Hollywood Connection

Action-packed visit from the Gordon's.  We had to take them Hollywood Connection.  We had a fantastic time on the rides and rollerskating!

Sydney's cousins are starting to recognize her 'excitement' as she opens and closes her hands as fast as she can.  I've had my concerns but Doug tells me it's just a sensory thing and that she'll be fine…as long as she isn't teased too much.  It is really cute, although quite frequent.  She does it more when she's watched a lot of television or other 'screen time.'

She was amazing.  She was SO patient with falling constantly and would just laugh and try again.  It was so incredible.  Doug and I kept noticing how she learned so well because she never got discouraged or frustrated.

Both Sydney and Ethan loved this little apparatus that helped them to learn to skate.  $4 well spent!

10 months!

She may be TEENY but she is a the happiest, sweetest baby.  I couldn't believe I was ready to move her to feeding seat (she's been eating in a Bumbo since 6 months old) but she LOVED it.

She's all about snacks right now.  Any snack and every snack.  She likes to feed herself.

She wakes up happy like this just about 98% of the time. Not sure how I got so lucky!

She loves to be just alive this girl.  The doctor keeps telling me that she's happy and developmentally moving along, so her weight is just a side note. Wish I could relax about the whole 'side note' thing.

She loves my green smoothies, sweet potatoes, bananas, and carrots.

Free Sandwich!

Our local library had a 'read 5 books and get a free burger at In and Out' deal.  My kids had never had a regular hamburger, so I told them they'd get a sandwich.  We had Grace come to the library with us and we set and read 5 books together and then gave a card to the librarian.  She gave us a coupon in exchange.  They were SO excited.  Doug took Grace home and they stopped at In and Out and had their dinner.  So cute.  

Animal Time

We went the library for an animal presentation Monday night.  There was the biggest rabbit I have ever seen…ever.

The chinchilla's fur was evidentially really soft--but it looked too much like a mouse…yuck.  Then again, I don't really pet any animals...

Happy Birthday Dad!

Doug's birthday was a little eventful.  He has been studying for his licensing exam like crazy and I have taken on a bit of the yard work…boy has that been an eye-opening experience!  We found some bare-root fruit trees at Costco and I took the kids to pick them up.  They weren't happy at the way they had to sit with the branches in their faces.

I picked up a cake at Cold Stone for his birthday and the kids were loving it!

We have some serious balloon issues.  We now have two stuck up on the ceiling from my birthday and Ethan and Syd's birthday back in JANUARY!

I found this in the freezer a few days after his birthday.  No cake…maybe someone thought if it was in the freezer, more cake would appear??

Frozen arrival!

We have been talking about this day ever since we saw Frozen in the movie theatre (twice!).  I had pre-ordered Frozen online and it was scheduled to arrive on the release date.  Wow.  Talk about a LONG day.  We had big plans.  We had homemade pizzas ready, cupcakes decorated, sheet set up on the basement floor, TV and Blu-ray player queued up and…no movie.  Every time the door bell rang for days, they would run to the door.  I even had a package arrive around lunch time, but it was a different order.  LONG…LONG DAY.

It FINALLY arrived after dinner time! Pizzas were half-way eaten but the kids didn't care!  They were so excited.  They had dressed up for the occasion.  Love these two Frozen-freaks.  :-)

Funeral with family

Although a funeral isn't a fun reason to get family together, it sure IS fun to get together with family!  The funeral festivities were changed for me when Doug wanted to stay back with all three of our children for the graveside service (2 hours south) and offered to keep all the other smaller children in the family who didn't want to go to the graveside.  I rode down with Tiffany and Tyler and little Avery who was sick.  Doug sent me several photos to prove the chaos that was going on at the house from noon until 9 pm or so.

I was so concerned to leave Lyla for that long, but he convinced me that she was happy by sending a photo.

It was great to have my brother, Matt, in town and for Lyla to meet a few second cousins (my cousin Nicole's baby, Derek)

The graveside service was really unique for me because I saw MANY, MANY names I recognized on tombstones.  It was as if every Beckstrand for generations had been buried here…because they were!

 
It was also amazing to see how fast my nieces and nephews are growing up!

Loved that we took the opportunity to snap a photo with my grandpa.  We were all together!  It has been a while since this has happened.  It was a very uplifting day (with a lot of driving!).

Boomerang birthday

It was great having a birthday on Monday.  Doug doesn't work on Mondays.  I was able to go to lunch with my sisters and Doug watched all the kids so we could go kid-less.  That was awesome!  

Before dinner, we went down to the park and I grabbed my boomerangs from my mission in Australia because I had a read a book with the kids about it and they wanted to see how to throw one.  First, it's harder than it looks.  Second, these are tourist boomerangs.  I didn't know they would break so easily.  I was sad…and at the same time glad I got to use them with my kids even if it was one last time.

The stuck in the grass because they come down so quick and fast.

Ethan had a great time trying to throw it and have it come back.  So adorable.

Doug broke two of them.  Too strong for his own good!

Lyla tried to enjoy herself on the windy day while Ethan and Sydney played at the park.  Doug had gone home to "turn on the oven" while I froze outside.  He came back to get us and when we got home Doug's mom had arrived to babysit so Doug and I could go on a date. Surprise!  :-)

We went to the outlet mall and I bought a pair of jeans!  I had been wearing a pair that were a full size too big.  (Once at the movie theatre, I stood up and thought they might drop to my ankles!!)  It was a great day!