Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day

Today has been so great being spoiled and making felt appriciated by my cute kids. They were up with Daddy to make me my favorite breakfast of French Toast with beautiful decorations around me. I have a collection of Lego flowers that grew by a tulip bouquet as a present from Chris. The girls got a small rose from their Daddy too, which reminds me of when I was younger and felt special on Mother's Day because my father. I got two special musical numbers from my girls because they sang a prelude song right before sacrament meeting started and the primary song too. They were asked to sing two weeks ago and chose Families Can Be Together Forever so we've been listening to it so they knew the words well. Adrian got really excited to see them singing and kept calling for them and trying to leave the seats to join them. I though we had really good youth speakers and our ward's women were all able to cram into the relief society room for our lesson. Daddy has been doing a lot of work cooking all day and having fun plans like playing in the sprinklers so I could have some quite time. 

The Week

There were some fun other things that happened this week as well. Early on, I had a book club that the host had a yummy greek themed food to match the theme of the book and also made me crave greek food for our dinner last night! The elementry school had a 'Doughnuts with Grown-ups' on Friday that Adrian and I went to that made them very happy. I rememeber last year I didn't go and they were sad so I made the effort this year and saw some friends. We upgraded Adrian to a race car bed! I drove 35 minutes just to pick it up yesterday and we got it set up before bedtime. They had a lot of fun playing in it while I was trying to set it up and he was slightly less upset to go to bed after we all prayed and gave him kisses. The girls were excited for him too and they read books in the bed with him. I now don't have to worry about him rolling onto the floor since there are sides to this bed and its big enough if we get a twin mattress too. 

Catching up!

 April

After Easter, we had some uneventful few weeks just focusing on school and making sure the girls kept focused because they had some testing days. The teachers sent out which days they were to make sure kids got enough sleep and a good breakfast the day of. I finished my teacher appreciation projects, which I made for each of their teachers, and they were able to give them two weeks ago. I think they turned out really well this year. Adrian has been learning how to make bigger messes at home, and I'm trying to clean up after all the times he has written on the walls! It makes me want to throw away every pencil we have in the house so the girls will stop leaving them out for him. He has also been acting like he is less tired during nap times. If we don't go to the park in the morning and get a lot of energy out, he isn't tired after lunch and will argue about going to nap. There was a time he kept saying no and then fell asleep on the chair! He only has skipped it completely once so far, though, and we are transitioning to a bed and not a crib, so...yay.

May

We began May with Shay's class having butterflies hatch from their cocoons, which was fun to hear about! I know we have cousins who do the same thing. We tried it with a caterpillar one year at Grandpa and Grandma Bell's home, so I know they would like it here, too. I get pictures from their classes, and I'm glad because I was bad at taking pictures the past few weeks. We have been going to our neighborhood park, and I just let them play and don't think about pictures. They were all playing a game together today, which was definitely worth capturing, though! Now that there are only 3 weeks left of school, we've been getting ready for summer and planning the trips and things we want to do. I'm hoping to find at least one new camping spot close by and get a lot of playdates planned with their schoolmates who live close. 

Easter and Rain

Easter Saturday

We had guests over for Easter weekend so life was a little crazy and I didn't get to write last week, but we had a great time. There was our city's eggstravaganza at a park that we met our friends at with huge bouncy houses, booths with games, food, and ending with an egg collection. All the eggs sit on the ground and they have a count down so the kids can run in and get them at the same time. It is nice they separate the ages so Daddy went with Claire and Shay while I stayed with Adrian. He wasn't very intersted until I literally picked him up and put him in front of the eggs! They were mostly filled with little easter toys that they of course wanted to open right there in the grass, but we convinced them to walk to the car. We had a lot of fun in the beautiful sun in the after noon and even brought our table outside so we could eat dinner in the nice weather. Time ran out to decorate eggs, I had everything prepped but the kids were having way too much fun. 

