Bluebonnet pictures

We live in Texas, so last month when the bluebonnets were in bloom we took advantage.  It wasn't really planned (which is why the girls' hair is ALL over the place) but it's something.

Yesterday at bedtime Hyrum went to eat a bowl of cereal before putting Tiago in bed.  (Tiago had already brushed his teeth.)  Tiago asked him why he was eating, and Hyrum said, "Because I exercised a lot today and I'm still really hungry."  Tiago said, "Yeah.  I know.  I guess I was running a lot at school and after school and it made me really tired, and....?"  He never did ask for cereal, but he tried really hard to skirt around it.

Recently we implemented a new dinner-time activity to distract the kids (and try to get them to eat more, without talking about eating.)  We ask them to share something good and something bad that happened during the day.  And almost without fail, they say that "playing with friends" was the best part of their day.  If they didn't get to play with friends, the girls always say the worst part of their day was not getting to play with friends.  We are SO glad there are other kids on our street they can play with outside.

Every morning, the girls still play 'pets' with their stuffed animals and make up games/scenarios.  The cast of characters is growing.  They have their princess pal animals, which are Pumpkin and Dreamy.  (Those names came assigned.)  They each have a pretend doll--one has been Enchilada for months, the other recently went through a name change: Anda is now called "Baby Professor."  They have a stuffed zebra (aka "bee-zra") which was recently named Papaya.  Mila has a small plastic toy named Orangie.  They put a tea cup in a box to be its hot tub.  And my favorite stuffed animals are their Teeny Tys, because they're so small.  The other day when I went into their room in the morning they explained that they were taking an airplane trip to Utah and all the animals were coming along.  Other mornings, they play "Pecan Waffle House".  Their imaginations are really something.

Easter

For Easter we celebrated with an egg hunt Saturday afternoon, and then Easter baskets on Sunday morning.  The kids had a Primary activity a few days before, which had a great focus on the meaning of Easter, and we talked about the last week of the Savior's life in the week before Easter.  But there was also a good amount of candy and fun.  

The highlights of the Easter baskets this year were Pez dispensers, sticker art books, and Teeny Ty stuffed animals.  I thought those would be a hit with the kids and they didn't disappoint.  Siena thought her tiny pig was hilarious.

During church Mila drew this and told us it was the Garden of Gethsemane, so we must be doing something right, right??

After church we dyed eggs, and then let the kids throw a few of them against the tree in the back yard, according to long-standing bizarre family tradition.  That turned into a bunch of play time outside in nice weather. 

March

The highlights of March were the girls' 4th birthday, Spring Break, and my trip to Utah.  But I've already written about those things.  The rest of the month was just regular life.  Most Saturdays Tiago had soccer games (although we had a lot of rain on the weekends, so some were cancelled.)

 I hung up this print that we bought while we were in Toledo, Spain-- it felt like the perfect little spot. 

The girls had their annual check up.  I like the kids' pediatrician, and was able to get all 3 of their shots taken care of.  (When I went to register Tiago for kindergarten, I found out that at his last two well-child visits the doctors didn't give him up-to-date vaccinations.  But now all 3 are set for many years and I don't have to worry about it.)  They had really good behavior, so I treated them to ice cream after.  (Gone are the days of dreading appointments with all three and sweating my way through it.)

The girls got paints for their birthday, so one afternoon we got them out for art time.  It seemed like a lot of work to get it set up, and by the time I was done setting up their papers were completely paint-covered and they were basically done. 

I took this picture on St. Patrick's day.  We didn't do anything to celebrate, but I love Lucky Charms and coincidentally was eating them on the 17th. 

We usually walk Tiago to and from school each day.  It's not uncommon for them to get side tracked in this little field-- either to pick flowers, poke at ant holes, etc.  I don't mind, except when it's 80+ degrees outside and I'm melting.  

 

I had to renew my drivers license in March, which I do through the mail since I still have an Ohio drivers license.  I discovered that Costco has passport pictures for a great deal-- 4 for $5.  And I had to get my vision tested, which was just one more doctor appointment to schedule.  That appointment coincided with free ice cream cone day at Dairy Queen, so my kids had incentive to behave well. 

On the last day of the month, I made Hyrum attend a parenting workshop, taught by someone I follow on Instagram.  It would have been nice to both attend, but child care for 5 hours is hard to come by, so I had him to and then come tell me what he learned.  He was hesitant, but I think it was super beneficial for us both.  We've been implementing some things in the last few months, and feel like we're getting a handle on some aspects of parenting.  (And then things go terribly wrong and we wonder what happened...) 

February

I have a few random pictures from February.  Lately, the kids are really into dressing up.  Siena, in particular, puts a dress over her regular clothes almost daily.  

Tiago went through a stage of not wanting to go to sleep at night.  We put him in bed around 7:45, and he'd be coming into our room at 9 pm still telling us he couldn't sleep, or he was hungry, etc.  Part of the problem is how much he likes to read; he could sit and look through books for hours.  More recently we implemented a rewards system that encourages him to stay in his own room.  So even if he's reading until 9 he isn't bothering what's left of our evenings.  When we're lucky he just lays down and falls asleep.  (Usually with the light on.)

We didn't do a whole lot for Valentines day.  I gave the kids each a box of chocolates at breakfast, and we had pink milk.  They were satisfied.   Tiago came home from school with a bag of Valentines cards and the kids had fun going through everything for about an hour.  The week of Valentines, I was in charge of teaching Joy School.  We decorated sugar cookies for them to give their valentines.  And the kids did a card (and candy) exchange with each other which they loved.

I think this is Hyrum and a group from church when they were helping someone move.

We obviously went to Target a few times in February.  One Saturday they had a lego activities set up in different parts of the store.  I usually avoid stores on the weekend, but we got lucky and the kids had fun building things.

These are a few pictures my mom sent of the kids while Hyrum and I were in Spain.  They already had one Minnie Mouse dress-up doll (from her) but she bought them two more.  There was a lot of Minnie play-time.  She also got them to all their activities (Joy School, ballet, art class, soccer practice), fed them, and did their hair way more frequently than I do it.  Lucky kids. 

As soon as we got back from our trip, we had a whirlwind day before my mom flew home.  We had our 20-week ultrasound where we found out the baby's gender, and took Tiago to register for Kindergarten.  Then he rushed off to soccer practice.  It was nice for Hyrum to have that extra day off work to 'recover' (we got home after midnight) and help with the craziness, and also for my mom to be home to help watch the kids one more day.