April

April 1st- We went to TC during our spring break. I went to the temple and did initiatory while David shopped WinCo with the kids. Then we went to Costco for lunch and shopping. And the trip was complete after we fed the geese and ducks at Columbia Park. Annika loves doing that. It was a fun day.

this sweet boy loves playing at Pam's Playground!

he is not afraid of the slides! About a week after he started crawling, he figured out how to go up stairs. He loves climbing up the stairs on the climber and he goes straight for the slide. He would go down head first if I wasn't right there!

Just getting dressed up to go to Peco and Shurdy's house. Peco and Shurdy are some friends she started talking about this month. Peco started out as a word she would say over and over again when she was frustrated about something she couldn't do (ie-put on a shirt). Peco is now a person whose gender changes depending on the day. He/she is usually doing whatever Shurdy is doing. They have a dad who works at the school and Annika tells us she is going to "Peco Shurdy House" all the time. She often says she is bringing them the Ensign for a "lesson." We love to ask her questions about Peco and Shurdy. :)

This little stinker decides not to take naps too often now. It's a few times a week that she just talks for 45 minutes and eventually starts yelling "Mom, I awake!" over and over again. She is happy the whole time. I just start worrying that she will wake up Benson so I go in and get her. She is still sleeping in her crib. :) So the picture above is on a no nap day. She fell asleep during the 10 minute drive to Glenn and Kathy's. She was sound asleep so we just brought her in and she slept for 45 minutes before I woke her up so she could play with Adam and Emilee (they were visiting).

back to back. That's what Annika says when they sit like this. These two love taking baths! Benson gets really excited when I ask him if he wants to take a bath. I often hold him while I'm turning on the bath water. He always tries to lunge out of my arms into the tub. 

ride 'em cowgirl! She loves her rain boots!

She still does down dog all the time! I think she started this when she was around 9 months old.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It's at Pam's Playground and I just love everything about this picture.

I walked in the kitchen and saw this. Annika just taking a nap with her baby. :)

Every year, OHS has a Got Milk Mixer for the students on a Friday evening. They open it up a few hours before and let the teachers bring their kids to play on all the inflatable toys. Annika was freaking out and actually cried when David tried to take her through the bouncy obstacle course. But, by the time it was time to go about 20 minutes later, she was begging to stay!

they had these cows and backdrop set up for the students to take pictures

after church. Benson was already out of his church clothes. But I love Annie's outfit! Most before or after church pictures haven't turned out well being hunger and tired crying from Benson. But, it's still documented and real moment is captured. :)

I found this dump truck at a yard sale for $2! I didn't even realize it was a riding toy until we got it home. The kids love it! And I think it is so fun and cute too!

I had the scouts over to our backyard to work on the outdoorsman pin. Annika chilled with us. She loves it when the "scout boys" come over.

The last time they will ride like this at Pam's Playground. Benson is getting too big! He really doesn't seem much smaller than Annika anymore. I love my sweet babies!

I found her in her room layering her socks. I counted the layers and she had something like 8 socks on each foot. Both impressive and funny.

I had this old turtle neck (I think it was Abby's). I had a great vision of turning it into a maxi skirt for Annika. It turned out SO ugly! It was funny how ugly it was. That fabric is hard to sew with because it's so stretchy. And I cut the top too narrow below the waistline. Oh well. At least I didn't buy new fabric for it.

I made this yummy lemon cake for my dad's birthday. He said he would pay money for it. :) It's called triple layer lemon blueberry cake. We didn't have blueberries but it was still delicious! The frosting was my favorite. I replaced milk with lemon juice in the frosting. Yummy!

another day when she didn't take a nap... she falls asleep around 7:15 on David's lap. He loves it:)

it's way easier to shoot a dart gun with no shirt on!

I got this glider rocking chair at a yard sale. I paid $6 for it. I painted it and reupholstered the cushions. It's not perfect but I still love it! The only pain with this project was that two of the springs under the seat cushion were broken. I ordered some new springs on ebay but they didn't work. Our neighbor, Brother Pierre, came over and stretched some nylon from an old lawn chair across some metal plates and screwed them in. It doesn't look like it helps much but I think it's enough to take some of the pressure off of the two working springs. I guess only time will tell. I hope it lasts a while because I put a lot of work into it!

before a scouts pack mtg. I love my uniform. not. :)

stacking concentration

I tried to get a good 11 month picture four different times on April 30. Either he was tired or the lighting was bad. I finally got a few good ones. But, some of the attempts turned out pretty awesome :) (see above)

We love our sweet Benson boy! It's crazy that he will be ONE next month! He started crawling a few weeks before he turned 11 months. Within literally 30 seconds of being an official crawler, he had made his way to the entertainment center and ejected a DVD. yikes!

Excerpts from emails to Abby and Keenan:
March 31:
Abby, I loved your words of encouragement and praise about cub scouts:) I did rock my uniform. I forgot to take a picture though! It turned out fine... Other than the pasta dishes being dried out because they were made and frozen a few weeks before. Oh well. The kids still ate it.
Benson boy isn't crawling yet. He is cutting his two top teeth right now. He is eating us out of house and home!
Annika has a cold right now. She was bummed to miss nursery but we didn't want her sneezing all over the other kids. She watched the women's conf with me last night on tv. She sat and watched the whole first talk. Whenever the speaker said baptism or temple, Annika repeated the words and said "sing temple song!" (I love to see the temple). When president eyering said something about clapping for joy, Annika immediately said "sing happy and know it!". She thought he was going to sing that next:) I was so impressed and surprised with how much she listened and responded to the talks. I love how young children are naturally drawn to things of the spirit. I'm sure you have seen this with children in the families you're teaching. Well we are going to get some serious yard work done this week over spring break. We're putting in ground barrier and bark in the front yard. (Thanks to your idea Keenan!)
April 7:
David is back to work. We are all sad about that. We had a great week. We, mostly David, did lots of yard work. I will send a picture of the front yard flower bed. We put down ground cover and bark. Tuesday, I did initiatory work at the temple while David went to winco with the kids. Then we all went to Costco. And then to feed the geese by the river. The kids love doing that. Wednesday we did the bark. Thursday we went to David's cousins house to see baby pigs. They were only a week old and so cute! David helped his parents put in a sprinkler system for an acre of walnut trees they're planting soon. Friday we got to see Adam ad his novia emilee. We really think they're a good match. 

