Day one

I took SO many photos, I'm going to have to split them up. Too much posting in one day is irritating to me. So here's the beginning of our trip.

We left early Thursday morning for the airport. Drove down, traffic was great, got to "Lot B" at LAX for long term parking, unloaded the car and started walking to the bus. Leah falls. Scratches her shin and starts to cry. Clean her up, load my arms back up, head to the bus (again). Get to the bus, start loading the bus with all our luggage and kids. Ashlyn falls. Scratches her knee and starts to cry. Get on the bus, clean her up. So we're not even to the airport and I have already applied three band aids(Ashlyn's booboo required two). This is going to be a "fun" trip I thought to myself.

Ha...okay, it really wasn't all that bad. But it was a pretty funny start to our trip so I wanted to document it.

The airplane ride there was...hm....how to describe 3 1/2 hours stuck in a TINY little spot with three young children....interesting. That is my best word for it. The girls were actually pretty darn good. They played playdough (who would've have thought that would be a good thing to bring on a plane, but it was), colored pictures, watched a movie, etc. It was a grand ole time for them. Poor little Brandon on the other hand. Not so grand of a time. He had been kind of congested, and smart me didn't bring any benedryl or anything for him. His ears must have been hurting pretty bad on the way up and down because he cried his little eyes out the whole way. That was not so fun. The middle part of the trip with him was...okay, I guess. It's just really an awful age to fly with. I really think there should be a "no fly time" for all kids between the ages of 1 and 2 1/2. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. And we really wanted to be at Sydney's wedding, so we toughed it out. And I don't talk about my poor hubby (who I really do adore) very much on my blog, but I have to say that he went above and beyond the call of "daddyhood" the whole time we were there and was SO great to keep the kids entertained and happy so much of the time so I could visit with my family that I don't get too see too often. I love you honey!!! (okay enough mushiness)

Here are some photos from the flight. More posts to come. If you get bored, feel free to stop reading at anytime. I won't be offended.

Not a great photo of me, but it's the only one I got.

See Paul up at the front, holding Brandon and trying to get him to sleep. Poor little guy was SO tired.

Luckily he did finally fall asleep for about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, Paul didn't get to move for that long (trying to keep him asleep) and his poor back was killing him by the time Brandon finally woke up.

Cinderella

I took the girls to see a rendition of "Cinderella" at our local theater this afternoon. It was a cute little show. The girls thought it was the greatest thing ever. Ashlyn was at the edge of her seat the whole time (or maybe that was because she was trying to see between the seats in front of her). And Leah got to go up to the front and be on stage, before the show started, to sing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" and "Row, Row your boat". She waltzed right up there like she owned the show. Ashlyn on the other hand, was "too shy" to go up. Does that surprise anyone about my little cuties?

I let them dress up to go to the show and they got to pick out their OWN candy bar. They were SO excited. It's nice that it's pretty easy to please little kids.

Leah is the second from the left if you can't tell. I took this before they turned the lights on the stage.

It was a fun mommy/daughter(s) date. I'm sure we'll do it again.

Mommy in training

Does this look familiar to all you mommy's out there? Exhausted mommy holding baby while sleeping on the couch, just so that BOTH can get a little rest? I think she's just preparing herself for the future. TOO cute!

(I swear the only time this girl sleeps during the day is in this very spot on the couch.)

Interview with a 6 year old

I promise this will be my last post for at least a few days. I know I have been on a posting roll. Lots has been going on. But I couldn't let Ashlyn's birthday pass without a question and answer interview for the memory books. So here it goes.

What is your favorite color?

Pink, purple, gold, and blue

Who is your best friend?

Grace. But I really like Mailey, Blake and Angela too.

What was your favorite thing about your birthday party?

Doing the potato sack races

What was your favorite present?

My jewelry box and my Thumbelina doll (from Uncle Ty and Kohl)

Did you have a good first day of school?

Yes, I got to wear the birthday hat and everyone sang to me.

What is your favorite thing about first grade?

Recess (I get two of them) and lunch

What is your favorite thing to learn in school?

Science. We get to learn about bugs this year. Even butterflies.

What is your favorite thing about church?

Singing time

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Mom, you already know this answer. I want to be a swim teacher and a gymnastics teacher.

How many kids do you want to have?

Ten. Five girls and five boys.

Where do you want to go to college?

Hm? I don't know. Why are you asking me all these questions.

Okay, I guess I'm done. I love you sweetie. So glad you are part of our family. It wouldn't be the same without you!

Leah didn't want to be left out of the conversation, so here are a few answers from her too.

What is your favorite color?

Pink

What do you want to be when you are older?

A mom

How many kids do you want to have?

Five. All girls. No Brandon's (boys). Just a Dad (I assume she means a husband here). Although I promise she LOVES her brother.

