Kids

So I posted on FB a bit about Charlotte. She cracks me up these days. She loves princesses so much that she is even thinking about them in her sleep. I heard her talking in her sleep this morning saying "Let's put on our princess dresses. Tiana, I have jammies with you on it and Rapunzel too." She is so funny. She is excited about being a big sister and can't wait til he is a little bigger and she can feel him kick.

Savannah is so tender hearted. She just broke Chad & mine hearts last night. We went in to say prayers with each of the girls, tuck them in, then went to put on our jammies. I was about to walk downstairs and I heard crying coming from Savannah's room, and she was talking too. I listened for a bit before I went in. When I came to the door this is what I heard "Charlotte gets everything. Its Charlotte this and Charlotte that. Nobody likes me or loves me. I don't have any friends. Only Gallatin at school will play with me." Then it was too muffled with cries for me to hear. Chad and I both went in to talk to her. She thinks Charlotte and I go play with friends and go fun places everyday while she is at school and its not fair. We had to explain that most of the time we are just at home being boring and that mom is too tired to even go to the stores these days. We had to remind her about girl scouts coming up and all the fun things she will get to do that Charlotte won't since she is not a girl scout. She was happy when we left, but it was hard as a mom to hear her be sad about these things.

Now for the last one. Man this little boy is SO different than the girls. I pretty much breezed through pregnancy with the girls. I got pretty anemic and had elephant legs/feet but that is about it. The big part of nausea is gone but all day I just feel crappy. Not all the time that I want to puke but just not good. No food really sounds good, and I think I eat about 6-8 tums a day. Pretty much my meal options of late are Jacob crackers (thank you World Market for carrying them), whipped cream cheese, with Havarti cheese and some turkey slices. Oh and a coke. And that is pretty much the only thing I eat all day. Usually around 1p or so then around dinner nothing sounds good. Ugh, it is very annoying. But I guess since I have only gained 6 lbs after 18 weeks its not too bad right? But then again I didn't gain a lot with the girls either (18 &20). Just hoping I can actually eat some food again without wanting to vomit, and that I can not feel like a walking zombie all day too.

Oh and I forgot to mention the horrible acne I am getting with this one. With the girls I got it a bit on my forehead or chin. But nothing my good ole Rx stuff wouldn't get rid of quickly. Not with this little man. I get mountains that hurt like the dickins! Currently have one on my chin that is a bugger. But that is not all. They are on my shoulders, neck, back, chest. ugh. Its hideous! My poor skin gets scrubbed with a lufa in the shower to hopefully help this out. Guess I am glad I don't wear tanks. Chad says it looks like I have the chicken pox. Not something that helps boost your preggo wife's self esteem thats for sure.

Well next week he will get his picture taken again! Excited to have the bigger u/s done.

Bad News, Good News Day

So the girls woke up early this morning to go somewhere everyone dreads....the dentist. Bad News there. Charlotte kept waking up last night saying she was scared of the dentist. She has only been there once. But we were off early and the good news....neither one of them had any cavities. They were both really excited. Especially Savannah since she has had a cavity every other time we have been there. Hopefully this lucky streak will continue for many more years to come.

But the good news continues throughout the day. ...

Because we are 'awesome' parents, we let Savannah come to Target with us to pick out some birthday presents for this weekend. And even took her to lunch at chick-fil-a too. She thought it was lots of fun to play hookie from school.

Then Daddy said we had one more stop to make before taking Savannah back to school. We went to the doctors. But it wasn't a doctors for the girls, it was for mommy. They were fine with it, and happy to play games on our phones. Then I was called back and the whole gang came with. I got on the table and Savannah asks with a puzzled look on her face "Are they going to see if there is a baby in your belly?" I told her they sure are. To which Charlotte says "I hope its a baby brother". The tech tells her, you got it! So we gave the girls a big surprise today and let them know there will be a baby coming to our house the end of January/beginning of Feb. (Actual due date is 2/9 but with c/s might be in Jan)



They were really excited and happy. They had no idea we had been keeping this secret from them. While in the waiting room Chad asked Savannah what all these women had in common (A lot were really pregnant), She says..."Um...They all have purses?" She cracks me up.

So to those of you who read our blog you now know of the secret we have been keeping too for 16 weeks. Everyone else if just gonna miss out on the secret til it becomes obvious I guess. :)

Oh and Eric your dream was accurate last month .. :)

And a big 'I'm sorry' to all those I have lied to over the past few months. When you are a pregnant woman and you have several dreams about miscarrying, you tend to want to keep your mouth shut for a bit. It really freaked me out. But all is well ... So now that the girls know everyone else can too.