Easter Sunday

On Sunday morning, the kids came to get us up so they could go find the hidden eggs in our backyard, but adrian wasn't awake yet. I started making vaguely bunny shaped pancakes for breakfast until everyone woke up, and the kids showed off the things in their baskets. They filled their baskets with eggs while I finished cooking and we all enjoyed a fun morning together. The fun matching outfit I got for our family were white dresses for the girls with a bow that matches Daddy and Adrian's new ties! I have a dress that has similar colors and a hair sash to wear as well. Our guests had to leave eventually, and we were able to catch up on the General Conference we missed. The girls aren't good at watching quietly and listening, but they kept themselves busy with playing. I wonder when they will start be interested...

Spring

This past week has been very rainy which has been great for our yard! The rain ruined my plans to work out in the yard so we missed out on mowing and a front yard project only got started so now it's a mess from the rain. The girls had spring pictures at school on Thursday and decided to wear their pretty new white dresses which made me a little worried. They are really good at making their cloths messy and luckily I could use bleach to make it white again so we could wear it for church today. They also had Friday off of school and we got to visit the library and have a fun day together. Yesterday, we went to a charity clothing swap in the morning and had a fun play date with Shay's classmate during Adrian's nap time. 

Sickness and Surprises

Home

This week has had a few ups and downs. I had a rough week being sick and feeling very icky even though the weather is becoming so beautiful and it would be the perfect time to start going outside more! This is not the right season to get sick and I think I gave it to the rest of my family because the girls just started complaining about not feeling well last night and today. We all have running noses, sore throats and hopefully its only a short virus and we can get rid of it with our new hot tub! It was delivered on Friday and has a circulation problem that needs to be fixed, but it works enough that we were able to use it today. Shay was very disappointed it wasn't warm enough by friday night and even more upset it wasn't ready by Saturday! We were all pretty sad about not getting to use it right away, but once the circulation problem is fixed it will be a nice way to play in water that is warm instead of freezing in a small kitty pool. Adrian even enjoyed swimming and throwing the ball back and forth with us in the tub so missing out on going to our special Church program was over shadowed by the excitement of the hot tub.

Party

Shay had two birthday party inviations this weekend! The one on Saturday was at the fun arcade Wahooz and Claire was invited to come too since the girl's who had the birthday is in our neighborhood and we've played with her at block parties. Chris took them because I was feeling so sick and I hear all about how much fun they had when they got home. They were excited about the prizes from the arcade and the water games that were now open that weren't the last time we had a party there. The other birthday party was a skating party today, but since Shay was feeling so sick we didn't get to go and had to say sorry for missing out. I want to set up a playdate this week so she can give the birthday present to her and make up for not being able to celebrate with her. It is easier than bringing it to school, especially since she probably will miss tomorrow if they don't feel better by the morning. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 St. Patrick's Day

We had cheeky leprechaun visitors this week, leading up to St. Patrick's Day. On Sunday, the girls found googly eyes on some of our pictures and their bikes, and kept asking who did it, but when no one knew, we all realized it was probably a leprechaun. On Monday, they woke up wondering if there were more eyes, but instead they found an interesting powder and liquid on the counter. The note told them to pour the water into the magic powder, and it turned green! They went looking for 4-leaf clovers, and Shay actually found one to use in her trap. Then, they forgot to set up the traps, and Daddy and I did really simple ones before we went to sleep. In the morning, the traps were all shut, so we thought we caught some lephrecans, but there was only candy left behind! We found the milk green in the morning, and then at lunch, the jello I made had cookie cutters in it from those tricky leprechauns.

Spring Break

The girls were home all week and helped me with some of my projects, while playing with each other and making a mess of the house. We had a friend over to play for a few hours on Tuesday, and on Saturday, they went over to the neighbors' to play for a few hours. I was looking forward to taking bike rides and going to the parks around, but it was still cold early in the week, and we only got warmer on Thursday. We did do a few crafts that Shay got for her birthday like making resin jewelry and using these aquabead things. Then on Friday, it was really hot, and we did a mini camping trip in our backyard! Shay helped me set up the tents, and Claire was helpful when Daddy did the fire. We found out too late that our big marshmallows were sticky and wouldn't be very good as s'mores, so we made Rice Krispies treats instead. The girls played baseball with Daddy and only hit it over the fence once, and we stayed up telling stories around the fire. When we tried to put Adrian to bed in the tent, he didn't like it at all and kept pointing to the house so he could go 'nigh nigh'. Not wanting the kids to be alone in either the house or outside, we moved the girl's small tent to the living room, and they camped in the tent for two nights.

