Yes, here in San Tan Valley we were issued a warning to stop using the water due to a couple positive e coli tests.  Of course we found out about it from the school districts as Johnson Utilities remained pretty much mum on the subject.  But I digress...

Here is the stash.  It was a wake up call knowing that "some" water in our food storage wasn't going to be enough.  Luckily, we found out the day before JU was going to officially announce it, so late Tuesday night Marty was one of the ones cleaning out Fry's shelves.  The water ban only lasted a couple of days, so we definitely got more than we needed, but it will go just fine under the bed (I'll sleep better with it right beneath me!).

Brynn wrote her name on her water bottle.  I told Bryce I'd draw whatever picture he wanted on his, but he wanted his name on it, too.  "Bryce Ow-llan Johnson."  "Uh, no Honey, that's kind of long, I'll just write Bryce..."  "No!  My name is Bryce Ow-llan Johnson."

It's true, I could boil pots of water to wash my dishes...or I could buy paper/plastic, too.  Let's be honest, I've been sick on and off for two weeks, and with the three crazy kiddos...I'll gladly take this excuse to use these bad boys.

We soon found out we needed physical reminders.  Marty was teasing me for forgetting to brush my teeth with clean water.  He told me "I brought MY water bottle up," WHILE running his toothbrush under the faucet!  Ha!  

I had all these "clean" dishes in the dishwasher and didn't know if I could put them away or what.  It was really just a bunch of small annoyances and worries coming on a day that my worry bucket was already full to the brim (more on that later).

Well, if a shirtless, smiling baby is in the kitchen at the same time my camera is out...

Of course he's all smiles - he's just been fed, and now he gets a delicious dessert of thumb!

We were issued the warning Tuesday night and it's already been lifted this afternoon (Thursday).  That's what the hub-bub has been all about.  And tomorrow morning I will give Brynn a bath without the constant commentary:  "OH Mommy, that splash was ALMOST by my eye.  It's OK, I love you so much Mommy, but you gotta be careful...Oh...OH!  You got water in my EAR Mommy, and it's POISONED!  Now just remember Mommy, this is the poisonous water..."  She remains pretty spacy in our normal day-to-day conversation, but as soon as a very dramatic word, like poison, enters the conversation, then she is all ears.  Funny girl.

small school update

 Brynn is still loving kindergarten.  I don't really worry about her like I did at first.  Numbers were low, so they actually dissolved her class and put her into another.  We asked how she was doing and if she had any friends going with her and her teacher told us she wasn't worried at all about Brynn.  She said Brynn had a lot of confidence and that she was very social and outgoing.  That sounds more like the Brynn I know.

Here is Bryce on D-D-Duck day.  I know that whole point of a water table is to keep kids cooler while they play outside, but sadly it just wasn't enough.  The kid didn't want to go out into the blazing inferno and I didn't have it in me to even try to persuade him, so....here it is (good mom award, bad house-keeper award).

What's with the fireman hat and sword, you ask?  Meh, he's three.  I'm sure it makes perfect sense in Little Boy World.

He lined up all the ducks after we read Make Way for Ducklings.  So cute.

