Memorial Day Fun

As promised, Monday was a family fun day.  We settled on a bike ride along the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes.  There are a ton of places you can pick up the trail, and we went up to the mountains (Enaville) to catch the trail.  We rented a tag along bike for Sam.  We have a trailer for Logan.  When we arrived at the trail head, we unpacked the bikes (which we shoved into the back of the van; we probably need a bike rack :))  Tyler went to attach the tag a long and it the screw heads were stripped.  On to plan B, we put Logan and Sam into the trailer and off we went.  The trail was amazing.  It is nicely maintained, there were people, but it was not crowded, and there were plenty of places to stop, rest, and enjoy the view.  We rode for 6 miles before we turned around.  We stopped once each direction and got out to play.  The highlight for the boys was that the chipmunks would eat their granola bars.  Logan even fed one a "fruit by the foot".  My favorite was the Logan kept asking me, "Can I talk to them?"  I would tell him that yes he could talk to them.  Then he complained, "Mom, they aren't talking to me!"  Too many Disney movies!  I was pretty surpised that I could ride for 12 miles.  It has been a few years since I have been on a bike, and I was still pretty sore from the yard work.  Jack did great too!  Tyler could have gone a lot farther even hauling the two little boys along.

On our way home, we stopped to buy a few more things for the garden and some groceries for a BBQ.  Tyler made a yummy dinner and we ate our first salad from the lettuce that we grew in the garden.  We also used some chives from our garden for our potatoes.  YUMMY! 

While I cleaned up, Tyler and the boys planted more of the garden.  At some point, Logan was getting in the way, so I brought Sam and Logan in to give them a bath.  I am not sure that I will ever get my bathroom clean again after three days of muddy baths.

Here are some pictures of our ride.

Yard WORK

Tyler and I have been pretty happy with our front yard.  I love all of my flowers and work to keep it looking nice.  We have hated our backyard for a long time.  It is a cool backyard in that there are trees all around, so it feels like you are camping, but that brings challenges of pine needles, dark spots where grass wont grow.  The yard is also sloped in strange places, so it has been hard to decide what to do with it.  It is still a work in progress, but progress has been made.
Last year, Tyler built a raised garden box and we loved having the fresh veggies. He decided that we needed more room, so he built a second, bigger box. We have limited sunshine areas, so there was only one option for where we placed it. Tyler had been watching the yard for weeks to determine the best area for sun.

Friday, Tyler had a big pile of dirt delivered.  Logan and I got to "supervise" as the dump truck dumped it into our backyard.  For a three year old, that is pretty much the best day ever. (Sam had a PJ day at school, so he is indeed playing in the dirt in his PJs and cowboy boots.)

On Friday night, I developed a scheme.  Tyler was going to be fishing all day Saturday.  Wouldn't it be fun, to have all of his dirt moved to his garden when he came home?  I couldn't sleep, I got so excited.  My plans grew into a mini backyard makeover.  First thing in the morning, I talked to Sam and Jack.  The thing is that my kids don't know how to work hard, they don't know how to finish a job, and they don't have a lot of opportunity to do service.  I know this is my fault, and it really bothers me.  When I have tried to provide these opportunities, it ends up with 1 - 4 crying Wiricks.  I used my best excited voice and attitude to describe how happy Dad would be if we did this for him.  I also told them they could earn money for the extra work, and that if we got everything done on Saturday, we could spend all day together on Monday having fun.  They signed on, hesitantly, but agreed to the job at hand.  I think digging in dirt sold it.  We had a few tears and some stop and go activity, but they really worked hard. 

Once we filled Tyler's garden, I landscaped a corner of the yard.  It was a corner where grass didn't grow well, it is sloped, and it always looks messy.  We used the left over dirt to make a nice little raised garden area.  We also have a cool bird house that Tyler's dad built us a few years ago.  I have always wanted to build a stand for it.  I drew up some plans and purchased the materials.  Jack and Sam helped me execute the plan.  Jack was hilarious as always.  He said, "Mom, I didn't know that you would know how to do something like this."  (Honestly, I wasn't so sure myself) We made a cute sign for the front and bought bird seed to attract some birds.

