Blustery Days

It has been SO windy this week! Like 25mph all week long.

But that didn't stop us from going to get the first snowcones of summer. (said like "The first gift of Christmaaaas!" on the Polar Express.)

 In costume.

 Over the last week our 4 butterflies hatched from their chrysalises and we let the very last one go on Wednesday! Kasen didn't want to hold it, but Tai got to hold it for quite a while.

I was hoping to witness some of the transformations, but instead I missed every single one. I watched so close too! But I didn't get to see any of the caterpillars actually go into their chrysalises and I didn't get to see a single butterfly come out. Just like I missed the birth of Peeka's puppies. Oh well!

They were still fun to watch over the last month.

The very same day we let our last butterfly go we picked up our new kitten!

Meet Kiwi.
Kiwi Whiskers Liddiard.

We've gone back and forth about actually getting a cat, but seeing another mouse under the wall block in our backyard last week sealed the deal nice and tight! She will be an indoor only cat since my last 3 indoor/outdoor cats have disappeared.

Kasen and Tai LOVE her, however, Peeka legit almost ate her. We're working on that...
We went to the pet store and let the kids each pick out a toy for her. Kasen picked out a little narwhal and Tai picked out a feathered wand toy.
And when she purrs Tai calls it her "rumbles".
Her birthday was March 27th, so she is just 8 weeks old now. Already had her first bath and everything.

 When the kids go to bed she snuggles both me and Kyle. Has to sit right under our chins.
The sad thing is that she hurt her foot the day after we brought her home! Not sure what happened, but she has one tiny back foot and one giant rabbit sized back foot... She's started walking on it again now though so it's getting better.

 Kyle has been putting dry wall up in the basement this week. Which I hear is the very worst part. So the day that Hayden and his dad came to help, Reagan and Kallie came to play with Kasen and Tai.

 Aaaand our garden boxes are finished and planted! Kyle has been working his butt off on all these projects. I did help him cut the grass out a little bit though :) The rest was ALL him!
Kasen and Tai helped by handing him different tools. And keeping him company out there.
Kasen even got a few wheelbarrow rides that he told me were his most favorite!

 We have no idea what we're really doing and just planted a little bit of everything! Sweet corn, pumpkin, zucchini, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, onions, cucumber, tomato, broccoli, sweet peas, red and green bell peppers, jalapeno, and habanero. We'll see what actually grows.

 On top of all that Kyle has also smoked us some of the most delicious seafood this week that we got to eat together after sending the kids to bed. Smoked salmon with avocado salsa and smoked lobster tails with a baked potato. He is AMAZING! I miss him when he spends all the days working in the basement and the backyard. I am definitely needing more adult interactions.

Lately

Last week we got out our little swimming pool for the first time! Kasen and Tai even still wanted to swim in it when it was 56 degrees out there. They were both shivering asking for popsicles after. I wish our pool were big enough for me to float in. A nap while floating in a pool sounds super amazing right now.

 

 We've even had a few playdates too! You ask me for a playdate, my answer is YES! Come on over. Before I die of boredom and impatience. And I will feed you popsicles. Humans were created to connect with other humans. We need each other and I have decided that a life you aren't allowed to go live isn't a life worth living at all. I would rather be experiencing it with the risks of harm than living in fear of what could happen. Yay for phase yellow, whatever that means...

I believe the Covid curve has been flattened. Hospitals are now prepared. So wash your hands and let it run it's course because the effect that the shutdown has had on the economy is not worth it.

Even though I'm sure Kyle has loved being the one to do all the Costco shopping lately, being the impulse buyer that he is :) I still hate online shopping as much as ever. I've tried ordering flannel from 3 different Joann stores now and my orders keep getting cancelled because they don't actually have what I'm ordering!!

 I tried ordering a produce basket from a neighborhood co-op last week though, so we got a bunch of fruits and vegetables. Including lemons. So for the first time ever I made hand squeezed, homemade lemonade! And it was pretty darn good.

 

 

We also made a couple salads, some stir fry and portobello mushroom cap pizzas. I learned that gold kiwis are a thing that exist and what jicama is, thanks to the school lunches we've been picking up too. Kyle has had plenty of leftover fruit to freeze dry!

