Tahoe

We decided since we didn't make it to Tahoe for Thanksgiving that we would visit when we went off track at the end of April.  We scheduled the time with Carole and Russ and were looking forward to the vacation.  We picked Ellie up Friday after school (she was taking forever to scooter home because one of the girls we carpool with got hurt and they called her Mom--fortunately I just sent Steve to get her after waiting for 30 minutes then we took off.  I was really nervous about spending 9 hours in the car with Andrew, but he did pretty good.  He was a little fussy and the movie was not holding his interest (I miss the days when we could listen to books on tape together as a family, but that was not happening with the little man).  I found two straws that were different sizes and entertained him both ways for a bit pushing one in and out of the other.  He may have ruined the tire gauge I gave him, but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make. He colored a bit, ate snacks, and called Mimi once.  He did sleep for one hour each way, but that was it.

Steve is always a wonderful driver and we made it in good time arriving at 9pm Cali time.  We unloaded the car and visited for a bit then I went to bed with the kids.  And we awoke to 5 inches of snow Saturday morning.  

I always pack thinking it is colder in Tahoe than I think, but I was not prepared for this. We stayed inside all day Saturday by the fire reading and playing games--Steve bought the game of life to play with the girls and they all loved it and played a few times. Carole made a delicious turkey dinner we enjoyed that evening after which we looked through some pictures Carole and Russ brought and it was fun to hear more stories about Steve and his family life growing up.

Ellie insisted on eating a drumstick off the turkey.

Sunday we went to sacrament meeting where I ended up playing the piano--they were desperate and you could tell I needed to practice, but the spirit was there and it was wonderful.  They offered to transfer my records there anytime. ;)

Afterward we ate some leftover turkey and then drove to Steve's sister Debbie's house in Granite Bay to spend the afternoon with them.  As soon as we arrived the girls found the kittens they were fostering and played with them for a while.  Then we went outside and the Ellie immediately fell in love with the zip line.  We finally talked Lila into trying it and she enjoyed it and did it twice.  Ellie must have done it a couple of dozen times.  They fed us a great dinner and introduced us to this delicious gold barbecue sauce from Trader Joe's.  It was nice to catch-up with them (unfortunately I got a migraine about half-way through I think the curvey roads, lack of sleep and temperature change just got to me so I felt bad that I was kind of out of it).  They are an amazing family and I wish we could see more of them.  Oh Steve and I drove their Tesla which was a once in a life time experience.

Andrew loved their big dog, Shadow.

Monday, Andrew took an early nap and we all relaxed and juts visited.  Then we went for a hike.  We did the Eagle Lake hike.  The first part was a lot of rock stairs, then we hit a snow covered section and we did have to go around and through a few trees, but we had a great time. The girls are excellent hikers and Andrew doesn't mind being strapped in the backpack--hello he loves being outside any way he can.

The falls came fast and were at the beginning of the hike which I think made the rest of the hike up seem a bit long.

Taking a rest on the way up.

Feeding the duck who came right to us as soon as we arrived at the lake.

 

Then a goose decided to get in on the action. We let the girls take their shoes off and get wet a bit.

He was so excited to climb around and sit on rocks at the lake.

 

He tried to get the camera from me and I got this cute picture I couldn't resist posting.

View of Lake Tahoe and Emorald Bay we didn't notice until hiking down.

Tuesday morning Andrew found this hat Russ had been trying to get him to wear all week and he picked it up and ran around the cabin saying, "gwampa. gwampa."  It was so cute!  Then we let him take a nap again then we packed up at headed to the lake for beach time.

Remember Andrew's hesitation at beaches, well I had put him in a chair while we finished setting up and when I looked at him he had climbed down and made himself at home digging with his hands in the sand. :)

The lake was so low the kids could walk out quite a ways without getting too wet. We had to set a limit on how far out they could go.

Ellie loves playing frisbee with Dad.

At the beach the girls realized we were leaving the next day and began to beg to stay longer.  They asked when we could come back etc.  So I think we will make it a regular event to visit Tahoe with Carole and Russ.  It was a great trip!!

