March - visit from family and other fun

March was the first full month with Hyrum gone, but we were able to get into a good routine and do some fun things.  I put my gym membership on hold, with the intention of working out at home and doing my back stretches.  ...There wasn't much working out, but I did stretch, and I think resting my back has allowed it to heal a bit more.  I'm done with physical therapy and will be seeing a pain management specialist next week about a possible steroid injection.  

Feeling better has made life so much happier.  I enjoy doing simple things, like keeping my house clean or walking to the park.  

My kids (Mila) in particular, have enjoyed making this face a lot.  They definitely get it from me.

We got this Cloud Pet for Hyrum's deployment.  You can record a message on an app, and then send it to the stuffed animal.  So Hyrum records messages for them and then I send them to the cat and the listen.  The technology is pretty crappy, so half the time it doesn't work, but when it does work the kids have a blast with it.  It was a bit confusing to them at first. 

The first real fun thing we did in March was a vehicle show.  They do it as a fundraiser, and get dozens of vehicles from around town that you can climb around on. We stayed for hours, and probably could have stayed longer but I can only handle crowds (and honking noises) for so long. 

This was actually where Tiago wanted to stay the longest, playing with these cars with other kids:

A moving truck:

This was from the girls' birthday, which I wrote about back here:

Tiago and I started reading chapter books at bed time.  He still prefers the ones with some pictures, but we got through a handful of Roald Dahl books, plug Mr. Popper's Penguins.  I can't believe how many of these books have been turned into movies.  (Several of which are pretty dumb.)  I had to go to the library to get a new round, which includes Winnie the Pooh and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I enjoy reading actual books instead of the same picture books over and over. 

When Hyrum left for Afghanistan he told Tiago he could play soccer with me instead.  Tiago told me, "I'll have to teach you how to play soccer."  I asked him why he thinks I don't already know how.  And he said, "Because you never come with me and Papa to play."  True story! I always figured that if he took the kids to the park on a Saturday, that was my "alone time."  I LOVE when they go play soccer. :)

But I did take Tiago and let him "teach me".  There was a lot of laying on the grass. 

I was SO TIRED of brushing the girls' hair, so in an attempt to make life easier I cut off several inches.  I'd already given Siena a haircut in February, but this time even more curls came off.  After it was dry it curled up to around their shoulders. 

We've done sensory bins a few times.  This time we tried with ccorn meal, which was a bit different from the rice or beans.  They had fun, and that leads me to the highlight of March...

I BOUGHT A ROOMBA.  I LOVE IT.  I feel like telling everyone I know so they can buy their own.  (A few of my friends actually did buy one right after.)

I've been thinking about it for a while, because sweeping is a pain point for me.  I never felt like doing it (because it hurt my back) so stuff would just accumulate for days.  But I love my house feeling clean.  I figured this was a great time to do it while we were getting "extra money" from the deployment. 

It's everything I hoped it would be.  Every evening I pick up stuff off the ground and let it run while I put the kids in bed.  When I come downstairs after, my whole house looks amazing.  So now I don't have to go days with dirty floors.  It does hard floors and rugs.  Once a week I take it upstairs to do the bedrooms.  It has a sensor so it doesn't run down the stairs.  The things I don't like about it are that it's kind of loud, and it takes forever (like an hour).  It's completely random in its movement, and treats my nearly spotless entryway the same as my super dirty kitchen.  It's also amazing how much dust it picks up, even when it's running daily.  

When I was still in school, and my oldest sister was working at a salaried job, I remember her saying on a family vacation, "I just earned $XXX in the last 6 hours of having fun." I find myself thinking that about my roomba.  My vacuum just cleaned my whole house while I've been out having fun.  It makes it even better.  

 We spent some time at playgrounds... we went to one we haven't been to often.  Mila randomly said, "Grandpa took me here."  And sure enough, about a year ago my parents came to visit and my Dad walked with Mila to this playground (because she was miserable and needed a distraction.) It's crazy what they remember.

The girls built this tower by themselves, and wanted me to take a picture, but the photo series cracks me up.  Mila is watching Siena and then they proceed to do the exact same (funny) poses. 

We ended up with a large box (which I'm sure has nothing to do with all the stuff I've been ordering online..) and I told my kids it would make a perfect hot tub.  They played SO MUCH in that thing, all crammed in.  The blue blanket was the water and they had a blast. 

Hyrum's unit had a family event. There was a potluck, and activities for the kids (Army figurines, face painting, nerf guns, and a photo booth.)   That picture of Siena cracks me up, while they were taking it I thought, "She looks like the saddest child soldier.."

Tiago has impressed me lately with his art.  He drew this dragon, and told me that was me in the window of the castle, and that there was a knight inside rescuing me but there wasn't a window by him.  Sweet kid.

I wish I'd discovered this sooner, but there's a Chik-fil-et kids club here that does monthly activities for the kids (for free.)  This night they made employee hats and got to take pretend orders on the computer.  Then they got to serve their own ice creams.  (Who knew they even had sprinkles??)  We also had a second Chik-fil-et open by our house (only about 10 minutes away) so we have spent plenty of time there, and got some free stuff during their grand opening.  Tragically, Tiago ordered a soda, drank it, got a refill, and then knocked it off the table  It smashed to pieces.  Then when the employee came to mop it up, she didn't hold the bucket correctly and the whole thing knocked over and pretty much flooded the place.  I told her I was sorry we caused that chain of events.  But they said it was no problem at all, and cleaning up was their pleasure. haha

We got an art book from the library and Tiago enjoyed doing a few of the crafts inside.  The girls aren't quite old enough to enjoy many structured activities. 

