End of school!

Jack had his Kindergarten program. He sang cute songs and graduated from a grade that's not required for a diploma. Wahoo!

Maxine did really good on her end of level testing and won an iPod. She's ecstatic!

We've been loving summer so far but I'm committed to an established reading and writing time every day. Jack's penmanship could use some polish. Wahoo!

Cool Solar Eclipse!

Yesterday was the annular solar eclipse. Thanks to my sister-in-law Emily, we had cool solar eclipse glasses that made the eclipse look like this:

Our area was perfect for viewing the eclipse! We saw a perfect ring in the sky! FYI: Annular comes from a latin word meaning "little ring." I kept looking through the glasses and thinking, "That's so cool!" The kids thought it was awesome too. It was dim outside even though the sun was high in the sky. The eclipse started around 6:30 p.m. and peaked around 7:45 p.m. We watched it until the moon had moved off again. I thought it would mainly impress the kids but I found myself really excited too! I guess you're never too old to think celestial events are cool.

Breaking stuff...

So last week our freezer door broke. Not the actual huge door of the freezer but the little door that closes after the ice comes shooting out of the ice maker. It wouldn't stay in place because of this:
This happy monkey (reusable ice pack) caused the demise of my little ice door. Instead of being returned to its shelf in the freezer, just above the ice chute, it fell into the chute.

Not knowing this, the next time we got ice, it built up behind the monkey and pushed so hard on the ice door that it broke.

Things like this bother me. I think to myself, maybe it's something dumb that I can fix. So I pulled it apart. A plastic clip that holds the ice door in place had busted and they don't sell a replacement part for it anywhere. Urg.

So Merril stepped in and engineered a new way for the ice door to work. He had to drill a hole and used a longer screw and some nuts and voila!

Wahoo! Ice door works again! Now my kids can get ice and water without my assistance again!!

This is my other project! A dresser for Maxine. I've sanded the whole thing. It's not a nice dresser, just one of those fake wood types. But it had been painted over and then attacked by little kids with a million stickers. (Not my kids, the dresser was given to us.) So I sanded it down to the fake wood and found new pulls on Ebay for $1.50 a piece! (That's a super triumph because the holes on the drawers aren't a standard size and special sizes can be very expensive!)

The light under our microwave/hood exploded and messed up the control board on the microwave. So no more light under there. I checked and a new board is $200! I'd rather just turn on my overhead lights in the kitchen. The microwave still functions perfectly, just no extra light underneath.

Wow! Can you believe what sleeping all night long can do for a person!? LoViNg iT!

Out at the sand dunes...

So we decided to go roast marshmallows out at the sand dunes on Saturday. We took off in the Scout and the Tahoe. We took the slow way, up a rock crawling trail called the West Rim. Mikayla was really good, as long as the Tahoe was moving. When we stopped, she wasn't interested in staying in her carseat. It was super windy and we tried to find a place that was protected to build a fire. We sort of found one but it was still windy. Here's Merril, goofing around in the Scout.

Mikayla was wrapped up and carried around by the kids.

Juliet played in the sand.

Jack played with his friend James, not pictured.

We stayed until the moon came up.

And even though it was windy, we had fun! (Juliet is so blurry in this one.)

We had fun until it was time to go. We took the sand dunes home and I had sooooo much air in the tires that it made it difficult to get the Tahoe to climb sandy hills. I got stuck at one point and we let some air out. Tried again to get out and still couldn't manage it. We tried to tow the Tahoe out with the Scout and that didn't work either. After about a half hour of attempts, I tossed Merril a tire gauge and said, "Can you check the tires, they seem like they've still got way too much air." He checked them and said, "We still have 45 lbs! I thought we were way lower than that!" So we let out more air until there was 15-20 lbs of air in the tires and drove right out. I feel bad for our friends in the open air Jeep because it was windy, cold and 11:15 p.m. by then. We were all ready to be home in bed.

Is it weird that I still thought it was a good time?

Piano recital...

It was time for the Spring piano recital and Maxine did great! Soon she'll be better than me. She already knows way more about theory than I do.


Here she is with her amazing teacher, Sara!


I want to take some pictures of Mikayla this week because she's 3 months old! I was testing the lighting in this shot. I can't believe how the time has flown!

