Kindergarten Fun

Alli's class has Show and Tell every Friday. This last week she was supposed to show off a talent. I asked her before school what she was going to do, and she said "sing a song". Surprised, I asked her what song she was going to do and she said "I'll just make something up". Alrighty, then. When I picked her up, I asked her how it went. She said she made up a song about inviting someone to a birthday party. She sang it for me, but won't sing it for Alex or anyone else. I guess she sang it through once, and then repeated it. I have no idea where she got the performance genes, because they didn't come from her parents!

I asked Holly last week if she was excited for when she got to go to kindergarten. She said no, because then she'd have to read. Hopefully we can pop some enthusiasm into her over the next year and a half.

Sunday 10 - Ten Pictures from the last week

1. A week ago Friday we went with all the cousins to Jumpin Jacks. Here is Holly coming down the biggest slide. I was surprised how fearless she was with it. Usually it takes her awhile to want to go on it.
2. Brynne, who LOVED Jumpin Jacks last time we went, pretty much wanted nothing to do with anything this time until about 5 minutes before we left. I finally got her to run under this tunnel, and then she did it over and over and over again.

3. Brynne was also not afraid to touch the toys, as long as I didn't make her go on them.

4. Here is Alli on her way down the big slide. She bumped her head before going down this time, and you can't tell on the picture, but she was in tears when she was going down. Luckily, she recovered quickly and was back on the slide in no time. And there is Holly running off the bottom.

5. Alli and Abbey grabbed the camera and did a little photo shoot. Here is one of the few that didn't come out blurry.

6. On to the California trip! Cindy and I took off Friday night and our dad picked us up in Oakland. We stayed up late talking to my mom, and attempted to sleep in Saturday morning. Lucky for me, my brother's stupid alarm woke me up kind of early. It didn't wake him up, but I was up for the day far earlier than I wanted. Oh well. That afternoon was Cindy's baby shower. It was so fun to see a bunch of people from the ward I grew up in. Two of my cousins were there also, both of whom are due by mid-July. On my mom's side of the family, there are 6 cousins having babies within 6 months (2 have already had them) and all of them are BOYS! It's going to be so fun at family reunions! Here is a picture of the 4 pregnant cousins and our grandma.

7. Here we are in due date order from right to left: Leslie, Cindy, me, and Carolyn. Good times!

8. It dawned on me yesterday that Easter is in one week and I haven't pulled out my decorations yet. So after church today we put up a few things, and Alli, Holly and I got to work decorating eggs. Here is Alli hard at work.

9. Holly dipping half of her egg.

10. We had a set of little egg-people decorations. The girls each got to do 2 little people. Here is their finished product.

Brynne-isms

I know we talk about Brynne a lot on here, but she is at such a funny age and I want to remember all the hilarious things she says. Here are a few things from the last week or so.

-This morning she woke up earlier than normal, so I brought her into bed with me, hoping she would let me have a few more minutes of sleep. No such luck. Within a couple minutes, she was out of bed, asking for "cereal, too". (I don't know why she calls it that. She never asks for cereal, just cereal too.) When I wouldn't roll over, she pulled on my arm and said "Mom! Get up!" Such a big girl.

-Yesterday afternoon Brynne and I were in the car together and she randomly started counting. She made to to 11, then said "Is that enough?" I've never heard her say that phrase before.

-We're making the transition to the toddler bed. She does great at night, but we have yet to be successful for naptime. Last week, she was in bed and I heard her start crying. I went in and she was rubbing her belly. I asked her where she got hurt and she said "on my baby brudder". Apparently she has a baby in her tummy, too.

-Brynne is my cuddler, and whenever I hold her I say "cuddle with mommy". She puts her head on my shoulder. I love it. Last week I said "cuddle with mommy" and she said "no! Cuddle wif Bwynne!" and put her head on her own shoulder. I love it.

My Sunday 10 without Becky

Yup, you read it right, no Becky for this Sunday 10. And I actually won't write 10 things, but I wanted to keep the title consistent with Becky's running blog.

So this weekend I shipped Becky out to California to enjoy a weekend without the kids. She went out to California for Cindy's baby shower. She flew out Friday night with Cindy and they'll fly home late Monday night. That means I have all three girls for the weekend. We've had a fun time so far without too much craziness or mishaps, but there have been some humorous times.

Our Church starts a 9 a.m. and I'm proud to say we made it on time. But right when the girls were finishing eating breakfast (with their dresses on) I hear Brynne say, "Look Daddy, hat." I look over and she had tipped her cereal bowl over and used it as a hat. Luckily she had finished 90% of her cereal and milk. But still, the remaining milk was dripping down her face, through her hair, and onto the table. She thought she was pretty funny.

During sacrament meeting I served my usual purpose as a jungle gym for Brynne. After the first talk Holly took her out to get a drink. As she was walking away she said about three times in her non-quiet voice (a.k.a. she yelled) "Bye Daddy! Bye Daddy! By Daddy!" with each time getting more emphatic because I wasn't responding. A tad embarrassing.

I got set apart after Church as an Elder's Quorum Instructor. We were in a little room and I thought I had distracted Brynne enough with a sucker. But as they were setting me apart I hear the pitter of feet and a nudge at my knees. I peeked my eyes open and Brynne was trying to give me my scriptures, "Here Daddy. Here Daddy." All the while the Elder's Quorum President is setting me apart. Luckily Allison was smart enough to come grab her away. But that didn't last long as Brynne was back a few moments later, this time with the diaper bag. Very reverent.

