Nannie and Uncle Lars come to visit

Keely and Lars came this weekend to visit us. We mostly took it easy just seeing some friends, going to the park, eating lunch with Drew at school, and getting our nails done too! It was a great time and when they had to leave, Drew was so disappointed, he said, "I wished they could stay forever."

Keely and Drake at school lunch

One of Drew's classmate's mom waved at Keely as if it were me. She was pretty surprised when she saw me too and realized Keely wasn't me. And the kids are fascinated when Keely comes that we are twins and look alike. In fact, I went to eat lunch with Drew this week already and one of the kids was making sure I was Drew's mom and not his aunt!

Keely with Drew and Drake at lunch

Drake and Keely at the park where we fed the birds

Lars helped Drake play at the playground

Drew the Super Scientist

Drew was the Super Scientist at his school last week. He was required to do an experiment and teach the class something. He chose an experiment on centripetal force and sound. Using balloons to create the centripetal force, he showed the class that putting a penny inside the balloon and spinning it around, it was quiet because both the penny and the balloon were round. But putting a hexnut inside the balloon and spinning it around and around made the balloon "scream" with sound because it has sides and the sides were vibrating against the round balloon. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved it when the balloons made sound. We also distributed two balloons, a penny, and a hexnut for each of the kids to take home with them and try the experiment with their families.

I took the kids to see Drew's experiment, popped some popcorn, and had them sitting and watching like it was a good movie. I only had to help blow up some of the balloons but Drew did all the rest! He was great at explaining his experiment and he felt so special in his scientist coat the teacher provided.

Happy Anniversary - 11 years!

I just realized that I never posted about our anniversary! 11 years already and three beautiful children, life doesn't get better than that. We had a great date night, going to eat sushi at Mua and then we headed to Tappy's yogurt afterwards. It was great to be alone and enjoy the evening as a good friend watched the kids. Here are a few shots on our phone that we got:

House Hunting...

After the whirlwind Christmas is, January is so much slower.. and I like it. I have not been planning adventures, we have just been having normal weekends running errands, being together, and house hunting. Yes, we have began the search. And we realize, it may take some time. So, as I think about he biggest accomplishment of this year, 2012, it will be to get a new home, settle in and settle down. And if you know us, that is huge. I've also been taking time off from our adventures because we have family coming into town soon and wanted to save some fun for them. :) Currently, I am in the middle of taking my blog from 2011 and making a book out of it. I am half-way through so I am hoping to get it done in the next few weeks. Also, I just got called to be the Relief Society Committee Meeting Coordinator so I've got some events to plan!

One thing I have started this year is children's journals for each of my kids. I realize I do a lot of pictures, video, and even keep up this blog pretty well documenting as much of their lives as I can but the everyday occurrings as to the little things they do or say are now on my mind as well. I don't have to write everyday, but I am training myself to look for the one little thing I can put in their journal to show them who they are in their young lives. I am really diligent in keeping a pregnancy journal for each pregnancy and for their whole first year of life, but then it fades after that. So, I've committed myself and the journals are taking shape. I just bought composition notebooks: Drew's is black, Dilan's is pink, and Drake's is green. I wrote a letter to each of them on the first page that was very personal to how I feel about them individually, why I was doing it, and what I hoped they get from it all.

I am also going to challenge myself to write my personal history this year... don't worry I've challenged myself before a few years ago and I started but never really got a routine down and I think we lost it on the old computer anyway.

So, I am not off the grid afterall (even though this might be the longest time I haven't blogged). Just nothing too much to report... until next week. :)

Drake at 14 months

Drake cracks me up - he is a funny and adorable thing. The kid looks like I picked him up off the shelf somewhere and that he didn't actually come from my body with those blue eyes and blonde (somewhat curly) hair. He has started to wave to people after already knowing how to flirt with them for months now, clapping a lot lately for what I'm not totally sure, throwing his hands up in the air and saying, "Go!," and best of all, he willingly gives us open-mouth kisses when asked to. They are quite "yummy delicious" as Dilan would say. He likes to stand at the open refrigerator and point to things so you will tell him what they are. The kid is still holding onto his bottle even after multiple sippy cups have been offered to him. He will drink from the sippys with encouragement but eventually pushes them out of the way and won't take them anymore. We are continuing to work on that. Drake still likes to be sung to and rocked before going to bed so I willingly snuggle him and challenge myself to take the extra time to put him to sleep (not think about the millions of things to do after he goes to sleep). He is a precious little boy who is loved very much!

Donuts and Bikes

David took Drew to get donuts on New Year's Eve. They were all devoured by the evening and couldn't even stay around for New Year's Day morning. :)

Dilan chose the one with sprinkles

And the big news was that David got a bike! The back story is that Drew was somewhat afraid to ride his bike because we tried to teach him in Maryland which has hills and inclines and stuff so it didn't go very well. David had told Drew once he learned how to ride his bike that the whole family would get bikes to go riding with him. Well, David took the kids to the park to ride their new scooters Santa gave them and took Drew's bike along. It took all of about 30 seconds for Drew to take off on it all on his own. He did great! So, David and Drew went out and bought a bike so David and Drew could go on bike rides together. They are loving it. The next step is to get all of us our own bikes so we can go on a family bike ride!

New Year's Eve 2011

We decided to have some fun for New Year's Eve this year. I really want to make it a special memory for my kids and not just another ordinary day so we bought some fun supplies, decorated a bit, had some friends over, cooked some chili and cornbread, and enjoyed the last day of 2011. Upon reflection with the kids, we talked about 2011 being a good year for us as a family because we moved back to Texas and closer to family as we had been hoping for. As we look forward to 2012, we are excited about David's job at SWA becoming permanent in March, getting flight and health benefits, buying a house and finally settling down! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our table

Me and the kids celebrating with blowouts, hats, tiaras, leis, and horns!

Dilan loved the toys

Drew getting his Dad right in the face like only a good kid does

Drake trying on a tiara

With the stroke of midnight approaching, we toasted to 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!