She loves fans...

I was hoping not to post another picture of Mikayla because I feel like that's all I've done lately but here she is again. She's looking up at the fans. Ceiling fans really make her happy. :) She'll smile and laugh at them. She coos and talks all the time too. If I never get anything done, it's because I'm making silly faces at my baby all day, trying to get her to talk to me.

On another note, she's continued to sleep all night long. I thought that she didn't make it this morning. 6 a.m. looked a lot like 2 a.m. After checking the clock and noting the time, I gladly got up to feed her and go back to bed. We all slept until 9 a.m. after that.

Mikayla's been so good lately, we even went to the temple last night. We just did sealings and Grandma C. watched the kids for us. It was good times.

Boxes of clothes...

Okay, I'm not a hoarder but I like to hang onto my kids' clothes when they grow out of them. Maybe it's because they represent a sizable investment, who knows? I've just pulled out clothes that don't fit my 4 kids. Mikayla has grown out of practically all her pjs and I looked for a new box of clothes. I have a box of girl 0-6 month and it was depressingly empty. So I figured I'd have to go get some new pjs for her. As I was moving the boxes of clothes downstairs to the clothes storage room (it'll be the downstairs laundry/hvac room someday), I found a box marked "girl 3-9 month." It was STUFFED full of cute baby girl pajamas and outfits for the summer and winter. It feels like a huge blessing. I love free clothes for my kids.

All Night Long!!!

Last night, Mikayla slept from 9:30 p.m. to 6:45 a.m! I fed her and she went right back to sleep. It's 9:45 and she's still sleeping. Wahoo! She's taken the longest to sleep through the night at 2 3/4 months old. It feels wonderful for me! I got up and got the kids off to school and had a shower before 8:30 a.m! Then I did the dishes and even have time to blog about it! Wow, I forgot what it feels like to be productive. :)

I pulled this picture off my camera the other day and kind of like it. Not sure why. It feels like being in a dream or sleeping in late on Saturday, very peaceful. Sometimes botched photos are my favorites.

Falling behind...

I used to be pretty vigilant about posting to my blog right as things happen.  Now it seems I can barely drag my camera to events to even take the pictures because I'm back to hauling strollers and diaper bags.  I want to start carrying my little point and shoot Canon around again so I stop missing things.  I need some new rechargeable batteries first.

Luckily, I can post date things so they still appear in chronological order, something very important to me.  Something that has also fallen by the wayside is my garden.  It has become taken over by a morning glory-type weed called bindweed.  I've sprayed them 3 times and they just won't die  Urg.  So I've decided to abandon my big garden and just use my small North-side grow box for veggies this year until I can get the weed eradicated.  Maybe I'll be able to do a Fall garden.  Other than that, we're just looking forward to summer!  Can't you feel it coming?!?

We've turned a corner...

Things have been running smoothly in regards to Mikayla!   She's 2 1/2 months old.  I took her off the Zantac because I didn't feel like it made any difference and she's really seemed so mello lately.  She's happy and content!  Wahoo!  She smiles and coos and still has crazy hair!

She's sleeping better at night too!  She'll go from 9:30 p.m. until 4:00 a.m., eat and go right back to sleep.  It's not all night but it's enough to make me feel human again.  She's hardly slept in her swing the last few weeks and will sleep in her crib fine.  Yeah!  We love her so much!

Juliet can ride her bike!

I went to Walmart the other day to get some buns for dinner.  I was gone maybe 10 minutes.  Before I left, Merril was putting new tires on Juliet's bike.  When I got back, Merril was running up the street behind Juliet.  They'd taken the training wheels off her bike and away she went!  (Don't you love the super protective gear she's in?  To contrast, Maxine had a helmet, gloves, good shoes, and pants when she learned to ride.)

Merril said he ran behind her and held onto the seat for 10 feet and she sped off.  He tried to catch up but she already knew what she was doing and didn't need him anymore.

The kids have been riding bikes like crazy ever since!

She's learned faster than any of the other kids but she's more adventurous than they are.  Always has been.  Afterwards, we went to the lake.  :)

Splendid breakfast and my 2 month old...

