Stork Standing our way through the Week

With all the catch up I did this past week it is hard to believe it is time to update again, but here I sit.  This past week for the Nutt House started off fairly mundane, then as the week inched closer to the end of the week we started having more fun.  (Maybe it had something to do with the fact I had finally caught up on updates and didn’t feel the need to stay home typing or at least formulating thoughts all the time.)

Kaden continues to love his My Gym class and the skills he has learned were especially prevalent throughout this past week, particularly his favorite My Gym skill station skill… the stork stand.  This week Kaden has completed several stork stands and has asked to have his picture taken almost every single time this took place.  So, this week, stork stand pictures were taken at home, scooter riding, at the Japanese Friendship Garden and at the zoo to name just a few of the places.  Kaden is having so much fun at My Gym in fact that when we asked him if he’d like to swap out My Gym for karate, as he’s shown an interest in the sport as of late, with a karate kick, “hee yaw” noise, then a thoughtful pause he said, no, he wanted to stay at My Gym. 

 

Studliest stork stand ever!!

Scooter riding stork stand

So, as I mentioned, we went to the Japanese Friendship Garden this week with friends. The kiddos and I skipped out on school for the day and we had a much needed friend day.  We started off our day by joining up with our friends, the Gilson’s for a telling of The Three Little Pigs and the Great Arizona Puppet Theater.   We love spending time with the Gilson's, but where they live down in Maricopa it can be challenging to find time to get together.  So, a few months ago we did what any two organized women would do..  we planned out multiple months worth of get togethers and activities for each.  Silly as it may sound, this has helped and we've completely enjoyed the friend time this has given us!  (Sadly, it did leave me wanting to do this same sort of set up with other friends, just so we can ensure we have time with them as well!)  Anyway, the puppet theater was crowded with school groups, thankfully though, we had made a reservation and arrived early so we still managed to secure front row seats for the show.  Three Little Pigs is a very common story that I believe most children know, however the Great Arizona Puppet Theater puts their own spin on the story, as I am sure many do, and because of this though we knew the bones of the story there were enough unique filler moments added in that it helped to keep the story fresh and anew for us, which helped since we’d seen this same play last year.   The fact little memories didn’t remember much about the play and we had friends there with us helped to elevate the fun level of the play. 

After the play we moved across the street to the Japanese Friendship Gardens.  A place none of us had previously visited, and at least us moms had wanted to go.  The gardens were beautiful and very serene, I can see the appeal of this gem of place that is tucked away amidst the bustle of the day to day activity of the city.  There are a three take a ways I did pick up on during our visit – the first is to go back without kids so I can meander at a slower pace and truly take in the beauty of the garden.  The second is to not wear capris and coconut oil lotion when I go as the mosquitos chose to make a feast out of my legs and the parts of my feet that were exposed by my shoes.  Ouch!  The third is to go earlier in the spring, fall or winter so the temperature isn’t as hot outside and the water isn’t as murky green from algae produced from the effects of the warm sun.  Don’t get me wrong, these three take a ways did not take away from the experience we had while at the garden.  We enjoyed roaming around the garden, observing the many koi fish that were eager to come as close to us as possible for food, witnessing new ducklings swimming around the pond with their families, jumping across the stone path area of the pond, taking in the beauty of the waterfall, and at the end feeding the koi fish.  Feeding of the fish was saved until the end as a form of bribery, kiddos that chose to run or shout to friends would not get the chance to feed the fish.  Naturally, everyone did a great job and all kiddos were able to feed the koi at the end.  I found it to be amusing to watch the different feeding techniques that the kiddos employed.  Some dumped dump their entire bags out at once, Kara chose to wave hers over the pond in several long sweeping strokes, and Kaden utilized a more gradual approach by feeding the koi one piece of food at a time.  He put great thought into which fish he was trying to feed and did his best to prolong the inevitable emptying of his bag.  I was proud of Kaden when he willingly shared his food with his friend who had long since finished with his own bag of koi food. 

Love that they love to hug

Friend time is the best time!

They've yet to find a stone path they haven't liked

Though the water was murky it was gorgeous

Imagine how amazing this would look if the
water didn't match the trees!

Sweet picture pose from my little man

The baby ducks!

