Adventures in Childhood

On May 1, we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point for Michael's field trip, and we waited in for the longest time so Rachel  could have her first pony ride. I thought she'd be scared, but she loved it and giggled the whole time. At first, she wouldn't hold onto the horn. By the first time around she had one hand on it, and by the end, she had both hands on it. We'll have to go back soon! 

But lately, we've been distracted by Thanksgiving Point's newest attraction: The Museum of Natural Curiosity, the coolest children't museum I've been to thus far. It's been super crowded every time we've gone so far, but there was still enough to do without having to wait in line. We got to go on a member preview day before it opened (May 9). 

 I decided that this is the kind of museum you have to take a friend with kids in similar ages. They have a toddler area in each section, but Michael's too big to play there. Lesson learned. The next time we went, we took our neighbor Sam.

The first time we went, we didn't even make it to the Water Works area. It was awesome! Rachel loved the water table and, despite her smock, got completely soaked.  Lesson learned. Next time, bring a change of clothes or come here last.

 Eva and Michael liked the water table too.

 In the Rain Forest section, Sam stayed with the babies in the toddler area and I took Eva and Michael to the big playground/jungle gym/climbing area. At the bottom of the slide, we ran into familiar faces: Lea, Danny, and Skye! So, Lea and Sam had a good visit in the toddler area, and I went with Eva, Michael, and Danny through the rope bridges.

 Eva got scared being up that high, and Michael did too. But, we made it through the whole thing. And the kids got to sit in this plane that "crashed" clear up in the rain forest trees:

 So, the third time we went (yes, we've been three times already and they barely opened. I'm telling you, this museum is AWESOME!), we went with our friends Chelsi, Ivie, and Lliam. Chelsi is my awesome childhood friend who recently moved to Utah County, and we hang out whenever we can. Since she also has a Thanksgiving Point membership, I think we'll be spending a lot of time here together in the future! I gave her the head's up about the wet clothes at the water table.

 I know you can't tell, but these kiddos loved the water table. 

Michael was in heaven in the water works room. 

All this water + hoses + pipes + nobody stopping him from playing with them=one happy Michael. 

He was sad to leave this area, but he was a trooper and moved on when everyone else was ready. 

Michael and Miss I loved this wind tunnel:

Michael and I made an igloo with insulation bricks.  

 And the kids played in the garden area while Chelsi and I finally got to chat a little while we ate lunch.

In addition to being frequent patrons at Thanksgiving Point, we've also been enjoying picnics in the park with friends and lots of time in the sand box. We're looking forward to even more adventures this summer!

Preschool Graduation

I'm sure I'm not the only one that agrees with the line in The Incredibles, "It's not a graduation. He's moving from the second grade into the third grade." Nonetheless, I have to say I thought a little "graduation ceremony" was a cute way to end our year-long preschool co-op.

Here are all six of us mom-teachers with our kids:

 I couldn't have asked for a better group of ladies to do this with. It's been a great year, and Michael has learned a lot.

 Ashley is a former elementary school teacher, and she's also the one who designed/created the curriculum that we used this year. The graduation ceremony/party was at her house. She made these cute cupcakes for the occasion:

 She asked each of us to bring something for a picnic. Since I thought, "picnic", I brought my apples in a ziploc bag, and my strawberries in their plastic crate. I felt a little ghetto when I saw how she'd decorated the table.

 See my bag of apples and strawberries? Why didn't I just let Brian keep them on the paper plate?! Aren't girls silly?

Rachel loved the picnic idea. She sat right down like she was one of those kids:

 They made these drums and shakers for the festivities and performed all the preschool songs for us. They also recited all their letters and counted to 20.

 Then they each got a diploma, signed by all their teachers:

 And after they all got their diplomas,

 They got to throw their hats up in the air:

 And Rachel got to feed the boy next door:

Thanks for a great year, ladies. It's been fun, and I'm a little sad to see it end. But I'm also looking forward to sending Michael to an actual preschool next year. This was a ton of work! Congrats, Michael! I'm so proud of you!

Photo Shoot

The day we bought the wood for the sandbox, I was in DI (a thrift store), and found this awesome picnic basket for $3. It came with plates and cups that attached to the lid of the basket. It was super cute and clever, and I almost walked away from it because I thought "We'll never use this on a picnic." But then, I realized it's incredible potential as a photo prop. So, I brought it home, took a deep breath, cut the ties for the plates and cups, and lined it in white. And since Taryn, David, and Aaron were at our house (and Aaron had just celebrated his first birthday), I insisted on a photo shoot after church on Mother's Day:

 And since Rachel was adorable in her poofy pink dress (thanks Chelsea!), I HAD to get a picture of the two of them in the new basket:

 Right before I took the picture, they knocked the lid, and it hit Rachel in the head. She was so sad, and Aaron was tired of taking pictures. Trying to cheer Rachel back up, I started saying, "Hey, pretty girl! You look so pretty!" I was amazed that it worked! All of a sudden, she got the biggest smile on her face. She was glowing!

