Union Station Museum

 The latest earning system in our house are beans! They have these vases that they need to fill to the top with beans in order to earn a super awesome outing. It seems to be helping since they can visually see their progress (and so I can remember their progress as well)

So with beans being so little I had to stretch further than the normal "picking up your clothes" bean. It had to be great work making your bed, sharing your drink, not yelling when angry, sharing your snack, taking turns, not hitting, repenting of your mistake (which they earned handfuls of beans for this one), etc. So within a 3 weeks they had their bean vases full so off we went to the museum.

 My girls had so much fun!! :-) I'm not sure if it was because this place was empty but they got to play with everything. (the conductors thought they were so cute so they were spoiled with tons of attention)

 Pulling the train horn. (I have no idea what it's called (-:  )

 I just liked how this picture came out of them playing on the hand crank rail cart.

 More playing in different types of trains.

 Quick break to play with the train set.
Now to play with the model train that runs through this display.

 After looking through the train exhibit we went into the gun exhibit. I was alittle worried but the man who worked there told me that the cases are bullet proof so they're child proof. He must not have met "A Lily" then. She's one of a kind piece of work who can break "unbreakable" things so just in case I kept her close to me. (-:

 "Look Mom... it's a clothes hamper." says Lily. Great teaching moment on what a gun safe is.

 I challenged my girls to find the tiniest gun they could find. Lily found this one (above) and Ducati found this one(below) After she seen it she told me several times that she wants a baby gun for her birthday.

 Playing with old phone booths. They enjoyed this alot.

Taking a breather before we go outside with our personal conductor guide.

 I'm not sure why but my girls love measuring themselves against wheels. They did this while at the air force museum and here they are measuring themselves against the wheels of this steam engine train.

 Running the length of the mail car train. They kept saying, "It's so BIGGG!!!"

 Now touring the hospital car train. It's so interesting to me to see where and how the injured WW2 soldiers were cared for. Here's Ducati pretending to be the train doctor in his bathroom saying, "OK I'll go pee." I had to hurry and grab her before she pulled her pants down.

 After the guided tour I let the girls run around the train yard and burn off the little bit of energy they had left.

 Now it's lunch time.  A picnic by a train is always more fun than lunch at home.

 Alittle bit more climbing inside the trains. Lily loved it. I learned that Lily isn't afraid of heights. Great thing to learn :-)

 Ducati on the other hand was freaked out. She held onto everything and anything to ensure she wouldn't fall off the train. So after I took this photo she asked me to take her off this scary train. So I left with Cati and let Lily play alittle bit longer.

As we were leaving I took this photo of my 2 special girls in front of the steam train when right after the click the train horn went off.... and that thing is LOUD and it scared the daylights out of us.
Here we 3 were standing on the sidewalk screaming our heads off when I seen a few people pass us laughing their heads off. This helped my girls and I changed our screams into squeals. A funny moment to end our fun day.

We had alot of fun today. I admit that I'm not a big train fan. But I guess that shows since I don't know any train terminology.  I don't know anything about trains except that they run on tracks and the fare is going up on the Frontrunner in April. :-)
But my goal as a mom is to teach and expose my kids to so many new things. Because honestly I'll never know their interests, passions, or talents unless I show them these new worlds outside my comfort zone. So today we tackled trains. And it was a success. :-)

I love Spring

On the first day that the temps were higher than 50 our kids ran outside to cure their case of cabin fever. 

 After running around the yard like a bunch of crazies they went right for the trampoline. And Oh My! Did they enjoy this long over due jump time.

 We're all so happy that spring is finally here. Lily and Cati have made plans to plant a garden, play on the trampoline everyday, go to the park once it dries out alittle, go for rides on their scooters/bikes, and color our entire cult-a-sac with chalk. Did I mention all in 1 day? We better get started :-)

11 years old

Mason is 11!

Where did the time go? 

Today while decorating our living room I was reflecting these 11 years. First, I can't be that old to have an 11 year old. But that happens when someone has a child at 18. Second, 11 is such a tough age. The in-between stage of childhood and manhood. So these next few years might carry some difficulty with all those teenage "weirdness" that happens to someone. But that's alright. Now is the time to start teaching him the manners of a man. Last, I truly love him. Even though Mason and I bump heads more often than ever I love him so much. Heavenly Father gave me the gift of a "gifted son". 

So to celebrate his birthday we, as a family, did whatever we could to make this day special.

With Mike working today we woke up Mason alittle early so he could open his gift from us. 

 It was comforting to hear him gasp from excitement. We did good!

 (Skylanders are always a good thing for 11 year olds)

 And usually we allow our kids to play hooky from school on their birthdays but today Mason wanted to attended class. He wanted to celebrate his birthday with his classmates. Cute but a sign that he's growing up. So I made him his special birthday wrapped lunch. And sent him off with 30 packages of cookies for his classmates.

 After school he went on a Grandparents date where they spoiled him with a new shirt, new coat, and another Skylander.

 And now our family celebration. Hailey made and decorated his birthday cake. She wanted to do a service for him on his birthday. Sweet gesture ♥

 But first he opened his gifts from his sisters.

 A T-rex book from Lily

 A coupon book from Hailey. Her coupons are good for 1 bed making, 1 dessert, and 1 load of laundry (<---- I'll take that one)

 And Ducati gave him a Boston hat since it had a "B" for big brother. So cute to go shopping with her.

 Cake time!

I wonder what he wished for..... I can take a leap and say it's for another Skylander.

After gifts, cake and some pizza we headed out for last activity.

