Snowbirds part 2

My sister left Sunday morning and then David's mom flew in that afternoon!  We were so happy to see her and spend the week with her.  David's stepdad, Ralph, stayed at his brother's house across the valley then came to our house toward the end of the week.  We had great fun trying out new stores, David and I had a temple date, we had a preschool field trip, and David and Ralph golfed.  We also just relaxed. A big reason they come here is for the sun so they made sure to get plenty of sun time!

We played at the park a few times of course!

Our farm/dairy field trip was so much fun!

Benjamin got a little fresh with Anna in the stroller...

No, I did not hold the chicken, neither did Natalie.  Grandma is the brave one. 

We persuaded grandpa Ralph to try out the wiggle car-awesome!

Miss Anna content as can be

One morning we played beauty parlor.  I had Barb dye my hair.  I have never done that before other than highlights when we got married!  However, I've acquired some white hairs from bearing children and I was tired of David sifting through my hair to tug them out.  So we went dark reddish brown and it hardly looks any different--but the white hairs are gone!  After that we had grandma trim Natalie's hair so all the straggles are gone.  She looks mighty cute and enjoyed the attention.

Come back grandma, we miss you!!

Snowbirds

We tend to have most of our visitors come in the winter months.  They like to come escape the snow and dreary grayness of everyday life.  Our first set of visitors was Debbie's family.  They came down from Utah for a weekend.  We had a great time playing, laughing, shopping, and of course eating.  My beautiful, talented, amazing niece was nice enough to watch the kids so David and I could go on a date with my sister and her husband.  Thanks Elise!  It was great to be able to enjoy adult conversation without constantly placating the kids!

We pretty much had 2 days and we tried to make the most of it!  We packed a lunch and went to a park, went to the girl's soccer games, hung out at San Tan Mall, and had my brother-in-law's sister's family and my cousin Tara's family over for dinner.  SO fun!

 BIG news!  Cyrena finally learned how to pump on the swings.  This was a major development and we couldn't be more proud.

Great Grandpa Gerstner

February has flown by and been incredibly busy.  We got word early in the morning on February 7 that David's granddad had passed away.  Losing a grandparent is a very bittersweet experience.  We drove up to Salt Lake for the funeral and were able to see many family members we hadn't seen in quite awhile.  It was a sweet reunion even with my sick, sleep deprived kiddos. 

We will definitely miss great-grandpa, he was quite the character and we loved visiting him. We're comforted knowing that he has continued on, is pain free, and is making friends by the minute.  David's grandmother is a saint and such a sweet example to us of unconditional love. 

I didn't even notice while I was taking these pictures that grandpa's portrait is in the background, how fitting.

Soccer, sleeping and silliness

I've been a terrible blogger this month!  January has been a lovely month.  We've had fun with the girls in soccer and everyone's getting back into a regular routine.  There have been a lot of positives this month and that always makes for a happy household.  

Anna has discovered the kitchen cupboards.  So far no damage done, just exploration. She likes to play with all the kid cups/bowls which are on the cupboard near her right hand.  This is classic of her; on the floor being silly with one slipper on.  I try to keep her feet warm, it's a never-ending task.

The other night we babysat some kids for friends; 3 kids from one family and 1 from another.  7 kids under 7, super fun! They were all amazing, no problem at all.  I put one of the babies down for bed in the girl's room because I thought I'd need our room for another baby.  Turns out that other baby was happy to stay up and play until his parents came.  

 So after the 3 kids from one family were picked up we put the girls to bed in our room.  They were so excited.  I think they were under the impression that we were all going to sleep in there together.  Cyrena slept on David's side and Natalie slept on mine because they were "the daddy and the mommy!!"  I love this picture because it shows exactly how they sleep.  Cyrena sleeps all night with covers bundled up to her chin while Natalie kicks the covers off and is spread eagle.  Classic.

At the beginning of the month, Cyrena had a really hard time with her morning routine.  She could NOT get up and get going in the morning.  Who could blame her after late nights and sleeping in during vacation?  Because of this problem we were late for the bus a few times and had to run to catch it.  Cyrena's bus driver was so nice and always stopped for us.  In my gratitude for him, I realized I never did anything for him during Christmas!  How did I miss that??  So to thank him we made him a card and she drew the above picture.  I love all the details in her drawing.  We put it with some homemade cookies and a Target gift card.  This man makes it so I can stay home while he gets my girl safely to and from school every. single. day.  Yes, I'm grateful and we haven't been late for the the bus since.

