Celebrating 2 at the Zoo

We celebrated Soren's birthday by getting a zoo pass.

We splurged on ice cream and carousel rides to commemorate the eve of his big day.

I know what you are thinking....thats a huge ice cream for a little guy!

It is, but see,  I never buy one for myself, I just lick off the kids cones. Also, Darin can eat more than one, so he is there to be clean up batter.  Lastly, the ice cream needs to be big enough to be dropped, so that when 1/2 of it is on the ground, there is enough left to avoid tears.

True story...see? No tears.

He also got a pair of much needed crocadillie shoes to match his big brother. 

Miriam and Bub have since expressed their concern for the lack of gifts he has to open.

They each went through their own toys and found somethings for him.

They are, as I type this, blowing up tiny balloons for him to run through when he wakes up from his nap to make it up to him.  

Sweet silly kids.

I know what makes him happy.  

Spending time with his brother and sister, not wearing socks on a daily basis, and a full belly.

It's already been a perfect pre-birthday!

Our little grizzly bear

The Bug expert

The turkey!

(just joking Miriam, you are our swan!)

Our Soren turned 2 today!

Soren was our earliest smiler and giggler.

He was a strong baby and has become a strong kid.  Many times this year he has hauled riding toys or other heavy things up the stairs.  I of course, didn't notice until he is on the last step up full of glee at his accomplishment. He is a determined little soul.  He MUST snap together his car seat, climb in and out of the car himself, and put on his own pants. He will go and do anything Bub does.  He will hold any bug Bub catches, he will scream his head off if he doesn't get whatever Bub has.

He is a social butterfly....says "Hi" and "Bye" to everyone we meet. Smiles all day long.  He is full of enthusiasm and joy unless things don't go his way, then we see THE FURY!

  I love it all...smiles and tears.

In the words of Mindy Gledhill

"Every little thing you do....

I do adore."

At 2 Soren's favorites are....

 Food:  He is a pretty good eater, can't think of one thing more than others except for maybe things dipped in ranch dressing.

Books:  Star Wars ABC's, Curious George

TV show:  Sesame Street

Song:  Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam and that song that goes "Toniiiiiight we are youououng so we set the world on FIIIIIIRE" He LOVES when that song comes on the radio, and sometimes sings it while playing quietly at home.

Toys: Whatever Bub is playing with honestly, but he does like tops and anything that shoots quite a bit.

Games:  Whatever Bub or Miriam are playing.

Just some stuff for me

Our dentist to Miriam: "I am going to take a look at your teeth"

Soren right after: "look teef"

Soren is our little mimic at the moment.  He tends to repeat the last few words he hears, especially with Byron.  Bub has a little echo all day long.  Bub: "Can we watch a show Mom?"  Soren: "Show....Mom?" and then I say yes because they are both so darling! AND then they gallop up the stairs together with glee  saying "sanks Mom!" and my heart gets all mushy.
I want to remember how Soren loves to watch Miriam's soccer games and every once and awhile yells "Go Mee-am!".  Byron, the entire game will be searching for bugs, rocks, or watching the clouds.

I want to remember how entertained Bub is by bugs right now.  He found two fire bugs he thought were mating, I simply said I thought he was right (we watch lots of national geographic around here so I wasn't too surprised to realize he knew what that word meant).  Well he was right, we have a terrarium full of baby fire bugs!  He has been watching our caterpillars turn into chrysalis' and charting their progress in is "scientific journal".  Today he found a spider that scared him, but I calmly helped him catch it (way to go me!!!). He hasn't stopped watching it, he has such patience when it comes to science and nature. He is calm, and hilariously funny, he is a joy to have around. 

I am extra proud of our Mee-am lately.  

A good opportunity has opened up for her, but it's something she will have to do alone.  She will enter into the unknown without her close friends to gather strength from. She is a worrier by nature, and a pleaser so I wouldn't have been surprised if she had refused to take the plunge.  

She said to me the other day "I am scared, and sad, but I am glad you made me try and I want to do it"

Today, the boys and I did all our errands riding in the Madsen.  

The elementary school, the library, Target and back home. It was so therapeutic, the whole time I was thinking about my blessings.  No matter how unsatisfied I am with my body I am so grateful I am strong and can ride for miles on a bike.  No matter how many irritating things occur (washing machine on the fritz) I am so grateful for the convinces in my life that allow me to attend soccer games rather than wash clothes by hand all afternoon. No matter how obnoxious neighborhood drama becomes (HOA living is hard) I am grateful for the wonderful neighbors and that we live in a safe, beautiful area. It was just one of those days that no matter how many things went wrong (we have a cavity to fill) I wouldn't choose to be anyone else, I wouldn't choose to be doing anything else and I wouldn't choose to be doing it with anyone else.

That sounds like I am a regular Pollyanna, but those who know me know better.  Far to often I "tend my garden of lack".  Today just wasn't one of those days so I wanted to record and remember it.  I want to re-read this post on days when the irritating vacuum, failed diet, and bemoaning kids get the best of me. 

 Because really, even on my worst days I am glad I get to be apart of it all.

Welcome PicMonkey

My sister-in-law as lamenting the loss of picnik a FREE photo editing website.

