Staying Busy this Spring

This spring just flew by. I think it is because we stayed so busy. There were two weeks in particular that kind of floored me, they were so busy. One I already talked about: it was when there was General Conference, John's new calling, Daniel started staying with us, and my dad's big scare with his near heart attack and surgery. I don't think I mentioned before that John's brother-in-law Daniel started staying with us for a day or two every week. He is a pilot for Southwest and his 'home' airport got switched to Phoenix, but his family lives in Colorado. They thought this wouldn't be permanent so he just wanted to stay with us on his reserve days. I was pretty nervous about the situation starting it, but it hasn't been too bad. It has been nice to get to know him and his family better, and my kids have loved having the attention of another adult. We fixed up Miriam's room for him, and we don't really use that room at all. In return he pays us $100 a month.

We went to the zoo with the Davis's one day. They are such good friends.

 Spring is in the air--I love seeing all of the cactuses in bloom. I swear there were more saguaro blooms than I have ever seen before. It has been a really mild spring and summer. We feel lucky.

One day there was a fun little event at the Y. There was a bounce house, face painting, and wall climbing. Turns out little Eliza just scampers up that climbing wall.

 There was also a diaper dash that Holly "participated" in. She got scared and ran across with an adult. :)

The next overwhelming week was the week leading up to Mother's Day and Holly's birthday. That meant that we had to come up with nice, sweet cards for the girls to send to all the Grandmas. 

And we had a birthday to get ready for. It was also teacher appreciation week that week, which is always way more stressful than you'd think. These two "favorite things" pages from my kids teachers are really reflective of their personalities. Especially the "Gifts to receive."

It was also Pride in Learning night that week. Look how cool this pop art portrait of Eliza is! She also wrote a poem about herself. 

 Miriam's clay-d-bug, Jack and the Beanstalk, and fossils. Eliza's bowl and bio bottle (Vasco Nunez de Balboa).

As if that weren't enough for that one week. That Saturday was the Girl's Camp pie fundraiser that I was in charge of. It is always way more stressful than you'd think, and things never go without hiccups. But it all worked out, thank goodness.



AND it was my girls' dance recital that day! Yikes! They did awesome though, and the Daddy daughter dance was tremendously darling.

Let's just say after a week like that by the time Mother's day and Holly birthday came around, I just wanted to relax!

Miriam got invited to a birthday one weekend, and just to be nice Eliza was invited to. Urban Air was super fun although a little pricey--we didn't have to pay though. There was lots of fun climbing, exploring, jumping, and obstacle courses.

 At the end of April the teachers around the state went on strike for 7 school days, so we had a second Spring Break! This really didn't end up affecting when school got out for the summer, which seems weird to me, but whatever. We had so much fun that extra week. The weather was gorgeous, so we spent a lot of time outside, including moving the table outside for lunch everyday. We loved that extra time together, especially since John and I were gone during their actual Spring Break when we were in Hawaii.

We did another round of soccer during Spring. They are getting better and seem to enjoy it!

I have been working with Holland at home too. We do preschool time at home nearly everyday. We do Singing Time, Letter time (now Reading Lesson), Counting time, and Coloring time (where I am trying to start writing). See the "H's" Holland wrote? She was so proud of herself. She also really loves playing pretty independently including looking at books and playing with these reusable stickers that get strewn all over.  

 Then came the end of school, which meant end of year parties. Both kids' teachers retired this year, so we had to go above and beyond with gifts and thank you's. Eliza wrote the sweetest note to her teacher. They had a summer camp theme at their party.

 Mrs. Wendt was such a great teacher--we're sad Miriam won't have a chance to have her. She just has a very warm and loving demeanor.

Miriam had a great end of year party too. Lots of fun crafts!

 Our favorite craft was the canvas self-portrait. :) 

And just to throw a little extra crazy into the mix, Holland did a free week of swim lessons at the Y. She didn't love it. The first day was the best, and it digressed from there. It seemed a little silly, but it was free exposure to swim lessons. And the round of swim lessons we are taking at the normal pool this summer has been going a lot better, so maybe it helped??

Holland's 3rd Birthday

Our little Holly baby is 3. I can't believe it. She is delightful, wonderful, stubborn, loving, smart, and so ridiculous sometimes (okay, often). I still need to take her in for her 3 year check up so I don't know her stats, but she is growing. She is still rear facing in that car seat, but she is getting closer to 30 lbs.

Holland loves her teddy bears so much so we thought we would include them in the photo shoot. That little brown bear from the dollar store is her favorite. She calls it Baby Bear.

She is in the delightful stage right now when she says things but doesn't really understand what she is saying a lot of the time. For example, when she doesn't want to do something she'll dramatically say, "I am just shy." in a super sad voice.