Utah

So we finally found a time that we could get out of the heat for a bit and do something fun with the girls. So we packed up and headed to Utah. I forgot my cord for the camera so I will upload pics when I get back home. We stopped at Lake Powell on the way up for a little break and for the girls to see the water. Plus I wanted to see how high the water level was. Well it turned into an impromptu play in the lake in your clothes for a half hour. Then we trucked on. One of the highlight for the girls has been going inside the 'UP' house. It is SOoooo cute. I can't wait to upload the pictures from it. Whoever buys the house will seriously take a step back in time. There are no giant rooms for a tv in every room. I loved the front room with its matching chairs like the movie. While there Chad said something about being from AZ to someone. This lady happened to overhear and asked what part we were from. Then asked do you know.....? We were seriously thinking ya right like we would know who you know in Phoenix, its a big city. But then she said Aaron and Jill Robison? Yup sure do. In the ward. What a small world, it was Aaron's aunt and cousin whom they were just staying with.

We also hit up Lagoon. So many memories as a kid from there. There is also SO many new rides. The girls started with the bumper cars and I think Charlotte got tramatized since she kept getting stuck and thought every other kiddo ride was scary. Even the little boats that go in a circle with the bell, she threw a fit. I was so done with her. So we decided to go to Pioneer Village to get lunch and see all the old shops. My girls want to be Pioneers now. Charlotte said, if she asks Jesus he can make her a Pioneer. Savannah told her, "If you wish upon a star your dream just might come true" (Such a Disney kid). Then Chad wanted to ride the Log Ride. The whole time Charlotte said she wasn't going to go. And I told her, we'll see. We get to the ride, and I grab her in back with me. She starts freaking out and everyone in line gave us the "You are the worst parents ever" look. She calmed down as soon as it pushed off. Then came the hill. She had a death grip but didn't cry. Most rides we did this, then she realized she liked them. From the ferris wheel, sky ride, water slides and the Odyssey. She ended up loving the Odyssey and wanted to ride it again at the end of the night but it started pouring. Oh and she did finally go on all the kiddy rides she freaked out about. Chad took Savannah on the Tidal Wave (while I was in line for kiddys with Charlie). He said she didn't scream but her knuckles were white from gripping so hard. Lagoon was fun, but with all the crazy roller coasters I just can't do anymore because they give me such a headache/sick, that I think we will stick with the Disney rides. More to do there with our kids. Hopefully next year we will be able to get our season passes again.

We also headed up to the Park City Arts Festival for my birthday. It was a fun tradition that we always did while we lived in Utah. I have to say it was a miss year for cool things at the festival. Nothing there that really caught my eye.

We also went up to Salt Lake and toured the Conference Center which none of us had done. It was fun to learn a bit more about it. Then went around temple square. We went into the visitor center and saw all the pictures and Charlotte was so good. Whispering and telling 'me' about all the paintings. She seriously has the best Primary teachers. Then we headed over the the Church History Museum. The girls had fun in the kids area.

We also hit up Thanksgiving Point for their $2 Tuesday. Since it was so cheap we decided to do both the farm and the Dinosaur Exhibits. Charlotte loved that she finally got to see some pigs, but sad because she couldn't ride them. Savannah got to pet some horses and we took a wagon ride too. The Dinosaurs were cool and Charlotte was scared of most of them. I think almost all the pictures I have of her she is covering her eyes.

We are headed down to St. George tomorrow and 'hoping' fingers crossed that my father in law was able to score us some Little Mermaid tickets for tomorrow night. Then headed for home on Tuesday morning with a few hour stop at Powell again. The girls wanted to play in the lake for real for a bit.

So there is our vacation in a nut shell. Pictures soon to follow. :)

Charlotte'isms

Charlotte cracks me up. The things she says are so funny you can't help but laugh. I have been trying to remember all the silly things she says and really need to write them all down. Here are a few from the past month that have got us laughing.

Charlotte is walking up the stairs and toots.
Daddy say "Charlotte ... excuse you"
Charlotte: "Daddy, It came out my bum not my tongue so I don't need to say excuse me."

Getting out of the pool after swimming and being cold
"Mommy, I'm shaking like a leaf!"

