Here we are!

Since I've been absent from the blogging world for over a month (!!!), there's obviously a lot I need to catch up on! But first I'll post some Alaska pics since I know that's what most people want to see!

Our flight up here went pretty well overall. My mother-in-law came with me to help me wrangle everything, and we flew from San Diego to Seattle on Tuesday. We saw a friend of mine from high school, Raj, and his family and let the kids play outside for a bit. Then we went to see Anissa and her family. Anissa's parents and mine have been friends since high school, so I've known her since I was born. The kids all had fun playing together, but unfortunately I didn't think to bust out the camera so you'll just have to take my word for it that both these friends have some darling kiddos and it was lots of fun.

On Wednesday we got up at 2:30 in the morning to make a 6:00am flight to Juneau (luckily all 3 kids slept the whole way), where we then had a 5-hour layover. We got the kids some breakfast first, and in my exhaustion, I didn't notice that I had let Parker pick out chocolate milk and a chocolate muffin, to which I added some Cocoa Puffs. My mother-in-law also reminded me he had just finished a chocolate sucker mere minutes earlier as well. Ah, well. I'm no health food mama.

The kids entertained themselves amazingly well at the airport. We had breakfast....

did a little dancing.....

hung out in the gift shop....

watched cartoons on the laptop, and then it was ready to board our flight to Anchorage! We got into Anchorage around 3pm, and went to our new place. We're going to be living in an apartment attached to my aunt Marci's house. Marci has 3 kids also, around my kids' ages. They were fast friends immediately, and my kids are in heaven knowing their life is going to essentially be one giant playdate for the next few years.

When we got home, we fell asleep on the floor. Big day.

Kenley

Oh, this girl. I love ^^that^^ picture of her. It's so sweet.

Kenley is still VERY into fashion and style. Her life revolves around choosing her own outfits and styling her own hair. She is thrilled to finally be able to fit into the XS clothes in the Girls' section at Target, since those clothes are so much more stylish and not babyish, according to her. She was lamenting to me the other day that she seems to be the ONLY 4-year-old that loves fashion and cares about being stylish. Her favorite fashionable clothes are some gray skinny jeans she has, this knit cap, belts, and wearing leggings under dresses.

She loves to do "model" poses, and recently showed me a runway walk which was far too accurate for my liking. She admitted she sometimes hides in the hall and watches Top Model over my shoulder at night. *Sigh*

She is also obsessed with learning to read and write, and draw signs around the house. One of these days I will do a whole post of her drawings, cards, and signs, because they are so precious. But here are two of my favorites:

This is a sign for Claire's room telling Parker "No" standing on the edge of the crib. That is definitely not allowed, as per this helpful sign.

Here's another awesome one. Take a guess first.

 

 That one is a "No Babies Allowed" sign that she can put up when she is playing Polly Pockets.

She also loves dancing and singing, and especially making up songs that are so funny I wish I had each and every one of them recorded. Her vocabulary is exploding, and I am blown away by the words that she uses, like "reassured," "destroys," etc.

Although she is a joy, I admit Kenley has bit of a challenge for me lately. First, she is getting a bit of an attitude, and talking in that voice that's not quite disrespectful, but definitely inching toward the line. Also, she is not in preschool or any sort of extracurricular activity, and really just needs more stimulation right now. She is wanting to learn and interact and talk every second of every day. In a bit of bad timing, I have been crazy busy trying to finish my Masters and get the house ready to show to renters. We really need to give her more attention, but it's like no amount of attention is enough - every minute of every day she wants me to be looking at something, doing something for her, helping her with something, teaching her something, disciplining her brother, finding something for her, playing with her, calling a friend for her, taking her to lunch, etc. I am really, really hoping that once we move and our schedule calms down a little we can give her the attention and stimulation she is desperately needing. Preschool will be a great thing for her as well.

