A Birthday To Remember

Another guest post by Mommy:

If ever I am feeling down about myself or worrying that I might not have any friends, I'm going to need to reread this post.  I tell you what.  I have great friends and a fabulous husband.

My birthday was last Thursday.  I wasn't expecting anything big.  My passes to Disneyland are long since expired and so I knew I couldn't repeat my Disney birthday from last year.  Pete seemed to have something in mind and was planning things which was more than he has done before.  The week seemed to be a long one.  Siena and Cara's preschool teacher had fallen ill and they were asking me to help with things and I just wasn't used to feeling like I had a job!

On Tuesday night, I found a little note on my bed.  It was my first clue.  It was my first clue in my multi day scavenger hunt.  By the end of Wednesday afternoon, I had found 23 clues....

As you can see, there was a wide range in tasks.  I was able to visit most of my friends homes, even run some errands at our library and let my girls ride a carousel.

And my night wasn't over.  I went to my parents house after teaching at the gym for a joint celebration with my dad for his birthday.  I received a text that told me to return home and get ready for someone to pick me up.

I then was greeted by two friends who led me with two more clues to a Yogurtland gift card and then was whisked off to see a large group of my friends from church waiting for me.  And I thought it was over.

But then while eating yogurt, my dear husband walked in and tried to blind fold me.  I refused to be blindfolded but promised to keep my eyes closed.  I was led to a car where I thought maybe Pete would take me away to Vegas, but then I was listening suddenly to a recording that I wasn't understanding. I became impatient and opened my eyes to discover my friend, Sarah, in the driver's seat and my friend Iva in the back.  It was awesome.  All my friends gathered around my car suddenly yelling "You are going to Disneyland!!"  And we drove off.  Okay actually we drove off so I could double check what Pete had packed for me and for me to get my wallet...yada yada yada.  It was actually very sweet to stop at home because Siena gave me the BIGGEST hug of excitement.  She was so happy for me.

And then we drove off into the night.  It was amazing.  My two friends, Sarah and Iva will be moving as summer begins and I have been heartbroken.  I will miss them dearly.  But we had a great 36 hours together!

We ended up having a churro eating contest because
we couldn't bring them on the ride!

We love Disneyland!!

They even bought me a birthday cake!

Birthday magic on Toy Story Mania!

And then we did something I had never done before!  Early that morning we had been the very first ones on California Screamin'! We even had a whole roller coaster to ourselves! We decided to finish our day by being the very LAST people on Peter Pan.  It was awesome!!

Walking out of Fantasyland...

 But then we had to run over to California Adventure which was still open to get some churros for friends... which led to more birthday magic...

We got a set of pretzel bites for free!

And then a snap decision to also be the last run on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.  Oh that was one was so worth it.  I'm pretty sure the cast members thought we had been enjoying the vodka lemonade in Cars Land!

Such a FANTASTIC way to end my birthday.  Actually...I wish I could say that's where it ended but we still had to drive home and that involved driving 10 miles in the wrong direction and me *ahem* tossing my pretzel bites from motion sickness...that hasn't happened to me in YEARS.  It was really quite funny.  Not even the least bit queasy while on the roller coasters...in the car for 30 minutes and up those pretzel bites came.  Oh well.  It made it even more memorable.

I tell you again.  My husband and my friends are amazing.  They were all in on it.  My family was kind of in awe.  I love that I had people who cared for me so much!  Thank you thank you thank you.  Can't wait to see you what you do for my THIRTIETH next year!! No pressure!

Updates....

Guest post by Mommy:

I feel like it's been a long time since I wrote down what my girls are "doing" at this particular moment in their lives.  They change so much and so quickly and have such delightful quirks that will soon be forgotten if I don't write them down.  Which I don't.  So most of them are gone.  Oh well.  I'll just let that go.

Siena.  Oh Siena.  She was very obsessed with turning 5 and A HALF on her half birthday.  She loves to say half.  She's become quite the conversationalist.  She makes observations about what people are doing and is starting to listen to the lyrics of songs on the radio and wanting to know what the song is about.  Sometimes that can be awkward and lead to a station change.  If she's not talking, she's singing and if she's not singing, she's humming or trilling or dancing.  She loves to sing songs that she knows or just makes it up.  She "practices" her gymnastics everywhere.  If she's in a living room, she's lying head first off the couch and practicing a headstand or flipping her legs over or trying to do cartwheels or jumping, etc.

She loves to say "Oh my gosh" and "what the heck" in a true movement into full on girl status.  If you tell her some new information or kind of new information, she'll say "I didn't even know that!" with what sounds like genuine awe.

Oh my and she loves to hold the twins.  She and Cara know exactly which twin they are holding 9 out of 10 times without being told by an adult.  (I think the adults are only batting 6 for 10.)  She will play with Lexi and likes to hold her and feel in charge of her.  It's very strange for me to watch because I remember what that felt like.  Feeling so grown up or just being able to care for a baby.  Of course Lexi is actually quite rambunctious and Siena isn't quite strong enough to "hold" her anymore, but she does  a great job with the six pound light weight that the boys are!

Oh yes and Siena loves to hug and kiss me still.  Even when I don't want to be hugged or kissed. And then I look like a really awesome Mom as I yell out "DON'T KISS ME! Gaa. Don't touch me." And every parent looks at me and says "you will beg for those kisses later..." WHATEVER.  I don't in this moment.  I'm sorry!

