2014 :: week 16

April 13

Sunday I helped in nursery. It was fun to watch Lauren interact with other kids her age. I don't know if it was because I was in there or not, but she talked three times as much as any other kid. This music table was a hit with all the kids.

April 14

On Monday night we went to Shawnee Mission Park. The kids had been wanting to go to a different park than the one by our house and I had seen some pictures of the gorgeous trees at SMP on instagram my friends had taken over the past weekend, so I decided that was where we would go. Unfortunately the temperature had dropped about 30 degrees over the past 24 hours and it was freezing. This was the best picture I got. Both kids really struggle with the natural smile thing.

April 15

Tuesday night was the Relief Society monthly meeting. Anthony helped with childcare. The kids love the church drinking fountain. Lauren loves that there is a stool and enjoys the independence it grants her, but Will isn't ready to give up his "helper" status and insists on pushing the button for her.

April 16

Anthony and I worked out together Wednesday night and left the kids at the child watch area. Will was a bit reluctant at first, but ended up loving his time there because the attendant was a fellow baseball fan and she put the Royals game on the TV.

April 17

Thursday we had a check-up for Will's eyes. I was really dreading this appointment because we stopped patching after his last check-up in January and would find out if his glasses alone would be enough to fix his eyes. Turns out they are! For now.

April 18

Friday was a gorgeous day. We ran some errands together in the evening and rolled the windows down. Both kids love having the windows down. (We need to adjust our car seats to more accurately fit out non-coat wearing children. Lauren can wiggle out of the top half of her car seat if she tries hard enough.)

April 19

Over a year and a half ago we started painting the dark wood paneling and trim in our kitchen. We got most of it done, except the window over our sink. We taped it off, but the shade is impossible to remove. We've asked several friends to help us remove it and they were all unable to get it off too. I finally decided we just needed to paint around the darn thing this week when another person asked if we were in the middle of painting our kitchen. Yes, we've been in "the middle" of it for the past 20 months. I am excited to see how it looks when we take the tape off, but am also scared of the tape residue that is sure to be on the window after being there for so long. Even with the tape the room feels brighter.

2014 :: week 15

April 6

TJ and I teamed up and made cinnamon rolls on Sunday. They were delicious, but extremely rich. The recipe called for a pound of butter, so we'll probably only make these once or twice a year.

April 7

Monday the kids and I played in the backyard for a bit. Lauren likes to copy everything I do. It was bright outside so I put on sunglasses. She needed her shades too. More of our daffodils opened up so I wanted to take some pictures. Lauren wanted to too. She took her picture-taking very seriously.

April 8

This week the weather was nice enough for Lauren and I to walk for a mile or so after we dropped Will off as at school each day. Tuesday Lauren told me she didn't want to ride in the stroller. I didn't think she'd make it very far so I brought the stroller along anyway. She ended up walking 3/4 a mile before she agreed to get in. We didn't go much further, we usually walk for about half an hour and she walked for a solid 20 minutes.

April 9

Wednesday we had an impromptu picnic at the park by our house with some friends from church. The kids had a blast running around the park with their friends. We usually play at the park by ourselves, so it was fun to add variety to our routine.

April 10

Will was upset when Lauren told him we saw worms on our walk Thursday morning. As soon as we got home from school we headed out back because Will had to find one too. He insisted that I help him and we got lucky and found one under a rock right away.

April 11

Friday night we had a movie night and watched Peter Pan. The kids got really into it and acted out some Peter Pan/Pirate Hook (what they call Captain Hook) fight sequences. We are really enjoying rediscovering classic Disney movies with our kids.

April 12

I love the pop of color the daffodils bring to our backyard. There is rain and snow in the forecast for tomorrow. I hope they make it through okay. They've really cheered me up this month.

2014 :: week 14

March 30

Lauren and Dad snuggled up on the couch after church. Lauren is pretending to be asleep, but I'm pretty sure Anthony could have fallen asleep at any time. Fast Sundays make us sleepy.

March 31

We finally got some warmer weather Monday, though it was still much windier than I prefer. I don't let Will bang on his drum while Lauren is taking a nap, so when he asked if he could go outside I figured, why not. I sat on the porch and read while he drummed for over half and hour. I'm sure our neighbors love us.

April 1

Will has been looking forward to April Fools Day for awhile. On Tuesday he wore one of each shoe to school.  Full disclosure: this picture is totally staged. Will took his shoes off before I could take a picture and wasn't in the mood to put them back on when I asked him to, so Lauren happily volunteered to wear Willy's shoes.

