First Swimming Lessons

Our new neighborhood has a pool for people who live here.  It opens up in a couple of  months for the summer and I wanted the kids to take some swimming lessons before that so they'd be a little more comfortable in the water.   Eliza isn't 3 yet so I knew she'd need a mommy-and-me type of class.  Isaiah said he didn't want to go by himself, and they wouldn't let him in the mommy-and-me class since he's older than 3, but we were lucky to get into one of the few "You and your preschooler" classes.  Their classes are at the same time on Friday evenings.  I go with one kid, Jerel goes with the other.  We knew Zay would be the one who would have a hard time because he often gets nervous about doing new things.  He was nervous, but he's actually done great!  Even when he's really scared he still tries everything they ask him to do--he's even gone all the way under the water a couple of times!  Miss 'Liza, on the other hand, has not been enjoying herself.  She is super cute in a bright pink tutu bathing suit (the one in this picture falls off of her, so I had to return it).  But she cries the whole time.  And by "the whole time" I mean the whole time.  Beginning of lesson to end.  Her class is bigger, probably about 20 kids.  Last week Zay was sick so I took Eliza by myself.  She was crying about going in again, so we started on the edge of the pool and I just splashed the water up on her feet (they didn't come close to reaching the water).  After a while we moved over to the steps and starting easing our way in.  I'd ask her to come down one more step, and she would say no, and I would say "Okay, you don't have to" and then she would do it.  It took 12 minutes (of a 30 minute class) to get her all the way into the water and (sort of) participating with the class.  Oh, and I had to bribe her with a new hot wheels.  But there were no tears the entire time and I consider that a major success!  So proud of my two little ones learning to swim in a freezing cold pool!

Easter 2013

First stop:  Easter Egg Hunt @ Gates home.  The Gates are good friends from our old ward and they usually host an Easter Egg Hunt at their home (because unlike the rest of us, they actually have land).  This year it was also an official ward activity.  I missed last year's hunt so I was extra happy to come this year.  And extra happy that in 2012 I had decided to make the kids' Easter shirts really big because that meant this year they already had cute ones and I didn't have to do any more work.

 Here's a picture of Eliza playing on the swings, courtesy of friends of ours who took pity on the poor little girl whose own parents wouldn't push her in the swing all day.

Here's Isaiah waiting in line for an Easter game

We missed the starting signal for Isaiah's age group egg hunt so he was the last one out.  He still found lots!

Here's Eliza's version of smiling.  She apparently thinks it is something you do with your nose rather than your lips.

This picture is on here not because of Eliza, but because if you look closely in the background you can see Jerel SMILING!

Isn't she cute out on our back deck?

This is Zay's way of saying "Mom, I'm tired of all these pictures!"

A Rare Success Story

 As it turns out, I really enjoy making things for my kids.  Especially things that are somewhat educational.  Usually what happens is I find a great idea online and copy their "cheap & easy" instructions to make something that is "expensive & hard", not to mention "doesn't even work" or "kids hate it."  But this time, magically, I got it right.  And I didn't even copy someone else's idea, just thought of it on my own.  When we were kids we used to have these marble tracks that I don't remember very well, but they had different paths the marble could go on and holes it could fall into and such.  Anyway, that was my inspiration.  It was even (sort of) free.  I already had that scrap of wood left over from Eliza's play kitchen, we already had the rubberbands, and we had the nails.  I only say "sort of free" to save Jerel the effort of commenting that the wood, rubberbands, and nails all did cost money, so it wasn't truly free, it just didn't require any additional purchases.  Big bonus:  the kids like it!

The Chef (and the two mini chefs*) *one chef not pictured

Jerel does most of the cooking at our house and the kids love to "help" him.  

What I love most

About Eliza:  When her brother turns everything into a race and then proudly declares "I won!"  she will finish up a bit later and proudly say "I lost!" and she's every bit as happy and excited as he is.  Also, if you tell her a knock knock joke instead of saying "Who's there?"  she sings a long drawn out "Who iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssss it?" as if she's in the other room and someone rang the doorbell.

About Isaiah:  The way he is sometimes so literal about things.  I say "Isaaaaaaiah, stop saying you're going to poo on Eliza's head. I  told you talking about poo isn't polite."  "Okay, mom.....Eliza, I'm going to pee all over your head!" followed by genuine surprise when I still give him the mom look.

