Spring

Spring is here and we are all very, very happy about it. Spring means parks and sunshine and splash pads eventually. It also means that when everyone gets annoyed at each other and tempers are running high - I can just send them all outside to burn some energy. (Except Ben. He stays in, next to "mama" - always at my feet, arms reaching up, calling out "mama! mama!")

Spring also means Tia's birthday and we celebrated with a "frozen" party. This translated into one day out of town and one evening of food/cake followed by Z and Tia snuggled up on the couch watching Frozen while Ana ran out of the room saying she didn't want to see the danger! I was totally fine with Ana not watching a whole movie so we snuggled in bed while Z successfully made it through the movie this time. She loves Olaf. 

Budget Cake Decorating for the win!

Nephew Tia matching day!

Our kids loooooooove long car rides.

My Ana girl is getting smarter and smarter! She knows all her letters now and loves to read books and tell the stories to herself while looking at the pictures. She still has big two year old emotions but we are working real hard to develop peace and patience in her little heart. She has been suffering from allergies lately and it breaks my heart to see her red eyes and itchy face. It's made her a bit more sleepy/mopey lately and so all she wants to do is cuddddddddle. She is so cuddly! I always think her love language must be touch because all she wants is to be held or sitting next to you or holding hands. I signed her up for a summer dance class. Z is taking one too. Once a week for an hour and I don't stay. I'm really excited to see how Ana grows through this class. She still gets a little nervous being without me if Zoe isn't there too and so I think this is a good step. Plus she loves dancing and moving and she is excited to be in a class! I'm excited to see Ana in a little black leotard and tap shoes. Seriously - worth it all just for that. She has this phrase she says a lot lately. She holds up one finger and says, "Wait a minute! I got it!" - and then tells me some idea. She also likes contrasting things. "Momma is big. But Daddy is biggest!" "Zoe and Ana are girls.. but Bennys a boy!" and she puts her hands out sideways and kinda bounces them like she is teaching me something. Love it.

It is crazy to think that Z has almost successfully completed Prek. They had an open house last week and she stood on stage and sang a great song. She loved it - any "performance" makes her crazy happy. Then we got to see all the fun art she has been making! I'll try to take some pics and add it. She has had a school-like experience for a whole year and next year she is more than excited to step into the brave world of kindergarten. I applied to a couple charter schools in the area - which basically mean a bit of a more flexible schedule and a much smaller teacher/kid ratio while still being free - and they are all drawn on lottery to see if you get in. Well, Z got IN to our first choice! I am SO PUMPED. They called me when we were at the park and I was jumping up and down all over the place. I just so wanted to be a part of the school. I felt like it would enable us to keep a pace of life more in line with my overall goals/hopes for our family.

Matt wanted to capture what I look like super excited about life

Happy girl - standing inbetween her friends Alessandra and Hayley.

 Speaking of pace of life I have been legit making breakfast for my family! What! I am trying SO hard to instill the art of sitting still, all together at the table, sharing a meal. Dinner works well and lunch usually works too on days when Matt is at work, although I rarely eat at the same time or what they are eating. But breakfast always just felt so chaotic! So I've been waking them up, getting them to the table and cooking something and then we all eat the same thing. I feel like I've been saving money too because cereal is not actually a cheap option - especially when they don't eat full bowls of it! Then after breakfast they have to go do "all the things" as they like to call it. This includes: get dressed, go potty, wash face, brush hair, brush teeth and make their bed. It is SO exhausting teaching kids EVERYTHING about life. But you can't just NOT teach them - so "all the things" get done every day. Z can do it all by herself but I help Ana with all of it. This is part of why I needed school flexibility because I have still not discovered the art of how to rush a preschooler/toddler. Or not even rush - just inspire movement towards a goal within their little worlds. This process is sooooo slow some mornings it's painful but I refuse to start every morning in exasperation so God is using this to teach me that I can control -nothing- except myself and so speaking in love and creativity needs to rule the morning, every. day.

And my sweeet baby boy can say "dada" and "buh-buh" (bye bye) with his new palate! D and B sounds - very exciting. He has also successfully pointed to a ball, the sun and boat upon being asked, "Where is the ball/sun/boat?" - I've been working with him every day trying to get him to recognize those things. He even tried to say "ball" yesterday while he pointed. Big boy is growing up! He is walking very steadily these days and loves, loves, loves MAMA! Which is good because I'm pretty fond of him too. Zoe and Ana only call him Benny - isn't that interesting? Matt and I never really called him that - and Ana started it. She just always, ever since he could crawl really only called him Benny and now Zoe does too. Sibling love. We have our last palate surgery post-op appointment tomorrow. And then I think we are clear until his speech appointment around 18 months. These appointments are just creeping further and further apart! Oh gone be the days of weekly NAM appointments...

Thats not how it works Benny boy

And! I ran a 10k. By myself. I was going to do the half but I didn't have time to fit in the long runs so I dropped it down. I was totally lonely getting out to the place where it was, even though the location was super beautiful at a fancy resort near by. I ran well - for me - and was pretty proud of myself for getting out there solo. I need to find a new or any running buddy as everyone chose to move away. I at least have two walking buddies! They just need to recover post baby some more and then we can run run run! Also, I can't believe tia and I will be running a 10k plus TWENTY more miles in December. Seriously. What were we thinking!? Ha. At least I'll have a buddy.

And so we continue on the way to my ultimate favorite time of year: SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!