These past 2 weeks have been a lot of fun. Last weekend we spontaneously decided to go up to Eagar. So we left Saturday (on the road 1 hour after deciding to leave) and got back Sunday night. It was a short but fun trip.

The kids finished up their tennis lessons Mon-Thurs and then Mom flew in Thursday afternoon. She brought a really fun game called Slamwhich and we all played that night. Friday we spent most of the day cooking a big Turkish meal--very yummy. Saturday Morning we all went to see Ratatouille which was hilarious. When Matt and all 3 kids went down for a nap I started showing my Mom the research I'd done on Puerto Penasco houses for the family reunion next year. It's difficult to see what the houses are really like on the web so we started talking about how we wished we could go see them. Matt said he could take Monday off so we decided to pack up right then and head off to Mexico. In less than 90 minutes we were on the road in 2 cars driving to Mexico. It really was fun. You can't go to Mexico without and adventure and this was definitely an adventure. They must have changed the main road there because Matt and I kept going down the main street the wrong way..it was completely not intuitive. We spent most of the time looking at houses and Matt took the kids to get hermit crabs on the beach. There were a lot of jelly fish out so they didn't really get in the water much. At night we went on the roof to see the sunset/look at stars or walked on the beach and then played Slamwhich and loteria. The kids were in heaven.

This is the acquarium; a very up-and close experience. Sometimes too close.

Sleep training

This week was awful--sleep training with Mathew was very hard. Last night we let him cry for over 2 hours. He did the same this morning for nap time. Afternoon nap he cried for 10 minutes and same tonight when I put him down. I'm hoping there's light at the end of this tunnel. Next time I hope someone reminds me to start earlier. Mathew is at such a cute stage. I wish I could bottle up the cuteness. I feel such a bond with him and feel like there is so much communication between us. He started to enjoy books this weekend and also likes music. He loves playing with his sisters. Matt has been dunking his head in the pool and he doesn't mind.

Recital

Last weekend was the girl's recital. Ellie danced (tap) to a Shirley Temple song "Baby take a bow" and Sophie danced "Shake a tail feather" (jazz) and "Orange colored sky) (tap). We got a babysitter so that we could actually watch the show and it was so cute. Poor baby sitter, Mathew cried the full 3 hours we were gone. Sophie and Ellie did such a good job at the recital--I was proud. After the show, Ellie told the babysitter that she just had her recital and she won.In a way it's true because she really did steal the show. There is something about Ellie's personality that is that captivating. She definitely has a mind of her own and it shows. I had dozens of people come up to me and tell me how absolutely darling Ellie was. Sophie did excellent--she truly puts her all into things and I'm so proud of her. I couldn't believe how brave the girls were to just go back stage with the teacher before the show. Other girls were crying, etc but these girls were just excited.

Sophie's been in a Kindergarten prep camp at the school so I signed up Ellie for swimming. I put her in level 2 mostly because that was the only class open, however, she really has never swam by herself without floaties. Then I told Matt we needed to get her ready for it so we we took the floaties off and she is a fish. She can swim half way across the pool--over or under water. In the shallower part of the pool, she can dive down and pick up rings by herself. After her second swim class, her teacher told me she thought Ellie should move down to level I because "the other kids felt comfortable putting their heads under water"--I just about fell over. I ended up just pulling Ellie out of the class because the water was freezing and Ellie didn't want to do anything. We have been going to the movies with Ellie's friend Summer on Wednesday mornings (see Ellie and Summer above). They are quite a pair.

We took the training wheels off of the girls bikes and have been giving that a try on the grass. There is this low hill that is perfect to give them the momentum to stay up.

Mathew's officially walking now. He's been taking more and more steps everyday but now he almost prefers it to crawling so I think it's official. It's odd that he is walking and not sleeping through the night. This week I decided to bite the bullet and work on sleep training. He was used to sleeping in our bed and nursing all night so I knew this was going to be a long process. On Monday night I was up all night with him. My goal was not to let him nurse all night. I did give him a bottle but it was a struggle just to get him not to nurse. Tuesday I switched from giving him a bottle with milk to a bottle with water. Last night (Wednesday) he slept from 9:30 to 4:00am!! That is a record! At 4am I didn't even give him water, I just rocked him and got him back to sleep. I've tried sleep training with him so many times and it's never worked. This time was so different, it's like he has matured so much. He never responded to patting before and now it totally works.

I've been working with Mathew on Patti-cake for a while and today he got it--it's so cute. The only problem is that whenever he wants attention he starts doing it and I can't resist but go play with him. I'm never going to get anything done. Today I broke down and went to buy a gate. It's one of those really long ones that you can arrange any way you want. I moved it about 5 times because he just gets into everything--I can't decide what is priority to keep him out of.

Sam and Sheila were in Phoenix a few weeks ago and spent the night on Friday night. They were going to babysit for us while we went to the temple. We got up in time to make the 6am session Saturday morning but as we were going out the door I couldn't find my recommend.

Mathew's first steps

Mathew took a few steps during church last Sunday and totally caught Matt and I off guard. I think he did it by accident but he's been working on it all week and will probably be walking in the next few weeks.