The Rest of April

kind of flew by in a flurry so here are some highlights:

*We surprised Mimi one Sunday evening at Mt Green for her birthday.  We brought dinner, dessert, and decorated.  We had the girls hide when they told us they were just getting off the free way, but then 30 minutes later we ate without them and waited another 30 minutes before they arrived.  They stopped and visited some friends before heading to the house--I guess that's part of the problem when you don't let Dad in on the surprise.  Although he says he knew and told us they wouldn't be there until 7pm--he didn't tell us. :)

 

*Ellie came home with her results from the piano festival she played in at the end of March and she received 99/100 for her performance which she was awarded a top performer trophy and she received a medal for highest score on her technic test. Way to go! She said, "that was easy."  I reminded her of how hard we worked the week leading up to the festival--I would sit with her and listen to the songs and help her correct mistakes.  She said, "Oh yeah that was not so fun."  Then I explained that because she worked so hard she performed well and received the awards.  I could see a few things clicking and she said, "I guess hard work is with worth it." Yes! Yes it is!

*Soccer was in full swing and Andrew got croup so life was busy.  I volunteered to do teacher appreciation bulletin boards for both of my girls classes--Steve thought I was crazy to volunteer for anything else, but thanks to Oriental Trading it was easy and turned out cute (seriously that site is better than Pinterest for me).

 
We had Ellie and her friend Abbey pass out the deputy stars and all of their classmates wrote thank you notes to Miss Hunt.

*We continued enjoying the lovely weather outside working on projects, going for jogs while the girls biked, and walking the dog.

I love spring!

Lila's Princess Tea Party

Well it's that magical 3rd year when friend parties occur.  Lila was so excited since her last party was really mostly family and this was the first time she got to make up the invitation list and help plan.  She said she wanted the party to be on her birthday and that she wanted to go some where (I think because she had just gone to a party at one of the trampoline parks), but we decided that a tea party would be fun and sent out the following invitation.

Andrew woke-up early screaming and I don't know if that is what woke Lila up, but when I walked past the stairs I saw her running around and told her to come snuggle with me in bed since Steve went up to Andrew.  When I picked her up by the stairs she said she saw the string and all the presents and was so excited.  We had strung her presents along like Elsa did in Frozen Fever.  As we climbed into bed she said, "Do we have to sleep or can we talk?"  I asked her what she wanted to talk about and she said, "my birthday, presents, party everything."  So we talked for a minute and then we went and woke Ellie up since the boys were still awake and we began the present opening.

The string began at a post on her bed. Then off we went.

First stop toy room.

Second stop card and birthday money from Grandpa & Grandma Moore--this year it came with a special $1 silver certificate.


Andrew and I picked up lunch for the girls from Arctic Circle and met them at the school.  Ellie skipped her lunch recess to enjoy lunch with us.  It was fun and a bit enlightening to see maybe why the girls aren't finishing their lunches--kids start lining up for class as soon as they get in to the lunchroom, it gave me some anxiety as an adult thinking we were almost out of time so I can't imagine how kids feel like they don't have time to eat.

 

Mimi came to help decorate for the party and let Lila open her present and giant coloring book and her new magazine--Frozen.  It helped occupy her while we setup.

 

Finally party time.  Lila would answer the door and happily hug and greet her friends.  We decorated crowns as we waited for everyone to arrive.

Then the tea party began and Lila was not shy--she had been waiting for a very long time and dug right in.

We played kiss the frog.  The girls loved it.  We gave them each their own little lipstick the put it on, we blindfolded them and then they tried to kiss the frog.

Note: Can I be honest--planning parties is tricky.  We passed out little palace pets--it was their party favor and I thought the girls would play for a bit being creative with them, but after about 5 minutes it was clear that was not going to happen. Fortunately they spent more time decorating crowns at the beginning than I anticipated so we moved straight into the kiss the frog game, but because of the little extra time we had some lipstick craziness--lipstick everywhere including lipstick handprints (if I were to do this game again I think I would label the lipstick with their name after they used it and pass it out at the end).  No matter what they had fun and it all cleaned up--thank goodness we were on the tile.

