The reason I'm crazy/Easter Sunday

The kids dyed eggs with their Grandma and cousin this year, so we decorated sugar cookies instead, it just might become our tradition. I enjoyed it so much more, way less mess, staining of the fingers/table...and SO much more tasty to eat!

The Easter Bunny's offerings-

Max showing off his new sunnies and his hot new spring shirt.

Grace in her matching dress -

I wanted to get a few family pictures - can I just say that is the reason people go insane? My children, what can I say?

A special thanks to my brother for the side shot while we were waiting. I know no one forced me to post it, but I guess one side shot of me pregnant should be included...

So just to keep a tally - I think my eyes are closed, and Grace's head is down.

Grace is complaining and Mike and I are looking down trying to bribe her, Max is thinking about all the candy he'd like to eat.

Cute of Mike and I, and okay of Max. Grace is pulling a lovely face, still complaining about how bright it is.

We move out of the sun and my brother, whom I love, doesn't let us know Mike looks like he's highlighting his finer features...Ok so after 15 minutes I'm sure he was done too. Max's eyes are closed, and Grace actually has a smile but her hair looks like it's being smooched by Mike's shirt.

A cute picture - without the kids!

One last attempt at the kids, me threatening they won't play outside if I don't get one good picture, and this was the one I got....whatever!

So I move to individuals, Max can't look the camera straight, but it's not too bad.

I'm not sure what was so dang interesting over yonder, but both kids ended up looking that way.

So tonight, when my MIL wanted to get grand kid pictures, I just smiled and said okay. I wished them well and thought with my little pills, you may need a Xanex when your done. And trust me, she did.

One day, when my kids complain that I don't have good pictures of them, or why didn't I ask them to smile for a picture I'm going to pull up this post and say, "dear sweet child, I love you so much, but you drove your mama crazy!!!" :)

Barnes Park Easter Egg Hunt

We have always headed up to Hyrum for the annual Easter Egg hunt with my sister and her kids. Blast them for moving away! We had to find our own hunt this year, and you all know how much I love to try new things....not! There were 3 hunts withing a few miles of my house, we opted for the one at Barnes Park, and I figured it would be insane. It was. But managably so - they were really organized. They have 4 ball diamonds and had thousands of eggs in each, so even though there were hundreds of kids they all had a good amount of eggs.

Max, anxiously awaiting the start. Which the announcer said 1 minute left! and all the kids took off, it was kind of funny.

Grace waiting with her dad.

And they're off!

Grace was all smiles, she did really well and got a nice haul. Max on the other hand slow motioned falling down over his first egg, picked it up and slow motion slam dunked it in his basket, and then he pretended to run to the finish line. Yep, he's my goober.

I didn't know what to expect so I had a dozen eggs in a jacket pocket, I didn't want my kids to be the sad kids who didn't get any eggs. Mine had coins inside and Max loved shaking the ones with money. I'm a great mom, just ask me.

I tried so hard to get a couple cute pictures of them after the hunt - but they can't look at the camera at the same time to save their lives.

If my sister is still in California next year, I'd go there again - it wasn't bad at all.

Disney on Ice

A few weeks ago Mike came home and said he'd like to take the kids to Disney on Ice. Those are not words I ever thought I'd hear before - we've never been and I don't like crowds - but I did want to take the kids so we checked on tickets. Wow, unless they were in the nosebleeds they were expensive. I said it was probably not a good time - but then I thought maybe my old friend Abi could help. By saying old friend, I don't mean someone who is ancient, but rather someone I met many years ago. I haven't seen Abi in over 7 years, I was her supervisor at Convergys and "refriended" each other on Facebook. She works for Larry H. Miller and it turns out she can get some killer seats at an amazing discount! We were able to sit really close, for our whole family for less than the nosebleeds seats. Mike wants to know how often I can call on my friend for help, probably not frequently but I really appreciate being able to take my kids and having seats they could enjoy the show!
We didn't tell the kids where we were going, and just said we had a surprise for them. Saturday morning we went to Salt Lake and ate lunch at Gateway - the whole time they pestered us about what we were doing. Grace asked if we were going to Boondocks, I said better, she then exclaimed McDonalds!?. My kids don't have very big imaginations..... After lunch we headed over to the ESA. While were driving the kids started seeing some kids dressed up - I asked the kids what they thought it was and Grace thought it was a costume party.