April 2

 Anthony helped the kids build the "tallest tower ever!" while I made dinner Wednesday night.

April 3

Anthony and I signed up to help clean the temple after attending the last endowment session Thursday evening. It was good to be in the temple together.

April 4

It is fun to finally see the daffodils bloom in our yard! We've been keeping an eye on them for the past few weeks, and it seems like all the storms we've had this week were just what they needed to open.

April 5

Struggling to eat some gogurts during the Saturday morning conference session. Conference seems to have hit at the perfect time this year. I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend with lots of spiritual nourishment.

sweet 16 with coach uncle daniel

The BYU Women's basketball team made history last week by becoming only the third 12 seed to make it to the Sweet 16. They played UConn in Lincoln, only 3 hours away, so of course we had to go.

Bro-in-law/Uncle Daniel is an assistant coach--that's him on the bench in a white shirt and blue tie.

The first half of the game was so exciting. The Cougars were competitive and the lead went back and forth throughout most of the half. At one point the Cougars were up by as much as six, which is a pretty impressive feat considering the Huskies are the overall number one seed in Women's tournament. The Cougars played them as tough as they had been played all year. The second half wasn't as close, but it was still a great game. We were so impressed with all the Nebraska fans at the game. Many of them had purchased tickets BEFORE the Cougars beat UNL to get in this game, but they still came and were mostly cheering for BYU.

Of course there was other entertainment in addition to the game. 

Will was quite impressed by Cosmo's dance skillz. He literally flipped and danced around the Husky. Now maybe Cosmo's costume was a bit more conducive to all that movement, but we'll just stick with the story that Cosmo had by far superior dance moves.

And then there were the bands.

Both kids loved the pep band. There were actually four bands in the arena, one from each of the four schools that were playing in the tournament in Lincoln that day. Will was quick to notice that the BYU band only had two tubas as opposed the the four tubas the UCONN and Texas A&M bands had.

As usual Anthony was the loudest Cougar fan in the audience.

After the game we hung out with Daniel's parents and waited for the team to finish in the locker room. Lauren enjoyed introducing herself to everyone that walked by and telling them that she was two. Both kids got their dance on while we were waiting and bumped into many friends and family members of the team that were also waiting. The did bust out some pretty sweet moves though, so it was hard to get too frustrated with them. And if was good for them get some energy out since we had another 3 hour drive ahead of us. Both kids did fall asleep about an hour out of town so we had a pretty smooth ride home. We couldn't have asked them to behave better.

When Daniel arrived we walked a few blocks to Panera for dinner.

The kids appreciated the extra height they got when atop Uncle Daniel's shoulders.

Thanks for hanging out with us, Coach Uncle Daniel! Will loved racing you back to the hotel and Lauren keeps talking about how tall she was on your shoulders. We had a great time catching up! My only regret about the adventure was that my phone battery almost died after the first half of the game, so I couldn't take better/more pictures.

Go Cougars!

2014 :: week 13

March 23

Lauren loves her babies. Her collection seems to be continually growing as she takes over responsibility for all the dolls and stuffed animals in our house, including Will's. Here she is feeding Baby Addy (in the stroller, names after her cousin Adelaide) and Baby Natalie (high chair) while holding Penguin Baby (which Will received at a doctor visit).

March 24

Will and Lauren were a lot more excited about the snow that fell Monday afternoon than I was.

March 25

We've fallen into he habit of letting the kids watch a show after dinner since it got cold and windy again. Warm and sunny spring can start any time now.

March 26

Wednesday the kids came with me to the gym since Anthony was in Atlanta. Will has gotten much more adventurous in his climbing. Unfortunately, he is much faster going up than coming down and is usually at the highest or least accessible point when I tell him it is time to go.

March 27

I have somehow set a bad example for Lauren, even though the only times I take naps on the couch is in the afternoon. Thursday morning she carried her cereal to the couch, got a blanket and asked for a "show" so she could "sleep." I think the gray skies are getting to her.

March 28

Lauren has started taking her purse places with us. Friday she stashed it with some of her play money. When we got to the grocery check-out she told me, "I pay," fished a coin out of her purse and handed it to the cashier. The cashier was very nice, thanked her, and then handed the coin back to me. Lauren was quite pleased with herself. She also has recently decided to boycott ponytails or hairstyles of any kind, so her crazy hair is her own doing.

