Musical Chairs

I hope I didn't cause too much distraction for the families sitting behind us. I lost track of the number of times I moved seats today in Sacrament Meeting, after 10. The reason? I've got 4 extra kids this week. Ethan (9), Hailee (7), Jaron (4) and Kallise (2). Ryan's brother and his wife are on a cruise to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Last year they did watch Roderic and Sabrina while we went to Russia, so we're returning the favor. I did tell them as I dropped them off at the airport that Ryan and I think they owe us a few more days when the week is up.


I've got high hopes for a fun-filled week of swimming, playing at the park, going to the zoo, storytime at the Library!, perhaps a free movie at Edwards.

So far, Hyrum and Kallise have had multiple tiffs; who gets to be held by Ryan, who gets to swing in the 'right' swing, who gets to sit in which chair at meals, who gets to play with which toy, etc.

Roderic and Jaron are a little better, but only because they have larger vocabularies.

Sabrina, Ethan and Hailee are having a blast. Did I mention that Sabrina is in school this week?

We'll just take it one day at a time, I guess. Breathe. Naptime is good.

Ryan was asking me to take his picture of these two kids, but I was working on making lunch, so he took the picture of himself in the mirror.

Happy Father's Day! We got him Fresh Aire albums 6, 7 & 8. Ryan is so pleased and surprised!

The Bateman Family

My sister, Shanda, has been scanning old slides from my parent's collection. Here is one from 1971. This picture is of my mom's family standing in front of their house in upstate New York (I think Trumansburg is the township). She is the one in the back row with a mop of hair on the top of her head. I'm sure its a hair piece. They are standing in birth order, except for the baby in Grandma's arms. Here are their names: [back row] Theodore, Rachelle, Georgie Gay, Faline, Teddie, Lamona, Gayla, LaDawn, [front row] Monte, Kelly, Holly, Brennan, Luella, and Noelle. (Perhaps my dad is the photographer.) Yes my grandma gave birth to 13 children (from 1950 to 1971), 12 living to adulthood. Those 12 children have a combined 55 children.

I think LaDawn has a classic grouchy face. Gayla doesn't look that happy, either. Noelle is doing the classic 3 year old thing to do and not look at the camera. I think all of Rachelle's babies have looked like her! (It must be that Bateman cowlick.) My mom had already had 2 children when this picture was taken.

Construction Zone Birthday

Roderic loves the sandbox his dad built for him last summer. A lot. He happily spends hours out there digging with his shovel, driving his trucks around. When I saw the Dump Truck birthday cake when looking for a cake idea for Hyrum's first birthday, I knew I had found the perfect birthday cake for Roderic. I've been planning on it ever since. Only one problem. I was not able to ever locate a generic dump truck in my price range. (I was not about to spend more than $10 on a dump truck with all sorts of bells and whistles and noises, etc.) Happily, I found this wheel barrow and decided it would work splendidly.











Roderic got to invite over a few friends to play with him on his birthday. Roderic and I had a fun time tricking them into eating dirt and mud for his birthday cake. Although, Clara wanted none of it. We had to work extra hard to get her to eat one bite. [I guess her parents (and older sisters) have done an excellent job of teaching her that dirt is not delicious. She did like the bugs though, because they were like fruit snacks.]

Everyone got a shovel and a rake to play in the sandbox. I got to watch them like a hawk to make sure they didn't let the sand leave the sandbox. Our poor grass can't handle any more sand. Lily, Clara, Stockton and Roderic all had a fun time digging (and burying toys) in the sand.







Happy Birthday Roderic!

The Fab 4!

Lists of 4 about Roderic.

Cool Things about him:
1. 060504
2. He opens the door to the van for me and holds it open for me when we get home.
3. He asked me to get him a bag for his scriptures.
4. He likes the color pink, but his favorite color is green.

Favorite TV shows:
1. Super Why!
2. Bob the Builder
3. Thomas the Tank Engine
4. Word Girl

Favorite Past-times
1. Play in the Sandbox
2. Play on the computer
3. Play with Sabrina and her miniature bears
4. Watch TV

My favorite things about Roderic:
1. His smile
2. His singing voice
3. His eyes
4. His kisses

Things he has learned in the last year:
1. How to play Uno.
2. How to dress himself -- including buttons.
3. How to type his name.
4. Singing in Primary.

Things I want him to learn in the coming year:
1. Pee in the toilet.
2. Poop in the toilet.
3. Ride on his bike with training wheels.
4. Play nicer with his brother and sister. Read NO HITTING.

More Sewing with Stacy

The diaper bag that I received at St. Alphonsus when Hyrum was born has served its purpose. The black vinyl was starting to tear from our use of it as Sunday bag. I guess we filled it with too many heavy books.