What is your favorite thing about church?

When I get to go to my class (nursery)

Okay, good night Leah. I love you too! And YES, for the 20th time today, I promise we'll have an Ariel Pajama party for you when you turn 4. I guess I'm gonna have to hear about it for the next six months. Whew!

1st and 6

I lived with my Aunt when her youngest started his first day of school. I remember watching her and wondering why she was so sad to see her last child start school. I thought she was weird. She was finally getting some freedom. Some time to her self to do what she wanted. But she didn't look excited. And now I understand.

Because today is Ashlyn's 6th birthday. It is also her first day of 1st grade. The first time she will be at school all day long. The first time she will have her own desk with her own name on it. And the first time she will HAVE to eat lunch at school. And while I know it is not the first time she has been away from me, I still feel like this is a BIG day. Because she will be away from home for a long time every day. She will eat lunch and play on the playground with the OLDER kids. And she will have to start fending for herself and making choices for herself in a way that she hasn't had to with Kindergarten or preschool. I'm excited and nervous for her all at the same time. I took her to her classroom this morning. She got so nervous. She wouldn't let go of my leg to go into class. She just clung to me and cried. I wanted to tell her she didn't have to go. Didn't have to leave me. But I couldn't. Instead, I tried to show her all the fun things inside and tell her how some of the same friends from Kindergarten were in there. I took her to her desk and she started to calm down. I waved goodbye to her, walked out, and back down the hill to my car. I wanted to cry. I should be happy. Should be excited to have one less kid around all day. But really I just miss her. And I'm sad.

But I'm sure tomorrow will be better.....for both of us.

Hello Kitty Pajama Party

You've seen the cake, now here is the story.

Ashlyn has been DYING to have her Hello Kitty Pajama Party all summer long. It's a LONG summer when your birthday is at the end of it. But she was good and when the day finally arrived, she was so excited, she could hardly contain herself. We had had a big party last year, so I told her she could invite two friends to a pajama party and we would play games, do crafts and watch a cartoon. She picked two friends from her Daisy Scouts group, Grace and Mailey. The girls all had a blast together. They ate pizza, had cake and ice cream, colored pictures and even put on a rather good performance complete with tickets for me, Daddy and Brandon. It was TOO cute. And of course, no pajama party is complete without a movie. A Hello Kitty movie of course. We blew up the air mattress and the girls all cozied up on it with some popcorn and blankets. We hardly heard a peep from them for the length of the whole movie, which was only 50 minutes, but still.

For some reason, Ashlyn got it in her head that she wanted to do a potato sack race at her birthday party. So funny huh! But it was her birthday, so a potato sack race we had. After going up and down the length of the living room a few times, she was happy and ready to move onto something else. Ah...the simple things in life.

Eating cake and ice cream. YUM!

Making the candy necklace crafts. I thought the girls would be able to do more of this themselves, but it turned out that Paul and I mostly did it for them while they watched and told us what order they wanted their treats in. Oh well, I think the girls still felt like "they" made them.

Displaying their necklaces. Cute girls huh? It was totally by chance that my girls and Grace had the same jammies. I felt bad for Mailey that she was the only one in different ones. Fortunately, she didn't seem to care. She said Snow White was her favorite, anyway.

Paul has a few magic tricks that never seem to get old with our girls. So when they asked him to do them for Grace and Mailey, he couldn't say no. I loved watching their faces as he "amazed" them with his magic skills.

And here it is. In all it's glory. The most coveted birthday gift of all time. A sparkley pink "jewelry" box (as Ashlyn calls it). It's really just a cheap $10.00 nail "caboodle" box from Target, but Ashlyn has had her eye on it for MONTHS and was seriously SO excited to receive it from Leah for her birthday. It made the snow cone machine that we got her, look like a tin can. No, just kidding. She loved that too. But the "jewelry" box, now that's a special gift. It goes just about everywhere with her and holds all of her most precious "treasures". Boy do I love this girl. She's so stinking cute!

Chowing on some popcorn and watching their movie.

Brandon was such a good helper when it was time to clean up. He carried that bag of trash all the way out to the bins outside.

Friends

Some people don't feel like they need a bunch of friends. Not me. I need them. Especially as a stay at home mom. They help keep me sane on the crazy days. Here are some of my favorites. And here is one of our favorite places to go together (The Cheesecake Factory). It's delicious. We've known each other a while. We all started out in the same ward and since meeting have had 12 kids between us (not including the 8 we had when we all met). Last night we had a LOT to celebrate. Two of us are pregnant (NOT ME), two have birthday's this month, and two came along for the ride (that would include me). We meant to go to a movie afterwards, but had so much fun chatting and laughing, that we just about closed the restaurant. (Boy am I tired today). Thanks for the fun night girls and thanks for your friendship. You're all the best!