Ojai retreat

Tom's office had an IP retreat in Ojai last weekend.  The firm is really great about inviting spouses and kids to most of the events, so we were able to tag along.  

Tom was in meetings for a few hours each day so the kids and I had some fun hanging out around the hotel.

The kids spent quite a bit of time trying to squish each other.

Jonah likes to do this thing where he says, "One, two, three!" and then jumps.  Only he can't actually get off the ground.  It is pretty funny.  Here he is trying to take off.

This was a pretty fancy place so after we checked in they brought chocolate cupcakes to our room.

Note to the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa: if you don't want chocolate frosting all over your hotel rooms, don't give kids chocolate cupcakes.  This is Jonah before his ended up on the floor, frosting side down.

 And here he is after.  Harper is really great about sharing and she was happy to let Jonah have a little of her frosting.  He dove in face first.

 Jonah loves to wear shoes.  If he sees shoes sitting around the house, he will put them on and walk around for a while.  This has led to lots of abandoned shoes around our house.

The hotel had a big cage with some parrots in it.  One of the parrots, Casper, was very verbal and would say "hello" and bark like a dog.  This is Harper's response to Casper laughing hysterically and swinging around the cage.  Jonah's reaction was to run away screaming.

 These two love each other.

 When we were checking out they gave us these gigantic strawberries.  I hope the hotel doesn't mind all of the strawberry juice that ended up all over our white bed.

 I love these guys :)

My best friend from high school, Cynthia, and her husband Eric (who I also went to high school with) have lived in Santa Barbara for the last few years.  We visited her once . . . about three years ago.  Cynthia and Eric have joined the Peace Corps and are moving to Cameroon next week, so I was happy that they agreed to meet us in Ventura for lunch on our way home.  I have been really terrible about keeping in touch with old friends, but Cynthia is really great and it was so good to get to visit with her.  And Eric too.

 Jonah was completely exhausted from our trip.  Here he is on the couch after we got home.

Visit from Gramps

A couple weeks ago Tom's dad was able to stay with us for the weekend.  Tom has been planning and saving to build a new mega-super-awesome computer for several months now, and he finally had all of the parts so Reid came down for some computer building fun.  We really enjoyed having Gramps here, especially Harper.

Dear God, this is me Harper.

The sort of thing that makes a parent tear up: Harper prayed last night that she could eat ice cream without "getting itchy."

She has come to the point where she really takes note of what she is allergic to.  When she was little she would just pretend that things she liked could never make her have an allergic reaction, but she has now decided that getting super itchy is not worth the joy of eating things she likes.

I too pray that one day she can have dairy ice cream like most people without worrying about the severe itching that results if she has some now.

Happy birthday Harper!

Our sweet little girl turned 4 today.  We have been celebrating all week because Tom is really busy at work right now, so we have been trying to fit in a little fun here and there.

A few things about Harper . . .

• She always wants to make new friends.  We go to the mall near our house a lot (too often) to play in the treehouse-like thing that they have.  Harper always befriends a kid while we are there and she is so open to meeting new people.  I wish I could be more like her.  Recently she encountered some girls at the mall that weren't very nice to her and Harper was so confused about why they didn't want to be her friend.
• We went to Disneyland for her birthday this week and Harper was finally tall enough to ride on some of the big kid rides so Tom took her on Space Mountain.  We were nervous that she was be terrified but after the ride Harper said that she wants to go on more fast rides so she can be happy.
• Harper calls Jonah her "best boy."  I love that.

• She is getting much better about eating foods, though her favorite things are still chicken nuggets and goldfish crackers.  She is also very aware of her food allergies and tells all kinds of random people about what she is allergic to, even if they don't ask.
• Today she told me that when she is bigger and when she is 4 she is going to have a job and Daddy can go with her.

• She has inherited Tom's volume and she speaks very loud.  She also sings very loudly in primary.
• She has inherited my bossiness (she is the oldest after all).  If I tell Jonah not to do something, Harper will follow him around and make sure he doesn't do it.  This morning I yelled upstairs to Tom to come help me put the kids in the car, and Harper proceeded to stand at the bottom of the stairs and yell at the top of her lungs, "Daddy, come help put the kids in the car," over and over and over.

• She loves primary and is always very anxious to get to Sacrament meeting afterward (we have Sacrament last).  I am teaching primary so it has been fun to watch her :)
• She is a goofball.

• She is very empathetic.  If Harper sees someone else crying, she will start crying too.
• Our main frustration with her right now is that she always justifies a bad decision.  If I say, "Harper, don't grab toys from Jonah," she will say, "It's okay, he is sharing."  She has a reason for everything.
• She can be pretty crazy.  She loves to run around in circles, jump and climb on people, and make crazy noises. 

• Her eczema is finally on the mend after several months of craziness.  Thank goodness!
• She loves apples and generally has one for breakfast and one for a snack in the afternoon.  If I offer her something that she doesn't like, she will ask for an apple instead.
• She really likes to be read to and lately loves Fancy Nancy.  She usually asks to take a nap with her Fancy Nancy books.

She even got one for her birthday

• She loves to make people "birthday cards" which basically means she takes a piece of paper, scribbles all over it, and then folds it in half.  Carly and Kelly, you should be getting one of these in the mail soon.  
• Today in primary they asked Harper if it was her birthday, to which she replied,"Yes, it's right now!"  Last night our ward had a progressive dinner and the gym was decorated with balloons.  Harper totally thought it was a birthday party for her.