Hm, to post or not to post.....  To post.  Bryce has rocked my "home-preschooling is so easy and fun!" world.  He loves it.  He asks me every morning if it's time for mommy school.  But he's a stubborn and independent pupil.  I pick up a pencil to show him how to hold it and before I can get a word out he gets this jealous look on his face and snatches it out of my hands saying, "NO!!! I CAN DO IT, I can do it! Icandoit, Icandoit, Icandoit."  Then I tell him to put the bug stickers on the B page and he says, "No, the bugs don't want to be on the paper, they want to live on my shirt because they are my pets."  Then I tell him we are going to cut around the cowboy and glue it on the cardstock and he says, "No, I'm going to cut off the cowboy's head."  I've gotten used to adjusting my parenting style between my VERY different first and second born, and at first I figured it would be the same thing at preschool.  "Oh, I'll just give him more choices, and try to roll with the ideas he comes up with to avoid power struggles and enable his independence, bla bla bla."  Then I suddenly realized, "WAIT!  There are things kids are supposed to be LEARNING in preschool, such as FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS."  And then after I stopped being so flexible, all heck broke loose.  So our special Mommy-Bryce time preschool is a work in progress.  He is so smart and picks up on things so easily - when HE decides he wants to learn.  It's just like when he was potty-trained, which basically happened in one day because HE decided he wanted to get this toilet thing down and be done with diapers.  So far, he loves learning about letters and simple math concepts, but he has no interest in the "project" part of preschool, so he can't hold scissors or color, (among other things) and I feel like we don't have a lot finished projects to show for all of our preschool time.  I'm just trying to remind myself that the biggest reason for Mommy's special three year old preschool is the one on one time we spend together that year before I send him off to a real preschool and I shouldn't worry too much about having him reading and writing novels by the end of the semester.


Also, did you know that Fantasy Football season has started?  I did.  Heh heh heh.

Costumes

Gabe was playing with the Woody toy, so we dressed him as a cowboy:

 He was such a willing subject, we might have gotten a little carried away...

(train engineer) 

 (king)

(uh... veteran?) 

(buzz lightyear)

Summer 2012

Well, I'm playing a little catch-up here like I always do in the summer.  Our summer started off in May with swim lessons.  Brynn improved so quickly, I was so impressed and proud of her. Bryce is still young and was mostly interested in playing in the water.  He was doing great for a while and then we took him to a friend's pool a few times and really pushed him and he really pushed right back. :)

Shame on me.  Shame, shame, shame.  We went on our usual big vacation to Utah.  I took one picture of Brynn helping me out with Gabe at a pit stop, and my camera died.  I never charged it again so this is all I have of our big vacation this year!  Shame!

 The fourth of July was SO great this year.  We had a VERY unusual cool-down in Arizona that day and we were actually cooler than Utah.  Usually we have a tradition of going to Carl's Jr. and getting a really big burger because we feel sorry for ourselves that it's too hot to BBQ (or go to parades, or hike, or pretty much anything outside).  Not this year!  It was cloudy and so pleasant, so we BBQ'd and played at the park.

(Notice the kiss on the cheek from Brynn - you'll see it again later.)

"Take a picture of me making a heart with my hands!"

Throwing snappers.

Raise your hand if you're from my generation and remember listening to Safety Kids and Take Your Hat Off When the Flag Goes By!  It was so fun to hand that down to my kids - Brynn was so into it and was acting so patriotic all day singing about "I love America."  And since then Bryce has been singing "George Washington Was a Very Good Man," and it is soooo cute.  "Doooooorge WASS-ington was a very good man!!!  A VERY GOOD MAN, INDEED!!!"

 Our fireworks show was pretty tame, but still fun.

 We also spent a weekend in Heber, AZ at the Ostvig Family Reunion.  I live for these reunions.  They only happen every three years, but they are so special.  It is Marty's mom's side of the family, and since I was never able to know her personally, I feel like this is the closest thing to it.  The Ostvigs are the absolute most amazing, spiritual, warmest family.  I feel like just rubbing shoulders with them is such an edifying experience and they all make me feel so loved and special even though they've only met me a couple of times.  They all tell stories about Marty's mom and cry the whole way through them.  I can't wait for the next one.

 Here is Uncle Buddy with Bryce and Scotty getting ready for the hula-hoop relay at the highly anticipated Ostvig Family Olympics.  These reunions are held all over the country and we just got lucky this year to have it in Arizona since very few Ostvigs actually live here.  We were also lucky to host family before and after!  Aunt Marion and Uncle Grant flew in from Saudi Arabia and spent a night at our house.  We were also able to watch our niece and nephew from Ohio since Marty's sister is expecting twins and couldn't make it out here.  We also got to have them and Marty's dad for a few days after the reunion and it was wonderful.

