Spring Breaks

We were so glad to be the vacation destination for Kelsey, my younger sister, and a couple of her friends for their college spring break.  Well, actually, we were just a side trip, she was actually coming to get her new car from my parent's house, but we accept the fact that we were a fun side dish :)  It was nice of them to come crash for 24 hrs.  I even took the girls out of school and the younger kids and I neglected all our commitments to go frolic in the forest and check out the sea lions in Moss Landing with aunt Kelsey.  We fed them some picnic lunch and grilled pizza for dinner and it was so fun!

4 kids taking a break on the forest walk

With Aunt Kelsey on the bridge

Jocelyn found the most banana slugs

For our spring break I took the kids up to our favorite budget destination spot!  You guessed it...my parent's house.  They are so good to make it feel special even when I hit them up for two consecutive breaks from school.  My mom and I put the kids down for bed and were able to watch the Women's Conference in peace.  We went to church with my parents and had Family Home Evening there. Even every day events seem more exciting when they are at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  Grandpa got his fancy kite all set up and ready to use but literally the minute we were going to walk over to the park it started to rain and didn't stop for 48 hours.  Nana was pretty creative coming up with activities but by the second afternoon when they were getting stir crazy Grandpa packed them up and took them with a bunch of sporting equipment over to the church gym to get some energy out.

I worked on sewing projects almost non-stop and, with my mom's assistance, I got to everything on my list.  My parents took them to the local frozen yogurt shop and then we finished off the trip the next day going to a local Railway Museum.  My dad had to work, but he funded the outing and we took Audrey our family friend with us.  As part of the museum we got to take a one hour train ride and enjoy the fields and baby lambs and calves out with their moms.  We rode on a 1930s electrical train car and were served lemonade and cookies much to the kids' delight. The museum has a very home town feel and all the workers were volunteers who are passionate about trains.

Nana Audrey and kids outside of Museum

Wearing the conductors hat and ringing the bell

The crew before getting on the train ride

Nana bailing me out on some sewing projects

Grandpa and kids before bed

After we came home we turned around and welcomed Jared's parents for their spring break.  We enjoyed General Conference (interrupted continually by 4 kids), walking to the duck pond, going out to eat and catching up with them.  Since Jared and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary last month, his parents offered to watch the kids so we could have a mini getaway.  Jared is very busy for work and any money that we thought about spending, we both agreed should just go to house projects and the like so we just went on a local "vacation."  We went out to dinner and a movie, stayed at a hotel for a couple nights near Jared's work. I went to work with him and worked on a photo book I have had on my "to-do" list for 4 months and caught up on email. Mostly, we just spent un-interrupted time together. What a concept!!  We got to sleep in a little and then I had to leave the next day to go to a horrible 3 hour dentist appointment that I have been putting off for some time.  With one particular tooth threatening to need a root canal and babysitters in town I decided to take the plunge.  I'm sure my jaw will be sore for a while, but now I should be all caught up on the work the dentist has been telling me to do for over a year :)  It is so great having extra hands around. Jared's dad has done some yard work, his mom has transported kids to and from school and stayed with them during swim lessons, done dishes. I'm not sure how I will manage on my own when they are gone!!  The kids have been in grandparent heaven all week going from one set to the other and I just feel so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people.

Grandpa reading to the kiddos

Snuggling after conference on Sunday

J&C at the pruneyards after dinner

The kid update & St. Patrick's Day

Jocelyn has been adjusting well to her new teacher at school since her teacher went on maternity leave. Of course, the day all us moms had pulled together a baby shower for the kids and the teacher, the teacher had a good case of false labor and had to miss out on all the fun but all of the kids in the classroom had a grand time and her teacher appreciated the thought and the gifts (and the pictures of the party).  The older three kids have been taking swim lessons this month at the rec center and thankfully, are doing well at that. Jonas had a rough start (crying in the corner and refusing to enter the water), but we worked through it and now they are all jazzed about swim lessons.  The two older girls continue to take dance lessons and seem to really enjoy that.