Finally, after Church I was making the girls lunch. Brynne—have you noticed all these stories involve our crazy little Brynne?—was kneeling backwards on one of our dining table chairs and Holly was sitting another chair behind Brynne's. Holly didn't realize where Brynne was and innocently scooted her chair back. Unfortunately Brynne's fingers were caught in between the two chairs. She started screaming in pain. I look over and see what's happening and dash over from the stove. I grab Holly quickly and pull her away to let Brynne loose. But as I do this I accidentally knocked Holly's head against another chair and her leg banged the counter. Doh! So Brynne is screaming and now Holly is. Good job Dad! But I smoothed over everything with a few cuddles, some love.... and some juice. I'm pretty sure the juice was the key ingredient.

So it's now Sunday night and Brynne is in bed asleep and Alli and Holly are watching Princess and the Frog. I realize now more than ever why Becky values quiet time and nap time during the day so much. Peace. Quiet. No kids asking for something.

I love my kids more than anything, though. They're wonderful. But now I can appreciate my wife even more. I'm pretty darn lucky to have married such a wonderful mother—our kids would be in trouble otherwise!

Mish Mash

What a BEAUTIFUL day it is today! After Alli got back from school, we met up with Ashlee and Jensen at the park and played for almost an hour and a half. Such nice weather.

Abbey, Alli, Holly, and Brynne.

Holly rolling down the hill.

We've had Abbey here for 4 days and she'll be leaving tonight. Thanks to a lovely combination of playing hard and Daylight Savings, she hasn't woken up earlier than 7:30 once since she got her. I think her parents should be very jealous! I didn't think all 3 girls would be able to sleep in the same room more than one night, but they have been amazing and we haven't had to go in there once to tell them to be quiet. I'm shocked and completely amazed. We've had a great time having Abbey here!

Last week, Alex decided to book a flight for me to make a trip home with Cindy, who has had her flights booked for a couple months. So Friday evening we head out for a few days of California sunshine and sleeping in! (I doubt I'll actually have the ability to sleep in much, but the freedom to sure sounds nice!) I'm looking forward to spending a few days with my parents and a couple siblings. And I'm sure Alex is looking forward to me coming home. I'm impressed with my awesome husband who volunteered to stay home with the girls for 3 days by himself.

Sunday 10

1. The week started out with Activity Days here. It was the smallest group I've had so far -- only 5 girls showed up. It's amazing how hyper they are, whether there are 12 or 5 of them. They're a really fun group of girls and it's awesome to work with them.

2. Wednesday's schedule was pretty packed. We ran some errands while Alli was at school, then had Holly's playgroup here in the afternoon. After play group, Alli went to a friend's birthday party, after which Cindy, Chad, Neil and Dani came over for dinner.

3. We left Neil and Dani with our kids and Cindy, Chad, Alex and I went to Salt Lake to see Brian Regan. Cindy and I got our husbands tickets for Christmas and we've all been anxiously awaiting the show. It was definitely worth it! We had a great time and laughed a lot. The opening act, though I don't remember his name, was hilarious also. Good times!

4. Thursday started my fence bid obsession. We're trying to get a fence in our backyard so my sanity can be kept in tact with a new baby this summer, and it's a little more pricey than we thought! We had our first bid on Thursday and I've gotten several since then. We'll see what comes of it.

5. Friday I went with Mary to pick out paint colors for the baby's room. Just you wait. It's going to be awesome. After we picked up the kids from kindergarten we went to Hobby Lobby. I don't think I'll be doing that with 3 kids during Brynne's nap ever again. So hard to keep them from touching everything and asking for everything.

6. That night we went to a wedding reception. It was good to see the Gillespie's again! It's been way too long.

7. Saturday afternoon was Cindy's baby shower. I spent the morning getting everything ready, then running my last few errands in the pouring rain. I love rain. I will take rain over snow any day. The shower turned out really fun.

8. Holly had a "Pinkalicious" birthday party Saturday morning as well. My girl who wants to stay in her pajamas as long as possible every morning came upstairs half dressed, asking for help with getting pink tights on. I think she looks adorable!

9. Alex took the girls out for lunch while I was gone, which they always love. Once I got back, we all spent the rest of the day at home, a rarity for a Saturday afternoon at our house. It's a nice change. Natalie and Earl dropped Abbey off last night and we'll be watching her until Wednesday afternoon. My girls are loving every second of cousin time and will be very sad when she leaves. It was a sight to get 4 girls up, dressed, fed, hair done, and out the door for 9:00 church, especially with Daylight Savings. Alex took over after hair time and got them fed, then took Alli, Holly, and Abbey to church while I got myself and Brynne ready. That is one HUGE perk to this child being a boy . . . no time-consuming hairstyles!

10. Today we're celebrating Neil's birthday, which was yesterday. The siblings will be here soon and, as usual, we will EAT! Gotta love celebrations!

Sunday 10, Ten Birthday Pictures

Instead of my normal Sunday 10, I'm going to post 10 pictures from Brynne's birthday last week. Partly because I finally downloaded them all from my camera, and partly because aside from Brynne's 2 year checkup and a couple of me-time outings, this week was pretty calm. And I love that. (Side note: I saw Valentine's Day on Thursday and really liked it. A definite recommendation!)

On to the pictures:

The only shot I could get of Brynne before church. She was playing shy and wouldn't put her milk down. But I love her hair -- she let me curl it for the first time!

Grandma and Grandpa let her open their present first. She loves this dress! It's a little long, so Grandma taught her how to hold it up with both hands when she walks and she does that every time she wears it now.

The cake. Brynne was so excited for her butterfly cake all day!

Saying goodbye to Mambo and Carla.

Opening presents. She got spoiled by family this year! We gave her a wagon this year, and that was a huge hit with all the kids at our house!

Best buddies Brynnie and Bo Bo.

My awesome daughters!