I mentioned to Darin that I too was feeling the pain.

He said to try PicMonkey

So I did.

Very fun way to waste an evening!

Huntin' in the Dark

My (new) Aunt and Uncle organized a flashlight egg hunt the weekend after Easter. This even was held at my Grandpa's house, a enchanting mini-farm (he has a real larger farm close by) in a very tiny rural town.

The beauty of this idea is that all the supplies were 50-75% off, and anything involving flashlights ratchets up the excitement.

The hidden beauty of this event was that the Glee Club my Grandpa sings with was performing that night as well. Although he has performed with this group on and off for many many years I have never been to a performance. Can you believe that? Why have I never been? I am still trying to figure that one out.

It was wonderful.

So inspiring to see normal everyday people working together to create something great.

I'm pretty proud to be my Grandpa's Granddaughter.

(my cousin sings too-he's a great guy, has a darling family)

So glad my kids got to hear/see the concert. There is lots of musical talent on both sides of their family tree. Crossing my fingers it's made it's way down to them.

Tatum (sweetie-pie on left) has a love of music. She gave the accordion solo a standing ovation!

Then on to Grandpa's house/mini farm for the flashlight hunt.

3 of my cousin's families ended up canceling at the last minute which meant there were TONS and TONS of eggs to be found by the rest of the kids. It was a chilly night, and rained before and after our hunt, but we had a little bon-fire going, and were running around so we stayed warm.

Everyone loved it....even the two teenage girls were squealing with delight.

Top it off with a silly string fight and thats a rockin' party.

Happy Spring!!

Easter Sunday

Luckily Uncle Mark was around to share our Middle East/India fusion dinner.

(mostly Jerusalem inspired, but cilantro butter sounded good with the fish, and then mango lassis for dessert)

We have loved having him close enough for Sunday visits while he is going to school.

We will all miss him when he moves, but my kids especially will feel it. Every Sunday, right after church one of them will ask hopefully,

"Is Uncle Mark coming for dinner?".

He is up for anything, and has a talent for really listening to the kids. That is a rare quality in adults, I know because Miriam told me so.

"Up for anything" Uncle Mark, joined us for an Easter bike ride to the park.

Welcome Spring!!

Our neighborhood egg hunt was a combination of sunshine and snow.

That is a squinting combination, good thing the Easter Bunny left sunglasses in the kids baskets.

It took Soren awhile to catch the vison of our celebration.

He soon came to see the beauty of the hunt.

(those foil wrapped eggs won him over)

Good times with good neighbors.

Then off to our cousin Spring Party, an Easter highlight for us.

Cristin always has a yummy lunch ready, and such fun activities for the kids.

hmmmm...not much difference between our normal and our "be crazy" picture.

That kind of sums up the day, and we LOVE IT!

Maddie stuffed 220 eggs, the men hid them. Rumor has it they began throwing them out at the end.

Then there was time to play in Le Petite Ville,

but not enough time to satisfy the kids.

Good thing for them we are related.

We'll be back for more pretending.

SB day #5

It snowed!

We knew it was coming but still felt strange.

No one felt like going out in the cold, but it was okay, we had lots to do inside.

Miriam tie-dyed the paper towels, the boys played scientist.

It ended just as you would imagine....

colored water all over the floor.

I knew it was coming and felt the work was worth the entertainment.

We ended the night with resurrection cookies.

We've been following Christ's last week with nightly scriptures, pictures and stories.

This activity is always a favorite.

Then ran Miriam to a "late night" while the boys had one of their own at home.

Miriam is getting quite the social life....not sure how I feel about that.

Spring Break continues....

Wednesday we got invited to a Kangaroo Zoo birthday party!

We've never been so this was a fun adventure.

Miriam was there too, but mid-way through she went swimming with friends.

Thursday was our Activity Day Easter party.

Picnic, Easter lesson, jump rope, red rover and my part.......

Jelly Bean Bracelets

I bought the starburst beans because they taste good (and were on sale) but I am wondering if the cheap play dough tasting beans work better. These were just super sticky. Perhaps they have too much sugar and not enough wax? If I do it again I will go to the dollar store for totally gross stale beans and see if things are less messy.

SB day #2

City Creek

Don't worry, we didn't see too many creepy people like those showcased on their ads and billboards.

Mostly totally normal, flawed, smiling people and perhaps a larger than average number of dark suits.

The best part was lunch with Alicia.

Uncle Craig did it again. Completely surprised us. He is going to have me looking around every corner now, expecting him to just be there.

We ate at Bocata. Loved it!

And Alicia...just so you know, as soon as we parted Soren started saying "Leesha, Leesha, Leesha". I told him it was too late to turn on the charm, the moment had passed but he kept right on with it.

(Byron is not pictured above because he chose not to be)

Skybridge, I would imagine that lots of future proposals will take place at this very spot.

Lots of fun fountains, be prepared to have wet children.

Squishy play land like they have in most malls, only BIGGER.

Ahhh one shot of Byron.

Handsome one isn't he? Semi popped collar, he's cool like that.

Rounded the day off with FREE Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Made a donation to Autism Awareness in honor of Chase and Conner.

Big day in the Big city.