Memorial Day fun

We decided to have some fun away this weekend. First time with the baby in a hotel. We just went to the Hilton in Phoenix with the BIG waterslide for one night. It was so fun, and the kids had a ball.

Look how cute Alexa is in her swim suit. And as for me? Well I allowed a picture just so you all know I am alive. I RARELY allow pics of myself. Yuck.

Funny quote of the day...We were talking about the date being May 26. I told Ainsley that since it was exactly 3 months after her birthday, she was now 7 and one quarter. She asked if Brandon was 5 and one dime. heeheehee

One month for Alexa!

Happy one month birthday Alexa!

Graduation Boy

Yay!!! Today is the last day of school. We are very excited to start our summer vacation. It is even cool today, with sprinkling rain. Unheard of for this time of year.

Yesterday was Brandon's Preschool graduation. He did a great job on his speaking part, knew all of his songs, and we had a fun time watching him. We loved Packer Preschool and Chris was such an awesome teacher.

Beds?

What is the point in having this big home when the kids end up on the floor in my room every night? Maybe we should sell this place and buy a one bedroom bungalow?

Last night when Ryan and I went to bed we checked on the kids and here is how they were sleeping. Keep in mind they do have their own rooms AND we actually have beds for them. At least it kept them out of MY room for once. :)

Another 80's Post

Did any of you every have a crush on Ricky Schroder? I had his picture from BOP magazine on my wall from Silver Spoons. Here is the link to an article about his conversion to the Mormon Church. Funny, huh?

http://mormontimes.com/MITN_entertainment.php?id=1117

80's rock

Last week as a mother's day present, Ryan put together a CD mix of 80's songs for me. I love it. It's hilarious and I am singing everywhere I drive. Here are the songs on it. For those of you as old as I am, do you remember these?

We got the Beat/the GoGo's A View to a Kill/Duran Duran
Break My Stride/Matthew Wilder Your Love/the Outfield
You might Think/the Cars Hungry like a Wolf/Duran Duran
Jessie's Girl/Rick Springfield Always Something There to Remind Me/Naked Eyes
Open Arms/Journey Just Can't Get Enough/Depeche Mode
Our House/Madness Take on Me/A-Ha
Who Can it Be Now/Men at Work 99 Luftballons/Nena
Keep on Loving You/REO Speedwagon Drive/the Cars
It's a Miracle/Culture Club Magic/the Cars
Love My Way/Psychadelic Furs Sunglasses at Night/Corey Hart
Eternal Flame/the Bangles Don't Stand so Close to Me/the Police
Take it on the Run/REO Spedwagon Eye of the Tiger/Survivor
Livin on a Prayer/Bon Jovi The Metro/Berlin
Mexican Radio/Wall of Voodoo Cruel Summer/Bananarama
Every Breathe you Take/the Police Come on Eileen/Dexy's Midnight Runners
Every Rose has it's Thorn/Poison Don't You Forget about me/Simple Minds
The Reflex/Duran Duran Every Time you Go Away/Paul Young
You Spin me Round/Dead or Alive Missing You/John Waite
If you Leave/OMD Sister Christian/Night Ranger
More than Words/Extreme Rosanna/Toto

I have to say it about killed him to put More than Words on there because he HATES HATES HATES that song. But it reminds me of stake dances. So I love it. We forgot Rock Lobster, that would have been fun. Also, there's no U2 on there because I already have all their CD's in the car. And I purposely left off Michael Jackson. Can you all think of any good ones we left off?

Baby Alexa

It's kind of hard to write about a baby - especially one I've only had for 3 weeks! So, here goes!

Alexa loves her dad. She is much happier when he holds her. She loves skin. She wants to be held with part of her skin touching part of your skin. It's very sweet. She sleeps very well at night, and this makes mommy VERY happy. I can't even tell you how happy! She is very easy going and calm.

Alexa is a wonderful addition and we love having her. We can't wait to see what her personality is like and how she she looks as she grows.

Ainsley the Great

It's Ainsley's turn to have some positive words.

Ainsley is truly amazing. She is good at absolutely everything she tries. She excels at everything! She doesn't get it from me!!! Just today she received an invitation for an awards ceremony for making an entire year at school with nothing lower than an A. Ever. She is a brainiac. Then her music teacher called to say she was chosen as student of the month for music. That is out of all grades! Not just 1st. Crazy how that kid is loved at school!

Ainsley is what we lovingly refer to as a lemon drop. She may appear sour, but when you get to know her she is so sweet. She has so much love for her brother. He looks up to her and wants to be like her. Of course she would NEVER admit that. She doesn't like the positive attention, but I think it secretly makes her feel good. She loves holding her sister and reminds us all daily that she is Alexa's favorite family member.

