Andrew got up in the middle of the night and I told him he had to practice sleeping good because the Easter Bunny was coming the next night. Well when he woke-up he was so sad that the Easter bunny didn't come he stormed off to his room. I knew he wasn't feeling 100% because he had picked up this darn cold we've been spreading around so I decided to give the kids these cute little stack-able bunny coloring pencils. Andrew thought it was the best and it cheered him right up.
After we got the girls off to school we decided to run a few errands. Steve told Andrew he couldn't bring his new pencil on the ride because he didn't want to lose any pieces and Andrew said, "the bunnies like to go for rides, Dad." They came with us. :)
When the girls got home from school we loaded up in the van with Mimi and Grandpa and went out to Antelope Island. The kids were super excited to have a beach day. Steve and I realized it had been 5 years since we'd taken them out there. Marcus fell asleep on the drive so we went for a little ride around the island and then back to the beach area. And since it's been a rough winter we had to hike a little ways out to the beach, but the kids were great about it and helped carry stuff. We setup and then let the kids play.
Marcus was all about the bubbles and there was a gentle enough breeze he could just pull it out and the breeze would blow the bubbles. I held the bubble container for a bit and he would whip it out so fast Mimi and I would get splattered with bubbles. Then I let him hold it for a little bit until he dumped one completely out with the stunned face like, what is happening. Grandpa called it a learning experience.
We got out the kites and Marcus thought it was cool and wanted to hold it and then let go and then chase it down while saying, "I'll get it. I'll get it." Andrew enjoyed holding the kite too and then Marcus realized I was taking pictures and totally photo bombed, "cheese".
Grandpa got out the Cinderella kite (he thought it was Elsa and we had to quickly correct his princess mishap ;). It was a different shape so he wanted to see how it would fly. Then he and Mimi had a kit flying contest to see who could get their kite the highest--silly grown ups. And Marcus joined Panca on a walk down the beach to stretch his legs.
After 3 hours at the beach we decided to pack it up, but before we left we had to snap a picture of Mimi and Panca there first time to the island and to touch the Salt Lake. It was a great start to our spring break.
It's been a rough week of sickness around here, but I have a few things that bring me smiles through the coughs and runny noses.
Andrew getting his ukulele out to sing Marcus a song at nap time every day. He loves his ukulele. I want to spend some time with him learning how to play it-I think he would love that.
Marcus has two stuffed animals he loves to wrap one in each arm as he's going to bed, Monkey and Pongo the Penguin. It's so cute!
Andrew coming down in the middle of the night saying, "I had a good dream that turned bad, can I snuggle."
One day I was clipping all the kids nails. Marcus loves it. Andrew hates to get his toe nails clipped and kept running away so finally he was the only one left and he walked up to me with socks on his feet thinking that would deter me from cutting his toe nails. . . silly silly boy.
Now that the basement is mostly finished and we have 3 floors to distinguish between, Andrew says downstairs, upstairs and the mainland. :)
While we were watching the Olympics last month Steve said one of the skiers in an interview said if it snowed over 6" my parents let me skip school to go skiing. Steve thinks we should adopt a similar policy. ;) The girls had no school today and it has been snowing a bit around here and the girls have been wanting to go to Powder Mountain (as a matter of fact Ellie was a little upset Steve went with Uncle Doug when he was here -- she had a dance competition that day any way). So we've been waiting for a good weather day and the stars aligned for today.
We used Ellie's passport which had a BOGO Adult coupon so we basically paid half price for all of us to go skiing and we had an awesome day! The weather turned out to be perfect. We were a little worried because weather.com showed it being a little chillier than we had planned and then there was a fog as we started heading up the canyon, but we drove right through it and it was clear and sunny at the top. They also had a light dusting of snow last night (like 3 inches) and because it was Monday there was hardly nobody there and we just had a blast.
When we first arrived we went to get the tickets and use the restroom and Lila was looking a little uneasy like on the verge of tears and I asked her what was wrong and she said her tummy hurt. Which had me worried because at 1am Andrew came in and said his tummy hurt, but he was fine in the morning, but then when Lila said it I thought, oh no did we catch a stomach bug that is just getting us. Then I remembered her and Ellie read in the car on the way up the canyon and told her that I think she was just a bit car sick. So we walked back to the car got a cracker and put our gear on and she was doing better. And after our fourth run which the girls decided to do a Black Diamond, Lila turned to me and said, "I'm so glad I didn't have to go home sick." Bless her little heart.
