You know it's been six weeks when ...

... Nana is back in town! During the cooler months in Arizona, my mom consistently comes down about every six weeks unless we go up to Utah, then she adjusts her travel schedule. It's great to have her come visit our crazy life! Here's a quick recap of what we did with Nana:

- Took her to the Desert Botanical Gardens and visited the Butterfly exhibit they have there right now. I thought it was so cool to be with so many butterflies. One landed on my hand and another landed on the flower in Rachel's hair.
- Arizona Museum of Youth (sorry to be harsh, but it's so lame compared to the Phoenix Children's Museum, which is unbelievable) - I don't think we'll go back anytime soon
- Painted Rachel's toenails silver to "match" Nana's gold toenails after her pedicure
- We took Nana to Rachel's last day of swimming lessons at Aqua Tots. We did only one month's worth (got a groupon deal) and it was her first experience with lessons without me right there. She did pretty good, put on a brave face, and even had fun. Although she was glad when it was over. Coach Jamie said that she did great and even floated on her back all by herself briefly. We'll do more swimming lessons through the city this summer.
- Took Nana to our favorite Thursday activity - at the mall, you can get 1 free ride on the carousel, then we like to eat at Chick Fil-A (our favorite fast food place)
- Nana pulled lots and lots of weeds, and I didn't even ask her to do it, I think they just call her name too loud that she can't even stand it. Nana also mowed and trimmed shrubs and blew away old leaves. She's an energizer bunny when it comes to yard/house work.
- Did Nana's version of "Monday Work" to my house and got it all clean in one morning (wow!)
- Nana read a ton of books to Rachel - I loved this, because I am always wishing I read more to her
- Andrew smiled lots at Nana and then he turns and buries his head, like he's shy or something. Nana pushed Andrew in the swing and he was totally terrified - he makes the most hilarious faces and grabs the ropes.
- We went to Red Lobster for dinner one night and the highlight for Rachel was when the hostess pulled a lobster out of their tank for her to see. She had no fear, was shaking his claw and petting him everywhere. I had a chicken dish - we went for Nana & Brandon who both were in the mood for lobster. I always try a bite, I'm just not a big fan.
- Went to garage sales on Saturday and found some great stuff! My favorite was a double jogging stroller with rotating front wheel for only $20. That made me so happy (not that I want to jog with both kids, but that I can get my run done in the morning now that it's starting to get warmer)! Only 12 weeks until the Ragnar Race!

- Brandon worked a lot this week, but that's not much different from how things have been going since the beginning of January. He seems to be managing the busyness well, and I feel like I've been pretty supportive and not flown off the handle too many times. :) On average, he tries to get home around 6pm so that he can see the kids and help put them to bed. Thank you for that! Many nights he goes to bed early, but it all depends on when he's waking up the next day. Sometimes he doesn't leave until 6am, but a lot of days he's up in the 4am hour and gone by 5am or earlier!

The fruits of my mom's labor in my yard - this is from the gardenia bush out back