Upon returning home from the gardens it was my intent to make one batch of strawberry jam, as we’d purchased 3 flats of strawberries earlier in the week and it was past time for me to get started on the strawberries.  Well, upon opening the containers it quickly became evident that if we wanted to maximize how many of the strawberries we could use we needed to do something with all of them that night as several were already going bad.  So, sleeves were rolled up, pizza ordered for dinner, and recruits (in the form of 2 little Nutts and 1 big Nutt) were enlisted to help in the Thursday night strawberry party.  When all was said and done, we ended up with 36 half pint jars of jam and three cookie sheet trays full of strawberry fruit leather.  Not a bad haul for our work. 

Making jam is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do!

Friday evening in preparation of the upcoming Father and Sons campout in a couple of weeks Brent and Kaden were going to have a boys’ night sleep over in the tent outback.  Sadly, they did not make it the night as Kaden woke up repeatedly to the noises of vehicles rushing down the road on the other side of our back wall.  So, where Kara had fallen asleep in my bed for the girls’ night sleep over the air mattress was relocated to Kaden’s room.  Alas, this situation didn’t work out for Brent as he couldn’t fall comfortably asleep so he came to join Kara and I in bed.  Well, Kaden woke up about an hour later disappointed to see no one was sleeping with him.  Where my back was aching from little knees pressing against it I volunteered for the job and quickly found myself sleeping on the air mattress with Kaden for the remainder of the night.

Out they went

Saturday brought us a Cub Scout field trip to the zoo.  Where we have a membership that currently can get up to 10 children in we chose to take advantage of the early entry hour for members and head off to the zoo bright and early Saturday morning.  Where the membership is in my name, the little Nutts and I joined Brent and the Cubs for a morning at the zoo.  While the Cubs went one way to focus on items they needed to do to pass off scouting requirements the kiddos and I took off in a different direction to see what we wanted to see.  With this, our first stop was to check out the lion, then monkey village, followed by the tiger all on our way to Harmony Farms where the kiddos enjoyed petting goats, playing in the playground and on the farm equipment, and we participated in a couple of the Earth Day activities that the zoo was offering for the day.  Soon after this we received notification that the scouts were done and it was time to head toward the exit.  Though we hadn’t seen everything, the heat of the day was starting to impact the kiddos and timing was perfect for an exit.  As we drove away and I saw the parking lot was so full cars were being turned away to find other parking I found myself thinking how grateful I am for our membership so we can go when we want and not have to battle the crowds that Saturdays bring to the zoo. 

I spy, with my little eye a lion in that exhibit!

Stork Stand!

Earth Day recycling game

She was happy, I promise

Farmer Kaden

Learning about eco-friendly cleaning by allowing the kiddos
to make a mess and have the moms clean it up.
Remind me exactly why we came to the zoo for this to happen?  ;)

Since we were a bunch of hot Nutts at this point and all needed to cool off we headed over to Bahama Bucks for delectable shaved ice treats and a round of Uno before heading back home for the day. 

Post shaved ice game playing

Another exciting round of "What color is my tongue, mom?"

Our week has wrapped up on this wonderful Sabbath with Kaden being sang to in church for his upcoming birthday.  We have Stake Conference next week so this was the week to sing to him, though I’ve been in party planning mode I am still in denial about the fact my little man is growing up and about to be 4.  Too many times when I glance at him I see a boy in front of me and not my baby boy and I’m not at all ready or pleased about this. 

Kaden dressed up as a Super Hero for our Primary to sing Happy Birthday to him

The cherry on top of our week came as we enjoyed some family game time with a new game we’d picked up yesterday at the store.  It’s a cross between Hot Potato and a Water Balloon fight where you put a water balloon in a potato shaped device and turn on the timer.  The potato is passed around the group and when the timer goes off the balloon is pricked and POP!  Goes the balloon and wet becomes the individual caught holding the potato.  Oh my goodness, we had fun!  I see this game getting plenty of use over the next several hot months. 

 

Though Kara was the most prepared in a swimsuit it was Kaden
who had the most balloons pop on him for the evening.

With that, another Nutt-y week is in the books and it is time to prepare for yet another week, one that will hopefully not be as hot!