Lowes Build and Grow: Birdhouse

Ryan took Kherington to build a birdhouse at Lowes at their free 'Build and Grow' class.  Kherington loved it, but once she was done convinced her dad that they needed bird seeds to go with it.  That would have been fine except for the fact that we don't actually have a good place to put a birdhouse.  When I signed her up I just though it would be a fun free activity to do with her daddy on the off chance he didn't have to work Saturday. She was excited about the bird seeds and put some in her birdhouse then stuck it out on our balcony.  Hopefully we don't end up with a bunch of bird poo out there.

The funny part of the whole experience was that even though they provide them with picture instructions easy enough for a kid to follow, Ryan still managed to mess it up.  Ryan is awesome, but definitely not known for his handyman skills.  Luckily he was able to pry the nails out and start over so he didn't have to ask for a new kit ;).

I only signed Kherington up since the information page said it was good for around 5 years and older, but Ryan said next time Kevin could easily join.

New Ward

I came away from our first Sunday at church overwhelmed by how many young families were in the ward and sure that we wouldn't actually make any friends because there were so many people.  I felt like we had just started to get to know a couple ward member when the announcement came that a new ward was to be created and in do so, other ward boundaries (including ours) were to be realigned.  As a result, we are now in a new ward. Our apartment complex right on the ward boundary, so just across the street is our old ward.

No going to lie, I was pretty frustrated.  At the same time, our lease is up in September and we want to find a place with a yard so we'll probably change again.  The first Sunday was just weird.  Kherington is still the only girl in her CTR4 class and the only one in her class who changed wards. I went to a RS activity during he week and actually got to chat with some members and that made the ward seem not as strange...granted, most the people I met were from our old ward also I just had never talked with them.

Later in the week, the kids were begging to help make cinnamon rolls so we doubled the recipe and took some to families in our new ward.  They really are the easiest thing to mass produce with very little added effort.  Plus they taste delicious.  Both kids repeatedly told me to make sure we kept some for us.

The Lost Pictures

I hate when I find pictures that I forget to blog, so here are a couple of the lost ones.  I now have 2 cameras, an ipad and Ryan's iphone to pull pictures so it is a little more difficult to keep tabs on all the devices.

Giormous Fat Lip

Last night, our house was a disaster.  The kid had dumped out most the boxes of toys in the playroom, pulled out all the blankets and scarves plus unloaded some of my kitchen stuff.  Kevin was jumping on the couch and fell on to a scarf. This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that underneath the scarf was a metal kitchen bowl.  Ouch.  He was sad, but stopped whining as soon as he learned we were leaving for my RS activity at the church.  Then as we were walking in the doors at the church, Kherington when to open the door, missed the handle and fell back into Kevin whacking him in the mouth again.  This time the crying didn't stop.  He wanted to sit with me.  His mouth kept bleeding.  I called and had Ryan come get him.  By the time I got home he was happy again and was showing off a cool ice cream cone his daddy got from McDonalds on the way home.  Since he was acting fine I didn't think much of it.

Well, the next morning I woke up to him next to me in my bed and his top lip was HUGE. The entire underside was black and blue.  I've seen fat lips before, but not like this.  I did some googling and from what I read, even if I took him to the dentist there is nothing they could do.

Throughout the day I was concerned that it was hurting him so I kept asking and he'd give me the 'are you stupid' look and say he's fine.  Then finally in the afternoon he comes running into my room while I was feeding Jonathan whining that it hurt. Concerned, I gave him my full attention.  He proceeded to point to his toe that he had stubbed but look fine.

The Life of a Baby

Babies have a pretty awesome life.  They sleep whenever they want.  If they whine they get fed, their diaper changed then wrapped up and cuddled.  When their poo seeps out of their diaper, through their onesie, sleeper, and blanket, they just get to sit back and relax while someone wipes them down, puts on fresh clothes and tries to get the neon yellow poo out before it stains.

Jonathan has been a much needier baby than my first two, but probably still easier than a lot of babies. I think the hardest part for me is that I like my kids to be independent and babies cannot be that.

Grandma and Grandpa Glover Came to Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Glover came in town for a visit.  The kids were all super excited and even gave up their beds and camped out in their sleeping bags in the toy room until grandpa left.  What sweet kids.

Jonathan is still a little cuddle bug, but is slowly getting better about being put down.  It was awesome having grandma around to pass him off to.

We met up with the Parentes at a park one morning and at a trampoline jump house another morning.  There were wall to wall trampolines, a foam pit, balls and even a dodgeball trampoline court.  Wednesday mornings is toddler time so for two hours it is just younger kids and they have the whole place to themselves (plus it's just $5 a kid for the two hours).  After wearing the kids our there, we followed it with the kids favorite: Chick-fil-a. 

My favortie thing about having grandma in town was that she would just take the kids and do something fun, leaving me and Jonathan with a quiet house.  They picked up some happy meals and went to the park for a picnic, and played at the tubes. I think the highlight was getting to spend two dollars at the dollar store.  Kherington picked out a matching game and a princess kite, while Kevin opted for a water squirter and a ball that lights up when bounced.  They were both super excited about it.

Grandma also made cupcakes with the kids. During one of my shopping trips I was trying to get in and out of Walmart with a whiny baby and two other tired kid and they both really wanted frosting tubs so they got them.  Now they got to actually use them.  They mad normal and mini cupcakes and they turned out pretty cute.  If I'd been more on top of things I would have given some away, but I wasn't so most of them ended up in the trash a couple days later.

It was fun having Grandma in town.  She planned her stay well and left the day before our weather dropped back down to freezing.

Jonathan's Baby Blessing

Jonathan had his baby blessing on February 16th. In addition to our immediate family who came in town, the Parente families were also able to join us.  It really is nice to have family near by and very kind of them to come support us.

Here we all are at church. Kherington had already beelined to class even though we tried to be really quick (we teach the Youth right after Sacrament meeting).