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So it's still spring, but we've had a few days that feel like the middle of summer lately!  Perfect for a little sidewalk chalk, some sprinkler fun, and magic driveway paint (aka water.)

Also, couldn't find Zach after I walked into the backyard for a minute… he had turned the hose on full blast into the gutter and followed it around the corner and down the street to watch it flow past a bunch of leaf dams and into the grate…  fascinating.  We all had to join in, bet on how long it would take to get there, and count… and count… 

I am getting excited for the lazy days of summer!

Yes, so big she doesn't fit in the infant carrier anymore.  But not so big that she doesn't spend half the day climbing in and trying to buckle herself in while it sits in the house…  yes, while all her other toys are getting packed, this keeps her entertained, so we are holding on to it till we move!

So big she has been refusing the baby swing lately.  Nate was home the first day she wanted to try the real swing and let her have a go… she holds on tight and looks adorable and loves it!

And so big she can climb up the stairs into the playhouse (dangerous!) to hang out on the top.  No more playing in the backyard alone while I watch her while I do dishes… that was sure a short-lived phenomenon.  

Not so big that she doesn't eat sand.  (and rocks, and chalk…)

And not so big that she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night (which is why I'm blogging right now with a sleeping baby on my lap instead of packing everything I just unloaded from our desk…)

Had the advice from a seasoned mother in our ward that a quick way to make sure your kid only misses the bus once is to have them walk to school…

luckily on the day I threatened it, we were fairly ready, the weather was nice, and I was able to follow through.  Guess who was early for the bus for the rest of the year?

(love how Meg snuggled up on Carter's shoulder on the way home…)

Memorable moments from mother's day 2012:

Emma brought me a delicious breakfast of grape nuts brought in on the red "You are special today" plate (thought up and executed all on her own, although the plate is tricky for even me to get out!)  That girl knows how to celebrate.  
My favorite part of her present was the back of the "all about mom" sheet that said:  
My mom is as pretty as a:  tulip
She is as sweet as a:  treet
She is as smart as:  my dad
And she is as special as:  me.

Nate says to Carter, "Hey Carter!  It's mothers day!  Do you have something you want to tell mom?"  and Carter leans over and says, "Hey mom!  It's mother's day!" 

Everyone helped make the dinner that I had planned (and that they hated) and grilled cheese (that they loved) in true [nice-mom that I am usually not] fashion.  Like my mom did all my growing up years.  Yeah, she's amazing like that.

Zach gave me a card he made at school.  It said, "Dear Mom, Happy Mother's day.  Hope you have a good one.  Love, Zachary Adams."   When he gave it to me, he said, "I made it brief, since I had already made you another one [at church]."   

Speaking of which, at church the primary kids made cupcake wrapper corsages.  So cute.  And it's easy to wear 3 when clusters of flowers are so fashionable.  :)

And Nate helped everyone sit still and took multiple pictures to get me my mother's day wish of a picture of me and the kiddos.  

It was a perfectly wonderful day!

And, I kept thinking about my own mom and that quote from conference where Pres. Monson's daughter talked about her parents:  

Ann Dibb, the Monsons’ daughter, says that to this day, when she walks in the front door of the house where she was raised, her father will say, “Oh, look who’s here. And aren’t we glad, and isn’t she beautiful?” She goes on to say: “My parents always give me some compliment; it doesn’t matter what I look like or what I’ve been doing. … When I go and visit my parents, I know I am loved, I am complimented, I am made welcome, I am home.” 

My mom is exactly the same way!  It is one of the things (in a list that's too long to type) that I love most about her.   And I've told her before, but I'll say it again: any success I have as a mother is because of her example!

Emma and Zach have been cruising along in their school reading program and earning medals for every 25 hours read:  Zach is coming up on his 10th medal and Emma on her 8th.  Wearing a stack of medals is so cool.  And lately Meg has had to have one on too.  (nevermind the boxes in the back… packing has already begun!)

The big kids are doing the kids marathon again this year, and are back to the mile-a-day running.  Most of the time they run around the cul-de-sac (and I wonder if the neighbors think I send them out to run as a punishment or something) but sometimes we venture out through the neighborhood.  This day Carter ran the whole way (although the hand-holding was just at first.)

Meg adores Zach.  (and his hat, and his glasses…)  She has such a good time playing with him.  And it is nice to be able to have him entertain her sometimes now that she doesn't like the saucer. 

And we are into the "moving" phase.  The people that will be renting our house need to have all their stuff moved in by the day before we move our stuff out so we have been trying to clear out some room for them… resulting in the not so classy but super fun addition of our box springs and mattress on the floor in the family room.  The kids have never seen anything cooler.  Perfect for movie night/sleepover…

…and also the catalyst for turning the basement into a "locker room".  For our baseball players, of course.  (They were disappointed to find out that their set-up will not be permanent.)

and lastly, this is what 9:30am looks like when Zach goes to bed at 11:30 pm after spending a fun-filled night at the Twins game with Nate.  (It is also what 10:30 looked like… and even 11:15…)  Guess he was tired!  I have renewed faith that someday we'll all sleep in around here.  :)

Lots of things lately have been making me feel grateful.  Unfortunately I can't muster gratitude all the time.  (Maybe someday?)  There are plenty of moments of craziness and discipline and messes…

but every time I pass the rug with the pile of shoes on it and stop to match them up with their mates (since Meg loves to try them on and scatter them about)  I feel a wave of gratitude.  That all the owners of these shoes belong to me.  And that I get to enjoy their craziness, get to discipline them, get to clean up their messes…

Lucky me.  Really.  The luckiest girl in the world.

(ps, trying to catch up on some things from the crazy birthday months – if you feel like looking back, there are some new things in March/April!)

So I've always thought Emma was the cutest little mommy – well, I think Meg is the cutest teeny tiny mommy.  She seems to love babies just as much as Emma, and at even an earlier age.  She will give baby Stella her pacifier over and over and over or spend half an hour putting a baby in and out of the rocking chair, and she loves giving them snuggles and kisses.  

We will sure miss this backyard!  So many fun times out here.  

Guess not… fun for anyone, ages 1-100, apparently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hate the way the school does spring pictures.  They take everyone's pictures, whether you send $$ or not.  Then they send you home with a whole package of pictures you can purchase or send back if you decide not to.  

Which sounds fine.  Unless you weren't planning on buying pictures.  And sent your kids off to school with hastily combed hair and whatever they wanted to wear.  (Zach was wearing a black lego star wars shirt with 9 brightly colored minifigures on it.  awesome.)  And with the super-cool backgrounds they photoshop in, the kids can't believe that you don't want to purchase this very expensive package of pictures.  And so now you are the meanest mom on the planet.  (Yes, there are even tears.)  

Still, since you are still pretty nice for the meanest mom on the planet, (and since your kids are cute even with hastily combed hair) you snap a picture of the envelope of pictures.  And then you let the kids pack them back up to return to school (read:  shove them into their backpack like everything else) not caring if they get wrinkled because hey, you didn't ask for them in the first place.  

PS:  Dear mom, thank you for buying me those 6th grade school pictures with the super-cool green laser thing in the background.  I've always known you were a nicer mom than I'll ever be.