The girls were skiing great and Steve was loving all the powder he was finding off in the trees. The girls even followed him out there several times. I tried a couple of times, but not my thing (it's really hard on my knee) and I had a colossal crash and decided, I'll stick to the groomers. We did a couple of black diamonds several times and just really enjoyed the day.
The drive home took us longer than anticipated and we were late getting back to the babysitter (I felt so so bad). As we walked in the door, Andrew said, "why did you come home so early." I said, "we are late and I was stressing the whole way home about getting back to you." Glad he was having such a good time with the babysitter because that is seriously one of the downsides of skiing for me is leaving the boys behind. So we bought Marcus some skis so next year he can come with us a few times and it will be some great family times!
It all started on Thursday when Andrew had a party at school. When I picked him up he excitedly told me that the leprechauns came and made a mess in their classroom and he found a pot of gold they had left for the whole class. Seriously, he was so excited and talking so fast. When he told the girls, Lila asked if they were going to have a St Patrick's day party in her class and I said, No and she was super sad.
Yesterday, Ellie and the 6th graders did a wax museum. They wrote reports on historical figures from Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Renaissance, or Middle Ages. Then they wrote a 30 second speech they memorized and dressed up and had little stations where you could push their buttons and learn about their character. Ellie chose Bast or Bastet and did the report all on her own at school and I helped her put the finishing touches on her speech, but she did all the work herself. Our great carpool friends helped us with the costume (the girl one year older than Ellie had been Bast last year so it was perfect).
Andrew was super excited to go, but then got shy and didn't want to push any buttons while we were there. Later he said, "Ellie I wasn't afraid to push your button because I love you." :)
Lila was sad her class didn't go to the wax museum so I'm glad I recorded it so she could watch it. Then at noon I went up to Ellie's class to do Fun Friday where we did some St Patrick day minute to win it games. It was chaotic, but Ellie said everyone had fun. Then we had activity days where we made babysitting kits and learned CPR. It was a great activity, but I noticed my head was starting to hurt. After we dropped off the girls we came home got Andrew and Marcus and went to pickup some pizza. Steve headed off to a camp out with the scouts. When we got home my head was hurting bad (I had even taken some Advil earlier and drank a Dr Pepper), but nothing was helping. The older three worked on the leprechaun trap while I made pizza and kept Marcus entertained. They ate pizza then I sent them upstairs to watch a movie while I laid down in bed where it was dark and quiet and put an ice pack on my head. Nothing work. I ended up throwing up a couple of times due to the pain and Ellie was a real trooper in helping me get the boys to bed. Then they finished setting out their trap. I love that they work together so well. They included Andrew and gave him tasks. LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM! I asked Lila to take some pictures when her and Andrew got up to see if they captured any leprechauns.
They didn't catch any and Lila said she didn't even think they went inside because their footprints were just on the outside and none of the snacks had been touched. I came over and inspected and noticed that Ellie had used the word trap in her note and told them they probably left as soon as they saw that. Lila was a little upset with Ellie and Ellie said, "oops". Mom was glad that they had an easy out this year because her head hurt so bad she didn't need the extra fuss of the leprechauns escaping. ;)
We then had breakfast and those sneaky little guys had turned my muffin batter green.
What better way to get your kids to eat whole grain spinach muffins than a little leprechaun magic! :) Seriously Andrew said those look disgusting and then I said you have to try them because of the leprechaun magic and then they each ate 3-4 of them. I cut up some green kiwi and made scrambled eggs to go with it. Then they all went downstairs and played while I cleaned the kitchen it needed it bad since yesterday I kept coming in from each activity and just setting stuff down and so I managed to get things picked up and cleaned. When Steve got home from the camp out we all went downstairs and watched a movie on the big screen. It was super fun. The whole day was a nice mixture of chill and productivity. Maybe a little Irish luck rubbing off on us.
Lila noticed while doing her math lesson before school that today is pi day so Andrew and I are making a pie for dessert tonight.
We had a great weekend. Something about having the basement almost complete with no major deadline (like carpet scheduled) is a huge relief and I find myself feeling so free and enjoying life.
We took the girls Friday afternoon to see the movie A Wrinkle in Time. Ellie read it for book club at school. Then Lila and I decided it would be a good book to read out loud together and convinced Steve it was up his sci-fi alley so we all read it and then went to the movie. It was fun, but as usual we all enjoyed the book much more.
Andrew was a little sad he couldn't go to the movie with us and I felt a little bad, but the babysitter was awesome and the boys had so much fun that I don't think they even realized we were gone. Andrew excitedly asked the girls how the movie was. It was cute. He can be quite the gentleman. As a matter of fact we had a few friends over for lunch that day and he was asking them what they'd like to drink and if they'd like a cookie and opening the door for them when they left. He is still a boy, climbing over the couch and jumping off to get to things, but he is considerate of other people.
