Nature, FHE, and Potty Power

Nature:

We've been overrun with bird nests this spring.  We're renting so the handyman usually takes care of the nests.  However, he's been out of town for family emergencies. As a result we've had a few baby birds to observe.  Here's a video of one trying to learn how to fly, but actually just running away from us.  You have to listen to how Natalie talks to the bird toward the end of the video. 

Also anytime we're in a hurry and we tell her to 'grab shoes' she picks these ruby red slippers...she loves them and they fit her personality well. 

 

Family Home Evening:

I love my new primary chorister calling, it's so much fun.  This past Sunday I had an activity for the kids to do that involved hiding magnetic letters in a bucket of rice.  They dug out each letter, put it on the board then we sang a song about a corresponding gospel topic.  For example. r=reverence.  For senior primary I had them tell me what the song taught them about that specific gospel topic.  Then when all the letters were on the board we unscrambled the letters to make a word that had to do with the monthly primary theme ("restored") and had a quick mini-lesson.  It was a fun activity. 

Since I am basically a pretty lazy person I wanted to get more mileage out of this activity.  So we used it for FHE the next night.  The topic was prayer because we've been feeling like the girls are using a lot of 'vain repetitions'  We didn't expect Natalie to really understand too much, and she didn't.  But digging out the letters kept her engaged.  

Potty Power:

   Well I guess the third time's the charm in our house.  Anna is a wonderful third baby, David loves his third job out of college, and our third attempt at potty training Natalie has been successful.  She's proud to wear panties and has been very good with few accidents.  Oh but those accidents can be doozies....I won't go into detail.  I think it's been successful this time for two reasons.  First, her obsession with princesses has grown exponentially so princess panties are a huge hit.  And second, this video that was recommended by a friend:

Natalie loves movies and music so this was perfect.  It had catchy songs that she memorized quickly, real kids sitting on a real potty, and a fun princess fairytale at the end.  She related and has done amazing well.  Pass on the Potty Power!  I checked it out from the library. 

Big Girls and Baseball

Our firstborn is sure growing up!  It's a bit overwhelming at times.  

Cyrena just finished her first season of coach pitch baseball.  Of course she loved every minute of it, even sliding into home plate just to get her pants dirty. Cyrena had great coaches and if they coach again they're going to let us know so she can be on their team again.  She was the only girl with about 8 boys.  They accepted her as 'one of the guys' and always made sure they said good-bye to her after each game.  Too cute.

In line to bat

This coach was so darn cute with her.  He was always cheering her on and calling her 'sweetheart'

Cyrena was one of the only kids that was always in the 'ready' position.  The coaches used her as an example often.

Here she is in the outfield talking

We all spent the majority of the time in the shade of a tree or under an umbrella.  We lucked out that we had a beautiful spring so it wasn't unbearable

Playing first base

Cyrena always got a hit and loved running the bases.  She has a long way to go on catching and she definitely throws like a girl.  She's so technical and doesn't allow herself to follow her instincts. She's so much like me!  So even though the boys were more natural baseball players, I think she had the most heart.

Yesterday Cyrena had her preschool graduation.  David was able to slip away from the office for the 20 minute program.  She has loved the independence of going to preschool.

I will willingly admit that I teared up when she walked out with the cap on...I'm weak when it comes to things like that!  Many times this girl and I butt heads so it's good for me to see her in a different light sometimes.

We're so proud of our little graduate

Cyrena's teacher, Miss Tawna.  She was a great influence on Cyrena's confidence and made her feel safe enough to head off to Kindergarten!  Miss Tawna let all the kids have a swim party which was so nice of her!  The girls enjoyed every minute of the morning.

Termites, Moms, Music and more

1.  A couple Friday's ago, Ashley discovered a scorpion in the girl's bedroom.  Needless to say it made me really upset and I hardly slept that night. Pest control came first thing that next Monday and they saturated our house inside and out with eco-friendly products. :)  While in the process he discovered termite tubes in our garage.  Great.  I notified the landlord and another pest control company came to give us an estimate.  Of course the girls and I shadowed him as he walked the property.  Cyrena listens to everything so she asked who 'Mike' was after the pest control guy said he'd call 'Mike' about the estimate.  Here's the conversation:

Cyrena: Mom, who's Mike?

