Often Tanner gets shoved to the background… my girls sure know how to get attention, and Tanner being good natured usually doesn’t demand much attention. Tanner had a school concert for Earth Day, and today he went to a United Nations Convention that his teacher put on with another school. They had a feast afterward with all the different food from the countries they represented. Tanner did his project on Norway and we made rice pudding for the feast.
a cute picture of Aubrey wearing the skirt I made her for Easter, and of course my little Alyssa didn’t want to be left out.
After a long week I like to unwind outside with the kids. We have lived here for a long time but have never done this simple hike. It isn’t my favorite, too many people, a little too accessible so there was a lot of graffiti, and trash. But we couldn’t go any higher in elevation too much snow still. Nevada being so arid, I’m sure the water will only run for another month or so. We did our Saturday morning chores early and were up there in time for a lunch picnic.
*I can’t find one of Alyssa’s church sandals–she has worn last years sandals for two weeks in a row–her toes hang over the edge.
*On my bed lays a mountain of laundry waiting to be folded, and it probably wont be folded today
*I ate half a box of Nilla Wafer’s today, and I hate Nilla Wafers
*Don’t open my pantry
*The bottom of my diaper bag is scary, smashed dried raisins, sticky sucker with no wrapper… most of it is unidentifiable. I’ll probably huck it instead of clean it when I’m done being a mom of babies
*Unfinished sewing projects plague me, but not enough to finish them
*I enjoy watching TLC’s show called Hoarders it makes me not feel so bad about my own house keeping skills
I’m not sure where I’m headed with this, just keeping it real I think. Often there is so much we don’t see in others, it’s easy to get caught up in the “Grass is Greener”. I sometimes have to step back and remind myself that life is not a race, the only person I’m competing against is myself.
How about a few more confessions? Alyssa has been having a hard time staying in bed. The best way to keep her in her bed is to threaten to take away her pillow and special blanket. Well once the threat is out there there has to be a follow through. Most nights the threat is enough. Last night she decided to call my bluff, so she lost her pillow and blanket. Needless to say she was very upset. Aubrey and Alyssa sleep together in a Queen sized bed. When all was quiet Danny went to return her treasures to her and found that Aubrey had shared her pillow with Alyssa. Now I’m not sure if this is a “good job Mom” moment or not. It’s good in one way that Alyssa stayed in bed, hopefully learned that the threat will be followed through with. It’s good that we’ve raised a little girl to have compassion and to share and comfort her sister in time of need. Or is it bad that my 5 year old had to play Mommy and take care of her sister? I’m torn, but found it sweet nonetheless.
My master closet had become quite the nightmare. I’ve been trying to do one Spring Cleaning project every week, and decided to start here. I pulled 8 garbage bags worth of stuff to donate or just get rid of. How liberating it was. I am no longer haunted by my closet. I do wonder if Alyssa missing sandal went out in one of the bags… I’ve looked everywhere else.
Before
After
The top of the kitchen cabinets got a thorough cleaning also. I’ve never been good at decorating over the tops of cabinets, so I’ve decided to just not decorate up there, less things to dust right?
OK, now you all know some of my dirty little secrets.
Tanner has recently become obsessed with Chess. No one wanted to be his chess buddy so I suggested that he teach Aubrey. She has become a Chess maniac. I titled this post Chest, because I can’t seem to get her to understand that the game is Chess, not Chest… oh well. Those two play game after game, and everyone gets involved. Aubrey beat him for the first time today, watch out Tanner, I think you have created a monster.
I wanted SUNSHINE, and somewhere close. Vegas was the closest warmest place I could think of, but there is the yuck that comes with Vegas. So I took it as my personal quest to make Vegas a family friendly vacation destination. I started with where we were going to stay. I really didn’t want to be in the big hotels and casinos, so I stumbled upon the Desert Paradise Resort. It had 2 bedrooms, full kitchen, laundry room, dining room, outdoor patio, and most important a heated pool. I was able to get it for not much more than a couple of hotel rooms that would have been required of us if we’d stayed at a traditional hotel.
Red Rock Canyon, was first on my list of un-Vegas things to do. We had so much fun. We found a waterfall and were able to go behind it and find a cave on the back side. The kids climbed on the rocks, played in the water, and explored everywhere. The rocks were perfect for climbing and there was no problem with too many people. Did I mention it was warm?
“Can we go swimming?” is what I heard at 6:00 every morning. Alyssa didn’t care what time of day it was, she wanted to go swimming. This was hands down Alyssa’s favorite activity, and the rest of the kids didn’t seem to mind it either.
Playing at the park and the temple
A little Las Vegas is OK… Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay and a day on the strip. If you are a Nevada Resident you get a discount!
Saturday, April 3
Egg Hunt at the University of Nevada, Reno
Dying Eggs
Goodies from Grandma
Easter Morning
I didn’t get a lot of pictures on Easter morning, just too much going on. We all enjoyed a Sabbath Day at home watching conference and eating peeps (can’t have an Easter without Peeps). We didn’t have a fancy Easter dinner we were headed to Vegas the next morning, and I didn’t want leftovers to go to waste. I did have a brunch with cinnamon rolls, fruit smoothies, yogurt, bagels with salmon cream cheese, bacon, scrambled eggs. We ate on that most of the day and were able to enjoy some of the left overs on our trip.
Poor little Hallie is sick. This is a first for her so I’m counting myself lucky. I swear I can smell an ear infection, so now I need to decide if I try and let her fight it, or if I just take her in and get it taken care of. In the past I’ve had the most luck with letting them fight it. Aubrey had horrible ear infections. The doctor put her on antibiotics every time, and they eventually came back. Finally I told the doctor I just wanted to watch it, and she was game to try, she never had another ear infection. I hate seeing them so sick and miserable. She spent most of last night sleeping either on my chest or next to Danny.
What does this say about my girls? Why can’t they just play with Polly dolls the right way? I’ve been finding these all around the house the last few days. (The baggies are filled with water)
I put my first quilt binding on the other day. I was very nervous about it, and have been putting it off. The last time I attempted a binding it turned out so horrible, I left half hanging off and hucked it in the garbage I was so frustrated with the whole project. Alyssa dug it out and has taken a liking to it so I cut off the hanging chunks and gave it to her. I asked a friend for some advice, and she told me to pin. So I pinned, and pinned and pinned, using every pin I owned, sewed very slowly and it turned out mediocre if you look closely, but from a distance not too bad. Now someone needs to teach me the trick to mitered corners. I would like to try a little more complicated quilt also, but baby steps is the only way I seem to learn, one thing at a time.
I have mentioned in a previous post I’ve been on a skirt kick. I finally got one pretty close to perfect the other day. It turned out so cute. I tried to get a picture, but there was no cooperation on the end of the unmentioned child. For some reason she seems to be allergic to the sun and her eyes wouldn’t stop watering even though she was in the shade. I didn’t want to get frustrated right before church so I let it go. I’ll get one next week even if she is crying in it.
Now I just need a sewing work station, I’m getting tired of cleaning up the dining room before dinner every night.
Alyssa: “That’s dic-less, huh mommy?” Then looks to me for verification that she is using the word correctly.
Me: With a smile on my face trying to hold my composure. “Yes, Alyssa, that is RIDICULOUS” (in so many ways).