Last month when I had a stomach bug
Savannah: "Mom do you not feel good?"
Me: "No, my stomach hurts"
Charlotte: "Mom, that means you need to go potty."

She says "He - cups" instead of hiccup.

While swimming with Daddy, noticed his arm pit hair
Charlotte: "Daddy! You have a bunch of hair under your arm."
Chad: "Yes, Charlotte I know."
Charlotte: "You need to make it go away cause I don't like it."

I really need to remember some more. She makes me smile. :)

Who knew? Part II

So as I posted earlier that I thought it was pretty cool to have a few visitors from around the world, I found one today. When looking at my stats it gave me a referring link. It is from the cutest girl ever in I'm guessing Germany, Belgium or Austria. Her name is Leni. Her blog is so much fun. I love seeing pictures from around the world. She has the cutest pixie cute and adorable dresses. I wish I was as tiny and petite as her. Anyway, again welcome. I'm all geeked. Fun to finally see a reader. :)

Another one bites the dust

Ah...second class down. I think I should get a gold star... As long as I get full credit on my final research paper (10 pages of ramblings that I am notorious for) then I will keep my 94.79% grade. What bugs me is it is SO close to an A. Am I so anal that I don't think an A- is good enough? I did get an A- in my first class too. And I have been out of school for over 10 years so it is probably okay that I have those grades. Well I get to enjoy the weekend with no homework, til the next class starts on Tuesday. History of Modern Europe, oh goodie I get the wars. I love the wars. :) Chad gets Communications, ugh. Not a fan of that class so I don't think I will be able to help him out with homework too much. Might not be able to ramble coherent posts for that one, but maybe.

Happy 7th Birthday Savannah

I can't believe Savannah is already seven years old. One more year and she will get baptized. Wow. Oh and she can get her ears pierced and have gum. (I know I am a mean mom not to have ever let her have gum, but she is good and always gives it to me) Since it became May she was counting down the days until her birthday. She was so excited when she woke up yesterday morning. She had even picked out her dress to wear to church the night before so we wouldn't be late. She got to pick a candy bar out in Primary.

When we got home from church, sadly she had to do a few chores she didn't do before. Like make her bed and pick up her room. After that was done she was antsy to when we would be able to open presents. I let her pick out what she wanted for dinner and she picked pizza, grapes, carrots and Sprite. Since it was Sunday we did ho memade pizza and she could pick the toppings.



About a week ago I asked her what type of cake she wanted for her birthday. She told me a horse cake. I was thinking more like chocolate, white, carrot. She said, "Oh (very disappointed), I'll have a chocolate cake". Well as I was out and about on Friday I came across a horse cake mold, so she got her wish. (So if anyone needs a horse cake, I got a pan) Daddy baked it for me Friday night and I got to decorate it. Other than the black frosting tasting weird it was all good.

I made sure the kids got the pieces with the black frosting

On the odd years we just do small family birthdays, or one extra family. We invited over cousin Michelle & Peter, and the Warmoth family. She enjoyed getting some horses from grandma and MONEY. (she was so excited about the money and was adamant that Dad does not put it in the bank), some of the beads that you melt together to create stuff (can't remember the name), silly erasers, scrapebook kit, kit to make little critters, slippers, horse calendar & nail polish. She has a few more on their way, but mom was too slow to get them here. She'll get some Roper boots and a Pascal bag from Rapunzel. So the birthday fun will last a bit longer. :)

It was a great day. She enjoyed playing with her new stuff. Thanks to those that came to make it special for her.

Girl Scouts Bridging to Brownies

I cannot believe Savannah has been in Girl Scouts for a year already. She had so much fun being a daisy and now she has officially bridged to a Brownie. Who knew girl scouts would be so much fun? She loves being a part of it.

We met at the new Skunk Creek Flats to do the ceremony. They said the pledge of allegiance, the girl scout oath and pledge. Then they went around the circle stating what they loved most about being a Daisy this past year and what they are looking forward to in Brownies. I had the recorder all ready for Savannah to say what she liked and she spoke so softly I couldn't hear. I will have to update this later with what she said.

Then it was the officially walking over the bridge. All the girls got to come over the bridge one by one. They got their bridging patch, did the girl scout three finger salute thingy (I should really learn what that is called), and got a handshake from their troop leader. The girls got to sing a few brownie songs and then got what else...brownies. One mom also brought some amazing cupcakes that were made from thin mints, lemon cookies, and tagalongs.

