Top 5 Worst Foods to Clean up off the Floor

(in no particular order)

1. Vermicelli Noodles
2. Quinoa
3. Rice (tip: leave it for an hour or so until it cools and it sweeps right up)
4. Wet Cheerios (although dry ones don't vacuum well)
5. Banana (especially overripe or half chewed ones)

Anything you would add to the list?

Dinner with Greg and Karmen

Last Saturday, Greg and Karmen joined us for dinner from Korea.  We had a lovely time chatting with them, you know between the screaming baby and Joel! It was noisy on our end, which made talking with them a lovely game of "What did you say?" and "Hold on a second!" (so sorry guys!) You two are troopers to make it through dinner at our place! Especially on such a loud evening. We had a great evening with you, regardless of our children. I guess they just added to the fun!

P.S. Did you ever get to hear Joel singing Soft Kitty?

Salmon Release

This past Saturday, we went to the Nikolmekl River to help release the baby salmon into the river.

Joel thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience

I mean, what kid doesn't like live animals and water?

Micah LOVED touching the fish

And even though it was raining, Dan and I enjoyed ourselves as well

Look Ma! Cute little fishys!

Get your hand out of the bucket buddy!

Releasing the fish into the river

 

Carrying the buckets back up to the tank to get more salmon

 

Enjoying hotdogs after the release

Bye Bye Salmon!

 

Enjoying the weather

Sitting at the fountain, with our toes in the water

Big Brother holding on to little brother so that he doesn't fall in the water

Chasing geese

Boo!

Hanging out in trees

Eating the cherry blossoms

Fountain Fun

 

"Look at Mommy!"

 

 

 

 

What we've been up TWO

Enjoying the flowers

Spending time at the fountain

Hanging out with friends
(Micah, Iben, Joel)

Watching the cherry blossoms bloom and fall like snow

Enjoying the baby ducks grow

Climbing and playing at the park

What we've been up to

We've been budgeting, praying, communicating and dreaming about this house. In July, it will be our new home! Anybody recognize the house? It belongs to our good friends, the Barkmans! We will be residing in it while they are in the Philippines. We are super excited about having more space, our own laundry room and a canning room!

The thought of moving has gotten us in to a cleaning and organizing mode (yes, Dan too). We don't want to move anything that is unnecessary. Somehow in living here for four years we have accumulated a few too many things and certain things over time have been rendered useless to us. Yes, we have two months to pack, but with two little ones it can take a while. We've already organized the boys clothes and donated the excess to friends. CD's, books and games have also been on the chopping block. Paperwork is half done and the rest shredded. We still have so much to do in the next two months, but we look forward to a new season of our lives.

We are grateful to the Barkmans for renting their home to us. We can't wait to have you over in August for dinner at your our home. Welcome to the McBarkmans!

Get Crackin'

Joel's culinary skills have ramped up to the next level.

At two years of age, Dan taught our little boy how to crack eggs.

Gently tap on the edge of the bowl, stick your thumb into the crack, push and pull apart.

His first cracked egg!

Every morning he asks to make eggs, sausage and hash browns. We usually give in with the eggs and he loves to make them. His favorite to make is scrambled eggs, since he gets to stir (hash-eesh) fast.
We've definitely got a culinary master on our hands!

Adhesive Duck Deficiency

Or rather, the adhesive duck debacle.
For those of you who are fans of the show, The Big Bang Theory, you'll recall the episode where Penny slips in the tub, dislocating her shoulder and Sheldon has to drive her to the hospital. While filling out the paperwork, the question is raised, "How did the accident occur?" Sheldon writes, "lack of adhesive ducks."  Basically, Sheldon has adhesive ducks on the bottom of his tub to prevent slipping.

We've had issues with Micah slipping in the tub. His cute little bottom is just too slippery for our tub and quite often he would slip under the water, instead of staying seated. So, we invested in our "adhesive duck." A little blue bathmat from Ikea. It works great for Micah--no more slipping. His bum stays firmly in place during baths.

But unfortunately, it does not stick well to the bottom of the tub. Needless to say, as I step into the tub, the mat slips and I've gotten a lovely bruise to show for it. (I must insert here that I am happy that its only a bruise and not something more....like a broken neck).   Sadly this has happened more than once, and to Dan as well.

So how did the injury occur? The Adhesive Duck!

The little suction cups on the bottom seem to be defective and refuse to stick to the bottom of our tub. We've subsequently returned the bathmat and luckily for us, Micah is "big" enough to stop slipping in the tub. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.