Motherboy

Last week was a fun one at school for my big boys.  In preschool Davin is learning about bugs.  On Friday he could dress up like a bug if he wanted to.  He really wanted to be a bee, so we put together a homemade costume and I thought he was a pretty adorable little bee. 

 That night was a mother/son activity at Weston's school.  Ian liked to refer to it as Motherboy.  If you are unfamiliar with the Arrested Development reference please watch this clip and all three seasons.  It's hilarious.  Anyway, I decided to take both of the big boys for a pizza picnic followed by a reptile show.  Aside from losing Davin between the picnic and the show we had a great time.  I loved watching Weston with his cute school friends.  They are so funny and silly.

 Davin was enthralled by the show.  The tarantula and scorpion were his favorites.  Weston's favorites were the turtles.  My favorite was when we got to stand up after sitting on the cafeteria floor for an hour.  :)  At the end the kids got to "pet" the giant 14 foot snake.  It was definitely a good time and nice to get out of the house and spend some time with my boys. 

Spring Break

The kids had all of last week off for Spring Break!  I felt like a lame mom and didn't plan much to do, but it turned out ok and we still had some fun.  The kids spent lots of time playing outside whenever it wasn't raining.  When it was raining we stayed inside and watched movies, played video games and Legos, and even crafted a bit!  Alright, maybe the term "crafting" is a bit generous, but we did do the boys' melty beads craft that they got in their Easter baskets.  It was right up their alley.  They had extra beads after doing the kit design so they each did a couple of their own designs too.

I spent an entire day cleaning and organizing.  I went through all of the toy bins and organized the boys' bookshelf, desk and closet.  I found this little literary gem in the boys' desk.  I'm pretty sure this is about a year old.  Pretty hilarious.

We went to the dinosaur museum one morning with our next door neighbor buddies.  It was kind of crowded since it was Spring break but the kids had a blast!  We have the best neighbors!

I was a little overwhelmed having all of the kids home for a full week while Ian worked lots and lots of hours so this made me laugh instead of cry.  :)

Ian came home one night and we took the family out for bowling and pizza.  It was really fun and Talia's first time bowling!  She loved it.  We had to constantly remind her to keep her dancing little self in our own space though.  Weston bowled without using the ramp for the first time and did great (he didn't actually get any strikes though; that was a scoring error).  I love that Talia beat all of us.  That figures.

One morning we met up with friends at the little neighborhood park and Talia loved riding her bike!  Speaking of bikes, Ian spent all of his free daylight minutes working with Weston on learning how to ride his bike without training wheels.  He is getting better but still has a lot of practice to do.

Friday night Ian and I went on a date.  We got sushi (I got orange chicken), got my ring cleaned and did a little shopping (I got a super cute denim skirt and green top on great sale), and saw The Host.  I loved the book.  I had pretty low expectations for the movie and it was maybe a tiny bit better than what I was expecting.  Certainly not great but definitely not horrible.  And I liked that it stayed as true to the book as possible.

Spring break finished up with General Conference weekend!  Ian had to work all day on Saturday, but I watched Conference with the kids.  They were all really good.  They colored and played quietly while we listened.  During the afternoon session the little ones napped and Weston played outside.  I listened and dozed while Davin played quietly on the ipad.  Then he was my snuggle buddy for a bit.  It was a nice day.

He was pretty happy to be watching Baby Einstein

Sunday morning Emilee and the Bowles cousins came over to watch the morning session and visit.  They will be moving all the way to Florida soon so we are glad we got some time with them before they are so far away.  Talia and Ivy were so cute playing together.  Noelle was pretty shy, but as long as she was close to Emilee then she wanted to play with the toys too.  They built block towers with a puzzle and had a tea party.  We even managed to listen to most of the General Conference talks while the kids played.  After we ate lunch we all went for a walk around the neighborhood.

It was a warm Spring day and we enjoyed the weather and our family time at home listening to uplifting messages from our church leaders.  Now it's back to school and our routines.  At least for a couple more months until summer!

Easter Weekend!

Holy moly it took me a long time to sort through all of the pictures from the weekend just to get ready for this post.  Sorry it's a few days late.  We had a wonderful, fun, warm Easter weekend.  The festivities kicked off on Friday evening with some egg coloring!  This was Talia's first year to actually participate.  She loved it and threw quite the fit when I told her she was all done.  She also wins most egg dye splattered all over the table and most eggs cracked.

Saturday we had our friends, the Bayles', over for lunch and an egg hunt.  The boys totally knew what was going on and Weston had a harder time reining it in, but everyone got plenty of eggs and had a fun time hunting.  We had absolutely gorgeous weather too.  After the hunt we hung out and played outside in the warm sunshine.

Saturday evening we relaxed and recovered from our busy day!  The Easter Bunny was busy that night too.  He hid the kids' Easter baskets all over the house in some pretty silly places.  Davin found his in the game cupboard and Weston's was stuffed in the dryer!  It took about 30 minutes and a couple of hints before everyone had their basket.  The kids loved all the fun surprises in their baskets and the gifts from their grandparents.

We had a nice breakfast of omelets and cinnamon rolls and for once were grateful for 1:00 church.  I also spent a lot of the morning prepping our Easter dinner while the kids played.  Eventually it was time to get ready for church.  Talia wore her new Easter dress from Grandma B and Grandpa Bob and I wore my new Spring outfit from Downeast. The boys didn't have new things but sure looked handsome in their Sunday best.

