Four pounds

I took Ali and John to the doctor last week for well visits.  I knew that they were getting really close in size.  John just sits and smiles.  He talks and giggles, and in just the last couple of weeks, at the age of 10 months, he has started rolling over consistently.  I'm not complaining that he doesn't crawl.  I love that he just sits there.  On the other hand Ali is ALWAYS moving.  She is jumping or running constantly.  I refer to her as my jumping bean.  She never stops moving.  I had to laugh when Johnny weighed in at 23 lbs and Ali at 27 lbs.  Yes, he is 10 months, and she is 3 and they have a four pound difference.  Johnny will have to walk before he gets much bigger.  I'm not sure I want to lug around much more weight. He sure is cute though.  We all love him so much.

Cara said the cutest thing the other day.  She told me that she has decided to start drinking water at school rather than milk.  I asked why and she said, "It says free fat on the carton. I don't want fat."  I reassured her that it doesn't have fat and that she could have it.  That same evening I offered to pick up some pizza for dinner for the kids.  She told me that she didn't want any pizza because it has too much fat.  I have to admit that I worry about her being on a slippery slope with diet.  So far she hasn't brought body image into it and I do encourage making healthy choices.  I hope we can keep it all in perspective.  She is a good example of healthy choices for me.

Last night after a bath Ali came out wearing this outfit.  (Doesn't she have a great sense of fashion?)  The funny part about it is that she is wearing Cara's shirt.  I heard for the first time "She's wearing my shirt!"  I wanted to document it because I bet I hear "She's wearing my shirt!" about a thousand more times over the next 15 years and it all started last night.

A trip to the big city

We had to get away for spring brake.  We did a little Salt Lake City trip.  We kicked it off with lunch at Chuck-E-Cheese.  Almost as good as Disneyland for the kids. 

The girls got Pedicures and Manicures at NIMA from Aunt Christina.

We stayed at a hotel in South Salt Lake for three nights.  Just the experience of staying in a hotel is something that the kids love.  Swimming first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening is really all they need, but we did get a two day connect pass and enjoyed some culture.

The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point is amazing!  Caleb was really looking forward to going there, and it didn't disappoint.

It was great to go to lunch at the Lion House on Temple Square with my Aunt Merle.  

Merle also took us to the 26th floor of the church office building, where she works, to check out the view.

We were so glad it turned out to be a nice day so that we could check out Baby Animal Season at This is the Place park.  We met Aunt Christina and Rory there.

Johnny was excited about the little chick.  Notice Josh is keeping it safe.

The crowds were really small so we even had enough time to hit the zoo before heading back to the hotel for the evening.  The polar bear is such a crowd pleaser.

Day two of the connect pass was much more laid back.  The kids enjoyed a few hours at the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum after we caught an iMax show about the Hubble telescope.

Before we checked in for some swimming Josh insisted that we go to the Museum of Natural History, which is new and really quite amazing.

On our final day we got to spend some time, between conference sessions, having dinner with my Aunt Vickie and her family.  I love seeing my cousins and my extended family.  I am grateful to have so many childhood memories with my aunts and cousins and it is always wonderful to spend time with them.

Check, check, check, check, our annual trip of culture and museums is complete and successful!

A Beautiful Easter

I love nice warm spring weather!  I'm grateful that it was beautiful weather for Easter.  Somehow the sun coming out just puts a smile on my face.  We are also lucky to live close enough to family to celebrate with both the Owen's and the Kirks for most holidays.

My mom always provides an awesome Easter Egg Hunt for the kids.  We also colored eggs with the Owen's this year.  Somehow coloring eggs is a little less painful with more adults around.

We were at home for Easter this year so we went to the Millville Easter Egg Hunt.  It was awesome!!  The crowd was very small, in fact, I had Andy and Ali come to the 6-7 group with Cara, and they had a whole section of park all to themselves.  It was a beautiful and and we were able to spend the rest of Saturday at mom's house. 

Sunday we had hunt number three and Aunt Christina brought the kids Easter Baskets.  Ali loved sporting her beautiful princess earrings.

John is such a sport!  He is happy to be a part of the fun and enjoyed sitting in the warm sun hitting two eggs together.

