Mother's Day

It's been a nice Mother's Day weekend, despite the fact that it is snowing outside today, May 11th!

I walked outside to go visiting teaching and ran back into get a hat and scarf. (I was running late and  they were more easily accessible than a coat.) It was so cold today!

Yesterday we went out to Kneaders for breakfast.  Their french toast is amazing and they were running a Mother's Day special where you could buy an entree and get a french toast for free.  It was great.  Saturday night was our monthly Philharmonic date.  The performance last night was them playing the score to Pirates of the Caribbean, while the movie was showing.  It was fun. I am not a big fan of those movies. They kind of gross me out and are sort of confusing but the Philharmonic did an excellent job. We went out to dinner with some friends beforehand and had fun visiting with them.  This couple, the Watson's are the ones who told us about the Philharmonic Pops and we are so glad they did.  It's been really fun to get to know them better.
This morning I slept in a little before church which is always a treat.  A few weeks ago I saw this idea on Facebook where instead of buying Mother's Day cards each year you have your kids write you a note in a little journal.  I mentioned it to Mark and he made it happen. He put in a few questions for Jared and Lydia to answer about me and traced their hands.  We made sure to take a picture of Jared Lydia and I after church and he will print it off and put in in there too. We will take one each year.  I am so excited.  I know I will love reading over it especially when Jared and Lydia are grown up and away from home. It's such a great idea. Jared also filled out a questionnaire about me in preschool.  He had some great answers such as my age being 21, and my weight 22 pounds! He also wrote down that my favorite food was salad (I am not sure where he got that idea) and that I really love to eat dinner!! Mark got a little miffed because Jared wrote down that I cooked the best hamburgers. That one is particularly funny because last week Mark got a really nasty stomach bug.  The day he was sick we were planning on having hamburgers for dinner but he was not up to grilling them so I did.  I had actually never grilled anything before so I am glad I did so well on my first try. I love these surveys.  They are so fun! This card will for sure go in his "memory" box.
 I do so love being Jared and Lydia's Mom.  They are great kids and they make me so happy. (and crazy) I am so blessed to be their Mom and to have Mark there to help me out. I appreciate my family so much and am thankful they helped me have such a nice weekend. I am also so fortunate to have a mother who supports and encourages me.  She has so much faith in me and makes me feel so good about myself. I am also blessed to have a fun, kind and welcoming mother in law.  Mothers are amazing and I am so grateful for all the wonderful examples around me and all the things I am learning.
The past 2 weeks or so I have been reading this parenting book, "It's OK not to share and other renegade rules." There have been some things I like about the book and others where I think they were really overdoing the topic. Reading books like that make me evaluate my parenting skills/styles which is helpful but also makes me realize that I am Jared and Lydia's parent and the Lord trusted me to raise them and when I try my best and involve Him I will succeed.  I want Jared and Lydia to know how much I love them and believe in them and to always know they can come to me and trust me.  While we were eating dinner last night we were talking about parenting some.  The Watson's have older kids (returned missionaries and in high school) and it is so overwhelming to hear about some of the things teenagers and their parents deal with. I hope I can build a strong foundation now with Jared and Lydia and always be able to communicate with them. This parenting thing is a bumpy exciting ride!

