February 15, 2015

On Monday Daddy forgot his lunch on the kitchen counter.  We were happy to have an excuse to go visit his office.  It had been a while since we ate lunch together on campus.

The kids love drawing on the big white board.  After lunch, we walked a few laps on the indoor track and wandered the BYU-I center.  All the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home.

T
he girls were in the Valentine spirit on Tuesday.  Lily spent an hour and a half addressing her cards to her classmates.  Annie loved making cards for the grandparents.  We still have yours Grammy and Grampy.  I thought we had mailed them and then I found them in my mail basket in the kitchen.  They are coming soon.

When Tommy and Annie are quiet together in the morning, it usually means some kind of trouble is happening.  Fortunately, I caught them snuggled on my bed eating yogurt, and playing a game together on the Kindle after my shower.  They looked so sweet together.

Tommy's hair was getting too long.  I decided to give him a cut.  The last one I did in November went well.  This one, not.....so...much!  He wasn't scared or difficult, he just wouldn't hold still and while I was trying to blend the back and sides, I ended up taking off a lot more hair than I wanted too.  So, he got buzzed all over.  It is actually so much easier and now his hair doesn't stick up every which way.

Thursday was Lily's  class Valentine party.  She helped me make these cupcakes from scratch Wednesday night and frost them Thursday morning.  She was so proud of them.  Had I known so many other moms would bring treats for the party, I would have brought something healthy or nothing at all.  The kids were so overloaded with treats, that most of them ended up in the garbage.  Including my amazing cupcakes. 

Annie dressed herself to go to the party at school.  Striped jacket, striped leggings, and a yellow glitter skirt.  She was so proud of how she "matched" everything - "because it is all stripes".  Oh dear!

 Lily had so many treats to choose from that she happily shared with Tommy, Mommy and Annie.

It was a little chaotic getting all the valentine's passed out.  Some moms went way overboard with the valentines.  One kid brought everyone in class a stuffed animal.  Many of the kids brought Pinterest worthy valentines that looked like they took hours to make.  What happened to the days of a simple card and maybe a sucker?

I helped Annie build a marshmallow snowman.  She was really excited to figure out that licking the marshmallows made them stick together.  Poor marshmallow man didn't live long.  Annie and Tommy ate him up in record time.

 Puna and Papa came for a visit and stayed with us for Valentine's Day.  Daddy bought each kid a balloon and a small box of candy.  The kids love getting a balloon every year.  Although Tommy was not a fan of the big eyes on his money balloon.  He cried when we tried to bring it to him.

Lily, Annie, and Tommy loved opening their cards from Grammy and Grampy and Puna and Papa.  We are so blessed to have grandparents who love us so much!

Lily got a rubberband loom.  She and Papa spent a better part of the weekend trying to figure it out.  They successfully made three different bracelets.  We'll probably hide that thing until Papa comes again.  Mommy and Daddy don't have the patience to figure it out.

 Papa brought a special treat for everyone - chocolate covered strawberries.  The girls got to dip the berries by themselves.  We also had sprinkles.  It was fun to make them and fun to eat them.

Mommy got hit with a tummy bug Friday night that lasted into Valentine's Day.  So I missed all the fun the family had together at the museum on Saturday.  Uncle Brady also got sick the same day so we didn't see him until Sunday night. Thankfully Mommy and Brady got over the bug quickly.  Daddy and Papa finished all the texture on the walls and ceiling in the basement over the weekend too. Now it's time to decide on carpet and paint.  Woo hoo!

Before Puna and Papa left, Puna gave the girls a much needed hair cut.  Nothing major, just a good trim.  They liked getting some special beauty attention from Puna.

And that's all for the week.  We're thankful no one else got the nasty tummy bug.  And it was wonderful to have Puna and Papa here to help with the kids and the basement.  Happy Valentine's Day!

February 08, 2015

And this is what Tommy was up to last week while I wrote my blog post.  I seriously can't keep up with that little destruction machine!  The photo doesn't do it justice.  There were sprinkles everywhere.  I left them out after letting the girls decorate their morning oatmeal.  My mistake.  Bubba and sprinkles means a whole lot of Mommy clean up!  No wonder he was letting me work on the computer without interrupting me every few minutes.

I think I have the only children who like visiting the bank.  Tommy is so excited about this toy.  They get upset when I turn into the drive through window to make deposits or withdrawals.  They love coming in to play with this toy.

 Tommy ate a lot of Cheetos during our trip to Seattle and back last December/January.  I didn't buy an Cheetos in January to give his little body a break.  I decided to pick up two bags on our trip to Sam's Club this week.  He was overjoyed to see that bright orange bag.  He hugged it all the way to the cash register and would barely let it go so the checker could ring it up.  I think it's safe to say this kiddo is a salty snack lover like his Daddy.

Lily is getting so excited about Puna and Papa's visit.  We started a countdown to help her track the days.  She reminds me each morning to change the number.  Annie just thinks all our grandparents should move to our street so she can walk to their houses and visit them every day.  We think that's a pretty good idea too.

I decided that baby number four means I need to find some ways to simplify my days.  I decided to try going short with my hair.  I figured now was a good time.  If I didn't like it, I had time to grow it back before the baby comes.  Well, I love it.  Annie wants my long hair back.  Jeremy does too.  But I can get ready so fast now.  And no matter how windy the weather is, my hair looks great.  I am really enjoying the change.

 

The one drawback is super crazy morning bed head.  This was a more mellow hair morning.  Lily loves coming to see my crazy hair each day.  It's fun to get a good family laugh to start off every day.

The weather has been in the 50's!  The snow is completely gone now.  We've been outside taking walks, visiting neighbors, riding bikes, jumping on the tramp....it feels like Spring and we love it.  Our neighbors across the street have a little motorized Jeep that the kids just love to drive.

 Warmer weather means it's almost time to wear sandals.  Annie has already been asking for sandals - and she wears them with socks.  We had a girl nail polish party during Tommy's nap.  Annie wanted neon green, Lily has pink sparkles, and Mommy has bright red for Valentine's Day.

Tommy got out to enjoy the last little bit of snow before it disappeared.  His little hands were frozen when we went back inside.  He ate as much as he could and savored every bite.  All of our kids love to eat snow.

Sunday morning was 48 degrees - in the morning!  Now that we have church so late in the day, the kids love to play in the yard Sunday mornings.  They were in the middle of some imagination adventure when I caught them on camera.

Lily painted this watercolor Sunday afternoon.  It is a jungle tree with vines hanging off the branches and bright colored flowers growing on the ground.  The red flying in the sky is a scarlet macaw bird.  The details didn't photograph well.  She is so proud of her painting.  And notice the shirt?  I think she wore it two or three times this week.  I washed it over the weekend and she put it on again this morning for school.  Her teacher is going to think the poor girl doesn't have any clothes.

We had a baby check up this week.  Everything is great for me and the baby.  Unfortunately, as I was leaving my appointment I crossed paths with my cousin Angela in the doctor's office.  I could tell when I saw her that something was wrong.  She collapsed in my arms and burst into tears.  The doctor let us use his lunchroom to sit down and talk.  Angela was due to have a baby the week before me, but the baby died a few weeks ago.  She didn't know anything was wrong until that day when she came in for her check up.  She said she was so glad I was there so she had family to talk to right away.  I'm glad I was there too. 

See you soon Puna and Papa!  Grammy and Grampy, your valentines are in the mail!