April Holidays

So the kids have both gotten to an age that they need some more interactive fun so I am going to focus on what makes each day special. There is literally a holiday everyday and since Olivia has been so into the "real" holidays we are going to celebrate everyday. This will allow us some days to just read about something new, or make a craft, or explore to learn new things. I am really looking forward to the weather getting nice again too so we can go back outside and run off some of their never ending energy. Here are the holidays for this week if you want to celebrate too :)


April 1st April Fool's Day and One Cent Day
April 2nd Hans Christian Anderson's Birthday and International Children's Book Day
April 3rd Find-A-Rainbow Day
April 4th 1st Home Phone Installed in 1877 and NATO Established in 1949
April 5th National Read a Road Map Day
April 6th North Pole Discovered in 1898
April 7th No Housework Day (I am really looking forward to this one) and World Health Day

It should link you to a site to see more about the day if you click on the underlined areas.

Peek-A-Boo

Olivia came into Zachary's room today and told me she was going to play "peek-a-boo" (which really was hide-n-seek) with Woody and Buzz. She opened Zachary's armoire and put the dolls inside. She then walked over to the wall, hid her eyes, counted to twelve and said "ready or not, here I come". Then she went over to the armoire, opened it, and said "I found you". I laughed, it was just too funny.

Eating My Words

So one of the greatest things about being a mommy are all the chances you get to eat your words. I will share my three most recent word eating experiences:

1. I had said no preschool for my kids, I felt like I could teach them fine at home and besides I didn't go to preschool and I turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. :) Well Olivia is now enrolled to start preschool in the fall. We went to visit the school today and it was so cute and the teachers were so nice so off she goes to school in August.

2. I had said no Disneyland for my kids until they were at least 7, old enough and tall enough to go on rides and not be scared. Well we are taking both of our munchkins to Disneyland the end of April. I am sure riding Dumbo will get old but I am sure Olivia will love most of the little rides, hopefully Zachary has fun watching people and we are praying he will take a nap in the stroller.

3. I had always said no kids will sleep in bed with us on a regular basis. Wouldn't you know it the only way to get Zachary to sleep past 5:30AM is for him to come sleep with me. The cuddles are sweet and someday he will be all big so I am trying to appreciate his littleness now.

Just When I Thought

As soon as I thought that I had a nice little schedule going on with the kids I decided that it might be time to get Zachary down to one nap. He has been waking up in the wee morning hours and we figured out that it was because he was hungry, so now we are trying to stuff him full right before bed with the hope of getting 6 or 7 hours of straight sleep. It worked last night so hopefully it will continue. I need the break of both kids napping at the same time so I had to move Lu's nap up too. This week will be kinda interesting for sure! It will be nice for vacation if the kids nap just once at the same time. Hopefully we can all adjust to this new schedule!

Great Book

When the bishop calls Leah Sorensen to be Relief Society president, her first impulse is to assume he is joking. "They'd all vote against me if you put my name up," she tells him, "and I'd vote with them." She's prickly and proud, a farm widow who doesn't get along with the town women at all. Why would the Lord want her? Because it's 1932, the depth of the Great Depression, and, as the bishop tells Leah: "You lost your husband and you didn't give up. You know how to survive hard times, and some women in our ward don't. I'm not looking for a nice church lady right now. I'm looking for someone with some grit, and that's what you've got." But will grit be enough when the opposition begins?

I really enjoyed this book, it made me really proud to be a member of Relief Society.

Gardening

Olivia has a new hobby! We planted our early garden on Saturday and Olivia cant wait for the veggies to grow. After they got planted our little neighbor boy came over to play and Olivia told him "shhh, the plants are sleeping". She got a cute flower growing kit from my dad for Easter and we planted the little seeds, here is to hoping they grow!

Easter

Zachy and Mommy
Lu and Mommy
So happy that the Easter Bunny visited our backyard.
We spent Easter Sunday with Rob's parents. We were able to go to their ward for church which is always fun since that is the ward that we were in before moving and everyone there is always excited to see the kids. Olivia was a little unsure about going to a different nursery but she made a cute little book about Jesus and keeps wanting to do FHE about "Jesus Loves Me". We put the kids down for naps after church and got dinner ready. The rest of the family came and we enjoyed some yummy food. We had an egg hunt after dinner which the kids loved. On Monday Rob and I did our Easter egg hunt for FHE. Olivia was so excited that the Easter bunny came to see us. Zachary didnt really understand what was going on but he liked to shake the eggs.

