PMS Crew: April 2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Natalie the Explorer

Natalie has been doing a form of crawling for the past couple of weeks. She is doing the army crawl and at times she will get on all 4 and then just sit there and rock. In the upcoming days she will be crawling officially. I can hardly believe it. She now goes anywhere in the house.

This morning I was doing dishes and soon I have Natalie at my feet.

About 15 minutes later I find her behind the rocking chair in the family room where she found this ball.

These next two pictures are just random ones.

This is a picture from Sunday morning. Taylor was playing while Natalie just sat and watched in amazement. Notice the sideways pacifier, she totally prefers it this way.

Girls taking a bath. Taylor loves that Natalie is now big enough to bathe with her.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Officially 30 something.

Well on Friday the 24th I had a birthday and I turned 31 so I am now in my 30's. Here are some pictures of the festivities. Preston is famous for making special pancakes. As you can see he made me special pancakes with #31 in them with purple cow for drink and bacon. YUMMY!

Friday night was also Fathers and Sons Campout for our ward so Preston and Nathan left around 2:00 Friday afternoon. We then turned the birthday celebration into a girl's night out. We ate dinner at Abuelos in Chandler. YUMMY Food. After dinner I had to be a responsible business owner and let my dispatcher into the shop so he could forward the phones to our on call Locksmith. (He forgot to forward them before he left and has limited access hours into the shop, hence my need to go there) Then we got Cheesecake Factory to go and ate them at my house. (I have a picture of my blowing out the candles but the memory card is giving me issues so I can't download it.) Us girls had some good laughs until late in the evening.

My sister Sherri, Natalie and I at Abuelos

Grandma Jo (My Mom) and Taylor Jo at Abuelos.

On Saturday after Preston and Nathan got home and cleaned up we went out to eat at Red Robin to celebrate my birthday. (Notice how Natalie is already trying to take Preston's wallet, and Taylor is looking at Preston like, Dad do you see what she is doing.)

This is my new car which is by far the biggest and most expensive birthday present I have ever received. It is a 2006 Cadillac Escalade and I LOVE it. It seats 7 and has many features. I don't know how Preston will top it next year. Okay it wasn't really for my birthday we have been shopping for a new car for a while the timing just worked out to be around my birthday.

This comofter set is my real birthday present. Preston surprised me and put it on while I left to pick Nathan up from school on Friday. It was a pleasant surprise. My other one was in bad shape. The kids had created alot of holes along the seams.

I really did have a great birthday even though it means I am a year older it is worth it.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Growing by leaps and bounds. Okay just growing :-)

On Monday I took Natalie and Nathan to the doctor for well checks. Natalie's was a follow up to check her weight and also see if the fluid was off her ears. Happy to report that her ears looked great and she had gained almost a full pound in 3 weeks. She now weighs 14 pounds 5 ounces and is now back up to her 3% weight curve. Very happy news. Now that her body is growing maybe her hair will get the hint and start growing too. Natalie is now sitting for long periods of time on her own and has started a form of crawling. She does a commando inch worm crawl and can get wherever she wants. Nothing is safe anymore. When she first started to do this Nathan said "Wow Mom I can't believe she is crawling I can still remember the day she was born."

Nathan had a perfect score on the charts. (well combined he did) He is 47 lbs (25 %) and is 49 1/2 inches tall (75 %) At times I just look at Nathan and think how is he so big, I can still remember the day he was born. :-) If you noticed Nathan lost his other top tooth the Friday before Easter I just kept forgetting to post it. This picture was taken shortly after it fell out.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Taylorisms for posterity sake

Taylor has said some rather funny things lately that I would like to have record of for the future.

So here they go. I wish I could remember more because she is quite the character. I thought this picture was appropriate to display her personality.

While reading scriptures earlier this week.

ME: (Reading so Taylor can repeat it) And it came to pass

Taylor: We read this already.

ME: (After laughing) Taylor it may sound the same but we are going to be reading these words a lot.

Yesterday afternoon

Taylor:Mom where are we going today? Are we going to the bank?

ME: No I went yesterday while you were sleeping.

Taylor:Was Daddy home?

ME: No Daddy was at work.

Taylor: MOM!!! I was sleeping in my bed all by myself.

ME: (after rewinding the conversation in my head) No Taylor, you were asleep in your carseat while I went to the bank. I promise I would never leave you home by yourself.

Taylor: Yes you would. (I threaten sometimes if she doesn't get ready I will leave her home, I guess she does hear me, usually she doesn't seem phased.)

While my Mom was staying at our house and changing the sheets on Taylor's bed. Taylor was observing at first.

Taylor: Grandma I want to help you. Hey how about you push and I will pull.

Last night Taylor got into my makeup while I was at a church function. She put mascara on her eyelashes. She did a pretty good job. (sorry no pictures)

ME: Taylor why did you put my makeup on?

