Thursday, April 5, 2012

Is it almost spring?

*Warning* long post ahead.

I have a gazillion things I should be doing right now, but I realize I haven't posted for months and it's been nagging me. I have to admit that this January/february/March was kind of hard for me. It may have had something to do with being in the first trimester of a pregnancy (if you didn't know...surprise!) But I was tired, unmotivated, it was cold, gray and it was all just kind of depressing. No motivation, no blog posts. Luckily, the second trimester has hit, (i'm 22 weeks and it's a boy!) and I feel normal again. I have energy and I keep hoping that spring is around the corner, although it's taking it's sweet time. Did you know that we had the most rain in HISTORY during the month of march? I thought I moved away from that:) And as I look out the window right now, there is snow on the ground...(sigh).
So during those three blah months, we did manage to stay really busy. Both Malia and Jacob were playing basketball. Let me tell you, that Jacob is just like his Daddy and is so competitive. I can't believe how much he improved over the season. Brent helped coach his team which was great because I only had to show up for games. It was Malia's first time playing. I don't recommend waiting until 5th grade to start basketball, she spent the first half of the season learning the game and hated/fought going to practices and games. But by the end of the season she was starting to enjoy herself. She just needed a little confidence. She was on a very supportive team and had a great coach. She has a great shot too.

And in random order: We lit Chinese lanterns to celebrate Papa Ken's birthday. The kids were all scared that we were going to start a fire and stayed far away. But they thought it was cool to watch them float away. My sister in law Sara organized the lantern light, and sent lanterns to many different families in different states so that they could all be set off on the same night. Pretty cool!


For the first half of spring break the kids and I headed down to Oregon, so I could soak in some green-ness and visit family and friends. It was a short trip but we were blessed with a few beautiful days. While we were there I was able to go out to dinner with some good friends and do some shopping solo. The kids and I were able to go bowling, go to a bounce house, visit the old Alma Mater..go OSU, go out for frozen yogurt, go the the park, have an Easter egg hunt, play tons on Wii, go to our old ward and celebrate Claire's 5th birthday. I can't tell you how much I love this girl. She makes me laugh every single day. She is all girl and loves barbies, my little pony and pink. At the same time she'll throw on her rubber boots and head outside to catch frogs with the boys. The funniest things come out of her mouth. (For example, today she was doing a pilates video with me. I told her some of the moves were hard for me with my belly getting so big. She pointed to the instructor and said, "it's not hard for her, she's super bendy.") She rarely throws tantrums and is so positive. She loves to sing, watch pink panther and color. LOVE this girl!
Her little pet polar bear that Cole picked out for her birthday.
and for Claire the best part of her birthday was getting a new kitten which the kids quickly named Pearl. (going along with the gem theme, our last cat was named Ruby) Let me backpedal a little. We recently found a new home for our dog skipper. Skipper was great with the kids BUT, we got him thinking he would be an outdoor dog. He had other ideas. He wanted to be a mainly indoor dog. An indoor dog that shed like crazy. We also don't have a fenced yard and skipper would often run after bikers, runners and the horses that come down our road. When we would call him, he would look at us and the run the other way. He needed a home where he could be inside and have a fenced yard. We found the perfect home for him! But our track record is not so great. Our first cat was only with us a few months, we had gotten her off of craigslist and she wasn't super friendly with the kids, skipper lasted about 9 months. But I assured the kids that we will not be getting rid of Pearl. She is a sweet cat and has been amazing with the kids. She is a keeper...for reals this time!
The rest of the months have been filled with the usual little things. We have been very blessed lately. This has probably been the easiest pregnancy for me so far and I am thankful for that. Hopefully now that I have more energy I will be able to keep up with the blog better!