About Jerel:  I explained to him the Elf on a Shelf phenomenon, and showed him some Pinterest links to explain the over-the-topness of it all.  I asked if he thought it was something we should do.  "Until someone has done a longitudinal study showing a positive correlation between Elf on a Shelf and future success or increased intelligence levels, no."

Just our regular old life

Sometimes I feel like I have nothing to blog about since our days seem like they're filled with "nothing."  I'll spare everyone my new-found perspective on parenting and just suffice it to say that kids don't need to be doing fancy things, they just need to be with people who love them.

Extravagant birthday surprise aside, this is all Jerel actually got on his birthday.  And he didn't even notice it.  Of course this was another of those ideas where I'd forgotten that my children are not 12 years old--they definitely don't color inside the lines yet, which I realize I should cherish and embrace, but the uptight follow-the-rules rigidness in me doesn't allow that.  Yet.

This picture is called Why I Don't Shower.  It's just not worth it.  10 minutes, 1 lather-rinse-skip the repeat, and my kids have taken EVERY board game and card game we own and put them all in a HUGE pile.  It took me over 2 hours to put it all away.  (I think I was supposed to make them put it away to teach them responsibility or something, but I didn't have it in me to supervise, cajole, and manipulate them for the 14 hours it would have taken.  I'm a regular mom, not a super mom!)  

I still tend to forget Isaiah can read, but then sometimes I find him doing this and I love it!  Of course I find Eliza looking just like that too, but her book is always upside down and her "reading" is not only completely unrelated to what is written on the pages, but also generally unintelligible.  Isaiah is doing super well.  If you're in the learning-to-read phase, he reads Level 1 books just fine, needs help with a handful of words on a level 2, and will only agree to take turns on a Level 3 since they're longer and he needs more help.  I'm interested to see how he does in real preschool this fall.

Cute little Liza a few Sundays ago.  The first picture is her scrunchy nose that she does  when I tell her to smile.  I thought she looked especially lovely that day, and knew I better take a picture before 30 seconds went by, by which time she would have removed the pigtails.  Also, she wore this dress last summer--I'm loving her lack of growth (for wardrobe purposes, real life consequences I feel differently about).  

Here's Isaiah with his new $400 smile (that's how much the non-covered laughing gas cost for his extraction).  If you missed the story, he fell about two years ago, see Remember Back When Zay Had Teeth for a refresher.  So he went in for his regular checkup and the dentist noticed an abscess had formed in the gums above one of his front tooth.  She said so sweetly "If you remember when we talked about all of the possible outcomes at the time of his original injury, this is the one we referred to as the 'Worst Case Scenario.'"  Since it was infected, it had to come out.  Isaiah didn't care much, but I was devastated (in a motherly not-really-devastated kind of way, with just a touch of drama and hysterics).  

The dentist showed him her telephone that connects directly to the tooth fairy, and Zay suggested she tell the tooth fairy he would like a green and blue monster truck left under his pillow.  The dr. looked at me questioningly, and I nodded my assent, and then a minute later realized I'd set the bar way too high.  Enter:  long explanation to Isaiah about how the tooth fairy brings cooler presents when you have to get your tooth pulled, but when you just lose one the regular way it's just a dollar.  Phew, just saved myself hundreds!

Anyway, the extraction appointment went fine.  He was laughing pretty much the whole time, and remembers none of it.  And the tooth fairy came through on her promise of a monster truck.  And now I'm not the only one in my house who has had teeth pulled, although I'm still ahead by 16 teeth...

I made this outfit for Eliza last year and, well, it's my favorite.  I love it!  I love the colors, I love the layers, I love the bordering-on-annoying fabric patterns, I love it all!  Anyway, the modesty police (Jerel, in our family, since I think she looks super cute in short little skirts that are totally inappropriate) said it was time for this one to go.  It looks plenty long here, but it really barely covers her diaper in the back (of course the diaper is covered by an equally adorable diaper cover, but still).  So I took her outside for a farewell photo shoot, let her wear it to church one last time, and will now be parting with it.  I can't wait for tax season to end so I can make her something new!

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

When Jerel got to his car to leave for work Thursday morning, he was greeted with this sign.  He later said he almost ignored it and just went to work anyway, which is precisely why I added "Not kidding." to the sign.  I could just picture him rolling his eyes wondering what annoying thing I was doing that was going to make him late for work.

