Cherry Blossoms in DC?

We were hoping to see the Cherry blossoms in Washington DC, but unfortunately, missed it by a weekend.  However, we were able to meet our newest little family member, Breckin.  Rich and Ashley were fantastic hosts and we loved being with them for the weekend.



The flights were so full, but somehow, we squeaked on a flight on Thursday.  Dave and I had to split up with a kid each (and I got the one that still takes a nap :) ).  It is sad not to be able to fly next to Dave, but at least we get to fly.  I sat next to a family with 2 toddlers who shared some flying tips with me.
The kids were great on the flight.  I honestly can't remember what we did, which tells me how un-eventful it was.






We spent Friday at the National Zoo.  It was awesome!  Most of the animals were easy to spot.  I loved the lions.  Hallie loved the birds and signed bird a million times.  Jackson probably liked the gorilla the most since it walked right in front of him and then sat down with his back to him.  He thought that was so funny.  Dave liked taking photos with his new birthday present (which is a surprise since it is not his birthday for 3 more months :) )

Hallie was terrified of the dog Roxy.  She is a sweet, patient, quiet and lovable dog, but Hallie was so scared of her.  I'm not sure how and why it changed, but by the end of the trip, Hallie was terrorizing the dog.  Hallie would curl up in the dog's bed, hug the dog, pet and 'lay on' the dog and even try to bite her nose.  Hallie would just love it when the dog came up to her.  She loved to feed it and try to chase it.  I was so surprised that only 3 days after sheer terror of the dog, she was able to fall totally in love with it.

  This is terror phase ^

Now, she likes her ^

Did I say likes?  I mean LOVES!

She also fell in love with baby Breckin! This sweet boy didn't cry all weekend.  He is happy, smiley, easily comforted and sleeps amazingly!  He has bright blue eyes, chubby kissable cheeks, and quivering smiley lips.    Rich and Ashley are amazing parents.  They never seemed stressed or nervous about our kids being there or about going out with a newborn.  They just go with the flow and it was so refreshing.  I wish I were better at being low-stress in my parenting!










We had an amazing weekend of listening to the prophets and apostles.  Mainly, I felt that my testimony of the prophets was re-affirmed.  These men and women were telling us the words that God would have us hear.  They inspired and motivated me to reach for higher, nobler attributes and be kinder and more gentle with my children.  They taught true doctrine, and in a world of confusion and constant arguing, it was so nice to be engulfed in peaceful, spirit-filled instruction.  I can't wait to hear them again and read them again!
(Jackson and Hallie did pretty good during conference.  The baby and dog helped distract, as well as some fun toys Rich and Ashley let our kids ruin before Breckin even had a chance to :))

  
 

The glitch in the trip was that the Sunday night flight filled up, so we had to do the EARLY morning flight back to PHX Monday morning.  It may have been another blessing in disguise because Dave was feeling sick Sun night, but felt better and did most of the work with the kids on the flight.  We got up at 1 am phx time and flew until 9:00 and Dave headed straight into work.  Hallie and I got naps on the flight.  She was a bit feverish and was not to be consoled, but it was nice to hold her as she just wanted to cuddle.  Jackson is so good on the flights now.  He loves the Kindle Fire and also is working from preschool books.  He is a good little kiddo!

I went straight from the airport to a park get-together to let Jackson get some energy out.  After lunch, the kids went straight to sleep.  I wonder if we will get back to our time zone and go to bed at 8 tonight or will the kids be tired by 5 (which is what time they went to bed last night)?

I just can't get enough of this sweet girls' silly faces and smiles.  She is so cheesy lately!   It makes me sad she is so sick and miserable!

Preschool W week

Preschool this week started out with lego building time.  They really loved it and it was difficult to break them away to start the real stuff.  Jackson plays so much longer with things when there are others around to help encourage his creativity.

 I decided to let Hallie skip her nap (since she's been doing this almost daily anyway) and play with us at preschool.  She was in heaven.  She loved watching the kids and trying to do just what they did (sitting on their mat, eating a snack, etc)

We were learning about W . . . mostly around the theme of weather.  The kids drew a card that had a weather on it and had to dress ready for that kind of weather.

