Sunday Snippets

A catch-up of the last month or so.

• March 8-9, 2013
  Mr. Giovannoni took the kids to our wards second annual camp out at Bear Creek Park.  I came along for the dinner and evening entertainment, but left with Abrielle to go home to sleep.  The kids had a good time and I'm so glad that Derik put aside his disdain for camping and let Dylan, Alivia and Isaac stay the night with him in our 2 man tent! 
  
  
  
  
  
• March 10-13, 2013
  My sister and her kids came out from Albuquerque for a couple of days during Spring Break.
  It was so much fun having her.  The kids all got along so well and my kids were devastated to have to say goodbye.   Unfortunately my sister was always behind the camera snapping photos for me so I don't have one of her to share.  I'm so glad she came out, and I'm so glad she shared her time and talents with me.  Her older daughters were awesome little helpers with Abrielle and I fell in love with Miss JJ's little personality. 
  It nearly broke my heart to have to say goodbye to my sister and her kids, it made my kids and I realize (all over again) that we really miss and love our extended family, and that being a thousand or so miles away from loved ones stinks!
  
  
  

• March 21, 2013
  Isaac celebrated his third birthday.   We sure are glad he is a part of our family.  He's our funny man.  Right now I have days where I'd like to tape him to a wall rather than clean up another disaster he's made, but I guess that's all part of having a three year old boy, right?
  
  
  
  Speaking of Isaac...I promised myself I'd potty train him after my sister left.  So I stuck to my word.  He's been using the potty on and off for a couple of months so I knew he was ready, and he was ready.  It took getting him a treat jar to pick something out of to get him motivated enough to use the toilet every time he needed to go, but he is now diaper and for the most part accident free.  In fact he doesn't have "accidents", but I do catch him running outside to pee in my garden just about everyday, little rascal, I have no idea where he got that idea from!?!
  
•  March 23, 2013
  Our ward held an Easter Egg Hunt.  The kids had a great time running wild with their friends.
  If you look closely in the bottom left picture (it almost blends in with the dirt) you can actually see the Easter Bunny Dylan stumbled across. 
  
  
  
  
  
• March 28, 2013
  Dylan had the opportunity to once again race a car in this years Pinewood Derby.
  I made him search up a design he liked and then I made him design a template for it on paper.  Since all we have is a jig saw, I did the cutting.  It was pretty darn scary, I was positive I was going to saw some part of my body off.  Thankfully I didn't cause any bodily damage to myself.  Dylan then sanded and painted his car. 
  Unfortunately the car was the SLOWEST thing ever.  It lost every race!  Dylan was so heartbroken, so I tried my best to teach him to be a good sport about it and help him see that we tried and it didn't work out like we hoped, but we could try again next year and that we had an opportunity to learn from our experience.  By the end of the evening he was okay with having the slowest car because they gave him an award for having the most uniquely designed car.
  
  
  
  
  
  • Mr. Giovannoni and a friend took on the massive project of trying to fix our old Honda Accord.  They pretty much disassembled the thing and replaced a lot of parts.  The good news is it's running again.  The bad news is it is leaking something from somewhere so we aren't driving it yet, until that can get resolved. 
    
  • April 2, 2013
    Miss Abrielle had her 2 month birthday.  How I love that little squirt.  She is determined and stubborn I tell you!  When she's in a good mood she'll flash a smile that lights up the whole world.  She is dead set on sucking her thumb, no matter how hard I try to convince her a binky is better.  She gets so mad at herself when she can't maneuver her thumb in her mouth, but in the last week or so shes finally figured out how to get everything just where it needs to be.
     
    
    
    She coo's and talks to me and I LOVE her smile.  Her two month stats are:
    Her noggin measured 15.98"  which lands her in the 88th percentile
    She weighed in at 13lb 13oz, which puts her in the 97th percentile.
    Her length was 22 inches long, which is in the 32nd percentile.
    Short, chubby and a big noggin, can anyone ask for anything better?
    
  • This past week has been a rough one for just about everyone in our family.
    Dylan had a small accident with some microwave popcorn and Miss Abrielle wound up with a couple of burn spots on her nose from hot popcorn kernels. 
    Isaac had a collision with our wood stair banister and split his head open.  The picture below is pretty graphic, you've been warned.
    
    After a lot of screaming and fighting and seven stitches later, he's back to his rambuncous self.
    I caught the stomach flu.  I was so weak and miserable, it took all I had to sit up to nurse the baby.  I'm so thankful to be feeling bettter again! 
    
  •  Home depot had a sale on mulch this week so I bought a bunch and got the yard looking pretty darn nice.  My garden is coming along beautifully, as soon as I get my dirt in the other flower beds I'll get some picture posted.