Pre-Summer Craziness

At the end of March, I really started to feel like the craziness of summer was going to be quite overwhelming. We had many trips, outings, and family activities planned, and I was at the sick point of pregnancy with baby #3! My way of coping with this, and most problems in my life, was to organize.  The first thing I did was make lists, calendars, and spreadsheets with all the events going on. I figured out that we did not have a two week span that would work for swimming lessons, so we were going to skip that this year. I noted some things that I needed to buy for the kids (most notably, smaller summer clothes for Carter, who is just a little guy. After I had exhausted the computer organization, I moved on to our house. I started with the legos. Yes, this is a pointless and ridiculous project, but it's quite relaxing for my neurotic brain. Here is the end result, which brings me pride even now as I look at the picture :).

One of my favorite activities since moving to Meridian has been teaching piano. I have 2 students, who happen to be my niece and nephew, but I really love teaching and have missed it since I had children. The arrangement Amber and I have includes an afternoon of babysitting every week as an exchange to teaching her kids. This is a deal that couldn't have worked out better for me. I have 3 hours of kid-free time every week before picking up her kids to teach them. It also solves the problem that I have always had with teaching; the kids are just too loud to have effective lessons. Anyway, As soon as the Frozen sheet music was released, I spent quite a few hours arranging music for the kids to play at their spring recital. I love arranging music, and was quite happy to use a few evenings playing and arranging these songs.

This is just a picture of my garden plan. I went with Square Foot Gardening, which meant Alex had quite a project in front of him getting my garden beds put together.Here is my plan for the boxes and what plants would go into them. This paper version is the first draft, which later was transcribed into Excel of course :) my happy place.

The kids got to try some painting with household objects while daddy made the garden boxes one day. The favorite thing to paint with by far was the Qtip, and the toothbrush was the most interesting. Carter is just not old enough to understand that he is supposed to paint with, and not brush his teeth with, the toothbrush...At least it's non-toxic! Next time I will use edible paint for this project :)

Some fun ballet hair one morning. I love that a cartoon or the iPad allows me unlimited time to mess around with Olivia's hair. I am not ashamed to admit that I use screen time as a bribe and a reward, whatever works in the situation :)

As I mentioned, baby #3 is on his/her way! my announcement to family was hurried by the fact that the second week in April we had some company, and I was quite sick. So we took the kids outside and took this picture. I wasn't planning on telling the kids yet, 7 months is a long time for a 3 year old to wait, and a long time for the parents to dodge questions about when the baby will get here :). Luckily for me, Olivia can't read, so I figured we could just take the picture and go on with our lives. Not so. As soon as I put the baby sandals on the chair, she asked: 'Mom, what are those shoes for? What does this sign say? Are we having a baby?' Unprepared for such direct questions, I just answered honestly. Yes we are. As soon as those words were out of my mouth, it was no longer a secret. She told everyone we saw, including the neighbors and whoever happened to run by the house while she was outside. The grocery store clerk, her dance teacher, etc. Surprises are a little beyond this girl!

The next day we had some visitors! Kylie and Justin came (along with my mom) for a few days while their mom was recovering from surgery. It's hard to tell from this picture, but my kids didn't know they were coming, so they are totally thrilled and surprised. Four kids under four is an adventure, but we always have lots of fun...and noise :).

I'm a little embarrassed to remember this, but apparently the night that the kids got here, I left them all with Alex and my mom and went out with Amber and Chrissy! These two ladies are very special to me, and every once in a while we try to get out by ourselves for a ladies night. We should do it more often. This particular evening we went to The Village, a new outdoor mall just a couple blocks from my house. We had dinner at a permanent food truck place (super yummy Sicilian food), then walked around the mall, stopping to take this picture in the most dangerous place there - sitting on the fire pit. It was a little chilly, so the fire pit was the perfect place to sit and talk, but the fire was unpredictable, and had a tendency to grow at inopportune moments. We all made it out with our hair, and I would risk it anytime for another evening out!

We wanted to do some sort of get-out-of-the-house activity while Kylie and Justin were in town, so one evening Amber's family met us at the park. It's so fun to let all eight grandkids play together, but the park was a little crazy with this crowd. 5 kids under 4, and three others who were great cousins and played with the youngers, but also love to do their own thing. I think Amber and I spend the whole time just counting kids, trying to keep track of everyone. We did have some super jumping fun, and when we started to leave we let the kids roll down a fairly steep grass hill, which led to such fun that we stayed another half hour :). Needless to say, the rolling antics of Olivia and Teagen had us all laughing, and I was glad to have the new baby as an excuse not to try at least once. If I remember correctly, Olivia may have gotten her rolling skills from her mom ...

On the 17th we had a fun surprise for the kids. We let them open a gift to tell them a clue about where our next trip would be. In one week - yes we waited a LONG time to tell them - we were headed to Disneyland! Olivia was so excited, we spent the next week watching video after video of little girls meeting characters, various rides, and other Disney fun. We wanted to be prepared!