A little time off...

Sam surprised me with a little trip back to Encinitas(He flew his mom in to take care of the kids). It was...it is hard to describe it. It was bitter sweet. It was relaxing. It was easy. It was wonderful. It was needed. My favorite part was taking a nap on the beach. :-) It is fun to take a vacation to a place you know. There isn't any stress involved(getting directions, figuring out where to eat, etc...) We enjoyed every moment together. He even called my cousin who is in our old ward and set up a little lunch get together. It was so fun to see everyone. Kind of emotional too. The kids were VERY excited to see us to tell us about all of the fun they had with Grandma. They loved the giant shoe, and our accompanying story about the giant on the beach, and tell everyone that will listen about their shoe. :-) It almost seemed like time stood still while we were away. Our kids are still moving at a frenetic pace...and I had to get my wheels turning to keep up on Saturday morning. :-) I felt like I was in slow-mo. But now I am back. :-)

The little things...

Hansen has learned how to get down the stairs...finally...after attempting it forward and falling, he has finally got it. Except for he starts his backward crawl about 5 feet from the first stair...which is just funny. So cute..and funny.
He finally has learned to put something in his mouth. It took about 20$ worth of sippy cups, but we count our successes one small thing at a time around here.The kids and I got to go cheer Uncle Joe on in his inner tube waterpolo match. He finally got his intermural t-shirt. We were all so proud. The kids cheered loud. Garrett just kept saying "Go Joe Flounder!" and hanging his poster and half his body over the edge...just to remind me why I don't take him anywhere after 8 o'clock. His ears turn off at 7. Seriously. They do. Molly had the french immersion teacher come into her Kindergarten class today. She came home saying Bonjour and Je m'appelle...but then I caught her in her room just babbling in kind of a french tone. It was hilarious. It reminded me of the Saturday night live and the french teacher...classic.

Love these little ones

If I learned anything yesterday while Sam had the kiddos and I enjoyed Saturday sessions with my family...it is that I love these little people. Love them. Happy Easter.

Happy Easter

This is my sister's friend from Brazil. She wanted to do all the tours up at Temple Square. Emily was nice enough to take Molly along for the trip up to SLC because Hansen was sick. They had a great time. I am looking forward to a wonderful conference weekend/Easter sunday with a lot of family. Being together is very fun.

On a side note, Garrett, while I was posting this was shooting his rubberband gun. While loading it shot back at him(cause the rubberband was too small). It hit him HARD. He didn't cry...he just started breathing kind of hard and then said, "It's okay Mom, I'm okay...wow, that huwt weally bad" Then a few minutes later as he was shooting it again said, "Wow, my face it kind of buwning...ow." He still didn't cry or whine. Just kept telling me that it was alright, and that he was okay, but it hurt really bad. Sure enough after a few minutes a welt appeared on his face. I put some calendula on it, and he said, "Awww, yea...that is just fine...thank mom." Writing doesn't do it justice, well at least MY writing doesn't, but it will be a funny memory anyway. :-)

The arrest...

Today at Molly's school there was a police car(with lights blazing) right in the middle of the Kindergarten pick up line(I assumed it was to hurry up the crazy people who disregard the ten signs that say DO NOT PARK HERE and that leave their car running and go into the school...but no...official police business). I got Molly in the car, and she told me that a lady had been arrested. Garrett then asked if it was someone's mommy. Molly told him that she thought it was a mom in the other class.(Apparently there are no felons in her class, good news huh?) Anyway, Garrett was very concerned and asked if she was going to jail. Molly told him yes. He then was almost beside himself(picturing a mommy going to jail), and said, "But when she is ready to be nice, can she come out?" I love some of the conversations I am hearing lately between these two.

Being a mom is like soccer...

So to be frank, I am good at most sports. Even if I have never tried it, if someone teaches me well, I can pick it up. There is an exception to this rule...it is soccer. I'm just not good at it. I even got put on this really good team in 9th grade with my best friends cause they thought, "we can make her good at this." Little did they know.

I've decided that being a mom is like playing in a soccer game for me. That never ends. You are in the middle of the game, so you can't ever stop to practice. There are brief times when the ball is on the other side of the field and you can enjoy a "moment" with one of the kids. There are very few goals. We score now and again, but as soccer fans know...not that often. Sometimes you make a good pass, or a good save. But mostly, you are just running around and getting tired in the middle of this game. This REALLY important game. The MOST important game of your life. I feel like I am in the middle of a game that I am not very good at, that I MUST figure out before it is over. You keep playing, and you keep playing hard cause sometimes that is all you know how to do. I've been really good at other things in my lifetime. But it doesn't seem to matter at all. I just wish I was REALLY good at soccer.

Happy First Year Hansen!

Oh how I love this boy! He melts me. We celebrated his first year today. I reflected on how fast this year has gone, and how I need to cherish every day with my little people.
I'm kind of a ghetto mom who doesn't really do decorations and party favors really well...but I do love a good excuse to make rainbow chip cake mix...in any form...with that incredible frosting. Mmmmmm. Frogs...cause this boy LOVES to jump.
In this pic we are trying to pretend he cared about his presents...he didn't care. Not one bit...but he enjoyed rustling around with the tissue paper.
Hansen's favorite foods were on the menu.(so this did NOT include peas or chicken) We(in attendance: Sam's parents, my parents, Pete and Jen's fam, Joe +1, Andi and Bryan's fam including new baby Drew, and Emily and her boys) ate sweet potato fries, butternut squash, green beans(again...NOT peas...Hansen' said NO PEAS), peaches, pears, and blueberries. Delicious, healthy, and pretty sure if we all ate like that we would all be as happy as Hansen.
This sums up how much he cared about the party. This is his, "Please give me my bottle now, put me in my pj's and kiss me goodnight...and thanks for letting me squish that whole cupcake in my fingers and play with it...you're the best mom in the whole world face."