New Beds All Around

I have been planning on getting the boys bunk beds for some time and they were SO excited that today was finally the day. Going to the big furniture store was an adventure with 3 kids, but how can you tell them to calm down when they are just as amazed as Corduroy was when he saw the "rows and rows of beds." We took 2 cars so once we had decided on what to get I took the kids home and Greg stayed to work out the details. The bed is up and the boys are finally sleeping. Nathan had a tough time going to sleep but I am sure he will get used to it.
Now there is Annabelle. I am not sure why I decided it was time to move her to a regular bed. Part of it was that I was keeping the crib up, like I did with each of the boys, until I had another baby. Since we aren't planning on another one for at least a year I decided we might as well put it away for awhile. Annie loved picking out her sheets and getting her bed ready today. She wanted to sleep in it right away, even though she had just woken up from her nap. Now, however, she is struggling to fall asleep. I hope this works out for her quickly like it did for the boys.
So now I have 3 kids, all in bigger beds, and all growing up. It amazes me every day the things they know and say and do. I love watching them progress though, it makes me happy to see them learn. Now hopefully Nate and Annie will learn how to sleep in their different beds while Ry just hits the pillow and is out in an instant like usual.

Breakfast Surprise!

I guess it was too dark this morning for me to notice this when I left for the gym, but how happy I was to see it when I came back. Greg had everything ready for breakfast, even the table set. All I had to do was turn on the waffle maker and add the wet ingredients (which were already mixed and in the fridge) and cook them. It was such a pleasant surprise to realize that I didn't have to make breakfast, or stick to just plain cereal. It allowed me to take a shower and get ready a little before I had to get Nathan going for school. I love you Greg and your unexpected thoughtfulness this morning!

Too Long

I have lived here for ten years now and I am amazed and ashamed to admit that there are many places that I have not been or things that I have not seen. Today I had to head up to Salt Lake and so decided to make a detour from getting circus tickets and see the famous Gateway mall. I was quite impressed and only wish I could pa rouse without the 2 little ones. Next time I will but we made the best of it with ice cream and chocolate (I am related to Cummings chocolate now so I just had to try them, and they are delicious). I also tried to get Ryan and Annie in the water fountains but they were not willing to get too close. It was kind of weird to do something without Nathan, but I guess I will have to get used to it. When we were eating the fancy ice cream especially I even told Ryan not to tell Nate. So silly. At least I can check one place off my imaginary list.

First Week of First Grade

This has been a very difficult week for our little guy. Nathan loved Kindergarten so I really didn't expect that 1st grade would be a big deal, but I have since learned that 1st grade is a much bigger change than Kindergarten.
For the first 3 days Nathan was a "Later Gator" meaning he went from 9:15-3:30. He came home happy each day, but once we started talking I could tell something(s) wasn't right. The biggest problem was lunch time. He doesn't like eating at school. He doesn't like that the teacher just drops them off in the lunch room and leaves. He misses me and doesn't like how the "lifeguard" tells him where to sit. Greg went and had lunch with him on Wednesday only to see first hand what a hard time Nate was having with the freedom that some kids love. Nate hasn't been eating much at school which makes him REALLY hungry when he gets home. Being a teacher myself, I know how important it is for kids to eat in able to pay attention. Greg got really emotional when he got back and it is so hard for me to know what to do. Wednesday afternoon I decided to change Nathan to an "Early Bird" (8-2:15) and the last 2 days he has come home much happier. It does make mornings a little crazy, but hopefully it will help us all get up and ready earlier. I still worry about him and eating at school, but hopefully we will figure things out as time goes on. One thing that I realized is that Nathan will no longer eat lunch with us, just like Greg. How weird?! I have been eating with him for 6 and a half years and now he is gone and I just have the 2 little ones. Hopefully next week will be much better and Nathan will figure things out and be okay with growing up.

