For My Birthday I Want Good Smiles :)

With Christmas just a month away, I still hadn't taken any pictures for our annual card/update and I was starting to get a little panicked, so I told the kids that for my birthday all I wanted was for them to cooperate for 10 minutes for a quick photo shoot. The real challenge in Amarillo is finding a day that's not ridiculously windy, and luckily we got one on my birthday! 

After school we played at a park for a bit to wait for golden hour, and then when the sun starting getting low we hopped in the van, changed clothes and drove to meet Dave. Our shooting location was an empty lot behind the gas station just minutes from our house. It hadn't been mowed and had lots of long, golden grass and the photos turned out amazing!!

I'm still a little in awe that I managed to get good smiles from the kids, with the correct lighting and focus. Normally one or two of those areas come up short. I not only got a couple good group photos, but also nice individuals of each child. It truly was the best birthday gift!! 

We used the vertical photo for our Christmas card, but also got a great horizontal one as well. It was nice to have the luxury of choosing!

Sophie - Age 7

Davey - Age 4

Charlie - Age 2

Griffin - Age 7 Months

I also hopped in a few photos, since it was my birthday after all. Sadly I did not get one with the older kids because they had already run back to the van.

March Mishaps

I'm not sure if pregnancy has cause me to let my guard down, or if the extra time at home due to coronavirus is leading to mischief, but we have had WAY more "incidents" outside the usual messes and trouble over the past couple weeks than normal. No one is innocent, and luckily no one has been hurt, but I am so ready for things to calm down! These kids sure can cause trouble sometimes, which makes me wonder why we decided to add one more to our crew...

After several warnings about putting a nite lite right next to her bed because it was dangerous, Sophie finally had an "I told you so" moment. Her favorite blanket "Purple" got a little too close in the night and received a few burn wounds. We are so lucky that nothing actually caught fire or her whole bed would have gone up in flames while she slept.

We were getting ready to leave for the library when I though I heard water. I started checking bathrooms to see if a sink and been left running and found the kids' toilet gushing water. Darling Davey decided to try and flush a cup and there was water everywhere!! It took me about 20 towels to mop it up and we ran space heaters and fans for the next two days to hopefully take care of any remaining moister. I am so glad I caught it before leaving or we would have had a real flood on our hands when I got back!

I'm still not sure what happened here... I went to get Charlie in the morning and found his bed, blankets, and a few books covered in blood, yet there was nothing wrong with him. My best guess is that a bloody nose in the night may have led to him vomiting, but we will never know because he is too young to tell us.

Charlie loves to mess with things and ended up breaking the handle assembly on the toilet. Luckily it was a pretty easy fix. 

Charlie also took it upon himself to organize all our dental floss! I was shocked that only one got unwound during the process.

 Charlie (he is being featured a lot!) did some engraving on the plantation shutters in Sophie's room. He is such a quiet, happy guy but I guess we need to keep better eyes on him!

Davey decided to decorate the interior of the van with a ballpoint pen. My cleaning efforts have not been successful so far. It's faded, but the marks are all still there. A week before this happened, he also climbed in the van and actually started the car, which could have ended so badly, but he was caught within seconds of his dastardly deed.

Spring Break

The first week of April was Spring Break for my school! We are going to be traveling most of the summer, and had no plans to venture anywhere for this break. It was nice to just push registration and enrollment to the side for a time and have nothing else to do but spend time with the kids, a little preview of what life will be like in a few months after we move and I'm done working.

MONDAY: We were home most of the day. The kids played outside in the morning while I did some much needed cleaning in the house. Sophie had a birthday party for a friend from church later that afternoon. It was "Trolls" themed and she ate lots of candy, rainbow cake, and had a fabulous time. I was glad the party was during my week off so she could attend.

TUESDAY: I had promised Sophie a trip to Jungle Jim's during my break, and this was probably the highlight of her week. The place was a zoo and really hard to navigate with the stroller, but we still never had to wait more than one cycle for any of the rides. A co-worker also came up with her kids and it was fun to see them and hang out for a bit. Soph took several turns on the roller coaster, and Davey even joined her on a few rides!

I pulled their seat belt so tight, and he still almost managed to escape. I was definitely the first parent through the gate when the ride stopped to snatch him out of the rocket before he climbed out on his own. 