Saturday was demo day at Snowbasin and Steve has been wanting to do a demo day for quite a while. So I sent him and the girls up that morning to go skiing. I told Andrew I'd take him up later to ski with Daddy. As a distraction while they left I got out the play dough and for an hour we made play dough cookies with a fake oven and cooling rack and tried to keep Marcus from eating. . .we almost succeeded he snuck in a rather large bite while we were distracted setting up the oven situation. ;)
Andrew decided to clean out his back pack and found he had several scholastic book order forms so all three of us snuggled on the couch and looked through them talking about what books looked fun to read and then we placed an order.
Once our order was placed we got out the perler beads and Andrew decided he wanted to make a heart to show Lila how much he loves her. I gave Marcus a shamrock cookie cuter he could fill with beads and then we baked it in the oven (his doesn't quite have the hand eye coordination for the little peg board like project).
Just as we were finishing I got a text from Steve that Lila was getting tired and I should bring Andrew up. I told Andrew it was time to get ready to go skiing and he jumped up and down and put on his ski clothes very quickly. I grabbed a few things for a light lunch for everyone and put Marcus in some warmer clothes. Then off we went. Marcus fell asleep on the way there and didn't even wake up when I opened the car to get Andrew out and hand Steve the lunch. So I went and parked and let him sleep for a bit. He woke up about 15 minutes later and I put his coat on and we walked up to meet the gang. Andrew was ready to ski so Steve took him while I sat with the girls who were finishing eating. When they finished they caught up with Steve and Andrew and then decided to go up Becker with Andrew (we've been wanting to do that for a while). Steve said he freaked out a little bit at the top because you're on top of a ridge line, but once they got going he did great. The lift is more difficult because it's higher and isn't an express so the pickup is fast, but at the end of the day Andrew said, "I wish we had gone to Becker first then I could have done it twice." I told him Grandpa might come down again when his leg is better and maybe he can go with him. Andrew replied, "Grandpa might get scared at the top." :) Everyone had a blast and we came home and watched some of the Paralympic ski events.
To complete the weekend Sunday evening was a beautiful night and we decided to go outside and get the bikes out. We're still working with Lila on her balancing skills and trying to ride a bike. She's big enough that she needs a bike Ellie's size so we had Ellie try riding one of my bikes in the garage which she successfully did and then moved Lila up to Ellie's bike and there was a whole helmet exchange thing too; Seriously why do kids grow so fast we're working on doing a whole ski sizing up and trickle down now too.
In between bike runs we drew on the sidewalk with chalk. We did a little Sunday pictionary and then let the kids just draw. As we were putting stuff away Andrew said, "I want to watch the sunset." Then he ran over and sat on the grass and told the girls to come sit by him. It was cute. So we watched the sun set then came in and everyone was starved so there was a quick dash for snacks of granola bars and yogurt before bed.
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| Ellie's sidewalk art |
Another Andrew moment. After a very difficult morning I was getting ready to take Ellie to jr high orientation -- yes junior high. I asked Andrew how my hair looked and he said, "Not the greatest, but it's ok. Try some more of this hairspray, Mom." Then we played a rousing game of "Gold" Fish as he calls it. :)
For activity days we held a Father/Daughter Lego Derby. My girls had a blast making their cars with a few inputs from Steve. I had a mismatched set of wheels so I let Andrew build a car too.
Lila's car Ellie's car
I went early to setup and let the guy with the track in. Steve fed the kids dinner and then brought them.
I was
going to take the boys home, but they were enjoying the event and I felt
like I couldn't leave so we enjoyed it out as a family. The girls had fun (notice Ellie is jumping up and down--her car won every race . . . she had her front wheels set back a bit and we don't know if that did it or what but she was super excited).
After the official racing was done and awards were handed out. Ellie got first. . .which made Lila a bit sad, but we're learning to be happy for each other. Then they ran races for fun. Andrew was upset I didn't bring his car for the fun races. . .I didn't even think about it. I should have grabbed it, but to be honest I had to rush out the door because I got a call that another ward had setup in the gym when I had scheduled the whole building. . . so we ended up sharing the gym, but it made the start of the evening a bit frantic and I didn't get to do everything I wanted to as a Mom. Thus is life! I told him we would do it again and he would definitely get a turn (whether it be in activity days or when he is a cub scout).
