Mother's Day and More

 A bit of backtrack - Friday of that same weekend of our anniversary Reilly got to experience his first camp-out. Sort of. They DID sleep in tents for Fathers & Sons, even if it was technically in someone's back yard. (30-40 acres-ish?) He had a great time going with his Daddy and getting to run and play with all of the other kids. :) Thankfully we had some friends that offered to share their tent, because that's something we don't have yet. (All the camping we've done, you know...)

Our anniversary was actually on Mother's Day, but it was nice to mostly celebrate them separately. I always kind of thought it was kind of lame that Mother's Day was on Sunday, and we had to get up and get the kids to church anyways, but I was even less excited this year, because I thought I also had to teach in R.S.  When ALL the women were going to be there, too, since Priesthood and YW/YM was taking care of the other callings that day. But I found out the day before that I -didn't- have to teach, so that was awesome! I don't mind teaching, but it seemed a little daunting to do it in front of such a crowd.
As he often does, Jeremy totally surprised me with the Mother's Day/anniversary gift he got me. I hadn't even wanted a Kindle (at least not for the pricetag), but I was excited to get one, especially when I heard what a good deal he got on it. :) I've had fun finding some good deals on Kindle books, and we've gotten a few through the library, too. It's so small and lightweight! I've already read a couple of books on it. Katy was funny; as I got each little gift out of the bag, she promptly took it from my and handed it to Jeremy. I'm not sure why...
That afternoon Jeremy cooked us a yummy dinner and then we drove over to walk along the beach, since it's one of my favorite places. It seemed like a good idea, and I enjoyed it, but I think we'll avoid Virginia Beach, at least, on Sundays from now on. It was pretty busy, and commercial, and it didn't feel very much like the Sabbath while we were there, even if the beach and the waves were beautiful. :)

We have had all sorts of little (unexciting) things going on. Lots of story times at the libraries, parks and activities, and such. All 3 kids love the library, and get excited to go there and pick out books and movies, and to play with all the learning toys they have there. Here are R & J doing the coloring pages they got at the library today. It was the last story time for about a month, and I know they're going to miss it!

I've been trying to get up the nerve to potty train Katy, because I think she's probably ready. It's just hard to get excited about it when 85% of our floor surface is carpeted... This last week was out because she caught a cold on top of working on molars, and she's been a grouch! Some days have been better than others, thankfully. Katy is getting so big, and while I can't believe she'll be 2 next month, I constantly try to say that she's already 2, because she acts and looks it. (Other than her barely-finally-growing hair)

She would probably spend all day at the bathroom sink, if I would leave
the water running for her to play in...

The stool is her best friend. She likes to get up and
see what I'm cooking, which is usually not the
safest place in the world. She'd be happier if
I would HOLD her while I cooked, so she
could see exactly what was going on.

The 7-Year Itch?

We've been married 7 years today. (We got married on Friday the 13th) Jeremy, of course, doesn't look any different than he did when we got married, other than perhaps a few smile lines and quite a few grey hairs. I think it's a toss-up between me and Palmer when it comes to what/who caused them... Since tomorrow is a Sunday, and also Mother's Day, we celebrated tonight. (And Wednesday, when we went to see The Avengers together - we couldn't remember for sure the last movie we saw at a theater together) Jeremy got a Groupon to a neat (but expensive) restaurant called Passion. I looked at the menu before and was a little uncertain about most of the offerings. :) We ended up getting two appetizers. These are their descriptions: Truffle Fries – White truffle oil, parmesan cheese  and Chicken Satay – Sweet Teryaki style served with Chef’s Fried Rice and Eel Sauce  I had to not think about the eel sauce... They were both pretty good. After that we split an entree - one of the specials of the night, a filet mignon with blue cheese, sauteed spinach, and a kind of potato au gratin (I think). I couldn't have enjoyed it if we had paid the real prices, but with what we did pay, it was -amazing.- So delicious. It was a neat little restaurant, and I hope they have another Groupon sometime before we leave here. After that we window-shopped in the mall for a bit and then had dessert at a frozen yogurt place. (The kind where you make your own, with lots of flavors and toppings)
I can't believe it's been 7 years since we got married. We have had a lot of experiences I never dreamed of when we first started this journey together! (Pics are all within a few months before or after we got married!)

