My Rock Star Husband

Oh Rock Band, you have turned my husband into Jack Black in The School of Rock. Keep watching for the table top moves.

Rock Star Matt

It's too quiet in here...

For every parent with a toddler, there are times during the day when you suddenly realize that it's too quiet in the house, and fear courses through your veins because you know that can only mean one thing - your kid is doing something they don't want you to know about. The only question is, how bad is it??

Tonight I was talking to my mom on the phone, Miles was asleep, and Matt was watching that cool new nature show Life, when it hit me - where is Claire? Oh the joy of having a two and a half year old - we need to work on her "makeup" application skills. By the way, baby oil takes off permanent marker pretty well.

All Ears

Is it Easter yet? Thanks for the Easter package mom - we couldn't wait a week to open it.

Miles' Room

We finally got around to moving the computer desk out of Miles' room and into ours, so now his room looks like how I had designed it to be 8+ months ago. Our room is a mess and crowded beyond belief, but man, Miles' room is cute!

I made the curtains and all of the bedding for the crib, and we got the changing table at a garage sale and painted it brown. Matt's sister Jonelle painted two of the walls to match the crib sheet I made - the chair rail and the brown paint were already part of the office. She used a portable projector to project the image from the fabric onto the wall - you could adjust the size to make the circles a lot bigger, it was awesome!

Progress

Claire can ride a tricycle now! No more pushing with her feet - she uses the pedals and can go forwards and backwards. We will have to get it on video too. Mostly she is so excited to be part of the group of kids who play on our street. Previously rather annoying and loud, now the kids who are always playing in the street are tolerable because they play with Claire pretty well - she is the only girl and at least 3 years younger than any of the boys. We bribed them a bit with cookies and sidewalk chalk, but I think they like helping her ride her tricycle.

Childcare Scholarship

If anyone wants info on a scholarship contest for Lit'l Scholar Academy free tuition for 3 months), please let me know - I have a contact that will get you the application form, which is due on April 2.

Spring is Here

Getting into the Spring spirit at our ward Easter egg hunt. Granted, Las Vegas has about 2 weeks of Spring before Summer kicks in - I hope we haven't seen the last of the nice weather.

Shamu! Shamu!

We spent two days at Sea World as part of our vacation - after Disneyland it was a bit of a letdown because several of the attractions were closed and there were only a few shows a day. I told Claire we were going to see a bunch of animals like whales and dolphins and it would be really fun. She said she wanted to see a cow... hmmm, we'll try, I said.

Claire would alternate between being afraid of something that we saw (sharks, whales, dancing sea lions) and then asking to go back and see it again.



We saw dolphins, seals, whales, sharks, flamingos, walruses, polar bears and we even found our cow.





Sesame Street Play Area - where we went in between shows and other attractions that we knew Claire would like. Miles was amazingly good - very calm and quiet for almost the whole trip. Bless his little heart!

San Diego Temple

Claire loves temples, and since this one looks like a princess castle (way prettier than the Disney castle) we had to visit while we were in San Diego. We had a short visit, but memorable. Claire was insistent that she go inside the temple, and she made me realize again how special the temple is.

Disneyland with Toddlers: It can be done!

We just got back from a great trip to Disneyland - and just to prove me wrong, Claire was very well behaved! She didn't run away, the park didn't shut down, and we never had to visit the Lost Children prison to find her. She played on this curb for a good 20 minutes - sometimes we wondered why we went on any rides... steps, curbs or benches were just as entertaining as Dumbo, It's a Small World and the Carousel.








We spent a lot of time on the Carousel - and thanks to Aunt J for taking Claire over and over. It was so nice to have everyone there - all of Matt's family came, even his brother nick came down from Reno.


We had lots of help with the kids - and we got to go on every ride that we wanted to. Despite weather forecasts for rain all day on Saturday and Sunday, we only had a few hours of rain which helped keep the crowds down and the lines short. We took a ton of pictures, so I will try to not post too many - but they are so darn cute I can't resist :)


Claire with Mulan - the first Disney character Claire would talk to


Claire and Ethan


MeMa and Claire


Traditional Ride on the Disney Train


Visit with Stephanie and Ryan


Stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean for 25 minutes!


Miles Man

Disney Part 2

Hiller Family

Disneyland was beautiful - flowers everywhere!

New Orleans Square

Princesses Evie and Claire

Wishing Well

Visit from Ms. Baird

My lovely and talented friend Becky Baird came to visit last week - she sandwiched a trip to Vegas between two visits to Arizona, and we are so glad she did. Becky spoiled my kids with gifts from Disneyworld, which was the perfect since we were leaving for our own trip to Disneyland just a few days later.

We also had a dinner with the Power Squad - my group of best friends in Las Vegas. Power Squad, where did that come from, you might ask. No, we did not name ourselves. A fellow member of our singles ward noticed that we were always together, and that we were basically awesome. Also, we were pretty much in charge of all the activities and fun things that went on in the ward - so one day in the hallway we were dubbed the Power Squad and the name stuck.


Becky was my roommate for several years, even for a few months in our current house -Claire now has the room Becky once occupied and Becky is certain that her love of music, dance and theatre has been bestowed upon Claire through the walls. It's true - Claire and Becky get along great and Becky knows all of Claire's favorite songs. Come back soon Becky!! Or, maybe we will eventually make it out to Orlando...