This morning I thawed some pancakes, poured some blueberries over the top and and added a little cool whip (because it's dairy free) and some syrup. I sat by the window and ate my breakfast and looked outside at the beautiful morning. Breakfast was wonderful. I read an article in a magazine yesterday regarding things in life that are worth the time. Taking time for a great breakfast was one of them. I love breakfast and often eat it looking out the window but decided to really spruce it up this week.

And Mikayla is 2 months old today! She sleeps in the swing a lot. She still doesn't seem all that comfortable, even though she's on Prevacid and Zantac. Oh well. And her face broke out like crazy a week and a half ago but is starting to clear up. 

Easter...

Easter brought a ton of Easter egg hunts.  Here's a real one in the desert with friends!  The eggs are really hidden instead of just laying on grass.

This is the one up at Grandma C.'s house.

We'll be eating candy for months.

Afterwards, there was brunch at Grandma's house. Jack said that next year he thinks we should do less Easter egg hunts. He said we should skip the one at a friends house. A friend has a house that backs up to a field and the eggs are actually hidden in desert bushes and Jack decided that was too much work.

Juliet was asking questions about the Easter bunny that I thought were funny!

Juliet: "Does the Easter bunny come in the night?"

Me: "Yep, he comes while you're asleep to hide the eggs."

Juliet: "Does he drive a car or does he like walk?"

Me: "Well....neither, he hops!"

Here's the hunt in our yard!

The kids yelled "Happy Easter!"

Juliet and her haul of eggs.  She really liked the purple eggs!

Next on our calendar: Merril's birthday! He'll be 34!

District Choir Festival...

Maxine's school choir was in a district choir festival.  They practiced a lot and did a great job!  Our school wore teal shirts.

Our school was on the left and the big, white arrow is pointing to Maxine.  This was before it started.

Choir has been a lot of fun for Maxine this year.  They've performed a few times and I've always thought they did a great job!

Silly faces...

Today Jack went to get Mikayla from the crib when she woke up from a nap. As he walked out with her, I said, "Hello baby!" and she grinned. I snagged this picture with my phone. Her hair is so crazy because I gave her a bath today.



I love my silly kids!

How can that be comfortable?

Jack fell asleep during conference. No big surprise. However, he fell asleep on the hardwood floor.

Ouch!

Here's another conference Sunday picture. They were messing around during a song. Maxine is a super piggybacker.

I promise, we listened to conference as well. :)

Out hiking!

My side of the family got together at a local hiking and picnic area to visit. After lunch, Merril took the older kids to hike while Mikayla and I stayed back to visit with my Mom, Dad, sister Jeannie (who'd just had elbow surgery) and her husband Greg (who'd just had shoulder surgery). The kids had fun getting wet, even though I hadn't dressed them to get wet.

Maxine and Juliet paused on a bench to pose for a picture, all wet.

Here's Jack pulling his, "I'm feeling cool" look. I have a hard time getting him to smile for the camera any more.

We had a good time and I got a chance to visit with relatives that I haven't seen in a while.

Old laptop...

Merril got a new netbook (translation: small laptop or tablet with a real keypad) for Christmas. It's cute, small and light. It has an ugly, fat, seriously heavy grandpa. Enter the seriously old laptop that we've had forever, since Maxine was a baby. It's been rebuilt and had parts swapped a number of times. I think we're on power cord number 4 because after a while, the plug cracks and won't work anymore. But it has to be plugged in because the battery only lasts for about 10 minutes. Lately, the wireless card on it has been running SUPER slow. (It takes an external wireless card because it was made before internal wireless cards.) I thought it was our router for a while. But I finally ponied up the 6 bucks and bought a new wireless card on Ebay and now the internet is streaming like a champ. I know this one is old but I just can't justify buying a new full-sized laptop until this one quits working.

Turkey and the sand dunes...

For family home evening, we packed a picnic dinner and headed out to the sand dunes. I had Merril snap a few pics with his phone. We cooked a turkey dinner on Sunday and took leftover turkey sandwiches and pumpkin pie. I had lofty ideas of freezing all the leftover turkey but instead we've just about eaten all of it. Little turkey sandwiches, turkey wraps and turkey just out of the tupperware container. Merril and I have decided that we need to have a Spring turkey dinner because turkey dinner is too good to only have once a year! We had turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls and pumpkin pie and it was so good!

