Thursday, May 29, 2014

Goldilocks

A few weeks ago I won a free entry into the Goldilocks Bide Ride! I hadn't been riding my bike very much this year so I opted for the 40-miler. It was fun, but a bit rainy and cold.




It was fun to be on my bike again. I do like this race. They have fun stops and really cute stuff in the goodie bags. Emmy even got a cowbell to ring to cheer. There were a couple of mean hills, but for the most part, the course was pretty nice. We even rode right past my street! (I told Matt if I was dying by then I might just come home...that was at Mile 25...but I was fine and finished the 40 miles.)

And the best part was that it was free! Thanks for my cool win!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Preschool

Emmy made it through her first year of preschool! (Barely) We did a little neighborhood preschool with 4 girls and each mom took one week a month. It was fun. Emmy struggled with going most of the time, but I think it was good for her.

The last time we hosted, the girls loved the hammock!

Thanks to Mindy, Rachel and Dana for putting up with Emmy all year! It sure was nice to have a break for a few hours a week.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Mr Ghetto

Zach found this (mostly) empty tub of cream cheese in the garbage and started scraping out the leftovers with his finger and licking it off. Gross!


And on a cuter note, he brought a bottle of bubbles to Matt, handed it to him and started blowing to get Matt to blow the bubbles. What a cutie!


Monday, May 26, 2014

Lions and eagles and bears...oh my!

We went to the zoo a couple weeks ago! It's always a fun time at the Hogle Zoo.

Gotta love the lion drinking fountain. (And Emmy's outfit!)

They have lions again!


And the bears were out.

We got the annual pass, so we'll be back!

Friday, May 16, 2014

Oh this child

Just some funny Emmy moments....

Admiring the flowering tree from the bathtub.
Making me wear a (very small) hat when we were playing beach and hotel.

"Swimming" in the "ocean" while playing beach and hotel.

The stuff she brought to the "beach".


She found my Halloween box...




Dirt bag

A couple of Saturdays ago, Emily and I tackled this big bag of dirt and spread it around the flowerbeds. Emily was such a good helper. I was really surprised at how long she was interested in helping.



Notice how she is wearing her winter gloves. I was wearing my gardening gloves and Emmy insisted on needing to wear gloves too. Ha!


While we did that, Matt was cutting down some dead trees. Our yard looks so much better! Although Emily was really sad about cutting down the trees. She said, "That's not nice to cut trees." (She has had several lessons on how we only cut paper. :) So we promised her we could plant a new one.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Changes

We found out a few weeks ago that Matt's company is relocating. Which means that Matt either has to find a new job or we have to move. We don't even know where the new location is....probably somewhere in the South, but we won't know for sure til the end of May.

We're not sure we want to go. But Matt is having trouble finding a job in what he wants to do here in Utah. What he really wants to do is do design/analysis work in aerospace or turbo-machinery. He is a mechanical engineer, specializing in CFD and has his masters.

We're not necessarily opposed to moving for the right opportunity, so if anyone knows of anything or has any contacts in Utah or anywhere, we would greatly appreciate the info.

It's a crazy time! When we bought our house moved here I thought we'd never move again. And maybe we won't have to, but we are gathering all our options right now, including moving out of state.

Mother's Day

I am having a hard time with motherhood right now. My kids are pushing me to my very limits. On a daily basis. Often the day ends (or starts!) in all 3 of us in tears. Sometimes I feel like I wasn't cut out to be a mom. Sometimes I feel like I'm ruining these poor kids because I honestly don't know what to do with them or how to help them. Sometimes I want to give up.

And other times they do bring me a lot of joy. Sometimes they can be so fun and cute. Like the other day when I took them for a bike ride and Emmy was singing and telling stories to Zach back there in the trailer. Or when Emmy wants to go get Zach up from his nap and they play "sleepover" in his room.

Matt was sick on Mother's Day, but he managed to still get up and make me breakfast, get me some flowers and a couple other things, and even let me take a nap. And my children managed to give me an interruption-free night and even slept in a little. That hasn't happened for a very long time.

I took Emmy to church while the sickies, Matt and Zach, stayed home. Emmy was so good at church...it was so lovely. She is usually really good in Primary, but is a stinker in sacrament meeting. But she was great for both. It was a good mothers day.

Emmy is my spirited introvert child. (I've been reading a very helpful book called Raising Your Spirited Child, and it is helping me to understand her better.) Anyway, she has quite the imagination and can be very creative. She is very determined and knows what she wants! She also has a very good memory and remembers so much detail about things that it often surprises me.

We have been working on practicing good behavior and really trying to make a big deal out of the good things she does. So every time we notice her doing something good, she gets to put a ball in this jar, and we try to give her lots of praise. When she fills it up, she gets a prize. She filled it up this week and was so proud!
She also really loves to go to Primary. I have decided that one of the reasons I was called as Primary president is so I could witness this. She loves to sit in her little chair on the front row, and she is so reverent and sits there with her arms folded and sings during singing time. When it's her turn to help, she gets really excited. And she loves her Sunbeam teachers...they are the best!

Emily and I butt heads a lot of the time, and I am really struggling to learn how to help her. I really worry for when she is a teenager...we might be in big trouble if I can't learn how to handle it now! She is very demanding and requires a lot of attention (she won't do anything by herself). But she can also be very caring. Yesterday, I was having a really hard time with something and she came over and gave me a hug and said, "It's ok mom...calm down...it'll be ok." Then she made me some "tea" with her tea set and told me to drink it and it would make me feel better. Even though she tries every last fiber of patience I have, I love that little girl!

Zach is a little mischief maker, but a silent one! He loves to open and close things, rearrange things, and take things in and out of things. I am constantly finding the contents of my bathroom drawer in the laundry hamper or toys in the garbage or whatever. He is usually content to do his own thing, and is fairly good at entertaining himself. He is FINALLY sleeping better and will usually sleep til 7-7:30 a.m Sometimes he will still cry in the night, but only for a few minutes before going back to sleep. I can't tell you how great this is. After 18 months of constantly getting up in the night and waking up at 5:30 a.m., I am finally starting to get a decent amount of sleep on a more consistent basis.

Zach is finally old enough to go to nursery, and he loves it! The first time he went, he cried when it was time to leave! He loves to eat, and has started wanting to feed himself. But he won't eat fresh fruits or veggies besides bananas. But he loves most other things. He doesn't say any words yet, but he jabbers all the time. He loves baths and loves to be outside. He's still not a very good napper. He loves his binkie and his little stuffed dog and will often go find them and carry them around. He likes to dive bomb into people with his head and thinks it's hilarious. He loves to be thrown up in the air or turned upside down. He likes to be on the move and busy arranging this or that. And he has the cutest smile.

And that's why I keep trying and don't give up on this whole motherhood thing. Maybe one day I'll get it and hopefully I won't ruin them in the meantime!


Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Tulip Festival

Last week we went to the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival. It was beautiful, but pricey! It was fun though.





Emily loved the waterfalls and the bridges most.



And smelling the flowers!



While we were there, they were filming an Alex Boye music video. It had a marching band...


and dancers in leopard-print leggings. It'll be interesting to see it when it comes out!


Bowling

We took Emmy bowling a couple of weeks ago on a rainy Saturday, and it was so fun! She loved it!