Ainsley is loyal. Her friends are friends for life. It is not uncommon for her to save up ALL her Kinzcash for weeks (you Webkinz folk know what I mean), and then spend $2500 on a swimming pool to gift it to her friend Rebecca. She will literally give anything to anyone who needs or wants it. A couple of years ago Ainsley had a little girl in her dance class who wore a swimming suit to class every week. One day Ainsley brought her nice leotard to class to give to the girl. Not her Target one, the expensive Capezio one. How do you tell a kid to be less giving? You don't. People are much more important than things and she understands that.

Ainsley LOVES dessert. It shows all over her face. Only dessert (mostly chocolate ice cream) ends up all over, though. She loves being BUSY. She loves playing with friends. And I love Ainsley very much. She brings a lot of spunk to our family.

My Sweet Brandon

I thought I would throw in a couple of entries about each of my kids this week, for Mother's Day. I want them to know how much I love them.

I am going to start with Brandon, since he is in the middle and tends to be last at times. :) He just doesn't fight for first like his sis!

My Brandon is the sweetest kid. He is literally grateful when we do something nice for him, and never expects it. It makes me happy to do things for him! Amazing how that works!!!! Brandon loves band-aids, kisses and hugs, and singing to his baby sister. He wants (NEEDS!) to feel like everyone loves him. He is sensitive and feels genuinely bad when he is in trouble. For those of you raised on Homefront videos like I was, remember the one with the little boy eating cereal? His mom says he's a slow-poke and he starts to cry? That's my Brandon! He loves learning, especially about outer space, pirates, and under the sea. He loves dogs and stuffed animals and adamantly does NOT want to learn to ride a two-wheeler until he is 6!!!

Yesterday while we were walking to his friend Andrew's house, I was telling him that he loved to ride in the stoller when he was a baby. (Alexa was screaming.) He looked up at me so sincerely and said, "Thanks for telling me about myself as a baby, mom. I love to hear stories and just can't remember!" This made me feel so bad for not telling him more! We're going to have to break out the videos, as I can't remember much either!

Last night, Ainsley was reading out loud from her goosebumps book to me. He wanted to listen, and I didn't think about it scaring him. When he went to bed, he was saying his prayers and asked Heavenly Father to bless him to sleep even though he was scared to death from that "freaky story Ainsley read." Whoops! It was actually so sweet to hear him say that in his prayer.

I love Brandon so much and we are so blessed to have him in our family.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day everyone! It's already been quite the day for me! Ryan has been sick all weekend (great start, eh?) So this morning I woke up at 8:00 and everyone else was still asleep. Alexa and I got up and Ainsley was stirring a bit. "Are you going to make me breakfast in bed?" "No, I'm not. I have no recipes." Okay. After about 1/2 hour, she was hungry, and Brandon, too. "Well, it's Mother's Day! You're supposed to make me breakfast!" So Ainsley trudged into the kitchen. "Fine! I will make homemade cinnamon rolls. Will that make you happy?" I laughed and told her that takes quite a while. Finally, they made me waffles.

On a positive note, I am thankful to be a mother. I am glad for the opportunity to raise these wonderful kids and teach them. There are days I need to remind myself of my gratitude ;) but it is there. There is nothing else I would rather be doing right now and I love my monkeys more than anything.

I hope you are all having a wonderful day and your breakfast isn't begged for!

Chicken Pox

Annoyances! I need to use this post to vent. There is a kid in Brandon's preschool class who has the chicken pox. Here's the annoying part. His family doesn't believe in immunizations, so they sent him over to his cousins to "catch" the pox. THEN, they sent him to school. Can you believe that! WHO in the world would purposely catch the pox and then try infect everyone else in the world? I remember moms doing that when I was a kid, but we were all quarantined for 2 weeks. You don't just send them out back to regular life!

Here's the kicker. In Brandon's class, there are 3 other kids who aren't immunized, and 2 of their moms have infants at home. There are also 4 pregnant women, and us, with an infant at home. Chicken pox can be fatal if contracted in the first week of life. Great. Brandon is immunized (in fact has been twice!) but the Dr. said he can still be a carrier and bring it home. So, now he can't touch the baby for 2 weeks, or go to school for 2 weeks. I am bugged.

I almost want to call the woman and yell at her! (Unfortunately she is a good friend of mine's sister!) Do you all think I am an emotional mess making a big deal out of nothing (We all have had the post partum hormones!), or do you side with me?