Holland highly anticipated her birthday and for months ahead of time she said, "My birthday's coming out." Somehow she mixed up "out" and "up," and it just stuck.
Since then she has still talked about her birthday a lot. Just the other day, she said, "Where is my birthday? My birthday is over there. My birthday is upstairs. My birthday is in Phoenix." And she has already requested Miriam sing to her.
Since she was thinking about her birthday so much, she came to the conclusion that she really wanted Uncle David to sing Happy Birthday to her. He is the one that brings in ukulele to family functions and sings with all the kids. Fortunately he was available to sing to her at the end of the day. She loved it. :) I expected her to forget about having him sing to her, but it was on her mind for months ahead of time. She really wanted that serenade.

It has been a year since I stopped breastfeeding Holland. She has mentioned nursing just a couple of times in recent months, but one of my favorites was when she pointed at my chest and said, "I drank it all gone."

It is not all cuteness though. Holland has this super darling (not!) habit of dumping out her cup of water at the end of a meal. It isn't that big of a deal, but she just won't stop. And I forget to take it away from her. The kids have started giving her only cups with a lid.
Another awesome habit is just going a little bit of poo in panties pretty regularly. I especially don't love it when she does it in quiet time, and proceeds to get out baby wipes and try to clean herself off. She really doesn't do that effectively and makes a huge nasty mess.

I really shouldn't complain though. She really is adorable, obviously see the above photo. I can't get over those grey-blue eyes and blond curls. She is super loving, and has taken to spontaneously telling me that she loves me. There is no one she loves more than Daddy though. She is thrilled when he comes home from work yelling, "Daddy!!!" and running to him. It's the cutest.

So I just had to take a break because Holly needed to go potty in the middle of quiet time. She just told me, "I don't want you to help wipe me everyday. It no make sense." Alright kid. :)

She can be very affectionate. She really knows how to plant a kiss. Sometimes it is a sweet kiss on the cheek, but it can be a long, hard one on the lips. What she really doesn't like is when John and I kiss, she yells at us, "In the MORNING!" Meaning, she doesn't want us to kiss right now, but we can tomorrow morning. If we try to kiss anyway, she tries to block our lips from each other.

Holly is in a place now where she loves being read stories. But her one true love is watching shows. We limit them to only watching after dinner on Friday and Saturday, but those Friday and Saturday are cherished by that girl. She loves Sofia the First, Minnie Mouse, and recently Winnie the Pooh. She still loves books, especially about those same characters. She also loves Berenstein Bears and Pinkalicious.

Holland is starting to learn how to read too! She knows all of her letter sounds, so we have started doing the Reading Lesson with her. I really didn't expect it to stick this first time, but she is doing great with it. We have to add a craisin or chocolate chip for her to get after she reads the word or the line, but it works! So she can read "At, Cat, and Sat." Not bad. :)
I used to be better about doing counting time, singing time, and coloring time with her too, but they have fell by the wayside since the start of summer. Hopefully we can pick it back up in the fall.

I love how she talks about things. I know writing it down doesn't have the same feel that hearing her say it, but I still want to record it. "No waaaaayy!" when her voice goes up on the way. :)
"This one my favorite." said about really any thing.
"Drink of water, Miriam, me." Her little voice makes everything cute.

One of my favorites is when she talks about her priesthood leaders. She talks about Bishop Kenchington, President Rogers, and President Nelson. I love that they are in her repertoire of things and people to talk about.

Her birthday was also Mother's Day so we compromised on yummy foods to eat. Holland's big gift to receive was a balance bike. Her favorite gift was a Minnie Mouse waterbottle.

As for Mother's day, I received a 4 pack of plumeria starts! I was so excited. We gave one to my mom for helping with the girls while we went to Hawaii, and I was so bummed that we didn't get one for us. John surprised me with 4. And guess what, it is mid July, and they are all growing!!

(Back to cute Holly pictures :) )

I really feel so lucky to be a mother to my sweet girls. They are the light of my life. I pray everyday to be a better mother for them. Their example of kindness, forgiveness, and joy is amazing.

Especially my little Holly, you are adored by your family. We all just love you and are wrapped around your finger. Happy 3 years, little one. 

Family Photos at the Botanical Garden

We squeezed in a quick family photo session at the Botanical Gardens this April. The lights and grounds were beautiful. Not surprising there were about a hundred photographers there. It was great. I did some photoshopping on these because the kids never all look and smile great in the same photo. So I swapped some heads here and there. (That sounds a little creepy.) It was great though, and I really liked how they turned out. 

 

 Oh Holland, she cracks us up. We took some marshmallows as a bribe to get her to look and smile at the camera, which meant there were some pretty silly smiles and shenanigans.

He's so handsome.