Dinosaur Museum

About two weeks ago, I got together with Britta and her kids for a little trip to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Amelia has been asking to do this for quite a while so when Britta called and suggested a little get together, this was the first thing that popped into my head. When Amelia turned 3, the only thing that she wanted for her birthday was a tiny dinosaur. I don't know where she came up with that, but that was exactly what she got for her birthday that year. She also got a book called "Ten Little Dinosaurs" so while we were at the museum, we tried to find all the dinosaurs from her book. When she saw that they were all just skeletons, she was a little bit confused and said that they didn't look like the dinosaurs in her book. Amelia loved the erosion table but Ashley didn't want anything to do with the sand and water. She pretty much just stood there and watched all the other kids play. It was so crowded there that day because there was a school class having a field trip. I wish there was a time that I could take my little kids when there aren't big kids around to hog everything but I doubt that "time" exists. Towards the end, Elliot got fussy and hungry so I picked him up out of the stroller, threw on my nursing apron and then continued to walk around with the girls while I fed Elliot. I don't think that I would have been able to do that four years ago when Amelia was a baby, but I was not uncomfortable at all nursing Elliot and walking around the museum. The very last stop of the dinosaur museum was a dig for bones. Amelia dove right in and would have stayed forever if she could have. Ashley walked in...and then walked right back out. I'm thinking that she didn't really like the feel of the sand between her toes. Once we were done digging for bones, I had to change Elliot out of his blow out. Luckily Britta was willing to sit with four kids and keep them happy until I was done. Then we had lunch at the little cafe which was really yummy.

Easter

For Easter this year, we had planned to go down to my mom's family's cabin on Saturday for an Easter egg hunt. But about an hour before we were going to be leaving, my mom called to say that it was snowing down there and so she was thinking about moving the Easter egg hunt somewhere else. At first, we were going to have it at my Uncle Keven and Aunt VaLene's house in West Valley, but then I had a moment of craziness come over me and I suggested that we should just do it at my house. I figured that if people were already planning on going to Fairview, their drive would be shorter if they just came to my house. So, Tamara hurried down to help me do a mad dash cleaning around the house since we would be having lunch and dying Easter eggs too.

All in all, we had about 34 people in our house and no major egg dye spills. Ashley wasn't too sure about what to do while we were dying the eggs. I think that she had the same egg in the dye the whole time. Amelia did a few eggs but then got bored with it. I had bought little "egg grabbers" for Amelia and Ashley that were kind of like tongs. Amelia had been carrying hers around all morning but then when it came time to dye eggs, she couldn't find them. We spent at least a half an hour looking around for them but then we gave up and told her that they would probably show up once everyone left. Well, I still haven't found them. Hopefully the mystery will be solved one day.


The hunt went really well. We let the little kids go first so that they could get a few eggs before they were all gobbled up by the older kids. Ashley wasn't really too into it so she only got a few things but I think that she had fun anyway.


After everyone left, my mom stuck around and helped me make a nursing apron as payment for letting a big group into our house on such short notice. I have had the pattern and fabric to make one for a long time but it has been hard to find the time to do it. It turned out really great and now I want to make more. Tamara laughs at it and says that it looks like an adult bib but I really don't care since it hides everything and Elliot doesn't have to be under a hot blanket.


Easter Sunday was a busy day too. Luckily my usual Sunday primary presidency meeting was cancelled because the primary president had her baby a few days before. I had invited my family down for Easter dinner so I had to get a few things ready before church so that we could eat soon afterwards. Guy wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home from church and I took the kids all dressed up in the Easter best by myself. I also had sharing time that day so things were a little crazy. Dinner with my family went great. We had lots of yummy food but I forgot to cook the asparagus...oops.

Notes for Daddy

I am (of course) super behind on my blogging. But Elliot fell asleep while I was folding laundry so I finally have a minute for myself.

A while back, the girls were making crafts with foam letters and I suggested to them that it would be really fun to make notes for Daddy. But instead of giving them to him right away, we secretly put them in his car so that he would have a nice surprise when he got off of work. The surprise went perfectly except for the fact that it took me a few loops around the parking lot to find his car. Guy was so surprised to see the notes from the girls and I hope that it made his day a little better.

Happy Birthday Eva!

I just found out that Guy's sister Michelle had her baby this morning...about 3 weeks early. Michelle had spent a busy weekend moving to a new house. Apparently, packing and lifting all those boxes brought on an early labor. I wish that the same would have been true for me when I was pregnant and moving or shoveling snow. But no such luck. So, Happy Birthday Eva Rae and welcome to the family!

Elliot - 3 months old

Elliot turned 3 months old a week ago but I had to catch up on some posts before I wrote about this one. He is such a fun baby. I am getting better at recognizing his cues for when he is tired or hungry or when he just wants to be held. He fusses when he is tired and then he will take a really good nap. Yesterday after the last session of conference, I was holding him and we both took a little nap together on the couch while the girls watched Muppets. I actually had to wake him up so that I could feed him and then get to making dinner for the rest of us. Elliot is starting to smile a lot more. Amelia loves it when he smiles at her. In fact, she would rather make silly faces at him instead of eating her dinner or whatever it is that she should be doing. Ashley is a great big sister and brought him a rattle this morning without anyone noticing. She is also always making sure that his shade cover is blocking out the light for him whenever he is in his carseat. I have also learned that he will take a bottle, which is something that Ashley never did. It is nice to be able to leave him for a few extra hours and not worry if he is starving while I am gone. He has learned how to soothe himself by sucking on his hands and there are many times that I find him sleeping with his hands in his mouth. He still has a little bit of the dark hair that he was born with, but he has rubbed a lot of it off and now he has a nice looking "crew cut".

Gyroscope

Guy sent away for a new toy (a gyroscope) and he has really been enjoying it. The girls have loved it too, especially when Guy helps them to balance it on their fingers. Ashley has a hard time not touching the spinning parts which slows it down and then Guy has to start it up all over again. It has made for some great daddy-daughter time.