Eagar

We went on a weekend trip to Eagar and had a great time. It had been so long since we'd been up there and it looked beautiful. We got to ride horses and Sam even showed Sophie how to ride by herself. She did great although probably had a little too much confidence. We were there for an irrigation day and it just reminded me of how much work it is to keep everything up. Jo has a beautiful Raspberry patch and is planting a huge strawberry patch too. We've been battling Ellie's asthma/allergy situation for so long and it completely went away up there which was such a relief. The girls dressed up as cowgirls and really felt like they ruled the town--maybe even a little too spoiled, but they had fun.
Mathew is such a busy body. He's not interested in any age-appropriate toys but is consistently wanting to get into mischief. He still is not much interested in solids or the bottle but will eat dirt out of the flower pots and sand from the park.

I spoke to Ann Christensen from iNation and they officially didn't get the funding they needed so I will not be doing anymore project work. In a way I'm glad because now I can get more sleep but it was a nice source of extra income.

Back from the cruise

I'm kind of going through withdrawals after the cruise. It was so fun to see everyone and we had such a wonderful time. Here are our pictures...

(you have to double click on the picture to see the whole album)

2007.4.29 cruise

Some highlights were:

• Having an adults only dinner with all of the brothers and sisters
• Kids dancing and singing at 'high school musical party'
• Beaches--nasau and castaway cay
• Time to relax and watch movies
• For the girls: seeing the princesses and playing in the kids club
• Baby races with Aaron and Mathew

After the cruise, we spent a few days at a great resort in Orlando. It was very cool. Dave rented jet skies and a fishing pole. The pools were perfect and the rooms were huge.

Disneyworld was fun but tiring. The girls had fun on the rides --Buz lightyear was a favorite. Sophie got really scared on Spacemountain and Matt just about broke his back trying to comfort her from the seat in back.

I could go on and on but the whole vacation was really great--it's going to be hard to beat that one!

I feel like last week totally escaped me. Ellie and Mathew were both very sick all week and Sophie, Matt and I have been borderline sick. On top of that, some friends of ours dropped off their 4 year old for 3 nights while they went on a trip to Prague and we also had friends to dinner on Sunday. This is way too much excitement for me in one week. I guess it wouldn't have been that bad if I could get a full night sleep (or even a half a night would be nice). Ellie had a fever 5 nights in a row. The first night she was delirious and singing YMCA all night. I'm worried about Ellie though because she goes into these coughing attacks and it doesn't seem like the medicine is helping--I've been giving her 4 breathing treatments a day. I'm starting to wonder if she just puts the machine in her mouth and inhales through her nose so she doesn't actually breath the stuff in. She is one head-strong girl and it's hard to figure out what she's doing.

Mathew is starting to feel better now and is coming back full speed. He is now cruising very comfortably and goes around trying out every piece of furniture to see if he can use it as a walker to get around. Chairs seem to be the vehicles of choice. This morning he discovered the water cooler and we are in trouble. He is obsessed. We may need to put it on top of the counter until he gets over this. He is such a flirt and those blue eyes just captivate anyone that walks by.

Yard Sale

(Matt) I noticed our neighbors were having a yarda this morning so I threw a couple of items that had been clogging our garage on the driveway to see if we could make a quick sale. Sophia came out to help and b/c nobody was stopping wanted to reduce everything to 20 cents. Ellie came out to help to and started pulling out their bicycles. I told her to put them back in the garage but then all of a sudden people started stopping to ask about the bikes so we were onto something...after a few sales, Sophia came out with rags and started wiping everything down. I told her that we could buy Barbie Fairytopia Magic of the Rainbow if we sold enough or maybe download it...tonight in her prayers she said she was grateful that we could download the Barbie movie.

In our nightly ritual of bargaining before going to bed, Sophia took a stand recently and declared, "Dad, no more putting limitations on me to try and get me to go to bed."

Ellie loves us in her heart and must have a dress on at all times.

(Lara) Today while I was at the gym, Sophie called me frantically saying that nobody was buying the things at the yard sale and that we needed to put everything on sale.

Ellie has been completely obsessed with princesses for a few weeks now. We have non stop debates about what princesses do and don't do. First of all, she completely refuses to wear pants because "princesses don't wear pants". I've tried to convince her that they do but I have no proof. I thought one of our princess books had a picture of Belle in her pijamas with some long bloomers on so I've been searching everywhere to find the evidence. I was talking to Julie and she reminded me that Jasmine wears pants---I can't believe I hadn't thought of that. When I brought it up with Ellie, she thought about it and said OK, I'll be Jasmine but you need to put my hair in 5 pony tails like hers. Now she's even becoming more particular about the dresses she wears. She only wants to wear dresses that twirl or " turn around" as she puts it. She also only likes to wear "tap shoes" which are any shoes that make noise when she walks (usually church shoes).

Last Sunday at church I was reminding her to wipe her bottom after she'd gone potty. I told her "That's your special bottom and you need to keep it clean." She got the funniest look on her face and said "My bottom is special?". I said yes. She stood there thinking about it and said "you mean God made my bottom?". I said yes and she got so excited and started telling people around us that her bottom is special.

Matthew's taken huge strides this weekend. He's scooting a little and starting to rock back and forth on his knees. He also actually ate his oatmeal and peas tonight.

Here are a few pictures from a special Dad's day at the preschool and the Chinese Festival we went to when Timo and Julia were here.

(you need to click on this picture to see the album)

2007_3_1 Daddys day at La Casa