ZigBeetle Blog

Tynan is growing so fast! I feel like I blinked and he’s suddenly a little person now, not a baby any more.

He really is trying so hard to talk to us. Here’s what he says so far: uh-oh, Dad, thank you, Mom, here, all gone, here you go, shoe (goo), Mommy!!!, ball, car, ear, amen, dog, sock, and most recently — baby. He loves pointing out anything he knows the word for. It’s so exciting.

He also tries to repeat words back to you all the time. So watch what you say around him.

Now I can’t leave this post without saying how much fun Tynan and Flynn have together. They chase each other around the house growling and laughing all the time. I love seeing it. Penny and I just watch and shake our heads at those two crazy silly boys. And that’s just a fraction of the crazies they get into when Dad gets in the mix.

We listen to music at bedtime to convince the kids to stay in their beds. Flynn was looking for the online music and typed:

‘prite byb timmyoozic’ = “pretty bed time music” (this is the search Flynn typed into google at bedtime.)

This is the channel we have for them that he was trying to bring up.

What do you do when a neighbor’s tree branch falls in your yard? Get out the saws…

This rather large branch fell in our yard just as Conference was ending yesterday. Flynn was so excited he immediately got out the clippers from the garage to start cutting it up. We had to gently explain to him that Sunday isn’t a good day to take care of the branch and we’d do it in the morning.

Well, he held me to it. As soon as we’d breakfasted and dressed we were out in the back yard working on the branch. The kids all had fun working with me on cutting up the wood.

Once the trash bin was full we took it out to the front curb for pick-up and we found our new neighbor, Brandon, out mowing the lawn with his push mower. Flynn and Penny are fascinated by that mower and ask to use it every time Brandon has it out. (Brandon’s 12 and a really great kid.) We spent another hour or so working on the front lawn with the mower and weed whacker.

Then the kids asked Brandon if he wanted to each sandwiches together in the front yard for lunch. They ended up spending at least another hour together in both of our yards. We sure are lucky to have such a nice new neighbor. The kids are really taken with him.

This weekend has been fabulous. Just the relaxing sort of weekend we needed. With General Conference on Saturday and Sunday, we HAD to be home. No meetings to run off to, no requirements or obligations.

We went to the HOA egg hunt on Saturday morning and had a fun but cold time (rainy weather all day). Penny and Flynn were thrilled when they got to spin the prize wheel and each of them won a chocolate bunny. We had to rush home to eat some lunch so they could eat their bunnies. Then we watched Conference, napped a bit and then built some shelves to improve closet storage in Penny’s room and mine. Dinner was a tasty In-N-Out burger.

Sunday was more listening to Conference and napping. I worked on a sewing project while the big kids played and Clint and Tynan napped. Then we had the pleasant surprise of Christianna and Leo visiting us. We haven’t seen those two in months. Seriously!

Little Leo has this crazy mane of hair. It was so long that I decided I needed to cut it right away. We took pictures of before and after and we had a handsome little boy when I was done. It was fun to see Tynan and Leo interacting a bit. Not much, but I know it’ll only get better as they get older.

We need more relaxing weekends like that.

I know it has been ages since I last updated the blog. I feel like I just never can catch up with all the stuff we are always doing. So I’ll catch up as I’m able, but here’s what we are up to at the present.

Flynn is officially in his first Spring Break! Wow, the school year has surely gone by fast. I remember when I was teaching that it took forever to get to this point I the year. And here we are.

I’m trying to do fun stuff with the kids each day of the break. It’s Friday already and we’ve done a lot of creative stuff all week. On Monday we made a rocket ship from a cardboard box kit Christianna gave us for Christmas and then spent the rest of the day painting it with watercolors. Tuesday we went to Kymmer’s house and she taught the kids how to decorate cupcakes for Easter. They were so fun and delicious that we couldn’t help eating them before I could take a picture. We took a couple over the Grandma Ann’s and got to have a nice lunch with her. It’s been too long since we have spent time with her.

The sidewalk chalk came out several times during the week, and our back patio is officially a masterpiece. Yesterday we did some Easter craft creations. We made some Easter cards I found instructions for online. Then we did some finger puppets made of pompoms. The kids loved making them.