Surprise #1:  Doesn't this look like a guy who just received exciting news?!  When Jerel went to his car, I ran in and woke up Isaiah and told him the plan (I hadn't told the kids ahead of time because I didn't fully trust in their secret-keeping abilities).  Anyway, so I told Isaiah that when daddy came in to tell him what was up.  So here's Jerel while Isaiah tells him that we're going to get on an airplane and go see Grandma and Grandpa.  Today.  Jerel responded by jumping in the air, fist-pumping....oh wait....he stood there and said things like "for real?"  and "huh."

Here they are at the airport.  Isaiah got off every moving walkway and escalator with a huge both-feet jump.  Eliza was a little more timid, but still enjoyed it.

Daddy and his little ones watching airplanes while we wait to board our flight.

Our motto for the flight was Divide and Conquer.  But soon after take-off both kids decided they wanted to sit with daddy.  So while Jerel entertained the two of them, I sat stretched out on my empty row reading a book.

 

Surprise #2:  Here's Jerel at his surprise birthday lunch at Olive Garden.  I had to make sure we didn't get there too early, so I told him we better stop to buy diaper wipes.  I went in by myself and he stayed in the car with the kids.  I got the wipes and then started texting everyone to see if they were all at the restaurant yet.  It took forever!  I paced the cookie aisle, and texted Jerel out in the car to tell him I was really sick in the bathroom and sorry it was taking me so long....I finally got word that everyone was there so I had a miraculous healing take place and we headed over.  Jerel thought we were just eating with his parents, and he was annoyed that we were going to Olive Garden at 11am (still breakfast time in his mind), and he was annoyed that we were going to Olive Garden when we had just eaten there on Thursday (I had tried to talk him out of going on Thursday, to no avail).  When he was greeted with a huge bouquet of black balloons, and 35 or so family members all clad in black, I think he understood why I insisted on going.  (Although he didn't notice everyone was in all black until it was pointed out to him...)

Surprise #3:  Birthday Party....The original plan was to have dinner at Olive Garden at 5:30, followed by a surprise party at Jeff's at 7:00.  After I had sent out invitations to the surprise party, I found at that Olive Garden wouldn't take a group of our size at dinner time; in fact 11am was the only time they would do it.  So we had a weird lag in between festivities, but that's okay.  Jeff & Nicole did an awesome job decorating their place!

Jeff made this awesome tombstone cake for the party.  It took him 15 hours, and it turned out just perfect!  I was quite impressed!  Plus, it actually tasted good, unlike some of those cool-looking ones you buy that are really only good to look at. 

 

 

 

 

Here's the family-only photo from his surprise party.  His 4 siblings and their spouses, his parents, his gorgeous wife & children, and all 17 1/2 nieces and nephews were there.  They even hid and then all jumped out and yelled "Surprise!"  It was perfect!  (Jerel thought we were just going to hang out with Jeff and watch a movie).

Karee and Dave put together an awesome video for the party.  It started with a slideshow of photos from Jerel's childhood, including his teenage years and his infamous Depeche Mode hybrid hairdo (he liked several different band members' haircuts, so he just incorporated them all into one.)  After the photos was video of his siblings and parents sharing memories from his childhood.  Highlighted memories:  Jerel pushing (or not pushing, depending on who you ask) his brother from the back of a moving pick-up truck; Jerel filling the fence post hole (his dad had just dug) with water and then jumping in with Ryan; and my least favorite, Jerel consulting with Jake's wife (also named Mandy Atkinson) to see if he should break up with me since if we got married it would make two Mandy's in one family....Fortunately Mandy told him "the more Mandy's the merrier!" and so here we are coming up on our 7-year anniversary.  (This brings up another question for me:  I was referred to during the visit as "the other Mandy."  Mandy says it's because she joined the family first; I say I'm the original Mandy because I'm older than her (if only by 16 days).)

Jerel had a reserved seat for the party in this walker.  It was so fun to have everyone together for his party; Karee even made him a book version of the slideshow (sans the interviews, obviously) so he has a fabulous keepsake of the event.  So there you have it, surprise surprise surprise!  I can't believe we pulled it off!  The only one to slip and mention the upcoming trip and parties was.....ME.....I talk in my sleep and a few weeks ago I was talking to him all about how I was planning a surprise trip for someone for their birthday....luckily he didn't get suspicious!  All those months of babysitting for $3 an hour, and giving sewing lessons, were definitely worth it.  (I didn't want to buy the tickets from family budget money; that made it seem like he was buying his own present)  Jerel mentioned that it must've taken a lot of babysitting to get the plane tickets and such; I told him I did it because I love him a lot.  And I do.