On the deck, I replaced some over sized patio chairs that crowded the deck, replaced the old faded umbrella, and cleaned up the clutter.  I added flower boxes around the edge and planted bright colored flowers.  We are having our deck re-finished in the next few weeks, so it will look a lot better.  I also mowed the lawn, so that Tyler didn't have to do it.

At about 7 p.m., Tyler told me he was on his way home.  We waited and waited.  Sam sat on the stairs with the garage open.  He was almost in tears, because it was taking too long.  He told me that he said a prayer, but it hadn't worked yet.  Jack and I built a fire in the fire pit to get it ready for smores.  Tyler finally got home around 8:30 or so.  It was dark, which was a bit of a bummer.  Sam got him right in the house with a big grin and brought him to the deck.  He immediately noticed the new landscaped corner, but had no idea about the garden.  We showed him, and he was flabbergasted.  It was perfect.  It was so much fun.  After the kids were in bed, he went right to Walmart to buy some seeds and plants.

For fun, here are some pictures of our front yard too.

p.s.  I have never hurt like this before.  My back hurts, my arms hurt, my hands hurt, my legs hurt.  I even have blisters.  It was so worth it!

The end of an era!

Logan is FINALLY potty trained.  We had a bumpy start.  We picked out little toys to put in a treasure box.  We lovingly called them "poop prizes".  I filled a jar with hershy kisses for when he peed in the potty. 

He was all in, but then refused to participate.  I ate the first jar of hershy kisses, and then we went to Utah over spring break.  He had a few successes at grandma's house, so we tried again.  It took a few days, but he figured it all out.  One night he came in wearing little striped pirate underpants that his Aunt Angela bought him.  I told him that he should change into a pull up, so that he didn't have an accident in his bed.  He got very serious and in his cute little baby to boy voice, he said, "Mom, I not a little baby anymore.  I have to wears unnerwears!"  And that was it.  No more diapers!  He loves his "unnerwears" or "unnies".  He changes them several times a day, so that he can enjoy all of the characters.  The thing I am having a really hard time dealing with is that he REALLY enjoys peeing outside.  This is not something that the other boys did.  He doesn't have any problems dropping his pants in public.  He can pee and wave at passing cars at the same time. 

Once he was really potty trained, we went to build a bear and bought a costume for his bear.  His bear was a baby, because the brothers bought it for him when he was born.  Now that he is a big boy, his bear also became a big boy.  He got to buy him unnerwears and he chose the Woody (Toy Story) costume.  It is pretty cute.

No more diapers!  Such a sweet thought!

Easter

I didnt get a chance to post about Easter this year.  It was another hectic holiday like usual around here.  The boys had a blast painting eggs and finding candy.  I had a blast dressing them up on Sunday.  Here is a shot of their outfits.  They would not cooperate for a picture, but they are still pretty dang cute!

Double Digits!

Jack W has entered the tween years.  It is so unbelievable that he has been in my life for 10 years.  If has gone by so quickly, and he has brought so much joy to our family.  I was thinking a lot about it and realized that the day he was born was one of the most monumental days of my life.  We had tried so hard for so long and he was a miracle, an answer to lots and lots of prayers, and a cure for a broken heart.  Being his mother is an amazing thing.  Enough with the mushy stuff...

Jack demands enjoys pomp and circumstance, so he reminds me a lot when his birthday is approaching.  He wakes up and runs to the kitchen table to see if I decorated it.  This year, I bought Avengers themed decorations and some sugar cereal.  I also bought a lunchable (so gross, but they love them) to take to school for lunch.  He was thrilled.  He also brought M&M cookies to his class, but he made me buy extras, so that he could pass them out to friends that were not in his class.

For dinner he wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse.  He likes the food, but his real reason for choosing TR was that they don't just sing to you.  They make you sit on a saddle and scream and yell and sing.  This is the kind of pomp Jack enjoys very much.

When we came home, he got to open his gifts: Legos, money, Thor club, Harry Potter books, Lego instruction book, and a Nerf tornado squirt gun.  He was thrilled with everything.

After presents we had chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and cookie dough ice cream.  We are still planning a party for his friends. 