Waiting

We are still waiting on job openings/postings.  None of the school districts Mark applied to in Virginia have posted jobs so we are just twiddling our thumbs waiting for them to post some. It's getting very annoying. We are leaving in 21 days. I want to start packing but it is still too soon so again just twiddling our thumbs.  I know I don't really want to start packing until I can really do it because otherwise I am just going to have piles of stuff everywhere and boxes in the way (which will drive me crazy) but I want to start so it won't be this mad rush at the end and so I can see how many more boxes we will need.  Sigh. I really struggle at times like this, when you are just waiting and hoping. I would love to be packing and talking to people in whatever city we are moving too so I could find a place to live but I have no clue where we are going!  We did go ahead and reserve a moving truck and storage unit for the summer so that is one thing we could do.  We also decided we would spend June in Utah with Mark's mom and go with our original vacation plans (Vegas, San Diego, Disneyland than North). I am glad we have decided this and am actually looking forward to that time in Utah. Utah is actually a really great place to hang out with your kids in the summer.  Mark's mom will be gone the first week of June so she will at least get a little break from us.  We are hoping Mark will not have to go to school the Tuesday after Memorial day (classroom checkout day, no students or meetings) and we can just head out to Utah but again we are just waiting to find out. At least we do know when we have to be out of our house, that is one known thing.
 In happier news, Mark did have a screening interview with the school district in Charlottesville so that was something. It is sort of a funny story. A few weeks ago they contacted Mark to set up the interview and he got to choose what day and time (May 01 or 02)  he wanted to have the interview. He picked his date only later realized he had a field trip at that time so called to reschedule.  The person he called was actually on a field trip themselves when he called (weird right).  So she said they would pick a new date and let him know.  So time goes on and suddenly its May 01 and Mark isn't sure what time or day his interview is.  So he got to school that morning, called the district office around 7:40 to find out his time and found out his interview was in 20 minutes (10:00 Eastern time)!!  Mark was pretty surprised. I am so glad he called! They chatted a minute to make sure Skype was working well then said they would talk again soon.  He called back at 8:00 (Colorado time) and started interviewing just as his school's morning announcements were being read. They lady was very understanding (he does work in a school after all) and Mark felt really good about the interview.  We were so happy he got selected to have this first interview and hope good things come of it.
 Even though this waiting is hard we still have good things going on.  Lydia and I went on a field trip with Jared's preschool class to a nature center in town.  We are heading to the zoo with his class on the 14th. We also just went to the zoo yesterday as a family.  We had some nice Spring weather around here after a week of 30+mph winds and 50 degree weather so we are enjoying it. I really dislike how windy it is here in the Spring.  We also went out and took family pictures yesterday afternoon. We went over to the Garden of the Gods, a very popular hiking area here.  They have beautiful red rock formations and are pretty iconic of Colorado Springs. I wanted to get pictures there because sooner (hopefully) or later we will leave here and they are so well known here.  Garden of the Gods is always in the top 10 things to see in Colorado Springs. I was so impressed with how well Jared and Lydia did.  I am excited to see the pictures.
We have also had some fun around the house. We often do art projects or "Marking" (coloring) as Lydia calls it. So one day I decided to do it on a larger scale.  Jared and Lydia loved it. I love how simply setting something up in a new environment gets kids so excited. We also do a lot of races around here. Jared, because of his love of CARS always wants to race so we line up by the couch and then run into the kitchen around the island and back to the couch. Its a nice little work out if you really try to "race".  He and Lydia love to race with the stroller and shopping cart.  I also used Lydia's crib to make a fort, or a castle if you ask Jared and a tent if you as Lydia.  They have appreciated it much more than the table forts of the past.

 I wrote some letters and drew some shapes on this one and had Jared connect the matching items like connect the dots.  Then I had Lydia go stand on whatever one I called out.

 We also played a fun parking spot game. I wrote basic addition problems on the top (like 3 + 4) and had Jared add that many cars in the parking spot and count them up.  For Lydia, I had her identify the number (1-5) at the top and put that many cars in the parking spot. In case you couldn't tell I love having hardwood floors!

Get Ready! Get Set! GO!

I love how much easier this fort is to clean up! And all the blankets stay upstairs where they belong and they actually play in it! Win Win Win.

We have been slowly checking things off our "things we want to do before we leave" list. I hope we really do get to leave but at least we know Mark has a job and we are grateful for that.