My Little Music Man

Ryan loves music, he always has. Greg used to play his guitar to calm him down as an infant. I guess it should come as no surprise that currently Ryan aspires to be a guitar player. He amazed me when he hears a song and just knows that there is a guitarist and starts strumming whatever he can find: his arm, a race car track, a soccer ball, a vacuum cleaner piece. On the way home from CA a U2 song came on and he wanted me to make it louder and louder. He has already asked for lessons and can't wait to learn. I can't wait for him to start playing!
p.s. He and Annie are getting to be great friends with Nathan gone all the time now at school.

My Dress

This is a dress that my grandma made me when I was 2 for my little sister's baby blessing. I have been anxious to have Annabelle wear it and I thought it was only appropriate to do so when I was at home with my mom to see it in person. We both agreed that Annie looked adorable, just like me.

Baby Surprise!

About 2 months ago my little sister told me she was about to find out what she was having, but didn't want to know until her baby shower. I told her I wanted to make her a quilt and so I was deemed the lucky one to find out first. It has been a little tricky to keep the secret but the many miles between us really helped. Today was the long awaited baby shower and Kayley and John were blind folded before they found out. We put a lei on each of them and then had them lift the blind folds together. It was fun to have a little surprise and know it is nice to be able to use the pronoun she around Kayley.

I had SO much fun making Kayley's quilt. Before I knew what she was having I asked what colors she would want. Annabelle and I had a lot of fun picking out the pinks and browns. I never thought I would love to sew and quilt, but I had SO much fun doing this and look forward to more projects in the future.

Happy #2 Annabelle!

We decided to take a break on Annie's birthday and relax, especially since it hit at least 103 degrees. I made my fav cinnamon rolls for everyone (thanks Brian&Holly) and we gave her candy whenever she asked, since that was all she had actually told us she wanted for her birthday.

Of course that wasn't all she got since little girl toys are so cute and fun. Annie got a dress, books and a dollhouse with some figurines. She surprised us all by sharing really well with her brothers and cousin Xander. The oven decided to stop working so we postponed cake until lunch the next day. It has been fun to hear Annabelle saying things like, "my birthday" or "my cake" for the last couple days. I hope that it doesn't last too long. I can't believe my baby is 2, though at the same time she is displaying all of the wonderful 2 year old qualities that make her so endearing to all around her.

Berry Picking and the River Park

Nana had some homemade Blackberry jam that my kids just loved. She told them that she had picked the berries herself and Ryan thought that sounded SO fun. Since Greg was now with us (Wahoo!) I decided that we could try it out with Aunt Wendy and her kids. It was pretty painful and tricky to get the berries deep inside the bushes, but it was a fun first time experience. Annie loved to just eat the berries, though she didn't love her hands afterword. I can't wait for the promised berry cobbler from Nana.

Since it was SOO hot we decided to try out the other water park in the city. The kids loved this one and luckily a lot of kids shared their boats to race down the "river". Again, why aren't their cool parks like this back home?!

Zoo Sanctuary

Me and the kids headed to the zoo this morning, before it got too hot. It is a small zoo where injured animals are brought so there are not tons of variety, but it works for little kids. My favorite part was watching one of the tigers getting ready to pounce up on to a ledge. The kids loved the train of course, and I was so impressed that the conductor was able to get a picture of all three of my children looking, and smiling. It was a great morning, but it was REALLY hot by 10 so it was nice to get back to the air conditioner.

One AWESOME Park

We need some better parks back home where we live. This park was SO fun for the kids, and perfect for hot summer days. As you can see the kids had a blast in the water and out. The two extra kids are my little sister Wendy's. Xander is almost 3 and Eliza is 7 months. We are all having so much fun together. I have been so impressed at how well they have all got along. My boys include Xander and they are so sweet with Eliza. Annabelle is the same. She loves having someone chase her around and then having someone smaller than her. We had a great late afternoon at the park and I look forward to going to the other park similar to this one next week.

