Spring Break in San Diego: Arrival & Old Town

Ah, Spring Break. It was so much fun to go on a quick trip to San Diego for the week. I only wish it had been a little warmer since it didn't get above low 70s. Everyone in Utah may now slap me.

Monday we took it slow getting ready. Half the time was spent unpacking and repacking Henry. He was trying to be helpful but kept packing weird things in the wrong bags etc.

Henry wearing what I was trying to find to pack and a necklace he made out of Thea's toys. 

Playing in the crib waiting to take off.

We made it to San Diego around 7:30pm Monday evening. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the hotel Johann had reserved after reading a few reviews. Happily, there were no college spring breakers there having wild parties and we even had an end room at the front on top, so we only shared 1 wall. We ate dinner, settled in a bit and got to sleep. 

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel (Henry was overjoyed to get to make his own big waffle) and lazed around a bit while we got ready to head over to Old Town, where Johann's parents were meeting us for the day. Part of the morning Henry just sat outside on Johann's lap while they watched the cars and trucks whiz by on the freeway; I think it was one of Henry's favorite activities of the day. He really misses not having school daddy who, though bussier at home, was home so much more. 

Henry probably spent an hour combined playing on this wagon every time we went anywhere near it. 

They were having a rehearsal of a two man performance of Romeo and Juliet. The actors were pretty funny and we had a good time watching them. 

Notice Henry's shorts? I was silly and taught him to roll them up if they feel too big or sagging but now he goes all 70s on me and rolls them up to 3 or 4 times if possible. Guh. 

Playing in the hat shop...

With Grandpa and Abuela

Then off to see the newly remodeled Mormon Battalion. 

Johann was dressed up as one of the battalion much to Henry's delight

Panning for gold

Learning how to wash. Johann's mom showing him how she use to have to wash on the washboard when she was a kid

Typical Family picture 

(on top of the tower at the Mormon Battalion)

"Who broke my cannon?!"

And our picture from the end of our visit. At least Johann and I look normal. Oh kiddos. 

They've don't a great job with the remodel and the missionaries were so kind. Glad we went! 

Then back to the middle of Old Town...

Henry watching them make taffy, of which we bought and consumed. Mmm. 

Thea wasn't too happy most of the day, but perked up in the late afternoon. 

Sweet statue at the restaurant we had dinner at. 

Then it was back to the hotel where Thea played 

and Henry passed out. 

He woke up just in time to still convince Johann to take him to the pool for a swim though.

 Day 1 & 2 of our trip! 

St. Patricks Day

I'm trying to find a happy medium when it comes to holiday celebrating. Some holidays deserve a lot more hoopla and others, not so much. But I do think that when I can, it's fun to do a little something for holiday like St. Patricks day.

Colored Henry's milk green, much to his delight

 made some cupcakes for my beehives

Henry made sure to wear his green bow tie to avoid any pinches

We also went over and had a little dinner get together with some friends in the ward. It was fun:) 

Next year, who knows if I'll do anything so I hope Henry enjoyed it! 

Rejuvenation

The first in a series of catch-up posts.


On the 16th of March, Johann and I got to go to the Redlands Temple and attend a session (we went for iniatories in January or February) for the first time since Dorothea was born in July. I anticipated it would be difficult to be away from Thea for more than an hour or two and while I was very happy to see bebe again I needed that time at the Temple.

It was so beautiful to arrive there for the 8:15am session to the world just waking up on a warm, sunny Saturday. We also got to see several people we know from Apple Valley and some from Riverside, it's always so nice to see familiar faces in the Temple.

I generally remember a lot of what I learn when I am there, what I need to do/change, but I think I had forgotten how it feels to be in the Temple especially during a session. There were three people going through for the first time and it was beautiful to see their experience there. One was an older sister, another was a young woman getting ready for a mission and the last a young man preparing to go on a mission.