Max loved it! he was so excited, I brought his Buzz costume and many people told him how great it was, he got a big kick out of it. I had a princess dress for Grace, but she didn't want to wear it. And no, I wasn't about to buy her a Jessie costume, I'm mean.

Grace wasn't too sure of the loud music at first, but she got used to it.

Love her face, Mickey and Minnie had just come out on the ice - she's a big fan!

Love Max's face - this is where Zurg comes out and the music is intense - he was mesmerized. I've never seen him so calm for so long!

Grace of course was scared, she's a pansy!

Max stood like this most of the show, the poor lady in front of him didn't seem to mind, I kept sitting him back down but he got right back up. (Just like Primary....)

Grace was all smiles, with a bucket of popcorn! Love her smiles!

Ken was one of my favorites to watch, he's was pretty dang good.

Max loves to close his eyes for pictures.

Outside the ESA afterwards - we really had a great day! It was fun to see the kids enjoy the show so much, it made me want to go to Disneyland - and that's a long time away I'm sure.

Grace's 5 year pictures

These were Grace's 5 year pictures from Kiddie Kandids - I just took pictures of them so they didn't turn out really nice, but they are my favorite pictures of Grace since she was a baby. The girl was so good with her, she was sassy and funny and Grace totally loved her. I wasn't going to buy any, and just get the free picture they offered for the birthday, so of course there were several that were so stinking cute! My little pill.

All about baby

You know how some ultrasounds look like a perfect baby from really early on? The first ultrasound pictures look like bugs, and then the rest are blurry. I've had several different doctor's, so I have just come to the conclusion that my kids don't like being photographed, they wiggle, hide behind their hands and don't like to play along. And, I'm simply not surprised!

These were taken at 26 weeks and I'm 29 weeks right now. I know, I'm slow on getting this little guy on my blog. The day before I had these taken I had a regular checkup and baby was sleeping. He was tucked up tight again with his hands over his face, the doctor could see his legs and bottom really well and she said, "So I know we said it was boy last time, but I'm not seeing anything. I'm not saying it isn't a boy, I just don't see anything there today." Really? It's because we went through baby totes and I pulled out all the little baby boy clothes. I'm sure of it.

She also wanted me to have another target ultrasound with a tech because the first one they couldn't see his face, or his brain stem and something else. When I made the appointment they had just had a cancellation so I was able to get in the next day.

Baby boy was wide awake and busy! It was the first time I was able to see that for sure he was a he. And the proof showed up in several pictures.

The tech said "Oh look, he's sucking his thumb, no wait that's his foot!" He was sucking on his toe - just like Grace did. You can see his little boy part poking up at the bottom of the picture, I'm not sure how he got his leg up there, but it is definitely a foot.

This is a 3d of his face, he's got his eyes open and his arm up by his head. You can see his lips and his little nose. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the 3d, I think they are creepy!

Here's some more proof of his manhood. One day I'm sure he'll thank me for posting these.

And one more 3d of the profile of his face. I think we've almost got a name for the little guy, Mike's going to cave I just know it! Now for a middle name... Can't wait to see this little little one in 11ish weeks!

Just for the record sake - I'm bigger now than I was when I delivered Max, I only know this because I had two pair of maternity pants with the cord's you can tighten and I had to make them bigger last week.

My favorite levi skirt (non-maternity, but pre 25lbs weight loss) has met it's match, it was nice while it lasted but this past week was so tight sitting down I wanted to explode.

