Mother's Worst Nightmare

After church today I put the girls down for a nap (at about 4:30pm.)  Two Fish was reading a scuba manual upstairs and I was working on a family home evening project downstairs and making dinner.  It was a very relaxed afternoon.  About 6:20pm I went upstairs to wake the girls up and Red Fish wasn't in her room.  That isn't very unusual because it is right next to the toy room and she doesn't actually sleep everyday.  I checked the toy room and she wasn't in there.  I checked her room again and her closet and window seat.  I called to Two Fish and asked him where she was and we started looking all over the house and calling her.  We looked in closets, under furniture and we were yelling her name.

Then I went outside and asked the neighbors.  No Red Fish.  Now I was getting really scared.  I checked the backyard because the back door was unlocked and she wasn't out there.  It would have been hard for her to leave the house unnoticed because we have an alarm that beeps when a door opens but I don't always hear it.  I went down the street both directions calling to her. 

After we searched the garage and basement I was panicked.  I called the police and gave them her description.  They sent three patrol cars.  I called my parents and my brothers to get in their cars and start looking.  Maybe she was trying to walk to one of their houses?  My neighbor started calling Red Fish's friends.  Neighbor kids were knocking on doors and checking back yards.  Then my brother pulled into the driveway and saw Red Fish looking out the front window at him.  I'm pretty sure she was in the house the whole time.  She told us later she was behind a pillow wedged in the corner of the toy room asleep.  She would have had to be pretty tightly rolled up but it is definitely possible.

I have never been so scared in my whole life.  I couldn't find her for a good twenty minutes of yelling for her.  Plus I hadn't actually looked at her in two hours before that so I really thought she could be gone.  The things that ran through my head... terrifying.  Thank goodness she is safe and was never in any real danger!  I on the other hand am a total basket case tonight.  I feel ill just thinking about it.

Also good to know- if something goes down, my entire family gets here even faster than the police! ;)

Trouble

This face says: "I hear you saying "NO" but I'm going to do it anyway.

Jazz Concert

We went to a concert in the park to see Uncle "Doo's" band perform.  They are headed on tour to Nauvoo Illinois next week so they wanted to show off all of their new songs.  The girls had a great time eating dinner and dancing to the music.  It rained on us a little but it was a great concert!

Four Wheeling With Pop Pops

A quick trip up to the cabin since Two Fish is diving tomorrow.  The girls went on a twilight drive with Pop Pops and I think Red Fish is officially hooked!

Sisters

They were reading a book about making a pizza together and playing with their pretend pizza kit.  Sometimes they play together really well and it is so fun to watch.  I didn't have a sister growing up but I think watching them be sisters might be just as fun!

Art Group Day 10- Wet On Wet Watercolors

 Today in art group we did wet on wet watercolor paintings.  We put the watercolor paper into a big plastic bin of water and soaked them while we talked.  We looked at more pictures by Wasilly Kandinski and some by Mark Rothko.  We talked about letting the colors bleed together a bit and about trying to paint an emotion with color.  According to most of the kids their paintings were either "HAPPY!!!!!" or "Sad."  When I asked the smallest kids what feeling they were painting they would respond with:  yellow or some other color.  I think they did a great job with the color.  Most of them are still loving using an eye droppers even more than the paint brushes.  Liquid watercolors are hands down my favorite art medium for small kids.  Next time I'm going to order more of the metallic ones.

 Red Fish /New Fish

 The kids had as much fun playing in the paper soaking tub as they did painting so it was definitely a day for swimming.  Summer art projects and swimming just seem to go hand in hand.

Our Family by Red Fish

I love that we look like a bunch of angry blowfish.

Feeding The Ducks

 We fed some ducks today at a park.  I've never seen ducks run so fast or had them get quite so close.  I was getting ready to pick the girls up and run if the ducks got any friskier.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves though and 30 or so ducks went back into the pond with a full belly.

Family Reunion #2

On Friday we drove to Fish Lake for a reunion with some of Two Fish's cousins and Aunts and Uncles on his Father's side of the family.  Two Fish hadn't seen many of them for twenty years or more.  Two Fish's brother M and his daughter came into town and we all caravan-ed together.  We made a stop in the town my mother in law grew up in and saw the graves of her parents and the house she grew up in.   It was a beautiful drive and New Fish is getting much better at riding in the car for long periods of time.  We may make a traveler out of her yet!  We had to lift our feet every time we went over a cattle guard (didn't everyone do that as a kid?) and the girls thought it was hilarious. 

