Mia's 5 Months and Eating...

Mia- 5 months old


We decided to see if Mia is ready to eat some real food. She's been showing a lot of interest in what we are eating and tries to reach out and take our utensils while we're eating. I know she LOVES ice cream already, so we decided to see if she likes rice cereal.
Here she is, getting syked up to eat:



Here she is trying to feed herself:




And some more cute pics:





She mostly just wanted to suck her thumb:



It wasn't her favorite, but she choked it down. How could she like that gooey stuff after having the sweet cream of the ice! We've spoiled her taste buds. Oh, another reason we're trying to get her to eat is because she has decided she doesn't want to take a bottle. Just about a month ago we tried to give her a bottle and she FREAKED out. I was very perplexed. This meant my freedom was GONE! We had planned to go to Las Vegas for our anniversary and now it looked like it was going to be the three of us... Not so romantic. I searched the internet for a cure, bought a twelve dollar bottle, borrowed bottles and tried many different nipples, but to no avail. Finally, last Saturday we went on a long date and couldn't take Mia. I got a babysitter that I knew could handle the situation with the whole bottle thing. I told her good luck and we left! I guess she tried to call us on both of our cell phones, but we didn't hear it with the music blasting! (We were at the 2nd chance prom) So she called her mom and she told her to burp her and then try again with the bottle. She took it! She gobbled it right down! Yaaaaay! Now we'll just have to keep trying and hopefully she'll keep it up. Yaaay for my awesome babysitter!! She took this picture of us. Cheesy I know, but it was tons of fun!! Who doesn't want to dress up like a princess once in a while?

Easter Fun

To start off our Easter festivities, we did the traditional coloring of the eggs. The kids couldn't wait. They'd been asking me all week and I finally got the patience and courage to do it! I had a lot of helpers this year since my sisters Mariko and Naomi and my Mom were visiting. It wasn't too bad. They each got to dye 4 or 5 eggs and do whatever they wanted to them. We only ended up cracking 1 egg I think. Pretty good considering Jacob wanted to dye his eggs all by himself. I think he had the most fun sticking his white egg in the dye and watching it magically turn into a different color. Pretty cool stuff!






The Easter bunny comes to our house Friday night so we can save Sunday for more religious, spiritual stuff. He left Easter baskets filled with goodies for each kid and even Mike and I. The kids get a new Easter outfit, a couple of toys, and lots of treats.


The kids forgot that the Easter bunny was even coming. They went downstairs and were very surprised.




Then it was off to the Easter egg hunt. We went over to the park by where my friend Emily lives. They were having a neighborhood egg hunt and we butted in! We just had to bring 12 eggs for each child. There were actually quite a few people there which made it pretty fun. They let kids aged 5 and younger have a one minute head start, then the rest joined in. And it was all over in less than 5 minutes!

Here they all are, waiting for the hunt to start. Jacob couldn't wait and started picking up eggs all over the place.




Then the hunt begins:




It was a mad rush! Jacob was so cute trying to find eggs. He would run to one, pick it up, put it in his basket, and then run to the next one. Then it was time to go through the loot. It was like Halloween, opening and sorting and such.





Here's their Sunday outfits:

It was a nice, enjoyable Easter Sunday, other than the fact that my family all left that day. It was fun having them here and we look forward to the next visit!

FORE!

My family visited us last week and it was actually pretty nice weather. My dad was debating whether or not to bring his golf clubs. I bet he was glad he did. It was a beautiful day last Tuesday so we decided to take Asia and Ethan to the junior golf course at Sandcreek. They even got to use their own clubs. They thought that was pretty cool.



They have both been golfing before, but that was last year. They needed to be reminded of some things, like how to swing without hitting others and to hit the ball in the right direction! Ethan got the hang of it right away, but had to swing a few times to actually hit the ball. He got a little frustrated at times, especially when Asia would hit her ball farther than his. But he had fun for the most part.




I tried to help Asia with her swing:



Grandpa tried to help her as well:



But she mostly wanted to do it herself. She golfed like a hockey player! It was pretty cute. She could actually hit the ball better than Ethan! We called her Happy Gilmore. And then she also just wanted to ride her golf clubs like they were horsies. Funny girl!




I think we all had a pretty fun time. I wish I could golf more often, especially on sunny days like that one.

Chicken Pox!!

A couple of Sundays ago, conference Sunday to be exact, we were getting ready to bath the kids when I saw this on Ethan:




He said they started appearing Saturday night and that they were so itchy. Poor guy. I put calamine lotion all over his spots, which he hated because it was cold and it took so long to dry. He even had his chicken pox shot, just not the booster. I guess it could have been worse had he not had one shot.




He didn't get a fever or anything. He just had annoying, itchy bumps all over him that he had to scratch. He did ok though. I had him stay home from school Monday and Tuesday. He thought that was awesome! By Tuesday his spots were scabbing up and he was driving me crazy at home so I sent him to school on Wednesday. He didn't realize that when you miss school, you still have to do the work you would've been doing had you been at school. I picked up a whole packet of homework for him and he hated it! 2 pages a day is enough, let alone 4 pages of math and 5 pages of language. Now he won't think it's so fun to miss school! Hopefully my other kids don't get the dreaded spots! One kid is enough to quarantine!

