Chandler Fair

Day 2 of Spring Break. We hit up the Ostrich Chandler Festival. I originally wasn't planning on going, mostly because fairs can get so expensive, but I figured it was Spring Break and we should have fun. William was at work, so I went solo with the kiddos. It was a bummer Taylor and Kendall were too short for a lot of rides, but it allowed us to not stay as long and therefore not spend as much money. These fairs are such rip-offs. But hey, at least the kids had fun.

Kendall's Girls' Night In

First day of Spring Break! Logan and Taylor were late passing out a note/invitation to their friend of choice, but we got two of Kendall's friends to come, Brooklyn (Brookie) and Baylee, both friends from church. The girls had so much fun making jewelry and watching 'Moana'.

Alexis: 7 months

Aww, look at her. She looks so grown in this picture. She's even looking right at the camera and smiling. I could just eat her up. 

This month, Alexis decided to willingly give kisses. She even makes the 'mwah' sound. She can roll over and over to get herself from one side of the rug to the other. She has started grabbing onto stuff in order to pull up. She voluntarily pinches people to get a reaction out of them, but she also does it to calm herself down when she's tired. She's in the mommy stage and doesn't let anyone hold her, except the girls at the gym because she knows them, and daddy, but only when mommy is nowhere in sight.

She babbles a lot lately. Mama, dada, yaya, wawa, and lala are parts of her new vocabulary. 

She is such a joy to be around. I love that Logan, Taylor, and Kendall are old enough to really enjoy this stage. They love her so much, and she loves them. No one kisses her more than Logan, no one makes her laugh as hard as Kendall, and no one is a sweet to her as Taylor. She is one lucky baby.

Kendall: gymnast and cheerleader

Kendall got to be a part of the Perry High School Puma Cheerleaders for the day. She had so much fun that we decided it was the perfect nudge we needed to get her signed up for the Haley Elementary School White Tigers Cheerleaders next year. She will be awesome, I can feel it. And being a gymnast will help her so much. She totally has the personality for both. She's always doing tricks on the ground, the couch, and her bed. Like, her feet are hardly ever on the ground. And she makes the funniest cheers, like this one "Alexis, Alexis, you're so cute. You're so cute even when you poop." Perfect, right?

Happy birthday, Daddy

William had the day off, so we went out for sushi, with this little cutie tagging along.

That night, we went to some famous steakhouse in Scottsdale. Honestly I can't remember the name of it, but it was pretty good. I say 'pretty good' because it was yummy but overpriced. I think the ambiance is really what we paid for. It was definitely a fancy restaurant, as in so fancy they don't have a kids menu and our kids were the only kids in the whole place. Also as in so fancy girls were dressed in their sluttiest mini skirts and I was wearing my mommy jeans.

William and I started a diet a couple of weeks ago, so we try to be careful about what we eat, even on special occasions. But William doesn't really love cake anyway, so we made him an ice cream sandwich cake, made with his favorite ice cream sandwiches. Haha. He loved it!!! And Alexis was fascinated by the fire. And it took us a really long time to light up all 36 candles.

Happy 36th birthday, old man! He may be in his late 30s now, but he's still a kid at heart. I love this boy-man! Mwah!

Valentine's Day

I love having Paul and LeiLani so close. They watched Logan, Taylor, and Kendall while Alexis, William and I went out to dinner at Fleming's. If I had known that Alexis would sleep the entire time, I would have left her, too :-) Although she probably wouldn't have slept long with all that noise that 6 kids can make when they're together.

I had to do a little re-do of our Valentine's Day picture 3 years ago, when Logan and Taylor were 4 and Kendall was 2. It still cracks me up because Kendall's reaction to the kisses was so genuine.

We made Valentine's Day boxes for school and the kids did a great job. Kendall's even lit up.

For dinner, we made cheese-filled heart pastries and had cherry 7-up with vanilla ice cream. Easy peasy and the kids loved it.

Kendall came home with this from school. It lists 10 of her favorite things:
1. pitsu (pizza)
2. iscrem (ice cream)
3. family
4. candey (candy)
5. food
6. chacalet (chocolate)
7. mom and dad
8. bozs and grls (boys and girls)
9. chuz and suks (shoes and socks)
10. and tits (and tights)
Yes, that last one made me laugh out loud. I actually had to ask her what she had written because I could not figure it out.
And white we're talking about humor, I have to share something that the kids did this month. I could hear them all giggling in the boys' bathroom, so I knew something was up. I went in to check up on them to find Taylor pooping in the toilet, Logan standing over the bathtub and peeing, and Kendall squatting over the sink and peeing. WE HAVE 4-1/2 BATHROOMS IN THE HOUSE!!! It's not like they have to wait for their turn. I stood there for a full minute, trying to decide if I should be mad or laugh it out.

William surprised me with a stuffed animal, some Dove chocolates, and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Unfortunately, I only got one piece because Kendall ate the rest, in one sitting. Logan and Taylor were so sweet and replaced the chocolate pieces with some of their own candy. I sneakily put it all back in their bags, but the thought was really sweet and appreciated.

Daddy-daughter dance

Kendall went to a daddy-daughter dance at school. She had been looking forward to it for weeks. It was actually really fun for me to get her all dolled up for the night. We put some pink in her hair, curled it, pulled it back in the front, painted her toe nails, got some heels on, borrowed some of my jewelry, and even put mascara and lipstick on. 