Sam was thrilled to celebrate Jack's birthday and kept saying, "Mom, can you beleive that Jack is 10?"  He sounded like a little old man.  He was very interested in telling me what to buy him.  Logan kept telling me that it turned into his birthday now.  He also sang happy birthday to me the whole day long.  Pretty funny boys.

I didn't do everything!

I was scolding Logan for something the other day, and he sassed back saying, "I didn't do everything!"  He meant, "I didn't do anything."  I tried to keep a straight face like I do when he says, "You not the boss of me" and other lovely phrases that make me want to scream at him or laugh at him.

Then I looked around.  First, Logan was half naked (pretty normal), he had emptied a bag of cereal all over the floor and stomped on it to grind it all up, he had emptied several containers of toys out onto the floor.  He had dumped a bottle of water out onto the carpet after taking a few swallows.  There was a soap bottle in the toilet (luckily, not flushed).  There were dirty little hand prints all over the walls.  Then I realized that HE DID EVERYTHING! 

Just Jack!

It has been a busy few months for Jack.  He had pinewood derby in January.  Tyler is still excited about his success last year, so he was ready to help make another winning car.  Jack wanted to make his car look like our dog Charlie.  Jack took 3rd place in our ward, and tied for 3rd overall.  We were racing with two other wards (packs).  He qualified for district which will be in April.  Here are some pictures of his awesome car.

This is pre-race.  Jack is a little nervous.

Our pinewood derby is serious business!

 A winner!

In February, Jack had to turn in his Lewis and Clark project.  Jack had several options, but he always chooses the most involved project on the list.  He chose to make clothing worn by trappers.  He had elaborate plans which required me to use a sewing machine.  He would not believe me when I told him that I could not sew him an entire outfit.  He kept "explaining" it to me.  "Mom, just cut it then put it together and sew it like this."  Finally I looked online at picture of trappers and mountain men. We decided on him wearing jeans and shirt that he already had with a belt around his waist.  We would make fur wraps for his legs, a bag for goods, and some cool necklaces with arrow heads, bear claws, etc.  We sewed the bag from scratch!  We really screwed up the first one, but the second one was not so bad.  This was Jack's project, not mine, so he actually did most of the sewing.  We just wrapped "fur" trim around his legs and tied it on with leather straps.  We already had the necklaces from other projects.  We also already had the 'coon hat.  He looked really cute!

Finally, Jack has had to recent accomplishments that he is very proud of.  He graduated from his skiing class and did awesome!  He also just tried out for the school play about Lewis and Clark.  He had to memorize a paragraph and sing a short song.  He practice it for several days.  I was shocked at how easily he was able to memorized the part.  I was not shocked when he chose to sing the song, "Oh Tom the Toad".  If you are not familiar with this classic, it is sung to the tune of "Oh Christmas Tree".  The words are:  Oh Tom the Toad, Oh Tom the Toad.  Why did you hop upon the road?  You were my friend, but now your dead, with tire tracks upon your head.  Oh Tom the Toad, oh Tom the Toad.  Why did you hop upon the road?  Gotta love cub scouts!  It actually was a really good show of his voice and he was really confident when he sang it.  He was excited to find out yesterday that he got a part.  He is going to be York.

From Wikipedia: "In 1804, Clark took his slave York when he joined the Lewis and Clark Expedition. York was a large, strong man who shared the duties and risks of the expedition,^[6] and was the only African American slave member of the Expedition."

2011 Christmas in Utah

We packed up the van and drove to Utah the day after Christmas.  We had tons of fun!  Here are a couple of highlights.
Wirick Family - We went to the Air force museum at Hill AFB with Tyler's brother Brady and his family (wife + 3 girls).  I spent the hour or so chasing Logan from one end of the museum to the next.  He loved it, but could not walk in order.  We also had the traditional Wirick Family party.  Brady's girls loved my iPad.  My favorite was when Kelly asked me if she could play ornery birds (angry birds).  It is also lots of fun to buy girly toys for these little cuties.  They are very cute and sweet when they open them up.  I took 0 pictures at the party - dang it.  I think Sam looks just like his cousin Katelyn.  I snapped a picture after the air force museum for proof.