We went to see the movie Oz.

   photo source

Side Note: this movie was OK. My family and I were so super excite to see this movie. Plus with the rating of PG Mike and I didn't think about checking out certain websites on what the movie contains. Plus it's Wizard of Oz! But for the PG rating it seemed more like PG-13...or at least borderline.
Our 3 girls were scared 90% of the movie. I admit some things were questionable for me. But then again Mike and I are strict on what our kids watch. We feel honored that our kids are not desensitized from all the media garbage. We enjoy wholesome family movies and this is one we would not have taken our girls too. But since we were there for Mason's birthday we didn't want to walk out (which we've done before). But thanks to Mike's quick thinking he picked up 2 small popcorns and gave them to the girls. This helped our girls concentrate on something else other than their fear. Thank goodness for popcorn! :-)  

But Mason liked the movie but then again he likes all movies.

 He enjoyed his day so much. He kept saying this was the best day ever. Mike and I were so happy to hear from him that he enjoyed his birthday.

Another side note: When Mike got off work he picked up some things I needed from the store. When he came home he gave me my bag of purchases and some flowers. He thanked me for giving him a son. ( ♥ melt my heart why don't you) Honey, don't thank me. Thank Heavenly Father who knew I needed Mason more than I ever knew. That through God's plan you were able to gain a son. 

But hey.... I'm not going to let some beautiful flowers go to waste. :-)

Patriotic Program

At school Hailey and the entire 1st grade put on a performance this afternoon that was 100% adorable!

I recorded the entire program which I'll later burn onto some disc for family. So since I didn't take any pictures I just took some snap shots from the video so I can post them on our blog.

The kids sang beautifully. They sang,
*Coming to America by Neil Diamond
*Pledge of Allegiance by Irving Caesar
*This land is your land by Woody Guthrie
*America the beautiful by Katherine Bates and Samuel Ward
*What's more American? by Kadish Millet
*God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood

 I loved how even though these songs are familiar to most everyone these kids added their own twist to it. :-)

I must write down that I really thought it to be astounding that the kids were able to recognize God in school. I've read to many articles about the pledge being changed to take out the word God. It's sad but very common now. But here is Hailey and all her little friends in bold lettering, "God Bless the USA". Really awesome to see :-)

After the first grade performance all the students along with their guest went back to their classroom to enjoy some refreshments. Which means cake and juice. :-)

Everyone in the first grade did such an amazing job. And Hailey did a fantastic job especially since she was able to conquer her nerves. And I admit that I cried alittle when they all sang, "I am proud to be an American"- it was just so cute to hear their sweet and gentle voices singing this song. It's one of my favorites. :-)

Discovery Gateway

With everyone healthy again (which is super nice) Lily asked me when she can start going to field trips.

So today we skipped our home-school lesson and went on a field trip to the Discovery Gateway.
With the help of a deal site we paid half price on admission which was super nice :-)

Here's the photo gallery of my cutie pies:

 there was a school field trip on this day which made everything so crowded. But thankfully the school stood together. So when everyone was upstairs we came downstairs. And when everyone was downstairs we headed upstairs. Nice part of this split level museum.

 Lily asked me if she can get piano lessons. I swear this child of mine is more advance than I give her credit for. :-)

 My girls loved this water play place. They spent most of their time here.

 

After playing for a while we headed outside to have a picnic with the helicopter. My girls loved this idea. So the entire time we had lunch they would take a bite of their food then run back to play and just kept doing this for about 20 minutes.

 While Lily pretended to fly the helicopter Ducati would just pose in a certain place, yell for help, and wait for Prince Charming to rescue her. These 2 girls are completely different in every way. It can be challenging to find things that they would both enjoy but it can also be fun to learn more about each of them.

After 3 hours of playing we finally headed home. Just in time for naptime. This momma needed that break. :-)

5 years closer to Forever

    4 kids who came along on our anniversary dinner date
 + 1 amazing man who loves me more everyday              
    5 years closer to Forever ♥♥♥♥♥

Dr. Seuss and Jack

When my kids came home and told me that March 2nd is Dr. Seuss's birthday I knew I wanted to do something special.

A fun photo of Lily from a Dr. Seuss free app

After picking up Mason and Hailey from their other dad's I had the idea to have a family movie night. Lorax, Horton, etc. with some eggs and ham for dinner. A few snacks. And maybe print off some coloring pages.

But like usual my plans changed when Mike and I started bickering that we need to spend time together. So my mom came to the rescue and agreed to watch our kids and carry out our party while Mike and I went on a date.

So while my mom was partying Seuss style Mike and I went to dinner at Settebello's. And to not be bias but this pizza was the BEST EVER!!!! (enough exclamation points- I don't think so)!!!!!!!!!!! And we've eaten alot of pizza from lots of different places both in Utah and elsewhere- Chicago, NYC, LA, and none are even close to this place. I had a Celiac attack within minutes of eating it but I did not care! It was too good to pass up :-)

Afterwards we seen the movie Jack and the Giant Slayer.

photo source

My 2 cents about the film- Hummm..... it was....interesting. We liked it but we would have wanted to wait for Redbox instead.  A short fairy tale turned into a 2 hour movie with more action that really necessary. And this movie is definitely NOT a kids's movie. (<---- by our standards) Mason wanted to see this movie but he knows to wait until either we see it or I can find some reviews online. And WOW! I am thankful we seen this movie. I was slightly uncomfortable with all the killings and even more uncomfortable to see so many little kids in the theater. So this movie will be something he will have to wait to see until he is 13 just like the rating suggests.

Anyways back to our double date weekend. This date really helped Mike and I stop bickering. It gave us the alone time we needed to talk, re-connect, and stay focus on our future. And the kids had so much fun with grandma. They loved the party. The next day everyone filled me in on the details on their Dr. Seuss party.

So even though my plans changed everything worked out for the best. :-)