30 days

Right before we left for spring break we put our town home up for sale (March 27th).  2 days after we got home from Spring break we had an offer! (April 08th) We countered their offer and they accepted so we have been under contract since April 10th.   We were so shocked when it sold so fast. The buyers originally wanted to close on May 06th which was just too soon for us.  We are now closing on May 23rd which is Mark's last day of school with students. He has to go back on Tuesday after Memorial day to check out so we will be homeless that weekend but we can find somewhere to stay for that weekend. There are always hotels right?  The appraisal and inspection have been done so we are just waiting and hoping the buyer doesn't change their mind. I don't think they will but really I don't know them at all so we are hoping for the best. I am super happy I don't have to be ready at 2 hours notice to leave my house for showings.  I am so glad we were out of town and didn't have to worry about it.  We had quite a few showings those 10 days and got really positive reviews so that was fun. The few times I did have to leave for a showing were tricky so I am so glad we are done.
Now we have to figure out our summer travel plans because the ones we had won't work.  We have about a month between our closing and meeting my family in Disneyland.  Do we go North first (instead of after Disneyland) than down the Coast to Disneyland than Colorado or hopefully Virginia? Do we stay in Utah until Disneyland then go visit everyone? Decisions Decisions. Right now I think we will go to Utah and stay for at least 2 weeks so if Mark is still interviewing he will have a set place. Ideally he will get a job offer before we close on the house but we can't control these things so we will just wait to see. If he doesn't get a job we are planning on moving into the apartments we lived in when we first came to Colorado Springs 5 years ago and he will still work the school he has been at. I can't really believe we have been here that long. It went by so quickly.  It's been a nice place for us but we so hope we can move back East!  It is a relief to know that our town home is sold though. We really didn't want to live here anymore. With the newer nicer town homes being built across the street and our Association Fee costing us 133 dollars a month and going up each year we just want to get out of here.  We can't wait to find out where we will be heading!  It's so strange to not know where we will be 6 week from now! So unlike me.

McDonald's

Last week Jared filled up his charm jar again. When we asked him what he wanted his reward to be he decided he wanted to go to McDonald's.  First just Jared and I were going to go then all of us were going and then he decide he would go with Lydia and I. I think it had something to do with having to wait till Saturday if Mark came along.  We were planning on having hamburgers for dinner the next night so we went out for breakfast instead which I have decided I totally prefer.  When we got out of the car Jared sat down on the window ledge and asked me to take his picture.  He totally read my mind.  Nice pose!

We enjoyed our breakfast and then played in the play area for awhile. We went Friday morning and there was a good sized group of elderly people there with matching McDonald's coffee mugs. I wondered if they meet every week or something similar. That would be fun to do when I am older. I have seen similar things at Einstein's Bagels. They were a fun group and had fun talking to Jared and Lydia.

Sadly Jared has had many charms taken out today. He has been so naughty with his Easter Eggs! He asked me today if he could have one of his candy eggs after breakfast and I said No, we would eat them after church (we have 9:00 church). A few minutes later I hear him go into our downstairs bathroom and shut the door. I went to check on him shortly after and asked him what he was doing. He replied "nothing". I left him alone thinking that was odd and went back a few minutes later.  I again asked him what he was doing then saw the egg and that his cheeks looked like a little chipmunk because he had so many jelly beans in them.  I was so mad!! He got a time out, charms taken out of his jar and a toy from his Easter basket got put in time out. Its one thing to eat some candy but to hide in the bathroom and then lie is a whole different thing.  We talked some and then I just sent him to his room I was so upset. Mark went in and talked to him and then he came and apologized.  It was just so annoying especially since I said he could have some right after church. It wasn't like I said he couldn't have any ever he just had to wait.  And he has had plenty this week.  I really hope he thinks twice or like 5 times before doing something like this again. Part of me is tempted to just throw away all the candy and be done with it! So irritated and he is only 4.

Each night before Jared goes to bed I lay down with him and sing him some songs and we talk about the good and bad things of our day.  It's a nice time to sort of check in with him.  We talked a little about him being sneaky and lying and I hope he got why it was such a big deal to me. I am sure it will come up again but I hope he understands how not okay it is.  Hopefully tomorrow we will be putting more charms in than taking them out.

Happy Easter!