Beautiful girls - When I am in Utah, I love spending time with my beautiful nieces.  For their birthdays, we have a tradition with the big girls to do a craft together.  I take them to the craft store, and they choose something that they love.  Then we go back to my mom's house and make it.  Gracie and Rachel have December and January birthday's, so we do theirs over Christmas.  They both chose to do 12X12 wooden frames with a scrapbook page.  We always have so much fun, and the finished product is beautiful.  I am not sure why I have never thought to take pictures of this!  I also started a new tradition.  We had a "little ladies lunch" with the nieces age 5 and up on the Ballard side.  I took my mom too, and we went to the Greenary which is a perfect place for a ladies luncheon.  They all looked so cute.  We went shopping at the boutique after lunch.  It was one of my favorite things of the whole year!  I actually planned to take a picture this time, but left my camera home.  After lunch we all went bowling with the rest of the family.  Here is a fun pic that I stole off of my SIL's facebook.  The girls are all in the middle; aren't they amazingly cute!

I have to mention that while the girls were being crafty, the boys made "Man Crafts"  Tyler and his dad helped the Jack, Sam, and Jake make rubber band guns.  Mike helped them make wooden knifes complete with blood painted onto the blade.  Also, we pretty much steal Jake and make him a brother when we are in town.  Jack and Jake can not spend too much time together.

While Tyler and Jack went rabbit hunting with his family, I took Sam and Logan to my friends home in Bothwell Utah.  Sam was pretty sad that he couldn't go with the big boys until I told him that we were going to a farm with real horses.  My friend has a private blog and doesn't list her childrens' names, so I wont either, but I will say we loved visiting and had so much fun.  Looking at the pictures makes me miss her!  It is always fun to visit with long time friends.  Jack and Tyler popped in after their hunting trip and Jack immediately asked to ride the horses.  They were so nice to get the horse saddled up for my boys.  Jack was all business.  Sam was a little more reserved at first, but sang and talked the whole time on the horse.  Logan was in heaven.  He would not come inside.  He helped with chores, fixed a fence, played with rocks and sticks, and fed the horse A LOT of apples.  It was hard to get them to leave, and they told everyone for days about their trip to the farm.  One funny thing, Sam is not a country boy.  He got bored really fast and wanted to know if they had any video games.  Completely the opposite of Logan!

Since Jack and Jake got a lot of sleep overs and boy time, Sam wanted to have a sleep over with Isaiah too.  They watched movies and had lots of fun playing together.  I tried to get them to pose for a picture and this is the best I got from these too goofy boys.

We also had a lot of fun at the Ballard Sibling party where we ate yummy food, and played games that made us laugh all night long.  Tyler and I got to go on a date on New Year's Eve, because my wonderful sisters in law threw a darling kids new years eve party with Minute to Win it games.  We came back early and played games with the grown ups.  My sister and her family were in town from North Carolina, so we also had fun spending time with her.  I always love the time I get with my parents and the rest of my family.  It was hard to leave them all!

2011 - Christmas

Catching up is getting a bit ridiculous, but I am almost done.  I have an issue with posting out of order, so this is just the way it has to be :)!

We had a new video camera on Christmas morning, so I didn't take as many regular photos as usual.  We had a lovely Christmas.  We spent Christmas eve afternoon with friends, stayed up late wrapping presents, performed our Christmas Eve rituals of opening PJ's, reading Christmas stories, and leaving cookies and a note for Santa.  Then the three little monsters went to bed with dreams of sugar plums dancing in their heads.

There was enough snow on the ground to make it a nice white Christmas.  This is what it looked like from my front window.

Jack and Sam woke up at 7 am; they were dying to go into the living room.  I snapped a quick picture of the presents before we let them loose.

Then we had to wake up Logan.  He really did not want to wake up.  He didn't care if "Ho Ho" had been there; he didn't care that there were gifts to open, and he didn't seemed bothered by his brothers jumping and squealing right next to him.

Then I tortured them by making them sit in front of the tree in their cute new PJ's to pose for pictures before they could open presents.  My pics were fuzzy, not sure what I did there, sorry.

