Diapers, again

Checking out a potato bug

Tasty Rocks

The rocks get a perfect 10 in tastiness

Princess Ella...NOT Aroura, Ella!

We've had a rough week so far. Monday Amelia decided that going potty was not her thing. She would only go when someone was here visiting. Half the time she would look me in the eye then deliberately pee in her pannies. By Wednesday I had about a dozen pee spots in my carpet around the house. I started to give her cold showers for peeing her pannies, she just laughed. My mom suggested we put diapers back on her this evening. While on the phone with mom Amelia peed and pooped (again). She is back in diapers. I am looking forward to a summer with no swimming, movies, and big girl activities. I hope Amelia will change her mind and decide to be a big girl instead of a baby in Phillip diapers. She is trying to exert her will on Justin and I in the form of bossiness and selective obedience. Maybe some reverse psychology will work! Earlier in the week I signed up for some parenting classes online with one of my former BYU professors, Dr Scoresby. He has an awesome website, My Family Track, that offers short parenting courses to improve your skills and get parents on the same page. I absolutely loved this professor back in the day so know that his knowledge is totally workable. Wish us luck!

The weather has kept us mostly inside this week. Justin spent most of the week fixing a broken section of the sprinkler system. He finally isolated the part yesterday after tearing out dirt and the sprinkler box. He did an awesome job! Now the system is set and ready to sprinkle on an early morning schedule! Ella and Brayden came over to play Tuesday evening while Alison and Matt went to an awards dinner. All the kids are out of school as of yesterday. I am enjoying the absence of cars in the morning and afternoon picking up kids from school. Most of my piano students decided to continue lessons on throughout the summer. Natalie traded her breast pump for June piano lessons with me. I cannot even describe how excited I am to finally have a breast pump of my own. Phillip is increasingly nursing less and less. He is just not interested or not thirsty. He hates bottles and most of the time only nurses sporadically. This means I need to pump in order to have some milk when he does decide to nurse. We may end up giving it up if he continues. Justin watched the kiddos two nights this week while I took family pictures for two different groups. I am nearly able to purchase my new camera and 50mm lens. My current lens is having trouble focusing, drives me absolutely nuts. Monday I started getting up early again to exercise. I love the schedule because then Amelia watches less TV during the day. When I exercise during the day she watches a movie for that hour, not so great. We are down to less than an hour per day of TV time! Maybe that is why she is so controversial!

To end on a bright note, my garden is thriving. Most of the seeds are up and growing strong. My seeds started indoors mostly died once hardened and transplanted. I must have a seed curse! Today I weeded my neighbor's garden plot and planted some of my larger vegetables like cucumbers, squash, and bell peppers.  I have not asked her yet. Our neighbor is a single lady getting married next month. Consequently, she is NEVER home. About a month ago I asked her about harvesting her rhubarb and she told me to feel free to make use of her backyard while she is renting. So I am! I left her a note this morning. Becky gave me about 100 garlic seedlings to plant. I planted about half today. Alison will take the rest.

Sister Webb let me come out and use her awesome Bernina sewing machine on Thursday. I am sewing a really cute dress but my machine needles kept breaking due to fabric thickness. I finished the dress in less than five minutes! Amelia loved playing with the toys. Sister Webb let us look at some of their animals. Amelia is not so fond of dogs or any moving thing remotely larger than her knees. Sister Webb was kind enough to carry Amelia around the barn yard showing her the turkeys, baby pigs, baby chicks, and even the llama. We even got to see some fish in their pond! Amelia screamed very loud when Sister Webb opened the door to find the llama there staring at us with it's big soft eyes. I nearly died laughing! Phillip was greatly amused by all the animals.