  We stayed at the Frying Pan camp ground and it was such a beautiful area.  The group site was huge.  There was plenty of room for everyone and the stars were breath-taking.  We had a big potluck family dinner with pulled pork sandwiches on Friday night.  After dark Two Fish and his cousins all recounted memories of their grandparents and fun things they did growing up. Two Fish doesn't remember his grandmother but he has good memories of going to visit his grandpa.  He is the youngest of the cousins so I think he liked hearing about his grandparents from the older kids' perspectives. I loved hearing about all of their fishing trips and his grandpa's dry sense of humor.  My favorite was hearing about their memories of the love their grandparents had for eachother and seeing them holding hands and singing love songs together.  I like having that legacy of a happy marriage.

The kids made some glow stick necklaces and were hanging around the campsite Friday night.  Red Fish really liked this cousins' hat so she asked him if she could take a picture with him.  I thought it was pretty cute.

On Saturday we had a big pancake breakfast and set out to enjoy the mountains.

New Fish dipping her toes, Red Fish being dipped with Aunt G and her puppies in the background.

Two Fish's cousins and brothers built a dam in one of the creeks in the Seven mile creek area.  They used to build dams together every summer when they went to visit their grandfather.  The kids had a good time watching them and dipping their toes in the freezing water.

 In all, there were over sixty people at the reunion.  We didn't get a total group picture but this was pretty close.

 We really enjoyed being around all of the family and getting to know people.  It was a really fun trip.

 All of the grandkids plus a second (third? I don't really know how that all works) cousin.  Getting a picture of them all together once a year has become one of my goals.  It often takes a lot of coaxing/threatening.

 One of Two Fish's cousins brought some horses for the kids to ride.  My girls were in heaven.  New Fish rode with her cousin "Wuva" and seemed to really enjoy herself.  Red Fish rode two horses and a mule and didn't want to get off.  She has always really loved animals.  The bigger the animal, the better.

The best news of the trip was that the girls ACTUALLY SLEPT.  It felt like a small miracle.  The weather was quite cold because we were at over 9,000 feet but it didn't seem to affect them at all.  They stayed bundled in their sleeping bags and there was no sonic scream, contrary to the warnings we gave everyone ahead of time.  I left this trip feeling like an actual human being instead of a giant stress ball.  It was our best camping attempt yet.  There may be hope for the future!

Traveling with the kids has been super stressful for me this year.  I love taking them places with us and I love being with them but sometimes it doesn't actually feel like a vacation.  I think I've been needing a bit more of an actual break on vacation or maybe just a reduction of the stress of every day life.  Maybe next year I will plan a trip with Two Fish by ourselves so we can have some real time together.  Maybe the trips with the girls won't seem quite so hard if I get my "vacation" and then get to travel with the family the rest of the time.  Or maybe my husband just needs to take me on a date... :)

Art Group Day 9 - Liquid Watercolor Resists

 Today we talked about Wassily Kandinsky, a German painter who is credited with creating the first abstract paintings.  We talked about using bold lines and bright colors.  The kids drew with oil pastels on watercolor paper and then used liquid watercolors to go over them.  The oil pastels resist the watercolor and show through beautifully.  The kids did several paintings each so I think they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

New Fish, Both kids together, Red Fish

Then we went swimming afterwards with my cute niece M and our friends "the buddies."  Good day.

Artful Activities Of Late

 We did some drip paintings inspired by pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com  She has a whole lesson based on them.  We taped watercolor paper to some plastic lids, made big globs of tempera paint across the top and then sprayed them with water to make them drip.  Red Fish really liked this.  The spray bottle was a little tricky for New Fish.

We've also been doing a lot of just painting in the backyard.  We haven't spent nearly enough time creating this summer.  I feel like the whole summer has already flown by and we haven't had a chance to do very many of the activities I had planned.  Hopefully after this week, life will slow down a little bit!

Surprise Days 2 & 3

Parade

 We had an awesome morning visiting the local parade.  I used to go every year when I was a kid and it was fun to be able to take the girls for the first time.  We sat with my sister in law's family and some of my cousins went with us.  We waved at the princesses (or "Panshaws" as New Fish says with a squeal) and we got more candy than we need to eat in a year. 

Surprise!

The great grandkids minus one

 Yesterday we had a surprise party for my Mimi with my cousins from Texas.  We haven't all been together, well ever really.  There was even a new great grandchild for Mimi to meet.  We have one more cousin joining us tonight and we are only missing three members of the extended family so it's a pretty monumental event.   We kidnapped Mimi and drove her blind folded to the party.  The roads at my parent's house are being worked on so we even had to transfer her to a golf cart and do a little off-roading to get there.  I think she was pretty confused!  Then when my Mom took her blindfold off everyone was standing there.  I didn't get nearly all of the pictures I wanted because my camera kept dying but I will fix that over the next few days as we have a weekend of family events planned!  Plus I plan to steal all of my photographer cousin's pics! (pretty please?)

Meeting for the first time.