Lila had on a sad face while her friends were being picked-up.  I quickly told her to smile, but didn't have time to ask why at that point.  Later when I did ask why she said, "I was so sad they were leaving Mom. It was like the party happened so fast."  I told her that may be the case, but she needs to smile when telling her guests thank you and good-bye so they know that she was happy they came then if she wanted to say something like I'm a little sad you have to leave then that is fine, but we don't want to frown.

Venessa brought Izzy & Siena down and we had a tea party continuance--as you can see Lila is already busy with the cute notebook they gave her.

I can hardly believe Lila is 6. I kept teasing her that 5+1 was 4, but she told me that was take away not addition and that 5+1 was indeed 6.  Wow, it seems like just a little while ago we were praying so hard for her to come into our lives and now she is teaching me mathematics.  She is a wonderful girl full of life and all about living in the moment which can cause some focus issues when you send her to get socks and she ends up playing with her stuffed animals, but also leads to extreme highs and we often here her say, "this is the best day ever." "I love this!" and her 6th tea party birthday was as she said, "totally awesome!"

Easter Weekend

We decorated eggs with the Durbanos on Wednesday when they came over for Fool's Cafe.

The Easter Bunny visited us as usual on Saturday.  The kids were so excited to see what was left for them.

The girls got much needed Sunday shoes and a new skirt, with a pair of fun socks and chocolate bunny.

Above: Andrew admiring his chocolate bunny and going for a ride in his new push trike--he loves taking the dog for walks with Mom. He also got a pair of much needed Sunday shoes.



Then time for the egg hunt.  The girls wanted to wear their new skirts so we let them.  Andrew found 3 eggs then managed to pop one open and realize there was candy inside--he spent the rest of the time eating. :)

Most of the morning session of General Conference was spent pushing Andrew around the house.

In between sessions we worked outside trying to finish up our mulch project from last year. We're trying to go from bark to rubber mulch and put ground cover down all the way to the edge of the flower beds--trying to keep the grass from creeping in.  During the afternoon session the girls played General Conference bingo with their Easter candy then we worked outside for a bit longer.  Steve then went and got takeout while the girls and I folded and /put away laundry--Saturday's chore.  We quickly showered the girls then put Andrew to bed so Steve could watch the Priesthood session and the girls and I could watch the Women's session while painting our nails of course.

Sunday morning we went to Mt Green where we once again attempted to take family photos.  Unfortunately Dad's camera was not properly set so they ended up really washed out, we got a couple of ok shots from Mimi's phone. 

Just as we were finishing Jake & Nessa showed up with their families and we spent the rest of the day listening to conference, visiting, lounging around eating yummy food.  It was nice.  That evening after Jake & Nessa left we took Mimi & Grandpa for a little walk while Ellie and Lila rode their bikes and Andrew got to try out his new trike on the pavement for the first time. :)  

It was a wonderful weekend.  I'm so grateful for the gospel and the knowledge it provides of the Plan of Salvation--that we have a loving Heavenly Father who sent His Son so that all mankind could be saved.  He Lives - Happy Easter! 

Traditions!

Man I want to sing that like Fiddler on the Roof--TRADITION!  Anyway, we made our annual leprechaun traps.  Lila did hers after school one day and we had to put it up for almost a week so Andrew wouldn't destroy it.  It was a fancy little roller trap that she had taped to the wall and rolled out with some sort of trigger in the box that rolled the paper up on top of the leprechaun.  Ellie went for a milk jug trap this year.  I think the little guys are on to us though because this year they came armed with pocket knives and sliced their way out.  They did manage to turn our bread green before leaving and once again their gold became chocolate coins.

This year for our Fool's Cafe we were able to have Venessa, Izzy, & Siena over so I decided to do a Disney themed menu with pictures to color.  It was fun!

Left: getting their menus.  Right: 1st course ordered.  Aunt Nessa kept ordering carrots on accident.  Lila got a perfect 2nd course w/spaghetti, parmesan cheese, garlic bread, and a fork.