 We learned about water in the air and condensation.  Then we watched clouds get full of rain and 'rain' into the atmosphere.  (water/shaving cream then use a medicine dropper to add colored water until it leaks through and 'rains' into the water)

 We ate waffles, read weather books, and played with a parachute.  Then we had a 'snowball' fight with marshmallows and powdered sugar.  It was fun because when you got hit with a marshmallow, there was a powdered sugar mark to prove it!  In the 80 degree weather, this was a perfect snowball fight.  Jackson got the worst of it!

On our wet, windy weather day we practiced plucking worms with beaks.  

Then ate worms out of dirt (gummy worms & chocolate pudding) apparently, you shouldn't tell  3-year-olds that it really is mud . . .they believe you and won't eat it . . . or at least the ones who aren't use to that kind of teasing :)

this project was gluing different clouds in the sky, the streamers represent rain and then it is a wind sock which we let blow in a fan (since AZ has no wind currently). 

We also made umbrellas with painted paper plates, we experimented with what will blow in the wind (using the fan) and played with Arizona style 'snow' (diaper filling (pre-used :)) and water).  

Once again, I really love teaching this preschool!  It probably was a little too heavy on the crafts this week and not enough action, but now I know that even kids get craft saturated.  I only teach one more week until our little preschool is over :(  I am hoping to do this again for all of my kids. 

*Don't know if you can tell but we finally got a new DSLR camera!  It is SO nice!  The photos were taken with no help from the user (besides clicking the button) and they still turned out great!  So excited to take it places!

Envisioning life with a teenager

On our last flight, Jackson wanted the light on and I wanted the light off so he would go to sleep.  He kept trying to explain that he needed the light on to read a magazine and I kept explaining that I needed him to fall asleep.  Finally, in all desperation and exasperation, he said, "Mom!! You just don't understand me!"  I just burst out laughing because it was something I imagine my teenage kids saying to me someday, not my 3-year-old.  This, of course, made Jackson laugh and he said, "Mom, was that a swear word?"  (how he knows about swear words is beyond me!) I laughed again and said no.  He continues to repeat the phrase, "You don't understand me!" hoping to get more laughs.  I hope he grows out of it by the time he really is a teenager :)

Mother of five?

No, I am not pregnant with triplets . . . let's just get that thought out of our minds right now :)

I went to Houston to watch my 2 nieces and a nephew for a few days (which means I had a 7, 5, 3,2, and 1-year-old).  The trip started off great here!  And the rest was much easier than I anticipated.  My two nieces are such sweethearts.  When you tell them to do something, they run off and do it!  Incredible!
For the most part, the kids got along well.  We played lots of games and played in the backyard.  The hardest part was Hallie.  She never wanted me to leave the room because she kept not being able to keep up with me and find me.  She whined for me to hold her 80% of the time and no matter how much I tried to hold her, it wasn't enough.  I still had to tend to the other kids, make meals, clean house, etc, etc.  She was not a happy camper.  The house is really big with 2 staircases, I would go down one and up the other and she would feel completely lost and abandoned.  Didn't help that she was getting over a cold and teething a molar.

My first adventure was capturing a lizard IN THE HOUSE!!  This little guy scared the daily lights out of me, hid and then a second time scared me.  But I didn't let him get away the second time.  We let him go outside.

I decided to take the kids to a park to 'have a break' and it ended up being super stressful finding each kid only to start over finding each kid again.  The park was crowded and unknown so I was stressed the entire time watching each kid like a hawk.  And I ended up 'losing' one in the time I checked on the others, but soon found her wandering toward the parking lot . . . SCARY!  The backyard was much better!

Dave was suppose to fly in on Friday night to help out for the weekend, but apparently, everyone and their little dogs too were flying to Houston.  For 4 days straight, the flights were completely sold out and even over-sold (not to mention 20+ standby passengers trying to get on).  We were disappointed and I was little bit nervous since my nephew who is a bit older would be joining our crew on Friday night.  He is a great kid and was able to help out a lot.  (P.S. Dave spent Saturday in Utah with his brother watching March Madness and made it home in time for our ward on Sunday)

On Saturday, the St. Patrick's Day leprechaun came and made a maze in the house.  The kids enjoyed crawling through it and finding their treats.  We had green eggs and green milk.