She continues to be a very sweet, caring, and obedient little girl though. She always tries her hardest to obey, and to make sure Parker and Claire aren't doing anything dangerous and naughty, which keeps her very busy. I truly couldn't ask for a better oldest child. The example of kindness and compassion she shows to her brother and sister makes me so happy. She really is a fun little girl to be around, and brings lots of sunshine into our family.

Claire

It seems like Claire is getting bigger so quickly! This is such a busy time in our lives, and I feel like every time I blink she is doing something new.

Here's what Claire is up to:
*Claire LOVES solid food. Baby food is sometimes an acceptable alternative, but formula not so much. Somewhat problematic since she is only nine months old. But she will eat ANY sort of solids, doesn't matter. And she'll keep pounding it down until you cut her off. She enjoys eating. Her favorite foods seem to be chicken, cheese, and graham crackers. Do not even think about eating something in front of her without giving some to her unless you want to hear some seriously high-pitched screaming.

*She is getting more mobile and faster every day. She still mostly army crawls rather than real crawling, but she is a fast little thing, and loves to move. Claire definitely has an agenda, and it does not include holding still.

*I don't want to jinx myself, but I will probably say she's our best sleeper. She now falls asleep easily, takes long, nice naps and sleeps pretty well at night.

*If you are holding her on your lap, she wants to be standing. Don't try to snuggle or hold her on your lap. Won't work. She likes to stand up, pull your hair, and slap your face.

*Baby toys are in the same category as baby food. In other words, they are for babies, which she clearly is not. If she can't play with Polly Pockets or matchbox cars, she doesn't want to play at all.

*She's a pretty happy little girl. She definitely has her fussy moments, but she has a sweet and sunny disposition, and gives us lots of happy smiles all day long.

We love this little Claire Bear!

Parker

I have a lot of random pictures of the kids, so I wanted to do a post about each of them individually. I'm going to start with Parker, since he gets so overlooked. I don't know if it's because he's a boy, or the middle child, or because he's just a mellow kid, but I really do feel that Parker gets overlooked by the world. But I absolutely adore him. He is such a sweet boy, so low-maintenance and so caring.

Here are some of the things we've been loving about Parker lately:
*He always says, "Me love you big much!" Yesterday I asked him why he loved me "big much." He was very serious and told me, "Cuz I not love you tiny much!"
*Everyone is his "best friend," especially Kenley. At least once a day Parker tells her she is his best friend, and she squeals with joy and they hug. It is so cute.
*He loves to be in pictures - almost every set of pictures on my camera ends with one of him with his cute little squinty-eyed grin.

*He sleeps in much later than the girls. It's not at all unusual for Parker to still be sleeping at 8:30 when the girls have been up for an hour or two already.
*He has a very caring and giving personality. He will be the first to go get you a blanket, to split his own treat in half and give you some, to go put your shoes away just to be sweet, etc.
*He loves being clean, taking baths, and brushing his teeth. He gets very sad if someone else gets a bath and he doesn't.
*He adores his daddy and is missing him a lot lately with all the hours James has been working.

Boston Marathon 2010!

In April we went to Boston to see my dad run his first-ever Boston Marathon. My dad is such an inspiration to all of us - even though he is like a hundred years old, he still exercises diligently and eats right. He is an awesome runner, and I seriously wish I was as dedicated as he is. Anyway, this year he and Andrea did a marathon in Connecticut (I know, so random) and he qualified to run Boston. My sibs and I flew out there with him and Joanie to see him run. James was sweet enough to stay home with the kids so that I could have a nice, carefree weekend with my family. It was a short trip, but so fun.

Saturday we saw the sights around Boston. We were staying right downtown so we could walk or take the subway everywhere. I loved all the architecture, history, and flowers. It was all so pretty, and I would love to go back again sometime.