After swim lessons

Girls before ballet class

One of the most exciting things this month was the re-institution of the "Student of the Month" program at the girls' elementary school.  The principal decided to begin this month reviving a program that the previous principal had done away with.  The principal goes to each classroom and honors two individuals (recommended by the teacher) who have worked hard or been an otherwise positive influence in their class.  Lillian came home one day with the award and was so pleased with herself.  The next day Jocelyn came home with the same award.  They both did well on their report cards as well so we went out to Jamba Juice to celebrate (luckily I had some good coupons that coincided!)

Lillian Student of the Month

Jocelyn Student of the Month

The highly anticipated, much prepared for field trips also occurred this month.  Jonas went on a field trip to Petco with his preschool classand Lillian went with all the kindergartners.  I was able to help chaperone Lilly's field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and I wish you could bottle the excitement and anticipation of all of those kinders upon entering the bus.  All of us parents that had to sit on a crowded bus for about an hour weren't quite as excited, to say the least :) but seeing their excitement made it worth it!  We took along Flat Stanley sent to us by an old roommate's son and tried to remember to take pictures of him as well.  We had a fun day and I was so grateful to my parents who came down to care for my other children AND let me nap upon my return.  I felt very spoiled that they were able and willing to come down for that express purpose.

Lillian and her friend boarding the bus

Lillian and Stanley Monterey Bay

Lillian and her friend in MBA clamshell

When my parents came for the field trip, it also happened to be on St. Patrick's day so they joined us for a themed dinner and the excitement of finding our leprechaun traps littered with chocolate coins.  Those tricky leprechauns had turned our milk green and had some chocolate coins fall out of their pockets, but were not stuck in the traps. I personally figured Jonas was going to catch one based purely on the amount of tape he had placed on top of his trap. He occupied himself for almost an entire hour one afternoon carefully peeling off and placing tape on an empty cereal box.  Jocelyn was supposed to make a leprechaun trap for a school assignment; Lillian and Jonas wanted in on the action.  We raided the recycling bin, handed them some tape and they came up with some pretty fun ideas.

Kids with Leprechaun traps

St. Patrick's dinner crew

Rainbow fruit salad for St. Patrick's Dinner

Jonas, besides swim lessons and field trips, has been very busy building forts in my front room.  Using every pillow available as well as the couch and blankets. This happens multiple times a day and if I pick them up he is very unhappy that I have "ruined his ______" fill in the blank with fort, ship, home, you name it.  Jonas has also really enjoyed playing with his friend Liam. This is them during a playdate one day "saving the world!"  They kept referring to each other as "Batman" and "Superman" instead of each other's names and it was cracking me up.

Batman and Superman saving the day

Jonas building a fort one day

Jonas in another pillow fort

Emma reading with Jared

Emma has made some fun milestones in the past month.  She has learned how to say "uh-oh", learned how to knock on doors, and make a few new animal sounds (she practices these especially while reading with Dad). She can "moo" like a cow, bark like a dog, Sss like a snake, act like a fish, etc.  But most important in her world right now are wipes and balloons.  She has emptied two different containers off wipes about half way before I caught her and made many other attempts that I have thwarted.  A simple balloon from the dollar store can occupy her for hours!  She'll pull it down, scream with glee, push it, run with it, etc.  It's so fun to watch excitement for the simple.

Emma with balloon

Lillian the other day was telling me "I can train things really well."  So I naturally responded: "Wow! What have you been training?"  She told me "I can train the baby! Watch!" she then turns to Emma and says in a stern voice "Emma, Sit!" Wouldn't you know it, Emma sat right on the floor.  We are all looking forward to more amazing feats with the performing duo of Lillian and Emma!

