Way Back When

Found these on my video camera from when Mad and Joni were here with us.  Mad was more than happy to join the girls in the sprinkler.

Climbing and Ice Cream

It was quiet, and this is what I was greeted with this morning when I went to investigate.  Mimi fully on the table.  How do you keep a child who wants to climb from climbing?

This evening Brad was headed out to Young Mens, so the girls and I took off to Dairy Queen.

Leiden got a cherry dipper.

Mac got (and looks so pleased about) a chocolate blizzard.

And Mimi got a kiddie cone.  It was enormous.

She got into the spirit of things.

Taken just before I wiped her face to go home.  What a bub.

Spend, Save, Tithe

We have determined that Leiden needs to learn about tithing in a more concrete fashion and also about saving.  We have also begun to encounter, "Mom, can we get this?"  Repeated 1200 times at the store, every time we go.  Hopefully an allowance will help her.  She designed the labels for her jars where the money goes:  Spend, Tithing, and Save.  Maybe she'll pay for her own wedding or mission someday.  A girl can dream, right?

Swimming Lessons

We started swim lessons this morning for the two oldest.  Leiden is far less timid in the water than she was two years ago, so I am hopeful that we can make it through the two weeks without her literally running away from her teacher.

Mimi was appalled that the girls were in the water and she wasn't.  She will attend every single swimming lesson over the next two weeks strapped into her stroller and the wheels locked into place.  Poor thing.

Leiden's class has four students, so they hang out at the wall when it's not their turn to be learning something.

Mac loved her first lesson!

Leiden was also pleased at the outcome.  And man, so was I.  She has come a long way in the last two years.  She is still a little timid, but it will get better and she'll have learned a life-long, potentially life-saving skill when she masters swimming!  Go Leiden!

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Training Wheels!

Happy Pioneer Day, everyone!  Here, not in Utah, there is no celebration, no day off, and no fireworks, so we have to come up with our own good times.  We would really like to get Leiden more confident (and a little less whiny?) on her bike, so we took her out front and took off the training wheels for a spin.  She did really well, zipping around.  This shot was right before she tipped over.

But, she got right back up again, and took off a second time.  We put the training wheels back on for our longer bike rides, but we're kind of to the point where they hinder more than help.  She relies on them instead of learning to balance her body and the bike.

Jelly

On our way to Grandma's the last few days we were in SLC, Mac was talking about how Grandma has little jellies.  The only thing that was coming to mind were the little jelly shoes?  That I used to love, but now don't like because your feet are always dirty in them?  I was fairly certain Grandma did not have jelly shoes, and it was not until Mac said something about strawberry jellies did I remember the tiny little jelly jars Grandma had at Christmastime.  Mac has a long memory.  Luckily Grandma had saved some of the little jars and the girls got to use them.

Well, today a little package came in the mail, addressed to Mac with an admonition to share with her sisters.  What was it?  Tiny jellies!

She was very excited and now has all kinds of plans to eat jelly on things.  Thank you, Grandma!

Playing Outside

Leiden had asked to have a bin filled with water that she can play with her little plastic animals in.  I obliged, and later in the day Mimi was outside with Brad and this is what I found.

It appears to be against her very nature to stay away from water.  Of any kind.

It's been kind of a weird, rainy/sunny day, and the girls (Mac in a sweatshirt?) are roaming around outside in the humidity.  Oh, to be a child again, and not really care that your shirt is sticking to your back!

Bikes

I'm here to tell you that the old adage is true.  You do not, in fact, ever forget how to ride a bike.  For some time, now, Brad has been saying he wants to get me a bike so we can ride around as a family.  While we were in Utah, he found a Burley on Craigslist, so now Mac and Mimi can ride along, too.  Today, Brad got home from work and said we were going to get a bike for me.  So off we went to the bike store and we picked me up nice little hybrid and of course, a helmet.  They actually have you go out and ride the bike around the parking lot of the bike shop, and so you go out there and make yourself look/feel like a fool.  At least I didn't fall down.  Until later tonight.  I actually rode the bike the three or so miles home from the bike shop, and I did, unfortunately, fall.  I got going a bit fast, tried to slow down and panicked.  Stops and starts are the hardest, so down I went.  More embarrassed than anything else, I just got back on and kept going.

Here I am, parking the bike.  Brad was happy to get the sign in the picture. 

I imagine I'll be spending a fair amount of time on this little bike, riding around with the fam.

We're Home!

We flew home yesterday, and it was a very nice trip back.  I guess Brad had an eventful journey with Mimi the night before, but all turned out fine in the end.  The girls are enjoying reacquainting themselves with the house and their toys! 