Anna is loving being outside.  However, it's hard to keep track of a crawling baby outside.  This is her watching out the window while David is mowing the lawn.  

Natalie and Cyrena have both been in soccer this month and it will continue through next month.  Natalie loves the experience of wearing the uniform and going to games, but actually kicking the ball and understanding what's going on is beyond her.  It's very entertaining.

A much needed drink break.  She actually kicked the ball this last Saturday, we were elated!  

Cyrena's having a good season.  She has a great coach that really challenges her.  She is much improved since last year but still doesn't quite have the coordination of other kids.  She's definitely a better defensive player than offensive.  She's got a lot of heart though and she won't give up!

Christmas Aftermath

After Christmas we headed up North to enjoy some cooler weather.  Or so we thought.  It was actually quite warm while we were there and absolutely no snow.  We were a little bummed, but we had a lot of fun with family.  The day after we got there my brother surprised us and drove in from California.  We rarely see them so it was a real treat to spend the week with them and their 3 little ones!  It made for some full days and late nights and we came home exhausted; it was all worth it though.

There was a thin layer of snow on the basketball court so the girls made the most of it.  Here Natalie is prancing around in her slippers.

A snowball fight with cousins

Traditional nail painting by Elise!

My brother Dave that surprised us.  He's holding one of his boys, Dylan who is about 8 months older than Natalie

We went out to eat a few times and usually there was a 'kids table'  That sure made it nice for us and the kids had a blast.  In this picture Naomi and Cyrena are drawing on their placemats.  Naomi slept over with us a couple of nights and we had so much fun with her!

Going on a hike with the cousins behind grandma and grandpa's property.  That's Dylan (3), Andrew (6), Cyrena, Naomi (7), and Natalie.

Cyrena gets a little unsure about her footing on outings like this.  She especially did this day since there was a LOT of deer poop (or grapes as Natalie thought) so she clung to Dave's hand the entire time and he was an awesome, reassuring and patient uncle!

Oh yeah, Anna was there too! :)

Anna really loved Jacob's ipod touch.  If she was fussing he would whip that out and she'd be all smiles

Karaoke time! 

Toasting in the New Year (at 11 p.m.)

That Sunday, New Year's Day, was my nephew Eric's mission farewell.  It was an incredible meeting.  The spirit was present and we all commented afterward on how much we were edified.  Eric's talk was wonderful then Alec played the viola in a string quartet that was outstanding and then the concluding speaker was a sister who had undergone numerous trials in the past decade that are beyond my ability to comprehend.  The talks centered on The Book of Mormon and how all the answers we seek can be found within it's pages. 

Afterward there was a luncheon at Eric's home and it was fun to have some more family time before we headed out.  Lynn and Debbie were Anna's best friends.  They gave her sparkling cider and cheesecake--she's a happy girl!

Our family with Eric.  He's heading to the MTC in just 3 days, so exciting.  And yes, he just might run into David Archuleta in the cafeteria...:)

Our Family Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas.  The kids got along, we had great food and fun conversations,  the kids opened up fun gifts.  It was wonderful.

A rare moment I had to capture. Natalie loves to cuddle, Cyrena doesn't but this time, it was Christmas after all, she indulged her.

Our neighbors set up luminaries to line the street.  The girls and David helped set them up earlier in the afternoon and then we all went out to help light them.  It made quite the runway for Santa. 

We had a scrumptious dinner of chicken a la king with caesar salad and a fruit salad.  We sang some Christmas carols, read the Christmas story, watched some short videos from the church website and had a great discussion.

The girls were happy to open and put on their Christmas pajamas.  But no one was happier than Natalie for her winter nightgown and slippers.  This girl will only wear nightgowns so I had to find something that would keep her somewhat warm.

We sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn and put out cookies for santa.

The girls were spoiled this year as usual.  They had a lot of little things to open so that's always fun.  I was most excited about the plasma cars.  We found Cyrena's used on craigslist and Natalie's new at a discount store for almost the same price as the craigslist one!  Woo-hoo!

David and I woke up first, then Anna.  We brought her in our bed and had some fun making spitting noises.

Then Natalie joined us (they knew they were not allowed to go into the living room)

Finally we couldn't stand it anymore so we woke up Cyrena, this girl could sleep forever.  We didn't start opening presents until about 9, it was great!

David and I usually don't exchange gifts but this year I decided I wanted to get him a few fun things--the guy never asks for anything!! So we ended up buying for each other.

David's favorite gift.  I bought $10 gift cards for all the places he likes to grab something while he's out driving around for work.  Subway, Chik-fil-a, Taco Bell, etc.  He usually takes a lunch but sometimes he's out all day and can't heat anything up or keep anything cool in his truck.

