Preschool Graduation

Rachel graduated from her first year of preschool last week from the Carole Billings' Preschool.  She'll attend preschool again next year, but it will be with a different teacher.  Rachel and I really enjoyed Miss Carole as her teacher!  She learned a lot this past year - like writing her name (first letter caps, the rest small letters), reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and lots of other new songs, cutting with scissors, address & phone number (still working on a couple numbers), counting to 25 (I know that's not that impressive, but I like that there's a stopping point - I've heard one too many kids count to 100 and that's too long to recite!), and learned more about rhyming and patterns, drawing her shapes and writing letters and learning all of their sounds.  Preschool has also helped her to follow directions, learn some wonderful safety tips and manners, and has given her chances to wait for her turn (in jobs, talking, sharing stories/ideas, etc.).  

It was a darling program - short and sweet and to the point.  They wore the graduation hats, sang a few songs, and got a little diploma from teacher.  Rachel did great, and my favorite part was when I stopped recording momentarily (because they were singing "Wheels on the Bus" and it was dragging on and on), and Rachel whispered loudly in the middle of her song so that everyone could hear, "MOM!  The song's not over yet, keep recording!"  Right - I'll get right on that!  She knew it was important because I was recording it for Grandma & Nana ... if only I had been doing my job correctly!  

Preschool Graduate 2012

Her biggest supporters!

Miss Carole

Sidenote stories about Rachel and these last two pictures:  Rachel had some wonderful friends from our ward in her preschool class.  Elise was her carpool buddy, and they got to know each other a lot better on our 15 minute car rides.  And Sami and Mason's moms I both adore, and Rachel gets along great with their kids.  It was nice to have built-in friends already in preschool.  Towards the end of the school year, she kept telling me about Julia in her class, and that she had talked to Julia and her mom and they really wanted to have a playdate.  All I knew about Julia is that she is so super shy - this was just my take from watching her at field trips and programs.  So it kind of surprised me that Rachel was being so adamant about having her over.  So I got her mom's phone number from Miss Carole and cold-called this poor mother, asking her if our girls could get together (and depending on comfort level, I gave her the option of meeting somewhere for lunch), but she was happy to let her come over and play at our house.  The cute mom dropped her off, and the girls played really well together.  She was over for about three hours, and I didn't hear from them for the first two hours - it was one of my easiest playdates ever.  I was happy she made a new friend in addition to her other good friends in preschool.  (Tangent, but I also loved when she would tell me stories about when other kids were not following the rules - mostly it was stories about Sabian, but it totally made me giggle and just be grateful that it wasn't Rachel!)

The next picture is her as some made up character - like Super Zucchini girl or something silly like that.  By the end of the year, she FINALLY got into the daily themes, when SHE wanted to make sure her show-and-tell and outfit matched (before then it was complete mommy manipulation or convincing on my part, and oftentimes she would win and dress in the wrong color or bring an unrelated show-and-tell item).  She particularly loved pajama day and learning about the different countries.  The last day of preschool was the letter Z and all about superheroes, so we snapped a picture of her all ready in a superman shirt and she wanted to take a zucchini as her show and tell.

Rachel and her new friend, Julia

For all you die-hard readers ... come back later for a video presentation of the glorious occasion!  My favorite song is at 1:50 for those that don't want to watch the whole thing (and I don't blame you!).

The password is:  cap

Class of 2012

My youngest brother, Cade, is graduating from high school this month, and while we were home for Easter, I took some senior pictures for him, and he was such a good sport!  Then I created his announcement in photoshop (it was my mom's design idea), and I am really happy with how everything turned out.  

Truth be told, I spent a lot of hours going through the photos, then editing, and designing the card.  But it was all for an awesome kid - he is one of my favorite people to be around, and I am so excited to see what the future holds for him.  As I was thinking about writing this post, I started thinking about him as a missionary (in a little over a year), and it made me super sad to think that he won't be living at my mom's house when we go visit family, and I got all sentimental 'cause I love him lots, but I know he'll be an amazing missionary! (tear!) So I guess I'll just have to be a good letter/email writer, and my kids will want to be too - they love their Uncle Cader.  

Anyway, congrats to Cade!  

And if you know Brandon at all, then you know that he wanted in on the photoshop fun ... here's what he came up with for Cade's Grad Announcement.  He's too funny!  

Friends on the Move

More of my Mesa friends are moving away!!  Sad times!  This tends to be a big deal to me since I don't have any "official" family here, so I make due and my friends become a part of my family, whether they like it or not.  