Adrian

We have had a few fun moments with him this past week because he is learning to express himself with his words. Daddy made him a quesadilla, and Adrian thought it was delicious, so he would take a bite and say 'hmmm', and now he does it with a lot of foods he likes. He has also started telling me when his diaper is full by spreading his legs and pointing, saying 'boo'. I check him, and sometimes it isn't very full, but he poops within 30 minutes, so maybe he is starting to understand the urge to go potty. Last was today at church when we walked to nursery, he was excited to go and play and went running in, and when I picked him up was excited to see me too. He ran to me and then started yelling, "bye bye" to everyone as we walked out, and then repeated "dada" when we looked for dad. He is learning things so fast, and it is fun to see him so happy about life. 

Happy Birthday Shay!

 Shay

It's technically a week late because her actual birthday is the 1st, but we celebrated as a family with cupcakes and presents after I finished my post last week, and her party was yesterday. She is now 7 years old, and I hope she felt super special because we did our best to make it a full week of her deciding meals, helping me plan the party, and having the birthday banner up. On her birthday, I made cupcakes, and she was supposed to help me decorate them, but she ended up napping and waking up to the surprise of the rainbow she asked for. They were vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for both her birthday and the party, and she said they were beautiful both times, even though I was self-conscious that they looked messy...I'm just not practiced with frosting...

Roller Party

We had 17 kids at the roller skating party! Most parents stayed, and a few even skated, so it was fun, but keeping track of Adrian and the party favors I brought meant I didn't get a chance to talk to many of them. The place was busy because it is a public place, and there was another party at the same time, but right after us in the party room. They give us the whole 3ish hours of public skate time to skate, and a certain amount of time in the party room for eating, singing, presents, and all that stuff. Shay helped me find all the kids that were invited because I didn't know what some of her classmates looked like, and all but one kid got a party bag before they left.

 

The Other Birthday

We also had another birthday this past week, Buttercup! She didn't get a party, although it would be fun to get some dogs together to play. She did get a new bone; I couldn't find one as big as the one from Christmas, but she liked this one. It took her a while to understand it was hers because she kept licking it and letting it sit next to her and looking at me. It was kinda funny, but eventually she started in on it and finished it before the end of the day! We also had time to go to a park this week, given how warm it was, my toes got cold because I was in flip flops, but Adrian didn't even need his coat. I am getting excited about spring and didn't even remember Daylight Saving Time at all today! We were almost late for church, but we still made it, and Adrian did some balance practice when waiting for his sisters to come outside afterward. 

Having fun

 Playing

Adrian has been having so much fun going places with me and playing everywhere he goes. I get so many comments on how calm and happy he is at stores, and he always loves to go for a ride because I usually go in the morning when he isn't tired yet. The only time he gets upset is if it's a short errand and we have to go back in the car before he gets to run around enough. Soon enough, the weather will be warmer, and I will need to take him to different parks to entertain him, so I've been preparing my bike with his chair on the back this week. He has seen me fitting it on the bike and wearing his helmet around, but luckily hasn't thrown a fit that we haven't gone yet. Adrian is most interested in playing with anything that isn't his toys...the vacuum, pots and pans, the stroller, books, etc. It is especially cute when he 'reads' with his sisters and he tried out the computer at the library too! Adrian also got some birthday presents a little late this past week and they were fun for a day for him.

Party

We got to go to our friend's princess birthday party on Saturday, and the girls dressed in pretty dresses and were the oldest kids there. They were both the entertainment for part of the time and very responsible and respectful for the most part when needed. The birthday girl is my cousin's daughter, whom they know from when she came over for part-time babysitting, and her younger sister, who was barely starting to crawl last time we saw her. Claire wanted to carry her everywhere, but now she is walking! They enjoyed the party, and then we went out for dinner to celebrate Shay's birthday, but they didn't eat their food because there was pizza and cake at the party! We will be celebrating Shay's birthday with a roller skating party next weekend.

