Enjoying April

This month has been quite nice. We've enjoyed ourselves...here's how...

Christian discovered how to get these pans out, then I found him like this...love it. He is really funny. I am loving his personality lately. I am starting to realize he really has an opinion, and he expresses it. Lately, when I take the kids out in the double stroller (which is side-by-side) Ava walks most of the time, but when she wants to sit, Christian flips. He thinks it is his throne. Same thing when she sits on my lap...so funny.

Playing ball in the backyard.
We took Papa Jim and Grandma Kearl to Pigeon Point to see the whales...all bundled up.
One evening while I was cooking dinner, I looked out the back door to find both my kiddos chillin- relaxing with the sippies.
On Thursday a bunch of friends went to the beach. It was gorgeous and finally nice enough to actually wear our suits. The kids had a great time.
You might notice that in half the pictures Ava has on stripes and the other polka dots. Well I looked over to see her with her swimsuit off peeing on the sand. (I thought this was only a problem for boys...help me now) Needless to say, we made a switch to the reverse side during the pottie-break.

Julia, Ava, Ava, and Taylor being silly.

Cute little Maddie.

Christain surprisingly didn't love the sand (although he was a little sick so his judgement could have been altered) but just wanted to play on this chair forever.

Hayley and Avi.

All tuckered out. While loading the car back up Ava climbed on in to rest.

So fun to be spending time outside with beautiful surrounding and such good people. BTW- girls the rest of the fun pics I took that day are on my smugmug site.

Motherly Woes

So I might say that often mothers are bombarded with what to do and what not to do in EVERY aspect known to man of your sweet little child's life. I'm certain you've all heard millions of things...don't feed them this, make sure you feed them this- only not until they are at this age...don't use this product, unless of course you want to chance killing your child...blah-blah-blah. These so-called helpful bits of information are sometimes overwhelming for me. Usually I take them like a grain of salt and stick to the way I feel good about raising my children, but occasionally I will take some to heart and give them a fair trial.

Here is one that has effected us more than most for the last year or so...

When Christian was 4 months or so, someone mentioned to me that you should not use a bumper on a baby's crib because it increases the chances of SIDS. I thought about it for awhile, then while we were moving I decided to just pack it up and try without. What these people didn't mention was that it causes late night crying and odd bruises on chubby little arms and legs. One night we had decided that Christian would have to "cry it out" since he no longer had a paci to go to bed. After 45 minutes of letting poor Christian "cry it out" Tyler went in to find his thigh stuck in between two posts and if you have seen his thighs you realize how painful this must have been. There we bruises...we felt bad...really bad.

So, instead of solving this problem by bringing the cuter and now safer (in my mind) bumper back he has learned to adapt. It will just make him stronger, right? So when I found him like this the other night, I smiled, thought of this story and took a picture.

A Relaxing Getaway

Oh, Tahoe! First of all, Tahoe is so beautiful. We had great weather too which always makes things pleasant. I went with my friend Kelli and 3 other girls that I hadn't met, one from here in Cali and 2 met us there from Utah. It was so great to meet these fabulous new friends. We stayed at Kelli's place which is basically a cabin in a resort. Here are a few highlights of our fabulous, relaxing weekend.

We hung out scrapbooking and making cards.

We totally pampered ourselves. This is Kaylene, me and Kelli waiting to get our massages. I did a hot stone massage and it was awesome.

In our robes, with our martinelli's, ready for the hot tub.
One day we went in the the lake, it was beautiful.

After the lake we went to Northstar (a ski resort) and walked around. We ended up finding a tasty little sushi place. None of the girls I was with "liked sushi". I am proud to say that I changed their minds (I think). It is all about the soy paper instead of seaweed. They wouldn't do the raw fish, but it was a huge step forward.

It really was a fantastic weekend. It was so nice to wake up whenever I wanted...which ended up being about 7:30 each morning, but at least it was on my own. I was able to workout at my own desire in a great facility, and we even got a private yoga class which I loved. Chatting with girls until wee-hours of the night about anything and everything...mostly our kids that we were supposed to be having a vacation from :) It really was wonderful, thanks Kelli.

Oh and BTW- Ty did just fine with the kids (not that I doubted him :)) I even called one day and he was finishing the laundry. The house was in great condition when I got home too...what a man!

Does anyone else want to adopt a family of brothers from Africa after last night? I really liked one comment last night (I can't remember who said it) ...I will paraphrase...

If everyone would pay half as much attention to the situation in Africa as they do to celebrities lives, we could accomplish a lot more.

Amen to this...I will try to do better myself :)


On a different note, I am headed to Tahoe today with a group of girlfriend. The kiddos are staying at home with their dad. I can't wait. See you when I get back and am 100% more relaxed :) Thanks Ty!

My Latest Chuckle

As I saw Ava slip her finger into her mouth last night I said,

"Ava, what was that."

"Oh, it was a booger mom."

"Ava, why would you eat a booger?"

"I'm so sorry mom. I couldn't help it. I was just so hungry."

"Okay, well, maybe we should try food next time."

"Okay, mom."

...maybe I shouldn't be chuckling?

Buba

So over dinner the other night with my in-laws we were discussing a story that I realized I hadn't written down.

So, I am sure you all remember the wonderful birthday present that Ava got from her wonderful aunt Sara and uncle "Gog"...her fish, Buba. Well, he was a slow fish. We think, perhaps blind and deaf. He never ate...never. So he died, after maybe 2 weeks. We had just been waiting for the day it would happen. We thought he was dead everytime we looked at him because he never moved. But one day it finally happen. We came in and saw him belly up on the bottom by the rocks. When Ava came in the conversation went something like this:

Daddy: "Ava look at Buba, I think he died."

Ava: "Oh, Buba! I think he must have fallen and hit his head on the rocks. Now he died like President Hinckley."

Daddy: "So where is he now?"

Ava: (While pointing up)"With Heavenly Father and Jesus."

A little while later, Ava walked into the room and said, "MOM! Buba's swimming again!" We ran in to find him floating back up to the top. We all said goodbye to Buba and flushed him down. But Ava's not worried, she knows who is taking care of little Buba.

Easter...finally

We did actually celebrate Easter, despite my lack of posting about it. Ava was super excited for the Easter bunny...she woke up at 3 am. Yes, 3 am. We enjoyed watching her plow through the house searching for her eggs, allowing Christian but a few. The Easter bunny brought her little swimming pool for the backyard and we had also set up their Easter outfits from Grandma Nancy. The first thing Ava said when she came running in was, "Look, Mom, a dress!" with complete and utter excitement. So, thanks grandma, they both looked adorable on Easter Sunday (despite what these pictures show).