Full Speed Ahead

So I realize we are not abnormal in having four young children.  There are many who do it and have even more children or even closer together, but here's a small snapshot of the chaos level we have reached.  The other night as we were getting the kids ready for bed (thankfully Jared was there as he wasn't working late or at Scouts or other meetings) I was in the bedroom helping two of the kids into their jammies while Jared was in the bathroom focusing efforts there on going potty and brushing teeth, etc.  I realized I needed to go get Jonas's sheets out of the dryer (thankfully I had managed to at least run them through the laundry that day) since he had peed in them that morning and when I am downstairs for that short minute I hear Lillian yelling "Mom, Emma is pouring medicine all over the carpet!"  As I dash upstairs I am wondering how in the world she got her hands on medicine in the first place and how did she get it open?  She, indeed, was pouring infant ibuprofen all over the carpet and, upon further questioning, realized she had found it in the bathroom somehow (even though I keep all the medicine up out of everyone's reach) and had thrown it against the wall to undo the "child-proof" cap.  Luckily it didn't appear she had consumed any, just ruined the new carpet. I clean that all up, we put on Jonas's sheets, get everyone their drinks of water, go potty, brush and floss teeth, read to them, pray, etc. etc.

I leave to go to a church meeting I need to attend and after Jared feeds the baby one last time he is giving her a breathing treatment for her latest illness.  He looks out into the hall to realize that Lillian is walking down the hall half naked.  He quickly puts the baby down to bed and goes to assist Lillian.  She is not even coherent and after (unsuccessfully) trying to get her to go to the bathroom he gets her dressed in some new PJs and puts her into back into her bed (that seems dry despite his suspicions that she had woken up because of wetting the bed).  Well, about 2 am we are fast asleep and Jonas comes into our room crying because of some bad dream and I finally get him settled down.  As I carry him back to his own bed I step into what must have been Lillian's potty accident that led her to be halfway undressed and out of sorts earlier in the night.  We don't even find Lillian's long lost pjs until the next day when we are cleaning up the toy room and there are some mysteriously wet jammies mixed in with the toys.  Of course...more cleaning ensued.  I tell you what...this parenting thing is not for the faint hearted!  I would not trade it for anything, but my goodness, no matter how careful and thorough you are kids can throw you for a loop!

On a lighter note...Inspired by my sister in law who lived with us last summer while Jared's brother had an internship out here, we have a new frequent visitor to our home.  My SIL Maren had a friend Ms. White who would come visit our house whenever the toy room needed a good tidying.  She is somewhat akin to Mary Poppins and looks strikingly similar to Maren with glasses and a shawl using an unusual accent.  The kids (and their friends) would work together remarkably well and in record times to clean the toy room if she said that Ms. White was coming to inspect the toy room.  As it turns out, even after Maren left to return to her teaching job this school year, Ms. White had a friend that she could recommend for us.  So, Mrs. Peacock is now a regular visitor that delights the children with her visits when the toy room needs a good clean.  How it works is that the kids report when they are only a couple minutes from completing their task and I "call" Mrs. Peacock to let her know they are ready.  Out comes Mrs. Peacock calling the children "little dears" and says "ta-ta" as she leaves, inspecting the toy room and bedrooms to make sure they are clean enough to pass the test and then tells the children they can report to their parents they have passed once again!

Probably the funniest reaction is our 9 year old little neighbor boy who tries to tell me he thinks I am Mrs. Peacock, but then he follows his accusation with, "aren't you?" with a very sincere cock of his head.

Jared continues to work hard on scouts and is very busy at work.  He has, unfortunately had some pretty major gastrointestinal issues for about the last month.  He has seen a couple doctors without a lot of luck so now we are awaiting lab results before scheduling a colonoscopy.  We are hoping the lab results give some simple results with an easy fix, but I'm sure we'll need to keep dreaming...I was the most concerned for him when he had to go on his regularly scheduled campout with his scouts wherein he would need to hike in for 4 miles, campout overnight under the stars then hike back in for 4 miles with all his gear.  He survived it and was pretty sore for the following couple days, but he has kept at all of his responsibilities despite this inconvenience.  We sure love him and all he does for our little family.