Vacation and a Birthday

Home Life

For the past two weeks, Chris and I have been in Puerto Rico celebrating our 10th anniversary by exploring the islands with our friends! I'll go into detail about it after telling you about the kids here at home, so if you want to hear details, read on, but you can also just look at the pictures. For the first half, Grandma Bell came to take care of the kids and helped them start feeling better because there was a fast-moving virus that went around the school and hit Claire on Monday. I picked up both girls because Shay would have been worried not seeing her sister on the bus, and they ended up both getting the fever and staying home Tuesday and Wednesday! Luckily, Claire could go on her field trip on Thursday, and they recovered quickly, so having Grandma visit was fun. They had a week full of spirit days at school leading up to their Valentine's Day celebration on Friday. When we talked every night, I usually got to see what they wore and hear all about how they were the only ones in their class who remembered the first one, and they matched each other perfectly on twin day!

Celebration

The girls got to go to a Daddy-Daughter dance with their Uncle, and I know Chris feels like he missed out, but Uncle Steven said it was a great time. They had a small Valentine's celebration in each of their classes, but because of the sickness the week before, it was small, and they didn't ask for things from home. Today we had a Valentine's Day dress up for church, and I tried to make hearts in their hair, and we all matched for church, so I did my best to get a picture. It was also Adrian's Birthday! He was very cuddly in the morning because it was the first time seeing us since getting back late in the night, and I'm glad we made the day special for him by being home. We made brownies as his birthday treat and gave him some presents to play with. Mostly, he is happy when we are playing with him, so it was a fun little family party. Now he is a 2-year-old and is practicing his tantruming, which can happen so fast by the silliest things like making sure he couldn't eat his wax candles. He didn't even want his brownie and only wanted to put the candles in their place over and over again!

Wed-Fri: Travel, San Juan, Bio Bay, Iguana Hunt

We had a pretty long day of travel, starting with a short hour-long flight at 6:40am to connect with the almost 7-hour-long flight all the way to Puerto Rico. When we planned our flights, we scheduled them together so neither of us had to wait for the other, and we all got to relax in the Airbnb together and then find a place for dinner. Chris and I worked out on Thursday morning before spending the day exploring the old Spansh Forts in San Juan. There were two big forts that were one price to enter and explore both, and we walked from one to the other and saw the connecting wall as we walked. We were introduced to Puerto Rican food and the intense driving! The streets were tight even without the cars that park on the side of the street, and some drivers are so aggressive and scary. We ate at a seafood place really close to our Kayaking Tour through mangrove trees and into a Biolumencance Bay. It was late at night, so we could see the glow, but we had a very early next morning meeting to hunt Iguanas. Turned out to be a good time and Chris's favorite thing we did, so it was worth it, and we had time to work out later in the day and pack up our stuff for the first of many moves to a new area.

Sat-Mon: Ziplines, Church, Lighthouses, Culebra

Another early morning, so we could drive to the mountains where we did some zip-lining. I was judging the tour guides pretty hard because we had a much better experience last year in Mexico, but it was fun for what it was. We did their longest and fastest Zipline called 'the Monster,' and it had just started to rain, so my face got pelted. The hype was fun too because during our first zip lines, we saw people going on it before ours, and it just seemed like they went forever. We moved on to the far west side of the main island to visit people our friend knew from his mission, and also to go to his old ward on Sunday. The members there were so friendly and welcoming that it was overwhelming, but they had headphones to get the interpretations of the sacrament meeting, and it still felt like a church meeting from here. We also explored some lighthouses, ate at a famous pizza place, and drove along the coast to enjoy the ocean view as we traveled again to another location. That was a short stay just to get us to the first ferry ride to the smaller Island of Culebra so we could get some beach time! The boys went fishing, so it was Brittany and I who saw the beaches and explored the small town. There was some rain during fishing and some crazy hills that made Culebra an interesting memory, but my shell collection increased a lot.

