BACKWARDS

I'm all backwards with my updates here, so it's going to go newest to oldest, so sorry in advance for the confusion.

Here we are on a Sunday evening just hanging out.

Easter Morning: The kids are obsessed with candy...and I've been known to sneak some out of the candy bowl too. Even if it's not that good. Sheesh.

My mom gave Chance a Build-A-Bear Gift Card for his 4th birthday on April 20th. We went the day after. We had never been there and it was definitely a hit! Here was the finished product when we were entering all of the "birthday" info so we could print out a birth certificate.

Darth Vader. Jeff was proud!

The "Bathing" Station after it gets stuffed.

Just after stuffing.

Here it is getting stuffed. The guy helping us was so cute with Chance. You put a heart inside and they have you rub it on your muscles so it's "strong like you" and on your heart so it is smart, feet so it's fast...you get the picture. It was cute.

One of Chancey's presents was a bike helmet. Isn't he so cute!

Here was the infamous "Caillou" cake that Jeff convinced Chance he "wanted" for his birthday. It actually wasn't hard, but still time consuming getting the colors right, etc.

Grandma Jay and cousins Kelci and Ammon came to help us celebrate.

We went to Chuck-e-Cheese for his birthday. The kids loved it.

This is the "Vegas" portion of the blog post. I got a text from Jeff on April 1st that said, "I'm going to Vegas on the 9th for a convention for work." WHAT? I didn't care that he was going, but it happened to land right during my spring break from school. He was supposed to have another co-worker go with him, but he ended up not being able to go. I thought, "hmmm....maybe the kids and I could drive down to meet you since being ALONE for 5 days with the kids didn't sound appealing." Long story short, I was able to go. It worked out well for the most part. The kids were great on the drive and all. Jeff went to his convention during the day and I took the kids to the pool and arcade. Then we met up in the evening for dinner/sightseeing. The only bad part was that I only brought one stroller! What was I thinking? You would have thought I was an amateur mom. I thought Chance would be fine walking around, excited, etc...WRONGO. It was a bit of a disaster, but it got better as the trip went on.

Keeping the kids entertained at the restaurant.

The first day we were there, Chance was so excited, he woke up at 6:15 and would NOT go back to sleep. I kept saying, "Chance - NOTHING is open for 4 more hours...no pool, no arcade...NOTHING!" Didn't deter him. Jeff got out of dodge fast and headed to his convention while I wrangled kids in the hotel room by myself. It is tough business keeping these two quiet.

One of the things we did during the day was going to a "Chocolate Factory" which is about 10 miles off the strip. It was actually kind of lame, but the chocolate made up for it. Here is Sophie after eating some of it...

Vegas lights. We actually think Vegas is really lame. We wouldn't ever choose to go there except for opportunity came up during my break. The kids had fun and although traveling with kids is definitely not a vacation for parents, it's worth it. Making memories, right?

SpongeBob outside of the arcade in our hotel. Chance loved the arcade. What a lifesaver.

So...my birthday was back in February. I told Jeff what I really, really wanted was to go visit Kara, one of my best friends in Oregon without kids, etc. Because of scheduling conflicts, we weren't able to do it until March. It just so happened that it was scheduled right after Jeff had a "guys trip" planned to Lake Tahoe . Basically we saw each other for 5 hours in a 10 day period which was kind of lame, but, what can you do? Above is Kara's newest addition - Miriam. She was so snuggly and fun to be with. She was really well behaved too!

Me and Kara. Everyone should have a friend like her. I could go into details, but I will spare you all and just let you know that she is the best friend a girl could ask for! I love visiting with her.

Random pics: Chance had a lesson in his Sunbeam class at church on nature or something and they gave each kid a little "bug house" with a cricket. Oh man did he love that thing. He named it "Cricket Jr" and "Crickety" simultaneously. I swear that thing suffered from 'shaken cricket syndrome' he carried it around so much. At least for two days until it died. I thought Chance would be devastated, but when it died he just said, "Well, Mom...I guess we better just throw him in the garbage."

On Easter, his Sunday School teachers were telling me how sweet Chance was when they were talking about Jesus while he was praying prior to the Crucifixion. I guess Chance was worried that Jesus was scared and sad and that Chance kept saying, "why would his friend fall asleep?" They were just impressed with how much he already knew about the Resurrection and how much he understood. I guess we're doing something right?

The other thing that was funny though was that his teachers decided that instead of candy they would give the kids food that Jesus would have eaten. So, they had bread that had been rolled flat, honey, and grapes. Chance apparently took the bread and said to his teachers, "I bet Jesus would have liked chocolate eggs better than this." I bet you're right, Chance. I love that kid!

The weather has been crummy here and we haven't been able to go outside much. The kids have really enjoyed "shopping" in our pantry.

Aunt Shanna sent Chance a playdough set a few months ago. He loves it.

Sophie is quite adept at walking in heels. It amazes me what a "girl" she is. She is nurturing, loving, gentle (most of the time) and loves princesses lately. Also, purses, shoes, pink, combing her baby's hair, etc. And did I mention she loves dresses? Not even 2 years old and she has an opinion on what she wears. And yet, her favorite show right now is "Scooby Doo." I guess she did take some influences from her brother. :)

She sure can be trouble when she wants too though. I took her to the store yesterday, had her in the main part of the grocery cart, I turn around for 30 seconds to look at something and all of a sudden I hear her whine, "finger, finger." I turn around to see her holding a cracked, broken egg with egg goo dripping all over her legs and down underneath the cart to the floor! All 12 eggs were out of the carton and 3 of them were broken. All I could think was "please...please...let me have baby wipes in my purse!?" Which...thankfully, I did. I cleaned her up the best I could and carried on. If I weren't so panicky in the first place, I would have taken a picture. It is pretty funny in hindsight. I would take Chance to the store over her any day over her though. Toddlers are sneaky.

And finally! Or, I should say, "first" - This was way back in January when my friend Melissa and I ran our 5K. I haven't been running since. I guess it didn't take. But at least I did it!