Today was busy with a trip to Home Depot for house project supplies. Then lunch and a visit to the pool. Mandy and the girls were there and we had a great time. It was fantastic to see Tynan in the pool. We haven’t been swimming with him since he started walking so his delight at the giant sized bath tub was beautiful. He really loved throwing the pool toys into the big pool for the kids to fish out. After the pool we went to dinner and the play area at Chick-Fil-A and then to Cold Stone for dessert.

The kids seemed really happy with the activities his week. I just have to keep it up next week.

The day has come. Tynan is joining the ranks of the walking. We came home from church early after Flynn’s good job doing his line during the primary program for sacrament meeting.  All the kids are starting to support some nasty coughs so we felt they all needed more sleep and time to strengthen up.  I’m glad they all wanted to stay at church and go to their classes but we did take them home and made them take naps.

In between naps though we got to film Tynan stepping up his list of skills.

We all watched and laughed at family videos from Flynn and Penny’s past after filming Tynans steps.  Some of the favorites the kids kept asking for were “LOUD teeth brushing” , and “Lemon”.  Tynan’s officially beaten the other kids in crawling and now walking. Penny’s still our earliest teether at 10.5 months, but she didn’t officially walk until 16 months. Unfortunately we don’t have a video of Penny’s first steps because she kept it a secret from Eden and I and we didn’t know she was walking till our friend Steve told us that he had seen her stepping around.  Lil’ Sneaky girl! Flynn did both walking and teething at 13 months. We’ll see when Tynan gets that first tooth.

After that, Flynn started coughing even worse and by dinner time was saying he didn’t feel good and went to bed with a bucket. I hope he feels better and that we can get him healthy again soon.

Today was Flynn’s last soccer game for the season. We have seen so much progress over the last three months. He went from not even wanting to walk on to the field at practice (not even with the bribe of a doughnut) to a very eager soccer player. He has blossomed and it’s been wonderful to see. It was so fun to drive home from practice and have him exclaim that he’s getting really good at soccer.

We had Logan and Haley with us for the afternoon since their parents were going to a movie screening. So the girls got to watch the game, and play with Penny at the park.  Haley pointed out that it was fitting that Flynn’s team, the Pirates, was playing against the Silver Storm, since pirates are always trying to beat the ocean storms. Clever girl.

The highlight of the day was not the fact that Flynn scored his first ever goal, it was the golden trophy he got for his participation. The coach wanted to make sure that each of his players had a chance to score a goal this season, so everyone on the field worked to get Flynn his goal. After he made the goal, he commented that the other team “wasn’t even looking.” I told him that the best way to make a goal is to do it when the other team isn’t paying attention. He still felt good about it, I think. The trophy has been by his side since he got it. We had to talk him out of sleeping with it in his bed in case he rolled over it and broke it (or hurt himself).

In lieu of soccer practice this week we had the team party at Chuck E Cheese. Flynn has been incredibly excited to go there for months. So much so, that he personally cuts out the coupons for Chuck E Cheese from the newspaper each week. He’s got a little stash in his box of special stuff. Boy was he glad when I told him the team party would be there.

Being the team mom I got to get the coach’s gift and bring the cake for the celebration. Flynn’s team was the Pirates, so I put the gift card in a pirate hat (thanks to Halloween clearance) along with some Pirate’s Booty snacks. The cake I made was yummazing due to the chocolate frosting. My friend Mary pointed me to the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s cocoa container. I will never use anything else. Try it. You’ll be converted.

The party was fun and the kids all had a great time playing. Flynn got a special gift from the coach: a soccer ball. He had all the boys sign a ball for each other so each boy could have one. Flynn was thrilled.

Flynn’s coach was perfect for him during his first season of soccer. So patient with his shyness, and encouraging him to succeed. Now I have to figure out what to do with this boy until soccer season starts in another 9 months!

We’ve celebrated Halloween too much this year! Since when is Halloween so important that we need 4 parties?