I think one of my favorite parts was that William rang the doorbell to pick her up, and she was so surprised because she hadn't noticed him sneaking out through the garage.

They had a lot of fun eating pizza, dancing, and hanging out with friends from school. She always looks forward to one-on-one time with daddy, because it's always so fun and special. I love that they have that special bond, even if they also push each other's buttons a lot.

Alexis: 6 months

Alexis is 1/2 year old! How is that even possible? When I was pregnant with her, I remember wondering if I'd ever feel like she belonged with us all along. I mean, there is a whole 5-year gap between her and Kendall. Well, now that she's here, I know she was meant to be a part of our family all along. And the kids are sooooo good to her. 

This month, Alexis started eating other types of solids, like sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, and squash. 

She's also really getting into everything. She is so curious and wants to touch and taste everything. I have to be careful about what the kids give her, because she puts it straight into her mouth. I've already had to finger-sweep her mouth multiple times because she found paper and was eating it.

She has also mastered sitting on her own, although sitting in the cart is a little trickier. She got her first pigtails this month, too.

She got her first 2 bottom teeth, only 3 days apart, and likes to bite down on stuff. Her babble is getting cuter and cuter. Lots of bababa, bobobobo, bebebebe, and she even said mama once.

Alexis loves to be outside, play peek-a-boo with her carseat cover, and rip off grass (and try to eat it). She also really enjoys pinching me for some reason. Actually, I think it calms her down. She does it a lot when I nurse her and when she's tired. She often falls asleep messing with my ear or pinching my nose, or pinching the back of my arms (that one hurts a lot). And when I tell her to stop it, she laughs at me. Yep, she's a little stinker, if I haven't already said it.

Alexis: 5 months

Oh, this sweet face... She melts my heart. Like, seriously, my heart is one giant puddle, on the ground. How did I ever live without her in my life? 

It's so fun to see her little personality develop. She is one determined little stinker, that's for sure. She knows what she wants, and she doesn't stop until she gets it.

For example, if she doesn't want to sleep in her crib, she'll cry and cry until I get her. And since she's got me wrapped around her little finger, she ends up napping in my arms. I know it's going to come back and bite me in the butt, but I'm actually sorta kinda enjoying it. I just sit there, doing absolutely nothing, except stare at her beauty and innocence.

This month, Alexis started eating rice cereals. She makes funny faces when she eats it and it cracks me up. But she's doing a pretty good job. Like, 3/4 of every spoonful actually makes it into her mouth. She is also starting to sit up on her own. She went on her very first carousel ride and train ride at a really cool Winter Festival at the Princess Hotel. Also new this month, she likes to sing along with me. I think she likes to hear the sound of her own voice. I wish I could bottle that sweet little voice and listen to it when she's sleeping. Or when she's 12, or 18, or 30 years old.

New York, New York (Daddy-Logan trip)

So, this happened. And it all happened in one week. That's including the planning, people!  

William found out he had the week off. So then he wanted to go on a trip. But vacationing with a baby ain't easy. People do it, I know. But I'm too comfortable at home, with my routine. So William came up with the idea of taking a kid on a cool trip, just him and the kid, wherever they want, as long as it is in the US. First up was Logan. Oddly enough, Logan wanted to go to New York City. Yeah, I was surprised, too. Maybe it's because we saw Home Alone 2 the other night? Anyway, so that conversation happened Friday. Saturday we were looking at flights and hotels. They left on Tuesday, and they came back on Friday. Phew. 

Obviously, I wasn't there, so telling the details of the trip is kinda tricky. I'll just tell it the way I remember William and Logan telling me.

They left from Phoenix on Tuesday. That night, they ate dinner at a pizza place, supposedly the best pizza in New York City. They walked around Little Italy a little bit, then they went back to the hotel because it was late.

Wednesday, they ate breakfast in the hotel room. They went to see the Statue of Liberty, went to a museum, walked around Battery Park, saw the bull ("where people were lining up to touch the bull's balls, mom!"), walked around China Town (where 2 Asian guys were street fighting and one guy almost landed on Logan!), went to a Cirque du Soleil show, ate dinner at the best Italian restaurant in Little Italy (because Logan wanted to go back to Little Italy so badly), saw the big Christmas tree, and shopped on Times Square. 

Thursday, they went on a bike ride through Central Park, saw Ground Zero and the memorial, walked by the Empire State Building (the hotel view was so good they thought $160 wasn't worth it to go up to the 102nd floor), ate dinner at a Steak Restaurant that is apparently famous, went to the Blue Men Show, and went back to Times Square for more shopping.

So, it was a busy couple of days for these boys. In the meantime I was home cleaning up puke for 2 kids. Yeah, that was fun. Ok, but seriously, we had some fun, too. We ate out almost every night because making dinner didn't make sense. And we went to multiple playgrounds and bouncy places. Ok, so that's probably how they got sick... Ahhh.

Oh, and while Billy and Logan were away, Logan wrote me some notes. I guess he was missing me :-) One the first one, it said "Dear Mom, I love you. Your the bes and luckyesed mom in the world. Love, Logan." On the second, it said "Dear Mom, your the coolesed and awesomest mom in the world. Love, Logan." On the third, "Dear Mom, your so prety. Your the best persen in the world. Love, Logan." And the last, "Dear Mom, your the generest mom in the world. Love, Logan." He is such a sweet boy. I AM the luckiest.