Taylor: I just wanted to look nice.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Field Trip

I had the opportunity to go on a field trip on Monday with Nathan's 1st grade class to the Desert Botanical gardens. It was kind of a boring field trip to be honest, but I learned some things about desert animals. Nathan was ecstatic that I was coming on the field trip. I will take advantage of the fact that he actually still wants his mom around. I think the alternative will come sooner then I want.

Nathan on the bus ride there.

In line with the rest of the group I was helping take care of. Oops I cut his teachers head off in the process of getting the kids faces in the picture.

Nathan in the butterfly exhibit.

Being silly with his magnifying glass.

After the field trip was over and we were waiting to get on the buses. I was grateful to go on the field trip.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter Weekend

Warning this post is full of pictures. We had a busy and fun filled Easter weekend. It started on Saturday morning. PReston made these egg and bunny shaped pancakes. He never ceases to amaze me. We had the special breakfast on Saturday because we thought Preston had meetings on Sunday morning and I CANNOT make cool shaped pancakes like him. The meeting got cancelled but oh well.

The kids prior to eating their pancakes. If you noticed Nathan lost his other top tooth FINALLY on Friday afternoon. We told him all he wanted for Easter was his 2 front teeth.

After breakfast we headed to Snedigar Sportsplex for Chandlers Easter activities, only to find that they had cancelled due to rain. They gave each kid a bag with candy and sent us on our way. We then headed to one of the Easter activities at Islands park in Gilbert and caught the tail end of their festivities. Nathan got his picture taken with the Easter Bunny, but Taylor was terrified.

THey also had clowns making balloon things for the kids. Nathan got a sword of course and Taylor has a flower hat.

Then the kids got their faces painted. Nathan had an Easter Egg.

Taylor was painted to look like a Bunny. The picture doesn't do it justice she looked ADORABLE.

Easter Egg hunt in our backyard on Sunday morning.

Taylor tasting the candy. I think she liked it, but you can't really tell by the face.

Nathan shocked after opening an egg and ALL the candy fell out.

Nathan with all his goodies and give a thumbs up approval. The Easter Bunny brought eggs with candy in the backyard and some new pajamas a toy and the movie Bolt.

Taylor with her new pajamas, candy filled plastic purse and her candy eggs. Love the bed head.

Taylor posing in her new Easter dress. Funny side note Taylors only girl cousins on my side had the exact same dress for their Easter dress.

Nathan in his Easter outfit. To be honest the only thing new for him was the pants. He still looks handsome as ever.

All 3 of the kiddos posing for a picture in their Easter Sunday best.

Sunday night we went to my parents house for the YUMMY traditional easter dinner and an egg hunt. Sorry I didn't take any pictures there, I am not sure why not. It was a great Easter weekend. The only thing missing this year was we never made it to the Easter pageant. We had intended on going Saturday night but with the rain and cool weather decided against it.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Random Snapshots of Natalie

Here she is enjoying this bouncy chair. This was a gift with Nathan, he loved it. I totally forgot about it and it was stored in our attic so Taylor never got to play in it. Well Preston got it down for me a couple weeks ago. It hangs from the door jam and she can bounce around. As you can see she likes it.

Taylor enjoyed twisting her around in the chair. Natalie would just squeal with enjoyment.

Natalie loves to put this paticular pacifier in her mouth sideways. This is the only one she does it with. Preston says she is trying to plug her nose with it.

Hanging in the stroller in Vegas. Check out those baby blues.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Our Vegas Get Away

Last week there was an ISC trade show in Las Vegas. Preston wanted to go so he could see some of the new security system products. Instead of him flying up alone for a day trip we decided to make it a little get away for us in addition to the business trip. So Thursday about noon Preston Natalie and I hopped in the car and drove to Vegas. Big thanks to Grandma Jo who stayed with Nathan and Taylor.

Here we are waiting for the tram to take us to Mandalay Bay on Friday night. It was REALLY Windy that evening so we didn't spend a whole lot of time walking around the strip which was fine. The only thing we didn't do that we had wanted to was see theBellagio fountain show. It was just too windy and cold for us and especially for Natalie.

Preston at the Madalay Bay Shark exhibit. It was a neat exhibit but quite pricy. I learned some interesting things about the different fish that live in the deep ocean.

Preston posing with the M&M Nascar in the M&M Factory. This was a neat store. We got some little presents for the kids here. I couldn't believe all the M&M merchandise there is. There was a T-shirt there that had an M&M guy on it and the caption said "Who's your Candy?" It struck me as funny.

Natalie hanging out on the hotel floor. She was a perfect little traveler. On Friday when Preston was at the tradeshow I sat and read a book that I've had since Christmas 07. Natalie spent the day either sleeping or playing with her toys. It was NICE to have the quiet time to read but also a little strange at the same time.