For the most part this pregnancy has went by quickly, it may be because I'm not sure where were going to stash the little guy when he gets here, only having 2 bedrooms upstairs isn't proving to be the best set up. Grace is scared of the downstairs and I may end up having to buy bunk beds and have all 3 upstairs for a while.

Health wise everything has gone pretty smoothly - in November I was sick and had to have breathing treatments and lost my voice for about 6 weeks. Most of the time I had no voice I felt fine. This past week I had really bad back pain, other than my tail bone, and after 6 days I finally went to the doctor. I had a kidney infection - I felt better once on drugs, but by the afternoons my back started hurting again. My house went to pot as all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and take baths. All is better now, thankfully!

I pretty much have to pee every time I stand up, and am up 3-4 times a night using the bathroom. I'm convinced this is preparing me for long nights after baby comes.

I finally can eat hamburger again this past month, but still prefer super cooked (dry) chicken. I miss turkey sandwiches from Subway.

Excited to buy a newcar seat and bedding!

Baby was measuring a little small, Grace always did too so I'm not worried. Can't wait for May!

Grace's Birthday

I have not been able to add pictures to my blog since I had to get a new computer, I keep getting an error message, anyone know why? Today I tried adding them one at a time - and I could do that, but if I tried any more than 2 I'd get the error message again, so it was a slow process, but I really needed to get Grace's birthday posted (it was over a month ago...) Shameful sheepish look.

Grace turned 5 on January 18th, I've said before I don't care about my birthday's, but this one for Grace got me a little panic - y. She'll be going to school next year, how did this happen? (Yes you can tell she's my first, and that's just fine by me!)

We had a birthday party for Grace in the evening, she waited patiently all day. She HAD to pick her special outfit, which consisted of a plain long sleeve white shirt, her new levi's and a long white coat. Not what I would have picked, but she's got her own opinions! And I can't forget the shiny bright red sparkly shoes, they make the whole outfit!
Grace posing on the fireplace with her gifts.

I love this picture, she has no idea what was in it, but the smile is so sweet.

Daisy and Max helping.

Grace's Aunt Caitlin gave her 3 pairs of costume glasses, Grace loved them, she wears a pair every single day!

Grace wanted a horse birthday party - and she thought that we wouldn't want to eat hay or grass, so she wanted a carrot cake with grass on top. OK- I appreciate not having to eat a hay cake, and the grass was just green sprinkly things from the baking isle.

Grace got a puppy dog that walks and barks from Grandma Kate, an outfit and a new jacket from me and Mike, art supplies from the Hymas's, a DVD player and coat and a couple outfits from her Tyler Grandparents, and other stuff that I can't remember - she had a great birthday!

I also got to spotlight Grace in preschool for her birthday - here were the answers to the questions in her spotlight.

Favorite food - Mac'n'cheese and broccoli

Favorite TV show - Anything with puppies

Favorite Movie - Scooby Doo

Favorite Book - Green Egg's and Ham

Favorite Toy - Puppies, My little Ponies (she also loves littlest Pet Shop)

Favorite Song - I love to see the Temple

Favorite Scripture Story (I added this one, because she wanted it for the Favorite Book question.) - The Book of Mormon

Favorite Color - Black

Pets? - Diva the Sharpei

Favorite things to do with Mom and Dad - go to the zoo, get ice cream.

In January the preschool set a goal that the older kids learned their phone number of the next month, Grace learned it in one day and passed it off the next day. Her teachers Mrs. Palmer and Ms. Tia were so impressed! They told me the next goal was to learn her address and I said she already knows that - after that they are working on tieing shoes, and that's going to be a tough one. Grace doesn't even own a pair of tie shoes, so we went out and got some this weekend to start learning. I have no idea how to teach her...lol.

Grace is putting sounds together and reading small words. She can write all the capital letters, but has a hard time writing the lower case letters, she has the ability to do it, but doesn't like to.

Grace is smart, and funny. She says things that make me laugh all the time. I'm so glad I get to be her mom!