Some quick updates (sorry to embarrass anyone!):

Sarah - moved to Tucson to be closer to Brett's construction job site, for at least 18+ months.  Mom to two cuties - Avery & Emmett.  Kase and I went down to visit her and she has the most darling house and is doing so good with the adjustment to a new life.  With Sar, I love that it's so easy to talk with her and be myself around her, even if we haven't talked in months.  

Natalie C. - moved to North Dakota (feels so far that it might as well be Timbuktu) for Brandon's job in the oil industry.  Mom to two precious girls - Grace & Ivy, and she is such a good mommy.  Luckily, she's been able to visit this month, and it has been so fun to catch up.  She always has a positive outlook on life and is so sincere with everything she says and does.  

Natalie D.  - moved to SLC, which was a total surprise to me and it happened all so quick!  Cody's work moved him up there with some exciting business opportunities and changes.  I feel terrible that I don't even think she's made an appearance on the blog yet!  But basically, we met at Girl's Camp last year (she was another stake leader from another ward) and we had a few things in common - like we both have a girl and boy who are pretty close to the same ages (hers are Emmi & Conor).  So a few playdates later, we knew we were meant to be friends.  She was a breath of fresh air for me!  She's one of the coolest cats I know, no drama type of girl/mom, busy as can be and super talented (runs her own successful business from home; etsy shop here), has the funniest sense of humor and lingo, and is a super goal setter accomplishing many things like p90x, reading the bible, making beds and doing dishes everyday, just to name a few.  She's a great example and friend, and I'm so glad I got to know her and her cute family.  

Best of luck on their new adventures!

Some happy news is that Suzi is moving back to AZ after being in NC for her husband's medical schooling!  And the Trendler's (friends from Chicago) moved from Minneapolis to Mesa and are only a few minutes away from us.  Fun times!  

I hate to mention specific names here for fear that I'll miss someone important in my life..  But I am continually grateful for my "sisters" - Kasey, Rachel & Kacie, who are always there for me (either in person or via phone) and keep close dibs on me and love me and my kids, and I can count on them for anything.  They are amazing women and mothers, and I appreciate their examples and friendship.  I just love them to pieces! 

Old pictures of the roommates - left to right - Natalie, Shannon, me, Kasey, Sarah and kids (missing Suzi)

Natalie D.'s Moving Away GNO - Diana, Nicole, Celeste, Natalie, me, Amber & Brooke (girls mostly from MV & FG wards)

Ironic

For Mother's Day, I asked for a day to myself of shopping and errands.  Brandon finds it ironic that every year, all I want for my Mother's Day gift is a small break from Motherhood - too true!!  I was gone all day and got to shop through my favorite stores and even got to meet up with Kasey for lunch.  I came home to a very clean house with cards from the kids and fresh flowers on the counter!  And caramel apples in the fridge - yum!  And for breakfast, I forgot to mention that Brandon took us out to Scottsdale to pay a visit to the Original Pancake House (a delicious place we used to visit often while in Chicago).

So grateful for these two kidlets that call me MOM!  And I'm grateful for a loving husband who is a great support and the best dad around.

Blackmail, if needed

Glad I have this picture as ammo for Andrew's teenager years!  As a parent, you have to collect some embarrassing pictures of them along the way - it's part of our job description - and these fit the bill perfectly!  What a sweet, happy boy!  And I know it's not even close to Halloween.  We found this costume at DI for a couple bucks and couldn't pass it up just to keep in our collection of costumes.  Too funny!

Easter

For a preschool field trip before we left, we went to Peter Piper Pizza, made our own pizzas and toured the kitchen.  Then we had an egg hunt and the Easter bunny came and sang a few songs and took pictures.  She was darling to the kids!  The milk carton was a handmade Easter basket they made in class.

Impossible to get a good picture of these two together.  But at least they had fun hunting for eggs and multiple occassions.

The main reason we went to Utah was to celebrate Pookie & Papa's 80th birthdays and have an Allred Easter party extravaganza and carnival!  Nancy and the aunts really outdid themselves.  I'm glad we were able to be there.  

