Pi Party

When we lived in Pittsburgh our friends had pi parties on Pi Day (3/14) and we decided we had to take that tradition with us! We always need an excuse to eat pie! A couple days before, Drew reminded me it was almost pi day so we threw together a last minute party, and it ended up being a lot of fun. Because it seems to be my nature, I worried myself to pieces about the details: Would anyone come? What if we had invited too many people for our small space? Would it be boring? Did we need games? Will anyone notice if I don't dust my blinds? Would there be enough pie? Would there be way too much pie? (never) Who should we invite? I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so should we invite everyone we have ever met? :)

Anyway, of course everything was fine and we had a really great time having lots of good friends over for some delicious pie and some great conversation. There were 11 adults and 12 kids, and the kids seemed to have lots of fun together too. We need to do this kind of thing more often.

I found the idea to have label cards for each pie on Pinterest. We had 7 different kinds of pie! Lemon meringue, razzleberry, banana cream, vanilla cream, chocolate cream, pumpkin, and cherry. Yum!

Happy Pi Day!

Motorcyles

For the past month or so we have been going to Mattawa every Saturday for Drew to go ride motorcycles. He says it is such great exercise, and he also really loves it, so it is a win win for him I guess. Here are some pictures.

  

We had this amazing breakthrough with Darcy a couple weekends ago. When we first moved back to Washington and Darcy was exposed to dirt bikes she was completely terrified. The sound would make her shake she was so afraid. These are too much a part of Drew's life for that to be ok! :) So for over a year now we have been working on helping her be more comfortable around them. The day before we went to Mattawa she told us she was going to have a ride this time, and when the time came she just marched outside and got right on! We were soo proud of her!! And amazed! She still doesn't want to go for frequent rides, but she faced her fear that day and it was awesome.

 

 

Here she is riding with the gang. 

 I got to go take pictures of the guys riding at the track a couple times. I love taking pictures, I just really wish I knew what I was doing a little more. Here's Nick on a jump.

 Nick (the bushman) taking a break.

Drew jumping.

 Break time for Drew.

 Ashley took a couple laps around the track too, and was getting some serious air on those jumps!

 I couldn't be left out of the fun.

 Nick on a corner with some cool roost.

 Jack (a friend) came to ride for a little bit too.

Drew

 The first day I went to take pictures I left Ezra sleeping at home with my mom, but the next time he got to come and had the time of his life! This is him making the motorcycle noise (We hear A LOT of this these days.)

 Ezra reaching for the handlebars.

Ezra's first ride on the track.

Morning Musings

I have a few things I want to write down this morning.

First, last night we had such a great family home evening. Drew explained the story of the Resurrection to Darcy and why we celebrate Easter. He told that story so wonderfully and in a way Darcy could understand. She was completely focused on what he was saying. She listened so intently and asked some amazingly thoughtful questions for a three year old. I was also enthralled, and I felt the spirit in our home. I am so grateful for that experience and I am hoping I can find some ways to help us focus more on our Savior this Easter. Then we played musical chairs and did some really awesome dancing around those chairs, Drew included (or maybe especially). Some family home evenings we wonder why we bothered, but this one was oh so good.

This morning I was doing Darcy's hair. We have a little step stool with two steps that the kids stand on to get their hands washed, hair done, etc. Every time Darcy stands on it Ezra thinks he needs to be on there too, which is often a source of frustration for all of us. Today Darcy was standing on the top step and Ezra got on the bottom step and was trying to push his way to the top. To help pull himself up he grabbed onto the back of Darcy's pants (stretchy leggings). In the struggle he lost his footing and slipped off. I grabbed him enough that he didn't get hurt, but then Darcy and I ended up laughing so hard when we realized he hadn't lost his grip on her pants on his way down and had taken them down with him. Her cute little cheeks were playing a little peek-a-boo. We laughed on and on.