 

Tues-Wed: Beaches, Rainforest, Temple

The boys went back out fishing while we checked out and explored more beaches, collected more shells, and planned where to eat lunch so we could ferry back to the mainland. After Chris and I worked out together again, we really enjoyed seeing the rainforest on Wednesday and even got rained on right as we saw the big tower. That evening, we went to a session in the Puerto Rico Temple and were shocked at the miniature size. It's the third smallest temple, but only by less than 200 sq/ft, and it only has one of each room to make it fully functional. The temple workers all invited us to a little sit-down they do every Wednesday with ham sandwiches and hot chocolate, which actually helped because we walked out of the session to a downpour of rain! By the time we had eaten and visited with everyone, the rain was gone, and we were safe to drive back for another night in the same location before checking out to the next mini island.

Thur-Fri: Vieques, Bio Bays, Snorkeling, More beaches

Vieques is a bigger island, but it was very calm compared to San Juan, and everyone seems so chill except when dealing with difficult tourists. It started storming when we first arrived, and we went to a brunch spot that had a cool owner/manager guy. The pancakes they made were so amazing that we went back for round two the next day, and we got to see him get stressed with some of the crazies. We got to check into our stay early, so we had refuge from the storm, and I did laundry while Chris went to the gym and our friends explored. On Thursday Night we visited another Bio Bay, but this one was called Mosquito Bay and was very muddy because of the rain, but so much more worth it because it was so bright. I only regret that no pictures could be taken with just a phone to show how amazing it was to kayak in clear boats and see the movement create glowing water, and the fish was even cooler. After our second time at the pancake breakfast place, we went snorkeling with an awesome tour that made it great, even though visibility was pretty low at the time, and we only saw fish and one turtle. Luckily, no sharks, and unluckily, no rays! We got more beach time and more shells on this island, but there was more travel time because it is bigger.

Fri-Sun: Travel, Home

I think we all were feeling really ready to shower after all the salty water of the ocean, so we rode the Ferry back and eagerly checked into our last night's stay. Chris and I did a short workout and stayed close to get food before trying to go for another walk around the city. It was too hard to enjoy compared to our beach walks, so after walking around the block, we were back and ready to settle in. Chris suffered from water that got in his ears, but we got to sleep in because our first flight wasn't until the afternoon. I walked to a waffle place we had passed on our brief walk to get us breakfast when he was sleeping in, and I much prefer morning city life. We successfully packed everything we wanted to take back and checked out to go to the airport early. There were long lines, and it was a very busy airport, but I walked up and down the gates while we waited for our delayed flight. We got overpriced food for lunch and worried about making it in time for our next flight, but the kind people on the plane let people who had to run to make connections leave the plane first, and we made it in time after running to the wrong gate and back in the direction we came. Then we sat on the plane before deboarding and getting on a different plane for safety reasons before making it home, finally right after midnight! Shay woke up when I snuck in to give them kisses and was happy we were back, and in the morning, we got hugs, and both girls separately asked the same first question, "Where is the present you bought me?"

Sourineers and Food

Claire asked for a toy, so we picked out a magnet with a turtle, a parrot, and a frog on it that is also a figit spinner, and we got her a key chain with a pretty turtle too. Shay asked for jewelry, so we got her a colorful bracelet with turtles and a keychain with a dazzling mini pen. Adrian got two little animal key chains that make their sounds, a parrot and the national frog. I came home with an over-the-shoulder small purse I used a lot while there, a towel I bought there for our beach time, a blanket my friend got for free and couldn't fit in their suitcase, some magnets with rainforest pictures, and tons of shells. We had some amazing food while there, and once or twice we were disappointed, but mostly our friends could find really delicious places to eat. It felt like we were spoiling ourselves, especially on the days we didn't do all the hiking, kayaking, and active stuff. I think the thing we liked most was Pinchoes, which I don't have a picture of, but I'm going to try to make here at home. We had a mix of Puerto Rican and American food because they have a variety there, and we even had a Brazilian place that was yummy.