Ryan suggested that we get another one to replace it. I saw potential. The handle was in great condition and so was the front pocket with a zipper. I cut those items off the bag and then went to the fabric store. I saw some really cute pink fabric, but seeing as I want Ryan to carry it as well, I went for this cool stripe that Stacy pointed out. Then came the sewing. It took about 3.5 hours start to finish, with a few interruptions from children. Then the Enfamil badge totally looked out of place, so I asked Stacy to make a tag for me with her Embroidery machine. 10 COW. She scoured the web for a jersey cow, and found this one. I hand stitched "ten" above it. I think my new tag is a winner. I think I may have more made up so I can put them on lots of items I sew.

Beautiful Idaho

I must admit that before I moved to Boise, I thought there was no beautiful scenery in Idaho. I acquired this bias during my formative years when I had only been along the I-15 corridor, mostly visiting cousins in Malad, ID (which is about 13 miles from the border with Utah). I now freely admit, I was wrong!

It is now my quest to find and photograph all things beautiful in Idaho. Here are several of the most recent:
Last Tuesday, a rainstorm passed through our valley. Just about bedtime, the clouds broke and we got to see a double rainbow, right in our back yard! The kids (at least Sabrina and Roderic) really liked seeing it.


In their PJs, but I still let them go outside to see the rainbows and take their pictures.

Stacy told me on Friday that the US Army Corps of Engineers was letting water out of Lucky Peak Reservoir this weekend, out of a side chute of the dam that makes a "Rooster Tail." I convinced Ryan that we should take a bike ride to go see it. In the May issue of Treasure Valley Family Magazine, there was an article of kid-friendly hikes and bike rides. It included a 4.6 mile round trip bike ride, Boise Dam tour, starting at Diversion Dam and going to Lucky Peak Dam. We just needed a truck to transport our bikes and trailer down there. It would have been no trouble to ride our bikes down there, just adding a couple of miles, but, we would have had to ride our bikes back up the hill to our neighborhood. I called Stacy to borrow their truck. She said yes. About 20 minutes later, she called back to see if their family could come along; meaning her and Doug and their 5 girls along with Doug's brother, wife and 2 sons. Sure, no problem. Then about 5 minutes later she called again to have me help her find another bike trailer to borrow because when she called to borrow her neighbor's, she ended up inviting them to come with us as well (2 more adults and 3 children). I found another bike trailer and about 45 minutes later, we were on our way. And quite a train we made. 4 bikes pulling trailers (with a total of 7 children), 1 bike with a tag-a-long bike, 1 bike with training wheels, 4 kids bikes and 3 parents pulling no-one. It was so fun!

Here is a part of the train. And me with our kids at the "rooster tail."

Last spring, Ryan went on a hike with the scouts to Jump Creek Canyon. After showing the pictures to Sabrina on Saturday, she was sold! On Memorial Day he took us to hike there. We saw a lot of poison ivy. I don't think I've ever seen it in person before. It really made the canyon look lush and green. The hike was really swift. 1 mile round-trip. Roderic liked that we got to ford the creek (and throw lots of rocks in it) while hiking. It was a popular place to hike yesterday. Some of the people were quite annoying. Hyrum liked being carried in the back pack, which is a good thing, since we're planning a backpacking trip in August. He absolutely loved throwing rocks in the pool at the base of the waterfall with Roderic. It was hard to get them to stop for the picture. Ryan said that Hyrum clutched a rock the whole time we were hiking. What a rock hound we have! This hike was the perfect length for Roderic, he never asked to be carried! And he loved climbing up the rocks around the waterfall pool. Sabrina was a great sport. And very cautious about the poison ivy.

Baa!

Sabrina's school had a Wild Western Carnival last Friday. Ryan, as assistant Scoutmaster, went camping to Bruneau Dunes with the Boy Scouts, so I took the kids myself. We spent $20 on food, rides and games and had a blast! (Especially after meeting up with the Smith's.) I think the wanted poster of them there is absolutely adorable; the seriousness of Sabrina and Roderic, Hyrum crying, Roderic hugging them both. At the carnival there was a "train" ride, multiple bounce house toys, climbing wall, pony rides, bike rodeo and a petting zoo. The kids liked looking at the camel and zeebra and petting the goats (watching 2 of them fight as well). Apparently Hyrum picked up that animals say "baa."

When our home teachers came on Tuesday, Brother Ricks shared a lesson about tithing based on Elder Sheldon F. Child's talk, The Best Investment, from the most recent General Conference. Elder Child told a story of selling a calf that he had raised and requested that his dad pay him in silver dollars. To keep the kids interested and following along, Brother Ricks asked what a cow says, Roderic & Sabrina replied, "Moo!" and Hyrum said, "Baa!" We all had a good chuckle over that one. (I guess I've got some teaching to do.)