Pay It Forward

A few of my fellow bloggers have had this up and I am taking the challenge also. I like how it was worded on one blog "that we can do two things: 1) Find value in homemade again and 2) Send something to people without needed reward."

Here's the deal. The first 5 people to leave a comment here will get a homemade gift from me. The only catch is that you have to pay the gift forward by reposting this on your blog. I will check to make sure you've done so. I don't know what the gift will be, but it will be homemade. I'll get it to you sometime soon. I don't promise you'll love it, but I'm not going to make you something I think you'll hate, either, because that would be like an un-gift and defeat the entire purpose.

Let's have some fun.

Happy Birthday Natalie!!!

I can't believe it has been 3 years since this day! This is our little girl and she has been so fun, but a lot more work than my 2 boys.


The day before her birthday we went to the mall and passed this cookie shop. They had this cookie in the window and the kids loved it. How funny that they would have this up right before her birthday! What a nice surprise!


We celebrated her day on Monday, since I was no where close to do it on Sunday. She went with me to one of her favorite places: the dentist. I was due for a cleaning and she wanted hers done again! Then we went and got ice cream to go with her cake and had lunch. The boys went with Gabe to get Natalie something. The boys loved showing her how to open her presents. She loved what they picked out: a princess tent, a barking dog (her pet), and a Diego game. Life is good at the Peterson home!

The "icing on the cake" was her castle cake. She picked this out days ago and couldn't wait for me to make it. She asked everyday if we could make her cake. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it; 1-I didn't have the right size pans & 2-I had 2 anxious boys who wanted to help decorate it. They did the purple tower tops and the flower and vines all over the cake. I love to make a master piece and so as they were deciding where to put the purple tops and the flowers and such I cringed! But I kept reminding myself in 10 years what do I want them to remember from this moment;1-a mom who is extremely picky about where a purple cone is placed or 2-a fun time decorating their sisters cake. I opted for the 2nd. We had fun and I was able to do most of it while she napped!

A perfect ending to a perfect day!

Something new

Dad gave Zach a new chore to do the other day. Zach was really excited before he started. I don't think he lasted 5 min. Can you tell he was not having fun? But it probably didn't help that I picked the hottest day and the hottest time to have them out there working.
So. . . . Evan said he wanted a turn. And he loved it! He wanted to do more and more. I was kind of worried about him pushing up the hill, he is so little and it looked like it would just run him over. But he told me when we were done that next time he wants to be able to mow more.

Natalie has very little hair, as most of you know. She just turned 3 and for the first time, on her birthday, I was able to put two little pigtails! I was so excited that she actually has enough hair for 2! It was fun to actually play with her hair. I only hope that she will let me for a few years.

catch up!!

Here is a lot of catch up- sorry! I don't know what happened to me. There is more than this, but that will come up tomorrow or the next day, we shall see.
I sent the kids outside to play one day, shortly after Gabriel had put our bird bath in the back yard. He cleaned it all out and had it looking very nice. Well, I went outside to check on the kids after a few minutes and this is what I found. They dumped their bubbles in the bird bath and proceeded to play! Gabriel had to wash it out again!

Our dinosaur find!

After a walk with Dad one day Evan came home convinced he had found a dinosaur bone on a dirt road by our house. He asked for day to go and dig it up. Finally he took his counter partner and tools in hand he did it. He did it so carefully with a digging tool you get with one of those toy dinosaurs that you dig out, a sponge brush and a shovel.

And this is what he found! He says it is the head of a small dinosaur. Do you think we should turn it into a museum?

Dentist Visits

Natalie begged to have her teeth cleaned after watching her brothers. The office was so nice and got her right in. She loved sitting in the chair with those glasses that are too big for her. She let them clean her teeth and even take x-rays of her front teeth. She woulnd't go for the flouride tray. But I will take what she did do. That is more than my boys did before they were 5 and she just turned 3!

Trips!!!

This is why I have been so busy lately.

1-My dryer!!! Yes, I am still trying to fix it. I can't tell you how many time I have taken it apart. I think I have called the appliance place so many times the lady is ready to have my number blocked.

2-Sports. Both boys are involved in sports, 2 different and somehow they end up at the same time. Soccer has ended, baseball is still going. They keep cancelling due to weather. But for now we are scheduled to end on the 28th, as long as they don't reschedule beyond that.
3-Trips

SAN DIEGO

In April Gabriel and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. Considering we can fly anywhere and we have never taken advantage of that together, Gabriel surprised me with a trip to San Diego. And he even arranged for a couple friend of ours, who also is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, to meet us there. We were limited on time, but we had a wonderful time there. It was absolutely gorgeous and the weather was wonderful. Our friend, Brandon, had done research on restaurants and they all turned out to be really good. We stayed at a hotel right on the bay across from Coronado Island and we took a ferry over to the island. We saw the Coronado hotel and walked along the beach. It was so nice to not have kids and just enjoy ourselves.