Here's a famous graveyard where Paul Revere and some other famous guys are buried:

After buying some desserts at the famous Mike's Pastry. I think California over-thinks its business names. It made me laugh that in Boston everything is like, "Joe's Diner" and "Bill's Landromat" and "Darla's Restaurant." Short and sweet.

The monument to Paul Revere and his ride to warn that the British were coming.

This is the church right behind that monument. These folks had the right idea - instead of pews, each family had its own little enclosure. All you could see was the preacher, and your kids couldn't escape. Wouldn't that make church more simple? Brilliant!

Boston Commons and some gorgeous tulips. After my trip I decided I'm in love with tulips.

Sunday we went out to see my cousin Melissa in a nearby town. We went to church and went to Melissa's house for lunch. It was great to see her cute kids and get to spend time with her and her husband. We then went back to the hotel, planned out our route to watch the marathon, and had a yummy dinner.

That night we spent the night with Andrea's friend Becky who lives by Harvard, so that the next morning we could wake up bright and early to go see this battle reenactment of the shots fired at Lexington. It was very early and very cold, but that's definitely not something you could ever see here in California, so we wanted to take what might be our only opportunity ever to see a Revolutionary War reenactment. I won't spoil the war for you or anything, but basically the British marched up and shot at the militia, and they all ran away. And then the reenactment was over. But here are some pics:

Some more flowers I liked there in Lexington.

We then went home and slept for a while before heading out to watch my dad. We planned to see him at mile 10 and mile 19. He had been having some problems with his leg and hadn't been running in the week or two before the marathon, so none of us knew how the race would go. When we saw him at mile 10 he was looking great. We almost missed him come by but we saw him at the last second and gave him lots of cheers and high-fives.

At mile 19 he was much later than we had calculated, so we knew things were not going well. He ended up having a pretty tough race and having to walk much of the last 8 miles due to cramping, leg problems, etc. Although I'm sure it was disappointing, he said the race itself was an amazing experience. Even as a spectator, it was unbelieveable. Scott, Andrea, and Brianne kept teasing me because I kept getting teary-eyed all day. Just thinking of all the sacrifice and dedication on the part of all these thousands of runners (and their families) just for one day, that either ended in joy or disappointment, and a lot of physical pain and mental toughness either way. Honestly, I wish I could go watch every year. It was truly an incredible experience.

I am so proud of my dad, for staying active and fit and setting such a good example for us, and in finishing the race even when it was hard, and in having a good attitude the rest of the weekend. I'm sure I would have been in a pouty funk, but he was amazingly upbeat, and we had a fun night that last night, complete with a lot of laughs. It was definitely a trip I will always remember.

Easter

Okay, I WILL catch up on my blog! I am determined! Let's start with Easter.

The bunny came to visit on Saturday, a tradition that was started since James always works on Easter Sunday, but one that I quite enjoy and would like to continue. So the Easter Bunny brought some baskets on Saturday, and we dyed eggs that day as well. Here are some pics of the festivities. So sad, though. Parker was just in love with the purple egg with white stripes - you can see him holding it in the third picture. He was SO excited to eat it, but was absolutely devastated to find out that it was just plain white inside, and not purple with white stripes.

Then we went down to my mom's house, and she immediately decided she needed to hide eggs for the kids because "they" (aka she) couldn't wait until Sunday. So we did a little egg hunt outside.

Later that night it was the men's session for General Conference, so the guys took off and my good friend Whitney came over and we did the silk-dyed eggs with my mom and sis. They turned out great again this year!

The kids had a great time playing together too!

That night James and I went out with Whitney, her husband Dustin, her brother Collin, and his wife Maxine and we had dinner at Claim Jumper. It was awesome to get out with friends - we don't get the chance to do that very often.

Easter Sunday was very nice and relaxing. We missed James though, and hope this will be our last Easter without him there!