First off was the Ward Harvest Festival and Chili Cook-Off on Friday night. Flynn thought it would be fun to invite his friend Finneus and his family to the party, so he did…. and they came! Flynn was so happy that his buddy was there, and I was glad the family got to come and enjoy an evening with us. The best part of the evening, besides seeing how thrilled Penny was at getting treats, was my chili won a prize! I made a Buffalo Chicken Chili and my prize was most gourmet. Wow.

Saturday we had our annual Halloween Party with the Mitchell’s. Don cooked amazing food, as usual, and the kids had a fabulous time playing in the back yard. The Mitchells are always so fun to get together with, but it doesn’t happen often enough. It will be so sad when they move… if that ever happens. They’ve been talking about it for years!

Monday morning was Flynn’s Kindergarten Halloween Party. School was early so all the kindergarten classes could participate in a costume parade. Alas, I had to teach aerobics, and Flynn was so lucky to have his dad be the “daddy helper” for the party. Both boys were thrilled!

To finish off the holiday, we went over to our friends’ house for a Halloween Night get-together for a potluck dinner and trick-or-treating deal. I have actually never taken my kids trick-or-treating, so I was kind of hoping we would eat dinner and leave before the trick-or-treating began, but they noticed. Luckily, Clint was able to join us for part of the evening and he took the kids to a couple of houses before we went home. Those kids are lucky to have such a great and fun dad.

We’d better plan some good activities for Christmas, because that’s much more important than Halloween!

I swear Tynan was calling “Da! … Da!” yesterday morning when he woke up. That was definitely a call for dad to get him out of his bed instead of me. How great is that? Well, last night was a rough night for him and me, and he ended up in my bed around 3 am when I couldn’t take getting up for him another time. I didn’t think he’d call for dad again, but this morning was even better than yesterday.

Penny woke up early calling out that she needed to use the toilet, so Clint took her and then tried to get her back to sleep in the rocker. Pretty soon Flynn was in the chair with them and when Tynan came to consciousness he was greeted by a chorus of “Hi Tynan!” Tynan’s response was immediate and it totally sounded like, “Hi daddy-o.” The kids and Clint were full of giggles over that one.

This little brother is getting bigger too fast! I guess it’s because Flynn keeps asking in his prayers that Tynan will get bigger.

Penny took this picture of Tynan yesterday when he was waking up from his nap. Kind of a fun shot. It was through the mesh of the pack-n-play.

Last week one afternoon Flynn came out of his room where he and Penny were playing to tell me what the two of them had been up to. He told me that his name is “Rider Fantastic” and that Penny is “Baby Brooke.” Then he started elaborating on “the ocean of stink” and a special bomb that when it explodes it turns into anything you want. It sounded like a great adventure! I totally want to write a children’s book with those characters.

Ever since then Penny has been talking about being Baby Brooke. It’s like her alter ego or secret identity. She does this every day. Should I be concerned?

Tynan is becoming more and more confident in his mobility. He’s been standing on his own for over a week now. It’s really funny that he’ll stand there and clap for himself because we’ve been applauding his efforts. Tonight I came out from helping kids get their teeth brushed and he had climbed up onto the kid’s bench in the living room and was so pleased with himself. I think he’s figuring out he’s got to do amazing things to keep my attention from the other two.

Ty is such a fun kid to be around and it’s great to see him interacting with his big brother and sister. I love that he is almost always smiling. He loves people and playing. He’s started to develop a bit of a temper when someone (Penny) takes something from him or when he wants something. It’s interesting to watch and see what he does to solve the problem. It almost seems like he tries to bite her… good thing he doesn’t have any teeth yet.

2 c chicken broth
2 c water
1 medium onion, diced
1 c chopped or shredded carrots
1.5 c dried split peas
1 bay leaf
16 oz smoked sausage, sliced and quartered
2 c fresh spinach

Add chicken broth, water, half of the onion, carrots, peas, bay leaf and 1/4th of the sausage to pressure cooker. Bring to pressure over high heat and reduce to medium. Cook 15 minutes and release pressure. Remove bay leaf.

Chop spinach roughly and add to hot soup. Stir and let cook until spinach wilts. Use a stick blender to puree soup until smooth. Add remaining onion and sausage. Heat through.