My favorite parenting blog ever, that I found a couple months ago is called 71toes. This woman is such an amazing mother and I love her ideas and have implemented a few of them. It turns out her parents are parenting guru's who have written lots of parenting books. Last week I got her mom's book, I Didn't Plan to be a Witch and have been loving this read. The main thing this book has done for me is help me realize that we all struggle somehow in our quest to be great mothers, and that I'm not alone...or crazy. :) She encourages mothers to always be writing down their experiences, because it will help us get through our struggles. So I am determined to start writing more. The good and the bad.

I hate bath time. So, so much. I had always imagined how cute my little ones would be playing happily in the bathtub, and that I would enjoy it just as much. Not so! It turns out I can't stand the water being splashed everywhere, being on my knees struggling to wash these wiggly bodies, or the wrestle to capture the slippery bodies and get them dried, lotioned, diapered, and dressed. It is craziness. This seems like such a silly parenting struggle, but it has been a real one for me. Since I have been reading my new book I have been trying to turn bath time around. I have tried to think through how I would handle it all before I got into the situation, and tried to see the situation through their eyes. I don't know that I will ever love bath time, but just this morning when I was starting to get frustrated I was able to take a couple breaths and think through what I needed to do, and make myself calm down. I was so excited that I could turn the situation around, so the kids and I all finished bath time with smiles still on our faces. Yippee!

Today's Happy Moments

 I had a couple especially happy moments with each of my kids today that I wanted to jot down.

Darcy - I had been running around trying to get the house all cleaned up during Ezra's nap before Drew got home. At one point I walked into the kitchen to work on some dishes and said something about the house still being a mess. After I had been in there for a few minutes Darcy said, "Mom! Now look at the house!" I stepped out and looked in the living room and she had cleaned it all up! I seriously almost cried. It kind of chokes me up thinking about it now. I am constantly amazed at how thoughtful this girl is! She doesn't miss anything. She saw I was a little anxious, and she came to my rescue! Man I love her. I danced her around the room and told her a million times how happy it made me that she had done that service for me, and she was beaming from ear to ear. We were both so proud of her. :)

Ezra - I had really started getting into cooking right before we found out Ezra had all these allergies. I have been in kind of a cooking slump since there are so many ingredients I can't use anymore. I am constantly searching for something a little more exciting or different and delicious to make for our family and have it be safe for him. It is rare to find somethings we love. I found this recipe on Pinterest for Spaghetti with Sauteed Chicken and Grape Tomatoes (that I adapted with rice noodles) and decided to make it tonight. We ended up loving it! The thing that made it extra exciting was that Ezra eventually picked up his plate and licked it clean! Again, I almost cried. (Ok maybe I'm a little quick to cry.) Feeding this boy is just so much of my life that having him react like this makes me soo happy.

Valentine's Day

 We had a really fabulous Valentine's Day (and beyond) this year. I felt a little bit like a slacker with my kids' Valentine's this year, but when Darcy saw her's she said, "This is like Christmas!" so I guess it was alright. :) We spent most of our time working on Valentine's for our extended family members. We made heart-shaped rice krispy treats on a stick dipped in chocolate. It was a little trickier than I expected because the rice krispies started to implode when they were dipped, but it was still worth it. Darcy was so excited to take Valentine's to people and I hope she always loves to give like this!

Drew and I had a night and a day getaway to go snowboarding together. We had never left our kids for more than a few hours before, and it was soo hard for me to leave my kids behind when we left my parents' house. I shed a few tears when we were driving away. Ezra was awake for about four hours in the middle of the night with Emily and my mom...but other than that it was perfectly fine. :) Yikes!

Drew and I had so much fun together at Bluewood. It was such a beautiful day! We went snowboarding together a lot in high school, in college, and a little before we had kids, but it had been five years since I had last gone. I was so nervous, and couldn't remember how to do some things, like which foot I left in, and how to smoothly get on the lift, but once I was actually snowboarding it mostly all came back to me. It was really so fun to do this together again. We also had lots of great conversation. We tend to get lost or cut off in the middle of conversations a lot with our kids, and it was nice to finish our sentences. :)

I love Valentine's Day more and more every year.

  

 Darcy enjoying her Valentine. She couldn't handle having any of us wait to look in our mailboxes. She was just too excited!

 Ezra checking out his Valentine.

 Drew and I ready to hit the slopes.