First Haircut

Before
During
Almost done

It was time for Zachary's first haircut. We had done a few trims but he was looking kinda shaggy so Rob got the trimmers out and cut his hair tonight. He does look less shaggy but it was still a sad moment for me to cut off the baby locks.

Fun Day

Today was a fun day. It started off pretty rough but got better as the day went on. We went to our first ward play group this morning. The kids had fun riding bikes in the gym and making new friends. Then it was home for lunch, bubbles outside, and naps. After Zachary finally woke up we went up to see Rob's parents who just got back from a trip to China. They brought me some lovely bracelets, a wallet for Rob, and some cute bags for Olivia. Then we got to go to the really cool playground in their neighborhood. It is a little big for our little munchkins but still a lot of fun. Then we went to the library and the fountain was on. Olivia adores the fountain and was really sad when it was shut off last fall, she was ecstatic to see it back.

Sleeping Issues

Olivia is still having issues sleeping in her bed. She has decided she sleeps on the couch in our loft. I dont really mind her sleeping there but I wish she would stay there at night when we put her down. She usually comes down at least once to "visit". Sometimes she falls asleep before we take her back up. Here she is sleeping on the floor by the kitchen.
Poor little Zachary was sick last week. Here he is passed out in the high chair. Notice the big booger. He is much better now thankfully.

Olivia's birthday

Ponies from Grandma.
A new globe.
Books from Aunty Jen.

A sick birthday girl.
"Happy Birthday to You"
Yay, for baby doll furniture!

Olivia turned 3 on March 5th, we celebrated a day early so that Grandma and Grandpa Haslam could be with us. Olivia was not feeling too well but she perked up with the presents. I cant believe that she is 3, time really does fly.

1,2,3,4 Birthday Party

Opening presents from Great Grandma and Grandpa Haslam.
Grandma Joy giving Zachary his new Pooh bear.

Trying to get a picture of the birthday kids.
And trying again.
The first Saturday of the month we had a combined birthday party for Ashley (4), Olivia (3), Danny (2), and Zachary (1). We had a lot of fun and I think all the kids had a good time.

What a man!

Not only does Rob work really hard so that we can have all the stuff that we do, he is also a great dad. Today was a LONG day here at home, and Rob was more then willing when he came home to take sick boogery Zachary off of me and hold him. And he then made dinner and took Olivia for a motorcycle ride. He also figured out why there is so much water in not only our crawlspace but in all the ponds around here and he got it fixed. And now he is back at work. I love you honey I am so thankful for all that you do!

We Love Our Neighborhood

Our neighborhood has the best trails. The kids and I walk before lunch everyday and then again when Rob comes home most days. The kids love to be outside, even more so now that it is warmer. They also love our neighborhood playground. Olivia really likes it when other little kids come when we are there. So all you who live around here show up at the park around 1pm and you can play with us! Zachary is a daredevil, that kid will just walk right off the playground. Olivia loves the monkey bars, she really cant swing yet but she loves to hang off of them.

The New First Presidency

I am so thankful to belong to a church that is lead by a living prophet. How blessed we are to live in these latter days.

February Pictures

Okay I know that I have been really bad at getting pictures up on here. Here are some of our favorites from last month.

Grrr! What a cute little tiger! Zachary sure loves his toothbrush. Our little naked girl sitting in a basket, what a goofball!
Lovin on his birthday balloon.

Playing outside on the first almost warm day.

Looking a the ice, Zachary found it really fasinating. He had alot of fun stomping in the water until he realized he was getting wet and cold. Now the snow and ice are all gone thankfully!

Olivia making sure that Zachary was okay.

Too Preschool or Not to Preschool

We are in the process of trying to decide whether or not to send Olivia to preschool. She would have two years of preschool if she starts in the fall. She is pretty smart but I think she would benefit from having the time away from home to learn how to follow directions from someone besides me, then the next year she could really focus on learning before she goes to kindergarten the following year. Any advice would be great!

I need self cleaning floors

Today besides the usual crumbs and leftover food under the highchair I have had the pleasure of cleaning up: a spilt bowl of cereal and milk, poop off the stairs, and an entire box of noodles crushed in two toddlers hands and spread around. Today is just a great day.

I miss sleeping

Zachary has decided that he is wide awake at 6AM most every morning. I am tired. I hope that the time change makes him sleep later. The worst part is Olivia hears us being awake so she gets up too. Our days are getting LONG. Oh spring hurry here fast so we can go outside.