At odds

You know how there is a date printed on milk gallons?  Well ever since Mark and I have known each other we have been at odds as to what this date means.  Mark holds fast to the belief that the date is a sell by date.  I am more inclined to think it is a drink by date.  I have of course had milk past the date stamped on it but always felt a little anxious doing it.  To me it just starts to smell a little off as soon as the stamped date passes.  I remember once when Mark and I were dating I stopped by Mark's apartment the night before we were leaving to drive home to California.  He had a new gallon of milk that he was putting in the freezer so it would be fresh when we got back.  I told him he wouldn't be able to drink it when we got back from California because it would be past the date and he looked at me like I was crazy. Ever since then we have been quietly going back and forth about what the date means.
So I would like to know how long do you wait until you dump out your milk?  Most people would probably just smell it but I just hate drinking milk after the date.

And last week Jared and I learned about the letter K so we made him a crown fit for a King.

Does your child do this?

For the past little while we have been teaching Jared how to pull his pants up and down by himself.  We figure one day it will come in very useful for him.  So now we often turn around and find this:

 

The socks normally come off after this.

Each morning when I go into his room to take him out of his crib he stands up and hands me his pajama pants. And then he hands me his socks. He is silly, but we are glad he has mastered this skill. I keep wondering if he will show off his skills in Nursery one Sunday. We better keep putting him in onesies so he can't attempt to take off his diaper because that would be very unfortunate. He has also mastered saying "No" and "Yeah." We do hear the latter much more for which I am incredibly grateful. We do love this boy.

Need a laugh/cry?

Today I got locked out of our house.  We have a little sandbox in our backyard and as it was windy and stormy (rain and hail) I went outside to put the lid on it. I shut our sliding glass door real quick because Jared always wants to go outside and since it was not ideal playing-outside-weather I did not want him to follow me out. I put on the lid and walked back to the door only to see the lock in the locked position. Jared stood at the door looking at me as I began to panic. I tried to communicate to Jared to open the door, he can reach the lock (obviously) but he just walked away and went to go put his coat up.  (Seriously once I got in the house his coat was on the closet floor simply because he couldn't reach the hangers but he knew once he is inside he should put up his coat) The biggest problem was not that the door was locked but that the bar was in place.  So even if I managed to convince Jared to move the lock the bar would be blocking the door.
*See below picture to see what the bar is:

This bar is actually a nice security feature and it works quite well as evidenced by today.  So I decided I would go check the front door even though I am like 98% sure I locked it, because thanks to my sister *Susanna I always lock the door when I get inside. I run to the front door and yes its locked.  So now I start to really panic.  I know that my best option is to go to our neighbors house and see if she would be willing to drive to Mark's school and get his house key.  I figured it would be better for her to go to the school while I stayed in the backyard by Jared so he didn't freak out and I could watch him to make sure he was safe. So I went to her house and she was happy to help.  I run back to our yard (as it begins to hail) and there is Jared standing by the door with these huge tears rolling down his cheek so then I feel awful.  Luckily once he sees me he gets over it.
I decide as the hail is pelting me, (it wasn't that big but still annoying) that I might as well keep trying to get Jared to unlock the door so I begin tapping at the lock and then over by the bar.  Jared being the awesome kid that he is quickly moves the lock up, good progress but he is not sure what I want him to do as I repeatedly tap under the bar and point to it.  Eventually he pushes up on it (can I mention how thrilled I am that he is in the 91st percentile for his height!!) and moves it out of the way.  I gleefully rush inside give him lots of kisses and hugs (say a prayer of thanks!) and call my neighbor to let her know that I got inside.  Thankfully she hadn't gotten very far and his school is very nearby. What an awful yet humorous event.  I am so lucky that Jared is such a good listener and so good at following directions.  If I ever doubted he was a good listener before I don't now.  I am pretty sure I am going to take an extra copy of our house key to our neighbors house.  Maybe we should have spent the extra money on the keypad lock when we got them changed.  Next time we need locks changed I am pushing for the keypad.
As you notice in the picture, the stupid lid flew off anyway!!! It's the blue thing.

* In case you missed this story awhile back. When Mark and I got married and were living in Rexburg we kept our door unlocked a lot and one day I mentioned this to Susanna and she thought I was crazy citing how people could be watching us and learn our habits/routines and know when I was home alone and come get me.  I menitoned this to her once and she doesn't even remember telling me this. I certainly do not blame her I think it is a good idea.

Accomplishments

I have been working with Jared on colors for what feels like a really long time and now I can say "He gets it!" and its SUPER exciting to me. He doesn't say them but he can identify them and match them up.  I love watching him look at the colors and then stop and think about which one matches.  It's awesome.

 Paint Samples, free and so handy.

 Counting Bears.

He did it!

 I didn't take a picture of it but he can also separate big pom poms and little pom poms into two separate piles.  I love seeing Jared learn. It makes me so happy.

Our other accomplishment is one that I have wanted to do ever since I knew what flowers were.  Last September we planted tulips and daffodils in our yard and now in May they have bloomed! I have been waiting and waiting. I am just so used to them coming in February/March back in my hometown.  I love looking in our backyard and seeing our beautiful flowers. This is the first time I have planted something and seen it grow.  It's fun.

 The bulbs in September

 Mid April

 Now!

I can't wait for the rest of them to bloom!  There should be some pink tulips too.We are going to plant some flowers in our hanging baskets this week. It will be nice to have the color in our front and backyard. Mark only has 13 days of school left and in just under a month we will be hanging with the family in California. 

Worth every dollar

We had our ward Easter activity on Saturday.  Yes, a week after Easter.  There was a BBQ, an egg hunt, and an auction for the YW (Young Women = girls ages 12-18) to raise money.  I am not at all opposed to the YW earning money but the thing is they didn't do anything to earn the money.  People in the ward signed up to bake something and bring it to the activity so it could be auctioned off and bought by the same people who brought the treats.  So many people brought treats, there were at least three long tables full, maybe four.  The thing is the YW did not make the treats or do the auctioning yet they got a lot of money! It was all the people in the ward.  I left the activity early to take Jared home and put him down for a nap but when Mark got home he told me about the auction again expressing how weird (maybe he used a different word)  it was that the YW were getting all this money when they didn't do anything. I made some sugar cookies for the event because that is what I do and they earned 21 dollars and there were lots of people bidding on them.  It made me feel good about myself.  I wonder if the YM (Young Men = boys 12-18) will "host" an auction at our ward pancake breakfast scheduled for July...

 The ones I took were prettier.  A dozen of these for 21 dollars?  So worth it. I told Mark that he should bid on them since he did not want to support the auction at all he did but he lost he said he was just trying to drive the amount up.  What a supportive husband.  

 

 SPRING decorations.