April 14:
Annika and I hit some sweet yard sales on Saturday. My best finds were the dump truck and a glider rocking chair that I am fixing up. I'm painting it avocado green and recovering the cushions. $6 for the chair! Annika asks to bring lots of things home from yard sales but she is really good when I tell her we aren't going to bring things home.
My webelos asst was released yesterday. So I am once again without an asst. hopefully I get one soon. But since we don't do scouts during the summer, I wouldn't be surprised if I don't get an assistant until September.
I am going on the trek this summer on the medical team! I'm really excited. It will be so hard to be away from my family but I will be able to get the rest of the hours I need for my nursing license for this 3 year period, which starts over again next year on my bday. I never thought I would get to go on a trek so I'm pretty excited. It's in Plymouth WA, where gma and gpa stock served part of their mission making the handcarts.
I am going to plant potatoes and carrots in the garden today!  
April 21:
We had a rough week. Benson came down with a fever on Tuesday afternoon and it lasted until Thursday afternoon. He was miserable and slept TERRIBLY at night. We're talking I was up and in his room 12+ times each night. Thank goodness both kids napped at the same time so I could nap every day this week. One morning, I went in around 7 because he was crying. I thought he was up for the day. But as soon as I picked him up, he closed his eyes while I held him. Sweet little boy just wanted to be held. He never falls asleep while we're holding him anymore so it really melted my heart. Poor baby. He was pretty much happy and normal on Friday. Annika however woke us up on Friday morning at 5:30 yelling from her room "daddy I sick". She has had a cough and runny nose all weekend. On Saturday morning, I noticed some redness on bensons neck but didn't think much of it because he has had some severe eczema lately. I went to change his diaper after breakfast and found a red rash broken out all over his torso. My first thought upon inspection was chickenpox. We were so sure it was that we told a few people and I got a sub for nursery. And we stayed home from the ward party. By the afternoon his rash wasn't looking like chickenpox at all. We finally decided it was roseola, which is a virus that starts with a fever and ends with a rash that looks just like the one bense had. It is pretty much cleared up today. We just went to sacrament mtg today so we wouldn't pass the cold or virus to other nursery kids. David stayed to teach his YM lesson. Annika and I came home and made green playdough and ate a pb and banana sandwich outside while benson took a nap. And the kids both took a long nap this afternoon. Bense slept for 2 hrs and annika for 3. And i took a 1 hr nap and then played rumikub with david. It was a good day for naps. We went out to Glenn and Kathy's for dinner. Dad came and so did heather and Nathan. I love seeing Annika play with her cousins. Adam Beus got engaged yesterday! He and emilee ran the SLC marathon. Adam carried the ring in his pocket the whole way and then proposed after the race! 

April 28:

We had a good week. I had one lazy morning where I didn't shower until like 11 am. When I stay in my pjs all morning, I don't usually get much done. I do take care of the kids. (don't worry Abby, I'm not letting you take full custody of these babies!) I really don't like feeling so unproductive. The next morning I showered first thing and we had a great morning. I finished covering the cushions and painting the glider chair! I just need to figure out how to attach the replacement springs (including the outrageous shipping), which costed literally 3 times as much as I paid for the chair. I'm happy with my sewing skills and the colors though! What do you think?

I got my second massage of my life this week. It was fabulous. I only wish she would talk less and just let me relax. 

Oh our BIGGEST NEWS of the week is BENSON IS CRAWLING! He will be 11 months old this Wednesday so he's isn't an early crawler by any means. He is much more content during the day because he can get around and find things to entertain himself.  He likes to crawl over to the curtains in the kitchen and pull them in front of his face to play peek-a-boo. He also started waving when we say "night night." 

Annika has pooped and peed in the toilet several times this week. Monday was the first time she has ever peed in the toilet. I took her to the walmart and bought some jelly beans. On the ride home, I told her that she could have a jelly bean every time she peed. As soon as we walked in the door, she announced that she had to pee and marched back to the bathroom, and she peed! I couldn't believe it! All it took was a jelly bean to motivate this kid. So, maybe she will be potty trained by this summer. 

David just got his teaching schedule for next year. He won't be teaching AVID or driver's ed. He will still do drives after school though. He will have 4 classes of World History and 1 of AP world history. And he is planning to coach tennis. He's looking forward to the changes. He will most likely go to an AP training this summer.

May 5:
Benson boy crawls all over the house now. He is much happier now. I love watching him crawl over to Annika and try to play with her or just watch her. He eats sooo much. Today I had just finished nursing him when he saw David eating a muffin and he just had to have some. 10 minutes later I fed him lunch- cheese, yogurt, and graham crackers. Immediately after washing his face, he saw David eating a burrito and started squawking for some. He seriously feels like he has to be eating whenever someone else in the house is.

Earlier this week, we were playing outside when Annika said "need go winco morrow (tomorrow) buy more juice". Funny and smart kid. She is her father's daughter on the juice thing.