Savannah and Gallatin

After, we all hung out to play. Ordered some hot dogs, the kids played and Chad even got a game of horseshoes in. Charlotte had a few melt downs since she wanted to play horseshoes too. It was a beautiful night out and I think everyone had a great time.

♫ Just keep swimming ♪ Just keep swimming ♫

Charlotte finished off her first week of swimming lessons for the year. The weather was a little crazy and went from 71 on the first few days to 98 on the last day. She told me after getting out of the pool one day that she was "Shaking like a leaf". She cracks me up. She did a great job, and even started to learn how to dive from the side of the pool. She loves to jump off the diving board and is getting better about actually come up for air.








I had a friend ask me if I knew how to do the beach braid hair-do that they do in Mexico. So I tried it out on Charlotte. It was great for swimming lessons. I could wash her hair with the braids in and it kept it out of her eyes.








I do have a couple really cute videos of her swimming but I can never get blogger to upload them so I guess I will have to put them on Facebook.





She always had a smile on her face. She would jump in with a huge smile, and when she popped up for air there was her cheeser again. She loves the water and is a little fish.











Chad kept calling her 'Rasta' while her hair was like this. She liked the little beads I had in there too.

Who knew?

So I was tinkering around with all the tabs on my dashboard and clicked on the 'Stats' one. Wow, it tells you all sorts of stuff about when people view your blog, how long they are on, etc.. One thing I thought was interesting is it says what country the viewers are from. Who knew people from other parts of the world are looking at my blog. Not sure what they are finding interesting, or maybe I am just a link to another blog I have on my blogroll. Regardless these are the countries who have popped up to say hello.

This week
Belgium - 2
Russia - 1

This month
Belgium - 5
Russia - 3
Mexico - 2
Germany - 1
Ukraine - 1

From 2009-present
Belgium - 31
Austria - 26
Canada - 18
UK - 18
Norway - 14
Russia - 12
South Africa - 7
Belize - 4
Germany - 3
Ukraine - 1

Now, I could look at this as creepy. People from other parts of the world, reading about my life, seeing pictures of my kids. But I think it is fun. Like a pen pal from other parts of the world. So to all my international readers, I say Willkommen, добро пожаловать, Welkom, Bienvenida, Mottakelse, and Welcome. Please leave a comment next time you stop by. :)

Reading

I love that my girls love reading. I also LOVE that Savannah likes to read to Charlotte. One of their favorite places to go is Barnes and Noble. They will sit and read for hours. I happened to have my camera and wanted to sneak a few pictures.

Sesame Street Live

Thanks to Macaroni Kid - N. Phx, I won 4 tickets to see Sesame Street Live. I figured Savannah is a little old for it (although she said she wanted to go), so I invited one of Charlotte's BFFs Kennedy to come along too. We had fantastic seats on the 16th row. The kids all had fun dancing around and doing the cheers with the gang. They learned how to keep their body healthy from the Fabulous Five. It was fun to have a little outing and one on one time with Charlotte.

Keeping a lookout for Kennedy to come.

Loved that Cookie Monster was doing River Dance.
Charlotte, Kennedy & Cohen

Munchin on some Popcorn. Thanks Debbie!

If you haven't signed up for Macaroni Kid you are really missing out. It is free and has all sorts of great tips and places to go for families. They are all over the country so check out your local one.

Easter

Well the Easter Bunny found our house once again this year, although he didn't carry as much candy as years past. He did find some great things (at fantastically clearanced prices) to add and put to use instead.


The girls had a great time hunting for their baskets, on top of the hutch cabinet in the playroom (that bunny can jump) and under the sink in the bathroom.



They also had a blast hunting for all the eggs they colored with the Warmoths in the backyard. I forgot my camera so no pictures of the actual dying of eggs.



Again I neglected to take a picture of their adorably cute dresses that Grandma sent, but that's okay.

Easter has always been a holiday I have loved. As a kid we would always head down to St. George and stay with the Cieslewicz's. Between their 7 kids, our 4 kids and the occasional friend someone brought down it was a house full. But it made it so much fun. The part that I loved (and still do) the most is dying the eggs. We would usually end up dying quite a few flats of eggs and the number was usually around 250 at a minimum. With all these eggs they of course needed to be hidden. Paul, the dad, would hide all of them. He would even take into account if Maggie, the dalmatian had gotten any. He even hid some on the roof one year. Even when I was in high school he still hid the eggs. It was a lot of fun. Mymom the Easter Bunny thought I loved to hunt for my basket and I was always the last to find mine.