Natalie and I on the balcony of the hotel room. We stayed at the Platinum Resort and Spa, it was about a block away from the strip. It was really nice for many reasons. 1. COMPLETELY non smoking, they charged $500 if there was even a hint of smoke in the room or on the balcony. 2. There was not a casino there at all. 3. It had a full kitchen so we brought an ice-chest with meals and made most of our meals in the room. 4. Had a HUGE jacuzzi tube which I took advantage of a couple times to soak and read without interruptions.

It was a GREAT and RELAXING trip and I wish we could do it more often but I will take what I can get. I think trips like this make me a better mom and helps our marriage be even stronger.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

OHHHH What a Night :-(

As I mentioned in the previous post, Nathan started Karate last night. The class was over at 6:30 so we go out to the car load up and I try to start the car. NO LUCK!! I first check to make sure I am not out of gas (because of a previous experience) and I have more than half a tank. So then I check the dash gages and it looks as if my battery is dead. I call Preston to tell him what is going on and then unload the kids and try to find someone to give me a jump. I found a guy to help me but he was VERY hesitant to help. Apparantly he planned to go running while his daughter was in a class at the complex. The whole time he was "helping me" he was putting off a vibe that he really didn't want to help. This is my first evidence that there are not many good samaritans in the world anymore. So we try a few times and the car still won't start. I tell him thanks for trying and then he high tails it out of there.

I then call Preston again and tell him the jump didn't work so he calls the Bishop and gets out of his appointments at the church and heads to Auto Zone to buy me my own jumper cables and a new battery. When Preston gets there we try to jump it again still no luck, then while putting the new battery on the battery post is stripped (or something like that ) so he heads back to the store to buy that part and new batteries for his flashlight so he can see what he is doing.

By this time it is about 8:15 pm. Keep in mind we arrived at Karate lessons at 5:45 and the kids and I have NOT had any dinner. Fortunately right before we left I grabbed a couple granola bars and fruit snacks, a bottle for Natalie and some drinks and threw them in the diaper bag. We will call this inspiration.

Another fortunate thing is that we were stranded in a parking lot next to a playground. So the kids played to kill some time. But it is kind of chilly and they are not dressed to be outside after dark.

We were also next to the complex where Nathan's class was so we went inside a few times and used their restroom, to warm up and Taylor looked at some books. They also had vending machines so we bought a few things for our "dinner" to supplement the granola bars and fruit snacks.

The complex closed at 9:00 so we went out to the car and I tried to get the kids to sleep. Nathan finally did about 9:20 in this very uncomfortable position. Good thing he is flexible. Taylor is asleep in the back of the car and Natalie went to sleep in her car seat.

A little before 10 my wonderful Mom came to our rescue. She came with some food and to take us home. This is another reason I wish we had more than 1 family vehicle. We couldn't all fit in Preston's van so she came to take us home. We loaded up the car seats and left about 10:30 PM We had to leave the car there where it still is now. Preston had done everything possible and we even called the husband of my visiting teaching companion who is a mechanic and he tried to help Preston over the phone. I had to deal with the kids and try to keep them happy and comfortable while Preston had the frustration of trying to fix the car, not a fun task for either of us. Hopefully we can get it fixed today because we are supposed to be driving to Las Vegas tomorrow. So another positive is that this didn't happen while we were at a rest stop on the highway or while in Vegas.

Okay now to discuss my frustration with the lack of good samaritans in the world. This whole ordeal started at 6:30 so I spent 4 HOURS with 3 small children in a fairly busy parking lot with the hood of my car up and only 3 people asked what the problem was and if they could help (2 men and 1 woman). I saw 2 policeman 1 Sheriff and a park ranger be within a few feet of me and my car and NEVER stop and talk to me. The Park ranger was parked about 20 yards away from me and sat in his truck the WHOLE 4 hours and never once came over to help me or even talk to me. What is wrong with people. It was frustrating and exhausting at times I just wanted to cry,but we survived no thanks to fellow citizens of our community.

Swim Lessons and Karate

Taylor started swim lessons on Monday night. (Yes it is a heated pool, I am not that cruel) It is through the city and is actually free. They are training the instructor for the summer. She is in the tadpoles group, this is her first swim class without me in the water with her. This is Taylor posing with her new Dora swimsuit before the lesson started.

In the beginning she was a little nervous to get in the water so she sat on the side.

She got brave enough to get in the water, but spent the first half of the lesson hanging on to the bar. Eventually she let go of the bar and just sat on the step. She never cried about being there which I was happy about. She was however typical Taylor. The instructor would say: "Okay Taylor it is your turn to jump out to me and practice floating."(or whatever they were working on) Taylor's response was very matter of fact. "I don't want to do that." So the instructor would say okay and move onto the next kid. She definitely knows what she wants and does not want. We have another lesson tonight, we will see how that goes.

Nathan started a beginner Karate class last night, also put on by the city. There are about 15 kids in the class. Here they are dividing into groups after stretching.

Nathan doing a Karate move. He did enjoy the class. It is only 4 times so I am thinking about signing him up for another one.