Leiden had her 6 year well check today, and she is perfectly healthy, although a skinny minnie!  I have known that she was on the petite side for a while, now, but the numbers are somewhat surprising.  She measures in at 3 ft. 9.25 inches and 43 lbs. 3.2 oz., which is the 39th percentile and 49th percentile, respectively.  Hopefully I'm feeding her enough!

Mac, on the other hand.  She has had her cough for almost two weeks now, so I asked the doctor about it.  She didn't like what I said, so she slipped Mac in for a visit pretty much right then.  Evidently she has an ear infection and a 'crackle' in her left lung, which is a beginning sign of pneumonia.   So on a heavy duty antibiotic we go.  I should have known that all was not well--she has been irritable for a few days, now.  Hopefully it will all get better, soon.  Aside from the completely out of control moments, she doesn't seem much bothered by either the cough or the ears.  But then, with her, there never are other signs of illness worse than her behavior changes!

I've often been thankful that my kids like taking medicine.  It's almost a treat for them, and that makes my life a bit easier when they're sick.

Happy Birthday to Bapa!

My dad's (Bapa's) birthday was today!  It was kind of a go-get-em kind of day.  I had some shopping to do in the morning, for him and the girls, and I seriously lost my keys at Target.  They were nowhere.  NOWHERE.  I combed through the store 3 times, tracing my steps.  I asked Customer Service 4 times.  I walked from the store to the car and back 3 times.  I looked under seats and on the floors of the car 3 times.  I was looking in shoe boxes trying to find my keys.   After praying and calling Brad to prepare him for the worst, there they were.  They had somehow fallen way under the front seat and under some napkins and papers.  Whew.  Disaster averted, as they were actually my mom's keys.  Anyway, we spent the morning and early afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa, swimming again and playing at the house.  Cousin Max spent the day getting checked out for his own concussion while we all played. 

The plan was to all go home tomorrow morning.  Then, all of a sudden, there was no room on the flight for Brad to non-rev, so plans changed and he went home and took Mimi tonight!  We just had time to head to my parents' house and pack up some bags for him to take home, and have a quick birthday dinner and cake for my dad before they headed out.  This way he will be able to have a car to come and get us in the morning, and I don't have to travel with all three by myself.

My dad is thinking about buying a volcano stove, so we got him the oven tent that goes with it.  Cart before the horse, and all that, but the stove was a bit outside the birthday budget!  He was (obviously) thrilled. 

Leiden and Mac were insistent that we put candles on his cake, and were quite put out when we couldn't put as many as years he's lived.  We would have set the house on fire for the second time!  :)  As it is, it looks like the cake itself is on fire. 

After cake we cleaned Mimi up and took her and Brad to the airport.  Bless him, because this will make my airplane ride tomorrow a walk in the park.  Woohoo!

Grandma's House!

We're finally at Grandma's house!  Mac still has her cough, but we're trying to be careful around Grandpa so he doesn't get sick. 

I love In-N-Out burger.  I know a lot of people like other burger places better, but for me it's nostalgic as well as delicious.  We would always go there on our trips to California.  I remember the burgers being so fresh the meat was hot and the lettuce and tomato were still cold.  Mmmm.  Now that they've cropped up all over SLC, I wanted to go.  We got to today and I hadn't been yet, and I kind of had a panic attack that it wasn't going to happen.  So I sort of laid down the law and said that we were getting lunch there.  After a couple hours swimming in the neighborhood pool by Grandma's, we headed over there and Grandpa even came with us!  His first outing to a public place since the surgery.  I cringed every time he touched a door handle!  Emily met us there with the boys and we had lunch.

Tonight was family BBQ at Grandma's, and unfortunately it was a little chilly outside--relatively.  Just this side of too chilly for sprinklers, anyway.  Did that bother Mimi?  Nope.  She would wander into the sprinkler, get soaking wet, and then wander around shivering.  And repeat.  We stayed at Grandma's tonight, so she got to go to bed on time, and left the rest of us to enjoy the evening.  It has been exhausting keeping an eye on her this trip.  After her big head bash a couple weeks ago, I have been literally following her around with my arms out to catch her.  We haven't had any more awful falls, but she has little falls and stumbles all the time.  I really can only relax when she's in her high chair eating or when she's asleep.  We're nearing the 3 week mark, so hopefully we're okay.

Mimi missed family pictures, which is too bad, but here are the rest of the cousins!

All of us but Grandpa, who wasn't about to submit himself to trying to sit on the stairs with us!

We wanted him to be included, so we had the kids head over by him.