Brynn got a medal and when I congratulated her on it she gave it to me without any hesitation.  Angel.

 Here's the kiss on the cheek again.

 The water guns were a hit.

 The hay ride.

 That's right, another kiss on the cheek.  I swear I could raise this girl over and over and over.

So there is a chunk of our summer.  And now I will end.   Because if I tried to post every detail of every week I'd never post again.  My apologies to all of the memories I didn't get to.

My funny baby

Gabe loves his thumb.  He loves his binky.  He has figured out how to have the best of both worlds.  Once I was driving and didn't know why he was so fussy in his car seat.  When I got out and went back there to get him out I saw his binky was stuck on his thumb and when I took it off his thumb was purple!

 

Don't let the surprised look fool you. 

He's got that binky right where he wants it.  Does it all the time.

I love that funny baby.

He can maneuver out of lots of things,

And often gets stuck.

He's scooting right now, in a way that's a new one for me.  He used to try to reach things, but he'd reach as far as he could with one hand and then roll over onto his back and give up.  Now he reaches with his right hand, rolls onto that side, pushes off with his right foot, then repeats the whole thing on his left side.  It's quite a process, but eventually he gets where he wants to go.

He's also decided to stop putting up with baby-sitters.  The last three times in a row we have come home, the sitter has said he cried most of the time.  Sorry.

He's sleeping like a champ right now (sigh of relief).  Every time we go somewhere overnight it takes him a couple nights to get back into his good habits. 

He is just as yummy as every.  Ohhhhhhh those snuggles.  And he kisses me right on the mouth when he hasn't seen me for a while!  Love love love love love love......

Seven years

Yesterday was our anniversary.  We went to a really nice churrasco, which is a Brazilian style of restaurant where the gauchos bring around different meats on a spit (meats that are so good you cry when you taste them) and cut a piece of it off for you right there at your table.  Last night there were 26 (26!!) different meats.  We broke the word of wisdom. We tried most of them. :)  Today we are trying to be more "sparing" of meat in our food choices. :)  My favorites were the cordeiro (lamb), the peru con bacon (turkey wrapped in bacon), the picanha (prime sirloin), and the lombo (pork loin) covered in parmesan cheese.  And I feel like America is really missing out of the pao de qeijo (cheese bread with a texture I've never really had before).  It was so very very fun to listen to Marty talk about his mission in Brazil and ask him if the feijao e arroz (beans and rice) and farofa were authentic.  It was also fun to plan a not-so-distant anniversary that we will spend in Brazil!  We will NOT be there during the Olympics however, as Brazil is a yellow-personality country and they REALLY know how to party! 

Every year on our anniversary we eat pie.  As embarrassing as this is to admit, we've been calling each other "Pie" since we were first married.  It's funny, Bryce asked me recently why we say Brynnie-Pie and Marty-Pie and he has to be Brycer-Boo.  He said, "You can call me Brycie-Pie, too!"  He was feeling left out. :)

Well, it's been such a wonderful seven years.  Ups, downs, 360s, and everything in between.  But everything in my life is ok if I can just hold Marty's hand at the end of the day.  I'm so grateful to be married to him.  I put together a little video on Windows Movie Maker of our first seven years of marriage and it was so fun to see our lives together in pictures.  Yes, there have certainly been some hard times for us as individuals and as a family, but I was overwhelmed by just how much FUN we've been able to have together the last seven years.  Picture after picture of genuine, ear-to-ear smiles.  Life is too short to waste what could have been smiles on worrying about the stupid small stuff that doesn't matter.  It was a good reminder to me. 