Spring Break 2009!!!

Warning! Picture overload and waaaay too long post ahead! Have fun reading! We had a great time as a family down in Las Vegas! It was so nice and warm there! I needed that weather break so bad. We drove about 9 hours to get there. The kids did great on the drive. Jacob freaked out towards the end because I think his legs fell asleep or something! Poor kid. Maybe we should've stopped more so he could stretch his legs! This is how the kids were situated for this trip:



I love, love, love our dvd player in our van!!! Even Jacob would watch the movies and we wouldn't hear a peep out of any of them! They are great travellers. I packed a special bag for each of them, filled with new toys and fun activities to do. I told them that if they were good for each hour of the trip they could choose one thing out of their bag. Asia would ask me every hour to get something out, but Ethan couldn't care less! He got a couple of things out, but mostly just played his DS and watched movies. Jacob didn't quite get the jist of it, but he still was exciting about the new things to play with. He even got to color and play with clay.

It was bedtime when we got there so we all got ready for bed and all slept really well. We stayed in a resort just off of the strip that had a separate bedroom for Mike and I, a hide-a-bed for Ethan and Asia, and pack n' plays for Jacob and Mia. It even had a full kitchen and a continental breakfast every morning with snacks in the evening. It was a great stay and a great deal. I wanted to get pictures of our room so I could remember what it looked like, but I kept forgetting! We only went out to eat once (yummy Japanese food) so we could spend our money elsewhere. We brought some leftovers from home so I didn't even have to really cook.

Anyway, the next morning we had our breakfast and went to Mandalay Bay to experience the Shark Reef. It was pretty fun. They gave us each little phone things to listen to what each exhibit was all about.




They had crocodiles, komodo dragons, all kinds of fish (of course), and all kinds of sharks. Jacob loved to run (he doesn't walk anywhere anymore!) to every exhibit and say fishie, fishie! They had a couple of see-through tunnels where you could walk through and the fish would swim all around you.


Near the end they had a shallow pool where you could touch sting rays. Asia was a little cautious at first, but once she touched one, she didn't want to leave!



Ethan wasn't scared at all. He almost dove right in with them! He liked the sting rays, the sharks, and the jelly fish. He wanted to take a few pics so here are a few of his shots:
Mia and I with the jelly fish:


A star fish:


A shark:



Jacob running away again:

Daddy and Jacob:


Jacob watching the fishies:


On the way to the Shark Reef they have this projection on the wall where you can "swim" on the wall with the fishies. Pretty cool!


After the shark reef we went back to our hotel to swim. It was almost 80 degrees that day! So nice. I kept forgetting to bring my camera down with us to the pool, so no swimming pics. Oh well. It was a pretty nice pool with a hot tub and tons of lounging chairs.

The next day, Ethan wanted to see the pyramid, so we went to the Luxor. They used to have a bunch of Egyptian exhibits, but they were all gone. So this is what we got to see:


Pretty lame, but the kids enjoyed it. Then it was off to NY NY because Asia and Ethan wanted to ride the roller coaster. They were too short for the roller coaster, so we just played some games. Jacob saw the Dance Dance Revolution game and didn't want to leave! He loves music and dancing. It was so cute to watch him push the buttons and dance to the different music:



Here's Daddy and Ethan playing a game that wouldn't end! They were in heaven. Who says you can't buy happiness! And it was only a quarter!


Here's us in front of the "Brooklyn Bridge":


Then it was off to M&M world. It was basically 3 level of all kids of M&M paraphernalia that you could buy. We got to make our own concoction of M&M's, watch a 3D movie with the glasses and everything, and go through how M&M's are made.





Here's our 3 and a half pound bag of M&M's. Ethan chose white and silver milk chocolate ones. Asia chose mini M&M's and Easter colored ones. I chose peanut, peanut butter and almond ones. YUMMY!


Then we went back to the hotel to swim again. It was even warmer! Loved it! Then it was dinnertime and off to Circus Circus. We watched an acrobatic show and looked at all of the stuff we would do the next day.
Here's us waiting for the show to start:



A fun day.
We spent our last day of vacation at Circus Circus riding all of the rides. My batteries died on my camera so not too many pictures about it. Here's Asia and Ethan on the carrousel:



Here's Mia having fun and Jacob not so much!


Here's Asia having fun on the hot air balloon ride:


Here's Asia not having so much fun!


She had just gotten off of the roller coaster that scared the poop out of her! Almost literally! She was fine, at first, and actually excited to go on it. So was Ethan. So they both went on it together. As soon as the harnesses went over them, Asia started crying. Then they were off! I was surprised that they were even tall enough for this one. It had 2 corkscrews and 2 loopdy loops. Asia cried the whole time and Ethan just closed his eyes, he said. We probably won't be doing roller coasters again for a while!
We went back to our hotel to eat dinner and then go swimming again before bed. We brought down cookies, Cheetos and root beer to snack on while we swam. The kids were in heaven because we don't usually eat stuff like that! That was the end of a fun-filled vacation. This is what we drove through coming back to Idaho:


So much for 80 degrees! Welcome to spring in Idaho!