So we played in the sand, ate our sandwiches and drove home.

It was a fun evening. :)

Check out the Friend Magazine!

Before Christmas, I got a call from a ward member asking if she could sketch Juliet for an upcoming article in the Friend magazine. The artist, Dileen Marsh, came over and explained what the picture was supposed to look like and then snapped some pictures. The article just came out in the April edition of the Friend. We're on page 22. (Emily U: If you look close, that's the quilt you made for Juliet when she was born!)

I love the thing that Juliet's doing with her hand. She does it often when she's talking and I'm pleased that it's been captured somewhere. We also thought it was funny that the girl in the article is named Susie. Juliet LOVES the name Susie and has a favorite baby doll named Susie. I've already made arrangements to purchase the original artwork from Dileen when it comes back from Salt Lake. Yeah!

Grateful...

Today I'm grateful. I'm grateful because I've learned that it's not wheat gluten that's upsetting Mikayla, it's corn. Corn! Of all the goofy things to have a reaction to! I feel bad for Mikayla that it took me so long to put the pieces together. After cutting wheat, I pounded the corn products: corn flakes, popcorn, corn tortillas; and they were the exact ingredient I should have been avoiding. So much sadness for her. So I'm eating bread again (joyous day!) and cutting corn, something that makes us both happy. I haven't added dairy or chocolate back in yet only because we're still working on getting her acid reflux medication right. She seems 50% better than no medicine so that's an improvement. I'll take some improvement over no improvement at all. She's sleeping better at night, which means I'm sleeping better at night.

I'm thankful for a supportive husband who has stayed up late with our baby girl so I can get some zzzzzs and then gets up early with the older kids to get them on the bus. He hasn't gone to the gym in the mornings since Mik was born and basically been attached to my hip to help out. Seriously thankful. He did dishes this morning too.

I'm thankful that they even have these types of medications! I can't imagine living in the past and not having options for my screaming, sad baby girl.

I'm thankful because today Mikayla looked at me and smiled. A real,"Hey, I recognize you and like you" smile. Her first.

I'm thankful for baby swings and soothing vibrations baby chairs! Without which my arms would have fallen off from carrying her around all the time.

Mikayla's blessing

Mikayla was blessed today. This is right after her morning bath. (I say that like she has a bath every day.) She was calm and content and I snagged this pic.

This is my new dress. It is so soft and extremely comfy. I might wear it every week from now on. Unfortunately, it's complicated to nurse in.

Mikayla was really good during the blessing. Her newly ordained cousin, Michael, was able to stand in the circle and help with the blessing.

And just so you don't think I've given away all my other children, here's a picture of Juliet with Merril.

We had a party at our house afterwards with hamburgers and Merril deep fried some fries and onion rings. Boy were they delicious! When he said he wanted to do fries, I was like, "Whatever." But they were my favorite part of the meal! Thanks to everyone who helped out and brought things!

Starving more than usual lately...

So Mikayla is a month old now! Wow! Where did that month go? Anyway, she's developed some nice acid reflux and a ton of painful gas. :( So we've tried one acid reflux medicine but it didn't work so we're onto medicine #2. I've also started her on some probiotics to try and help with the gas. Neither seem to do any good yet. The only thing that seems to be helping are my dietary restrictions. I've cut dairy, gluten, chocolate, tomatoes, onions, anything spicy, broccoli, and citrus fruits. Hopefully this is just a temporary measure until we can get the acid and gas under control for my sad, sleepless baby girl.

The hardest part is trying to find something to eat that won't upset her stomach. Urg. Breakfast and lunch are okay but dinner is challenging. If I punch gluten-free and dairy-free dinners into google, I'm barraged with healthy food. Things that include swiss chard, wheat grass, lentils, etc. I'm not trying to be healthy people! I'm just trying to find something to eat that is bland, boring and creatively flat. Which boils down to a lot of plain chicken and potatoes. *sigh* I miss eating. So as I stand in the kitchen, clutching my box of Rice Chex (which has become my go to snack food), I'm getting "hangry." Please eat a chocolate bar for me.

1 month old...

Mikayla is 1 month old! I really don't know where the month has gone. It's been a blur of sleepless nights. :) I'm amazed at how I can love something so much so fast.