Memorial Day!

For Memorial Day we went down to my parent's house to BBQ and swim. The weather was obliging and the kids loved their first pool experience of the summer. Aaron got a kick out of the water, especially when my parents heated the jacuzzi water to about 85 degrees so it wasn't as cold! He was perfectly content to sit with Dan and enjoy the water. The girls had a blast. Eileen was cautious at first since it's been awhile since she was in a pool, but once she got comfortable, she was kicking herself around the pool like a pro. (with supervision of course.) Anna was still trying to understand what you can and can't do in the pool, but quickly discovered that she loved to splash. Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy, Mommy, Eileen...the dog...basically anyone she could manage to reach with her cute little kicking legs. We also pulled out a floatie thing that we had for her last year, afraid that she wouldn't sit in if for very long (since she hadn't sat in it long last year) but she loved it. I think, in part, because it looked like what Eileen was doing. My sweet little girls. :)

Dan the Birthday Boy

Yesterday Dan turned 28. The kids and I decided to spoil him by giving him a 'perfect day.' When he got up he had to run to the school to drop off stuff for the sub. When he came back he found a breakfast of muffins, fresh fruit, cinnamon rolls, yogurt, orange juice and eggs waiting for him. After that we met my dad and our friends Mark, Michelle and Tava for a morning out on the boat. We spent a beautiful morning in the sunshine, wake boarding and water skiing until the kids got tired, and our legs felt like jelly! After, we went home and Dan spent the afternoon relaxing and playing games while I made his favorite Devil's Food Chocolate cake. Around 6 we had my parents and some friends over for a little party. We had a yummy dinner of Fajitas with homemade guacamole and salsa, and chicken and veggies and beans and rice. The kids ran amok out side, soaking them selves and each other and playing on the swing set. The parents ate and talked. Then Dan blew out his candles and we all had cake and ice cream. I didn't have 28 candles, but i had some number candles, I had two 2's and two 3's so i put all of them on reasoning that 3+3+2=8 and then the other 2 would be for the 20. Eileen eagerly helped blow out the candles. Eileen spent the day calling Dan the birthday boy and telling him happy birthday. Then we put the kids to bed and watched a movie while we cleaned up. All in all, it was a nice day, and I think Dan got a taste of just how special he is to me, and how glad I am that he was born! Happy Birthday my love!

Breakfast at the Zoo

This morning we went to the Dallas zoo with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Sandi for a special breakfast at the zoo. After enjoying breakfast burritos and fruit, we went to feed the sting rays. Then we got to watch the penguins eat and rode on a 4-d sponge bob ride. The ride included moving seats, which the girls didn't like, but they liked the rest of it. Finally we went to the petting zoo area. Anna LOVED petting the bunny and guinea pig. We had a hard time getting her to leave and let another kid go. She was so sweet and gentle. At this point we were all getting tired (except Aaron who was fast asleep in the stroller) so we started to head out when Eileen (who is getting very good at stalling) decided that we just had to go to the bird area. So we did, and for the first time, she was brave enough to let one of the birds stay on her. The bird walked right onto her arm, and she sat there patiently, then the bird moved up her arm to her shoulder. She loved it and we had a hard time convincing her that we were all hungry and needed to go eat lunch. All in all, we had a fun filled morning full of new experiences and fun family memories.

Solids

This week Aaron had his first taste of solid foods (well as solid as rice cereal can be anyway) He did well and seemed to like it though he's got a ways to go before he is comfortable with the whole spoon thing, but so far so good, and I can't believe how big he is getting! Best of all, that night he slept for nearly 10 hours, then woke up and ate, and slept for another 5 hours. The only problem with this was that he didn't want to go to sleep that night.

My 4 Month old Baby!

Aaron had his 4 month check up yesterday. Our little boy is as healthy as can be and perfectly average in size. In all stats, he was in the 50th percentile. He is 24 3/4 inches long. He weighs 15 lb 1 oz. The doctor says he is doing well, that his head control and general progress are good, and that he is over all a healthy little boy. Then the nice doctor left and sent in the nurse with the SHOTS!!!!! Oh my poor baby boy!!!! It took him a few seconds to realize what was going on, then he cried like he'd been mortally wounded! :( Eileen then proceeded to tell me all about how when she had gotten her shots she had screamed and cried too, which oddly enough is untrue, at least not since she was 1. Her last few sets of shots have been accomplished without screams, or trouble at all. At most she cried for a second until she saw her cool band aid! Then Anna promptly upturned her cup (her new favorite pass-time) and we hurriedly cleaned it up and got out of there! Anyway! Fun times! The kids are healthy and I'm happy...now :)

Bag Tag

Ok so I've been tagged to reveal the contents of my bag, but unlike most mothers, i haven't made my diaper bag my purse. They are kept very separate. My purse is MY SPACE and my diaper bag is THE KIDS SPACE! So since Lori gave me the option of choosing which one to dump, I am choosing the easier, and far less embarrassing diaper bag! So here we go...the diaper bag in all it's glory.

