Jacki's bday

Jacki was excited for her birthday and had a count down.The birthday celebrations started at grandma Paula's with a joint birthday party for all the cousins in February. Brandon and Maddux turned 3 and 2, and Jacki turned 4. They had a truck/princess party, and Jacki loved "all of her presents." I just noticed in the middle picture that it looks like she has a big patch of dark roots on the top of her head. Her hair is amazing. Besides being super thick, it has looked like she had highlights since she was born, and it went dark to light and then dark again, so it looks like she's due to get her hair highlighted again.  She was very excited to get sung to at church and told me, "I had another birthday." Then, the birthday came at our house. I'm super practical and had only bought her a backpack, so we went on an adventure to Logan to check out the Magical Moon Store. Grandma Craven was so nice to take us since I didn't feel up to doing it by myself. I wish I had pics, but that store is amazing. I let Jacki spend her bday money, and I found some awesome puzzles, music toys, etc. (of course she broke the tamberine as soon as she opened it because she hit it with the triangle stick- oh well.) We also got treated to McDonalds and had a fun fun day.


 







We had the grandma's over for cake. Jacki got Dora. She loves Dora, but the morning of her birthday she told me she wanted Thomas the Train cake. I told her too bad. I had already ordered Dora, and it was truly "adorable". We took her and her Aunt "Yaren" to Toads. She got her first try at race car driving. My favorite part was the miniature golf. It was indoors and had the coolest decorating. It reminded me of the Mayan restaurant. It even had a waterfall, plus it had a whole lot of benches (one at about every hole)- my favorite part....so I could rest. Good thing Wessie was strapped in. He wanted to jump in the water. We had so much fun and ended the day with takeout from Dominoes...yummy bbq pizza...fun fun.

Cartwheels

The other day Jacki asked me to show her how to do a cartwheel. She told me that she learned off of the Dinosaur Train show that you do "hand, hand, foot, foot." The thought of doing a cartwheel 39 weeks pregnant was all I could do, and I told her I wouldn't be doing a cartwheel with the baby in my belly. She asked Ty to do one. He told her that if he did one that it would be "hand, head, hospital." But he did do a modified one onto the love sac just to appease her.

Spring

We've had the crazy Utah spring weather. Yesterday Ty came in to tell me that it was snowing and the sun was shining at the same time. It was beautiful and felt warm earlier this week (60ish degrees.) We get sick when the weather changes, and this time is no exception. Ty has had a bad cough for weeks. Right about the time he got over it Jacki got it. Wes woke up yesterday and was so unhappy. Good things have come out of the sickness though. #1 is that Wes cuddled with both Ty and I yesterday. He NEVER cuddles unless he is sick or tired. That is such a sweet moment when he does. #2 We've been relaxing. Friday we got to watch Princess and the Frog and get take out from Boccaias, which is one of our favorites. Ty got me a vegetarian calzone, which was so good.

Baby is moving a lot. Doc. Swift says that he seems pretty content in there, but I'm progressing every week. The baby is still growing, so I haven't decided whether to evict him or not. I liked going into labor on my own with Jacki, but I didn't like going a week over my due date. I can get started anytime after my next appointment on Wed. My mom leaves the following Wed. to stay with my sister Rachie who is having her cesarean section on the 31st. By the way, I had no idea how to spell that, I had to look it up. Anyways, my mother in law would like an April baby because we don't have any Craven birthdays in April. This is another example of not being able to please everyone, so I think I'll just let baby come when he wants to- even though that will probably mean going in for non stress monitoring....I still hope that every time I wake up during the night, it's a contraction waking me up, but nope!!

The kids are ready for spring. They love getting outside. Jacki has been "helping Ty" in the garden. He had to move a pipe that was buried very deep. She found a purple rock, and brought it inside. I made her take it back out. Wes heads straight for the sandbox as soon as we open the door. He loves it and can go up and down by himself (except for the steep ladder that comes out of the tunnel.)

Who wants to say the prayer

I mentioned before that the coveted task in our family is pushing the garage opener. The runner up is saying the prayer. Jacki has to say it. If someone else says it, then she says it when they are done. But, I still ask, "Who wants to say the prayer?" Wes always raises his hand. He doesn't know what he's raising it for, but hey if Jacki wants to do it, so does he. I just asked who wants to go to grandmas, and he raised both hands....touchdown.

Why I get nothing done

It took us all morning to get the rooms clean. Jacki had so much drama, "I can't clean my room by myself. It's too hard." Wes helped clean his room more than she helped do hers, and of course that totally wore me out.

I got on the computer to respond to an email....5 minutes tops. The kids went upstairs to the kitchen. Jacki told me she wanted some yogurt. She can handle that by herself. I heard the microwave and asked what she was putting in the microwave. She said yogurt and apples, so I went in there. The oven was on and heating up to 275 degrees. There was an apple in there that was sitting on the bottom and burned where it was sitting. I opened the freezer to get them a Creamie, and there was a large bowl in there with yogurt and oatmeal. Then, there was oatmeal and yogurt all over the floor (How far can one little container of yogurt go?) Ty's going to be mad that the kitchen is a disaster when we just cleaned it....welcome to my world. I can only imagine what they've done in the time while I've been writing this, but I didn't want to forget!! At least Wes is strapped in eating his Creamie, so the worst that he can do is have ice cream in his hair, outfit, chair, table, rug....do I dare look?

Helpers

Last Saturday Ty started a loft building project in the garage to give us more storage space. He is very handy. He got two little helpers that came with the project. Jacki didn't want to get her clothes dirty, so she thought she could just wear her underwear out there. We told her to find her pants that had holes in them. Instead, she took out all of her summer clothes, clothes that we are saving because they are too big, and her floor was covered. Wes didn't care that he had a sopping wet (and poopy) diaper and wanted to go right out with Ty. He was really mad at me for changing him....what a mean mom to not let him run around with a wet diaper. I really can't believe it doesn't bother him. Wes crawled all around the garage and got dirty and was so excited to be out. Jacki tried riding her bike in the garage, which didn't really work since there were engines, boards, saws, etc. What was I doing while all this was happening...cooking, and I thought I'd hurry and get in a shower, but I only got half of my legs shaved before I heard screaming. Wes was grumpy, so Ty had sent him inside. Despite all of this, Ty got most of the loft done.

My kids make me laugh

This is one of those days that my kids made me laugh. They are cute little people- even if Wes did just throw the case of blank cds at my foot....Ty we really need to organized the office. Speaking of organizing, it didn't work to have one big bin for all of Jacki's toys, and I didn't like the organizers that are out there because they don't have lids and aren't see through, plus I think the kids will grow out of them. So, last night I took the night off and went with a friend to bunco, and Ty and Jacki built shelves for the small Tupperware that we got to hold each different type of toy. This morning I was helping her get the room put back together and let Wessie play. I couldn't hear him, and I knew that silence means trouble with him. I found him in my bathroom putting on mascara. He was poking his eye with the wand. He looked so funny, I didn't wash it off all morning because it just made me smile too much. The picture doesn't do it justice because he was moving and we need a new camera, but to top it off, he's wearing his inmate outfit that my mom gave him.


Jacki's birthday is coming and the celebrating has started. The other day I was making pizza, and Jacki said that she wanted a Dora pizza. This was the result....we used our imagination and had a lot of fun. Afterwards she wanted to put candles it it like you would for a cake, so I had to explain why there was melted wax in the pizza.  She got to celebrate with her two cousins that have birthdays close to her.  The morning after, she came into my room when she woke up and was wearing her tiara and dress she got and said, "I loved all my birthday surprises."