April 11-April 28

Apr 11
This girl is a natural!

Apr 12
I fed the missionaries with a neighbor.  There was a misunderstanding, and last minute it ended up being a picnic in my 'backyard'.  But, my new, pretty salad utensils still looked nice.

Apr 13
Cake for Jodi's shower.  I didn't manage to get any other pictures, but it was decorated super cute and Jodi got a lot of useful and cute things.

Apr 14
Hryum relaxing at my mom's.  Comfy.

Apr 15
Kate wanted to play hide and seek, and this is where she was. (It's usually locked, not sure why she was able to get it open).

Apr 16
Milo had been pretty sick for about a week.  This was the first day he seemed back to his old self and I caught him laughing.

Apr 17
We had a death in the family.  Jake, our beta fish died.  I felt bad.  I told Hyrum, and he responded by saying, "It's okay, we can get a new pet.  I really want a dog".

Apr 18
Mailed dad a package.  I got the address wrong, but it still made it -in record time.

Apr 19
My mom helped me with a few organization projects.  We put a small shelf in the garage, a couple in my kitchen closet and I finished up with cleaning and organizing another cupboard and pantry.  This is pretty dang organized for me

Apr 20
Jodi came up and we went swimming with the kids.  I almost started thinking that maybe I could take the three of them swimming (by myself) until I had to get them changed at the end.  No way.

Apr 21
A gift from Mimi.  Hyrum is a great gift-receiver.  He loved these.  Wore them all afternoon and kept changing between the two pair.

Apr 22
Here's a cute little plumbers crack of a nearly potty-trained little girl.  She doesn't even use pull-ups during naps and bedtime!

Apr 23
First game of the season.  I'm so glad I didn't have the little kids with me, it was freezing!  And, sense Hyrum and I left at 3 pm (I also had a meeting that afternoon so my aunt Karen was nice enough to watch the other kids all night) I was unprepared for the cold weather.  Hyrum was a trooper, not to mention he has SO much more of an attention span this year.  He hasn't made huge leaps and bounds as far as ability goes, but I'm also happy that I don't have to pull him out of the volleyball sand pit too.

Apr 24
Bath time.  I know he's too big the baby tub.  But, it's too hard to do baths upstairs with two other kids running around. So, for the time being we're still doing baths in the baby tub.

Apr 25
Preschool field-trip to the Aquarium.  Just me and Hyrum.  My mom came down to watch the kids during their naps.  (I also took the opportunity of only one child to get the oil changed in the Honda)

Apr 26
This is one of too-many-to-count meltdowns Friday afternoon.  Drama, drama, drama.

Apr 27
Today was the MS (Multiple Sclerosis) walk in Salt Lake City and we went down to support Denise.  We learned a little this year for next year.  We needed to check in at 8, but the race didn't start until 10 -that's a lot of time for 3 little kids to stay content.  Also, it's not so much a race as it is a walk.  And a leisure one at that.  We'll try to get closer to the starting point next year too.

April 28
Sunday dinner at the Hardcastle's.  We were celebrating Big Matt's birthday and Trevor's graduation.  Gordon went out front and was racing the rock climber and Hyrum.  The boys won every time

Little Papi

I don't comment much on current events (besides one or two political posts a year).  I haven't mentioned any of the recent mass shootings or my feelings about the state of our country and world.  It's too overwhelming  most of the time.  When parents lose their children and children lose their parents it's just too much for my everyday life.  My life is full of naptimes, and going potty, and preschool and t-ball commuting, and going to the bank and skyping with Justin.  Not much more than that.  I don't necessarily agree with the 'head in the sand' outlook on life, but when it comes to feeling safe and happy with me and my kids, that is the approach I sometimes take.  

I had the news on every evening and afternoon during naps, kept up to date via the internet with the events in Boston this week, and I felt a strange connection to it.  I couldn't tell you why.  I've run a few 5K's -never came close to a marathon.  I've visited the city of Boston once, and although I loved being there and the history, I haven't made it back yet.  And, I'm a pretty loyal Red Sox fan.  Somewhere in there, I felt a small connection to the explosions and shootings.  