The sense of love, unity, oneness of purpose, peace and joy were needed. Sitting waiting for the session to start I just felt those things and was so happy we made ourselves find the time to go. We've been so spoiled since we were married with having the Provo Temple 5 minutes away and the Las Vegas Temple about 30. The hour or so we have to travel to Redlands seems so far sometimes but I know it's a blessing to have one still so near and that what I get going there makes the time expended a wise investment. I had been feeling pretty harassed and worn down, being in the midst of that peace helped fill me up to keep on going. 


I love the Temple.

Home Schooling v. Public Schooling: Decision

Public schooling.

Let me esplain why.

I think it may have been obvious that I was leaning toward home schooling Henry when I wrote my initial post on home schooling v. public schooling. I still do believe that home schooling may be the best thing for Henry and our family. There are 3 main reasons why we've decided to go the public school route for now though:

1. The age difference between Henry and Dorothea. I feel if they were closer in age, say only 18 months or even 2.5 years apart, I could adapt the lessons I was doing with Henry to also be of benefit or fun for Thea. The fact that they are a full 4 years apart makes that much more tricky especially since she'll just be a toddler when he starts K. As I pictured it, it seemed like I would be giving Thea things to keep her busy and she wouldn't have much attention, or she would be getting into everything while I tried to work with Henry.
2. Homework. I found out the school we are zoned for doesn't give homework in kindergarten. This was a big one for me. They have a reading log and a monthly art project they do. That's it. I think our family can adapt to that. Now when we read to Henry we just have to mark that we did and when he feels like drawing or doing an art project, we just have to have it follow the guidelines for his monthly project. It shouldn't take too much away from our family time after work. I was very, very happy to hear about that!
3. Our location. One of the people I talked to about homeschooling lives in an area where they can send their kids to art classes, music classes, creative writing classes etc. Most of the kinds of classes I would like Henry to be in are about an hour away from where we live. I am happy being in a quiet town but lack of outside classes/programs is definitely one of the drawbacks.

For those 3 main reasons, we've decided to go ahead and have him in kindergarten for this year. Also, his teacher will be someone I grew up with and was in my homeward for a number of years, the school is five minutes away and, I remind myself often, I can always pull him out if I feel it isn't working.

Since making the decision (about a month ago) I vary from feeling sad and missing him to relieved and excited (you know those days where you would send your kid with the circus if it came by). I will miss having him around to be sure, but I am also trying to remember the positives about it and if Thea allows it or I can find someone to watch her I'll volunteer in his class and still be as much a part of his education as possible.

Now on to the next decision-to have him wear the school uniform or get a waiver? =)

8 Months

The little woman is 8 months old! Her personality is starting to come out more and more every day and it is fun to get to know her better. Here's a bit about miss Thea Bea at 8 months.

Health/Stats: She is a healthy little girl with no issues to report and is now almost all caught up on her immunizations. While her health is good, I may need a back adjustment from carrying her about because she is now 21.5lbs! Henry was only 19 when he turned 1 so this has been something I have had to get use to especially since she likes being held a lot. She's 26.25 inches, so on the shorter side too. She a little chubby ball of cuteness.

Eating: She still primarily nurses but I also take snacks with me to church or when we go out for when I want to wait to nurse her. I also give her bits of what I eat when I can- banana, bread, peas etc. She is not at all picky. She even sucked on a mandrin orange the other day which is something Henry never would have done. I've decided that baby food is a racket and also totally unnecessary for her since she'll already eat whatever I have anyway. I still have a package of peas and carrots so I'll use those up and then no mas.

Mobility: I'm fairly certain she will never crawl. I guess it's too undignified for a lady or something. She is interested in walking still and in the past two days she has pulled herself up several times and can walk along objects like the couch, crib, toy trunk etc and go from one object to the next to continue walking around. She does seem to have a harder time going right than left for whatever reason. She still does her backward scoot when she has to be on the ground and is a pro at scooting around on her bum.

