Ephalants

We went to the zoo yesterday. It may have been the most crowded day at the zoo, ever. Well, the parking lot sure seemed like it. It took me 30 minutes to find somewhere to park!
Once we were inside though it wasn't horrible. The kids enjoyed all the animals, especially the elephants and meerkats.
Now, Lulu has been scared of the fake elephant that makes strange loud noises ever since she can remember. The first time we walked past it yesterday she plugged her ears and made a great big loop around it so as not to get too close.
On the way back to the exit we passed it again and my cousin Carlos, who came along with his little sister Allie and Grandma, wanted to sit on the trunk. Lulu thought that was pretty cool, but only dared to get close enough to stand by the elephant. Even then, she looked like she may pee her pants from fright. I took a picture of Lulu and my cousins...
...and said, "Ok, let's go. We're late and there are lots of other kids waiting to get on the elephant."
Buddy was crying because he was strapped into the stroller and oh so tired. He was ready to go.
Then Lulu started to have a meltdown because she wanted a chance to sit on the elephant. I really didn't want to wait for more kids to get on. I was ready to go! But she was ready to face her fear head-on. I couldn't let that opportunity pass. So we waited again. I asked Buddy if he wanted to sit with her. He said, "No. Ephalant scary." When it was her turn again, she sat on the elephant and I backed away to get a picture right when it made the loudest noise. She jumped off the trunk and another kid jumped on before I could get a picture. I said, "Oh no you don't. Get back on there for a picture. We waited for our turn." So the other kid got off and Lulu hesitantly got back on and I got a picture:
She felt so brave. I'm proud of her.
It was a good time at the zoo, even with all of Salt Lake there too and rush hour traffic on the way home. It was PERFECT weather, and my sister Jen came along to push the heavy stroller up the hills. Worked out great.

1st Dance Recital

Lulu had her very first dance recital. She was excited to get all dolled up:
and she felt so pretty in her costume:
Ollie's mom came down to watch her perform. She was excited about that of course.
Here she is waiting with her class in her seat. She did a good job staying in her seat and not getting overly rowdy. That was impressive considering they are all 4,5, and 6 years old in her class and didn't have parent supervision over there:
Here are Daddy and Buddy. Buddy thought it was really cool to watch all the dances and would enthusiastically clap after each number:
Lulu did two dances. I videoed them from my seat, which unfortunately wasn't very close so they are a little blurry from zooming in so far.
The first dance was with her class to the song Animal Crackers (don't worry, they are short videos):


and the second was 2 classes of little girls the same age to the song Little Ballerinas:

The best part was at the very end each girl got a trophe. Lulu was so excited! She kept waving her trophe up above her head for everyone to see:

Then they took pictures of her whole class with their trophes. These pictures are pretty hilarious if you look at the expressions of the girls. You can tell they all felt like princesses:

And here she is at home with her beloved trophe. She talked about it all the way home and then put it on top of our bookshelf in the living room so everyone can enjoy it and marvel at her dancing abilities:

Good job my little Lulu! You were so brave. You didn't have any stage fright at all, and you just make the cutest dancer. I hope you always stay confident like this! It's so fun to watch.

Why now?

This little guy...
... has been having a little bit of a rough time lately.
And baby isn't even here yet. Oh dear.
He cries now when we take him to nursery. He hasn't cried in there for like 9 months, until now.
He cries when I take him to my friend's house to be babysat while I go to the doctor. I'm only gone one hour, and Lulu is there. He never used to do that either.
He wants me to hold him all the time, unless he is playing with his cars or Elmo or chasing a screaming Lulu around the house. Or destroying something sneakily. And luckily he lets Daddy put him to bed. But if I have to put him to bed, he needs to be asleep before I can lay him down or he's afraid that I'll leave him.
He stopped taking naps during the day for the most part, which usually leaves him grumpy just about the time Dad comes home and we are thinking about making dinner.
Why? Why now? Does he know that something in his life is about to change big time? He knows that I am going to leave for a few days? Is he just having a relapse to how he was when he was 18 months old, minus the no napping part? It's kind of frustrating.
But I'm just giving him as much love and attention as I can now, although he does have to share it with Lulu. Then he'll just have to adjust to his new life, ready or not, in 3 weeks. Hopefully it won't take too long and then he'll be loving nursery again. Let's cross our fingers.

