..."

My favorite shot...taken right before she tasted soap and burst into tears.

Soap does not taste pretty.

lemonade maker

We had a huge thunderstorm this afternoon.

The rain filled the gutters and had water pouring down my drain chain by the gallon-I swear.

It was the kind of storm that reminded me of Virginia.

(Without the worry of the dam breaking up the road and having to evacuate to the neighborhood high school gym.  There are advantages to living in Idaho.)

The boys thought their afternoon of outdoor play was ruined, until Dad got home.

Steve insisted the boys get outside and play in the rain.

They didn't have a choice according to him.

This was something he did as a child and wanted his boys to have the same fun memory.

I am married to a lemonade maker.

"If life gives you lemons...blah blah blah."

I, on the other hand, am the kind of person who just wallows in her big pile of useless lemons.

Lemonade would just use up too much of my food storage sugar.

I'm grateful my children have at least one parent who isn't annoyed by the extra batch of sopping wet laundry left to dry in the garage or the grass and muck left at the bottom of the freshly scrubbed bathtubs.  (And by freshly...I mean scrubbed right before these pictures were taken.)

Here's to lemonade makers.

wickedly good

The Fabulous Five went to Wicked in Boise on Wednesday. 

(Yes, that is what I am calling us, the Fabulous Five.)

The show was wonderful, the company outstanding and of course the food was terrific...but it's going to take me a long time to eat steak again.  Eating at a Brazilian grill-all you can eat place- is not a good fit for someone like me who has NO self control. (love meat...ate too much...thought of meat will be repulsive for the next few days.)

 My cute girls before the show.

I feel so fortunate to have these wonderful women as my friends.

This is what happens when you ask an older gentleman who obviously has never seen a camera phone in his life to take a picture.  

He gets point for trying and I get points for taking the phone back and smiling sweetly while saying thank you. 

On another note...it is officially spring in Twin Falls.

It was still winter last week and it will most likely be full on summer in a few weeks (ick) so we are enjoying the shortest season of Idaho.

I caught these shots yesterday with my phone behind the boys' school after Carter's lunch run.

 Short sleeves on the Saylor girl.  

Lovely.

 Colby likes to run up and down the berms behind the school.  

For the record this was NOT allowed when I went to school there!

 Steve had the day off and we got take out at Cafe' Rio.

(I ate a salad...but hardly any meat.  I wasn't kidding about the meat thing.)

Colby and I got bored in the car while waiting for Steve.

Really bored.

I think this should be my profile picture.

Because I am throwing a crusty most of the time anyway...might as well make it official.

Is it bad?

Is it bad to admit Mother's day was a little underwhelming?

It wasn't bad per say...but very...whatever.

I was waiting for my red carpet...or my house to be magically cleaned...or for my husband to sweep me off to some fabulous warm (not windy) location.  

But alas, today was like any other Sunday as a mother.

...get four kids ready for church by myself.

...daughter falling off bench in middle of primary song in sacrament meeting and crying like a wailing banshee.

...left overs for dinner because I was too lazy to make something wonderful.

...kids being normal kids.

...me being a normal mother.

I told Steve tonight that I hope his Father's Day will be as rewarding as my Mother's Day has been.
(insert collective gasp over my rude frankness here)

It's life and I'm getting over it.
(But I reserve the right to be bitter today.)

But in other news:

Saylor went to nursery by herself for the first time today.  She won't be 18 months for a few more weeks, but Steve put her in today as we both had to be in classes and the little miss did perfect.

I told Steve it was time to have another one because I have a hard time sitting through Relief Society.

He wasn't amused.

I'm not amused that my daughter is getting so big.  Boo.

I'm so over school.

I even lost Carter's homework this week- honestly, no idea where it is.

...and I could give a whip.

I'm ready for my kids not to have homework and/or bedtimes.

Saylor's new nickname is ATB standing for All Terrain Baby.

Her climbing skills are extraordinary.

But, I'm not loving being her human jungle gym.

(I'm sure half the people at church saw my unmentionables today because I couldn't get Saylor from climbing all over me and pulling up my skirt.  And when she finally got off of me is when she fell off the bench.)

It's official.

I'm addicted to fruit flavored tootsie rolls and Cafe Rio chips.  

Spring in Idaho

You officially know it is spring in Idaho when:

1.  Your newly washed windows of three hours get rained on.
2.  You sport your first farmer tan...oh, I mean burn.
3.  You purchase new bark to replace the bark that blew away in the last wind storm.
4.  Your car smells like potting soil.
5.  The kids and you dance like third world children around your garden faucet because the pressurized irrigation has been turned on and you now have WATER!
6.  Your lawn looks as if a pack of wild dogs used it for their toilet.  (Lawn aeration turds are not pretty.)
6.  Homework and responsibility have gone out the rain spattered window.  Shouldn't school be over by now?

It's spring and we are enjoying.  I spent almost four hours outside today replacing bark and starting my garden.  My arms are burned, my back hurts and even though I've showered, I can still smell dirt.

Bring it on!

Oh Yes I Did!

J. Dixon Maid Services

I’m fast and very expensive

May 3, 2011

Andrew Dixon

Basement Bedroom 1.

Twin Falls Idaho

Service	Cost	Quantity	Total
Bed Making:  Queen Size	$1.00	1	1.00
Laundry Transport Upstairs	$1.00	1	1.00
Total			2.00

Payment due immediately in cash to your mother.

I'm hoping my new career as a maid pans out and I can retire early.

Family Yard Work

For FHE tonight Steve brought home a load of bark and as a family we shoveled it into our west flower beds.  The soil is so poor there nothing has grown in the last two years.  We decided to put bark in and not worry about growing anything in the future.  I'm tired of buying plants that just die.

Nobody was exempt from shoveling or raking.  The kids all did well- as it was a small job and was over quickly.  I have big plans for the boys this summer and family yard and garden work is going to be a regular part of their daily schedule.  They are all old enough to help out with weeding and watering and I'm excited to show them what summers are all about.  (My evil side is coming out just thinking about giving my children even a smidgen of the work my siblings and I were expected to do growing up.  Mwahh Haa Haa Haa!  To be authentic though, I should put in a quarter acre of raspberry bushes.  Too bad that would consist of my entire lot.)

 Stoic.

Poser.

Thinking outside the box. 

There is apparently more than one way to rake bark.

Just to prove that yes, Steve helped.

Cute.

...even if I got her hands in focus and not her face.

...and that hair had some serious spaghetti sauce in it.  She wore her bowl as a hat by the end of dinner.

 Ever heard of the game Whack-A-Mole?

 Typical grumpy face Saylor.

What else is new.