I also love the real meaning behind Easter. The past few years the sacrifices He has made for me and my family have really hit home. I know the Atonement is real and I have used it in my life. I have seen it truly at work, as a loved one was lost, found, forgiven and brought back to the fold. I am so thankful for our Savior and am grateful for his atoning sacrifice He made for all of us.

School..School and more School.

I think I am about done with school. I have a love hate relationship with Savannah being gone. She loves going (most of the time) and I love having her away (said in the most loving way), but we both hate getting up in the morning for it. Then I seem to be constantly helping Chad with his homework or nagging him to do it. Shesh, I shouldn't have to remind a 35 year old to do his homework, but then I realize he is a man and you have to remind them to do everything. Then comes MY homework. Wow being out of school for 10 years sure does make you second guess things. When I was in college before I just rambled off some gibberish at the last minute and still got a good grade. Now, I am busting my rear trying to research all this information and site correctly, so I can manage a good grade. I did get an A- in my first class and after 2 weeks in my upper division history class I am at an A- as well. So I guess all in all its not too bad. These classes are a bit intense and after the current one I am going to petition to take 2 at a time. Bring on the History. Hopefully I can plow through and be done by New Years with my Bachelors and Chad with his Associates. Hopefully....unless I go crazy by then.

Phoenix Temple

I was so excited to hear that work is starting on the Phx temple, seeing the picture of all the dirt being moved around made me do a little happy dance inside, until I read through the article and read the posts that followed on azcentral. I am appalled at the rude and hurtful things that people are saying. I guess I have never had such opposition in my face before, and it's not like they are in front of me saying it. I cannot believe the things people are writing and how much hate is behind their words against those that belong to the LDS church. I have tears streaming down my face and honestly feel like I want to vomit. How can people be so cruel? They bring up all these negative things that a few members have done. What about the Baseline Killer what was his religion or the guy who shot a kid not too long ago, huh? When is never a mention of what their faith was? Why do you not take their religion and run it through the gutter. There are people of every faith that sometimes do wild, weird, crazy and sometimes scary things. Everyone still has their agency to make choices on how to live their life. Does knowing their faith make the crimes more heinous? No, I don't think so.

We are a faith who has endured so much and turn the other cheek. We seem to be always be under constant fire of opposition, why? (Although deep down I do know why) I have no idea why this is hitting me so hard today. Having a temple only a few short miles from my home will bring countless blessings to not only my home and family but all those surrounding it. I cannot wait until that day! I look forward to the open house where I can bring my daughters in and also my non-member friends so they can experience its beauty and to know a little about what we do inside making them so sacred. It will be a beacon of beauty to this area.

I am proud to stand and say, that yes I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know this makes me a little peculiar in the eyes of the world and I'm okay with this. I know that as the opposition is trying to pull us down and drag us in the mud, it will only make me stronger.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel..How long is your hair?!

Well we found out last night that it takes four people to hold Rapunzel's hair. How do I know this you ask? Well we had a special guest stop by our house after dinner last night. Here we are minding out own business when there is a knock at the door..who could it be? It was Rapunzel, making a special visit to deliver her new movie to our house. Wasn't that extra sweet of her.


The girls were so excited. I think Charlotte was in shock for the first bit, because she kept her distance a bit. After a bit I think she finally realized Rapunzel was IN HER HOUSE! And she got all excited. Savannah was bouncing off the walls. She as all giggles and smiles. Our neighbor Maiya was over as well, and was just as awestruck as my girls.

Rapunzel showed them her beautiful dress, and asked the girls what her name started with. They told her 'R' and she said there is an 'R' sewn into her dress and if they could find it. They found a bunch of them among the flowers. She even had a flower for each of their hair.

Pascal was going to come out and play but he seemed to have disappeared but left a stuffed one of himself behind in Flynn satchel. The girls had fun playing hide and go seek with him.


Charlotte wanted to sing Rapunzel her song so they sang a little song as well. When it was time to say goodbye they all gave her a big hug.


Once Rapunzel was gone, Savannah wanted to make sure I told her teacher Miss Fields about the visit and sent pictures. Charlotte told me that Rapunzel told her that Flynn Rider was coming over to our house tomorrow. We shall see about that one. She thinks she is going to marry Flynn. Look out Rapunzel... :)

Thank you Rapunzel for skipping over all the way from Germany ;) to come to visit us. It made for a very magical evening.