Before we know it ...

Berlin will be walking!!! I am actually super excited for this event to happen as I've been trying to get her to take interest in walking the past couple months. I just think it would make playing at the park and out back a bit more fun for both her and I since I won't have to hold her the whole time. Of course, she's shown no interest and rebels against "practice" time by becoming a limp noodle whenever I try to walk with her holding onto my hands. But, there is hope that it will be sooner than later as her new favorite thing (as of Sunday) is to push her wagon - with all her dolls & animals in it, all over the house. She giggles & screams especially when she gets stuck or crashes into a wall, but luckily Finn loves to help her out. I am SOOOO happy! Here's a super cute video of her with her wagon.

Dear Life

Dear March Winter Storm:
I hate you & all 7 inches of crap you left in my yard. Please go away and do not come back until November, at which time I might appreciate all that you offer.

Dear Bentley:
Lately you have not been "man's best friend." I hate you for shredding my beautiful Banana Republic chiffon dress yesterday while we were at church. I don't know why you did this as you haven't done so since you were a puppy 4 years ago. So why now and why my beloved dress? And what the heck were you doing upstairs in the first place. If you EVER do this again, you will find yourself out on the front porch with a 4-SALE sign around your neck. I don't care how much the hubby & kids object.

Dear Memory Loss:
Please leave me alone. If I forget one more thing on the top of the car while buckling the kids into their carseats, please please please bring it to my remembrance BEFORE we drive away rather than remembering it only after it's flown off the car while on the freeway. I am tired of replacing cell phones.

Dear Freeway Construction Guy in the Truck:
Thanks for helping Ryan locate the previously mentioned cellphone on the side of the freeway. For once I'm glad the freeway had construction going on, thus reducing the speed of the cars whizzing by as you & Ryan located the phone.

Dear Sticky Fingers:
Where were you when I needed you? Because of your absence a very nice vase shattered all over my stove after it slipped through my hand while tightening the bow around it.

Dear beloved sister Valerie:
Thanks for this very therapeutic way of writing a blog.

From the Mouths of Babes ...

or in this case Finley. This happened a few weeks ago and I'd been meaning to post it because it was too funny not too, but then Finn did it again today so I had to put it out there.

Finley got a new book a couple weeks ago about the planets and the solar
system called, "There's no place like space." So Ryan was reading the book to Finley before bedtime and they were reading about all the planets and their unique characteristics. Ryan finished reading about Neptune and proceeded on to Uranus. Finley waited until Ryan was done reading the page and blurts out, "Hey daddy, that's Uranus & Myanus. Look! Daddysanus and Myanus" over and over and over again - all the while pointing back and forth between the 2 planets on the facing pages. Ryan just looked at me and we started laughing so hard. If Finley only knew how truly funny he was - he's like 10 years ahead of his time. We'd been working on "You, yours, me & mine" earlier in the month (mostly to help him get the point that everything isn't always his). And I think his little mind was telling him that Uranus literally was his and so he wanted Ryan to have one to. Aaaaah. The sweet and simple innocence of children.

He did the same thing again today as we were reading together during quiet time, this time it was, "Mommysanus & Myanus." I am so glad to have been included and that I too now have my own planet.

Happy Easter, Happy Spring .... Happy Everything.

I totally stole the title from my friend's blog - I just loved it when I saw/read it. So thanks Presh!

Here are some pics of our Easter Sunday. We had such a good time with my family and Finley loved having his cousins, Aunts & Uncles over to play with. Thanks to everyone who helped make it a YUMMY dinner. We hid eggs at the park across the street from our house and the kids got a kick out of finding all the eggs, but I think it was the eating of all the candy that was funnest for them. After finding all the eggs they were able to play on the slides, swings, teeter-totter, etc. I finally gave up telling Finley, "No more candy" when I realized he wasn't listening to me anyway. Oh well. It's Easter right? And once it's gone, it's gone.

I love Easter, not just because it signals the ending of Winter weather, but because it reminds me of the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He died for us that we might live again with Him and our Heavenly Father. I am grateful for my testimony of the atonement and for the knowledge and power that it brings into my life. I really tried to teach Finley this year that it was more than the Easter Bunny & candy. I don't know if any of it stuck, but I know that when I look into my children's faces & eyes, that they have the light of Christ in them. I am ever so lucky for them in my life and for the happiness that they and this gospel brings me. I hope that each of you had a wonderful Easter Sunday too.

Finn & Mr. Potato Head
(Santa forgot that he had bought this last year at Disneyland, so when he found it buried in the back of a closet, he asked the Easter Bunny to deliver it for them.)

Berlin in her pretty little Easter Dress

(Notice the lack of hair clip & shoes? Those were the first things she pulled out/took off at church. So I didn't bother to put them back on.)

Aunt Valerie & Bunny Boo

Uncle Ben & Finley racing down the slide.

Bunny Boo, Kemry, Finley, Avery

Berlin opening all of Finn's eggs & trying to snarf all the jelly beans before he noticed. By the look on her face, he beat her to them.

Spring is coming...

Or so I keep telling myself. We had a day of snow last week which I am hoping is our last until next winter. I'm taking the sign of the scattered rain showers as a sign that Spring is here at last. If I go by the pretty tulips and daffodils that are beginning to come up, then I should be right. Which means HOORAY!!!!!!!!