March 29

Saturday we road-tripped up to Lincoln to watch the BYU Women's basketball team take on UConn. It was great seeing "Coach Uncle Daniel," (as Will calls him) do his thing. It was an exciting game! After the game we had dinner with Daniel and his parents. Daniel was great with the kids, giving each of them a ride on his shoulders and racing with Will on the way back from Panera.

2014 :: week 12

March 16

My dad made us dinner Sunday evening and he treated the kids to a delicious dessert of mint chocolate chip ice cream afterwards. They were too engrossed in an episode of Dragon Tales to look up for the picture.

March 17

We didn't do a lot to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year. We did venture to a library and make some leprechaun hats. I was surprised at how long they wore them, at least as long as it took me to make them. When we got home Will took his off and Lauren wore his around for most of the afternoon.

 

March 18

I initially ordered Frozen as an Easter present for the kids. But then Tuesday was just one of those days and when the UPS guy dropped the package off I decided we might as well just watch it now. Lauren was in heaven. She loves the music, princesses and Olaf.

March 19

Wednesday we met some friends at the Lenexa Open Gym. After the normal open play hours Funky Mama put on a show. Will had a blast. He got so close that Funky Mama tripped into him, but he told me it was okay, sometimes that happens when you're dancing.

March 20

This picture is our March madness. Basketball on in the background for dayssss.

March 21

Friday my mom took the the kids and I to Wonderscope. The kids were almost as excited to ride in her car as they were to go to the museum. We had a great time! Despite the Spring Break crowds we were still able to spend a few minutes in each room. The kids loved showing Memaw their favorite exhibits.

March 22

It appears yard work will be on our agenda indefinitely for the next several Saturdays. Today we focused on getting the leaves up in our backyard that fell or blew into the yard after Christmas. It is boggles my mind how many leaves our relatively small yard can contain. In other news, I can't wait for these daffodils to bloom.

2014 :: week 11

March 9

Will got a tag pen for his birthday. Lately he has been spending an hour or so in the afternoon reading his books and playing the games. He is getting pretty good with sounding words out and recognizes a few words by site. I should do a better job encouraging and facilitating his reading because he is super interested right now. Any good tips on how to start?

March 10

A women in our ward is holding a Kindermusik class for some of the nursery-aged kids in our ward. She invited Lauren to participate and she had a great time.  She was very pleased that she got to go to a music class and Will did not. Will was pretty jealous.

March 11

Hello, neighbor! Lauren loves playing in her little house on our back porch. She was busy putting things in order while we grilled chicken and vegetables Tuesday night before it started to rain.

March 12

Seasonal allergies have commenced. Unfortunately, I seem to have passed those on to both of my children. Lauren got kicked out of nursery Sunday for her runny nose. It could be a long spring.

March 13

The kids love to swing on the wheel-chair swing at the elementary school playground.

March 14

Friday we had a picnic lunch at the park, TJ took out car to get the headlights fixed and we stocked up on groceries. I didn't take a picture of anything. Luckily Will took some selfies on my phone or the picture-taking streak would have been up.

March 15

We spent most of the ides of March doing yardwork. After dinner we went to the park and let the kids get the rest of their energy out. It's fun to see finally start enjoying the hints of spring.

2014 :: week 10

March 2

Will's musicality has been manifesting itself more than usual lately. Sunday morning he beat the garbage drum while we finished breakfast. The drum isn't really my instrument of choice for the early morning hours, but that doesn't stop Will from having a good time.

March 3

 We watched an episode of Caillou that talked about April Fools. Will though it was hilarious, and insisted that we "April Fools" each other all afternoon. He was very excited for me to open the fridge after he put some of his cars in there and then asked me for a drink.

March 4

Lauren plays really well by herself and loves playing in her room with her various toys, especially her Little People. She uses the other toys to facilitate her play with the people. A few of her Little People are the Disney Princesses and I made the mistake of telling her their names. Now she wants to know the names of all of them and she gets annoyed if I forget the names I made up the day before.

March 5

Lauren and I enjoy the time we have together while Will is at preschool, but she sure is excited to see her "Willy" when school is over.

Just some bedtime shenanigans. 

Will brandishes his broom in many ways. Friday afternoon he was "rocking out" and playing guitar.

March 8

Lauren has been taking the coins from her piggy bank and place each one on an individual brick for awhile. Lately she has been adding puzzles pieces to the mix. She likes to make patterns and gets mad when I try to pick them up.