Then Logan fell asleep during the pictures, and that was really funny!

He woke up in time to open his presents.  Logan is really into Lion King this year.  He watches it several times a week.  He was thrilled with his talking Simba.

The big favorites for the year were Jack's new bike, Sam and Logan's new iPads (V-tech kid style), my camera tri-pod, Tyler's new windshield and car detail.

2011 Catch Up - Teacher Christmas Gifts

It has been a while since I have had a chance to make cards or do anything creative, but when Jack was in kindergarten, I kind of went a little overboard making his teacher handmade gifts.  Since Sam has the same teacher, I felt a bit of pressure to make something cute.  Not to mention the fact that my kids have the greatest teachers, and I really did want to do something special for them.

I made them these cute card sets (8 each) with matching boxes.  I used empty envelope boxes and covered them in the same paper that I used for the cards.  I included a bag of kisses and wrapped them all up in a cute gift bag.

I love the way they turned out!

2011 Catch Up - Christmas Card Pictures

A Christmas card photo shoot with the Wiricks
narrated by Angela Wirick

It’s December 14, my Christmas cards have been done for a week or so, but I have not taken a picture of the kids yet. Since we live in Northern Idaho, it gets dark by 4:00, but today is the day. I will take a fun picture of the boys as soon as Jack and Sam get home from school. It has been a little crazy this year, so there are no matching outfits. They each have a nice dark coat which will be perfect for the chilly outside shot. Logan even took a nap – this is going to be awesome.

We start at the front porch, and I get a few ok shots in, but then I realize that there are garbage cans behind the boys which I don’t want to photoshop out – Logan is whining about playing in the snow. I cannot get all three turkeys to look at me and smile! It is starting to get dark – I have to hurry. I get a case of the rage and tell my kids that Christmas is cancelled. The neighbor is outside and just heard me freak out at the boys, because they will not look at me and smile – at least no one is naked!

 Maybe it will be nicer in the backyard. I can sit them on the deck railing. I take several shots before I realize that my settings are screwed up and they are all blurry. Not a big deal since Logan is now screaming about playing in the snow, and the boys still won’t look at me and smile.

Maybe just one more shot here on the step. Jack and Sam get their Christmas restored. Logan is a dead man! I give up completely because there is no way Logan is going to act normal, and it is now completely dark outside at 4:00 p.m. I pout and grumble for the rest of the evening.

Christmas card photo shoot - take two (12/17). We just left a nice ward Christmas brunch. Kids look pretty cute. It is warm outside. I want to go to this park; small problem - I don’t know what it is called and I don’t really know where it is. We went there once for scouts. Tyler is not able to read my mind to see what I am picturing. Hopefully he will be more helpful at the shoot. Success – we find the park.
It might be fun to start at this cute wood fence. This isn’t going as I expected. The kids really want to climb this fence, Logan still will not look at me and smile – whoops, the sun is in their eyes.

 And then an airplane flies by.

Maybe if I move them to the corner where Jack can keep his arms around Logan…  Another fail!

Over to the rocks – Logan decides to smile.  Seriously?!?  He looks like he is constipated.

Here is a cool wall, too bad Logan wants to get up so that he can climb the hill behind the wall.

I tell Logan to put his hands on Jack and Sam’s necks.  He decides that I just gave him permission to pinch them on the neck.  This is also the time where Jack becomes a double amputee (hands), but I don’t notice this until I am home editing the photos.

Maybe we can get some cute pictures on this bridge – Not so much.  Logan sees a bug, rock, stick, who knows.

Down by the water... OK, what was I thinking? I did not get one shot with them looking at me.  Then Tyler my lovely assistant goes bonkers and Jack begs me to use this photo for the Christmas cards.

Finally, a really nice spot where we can see the river in the background; too bad Logan does not want to sit still.

I tell Sam to hold on to his shirt. 

Logan fights.  Sam Persists

And this is as good as it gets folks!  I give up, 2 out of 3 aint bad.  The scenery is beautiful, and it is a good thing I only attempt this once a year. 

In case you are curious, I took a total of 164 shots, and I still had to use one where Logan had his tongue out!