That reminds me though, the second best thing that happened in March is the girls started preschool! Unfortunately it's not free, like Tiago's, but they go two mornings a week and love it.  They always talk about their friends and teachers, and like feeling grown-up.  The funniest thing they do, is after class one of them carries the backpack and the other one holds onto the excess strap like it's a leash. One leads the other all the way to the car.  Several people have commented/laughed about it.

And the third best thing in March (okay, maybe it ranks higher.. but the Roomba is pretty awesome...) is my family came to visit.  My parents, Matt, Kayla, and Jenna decided to take the train from SLC to Denver, which was supposed to take 16 hours and be quite scenic.  It turned into a bit of a nightmare, with long delays due to mud slides.  Instead of arriving at 9 pm they arrived at 3 am and all snuck up to their beds for a few hours sleep before my kids woke them up. 

Matt and Kayla were the only new ones to Colorado Springs, so we did a few repeat visits--first Manitou Springs and then Garden of the Gods.  In Manitou we fought crowds to get a parking spot and then went into this horse racing game area which we'd never played before. 

Uncle Matt learned that one shoulder ride leads to a whole day of shoulder rides.  The picture of Tiago manhandling Matt's forehead makes me laugh.  

What a photogenic place!  And we love that its free.  Mila must have been exhausted from all the fun.  I can count on 1 hand the number of times she's fallen asleep in the car since she was 3 mo. old.

This is from Sunday morning.  My dad encouraged them to go dog-pile on Matt. 

And at church Tiago was picked as the spotlight child.  In January I had Tiago fill out his questionnaire, and it was just as funny hearing them read it out loud.  "This child likes hot chocolate.  One thing that makes this child special is that they drink a lot of hot chocolate and have a blanky blue.  One thing this child doesn't like is when his sisters hit him."  hahaha  He felt pretty special going up to get a crown, and picked to sing his favorite song, "Follow the Prophet", even though he didn't even open his mouth the whole time.

It was a quick visit.  After lunch (and jump starting Hyrum's car) they all headed back to the airport to fly (thankfully!) home.  My kids were SO sad.  Siena stood on the driveway just sobbing and repeating, "I feel so sad."  Mila was inside crying, and Tiago was just angry, throwing his blanket as hard as he could at everything in sight.  Luckily, my parents are coming back to visit soon so they don't have to be sad for long!

I guess to lessen the blow my mom bought the kids this art easel, which is a fun new thing. 

One of the ladies who works at the on-post day care has done my girls hair a couple of times.  It amazes me when I drop them off with completely tangled messes, and I pick them up with beautifully brushed hair.  This day in particular they looked cute, with ballerina buns on their heads.  The lady was telling me how she just uses gel to smooth out the top.  (I have a lot to learn, obviously).  The lighting was bad in the hallway but their twin-posing is too cute. 

The last week of March was spring break for all three kids.  We just stayed around town and tried to have some fun.  To pass the time, we went swimming and I took the kids bowling. Hyrum took them once back in January (but I wasn't there) so Tiago assumes I have never bowled before. It's a bit of work for me, hauling the balls back and forth, but the kids were entertained for an hour and it didn't cost much.  We might take Grandma back, because Tiago thinks there are no bowling alleys in Utah, and it sounds like more fun with two adults. 

I was having a hard time getting the kids to look at the camera (first picture, Mila falling and crying) so I told them there was a butterfly on my phone (second picture, with skeptical faces).  

At the very end of March I put my kids in child care for almost the entire day and drove up to Denver to attend the temple.  It took a bit of coordinating, but was an awesome break for me! 

Tiago's friend (also named Tiago) invited us over for an Easter Party.  They dyed eggs, age lunch, and mostly ran around outside.  At the end they had an egg hunt at the park.  It was on a Friday, so I thought it was just a kid thing, but it turns out it was a 4-day weekend with the Army so all the husbands were there too.  It would have been more fun with Hyrum!

Tiago had been asking to go to this park downtown.  It's a fun one, but we don't go too often.  It's great because they have fun play areas but nothing is high off the ground, and it lends itself to more imaginative play.  Unfortunately, it's not in the best area. 

We ended the month with the start of General Conference!  Tiago was so adorable painting one of the speakers.  He kept looking over his shoulder at the TV screen to make sure he got it right, from the microphone to the flowers.  My girls screamed for the first 20 minutes (of the General Assembly) but Tiago and I just listened with the TV at full volume and tried to feel the spirit.  (It was REALLY hard.)  Fortunately the rest of conference went smoother!

In the afternoon we went for a walk to burn off energy and ended up at this "military kid's playground."  Just kidding.  It's a PT area (physical training.)  They do sit ups, pull ups, and rope climbing.  The kids had a blast playing for about an hour, acting like the incline was a slide and playing in the rocks. 

Not pictured: Daylight savings time happened.  :(  My kids ended up just going to bed quite a bit later than normal, and then fortunately not waking up at the crack of dawn.  After a week of having to wake my kids up to go to school, we had spring break and they were able to sleep a little longer. 

The last thing to note in March is that I started the Keto diet.  Jenna started it a few weeks before her visit and was loving it, so as a bit of an experiment I decided to give it a try.  I'll have to write more about it later.  Maybe when I'm done.