SCATTER SUNSHINE

My parents had an extra room at their time-share in Flagstaff. So Jayson took off work and we headed North. It was a lot of fun. Usually when I think of spring break, I imagine some place warm and sunny. It was not warm but tons of fun anyways. We kept the gas fireplace burning constantly and one day even watched out the window as the snow fell. Talk about cozy! Anyhow, we took the kids to the museum of Northern Arizona (which wasn't too exciting for them), to Lowell Observatory where they and our "oldest son" my 21 year old brother (inside joke) got to move the gigantic telescope into position. One day, we took the kids and my parents up to the Grand Canyon. It was awesome! (I had forgotten how Huge--I mean-- Grand it is.) Smoochie was a mess the whole day. She cried in every picture because she hated being on the edge of the canyon. We rode the free bus shuttles up to Hermit's Rest and made a few stops along the way. It was fabulous. The kids probably enjoyed the b...

For two days, Pookie has been clapping. She loves to play Pat-a-Cake and now does it constantly. It is adorable and fun for everyone to watch. What has been less adorable and not as much fun for Mom is how fast she is crawling. What happened to our tiny baby? She has become the human vacuum. She follows Smoochie around the house and puts whatever is dropped in her mouth. Today it was three Polly Pocket shoes, 2 Starburst wrappers and a variety of crackers. Baby-proofing the house is easy enough, but baby-proofing the toddler is another thing entirely. Pookie is on the go and loving her new found freedom.

When Honeybunches went to the dentist in September, he told her that her front tooth was loose. After months of waiting for it to come out, she gave it a twist and a tug on Monday night and Finally, it came out! As an added bonus for Honey, this happened during FHE at Grandma & Grandpa's house and so there were a lot of extra people to show and be excited for her! She loves being dramatic! The other front tooth is really loose now. Maybe she'll lose it by summer?

Yesterday we went to the Riperian Preserve with some friends to study cactus and ended up having a cool encounter with 2 Amazonian Parrots. They were visiting the preserve with their owner who was nice enough to share her birds with us. She told us all about them and even let the kids hold them. It was a real treat. Honeybunches was brave enough to let the parrot sit on her arm. Mom was not!

Lindy was born just a few years after I had totally given up hope of having a sister of my own. When she was a baby, it was like having my own personal “Baby Alive” doll. I dressed her and fed her and yes even occasionally changed her diaper. It was so fun to hold such a cute little baby and I loved that baby very dearly. As Lindy toddled into toddler-hood she became fun in a different sort of way. We would get her to say grown-up things and perform little jokes. This was hilarious because she had no idea what she was saying and why people were laughing but she just ate up the attention. She was our ever cute little girl who did party tricks. When she grew a little older, she became the perfect kid to pal around with. When I ran errands for Mom, Lindy came as my buddy. At the time we had an 11-seater van and while I drove, she insisted on sitting in the very back seat. One memorable occasion, she thought it would be fun to play hide-and-seek. Before I knew what had happened, both my ey...

Today Honeybunches' dance class started back up again after the Christmas Break. After I finished giving a piano lesson, I told all 3 of the kids to hurry and go get ready. Honey quickly came back wearing her leotard and was ready to go. Bobo (shock-shock) had no desire to quit playing toys and go to dance class, and he needed some additional "motherly encouragement" to get going. As I was dealing with this situation, Smoochie came around the corner. She was decked out in her hand-me-down leotard. She had tights on (sort of) and shoes. Boy was she ever ready to go! Since she loves to watch the girls in the class dance and I was impressed with the initiative she took to get ready, I didn't tell her to change back into her regular clothes. We all usually follow Honey to her class and watch and wait for her outside the classroom door. This time, Smoochie followed Honey right into the classroom and put her shoes in the corner like all the rest of the girls. When Honey tri...