 This is how they thought we should take their Easter picture.  

I curled Lydia's hair for church, finishing about 15 minutes before church, sprayed it with hairspray and by the time we got to church it was hard to see a single curl.  I need to try curlers just to see if it lasts longer. 

We started Easter morning off with some delicious bunny buns. I love how they are orange flavored. We did most of our celebrating yesterday and today Jared told me "Bunny buns were the perfect way to celebrate Easter."

Yesterday we had all kinds of fun dyeing Easter eggs and hunting them and enjoying our Easter baskets.  After we dyed our eggs we went over to a library and went on an Easter egg hunt which was super fun. After the hunt we decorated our egg cartons and listened to an Easter story time.  I needed to go to Barnes and Noble to exchange a book we put in Lydia's basket and we got there just in time for story time there too.  After our stories we played at the store for awhile then headed home. Mark had stayed home to meet with the guy who is going to fix his car that has been unusable for the past month.  We are pretty excited to get it fixed.

I had the hardest time with Lydia's basket.  Jared is still completely in love with CARS so his was easy. Jared first became aware of CARS  right around when the second CARS movie came out so I had the hardest time finding him toys from the first movie then because everything was CARS 2.  Now I have a harder time finding CARS 2 items.  Talk about bad timing. In any case his was still way easier than Lydia's.  Lydia like many others loves Frozen. I wanted to get her some little things from the movie and couldn't find anything anywhere (this link talks about it). I would walk into a store such as Target, Wal Mart, and Toys R Us go to the Frozen section and they would have like one item. It was ridiculous.  I looked on Amazon and EBay and couldn't believe the prices and the lack of variety.  It was so weird.  But at Barnes and Noble they had Frozen books and stickers so it worked out in the end. Lydia was super excited. It was just bizarre.  It's hard to believe that a company like Disney would be so unprepared for the demand that would come from this movie. So a summary: after much looking and driving to different stores by me,  Jared and Lydia were so happy about their baskets. When I brought Lydia downstairs she said, "sited" for excited.  I was glad they loved their baskets.

We had 2 kits this year to dye our eggs. One was a CARS kit I bought Jared last year and then left in Colorado when we went to Utah and then I had a princess kit for Lydia. I got the brilliant idea to double up the color tablets so we could have super bright dyes for our egg and accidentally mixed a few colors.  I mixed up the blue and purple tablets so we had no purple dye but a really bright blue so in a way it did work just not how I thought it would. I am not sure what happened to our pink but it was not pretty. Jared and Lydia had fun dyeing the eggs which was the whole point so I say it ended well.

Hunting the eggs at the Library was a hit.  We did it when Jared was around 18 months but hadn't since then. It's fun to see the eggs on the shelves with the books.  Our backyard hunt was also fun.  We told Jared to look for his CARS eggs and Lydia to find her Princess eggs and it worked great. They both enjoyed the hunts.

 I can't believe how old Lydia looks here! 

We also had some more fun with eggs. Jared and Lydia took a fun bath with Easter eggs and had a special Easter Egg snack.

I had Jared play memory with his snack which he enjoyed.  He had to find the matching snack before he could eat it. I tried to do it with Lydia but she was too excited about turning over the eggs. It was fun and one of my favorite Easter activities I saw online that we did.

We had a lot of fun celebrating Easter and are so grateful for this special holiday.  Last night I attended the Easter cantata that Sally Deford puts on each year.  It was a wonderful way to feel the spirit through music.  Last week Jared sang with the Primary kids during Sacrament meeting.  He was just a little distracted. He was right next to the podium and half way through the songs grabbed a tissue from the box up there.  That wasn't so bad but when he took it and placed it on his head that was over the line.  I couldn't really see him because the chorister was right in my line of vision so I heard all this second hand.  I saw him reach for the tissue but I knew he was up to no good when a friend of mine who sits right up from kept looking back at me and laughing. I am glad she was entertained.  She told me all about it when I visit taught her. Oh well.  He will grow out of it one day.