Me: Mike is our landlord

Cyrena:  What's a landlord?

Me: A landlord is someone who owns a house but lets someone else live in it

Cyrena (wheels are turning): Oooohhhh....

Cyrena: You mean like Jesus is our landlord because he created the Earth but we live on it?

Me (stunned):  Well, yeah actually he is like our landlord.  He helps us when we need it but we live here and take care of the Earth he created.  

Cyrena: Yeah Jesus made the earth with Heavenly Father and blah, blah, blah (those who know her can fill in the blanks, she went on and on for about 10 minutes).   

You should hear her lecture on Satan and the solar system, it's riveting.

So I think she's ready to read and analyze Jacob 5, what do you think??

2.  I had a wonderful Mother's Day, I hope you all did as well.  David did so much for me, it was wonderful.  He even made me a homemade chocolate cream pie...YUM.   I haven't felt like the best mom lately so it was nice to feel so loved and appreciated.  I feel like I have so much to live up to because of the wonderful moms I know.  My own mom, mothers-in-law, my sister and sisters-in-law and all my great friends.  I'm lucky to have a support system that I can go to for those days when nothing is going right and all of us are grumpy!  All those moms help me put things in perspective....tomorrow is a new day and I can always start over.  

3.  Our ward boundaries got rearranged last week.  We were sad to see some of our friends taken away from our ward.  My callings (I had 2 since our ward was small) technically weren't going to change but they did anyway.  Now I am the Primary chorister!  I'm excited because I had this calling for just about 5 months when Cyrena was 1.  I really liked it and was sad when I was called to something else.  This past Sunday was my first day and it was a lot of fun.  The primary president said she thought I did well and she was so glad to see that I wasn't a pushover.  I reminded her that I taught 2nd graders so that strict side of me tends to come out when I'm with kids! :)  It will be a fun new adventure.  David kept his calling as the YM's secretary.

4.  Natalie is now 2 1/2.  I think she's going to be 2 forever.  David and I were both saying that it feels like she's been at this stage forever.  Diapers, sippy cup, booster seat, mischievousness, bib, lisp, etc.   Anyway, she's a cutie, super cuddly, hard to understand sometimes, sick often, and is very very very very busy.  Consequences mean nothing to her; everything is in one ear then out the other.  I dread her teenage years.  At least she'll have straight arrow Cyrena to look up to. For Natalie's half birthday I made peanut butter cheesecake brownies.  And she finally got her bed.  We got another twin bed to match Cyrena's.  This was very exciting!  As a result, we were finally able to put Anna in the crib and she's now officially unswaddled and stretched out!

5.  David is looking forward to Memorial Day.  The man never takes a sick or vacation day so Memorial Day will be his first day off this year!  He works so hard for us, we're very blessed.  Now we'll need to do something to celebrate that day that is special for so many reasons.

We've had some beautiful weather here this week.  In fact, I think I have tennis elbow from pushing Natalie on the swing so much.  She never tires of it.  

 This is Natalie singing part of the new song for this year's primary program.  She learned this just from Cyrena constantly singing it at home. 

Anna is 4 months!

Anna is now a happy 4 month old.  This is always a great age.  Her personality is showing a bit more.  She's infatuated with her sisters.  She is still sleeping great but I know teething is right around the corner.  She is eating 4 times a day and taking 2 1/2 naps.  I could LOVE on her all day, sometimes it's hard to get anything else done!

Anna's tricks:

*rolling from her stomach to back

*gagging herself with her fingers she loves to chew on

*drenching her shirt in drool

*laughing hysterically at anything mommy does and getting the hiccups in the process

*holding her head up while sitting in the Bumbo seat

*grabbing for toys on her play mat

Anna's 4 month stats:

weight- 16 lbs 2 oz. (90%)

height-24 3/4 inches (75%)

head- 16 inches (50%)

We thought her head was a lot bigger but it turns out she's all CHEEKS! :)

Easter Weekend

We, like all of you, had a wonderful weekend.  Full of fun, candy, food and testimonies.  I am FULL in more ways than one!  We started off with our traditional indoor, early-morning egg/basket hunt.  They found all the eggs then the search was on for their baskets.  It took a little time but they were pretty darn excited when they found their fun-filled baskets.  We sampled some candy, had our traditional Goldenrod breakfast, read some scriptures, did an egg activity with symbols from the last days of Christ's life, and watched a few Easter 'Mormon Messages'.  It was a great morning. 