 I sure do love this sweet, spunky little girl!  Here she is opening some of her presents.

She got some new dress shoes.  Both of my kids LOVE shoes.

And some new boots.

My Mom got Harper this pretty print for her room.  I like it so much I think I need one for my room now.

big boy bed

A couple of weeks ago we started to have a problem with Harper climbing into Jonah's crib.  This led to Jonah getting squished a pushed around a little bit, but it also inspired Jonah to try to climb out on his own.  We decided to end that before it became a problem and converted Jonah's crib into a toddler bed.

After we put him in his bed the first night, he was pretty upset.  I think he thought his crib was broken.  But ever since then he has loved it.  He has the freedom to get his own books before he goes to bed and when we get him up in the morning he has at least 10 books in his bed with him.

Easter 2012

The day before Easter we went to the primary/nursery Easter egg hunt at the ball field behind our chapel.

Harper did not want her picture taken. 

When Jonah realized that there was candy in the eggs, he pretty much just tried to go around to all of the eggs and take the candy out. 

On Easter morning the kids opened their Easter baskets and were thoroughly spoiled.  

 We were running late for church so I didn't get a photo before we left.  Here are my unsuccessful attempts with my phone before the kids went down for their naps.

I may have to dress the kids up in their Easter clothes again this week and try to get a better photo.

the sisters visit

I have finally recovered enough from Carly and Kelly's visit to have the energy to post about it.  Let's see if I can remember all of the things we did.

We visited Rodeo Drive (Kelly did not want her picture taken) and got Sprinkles cupcakes.

Went to the beach.  It took a while for Jonah to get used to the sand.

 Harper loved it.

 Harper had her first dentist appointment.  I know, I was supposed to take her like a year ago, but I was really nervous that she was going to refuse to open her mouth or start crying.  She ended up doing a great job and not having any cavities, yay!

 We did some shopping.

Ate Indian food.

 Made the kids new Easter baskets.

 Went to the Griddle Cafe for breakfast (yummy Oreo pancakes!)

 Visited the Walk of Fame.  Harper was the only one that would let me take her photo :(

 Took a picture with the Hollywood sign.

We also went to the movies, ate at the Counter, went to the Grove, and I can't remember what else.  It was fun, but I am tired!  These guys are 10 and 11 years younger than I am, so it has been a long time since I have spent this much time with them (they were just 7 and 8 years old when I left for college).  I am so grateful that they were willing to spend their spring break with me :)

Lately . . .

We finally cleaned off our balcony and the kids have been having lots of fun running around.

 We went to our friend Zoey's birthday party.  This little man loves cupcakes.

 Tom and I celebrated our 6th anniversary.  Of course that deserves its own post but if I put it off it may never happen.  We had a really great anniversary, starting with Hunger Games + The Counter on Friday night, Clementines for breakfast + Yogurtland + shopping on Saturday, and church and then watching a Megamind as a family on Sunday.  And also these BEAUTIFUL flowers showed up.

Yesterday we picked up these guys from the airport and they will be spending the next week with us.  Harper is heaven!

 Jonah really likes to put on Tom's shoes and walk around the house.  He is so sweet, I love that little smile!

so sweet

This morning Tom had to get up obscenely early for work and he couldn't find his wallet or his keys, so I got up along with them.  A couple of hours later I heard Jonah crying in his crib, but he stopped about a minute later so I finished cleaning the kitchen and then went upstairs.

When I got upstairs Harper was in Jonah's crib with him.  Jonah was sitting up and Harper was snuggled up to him and they were playing with some toys.  She told me that Jonah was crying and she wanted to snuggle with him so he would be happy.  So sweet.

A visitor!

A couple of weeks ago I get a text from my sister Kara asking if she could visit.  Yay!  We don't get a lot of visitors, and I know some of you have been in LA and not told me, so we were pretty excited.  Harper particularly loves visitors and she had a blast with Kara around.

And, in addition to Kara flying in, my sister Aubrie and her family were going to be at Disneyland this weekend too so we headed down there on Friday.  It was a gloomy weekend and I didn't want my camera to get rained on so forgive the camera phone photos.

Harper and Hailey on the Jungle Cruise

Waiting to ride the carousel.

When we got home from Disneyland I was pretty tired and I had a headache so I went to bed pretty early.  I got a phone call from my brother around 11 letting me know that he had just proposed to his girlfriend so I will be getting a new sister-in-law this summer!  I was so out of it from being asleep that when Chase said "I'm engaged," I said, "Who is this?"  I had no idea what was going on, but I am very excited.

On Saturday we hit up John O'Groats for breakfast.

Kara was kind enough to watch the kids in the middle of the day so Tom and I could go to the movies.  It is really weird to go somewhere without the kids in the middle of the day.

And then when it stopped raining we waited in line for some Sprinkles Cupcakes and then went shopping at the Beverly Center.

Harper was really fascinated with Kara's makeup.

On Saturday we went to Santa Monica so that Kara could get a run in and then went to lunch.  Kara even gave us haircuts on top of all of that!

 Kara we are so glad you visited us this weekend and you are welcome any time!

And, if all of that wasn't enough, my Mom called this weekend to see if my youngest sisters could visit us during spring break, so stay tuned for more posts about visiting sisters in a couple weeks :)

roxbury park

I am so grateful for the camera on my cell phone.  It isn't perfect, but without it I would miss out on photos like this:

Mommy and Jonah at the Mall

Mommy and Jonah are spending some quality time at the mall.