First time at the Phoenix Science Museum

So I had the most crazy, pregnancy-brained day the day I took my kids to meet up with my friend Claudia.  She had told me she had a pass to the Science Museum and and for some reason, I got it in my head that she had said the Children’s Museum.  I don’t know what in the heck was going on with my brain (luckily, they’re only about a block and a half away from each other).

I am so embarrassed that #1 I was running late that day and that #2 I didn’t even go to the right place in the first place.  I really have to wonder if all the lights are on upstairs sometimes, I’m so flaky and I really don’t mean to be!

Eventually I did make it to the right place and Claudia was very sweet and forgiving.  I’m glad she was because we had a great time there!  There is so much to see.  My kids were so excited that they pretty much did not stop running around looking at all the neat displays.  If anyone comes and visits me from out of town, I highly recommend this place, it’s awesome!

Here’s one photo I caught of Vivian in the little play area for toddlers in the home building section.  They also had the neatest blocks there that you could build basically anything out of if you understand some physics I wish I could remember what they were called.

We went to have lunch at a different place than the café there because the things they offered weren’t very interesting to my kids except for a $6 hot dog.  Christian gave me the scare of my life when as he saw we were picking up to leave the restaurant, he stepped outside to wait on their patio.  Claudia and I were freaked out and I just about lost it when I saw him, I was so upset that he had been so careless to leave me.  He pretty much was acting too independent for me that day and it was driving me nuts.

The only picture I got of Christian was this crazy twirl thing that the kids can spin on to feel the force of the pull…if you notice it’s got padding on it.  The whole rest of the time Christian was going from one display to the other like crazy and Vivian and I could barely keep up with him, he was so excited.  It’s nice to have a super smart little boy except when he’s so excited that he won’t even pay attention to my pleas to stay with me.

Even though Christian was being a challenge that day, I’m glad we went and that Claudia invited us, it was an awesome day!

July 4th 2012

This year for Independence day, I decorated the kids special shirts for the holiday that would be less expensive than the shirts at the store that said the same or similar things on them.  Of course they are so cute, I wanted to take a photo of them in their new outfits so Jared and I took the wagon and the kids to the park near our home to take photos.  Here are a few of the cutest ones.

They are the cutest brother and sister pair!

Can you read what their shirts say in the contrasting color?

It was a really nice day on the 4th.  I went to Joann’s and stocked up on the 70% off faux flowers (with an additional 10% off entire purchase coupon).  Yes.  I’m a nerd and I had been waiting all year for them to have their July 4th sale because that is generally the BEST time of year to get faux flowers for arrangements in my home unless you want more Fall colors.  That evening, we went to Bernadette and Ben’s for a party and it was fun to enjoy them and their friends and family.  We didn’t even watch fireworks because I felt so bleh that day when we got home.  But overall it really was a good day.

The BIG 3-0!

Yes, I turned 30 this year.  I’ve been mourning my 20’s for a little while.  I guess I just feel like I’m suddenly at the age that all my aunts and uncles were when I thought they were “so grown up”.  I honestly don’t know if I feel so grown up….I still feel homesick sometimes, want my mommy when I don’t know what to do, wish someone could take care of me when I’m sick and wish I didn’t have to worry about money….maybe everyone feels this way.  Or maybe I’m just immature.  I don’t feel like I’m 16 anymore, I think I’ve been through a little too much to feel that way and I know I’ve changed quite a bit in the last ten years but it’s seemed like this last decade just went so stinking fast!

The morning of my birthday I got ready to take my kids to the “Summer movie” of the week at the local theater and Jared called me and told me to check outside.  I had been “flowered” I guess is the word for it.  I think I know who did it but they’re not confessing. Each flower had a message written on it.  It really made me feel special, if a little embarrassed.

Jared had asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday weeks before and I said I’d really rather just have a nice time with friends.  So he decided we should have some friends over for my birthday.  It was one of my best birthdays.  It was so fun to just hang out with people that I enjoy the company of.

Here’s Sherrada’s neat creation.  I love this idea for a taco salad (plus it was delicious too)...I actually put together a flag thing of fruit on kabob sticks that I saw on pinterest but it was gobbled up before I got a photo.

It was pretty funny how we all pretty much ate with our spouses but when everyone started visiting there was a guys table:L to R: Mack, McKay, Jeffery, Jared, Rich and Ben.

And a girl’s table:L to R: Bernadette, Jenny, Jessy, Julie, Summer with her little Suzy.

I was really glad that Venetia and Jim made it…though they had to come later, it was great to have our surrogate “grandma and grandpa” here.  Sherrada and her family was able to make it later too…sadly, she escaped my camera…

Julie made me a delicious lemon poke cake.  It was so yummy!

It was so great to spend an entire evening visiting as well as introducing our friends to each other.  I sure am blessed with neat people in my life.  Sherrada’s parents and family stayed a little later than everyone else and we played Quelf a very fun game with a few people.  It was fun to catch up with them a little too.  Though 30 is not an age I was looking forward to it, I sure had a fun birthday to make up for it.  Thanks to everyone who is so sweet to me. 

Good Friends are Golden

One of the interesting things about living far from family, is that you start finding friends that you feel like are family to some extent.  My friend Julie has two girls around Christian’s age and her two younger ones, a girl and a boy are around Vivian’s age.  They play together pretty well which is great since Julie watches my kids while I teach piano in exchange for me teaching her two girls piano.  It works really well for me and it benefits us both.  I love that my kids have someone of similar values to play with on a regular basis while I can teach and not worry about my children’s care.  I’m so blessed to have them as friends.