 Me jumping. (My only trick)

 Drew jumping. (Not his only trick)

 Me jumping again.

 Drew on a box.

Fun on the lift

18 Months!

 Ezra is 18 months. It is so shocking to me that he is now old enough to go to nursery. He is such a sweet, fun little guy and I am so happy I get to be his mama.

Some things we want to remember about Ezra at 18 months:

- 24.6 lbs. (31st percentile) He keeps creeping up in percentile which makes me feel good. 31 inches.

- He sleeps from 7:30 at night to around 7 in the morning. (Although this morning he slept until 8 which is absolutely unheard of for him!Yay!) He takes a 2-2 1/2 hr. nap around noon.

- He is repeating everything these days. He says mama, dada, Darcy, Em, Ash, Nick, Grandma, Grandpa, uh-oh, ball, football, and a lot more I can't think of. He knows the animal sounds for a horse, cow, gorilla, monkey, dog, and cat, and possibly some other I can't think of again.

- He loves baths. He also loves to throw whatever he can find into a bathtub with water in it. Darcy always has to watch out when he's out and she's in because you never know what he might throw in at you. I have had to rescue shoes, a book (luckily I caught the book before it hit the water), sippy cups, lots of different toys, etc.

- He is a speedy little one. He loves to run and is pretty darn fast. He loves to throw a football, but so far he doesn't really move his arms to catch it if you throw it back to him most of the time, which cracks me up.

- He still loves climbing on and jumping off of things.

- He loves to play with Darcy, but has a little more of an opinion these days. He won't always do exactly what she wants him to, which is hard for her to understand.

- We have been taking him to a naturepath just in case they can somehow help with his allergies. She just gave us a huge new list of foods he is allergic to, but I have been doing some research and talking to a different doctor, and besides the foods we already knew he was allergic to I have been ignoring her about this new list for the most part. I hope I am not being stupid, but I am kind of going with my gut on this one. He is a happy growing boy, and I don't see all those foods she listed affecting him like milk and wheat do. I also just can't bear to take away that many more options from his diet that he seems to love. We'll see I guess.

- He is such a crazy, funny dancer. He can really groove if he's in the right mood. The other day at my parents' house Darcy was showing everyone her arabesque she has been working on at her dance class. Ezra walked in and had to join her. He was walking around the room holding on to different things and lifting his leg straight behind him. He has done it around our house a few times since. Funny boy.

- I often wonder if there is any other baby in the whole world that resists as much as he does at getting his clothes or diaper changed. He is unbelievable!! Every time I realize he needs his diaper changed my heart sinks, and I have to really pump myself up to go get the job done.

 

 That face! Gets me every time. 

That drool on his shirt. Not so much.

That bruise on his forehead. Dang, not again.

 

Darcy took this one. Cuteness.

This & That

 Here are some pictures of a few things that have been going on around here lately.

 The other day Darcy was taking a bath and Ezra couldn't handle the fact that it wasn't his turn. In fact, he just decided to take matters into his own hands and dove right in! I was standing right there, but he dove in face first which gave me a heart attack. He did end up lifting his head right before it hit the water and he made a pretty smooth entrance. This was especially funny to us because there is some history here!

 

 This was Drew somewhere around Ezra's age with his brother Kevin. These boys just love the water I guess! (I have this picture on a video so I just took a picture of the TV. Some day I should get the original from Drew's mom and scan it onto my computer and put them side by side.)

 

 I got some curlers for Christmas and Darcy loves to get her hair curled with them. She loves to look in the mirror when they're in because she thinks she looks so funny.

 

 All curled and ready for church!

 

 The other day Darcy went and made her bed without any encouragement from me. It was so exciting!

 

 I thought this was a sweet picture of her from the side.

 

 The other day Darcy got in my makeup and put some mascara on her eyelashes all by herself. She actually did an amazing job for her first time, and for being 3! Her eyelashes looked soo long.

Ezra and Drew were enjoying watching motocross together the other day, and they both had the same blank stare on their faces with their eyes glued to the TV which was cracking me up.

 

Gotta love a sleeping baby!