The Mural

It only took me two years....
...literally - from designing it to this point. I finally almost finished the mural I've been painting in my mother-in-law's play room.
Not only was it a great big experiment with acrylic paints and painting on a wall, which is such a big canvas, but she lives 45 minutes from me and I didn't make it up too often to work on it. Not to mention feeling kinda bad to pawn my little rascals off on her for hours at a time while I worked.
What do you think? I just need to touch up some spots and make the clock fancier and maybe paint the sky bluer? Then I can seal it.
It was a fun experiment. Hopefully she thinks it looks good!

Photography Class- Weeks 5 and 6

Class is over now. It was really fun to finally take it and learn how to actually use my camera! I still need practice, of course. That shouldn't be a problem. I use my camera all the time. And with a new baby coming, there will be newborn pictures galore.
Here are the photos I printed for week 5. We were working with the manual setting on the camera, which is pretty hard because you choose the shutter speed and aperture f-stop yourself:
And here is the one for week 6. Same thing, just working on using different things on the camera instead of Auto:
We moved a little bit faster in the class than the teacher was expecting, so for the first hour of class last night on the final day, we went out around the high school grounds and took pictures. It was really helpful to have the instructor there so I could say, "Why is my camera doing this?" Here are some that I took last night:
So, all in all it was a lot of fun. I recommend it to everyone who likes to take pictures! Especially if you have a nice camera and you're not sure how to use all the features on it.

Preschool Gift

Lulu gave me my Mother's Day gift that she made in preschool today:
A cute little card tied to some flowers that she picked outside her teacher's house. She was so excited to give it to me. There was another pink page with a poem tied to her card, that she told me says moms are special.
I put the flowers in some water to see if they could be revived, as they had a bit of a rough trip home to me.
Aren't homemade gifts from children just learning to write the cutest thing? And what momma doesn't love flowers? :)
Thanks Lulu. I love it.

Daily

There are a lot of things on my daily to-do lists:
A lot of cleaning
A lot of crafting I want to get done
A lot of preparing for baby
Remember to take Lulu to her appointments
Lots of things to read
People to visit
The usual meal planning and shopping.
And the usual take care of the kids, and play with them.

Some days I feel like I'm just coasting through life, only accomplishing the part where i take care of and play with my kids. Well, I must say we have stayed pretty much on top of the menu and the shopping too. But everything else takes a back seat. Like scrapbooking. I want to keep up on the digital scrapbooking for my kids. Every few months I get a page or two done again. Here are the last 2 I did. See how far behind I am?:
I was able to finish the baby's Christmas stocking too. So, slowly but surely, I'm making progress on the list.

Then there are other days when I wake up refreshed and motivated to accomplish a lot. Those are the best days. I love at the end of the day when I don't feel like I wasted half of it on the computer or sitting on the couch. I am not sure what makes an accomplished day or a coasting day. Maybe it's the amount of sleep I got the night before? If baby #3 is or isn't putting all of his weight on the nerve of my right hip? A good productive start to the day in the morning?

Either way, I am trying to keep my perspective right so I don't get overwhelmed. The most important thing to me right now is to let my kids know that they are loved. I love being their mother. I want to spend as much time with them as I can now, before I get too tired and cranky in the coming months from lack of sleep.

And if the weather would warm up so we can go outside and play that would be even easier. Everyone is happier on the days we get outside for fresh air. Maybe that's what helps me have an accomplished day? Maybe. I guess we just need some real Spring here so I can test out that theory. That sounds good to me.