Keeping in mind that this was the reason that we were there, at the very beginning we wanted to grab a family picture, which we were mostly prepared for.  Rachel was not ready - she was emotional and wanted to sit on a chair.  Then followed the TANTRUM of AMERICA by our 3 year old.  I kid you not. I was so embarrassed, and we tried threatening her with anything we could think of.  We got the picture, but barely - as you can see, Rachel is a mess.  After this picture, we took her straight to the car and home to Grandma Nancy's (missing the first hour of the party).  She missed the Easter egg hunt, which I was glad because she needed to understand the severity of the situation.  Her bad behavior had come at the worst possible time ever.  But what do you do?  Her and I drove away with her screaming bloody murder, and her kicking and screaming and spitting.  It was the.most.out.of.control she has EVER gotten.  

Hale Family Picture

Grandkid picture after the party - Rachel promised to be happy this time

Morgan and Brandon with some carnival prizes

Allie, Rachel & Kennedy sporting their new glasses

Andrew easily won the best behavior award of the day!

Pookie with Andrew and Miles.  Miles is Rachel Murray's little boy and he is such a cutie chunk!

I wanted to take a picture of me and my friends :)  Kacie, Rachel, me and Leslie

Call me a bad mom, but I don't really get all that into dying eggs - luckily Gma Nancy saved Easter and she helped the kids color some eggs.  

Easter best - dress courtesy of Nana

Easter best - Bubba's first suit!!  Brandon came home with this outfit for Andrew a few weeks before.  He was at Sears looking at the tools, and on his way out he saw this and thought it would be perfect for Andrew.  He looks so handsome!

Checking out the loot!  I love my mom's spring yard!

He got the goods and now he's out!

Egg rolling and other games at Nana & Papa's

Not great of the kids, but my parents look darling!

I think Rachel was being a stinker because she was having to share Nana with Andrew.

Fun to see Andrew and Logan together this trip (about 4 months apart)

Cute girl cousins!  Kennedy, Brynn & Rach

Hogle Zoo with Grandma Nancy and Hale Cousins

Flight home by myself was a breeze - especially when you have two movie players and old fashioned suckers.  

This was one of my harder trips to Utah.  I am a big baby and don't like to be there when Brandon is not.  He is such a big help to me - particularly around bedtime.  And the kids and I both miss him, of course.  We stayed for an extra week while Brandon went back to work.

Andrew was so sick while we were there.  The day before we left, I took him for a well check and the Dr. said he had an ear infection.  So we got him on an antibiotic, but it wasn't doing anything for him, so 5 days later, I had him back into our Utah doctor (yes, we have a pediatrician in both states) and he had a terrible double ear infection, so they quickly changed his medication to something else.  He really is a trooper when he's sick, but he still just isn't able to act like his normal, happy self.

Brandon and I don't take the children out to dinner hardly ever - personal, family rule - and for good reason.  While in Utah, I took them with my parents out to dinner twice.  The first time was at a pizza buffet and they did fairly well.  I was thinking I was a pretty awesome parent.  :)  Reality check - the second time I spent half of dinner in the car with Andrew since he couldn't stay in his seat and refrain from running around the restaurant.  He also just happened to not be wearing any pants since my mom had just taken them to a garden nursery and he got soaked in some puddles.

I hate to highlight just the harder stuff, but that is all that is coming to memory - how sad!!  We also had some fun times and love to catch up with family.  We had a fun trip to the Hogle Zoo with Grandma Nancy and the Hale cousins.  I took Cade's senior pictures, and helped Kyle get set up on mint.com and start a budget.  I got to visit with sister-in-laws, go to Chris' birthday, and get a haircut from my favorite hairstylist there.  More is coming to me now ... we also got to see Hunger Games (loved!!) with four different couples and went to J-Dawgs (delish!) and I also attended a shower for Naomi.

The reality of living away from family is that when you get to go visit, you want everything to go perfect, but it usually is pretty much the opposite.  You want your kids to act perfectly and be the cute, little angels you know them to be and show everyone all their tricks and little darling things that you get to see everyday.  But it just doesn't happen when they are out of their own routine and home, sleep deprived, usually get sick, and being run around from place to place.  A normal, laid-back mom would just roll with the punches and enjoy herself regardless.  I think I'm just too uptight and too much of a people pleaser to not stress out about it.  Don't get me wrong, I love visiting our families - and how lucky are we that they are all in one place!  We don't have to pick and choose and can see our entire families on both sides every time we go up.  We truly are blessed, and for now, we wouldn't have it any other way, even though it sometimes feels a little challenging.

Night Owl

Might as well put this stuff on the blog, so that I remember what I spent my time doing on the computer in the late night hours after the children and husband go to bed.  :)

Prints for my house and one for a friend.  

Invitations and Announcements

Church stuff, fliers (technically from last year), and birthday cards