Personality: It turns out our little miss is quite a cheese ball. And a screamer. eek. She was doing her pterodactyl screech almost constantly for a while about 2 weeks ago but has finally calmed down on it. Now she does more growling noises than screeching. I'll take it. She makes a noise and when I look at her she just smiles and laughs. She is more interested in toys, her surroundings and people than ever before. She loves being tickled and cuddled and has started giving lovely opened mouthed slobber kisses on the cheek. Henry makes her laugh more than anyone else but she also knows to be wary of him at times and will give him the funniest look. It's fun to see more of who she is each day.

Hey! I want my hat back. 10 points to anyone who names the author!

Happy 8 months to our sweet baby girl! 

Sleeping Habits

Johann recently described Henry as, "anything but boring." I have to concur. The kid doesn't even like to sleep in the same old boring way every night:

 Sleeping under the table

 Upside-down with a space helmet

And finally, in a play tunnel.

Oh, Henry, we do love you! 

Drawing

One of the things I'm grateful for is that Henry likes to draw; he likes it so much that sometimes he will go into his room and draw for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour some days. He also draws in the car and makes traveling easy. He finally went through one of his notebooks, he usually switches between the three he has, and I thought I'd post some of the pictures I found in there that are typical Henry drawings. 

The well used notebook. This one usually accompanied him in the car. 

Captain America. Johann did some of the blue shading. While he likes drawing he isn't a fan of coloring and says it's boring.

 Evil robot. 

Nice robot. 

"Roader Man" I don't know what that means, just what Henry called this guy. 

 Most of his drawings are robots, super heroes, robots or haunted or scary something-monsters, houses etc. It's interesting to see how he is starting to try and draw motion. Now if only he wouldn't make his drawings sloppy while he worked on motion we might have something! I hope he always continues to like drawing because I stink at it and I think it's a nice talent to have.

February Recap

February is over and I am turning into a bad blogger. Here is a  little recap of some of the things we did in February:

I finally got the kids in to see a doctor. He's fine. I guess. I think I just hate doctors and will never find one I really like. Oh well. Henry freaked and screamed for shots (to be fair he was good for the legs but when they went for his arm and shot number 5 he was done), Thea whimpered for a moment. Seems an accurate reaction for both of their personalities! 

We started going to drop in gymnastics on Thursdays.

Henry started Tae Kwon Do and loves it. I signed him up through May yesterday.

They even got to break boards which was very exciting for the kids. 

Henry is always wanting to buy something and I'm sick of it! So I told him he can start doing chores and earn his own money if he wants to buy toys. He now folds socks for a nickel a pair. He learned really quickly how to ball them up.

Dorothea started learning how to pull herself up on things. She was about half way then when I went to snap the picture she had started sliding down already.

She also continued to be inconceivably adorable.

We celebrated Valentines day and when I went to my mom's class the day after some of the kids had saved some Valentines they made for me. Awww. 

We went to the Apple Valley airport for lunch and to watch planes land and take off.

The boys got and flew a big dragon kite. 

Our friends Bert and Charlie made a quick trip out to CA and we got to hang out with them. We miss them!

I discovered my first white hair. I'm pretty sure this is either from the thesis or other recent life stressers. 2012 was nuts.

 Daddy showed Thea the joy of drumming

Henry wrote a letter to the Aquabats. 

We made Groundhog's day cupcakes for my mom's k-class.

Thea started getting more interested in toys and now pulls everything out of the changing table shelf.

She started putting things in her mouth and then letting go with her hands and then laughing. She thinks it's just so funny and I think she looks like a puppy. 

I helped in a Stake Primary day by showing the 10-11 year old girls how to make this game to take when they go babysitting. I'm not crafty, but they were desperate and I was happy to help, though I wish it had been for something I have some talent in! They seemed to have fun anyway. 

Thea was abducted by a monster.

Henry wanted to be a sumo wrestler. 

And an astronaut. 

Finally Thea started drinking water from a sippy cup. Her first time she spit out the water and looked at me as if to say, "What on earth is this stuff? Give me my milk!" She is now use to it and sips away, though if she wants a good drink, I usually have to help her out.

Well, there are some of the things we did in February! This month promises to be just as busy with our trip to San Diego for Spring Break and Easter. 

On to a new month!