1. All the papers that the doctor gave us at Aaron's 4 month checkup yesterday.
2. A changing pad
3. A bible picture book
4. Two magnet play sets - one princess one and one veggie dress up one(similar to mr potato head, but 2d)
5. Lots of diaper, in size 4 for Anna, and size 2 for Aaron, hopefully in a few months we can eliminate the first!
6. Jesus Loves Me book
7. Two straw cups with water in them
8. one block...i cleared out all the others, and missed this one...
9. a nursing cover up drape thingy...
10. wipes
11. Spare set of clothes for Aaron, including a sleeper, socks and drool bib. I should note that 2 days ago i had a spare set for each kid, but Eileen's and Anna's were used on Sunday and have not yet been replaced.
12. one toy car
13. diaper rash cream
14. child information packs (not filled out :{ )
15. A compact comb and mirror set that my girls love
16. plastic bags for dirty diapers and garbage.
17. Spare panties for Eileen, (not really sure why these are still in here, she's never had an accident, and is REALLY good about letting me know when she needs to go.)
18. A small shapes board book
19. A small piece of the program from Sunday??? How did that get there... :)

So there you have it. Not too bad you say?? Like I said, i chose the easy out! My purse contents would have taken 10 times longer to list and any one bored enough to read the whole list would have seriously wondered about me after. Besides its been a LONG time since i cleaned it out, and i'm not sure i really want to know whats in there after all....
OK the moment of truth! I tag Marjory and Claire.

Mother's Day

How blessed am I!!! I have had a wonderful Mother's Day. We were woken up this morning by a call from my in-laws who are on a mission in Malaysia. It's always so nice to talk to them. I am truly blessed to have a wonderful mother in law who loves me and sets such a wonderful example to me! Next, my Husband treated me to homemade cinnamon rolls, which he had stayed up late last night to make. They were delicious! I am so blessed to have a thoughtful husband who can cook! After that we all got ready to go to church where I got to listen to the primary (minus a grumpy Eileen) sing "Love is spoken here" Our ward handed out cards to the women that were covered with things that the primary children had written and drawn about their mothers. After church I was greeted by two excited children who had made gifts for me during nursery and primary. I am blessed to have a wonderful ward where people care for each other and love each other. Next we headed to my parent's house where we put the kids down for a nap and then Dan took care of Aaron and making dinner while I took a much needed nap on the couch. (Refer to thoughtful husband blessing!) After a delicious dinner, we sat down and watched a few old home movies that my Dad recently had converted to DVD. I got to watch my sister and I as young girls and thought of how blessed I am to have parent's who love and care for me, and how grateful I am for their support and encouragement throughout my life. Finally, we went home and I was given this adorable card.How blessed I am to have sweet, talented children, and once again, a wonderful husband! Finally after the girls were in bed, My sweet husband made brownies that we snacked on while my cute little boy wiggled on the floor giggling as I tickled him. Can I just say again how blessed I am to be married to Dan! How sweet, and thoughtful and helpful he is, and not just on Mother's Day, he's always this wonderful! (though he doesn't make cinnamon rolls and brownies everyday, and that's a good thing!) Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mother's in my life! I Love You!

My Fun Night

Now as you read this you may wonder, what fun place did she go and whatexciting things did she do? My answer? I stayed home. I played Tag and Hide and Seek with my kids. Ok so not the most exciting thing in the world, but we had lots of fun, running around the house and tickling each other while trying to get each other. Since none of my kids are old enough to really 'get' tag, we mostly just ran around the house yelling and trying to catch someone else. Eileen eventually tired of that and said she wanted to play a new game, so Dan asked her what she wanted to play, and she said she wanted to play 'racing tag.' We weren't quite sure how that was different from what we had been doing, so I suggested Hide and Seek. She decided that sounded like fun, so we all took turns hiding and finding each other. As you may guess, since they don't really 'get' tag, they don't really 'get' hide and seek either. Eileen ran to hide and as i walked around pretending i didn't know where she was saying things like:"Is she in the closet??" Eileen would answer: "Nooooooo I'm not in there!" Then it was her turn, andI had a blast tonight. Daddy showed her how to sit in the rocking chair and close her eyes and count to ten. So here she is counting to ten. Now of course Anna has to do everything her sister does, so as soon as Eileen finished, Anna climbed into the rocking chair and started saying "nie, nie, nie, nie, nie, teh!!!" Using the same inflections that Eileen uses when she counts. Of course Dan taught them by example, can you see the resemblence? Now all of this was followed by Eileen's demands for dog piling on Daddy. So with all the kids joining in, Dan was dog piled! So why was tonight so fun? I got to run around with my kids and watch them have fun, and really, what could be better than that!

Crazy Week Update

So the word is that Dan's name was not supposed to be on that list that his unit sent out, in part because as an IRR person, he isn't actually in that unit anymore. So how did his name get on the list? We don't know, but hope that this all gets fixed soon!

We found the solid proof today in a pile of mail from this week, that Dan's name doesn't belong on the list, Dan received his Proof of Honorable Discharge from the Utah National Guard. So while he can get called up by the country if necessary, he can not get called up through his old unit.