A Day in the Life

Taking a break from chronological posting to give you guys a peek into our day today. It started off a little rough with hosting Mom's Morning Out, where our group of kiddos was abnormally wild and abusive to each other. I was also having mini anxiety attacks about getting packed and moved, which I finally remedied by going around throwing random stuff away. My day perked up with a lunch date with my friend Melissa, accompanied by a Dr. Pepper flowing into my veins. Claire did look very cute rocking her first "ponytail" today, but still got called a boy at Target.

Then tonight Kenley was just hilarious for some reason. First, she busted out two words I didn't know she knew, "creative" and "distracted," using them both correctly. She then made up a wonderful song, to which I wrote down the lyrics immediately. Ready? "Just be yourself... just wear the clothes you like.... they might not be stylish.... but that's okay.... You should just wear the clothes you like... they might not be stylish on you.... but they are stylish on me...." Yes. Wonderful little ditty. She then requested I film her doing an encore presentation of the song, so you're in luck. She was insistent on holding a sparkly microphone, but copped some serious 15-year-old attitude when I suggested she use it. Enjoy....

I have reserved Friday nights for "Lazy Dinner Night," and tonight we enjoyed a feast of watermelon, white rice, and chicken nuggets. However, we had chicken nuggets earlier this week for lunch, and Kenley grumpily informed me, "Mom! I can't keep eating chicken nuggets all day or I am going to turn into a fat kid!" Awesome.

She then chastised Parker for twirling in the curtains: "Parker! How many times has Mom asked you to not spin in the curtains! She probably has told you a hundred times, so you need to STOP!" Glad I don't even have to parent anymore. Thanks, Kenley!

Finally, she endured a moral dilemma when I suggested turning on the Disney radio station on pandora.com while we cleaned, and trying to get the front room clean in two songs. Her problem? "Mom, I really want to mind you.... but.... I really love music and it makes me want to dance. So I'm worried I will just have to dance and I won't be able to mind you and clean. But.... I really like music and want to listen to it while I clean, but I don't think I'll be able to. I just don't know what the right choice is...." So I let her dance to a few and then we cleaned. It's all about the compromise. I will treat you to a few dance videos, as Kenley varies her dancing to match the type of music. I had to include the Lion King one because of Parker's off-rhythm stomping that accompanies Kenley's lovely interpretive ballet. Are these kids entertaining or what?

And that, my friends, is a pretty typical day in the life. PS: I really HOPE it goes without saying that my fashionista chose her own clothes, styled her own hair, and built a giant fort in the middle of my living room.

Parker's Birthday Party

For Parker's birthday party this year, we did a Lightning McQueen party at a neighborhood park.

We did a racetrack cake for him.

The kids raced cars down the hill, and then had a footrace around a little "track."

Opened some presents from some buddies.

And had a "pit stop" for some cake, ice cream, and snacks!

Parker loved his party, and apparently Claire did too!

Mini Golfing

I have a lot of posts to catch up on, so I'm going to go back in time here a little bit.

A few weeks ago we took the kids miniature golfing because we had a gift card we needed to use before we moved. We went on a weekday so that it wouldn't be crowded, and it was actually really fun! The concept of taking turns didn't really sink in, but the kiddos were very determined to get their ball into the hole. Parker would stop at nothing, and just put his head down and hit it until it went in. Never complained or got frustrated, just hit and hit and hit. That boy loves anything sports-related. Here are some cute pics. Kenley is in a new phase where she doesn't like to smile because she doesn't think it looks as "stylish." Argh.

Awesome Easter Craft

I wanted to quickly post a favorite activity that our family does at Easter time. It's really easy, but you need a collection of 100% silk ties. So it might be too late for this year, unless your husband has a bunch of old ties sitting around, or you're off to the DI sometime today. My kiddos are harrassing me for breakfast, so I'll just give you the link, and a pic of the ones we did last year. Enjoy! By the way, this is from a cooking website that I LOVE, and every single thing I've made from there has been phenomenal. So spend some time perusing!

LINK to Silk-Dyed Easter Eggs Tutorial