For Christmas I just needed some kitchen things; mixing bowls, measuring spoons, etc.  So that was great!  But David also got me a ticket to see Wicked with some girls in the ward--I'm excited!

Ready for church.  We couldn't think of a better way to spend Christmas than being with those of our faith, singing praises to Him, and letting the spirit into our hearts. 

Cyrena is 6

Our girl is now 6.  This past year seems to have flown by and Cyrena has grown up so much.  Who knew having a 6 year-old would be so heavenly.  Now that she's 6 she wants to be so big and helpful.  She's been cleaning her room more, getting dressed without being harassed,  helping pack her lunch, wiping down the sink when Natalie has made a mess, etc, etc.  It's quite funny and heartwarming. 

Cyrena had her first 'friend' party this year.  We had a Polar Express Party.  It was so much fun and it was worth all the work to see her so excited and happy.  We invited 9 kids (it was hard to cut the list down!) but a couple couldn't come and 1 friend had to leave early.  It was a good mix of church and school friends.  We probably won't do a friend party every year, instead do it every other year like others do.  We're not sure yet.  It is hard to pull all this off in the middle of the holidays! :)  I wanted to document it all in case I can help someone else do a Polar Express Party.  I was sure grateful for ideas on the internet! I also channeled my inner big sister Debbie because she is the guru of birthday parties!! 

 Our Happy Birthday girl, ready for guests to arrive.  

 We made a candy train for each guest.

 During the party we let the kids package up reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve.  

 Disposable cups with lids and fun straws...decided to go with water

 North Pole Cupcakes....I was quite proud of these!

 I bagged up hot chocolate and marshmallows and put them in this HUGE tin mug for a game you'll see later. 

While we waited for everyone to arrive we had the kids decorate white sacks so they could collect all their stuff as the party progressed.  And of course we had a bunch of blown up red and green balloons for them to toss around while they waited for others to finish. 

 While David bbq'd hot dogs we had a relay race.  I bought some of that powder that you add water to it and make snow.  David did it and put it all in this bucket.  Then I hid a bunch of white plastic icicle ornaments in there.  The kids had to run, dig, find an ornament then run back to their team.  They did this 2 times so they each got 2 ornaments to take home.

 We came inside and played another balloon relay race.  Then we ate dinner; hot dogs, chips, and oranges.  We snagged plastic tableclothes from our ward party that morning since they were just getting thrown away.  We put them on the carpet under the tables--perfect!

 She had so much fun opening presents...here she's opening up a bunch of Junie B. Jones books from Natalie.  Natalie helped me pick out ones we didn't have at our local used bookstore.  Cyrena is going through the books so fast we knew she would love some new ones.

 We played 'pass the hot chocolate' to the song "hot chocolate' from The Polar Express.  When the music stopped the person holding the mug got to take a bag out.  

 Cupcakes and hot chocolate while watching part of The Polar Express.  Life doesn't get much better than that!

After dessert we played "Santa Says' and "Don't Eat Santa!"  Then while parents were arriving to pick up we played "freeze dance"  The kids also received a little box full of candy and a bell necklace.
Aren't they so cute?  David and I were definitely entertained the entire time.

After the kids were gone, David hi-fived me and said "can we crash now?"  I reminded him that that is pretty much what I do 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours BY MYSELF! :)  I couldn't believe what a difference it made having a partner!  It was all so much fun, I loved it and so did Cyrena.  She said it was 'the best party ever' and I would have to agree, hehe.  

About our 6 year-old:

*Cyrena is still very sensitive and cries easily but is easier to console now that she's older

*She reads a LOT and is doing so well in school.  She takes the character education themes very seriously.

*She has become quite the artist and drew a picture for every guest at her party to take home.  They were all about Santa...awesome.

*She is very sensitive to the spirit, her understanding of the gospel floors us at times.  I hope that continues.

*Her favorite things to wear: jeans, t-shirts, pajamas, sweats

*Her favorite things to eat: nachos, pot roast, apples, green beans, cereal, carrots, and of course chocolate

*Cyrena is a chatterbox.  When we're in the car Natalie is very content to just look out the window but Cyrena wants to chat the entire time. 

*Her favorite things to do: playdates, schoolwork, playing sports, building with legos, watching Wild Kratts, playing make-believe with Natalie, singing, writing, and drawing

Cyrena's stats:

Weight: 49 pounds (70%)

Height: 46.5 inches (71%)

She's very proportional!!