These are just some fun pic of the kids having fun together. I count myself blessed to have 2 kids who really do love & adore each other. When we were at the children's museum last week, this little girl came toddling up to Berlin and was ready to push her when Finn ran over and put his arms out shouting, "No, don't touch her!" It was super cute and it warmed my heart. He is so good at watching out for his little sis whom he's taken to calling, Itty Bitty Boo.



Finley is also gearing up for the summer and lots of time in Patrick's pool. I told him that this summer he has to get his head & face wet. Last year he HATED getting wet which made pool-time less than fun for me. He's always been weird about water in his face - even bathtime is one long screaming ordeal whenever it's time to rinse his hair. So we got him some of his very own goggles with the hope that they'll make the pool (and bath) more fun. Of course, since getting them, he loves to wear them all day long, both inside and outside. We went to a birthday party today for a friend of mines little boy in our ward, and he refused to take them off. So he wore them on our walk over there and on our walk back. He only took them off at the party when I lied and said some of the other kids might like them and try to take them. Berlin even thinks they are pretty fun.





This month Finley also got to go to our local firestation. If you ask him what he fell in love with, he'll tell you it was the fire pole. He was hooked after the first 2 firemen slid down and he kept jumpin up and down saying, "It's my turn now! Mommy it's my turn now!" He was very sad when I told him he was way too little for the pole. But he cheered up when I said he could have his picture taken by it. We didn't get a chance to see the trucks because all 3 were out on calls (one left as we were walking up to the fire station and he thought that was cool as the lights were flashing and horns blasting). We'll just have to go back again and hope for a less busy day. But he loved it none-the-less and it was a great way to spend a rainy morning.



Berlin's new thing is animals. She LOVES all toys, books, movies, etc that have to do with animals. She screams doggy anytime she sees Bentley and after greeting Ryan when he comes home from work, that's the first place she goes. She knows he will finally be there (after looking for him all day long). Her favorite animal sounds are Ruff and Quack and she will happily say them for anyone, along with Moo, Bok Bok, and Neigh. She is such a chatterbox - an animated one at that. She is constantly chatting me up with little gibberish and her expressions are so funny. She definitely knows what she's saying (even if I don't). She loves to talk on any phone and will say "hi Daddy" as if he is on the other line. Her little girl side is coming out too as she can spot a necklace or bracelet from a mile away and she can put them on and take them off all by herself - in fact, if I try to help, she gets really upset. I just love this stage where they come into their own and their little personality starts to show. She also loves Buzz Lightyear and can often be found trying to take Finn's away from him. The first few times it was cute, now it's not so as Finn screams. But she will actually pick up buzz and make him fly in the air whilst saying. "Fffshhh." Here she is loving the picture Ryan drew with Finley (Finn drew Buzz's anti-gravity belt) after she saw Finley pushing the laser button on his arm. Monkey see, Monkey doo is the rule of thumb in our house right now - all the way down to temper-tantrums.

Catching Up

So this month has flown by and I can't believe that Easter is tomorrow? Really? I guess I was so focused on St. Patrick's Day and getting past that that I forgot about Easter being in March this year. Thus, this past week has been a whirlwind of fun Easter Activities. We've made sugar cookies and frosted them with our cute little friend Sophie, we've hung up easter decorations in our windows, colored Easter Eggs, had a fun Easter hunt with most of the KWGCS 801 crew, and made a darling little Easter Wreath out of Finley's little hands. Here are some cute pics of these events. I'm sure I'll have plenty more pics after our Easter celebrations with my family tomorrow.

Finley & Sophie and their cute little cookies.





Finley and I coloring our Easter Eggs.


Finley, Eve, Tatum, Cleo, Eliza, Elias (801 club)


Finley inspected every egg before he put it in his bag.





Finley with a mouth FULL of candy.



Tuckered out - notice that he's still holding his bag of candy?

Movie night in a tent

As a child I remember making tents and forts out of blankets and chairs with my sisters. Sometimes we'd even make them between our beds in the room. No matter how they were made they were often a perfect spot for playing dolls, reading, listening to music, etc. Ryan was also the same way as a kid, though his blanket forts were much more intense than mine. So when Finley wanted to build a tent who were we to say no. Ryan actually did all the work and he (they) built a fine tent using the TV Armoire and couches so that they could watch a movie under it. After multiple re-do's (Finley thought the blankets looked like giant slides and thus attempted to slide down them, resulting in a couple hard falls and some sad tears) success was had and they watched a Wallace and Grommit movie underneath. These are some of the pictures of the night.

Can you guess what this is?

Yes, it's a rash. But can you guess what caused it? If not, don't worry. Even the Dr. was at a loss when he saw it on Friday (I took these pictures on Wed the day after the little dots started appearing, but by Fri it was full-blown with red, puffy little spots all over her body and swollen, tired eyes - so I took her in).

I was told that it could be: an allergic reaction to amoxicillan (taken for an ear infection 7 days prior to the rash appearing), or a reaction to her MMR immunization over 2 weeks ago, or a viral infection, or an allergic reaction to something she ate, or ....

Unfortunately all she can do is wait it out. Lucky for me she hasn't been fussy. But I'm happy to report that as of today, the rash has calmed down a TON and other than some minor spotting and very rosy cheeks, she looks much better. Guess it just goes to show that no matter how medically advanced our society is, we won't always have cut & dry answers to life's little ailments.