After church we came home and I started putting food in the oven.  Mel and Brad came over for dinner.  We had ham, cheesy potatoes, baked carrots, and deviled eggs.  We watched Wreck It Ralph and Mel made Frush (sherbet with sprite) for dessert.  We had such a nice day and I am (again) so grateful to have Mel and Brad living close so we can spend holidays with them!  It was such a wonderful holiday weekend.

Don't let the plethora of photos fool you.  I am very aware of the actual reason that we celebrate Easter and I think it is just the most beautiful time of year to celebrate the hope Christ offers.  I am so thankful for my knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who died for us and then was resurrected.  He broke the bands of death, giving us each the gift of immortality.  He lives and loves us.  So hopeful, so comforting.  Happy Easter!

Hair, Teeth, and Shots

I have been wanting/needing to get my hair done for weeks now but hadn't been able to find a time that works for me when my stylist was available and Ian was home until this last Saturday.  I knew it was cutting it a little close with Davin's birthday party, but I made the 1pm appointment anyway.  It actually worked out really well.  After the party I put Talia down for a nap, dropped Davin off at another friend's birthday party and went to the salon.  I hadn't gotten my hair cut since October so it was long overdue.  I also decided to get it colored.  It's been a long long time since I did color.  

It was so nice and relaxing at the salon.  It was quiet and I just chatted with my stylist and enjoyed my shampoo/head massage.  After she colored and cut it I asked her to style it curly and teach me how to do it since I have been wanting to do my hair curly but don't really know how.  It was really helpful.  She told me the whole time what she was doing and how doing it differently would make the curls look different.  She told me a couple other techniques I could try too.  I really liked how it turned out.  I need to get a new curling iron, but I'm excited to try it myself one of these days!  And I love the color!

After I got my hair done I did a little solo shopping and grabbed some great deals.  I started at Michaels where I got matching white wicker Easter baskets for all 3 boys, a couple bottles of bubbles, and a St. Patty's Day garland for $25.  I am still on the hunt for a coordinating basket for Talia.  Next stop was Kohls.  I got a long sleeve shirt/beanie combo and a sweater for Weston, a summer outfit of khaki shorts and a pink rainbow shirt for Talia, adorable Carter's winter boots for Talia, a pair of gray skinny cords for me, and a shirt for Beckett for $35 after Kohl's cash and coupons.  Not bad!  I really needed a break and it was a fun afternoon for me!

In Beckett news . . . he has not been sleeping well.  I finally decided to take him to the doctor on Friday because I thought he might have an ear infection.  He had a little bit of a runny nose, wasn't sleeping, and was being more fussy than normal.  Alas, his ears were clear.  The doctor chalked it up to teething and felt bad I had dragged 3 children to the doctor for nothing so he gave me a bunch of free samples of baby Advil and Motrin with instructions to give Beckett a dose before bed.  

I never really believe the teething thing until I see a tooth popping through, so I was not very consoled that he was going to sleep any better over the weekend.  Beckett just turned 6 months and every single one of my kids have gotten their first tooth at 7 months, so I really wasn't expecting him to get his first tooth yet. Sure enough though, as I sat with him on my lap during Relief Society on Sunday he was chewing on my thumb and I felt a tooth!  I could see it too.  I couldn't believe it!  Beckett broke the mold with his first tooth at 6 months.  I can't believe my baby is big enough to have a tooth.  He is just growing so fast. 

Yesterday I took Davin and Beckett to the doctor for their well visits.  Well, actually I took them on Monday, but got there only to realize that their appointment was on Tuesday.  Sigh.  It was kind of an off day.  So, Tuesday we went for real.  Davin had to get his Kindergarten registration form filled out which meant he had some vaccines to get.  Beckett had several as well.  They were both really good boys.  Davin was brave and only cried a little after the 3rd poke.  He calmed down quickly and was excited about his Captain America bandaids and the funny book they gave him ("Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed" by Mo Willems).  Apparently this pediatrician's office gives books at well visits.  Beckett got a board book called "Smile."  

Everyone is healthy and growing.  I was mostly concerned about Davin's size.  He is just so small, but the doctor showed me his growth curve and it's completely normal, just under the percentiles.  He wasn't even at all concerned about Davin's weight because for his height he is proportional.  He's just a genetically small kid.

Davin's 5 year old Stats:
Height: 39 inches

Weight: 30 lbs

My main concern with Beckett was his skin.  It has been dry and patchy for the last month.  It started when our water softener ran out of salt.  It has since been fixed but his skin is still not better.  I also ran out of Dreft and started washing Beck's clothes in the normal detergent (which is All Free and Clear, but apparently that's not as mild as Dreft).  The poor baby screams whenever we lotion his back.  :(  I got a prescription for a steroid cream to get the dry patches under control.  I should be seeing results from that within a week.  Beckett is growing and seems like such a chunker these days but he's really not.  

Beckett's 6 month Stats:
Height: 26 inches, 25th %ile

Weight: 14lbs 6oz, 5th %ile

Head: 16.7 inches, 15th %ile

I'm so grateful to have happy, healthy, smart, cute kids!  I am a lucky mama!