About Brynn's school

 Well, I made it through Brynn's first day of kindergarten.  Apparently I'm more ready than I thought I was.  I was expecting to blubber through the whole send-off and consider it the worst day of my life, but I was ok.  She's been asking me for months if it was almost time for kindergarten.  We were both excited.  I was definitely sad to say good-bye to that phase of our life. Five years goes by so quickly, and I was so in love with having a house full of little kids and just living hour to hour.  We could wake up and stay in our jammies and cuddle up with a good book, or decide we wanted to spend the day in Mesa.  Now school has to rule our schedule.  So far though, it hasn't really been all that different since she has p.m. kindergarten.  I have to be home in the afternoon anyway for the boys' naps and I usually send her off on her own in the house somewhere so I can have my own "quiet time."  Sadly, the schedule won't work out to go see Daddy at lunch anymore.  But we'll go during some of her days off, I guess.

I really like the charter school I've sent her to.  It's a good balance between a regular school schedule and home school which I had seriously considered for awhile.  It has a condensed schedule, so her school day is shorter.  So when she gets to first grade she won't have to be to school until around 11:00 and she'll still be home in the afternoon.  I'm so excited for that time in the morning.  I am so much more productive in the morning and I crash so early in the evening.  I'm excited to be able to wake up and have a scriptural devotional, have the kids practice their instruments, get chores done and of course play. 

Anyway, I think school is going well for her so far.  Brynn has never had any trouble making friends.  If we go to a new park, she is usually best friends with the kids by the time she leaves.  She organizes these elaborate play ideas and get kids playing together who were on their own before.  But I'm not so sure that's how her school year is going so far.  I ask who she plays with and she doesn't really tell me about anyone.  She's really only mentioned one girl and when I asked if they were friends now, she just says the girl already has a friend.  She's always the last one in line when they walk out and I don't really see her talking to the other kids.  I hope it all works out, it just doesn't seem very characteristic of Brynn. 

The other issue I will now be facing with Brynn in school came up today at Walmart.  She told me she wanted to buy a Barbie backpack.  I asked her what's wrong with her princess backpack and she said, "Nothing's wrong with it, I just think all the other kids want me to have a Barbie one."  I asked her if anyone said anything about her backpack, and Daytime Emmy looked me in the eyes and said, "No, I just feel inside me that the other kids are saying I shouldn't have a princess backpack anymore.  Like I should have a Barbie backpack like the other girls."  So right there in the shampoo aisle in Walmart we got to have a conversation about what makes people special, and it's not about what you wear on your back (and so on - I may have slightly overdone it).  Sigh. I'm already anxious about what it's going to be like to raise a girl.

And on to these pictures:

Bryce got to start Mommy's special 3 year old preschool!  I did the same thing with Brynn and loved every minute of it.  He's excited, too.  Over the last year he's had to watch me drop Brynn off at princess playdates, preschool, ballet, etc.  And he is so ready to be a big kid.  I need to start setting up playdates for him, too. 

This week we talked about A-A-Apples, and made an apple pie,

and we learned about B-B-Bugs and ate worms in dirt (Ew!), and we also did some C-C-Cowboy activities. 

I love doing these kinds of things with my little kids.  I wish I could do this stuff all day and the other grown-up stuff would just go away.  Alas, it does not and as much as I love this phase, this first week back in the grind has been VERY INTENSE.  By the end of the day, I am completely exhausted and feeling burned out.  Thank heavens for Marty.  When 7:30 rolls around, I hold my baby and rock him in his nice quiet nursery while Marty goes through the bedtime routine with the older two.  I don't feel like Gabe is my last baby.  Sometimes I am excited for a big family, other times I wonder if I can possibly give any more than I already am.  One day at a time, right?  This has just been a big two weeks with all of us trying to recover from strep throat, Marty starting school (which means late nights doing things like baking Celestial Oreos for his classes, stapling journals, etc),  B&B starting their schools, doubling my number of piano students, not to mention trying to start right off with a morning and night routine which might be just a tad too ambitious.  I can do hard things.  I can do hard things.  I can do hard things.  That's our family motto for this year.  I guess we know which one of us needs to remember it the most. :)

Hm, didn't expect to be writing a novel tonight.  Just watching the Olympics in the background. :)