Great Grandma Mary

It is tradition that I go to my parents for dinner every Sunday. Well last Sunday, the 20th, my grandma happened to be in town for a doctor's appointment later that week. When we walked in she was sitting on the couch knitting a sweater for someone and Matthew (being Matthew) wanted to watch and learn how to do what she was doing. So she sent him upstairs to ask my mom for an extra set of knitting needles for Matthew to practice with. He returned with a set of connected needles, I guess for beginners? Anyway, she was so patient with him as she tried to explain to him how to wrap the yarn around, and when to put the needle through the other yarn hole. She is the one that taught me when I was younger so I thought it was so sweet that she would try and teach Matty how to knit.

He decided he wanted to make a scarf for our cat :) But after a few times of back and forth on the rows, he decided it would take too long and he gave up. Today my mom tried teaching him again and he went a couple of rows and called it quits. It is so funnyto me because if I could ever find my knitting needles I would find the very first thing I tried to make after my grandma taught me....a scarf!

Battleground

Zack bought this game called Battleground a while back. He has set it up to play with friends a couple of times but I never payed much attention to it... till today. This morning Zack asked if I would play with him. I am not much in to imaginative play, and especially not with boy toys, but this game was so fun. Here's the premise: You set up your side of the battleground complete with castle three forms of artillery, knights or orcs, posts and bricks. You also get eight bullets. Then you each take turns launching the bullets from whatever artillery unit you want. The object is to either kill the king or hit the castle's gate. If you hit the gate it raises up and plastic fire shows at the top of the castle signifying that you are dead. Of course as you take out the other person's pieces you can either get bullets back or bring a previously hit person back to life. The video is a 40 second clip of Matthew and Derek playing. The video is taken with my camera phone, so the quality may not be the best :)

Memory post!

I stole this from Chuckie Floyd. It sounded fun:

Here is a fun little game...Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you....

Backyard Camping

Ever since the camping trip to Monticello Zack has been obsessed with camping and fire, so this week He and his friend Kobi decided to turn our backyard into their private campsite. They started out by making their fire pit. Then they fashioned their tent which is the uncovered sleeping bags between the two sticks. They laid down cardboard, put the sleeping bags on top, and folded up and taped foam sheets for their pillows.

They really thought they were going to be able light a fire in the back yard and roast marshmallows! Our back lawn is completely dead. I could just see our whole lawn going up in flames if we let them set a fire. So we let them roast over the grill. Zack decided to make a fake fire. He stood a flashlight up in the middle of the fire pit and they covered it with colored construction paper so that when they turned on the flashlight it would look like a fire. I totally thought they would last until it was dark and then come in because they were scarred.

They made a list of all the things they wanted to do before they went to bed: star gazing, shadow puppets, ghost stories etc. Kobi fell asleep and Zack got hot so he came in at 11:30, then Derek got Kobi and brought him in. Turns out it was good they came in cause the sprinklers came on in the morning :) I remember camping in my backyard and I think I made it once through the night in my backyard; I always got scarred. I'm so glad they had a great time though. I also used the campout as an opportunity to remind Zack of all the fun things I let him do before he tells me he hates me the next time. He gave me a hug and agreed with me, and that he would try to remember. (I had to get some of the parent guilt in there :)

swimming lessons

My children have always loved to swim but have always thought drowning was inevitable so they have been completely dependant on their life jackets. I found a teacher named Patrice Winn who I'd heard was a miracle worker when it comes to kids and swimming! Sure enough in only two lessons my kids were swimming independently and comfortable with it. They had a total of eight lessons. She covered breast stroke, crawl, back stroke, and beginning diving. She is my hero. She keeps threatening to quit every year, but people keep convincing her to do one more year. Hopefully she'll do it again next year, so Kaia can work on her skills. I'm so proud of them!