 Aaron wasn't convinced though. 

After I finished taking these, I realized that Ethan had just got home from church. The real reason Rachel was beaming is because she saw her boy. She LOVES Ethan! Too bad Aaron doesn't know how cool Ethan is--yet. 

I often dream of starting my own photography studio. One week, I looked up what other local photographers charge for sessions. I obsessed about what I would name my photography studio, and in typical Devri fashion, opened up a photoshop document to see what my ideas looked like on paper. Finally, I decided on Sun Rae Photography, and finalized my water mark (shown in the pictures above). I drew the little bubble box myself, and I must say I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Now I just need the studio! In the meantime, I've got some great models: 

and big dreams. 

Mother's Day

The day before Mother's Day, Brian told me I had to leave the house for a few hours without the kids. Well, if you twist my arm, Brian ;) It was awesome! I got to go shopping without my kids, and as a bonus, Taryn was in town, and I got to pick her up from her conference so she could go shopping with me. Woot woot! After a few hours, Brian texted me and told me I could come home. I was so curious as to what he was up to. Another bonus: he vacuumed the stairs while we were gone. I hate vacuuming, especially stairs. He's awesome. And, since our vacuum was basically useless, we'd been borrowing one from a neighbor. He kindly returned the vacuum after doing the stairs. 

On Sunday morning (Mother's Day), I got up and showered, and when I came out into the kitchen, there was French Toast waiting for me. Yum! And a present. Inside the present was the most crafty thing I've ever seen Brian do:

Yes, he went to Michaels--all by himself--got these pots, some paint, and sealant. While I was banned from the house the day before, he helped the kids make these. Michael helped paint his pot. Brian got two kids' feet covered in paint to do the butterfly wings, painted the bodies of the butterflies onto the pots, and gave both kids baths while I was out the day before. He's awesome! I love these. And while I was thinking about the kinds of flowers I wanted to put in these pots, I couldn't help thinking about the lovely "flowers" I have in my "garden"--the ones that, despite my shortcomings, are thriving and growing into two of the most wonderful human beings I've had the privilege to associate with. They are the reason I get to be honored on Mother's Day, and I love them.

And I got a new vacuum for Mother's Day as well:

As I mentioned before, our old vacuum is joining the ranks of other cheap vacuums that have been around more than a year. We got our Bissell not long after we got married with gift cards that people kindly gave us for our wedding. We knew it wouldn't last long, but that was what we could afford at the time. So, with this one being basically useless, we knew it was almost time for us to bite the bullet and buy a nice one. While we were in Florida, we were visiting a family who owned a Roomba. The husband bought it for the wife for Christmas, and she still sings his praises--and the praises of the Roomba. So, we started to consider getting one ourselves. After all, we needed to get a new vacuum anyway, why not buy one that would actually get used frequently (recall that I really do not like vacuuming). I went through weeks of guilt at the thought of buying a robot vacuum. Am I lazy? Will it have a bad effect on my kids? I even talked to my mom about it, and she said, "Women are so good at feeling guilty about things. Why do we always have this need to justify buying things that will simplify our lives?" With the guilt worked through, I was ready for this nice package on Mother's Day. Really, Brian got me a cleaning assistant for Mother's Day. We named him Alfred. 

While we're on the subject of Alfred, I have to say that he's a gate-way drug. Since my floors are actually getting vacuumed lately, it makes everything look better, which makes us want to make everything else look better. Which makes us want to put things away more. And I feel like for the first time in my life, I can multi-task. One day, I vacuumed while scrubbing my bathrooms. It was awesome! And I went to the park while my house got vacuumed. Awesome Mother's Day present. Thanks Brian! And thanks, Mom, for helping me not feel guilty about it. 

After church, we headed to Mapleton for dinner. My amazing father-in-law insisted on making dinner for all his girls for Mother's Day. He made us steak and crab. It was fabulous!

After dinner, Julie opened her presents with Rachel on her lap.  

 To Rachel, everything that is flattish and smallish is a phone. This marble tin lid is a classic example:

 Mother's Day this year fell on Cole's birthday, so we had a banana split party for him after dinner. We gave him this awesome card:

 Anyone can give a normal birthday card. It takes someone special to give a Christmas card on a birthday.

 Yummy!

 Rachel loved passing out kisses and receiving kisses from her Nana and Papa. 

Shayne's parents came for Cole's party, so at one point, I was watching Shayne's parents laughing and talking with Brian's parents, and I missed being with my mom. I'm so grateful for modern technology that makes it possible for me to call my mom any time I want. I was blessed with the best mom. 

 She's my best girl friend. I think I depend more on her now than I did as a child--at least I realize how much I need her more. She's pretty amazing, and I'm glad she's my mom. 

Congrats, Brian. This was my favorite Mother's Day so far.