Cara.  My darling Cara.  She can be a real pill.  She's one of those kids that the old nursery rhyme of "when she was good, she was very very good, but when she bad she was horrid." applies very much to.  She has quite the temper and is very deliberate, but she can be so sweet.  She loves to be helpful and loves going to preschool (in fact if she doesn't have preschool it can set off one of her moods...)

I think she's more "active" than Siena was.  She loves to jump from couch to couch instead of just sitting.  Although she's much more likely to just play in the dirt than jump on the tramp.  She's definitely more solitary than Siena.  She likes to play with kids, but tends to find herself on her own involved in her own make believe.  It took her a lot longer to warm up to the twins or at least to the idea of "holding" the twins.  She thought they were cute, but didn't exactly want to touch them.  Now she holds at least one of them for a minute whenever we see them, but that's enough.

Her facial expressions are always entertainment worthy.  She's so expressive! And she even makes them when she is just playing herself and talking in her head!  We are still battling a thumb sucking issue, but she's old enough now that I can ask her not to suck it or tell not until bedtime.  I figure we were probably looking at braces anyway!  She still loves to cuddle and ends up in our bed just about every night, but I kind of enjoy it.  Until 7:15 when she starts to wake up and begins using her feet and hands and head to stroke any and every body part she can find.  Again.  I know.  I will miss it.  But not at the moment!  Oh and a funny quirk lately has been that she rolls up every drawing she does like a map and then just hands it off and doesn't care about it.

She's also turned into a very picky eater.  I don't know if we will ever reach more than 30 lbs.  Except for the fact that she loves french fries!

My girls do make me happy.  I wish I was better and thinking up or documenting exactly what they "do", but it's just not one of my strengths!  I will tell you that Disneyland and earning money for Disneyland is a constant topic in my house.  Any money or change that they find or earn goes into a bucket so that, as Cara puts it, "Our tickets can work again!"  They sleep talk about Disney, they pretend they are the ride operators (using very accurate wording) with their dolls "Keep your arms, hands, legs, and feet inside the ride and oh I almost forgot! Have a nice ride! Bye!"  They crack me up and make me miss our annual passes all at the same time.  Maybe next year......

The Preslars? Again?

Yes!  My cousins came again!  We did another bookended trip.  We saw them for Easter and then they came down to us just three days later!  This time it was different.  Aunt Rachel didn't come with them.  She got a whole weekend to herself in her own house without kids.  (Sounds very boring to me.)

We tried to make the most of our warm weather for our Northern friends.  We went swimming and played outside on the tramp and swing set, and we even took them to Zion for the first time!  Well Uncle Troy had of course been there but not the cousins!

We had lots of fun.  There was minimal fighting and only a few tears every now and then. Such fun.

This one is Daddy and me.  We come out so fast, we are a blur!!

There was one scary moment in Zion when we lost Cara, but Mommy only had to panic for 10 seconds before she could see Cara walking up the trail with a nice man helping her find her family.  Mommy still looks green when she talks about the realization that we didn't have Cara....

Backpacking

The night before we left to go to Salt Lake for Easter, I didn't sleep in my own bed.  I didn't even sleep in my house.  Instead I went backpacking with Grandpa and Uncle Nick and Sophie and Savanna.  We went to our annual spot at the Vortex and this was my first year without a parent coming!

I had so much fun and promised to be good for Grandpa!

I tried to learn the harmonica!

I tried oatmeal and liked it
thanks to the Coco Puffs Grandpa added!

Grandpa has since informed on me to Mommy about some of my more finicky eating moments, but I at least tried everything!

Easter

We decided to spend Easter with the Preslars and Oma and Apa.  It was such a wonderful weekend.  Salt Lake City even cooperated and gave us some very nice weather.

We had a slightly early Easter morning and Cara came home from church and fell asleep during her turn on the beloved Preslar iPad!

And then it was off to Oma and Apa's house for a fabulous Easter Egg hunt with many wonderful eggs hidden by the lovely Mary and Hannah.

The Loot!

We very much enjoyed our time up north.  There was much cousin love shared.  I think that we played with our cousins non stop from the time our eyes opened until they were forced shut.

Kindergarten Registration!!

Yes, it's true!  I got registered for kindergarten.  It was pretty anti climatic for me.  I was hoping to actually go TO kindergarten but I have to wait until August.  Still I'm pretty excited.

However, Cara wasn't so happy.  She was pretty distraught at the fact that she wasn't going to kindergarten.

Vanity Plates....

My parents did it.  They got what they call a "vanity plate".  And they love it! And I love it! But then Daddy will get randomly self conscious.  I mean, don't we all question what a vanity plate means to the people who have them?  Not everyone knows that the NAME of our car is "Mozzy".  Get it?  He looks like a wedge of mozzarella!  Ah regardless we are most proud of the big "U" in a world filled with "Y"s.  

And on an unrelated note, we just had to show off a picture of Colt with his eyes open.  Carter proves much more difficult to get wide eyed and alert.  They both are just so tiny still!  Not quite 5 lbs!!!

And an addendum to our last post.  Cara and I have become obsessed with killing a chicken.  One day while driving to preschool I asked Mommy how a real chicken became a food chicken and she told me.  They cut off the chicken's head and remove all the feathers and most of the time the skin and now Cara and I spend our drives dividing up the chores.  We all take turns getting to cut off the chicken's head and then get all the feathers off.  Mommy says "Ewwww" a lot.