My Old Romping Grounds

My parents live right behind my old elementary school (from 3rd to 6th), and I mean you open our back gate and you are on school property. It made walking to school easy, and it is also great for my kids to have a HUGE park right behind Nana and Grumpy's house. We have walked all over the school the past couple days and even found my favorite teacher, Mr. Phillips. He was my 5th and 6th grade teacher and it was because of him, and other great El Ed teachers that inspired me to want to teach. It was great to see him and show him my family, though he said it made him feel a little old since it was 18+ years ago that he was my teacher. Actually writing that makes me feel old as well. Not only was he my teacher, but he taught 3 other of my 5 siblings. I hope that my children have great teachers over the next years, as I did years ago.

We love Sierra

Sierra is my parents dog and they got her about 9 years ago. She is a wonderful dog. She keeps my dad company and isn't loud, unless you ring the doorbell. Now, if you know Ryan, he is SOO scared of dogs. No, he hasn't been bitten, he just is scared-big or little dogs. It is something we deal with each time we come home. This time I wasn't willing to allow the silliness and luckily he is doing pretty good. He will touch her and then back away, but at least he hasn't cried. Annabelle on the other hand LOVES Sierra. Everytime she sees her she says, "Hi doggie" and waves. She is always wanting to pet her, and so far Sierra has been really nice. I have sweet memories of Sierra when she was a puppy and I enjoy seeing her every time I come home. This is as close as a dog as my kids will have for a long time.

Bandwith Exceeded

Thanks to all those who helped me know that my blog was being crazy. Luckily I have an awesome husband who knew exactly what was wrong and how to fix it. It had to do with the template I had for my background from photobucket. I guess it was not in use any more and so I needed a new one. He said maybe had I saved it differently and didn't use it directly from the website, it would have worked. I don't totally understand everything, but he changed my background to a default blogger one, I will try to change it when I get home, and everything worked again. Good luck to any who need it in figuring it out.

Jelly Belly Factory

The first day in California we headed to the Jelly Belly Factory. I had been there with Girl Scouts years before, and since my little family loves the candy, we thought we should go. It was a little bit long of a ride after spending the day previous in the car, but the kids handled it great and were just really excited to get some beans. There was a long line for the tour, but luckily there were plenty of jelly beans and things to see while we waited. The tour was not too interesting for kids, but they were able to see the making process and trays upon trays of jelly beans. I was impressed that each visitor got their own small bag of jelly beans (an elimination of me having to buy each of them their own bag). I got a bag of belly flops (misshapen jelly beans) for Greg and I and we called it good. It was a great start of our little adventure.

WE MADE IT!

10 and a half hours after leaving home this morning I find myself back at my parents house where it just feels so much like home. The kids and I are on a 2 week vacation and looking forward to playing with my folks, some aunts and uncles and a few cousins here and there (and of course to next week when Daddy joins us).
It was a long car ride, but I know that I was truly blessed. The kids did awesome. Time just flew! We stopped 2 times. The first time was about 15 minutes from home in heavy morning traffic just so Ry could go #2. Which of course he didn't go and I think I was a little too rough since no one even mentioned going again for ~370 miles. We stopped for lunch and gas and then headed back on the road.
We had one great moment when our DVD player stopped playing the sound. Since I was the only one in front I was trying to push buttons and turn things off and on hoping that it would click back on, and drive safely, too. It wasn't working so I asked Nathan to say a prayer. Right after I turned everything back on and it worked. Nathan got this great smile on his face, and I was so happy to be able to tell him that Heavenly Father had answered his prayers. It was a great moment. Making it here safe and sane is an answer to my prayers. Here is to 2 weeks of fun!

Date Day

Passport fees: $200

Delicious lunch at El Pollo Loco: $10

Bucket of balls and private lessons from Greg: $9

Laughing hysterically at "Get Smart": $11
Hanging out with Greg's high school friends: free, since we were stuffed from lunch

Fancy over priced dinner: $55+

A whole day without kids: PRICELESS

Thank you so much Mike and Kimberly for watching the little ones.