You wouldn't believe how many pictures we had to take to get one with everyone looking in the same general direction, with their hands out of their mouths and faces, and somewhat pleasant looks on their faces?  How did people do it before digital cameras!?

I keep smiling about a conversation I had with Caleb and Cara on Saturday night.  They cornered me in the kitchen and asked, "Is the Easter Bunny real?"  In our family I have never even mentioned gifts coming from the Easter Bunny.  They do each receive a few small gifts on Easter morning.  (This year those who needed swim suits got a swim suit and the others each got an outfit.  They got sun glasses, flip flops and a little candy.)  I told them he was not.  That sent Cara off on a tangent about how she know he couldn't be "that hop, hop, hopping from house to house would be impossible.  Santa has rein deer, and they are fast, so that is totally possible."  She had so much to say on the matter.  I was dying it was so cute!  I even took a seat near Caleb at the bar and Cara also pulled up a stool.  This was a conversation that she wanted to be a part of!!  Next, Caleb launched into leprechauns. "Are leprechauns real?"  I'd never even heard of mischievous leprechauns until my kids went to school.  I didn't have to answer because Cara knew all of the answers from here on out.  "Of course they are," she told him. I wish I could remember the details, but she KNEW that they were real.  Caleb wanted to know if I ate the pepper from the leprechaun trap last year.  I told him that I don't like peppers, true.  Next he asked about the tooth fairy.  Cara was pretty sure that the tooth fairy is real and Caleb was pretty sure that she isn't.  They had so much to say that they didn't even require me to answer.  When they would turn to me I'd ask what they thought.  My final answer was that THE MAGIC IS IN BELIEVING.  I tried to scoot Cara off to bed before Caleb got into more questions.  Caleb and I spent a little more time talking about the tooth fairy and Santa.  I guess I have reached a new level in parenting.  They are so cute!  It is fun to be the creator of MAGIC. 

How things change

I've become increasingly aware of how things change over time.  Ever so slightly or lives are in a constant state of change, sometimes for the better and other times for the worse.  Usually the change is so gradual that we can't notice day to day, it seems that all of a sudden things are just different.  Kids getting bigger is a perfect example.   Things like loosing or gaining weight, money in savings or debt on the credit card, even dust on the book shelf. Those things we hardly notice day to day, but those things that also make a big difference in our lives.

I've always known that parenting philosophies and especially practices change with time.  Even having my kids close together I can't avoid the fact that I am different with my older ones than I am with my littler ones.  One small example is Johnny's hair.  I would have never let Caleb's hair get long like I did Johnny's.  I started cutting Caleb's hair monthly at six months.  Johnny on the other hand just got his first hair cut at 10 months.  I kept it trimmed around the ears, but I just couldn't give up that head of adorable baby hair.  Or maybe I just didn't want him to look so grown up.

Regan has been our nanny for the past month.  She has been so kind with the kids and helpful around the house.  I am in heaven with the extra help.  Unfortunately for us Regan is moving back East for a and finishing her time with us, but before she left I had her give John his first hair cut.  (She is also a beauty school graduate.)

Last night we got the kids set up with their bikes for the summer.  Before having kids you think of them needing new cloths each season because they grow out of them, but I'm not sure we thought about them growing out of their bikes.  I pointed out to Josh, "look at all them money we are saving by having five kids.  One kid grows out of a bike and we just pass it on to the next one."  I said, "we are saving so much money we are practically making money."  Of course it is all a joke, but hand-me-downs are a wonderful thing, and not just for cloths.  Here Cara is showing off her "new" bike since she has grown out of last years bike.

Andy is also moving up in bike sizes.  He has been using and LOVING his balance bike.  What he doesn't know yet is that he is balancing and doesn't need training wheels.  It should only be a few weeks before he is set and going on two wheels.  The little two wheeler and balance bike will be too small for him so Ali will be moving into it.  We had a cute tiny pink one for Cara, but she is a bike riding fool and totally wore it out so no one tell Ali that she is riding a boy bike.

I don't think she would really care about the boy bike thing.  Notice she is wearing Johnny's jacket.  I've told her over and over that coat is John's, but she doesn't seem to mind that it a boys coat or that the sleeves are too short.  Of course, she doesn't mind that her shoes are on backwards have of the time either.