 

 

 Kasen saw a PBS kids activity on TV and insisted that we make paper plate masks. So he colored himself a cheetah and Tai colored a pink giraffe. (Which I thought she wanted to be a cat so I drew whiskers on it.)

And we've still been playing lots of games, (It's interesting to me that games like Uno and Sorry will hold Kasen's attention longer than Tai's but she will finish a puzzle or paint with sticker picture when Kasen quits so fast.)

holding lots of rollie pollies, hanging out on our swing,

 and having fires outside, to use up our camping food, while cursing the fact that there is still a mouse living underneath the wall block in our backyard!

-Kasen still asks, "Shall we...?" and it's the cutest.

-Tai has started saying, "What the freaking heck!" Got that from me. There are worse things though. Both the kids have started telling us not to say "stupid" and Kasen tells Kyle not to say "Balls" or "Son of a B"

-Kasen tells us he wants to be a parent when he is 20 and that he will have 6 babies. Tai still only wants 3.
-Tai thinks the picture of her and Kasen in front of the temple in our room is their wedding! Haha

-Whenever Tai washes herself in the bath with her pink soap she puts one hand on her hip, puts her other fist in the air and says, "Pink man to the rescue!"

-Kasen and Tai both LOVE tomatoes. They eat them better than any other fruit and beg for them whenever they see me cut one.

-Kasen also asks for PB&J everyday and eats them 2 at a time.

-They also both collect rocks. They find them outside and insist it's for their rock collections, which they each have sitting on their window sills.

-I truly love and appreciate that they never bother me in the morning and let me sleep probably 2 hours later than when they wake up.

-My pelvic bone feels like it just may break in half anytime I move and I'm pretty sure my pregnancy heartburn has reached all the way to my tongue.

CHEERS!

Mother's Day

 Happy Mother's Day!

Right now I'm reading a book called The Happiness Project and I've been interested in reading her thoughts on happiness and fun and what they are.
But something she explained was perfect for how I feel about motherhood:
"And so it is with raising children. At any one time, the negative may swamp the positive, and I might wish I were doing something else. Nevertheless, the experience of having children gives me tremendous fog happiness. It surrounds me, I see it everywhere, despite the fact that when I zoom in on any particular moment, it can be hard to identify."

"Children reconnect us with sources of feeling good that we've outgrown."
So true. Experiencing life through their eyes somehow makes life more magical! So even though I make sarcastic comments about wanting to give my children away, I am so grateful I get to be their mother and experience the magic. They really do make me so happy and I am so grateful I took today to remind myself that.

 I always request a picture on Mother's day. I figure then Kyle can't be too bugged about it. So this is our Mother's Day, home church, 59th day of quarantine, front porch family portrait!

 This morning Kyle made me homemade strawberry and banana waffles brought to me in bed! I took them out to eat with the family and didn't even notice my new bike until after breakfast. I had mentioned to Kyle a couple weeks ago that I wanted a bike to go on rides with the kids and he saw one at Costco the next time he was there and took it as a sign! I'm so excited! I don't think I've ridden a bike since the summer I lived in Hawaii back in 2008.

 Our last caterpillar was finally a chrysalis this morning too, so I got to move them to their pop up house! And a flower from the ward.

 After our home sacrament meeting we packed a picnic lunch and met Kyle's family at a park to eat. The cousins were in heaven! Totally worth it.

Thursday I visited my Mom Annette at Grandma Peterson's house and gave her her Mother's Day gift. She gave Kasen this fun airplane that shoots across the yard so we all sat on the porch and watched the kids play with that for a little while.

 And yesterday I got to go with my Mom Tammy and her family out to dinner to celebrate Mother's Day and give her her gift. Yay for sitting down in a restaurant!

I was spoiled this weekend. Yummy breakfast, new bike, got to visit with all my moms, AND between working on finishing the basement and building garden boxes, Kyle built me a shelf in the laundry room too!!

He's the best ever. Happy Mother's Day to me. And to my Mothers. I love you all.