Sophie chose to wait another cycle for the carousel just so she could have this silver horse

While we were having a party at Jungle Jim's, Dave defended his dissertation and passed! HOORAY!! This was the final step of the very long journey we've been on. Now we just need to wait for graduation in a couple weeks to make it official. 

WEDNESDAY: To celebrate Dave's successful defense, we left the kids with a sitter and had a ski day up at Snowbird! It was strange to think this might be our last time here since we'll be moving in just a few months. Pregnancies and babies have really limited my time on the mountain, but we used to come up all the time and have so many good memories skiing here together. 

Dave took carved really sharp to get some good spray for the camera, but it was a little too much and wiped out shortly after this shot :) 

Enjoying the groomers on a nice spring ski day

At the top of Hidden Peak - one of my favorite views in Utah

THURSDAY: Davey took a really long morning nap, so we just hung out at home for first part of the day. After he woke up we ran to Costco for a few things (and some samples) and then wandered over to library story time. There were only 2 other kids there instead of the normal 30, which was both strange and a little nice. Sophie really enjoyed getting to answer every question and being selected as the "helper" for all the activities. After Dave returned home we had dinner and then walked over to Cranberry Park to enjoy the outdoors, since rain was in the forecast for the weekend. The kids had a great time on the swings and playing in the sand, definitely getting a sandbox once we have our own place). 

Daddy assisting with a minor "sand in the eye" incident

FRIDAY: This morning we set out for our weekly grocery run. We normally go on Saturday because of work and I love it whenever I can make a weekday trip instead. The store was pretty much empty, which was good, because Davey was working on his banshee calls and was making sure we knew he didn't feel like riding in a shopping cart at the moment. After naps we braved a trip to the aquarium. I knew it would be crazy because of Spring Break, but our membership will be up at the end of the month, so we are trying to visit as much as we can. We have loved being so close for the last few years and will really miss our weekly trips here :(

SATURDAY: Dave watched the kids in the morning while I went down to Provo for the last student "Gifts of the Heart" exchange. It was smaller than some of the previous exchanges, but I was still able to get a few good things for the kids and I think they are now set for summer. Later I took Sophie to see Beauty and the Beast at the theater near our house. I think she was more focused on the snacks than the movie, but she was happy and that's all that matters. I also had a good time, although I couldn't help but make comparisons and some things just can't live up to the original...

Davey peeling an orange in one of his new shirts

She's a popcorn junkie

SUNDAY: We were surprised to wake up to snow! I knew there was snow in the forecast, but it rained so heavily the day before that I thought it would be too wet for anything to stick. There were probably a couple inches on the ground and Sophie desperately wanted to play outside, so we let her. We might not see much snow on a regular basis once we move and so I wanted her to enjoy this opportunity. She tromped around with her shovel for awhile, and then I joined her to make a snowman. Davey still has no love for snow and was happy to watch from the doorway. 

Pictures of the Kids

A friend in our ward is currently enrolled in photography school. She had an assignment a couple weeks ago to practice shooting toddlers and asked if I would be willing to share Sophie and Davey. Of course I said yes!! I have a million pictures of these two, but it was nice to get some professional looking ones on a neutral background. Here are a few of my favorites!

Sophie was a little reserved with her smiles, but we still got a few good ones. I sure love this girl and can't believe how grown up she is looking these days. I'm glad she took one of Soph with her favorite blanket "Purple."

Davey had the opposite problem and was, if possible, too smiley. He was practically giddy and spent a good portion of the shoot trying to fling himself off the chair, or crawl off the backdrop. That's just who he is though - a ridiculously happy ball of energy. 

P.S. - He can stand! No steps yet, but he can stay up for 30-40 seconds if he's distracted. Standing makes him nervous and he normally drops to the ground once he realizes there's no support. 

Fall Leaves

Our neighbor had a big tree in her yard taken out a month ago. A good portion of the tree used to hang over our yard as well, and now that it's gone we've had no leaves to rake up, but also no leaves to play in. Last Saturday was a really nice day, so after lunch I walked the kids down by our mailbox where there are some big trees and let the kids have some fun. Sophie kicked leaves all around, threw them, rolled in them, and had a fabulous time. Davey mostly scattered and tried to taste them :)