Here’s a blurry photo of the kids playing ring-around-the-rosy together.  I love that even though each one of them is a different age, 7, 6, 6, 4, 2, and 1 they all play really well together. 

Here’s where “they all fall down”.Here’s my sweet friend Julie and her husband Mack.  She was out of town for her birthday so I was delighted to have a reason to make her a cake.  I’m so blessed to have her for a friend and for all the help she gives me.

Father’s Day 2012

This year, Jared just kept sleeping and sleeping on father’s day.  It was kind of amazing because he’s usually the one who wakes up before me.  Christian and I made him breakfast and brought it up to him and had to wake him up to eat (we have 8:30 am church so I didn’t feel too bad about not letting him sleep in more).  Here is a photo of how my cute man looks when he first wakes up….pretty much like he does all the time with a little more fluff in his hair and tired eyes.  Lucky me. :)

We had a nice sacrament meeting that day.  I am so, so, so blessed to have this wonderful man as not only as my best friend in the world who does so much for his me, but who’s a wonderful father who is so sweet with his kids.  I love this picture of Vivian giving him his gift from her.  She is such a daddy’s girl.  She comes into bed to cuddle him most mornings when she wakes up and cries when he leaves for work.  No one yells louder than Vivian when daddy comes home.  He is really her favorite guy.

I added the photo above because I love his blue eyes and great smile in this.  Her coy look is pretty cute too.

These photos illustrate how cute Jared is with our two darling children.  I love how he leans in to listen to Vivian.

Love to see my children with their daddy.  Good fathers are so important to their children.  I’m so thankful that I was smart enough to fall in love with him.  Life may be challenging, but it’s so much better with Jared as my man.

Oh the joy of…

Potty Training!  Yikes!

Warning:  This post contains bathroom references/potty talk so if you are sensitive to these issues, you may want to skip this post.

This summer, Vivian has gotten quite interested in the potty… though not consistently, which is fine except that randomly, she will decide that she needs to go and so then she will walk her independent little self into the bathroom without telling her mother and try to go no. 2 by herself though it is the worse when she has stopped in the middle and decided that she should try sitting on the potty (the weirdest thing is that she doesn’t have much interest in No. 1).  This has led to lots of disaster clean-up moments for me.  Luckily I caught on to this and I have diverted many a disaster.  It’s hard because Christian wants his privacy and so he will run into the bathroom to go and slam the door…Now I have to ask who’s in the bathroom whenever that door closes and it is frustrating to Christian that I won’t give him his privacy but I really would rather this independent soul be attended in the bathroom—at least until she’s three.

I’m thinking that she heard me say one too many times “You know, you wouldn’t get rashes if you went in the toilet” and so that’s probably why she wants to go No.2 and not No. 1.  I bought her some pretty underwear and have bribed her with it to get her to be more consistent (she has to be dry for a couple of days) but when I let her look at it, all she wants to do with it is think of new and exciting fashion statements like the one pictured above.  I’m not pushing the potty training because honestly, diapers are easier in public places than having to rush them to the nearest restroom and then let them hover over a gigantic bowl while waiting for them to relax enough to go.  I would like to get rid of the expense of buying diapers but I’m pretty sure that she will be okay in a couple more months.  If I decide I want her to get potty trained sooner, I may try the potty party book with her (it NEVER worked with her brother who took his dear sweet time to even try going).  Love this girl.  She sure keeps things interesting.

Christian’s Kindergarten Graduation 2012

My boy is now a kindergarten graduate!  How did time go so fast?  The whole Kindergarten consisted of five classes ranging from 23-25 kids so there were about a hundred kids that graduated from kindergarten at Christian’s school.  I worked with another woman with a daughter from one of the other classes to make a kindergarten slide-show.  It was so exhausting that I was very glad that the day had finally come.  Looking through yearbook pictures and trying to make sure every child was included was hard work.

I love that they bought real caps and gowns for the kindergarteners this year.  Last year they just had paper hats that the children made.  My boy is so lucky that his school went all out.

Early that morning, Jared and I presented Christian with a candy Lei made from Werther’s Originals and the gold looked great with his blue gown (it also made it really easy to pick him out of the crowd).  Personally, I think it was cute that he was front and center and had his lei on, otherwise he would have thrown off the balance of the room.  I was pretty shocked that he was the only child there with any time of a lei.  I guess it’s because of the high population of Polynesians in Utah, because every graduation I’ve been to has always had quite a few graduates with this special symbol.  

The graduates sang a few songs and recited a poem and then the ones who were waiting to get in line were invited to sit down.

Here are some fuzzy photos (sorry, bad lighting) of Christian waiting on the floor, and then in line to receive his certificate.

 

This is Christian receiving his certificate from his teacher.  He looked so handsome!

 

This photo of Christian holding his teacher’s hand just cracks me up. He was so proud.

After the ceremony we went to his class and took some photos and picked up his report card.

Christian with his buddy, Maddox.  Christian had removed his cap and gown the minute he got back to the classroom so like a picture-happy parent, I made him put them back on!

Here’s a photo of him with his amazing teacher!

One last hug for his teacher!

Christian with his sister Vivian and his friend Maya. 

Love My Kindergarten Graduate!