The trap is the art case with a hanging gold coin. Aidan is showing the size of the leprchaun.

Things started to fall apart in the afternoon, so in an attempt to 'reset' we went to a different park.  This time, there were very few other kids and so I could let them loose to play a bit more.  I went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and it was so much more difficult than I ever imagined.  The people were SO helpful and there was a play-place, but between ordering food, holding Hallie, getting drinks and condiments, policing fights in the play-place, eating, spilling, cleaning, holding Hallie, etc, etc, we left earlier than I was hoping for home.

I was most nervous for Sunday - with getting ready for church, and then hours on end and trying to keep it spiritually appropriate.  We all got ready really early and then I tried to put Hallie down.  She was woken up only 20 minutes later- ARG!!   I put both the younger girls to bed at 11:30 and they slept so long, we missed sacrament meeting (with how fussy Hallie had been, I wasn't about to wake her up early and make the problem worse, plus sacrament meeting with 2 pre-schoolers and 2 toddlers . . . seriously?!?)  I felt rejuvenated after Relief Society (even with Hallie there).  Luckily, some kind friends of my sisters came over and made dinner for us (he is a chef!).  It was the best homecooked meal ever (I had only eaten 'kids meals' for the past 5 days).  Plus, he and his wife cleaned it all up while I put the kids to bed.  Heaven-sent blessing!

A FULL bathtub!

 I used the TV as a babysitter so I could get a workout in on the treadmill- they look pretty glued to me! - Oh, yeah, and Buzz Lightyear came for a visit too!

Flights coming home were filling up fast and I was wondering if I'd be spending the rest of the week there, but Monday morning the latest flight suddenly had more seats (still wondering how and why this happens!)  It was a lot of work to pack up my nephew and nieces to get them to friends houses, pack up myself and kids AND clean the house enough to be empty for a few day.  Both Jackson and Hallie were crying and screaming during nap time, when I was trying to finish up packing and cleaning.  Finally, completely stressed and panicked about my upcoming 3 hour flight alone, I lost it (my calm and my sanity).  I called Dave in tears.  I was so mad at my children for not sleeping and that I had to pay the consequences for their stupid choices (not sleeping) especially on a flight.  I was so frustrated that my nieces prance gracefully to their bedrooms when I say 'naptime' and peacefully fall asleep (or stay quiet for quiet time) and my kids kick, scream, whine and complain (and don't end up sleeping).  Is it parenting?  Is it my kids?  Either way, I hate it!  Either I am a terrible parent, and doing the best I know how isn't good enough and I feel tons of mommy guilt. Or my kids are terrible and that makes me not like them very much.

Dave helped me calm down and get in control enough to finish packing, cleaning, get my nieces to the next babysitters and get to the airport.  Getting lost in Houston was yet another moment of a tearful call to Dave (he is an amazing support to me).  We were late to the flight and I couldn't find the right parking spot.  I got on the shuttle and in the process my purse and phone felt out of my backpack (luckily the next shuttle brought it to me!!).  We finally were checking in (I had 6 pieces of luggage, a stroller and 2 kids and managed to get it all in to check in without help!) and found out that the flight was delayed . . . 3 hours!!  No wondered the flight had so many seats open up!  I was worried about filling the time, but we wandered the airport, got in PJs.  ordered some food at McDonald's and the kids ran crazy in a secluded spot.  We boarded the flight earlier than expected and then waited on the runway for over an hour!  My kids were totally ready for sleep, so I was just praying it would take off!  As soon as it did Jackson and Hallie conked out.  There were only about 30 people left on the flight, so we had many rows to ourselves.  Jackson took a row and stretched out and Hallie slept in her car seat.  I read and played on the kindle fire.  It was a nice flight, but I was exhausted.  We finally made it home and crashed.  I was SO tired, but couldn't fall asleep.  I was so glad to be back with Dave.  What an amazing thing marriage is.  I am so glad to have his love, support and encouragement in my life.

To Lori:  I was happy to do this for you and your family, I hope that my honesty in the difficult parts of the week will be understood.  You do not need to apologize or feel bad.  Life happens!  I am just glad you got the chance to go to Germany and be alone with your husband!  I enjoyed getting to know your kids better.

 Hallie's crazy hair 

 STOP taking my photo!