Because we're Sox fans around here, somebody -me or the kids (or both) were wearing our Boston gear this week, which I was proud of.  (To be honest, it's not very often that we go more than a day or two without wearing BoSox gear around here on a regular basis).  Hyrum asked me while driving to tball the other night why the American flags were only half-way up, and I tried to explain it to him.  We've included the people of Boston in our prayers this week.  

To add to this weeks slight melancholy feeling, we had a death in the family.  Jake, our Beta, died on Wednesday.  I debated for a moment on what to do (quickly replace or tell the kids) but I told the kids that he died. I worried a little about Hyrum's reaction, the kid is sometimes a little overly sensitive, but he's also resilient!  He said, "Oh... it's okay.  Maybe we can get a new pet this time.  Like a dog".  

I decided to replace the family pet and thought I'd convince the kids to pick a red or a blue one and we'd come up with a Boston or Red Sox type name for him.  

Meet Little Papi 

Red AND blue and named after Big Papi.  He gave a GREAT (but slightly profane speech) at today's Red Sox game.  You can find it yourself if you'd like to.  

Late Easter post

Okay... two weeks later and I finally got the kids in their Easter outfits and attempted a picture.  The picture didn't go so well and Milo decided to spit up a bit of his purple (blueberries & mangos) on his white shirt.  It was a rough morning, but here goes.  

Other Easter festivities

Easter egg hunt and breakfast at the church (before Hyrum's haircut)

We also had an early dinner at Mimi and Papa's the week before, Easter baskets the morning of (pictures are lost forever) and a quick hunt at the Hardcastles.  

March 29-April 10

March 29
Kate is trying on a bit of her future.  I think she's got a few years still.

Mar 30
Easter egg hunt at the church.

*Sad news  In my effort to take more pictures with my actual camera, I took cute pictures of the kids Easter baskets.  An Easter bunny DVD, books, coloring books with crayons and sidewalk chalk.  There was an error with my card in my camera (had never happened to me before) and it's all gone.  Luckily, that's all I think I lost.

Mar 31
Easter baskets.  The kids were sick Easter Sunday, so I'm planning on dressing them up next week for church and taking an actual Easter picture.

April 1
I'm trying to push a binky on Milo.  I'm not sure it's going to work, but I couldn't resist the baseball one.

 Apr 2
Cupcakes for a Relief Society activity.  I didn't make it to the activity, but I did manage to get my cupcakes there.  This was the first time I ever tried to 'sculpt' something out of fondant.  If you can count carrots as sculpting.

Apr 3
It's baseball season!  Go Red Sox!!!

Apr 4
Spring trip to Wheeler Farm.  These lambs were only 4 days old.

Apr 5
First sleepover for Milo!  Two nights at Grandma and Grandpa Lafeens.

Apr 6
Kate and I had a weekend with just us.  This was her Easter dress and we went down to City Creek to pick up my necklace from Tiffany's.  Kate liked the fountains!

Apr 7
Present for Kate from Grandma and Grandpa Lafeen.

Apr 8
There's a first time for everything.  We've never misplaced Kate's blanket before, for more than 10 minutes anyway.  She had it at breakfast, but by nap time it was no where to be found.  I looked everywhere.  At least four times.  I even snuck back into Milo's room after he fell asleep, even though I had searched in there twice before he fell asleep.  After crying for more than hour, Kate fell asleep for about 45 minutes, it was pretty miserable.  Fast forward to dinner time, after a prayer and staring to go through the entire house again, I found it in her lunch box!

Apr 9
Playdough.  It's a bit of a mess, but this kept both kids busy and playing nicely for at least 30 minutes.  Hyrum stuck with it for almost an hour.

Apr 10
Yeah... we have a thumb sucker.  I've tried to encourage a binky during the day, but that's how he goes to sleep -and he even shoves it in there in between spoonfuls of food.  I was a thumb sucker, so I guess I deserved at least one of them.