Natalie dug right into this chocolate bunny and by 9 a.m. had a sugar buzz you wouldn't believe. 

A little baby cleavage never hurt anybody

After church we went over to the home of the family David works for.  There we had a tasty meal, a great egg hunt (the girls came home with some cash!), fed some horses and played and played.  

I'm so grateful for this Easter holiday.  I feel like every year my understanding and testimony of the atonement grows deeper.  I'm so grateful for the knowledge that we have and for a Savior who did what we could not. 

Springtime Visit

We got a last minute surprise visit from my parents last week!  Well it wasn't a surprise for me.  I convinced them they needed to come and when they came 5 days later they surprised the girls!! 

The weather was beautiful and we had some quality time together.  We went to the Natural History Museum, the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant, Cyrena's baseball game, and spent a lot of time playing outside as well (flying little airplanes grandpa brought).  It was great to have them here and it went too fast as always. 

Grandpa was a gold panning expert at the museum.  

He's the reason Cyrena came away with so much.

 But don't tell her that.

We went to Sweetcakes for lunch and brought home some of their humongous cookies.  Here the girls are showing off their chewing skills.

We packed a picnic dinner and ate near the temple.  We took some pictures, walked around and enjoyed a beautiful Arizona sunset before the pageant began. 

All the pageant characters walked around before the performance.  The girls enjoyed petting the sweet lambs.  

 We really enjoyed the pageant.  For Cyrena it was the ultimate church movie.  She recognized all the stories and at one point leaned over to me and whispered loudly, "Mom....everything they're saying is TRUE!"  She had some great one-liners that night.

All the girls enjoyed cuddling with grandma and grandpa

They headed out Sunday morning but before they left we had the girls try on their Easter dresses early so grandma could see (but we took them off before church!)

Thanks for coming grandma and grandpa!

Oh the weather outside...

We're feeling that horrible heat coming our way.  It was really hot this past weekend so we know it's not going to be long before those mid-70's days are GONE.  We've been outside as much as possible.  Here's what we've been up to:

A couple of Saturday's ago we went to the Feathered Friends Festival at the Gilbert Riparian Institute.  This was a BLAST.  My only complaint is that we didn't get a chance to see and do everything because there was so much!  We packed a picnic lunch, ate it when we arrived, then explored.  I was very impressed with all the amazing high-schoolers that had set up science booths and did such a great job explaining things to all the kids. The kids came home with all kind of fun things they'd made.

The girls used chopsticks to pick up bugs to mimic how birds eat

Cyrena listened intently to the presenters.  Here she was learning about why you shouldn't feel bread to ducks--it's really bad for them!

Looking at algae through a microscope

Folding a paper frog that really jumps

Sailboat races. Ingenius.  Styrofoam boats with index card sails, rain gutters filled with water and a straw for the wind!  This was the highlight of the day. 

I took this picture for all you owl enthusiasts.  He was a bit creepy just perched on a lady's arm.

Cyrena looked through a GIANT telescope to see the spots on the sun

Just a typical picture of our goofy girl

The sisters had a lot of fun together....Anna slept in the stroller

There was so much more.  It is definitely something we want to do every spring!

Last week Cyrena had a preschool field trip to a local Farm.  It had been eagerly anticipated and it didn't disappoint. 

I loved this picture because Cyrena is the only one looking at the farmer-and he's talking to the parents.  She's so serious sometimes

They got to milk a 'pretend' cow

They rode the cow train several times, played carnival games, went through the hay maze and rode on these pedal cars.  Cyrena was so slow that a kid behind her basically pushed her around the entire track. :)  

Again, Anna slept in the stroller