There is a funny story about this hotel and me, but I will only tell you if you ask. Angela and I got the biggest laugh out of it. I will just say, I didn't do research like her husband did.
We saw this statue by some other military sights and I thought it was hilarious. The thing was huge! Come to find out it is on loan. So, hurry on over to San Diego to get a look.

Good food, good friends and good times. Thanks Brandon & Angela, we can't wait till our next trip!

CHICAGO

Gabriel and I both served missions for our church in Chicago. We have been telling our kids for a couple of months now about Chicago pizza(our kids love pizza). They have been waiting very patiently. So, when the swine flu hit and they closed the schools for a week we decided we would go! Gabe had the day off and the kids were out for a few days, weather was good and flights weren't too bad--so we went. It was not the best trip we have taken. We left our house around 4:30 am and got home around 11:00pm, yes we did it in one day. Our poor kids. They loved the "el" train, weren't too impressed with the pizza (Evan thought it was pie), they loved throwing rocks in Lake Michigan, playing in the sand, and their mouths finally watered as we walked through the Lego store on Michigan Avenue.

We went all the way to Chicago to find this wonderful rock!

And to play in Chicago sand! No matter where you go, boys will find dirt and rocks and be perfectly content. Why did we have to go so far to find this out?

This was the only time Evan smiled in the restaurant. He only tasted the cheese, which was about 2/3 of the pizza. Zach ate his piece, wasn't his favorite, but he ate it. Natalie threw a royal fit and then zonked out on my shoulder. She slept the rest of the time we were there.

She is following in her brother's footsteps. Will lego's never end at our house. Natalie did this the whole time we were at the Lego store, she just kept asking for more flowers. Eventually they ran out, so it was time to go

We have had a fun and busy couple of weeks, and now the end of school is coming and I don't even have my summer schedule close to being done. I actually haven't even started it, it's just all in my head now. Hopefully I will have it done, before school ends.

Better late than never

I know I am almost a month late with this picture, actually I think I am! I have been crazy busy for the last month or so, which is why I have not responded to anyones emails or commented on anyones blogs. I have been looking for brief moments, but no long enough to comment. So sorry. But here is a quick photo from Easter. I was trying to get one before church, because after church Natalie is a bear or she is asleep. However we were running late, even though we don't meet until 1:00!! I don't know how that happens. Too bad that only 1 out of 3 is looking at the camera and 2 out of 3 are completely dressed. But I am glad that 3 out of 3 were actually all happy to go to church that day!

Our week's Summary

When food dislikes interfere with your fun
Evan is going to be a boy that loves April Fool's Day. He was thinking of stuff all day to try and trick people. Zach wanted to put ketchup on him to pretend he was bleeding. Evan thought that was cool, but he doesn't like ketchup so he thought he would use something else that is red. On Thursday he comes home from school and asks me if ink on your skin can give you ink poisoning. And then he shows me his hand. He was so excited to try and trick his dad and proud that he beat his brother to it! But then mom made him wash it off.


What I have been up to this week
Our dryer hasn't been drying very well lately and it seems to just be getting worse. I called a service guy to schedule to come look at, and it is $60 to just come look at, not to mention if there is anything that need replaced or labor hours. So, I have been reading up everything I can to figure out how I can do it myself. What I thought was the problem ended up not being right. But I tore the dryer apart, took the part in to have it tested, and then put it back together. When that wasn't the problem I thought maybe there is a clog in the vent leading outside, but that isn't it either. Bottom line I tried so hard to avoid a service fee and be independent but I guess some things you just can't get away with. Darn it!!! I hate spending money that I know I could save if I just knew more about things like this.

"Take me out to the ball game. . ."

Zach had his 2nd game on Sat and was so excited, he made an out and he hit the ball and made it to 1st base! What a day. I love the first picture you can see his team mate in the back telling him to run. He was playing 3rd baseman and he tagged the base and then when the player got to 3rd base I think Zach tagged him at least 2-3 times. He was going to make sure that he got him out! This was really good for him considering both games he gets up to bat in the last inning with 2 outs and bases are loaded and then he strikes out. Gabe and I don't think he realizes the whole picture, but he was really upset his first game that they lost. He came home crying and very upset. Sports can be so good for kids, but hard.