And Mac gave us a couple good shots before she started up her antics.

Leiden is my sweet girl.  She loves her mommy and she's so loved back.

We had such a great time here today.  I feel bad that this trip didn't work out very well on that end, but we're so glad that Grandpa is recovering and that we didn't hinder that.  Keep it up, Grandpa!

Daddy

The girls are still so excited that Brad is around, again.  They had a great time last night playing with Gavin and Max and Captain (the cat).  They got a real sleep over, staying up late and talking and the whole thing.  Including waking up at 6:00 AM.  Brad and I stayed overnight with them, and that was darn early.  At my Grandpa's house, the girls were outside with Brad and my uncles and they were learning about Sumo Wrestling.  Pretty funny.

 

 

 

This picture is great.  It seems like so many of the times we are outside playing, they end with the girls begging Brad to throw them in the air.  He'll oblige a couple times, and then he's done! 

We got to see my cousin, Rachel and her husband and new baby tonight at dinner, as well as my other cousin, London, who is expecting a baby herself.  We are super excited that Rachel and Isaiah will be moving here to Minnesota next month!  We are thrilled that we will have family here close to us and wish Isaiah the best with his schooling here!

Brad's Here!

Our trip seems to be winding down.  Brad has been with friends in Las Vegas and southern Utah for a few days now, but this afternoon he made it up to SLC!  Madison had invited us to go and see his rugby game, so we took the girls to the park and they got to run around.  Mimi did not go far from Daddy.

 

Mad was pretty excited that the girls showed up. 

Before we even got to SLC, my family had made plans to go see Harry Potter for my dad's birthday, and on the off chance Brad would be in town, they purchased a ticket for him.  Good thing!  I had arranged for the girls to go to Emily's house for the night, so we took them there and went to see the movie.  It was a great ending to the whole saga, and a fun way to spend a birthday outing.

Zoorassic Park

We took off for the zoo this afternoon, and met up with Uncle Mad and Aunt Joni.  Once again, there were peacocks wandering around the place.  The girls love them.

Leiden was super excited about the dinosaur exhibits they have at the zoo, now.  They're calling it Zoorassic Park.  Very clever.  This picture was funny--about 2 seconds after I took it, the T-Rex roared and Leiden jumped and ran away.  Then she and Mac would slowly approach it, and when it would roar again, they'd jump and scream.  Mimi was terrified.  Of everything.  She would cower in her stroller and if someone was holding her, she'd try to climb over them to get away from the animal.  Giraffes, dinosaurs, monkeys, apes, you name it.  She was afraid. 

Years ago, when Jurassic Park first came out, my dad was really creeped out by the velociraptors.  Like really freaked out.  I don't know if it was just the idea, or what, but he did not like them.  I caught him staring at the T-Rex.  It's a good thing they were gone before he got here. 

This is my favorite of the day. 

Silliness for pictures abounds. 

 

 

We went over to Mad and Joni's apartment for a little BBQ after the zoo, as they live right up there at the University Village.  It was kind of deja-vu-ey, as they live in the same layout apartment as the one Brad and I lived in when we first got married.  I forgot how tiny they were!

The girls are excited to see Grandma tomorrow--we just hope we don't get Grandpa sick with Mac's cough, which doesn't seem to be getting any better.  We haven't been able to see Gavin or Max this week, either, as they need to stay well so Emily can help Grandma and Grandpa.

Tracy Aviary

It has been an awfully long time since I went to Tracy Aviary.  I don't really remember it all that well, but that it was a bit run down, and in a corner of Liberty Park, where people sleep under the trees at night.  Well, it has been upgraded significantly from what I remember.  We hadn't even planned on going--Grandpa finally got out of the hospital a couple days ago, and our plan was to go and spend time at Grandma's house, and then Mac came down with a cough.  It started out as a dry cough, and turned into a more productive cough.  This meant we could not go to Grandma's house so as to keep Grandpa well after his surgery.  Our plan is to go on Friday if all is well.  So, I had to get the kids out doing something, and this was one of the cheaper options! 

One of the kids' favorite things was watching the pelicans get fed by people who had paid to throw the fish at them.  Pelicans are amazing birds, and the kids were mesmerized by their giant, stretchy beaks. 

For sure, the girls' favorite was the peacocks they have roaming the grounds, cawing and calling out.  Unfortunately none of them raised their tail feathers, but they would walk right by you and drag their tails behind them.  They are stunning birds. 

They have a great bird show, which I only saw part of, as Mimi wouldn't sit still and we had to sit or leave.  The girls liked watching the birds flying around, and they even had an emu run through the show!  Getting out of the house?  Success.