One Great Sunday

(I really want to write this down while I can still remember all the little things about it - totally just for journal purposes)
On Sunday we had a pretty awesome experience. We had an not-normally-scheduled stake conference over in Suffolk (35-40 minutes away) and Elder Russell M. Nelson was presiding. Apparently He had been in Virginia since Friday, meeting with the missionaries, the  YSA's, and doing Bishop/Stake President training, all before our stake conference session. Jeremy had to be there kind of early for choir, so we decided to make it a little earlier and see if we could get soft (close) seats for such a neat occasion.  We left our house at 7:20 and got there just after 8. The soft seats were already about 1/3 full (for the 10 o'clock meeting) and within 15 more minutes they were almost completely full! It was a little exciting trying to keep 3 kids under 5 happy(ish) and quiet in the 4th row by myself, but it was neat that Jeremy got to sing in the choir, and they actually did pretty well. (The kids, not the choir. They were awesome!) It was really neat when Elder Nelson came in. After he sat down he kept waving to all the little kids and making an obvious effort to see everyone there and did a lot of smiling. I'm sure he was tired from his crazy schedule, but he didn't show it.
The talks were really great. Our stake president gave a neat talk on temple marriage and celestial marriage. It seems like a lot of the talks addressed children, and Elder Nelson talked a LOT about children. He had all the primary children stand up and asked them to sing for him. The first suggestion was "I Am a Child of God," and I definitely cried. Reilly and Jaina both cooperated and were so cute.  These are some of the things he told us to teach our children:

To love God, to understand about His son Jesus Christ through the scriptures.
That Jesus is the son of God, and that we will one day stand before Him. 

That we have prophets, how important the scriptures are, about the restoration of the priesthood, and about the importance of tithing. 

He told us to encourage them to get an education, and to help them want to be missionaries. 

He said when he would work long hours (medical school, surgery, all that) he would come home and wake his kids up to read the scriptures with them, because he didn't know how much time he had on the earth, and he wanted them to KNOW the voice of their father reading the scriptures to them.  It was pretty neat. (It made me feel grateful that we had (finally) gotten in the habit just a few weeks before of having family scripture study every morning before Jeremy leaves for work.)  

I don't know how impressed the kids were, but we were able to get them all up to shake an apostle's hand. Katy wasn't really into it, and he gave her little hand a kiss instead. :) When we finally left the building like 40 minutes after the conference ended, he was still standing, greeting people. 

It was a really neat experience, and I'm glad we went early enough to be close enough to see all the little details and watch his face. Jeremy was a little sad that he couldn't see everyone's faces during their talks, but he still enjoyed singing in the choir. What a neat experience. I'm so grateful we weren't sick or anything. I really shouldn't say this, but we've all been pretty healthy lately...  (and I don't know why this text is white... by the way)

Saturdays... Wednesdays?

So the last three Saturdays we were busy. Really busy. That first one we were down in Raleigh, going to the temple and driving home (3.5-4 hrs). On the 28th Jeremy had to go down to a "state park" called Marchant's Mill Pond in Gatesville, NC for "Mill Pond Day?" I think that's what it was called. It was a little community get together with food, booths, health info, live music, etc. Since he was the only one (from the office) going, and he thought he'd be done by 2 or 3, he decided to take us with him. It was an absolutely beautiful day. About 60-65º and overcast the whole time, but it didn't ever actually rain until we were on our way home. We went down around the bottom of "The Great Dismal Swamp" (isn't that a great name?) and through lots of little tiny towns, which were a mix of old, falling down buildings and restored and/or new homes. It was a beautiful drive, and we managed to never even turn on the DVD player for the kids. (Pretty good for an hour and 20 minutes) It started at 10 am, and the kids and I stayed busy playing in the big inflatable bouncy things they had there, watching some cute ducklings they were raffling off, listening to the two-man band, seeing a live alligator (3 years old), checking out the habitat/stuffed wildlife exhibits inside, and eating some yummy things. I think we supported 4 different little churches between lunch and snacks. Some people were canoeing out on the "pond" (Very interesting countryside, with all the swampiness. I never realized there were so many trees in swamps!) but we didn't attempt that. Jeremy had a good time talking to all the people there and said they were all really friendly. Both girls napped on the way home, and we got back into town just in time for Reilly to attend the birthday party he'd been talking about for 4 days (since the moment he found out about it). While he was there, we took the opportunity to eat dinner with just the girls at Jason's Deli. It's a rather recent discovery for me, and I love that place! The girls loved that there is free soft serve ice cream afterwards... We love Reilly to pieces, but he does tend to monopolize the conversation. It was nice to spend some time just with Jaina and Katy!

The "pond," where the canoes were loading up. We didn't take
pictures so much, but I took a lot of video. :)

Last Saturday (Wait, that was actually Wednesday. Jeremy didn't have work at all that day, which is why I was confused about it being a Saturday...) we decided to make something happen that we've been thinking about for a while. We went through a TON of stuff, and filled up the back of our van with Goodwill donations. Always a little hard for me, but it was good to get rid of some things. Our apartment is just too tiny to hang on to it all. We moved furniture, boxes, and bins all over the house and moved Reilly into the computer/toy/storage room. His bed is up on wheat can for extra storage, and we flipped Jaina's bed frame over so hers is pretty tall too. There is storage and even some play area under hers.  It took quite a few hours to accomplish all of that! It's been going pretty well except that every once in a while Reilly decided he can't sleep in there and ends up on the couch. It IS pretty far away from the rest of us. At least 40-50 feet from our room. ;-) It was fun to change things up a little and clear out a little. We STILL have way too much stuff, but it's progress.

Those new posters are his pride and joy! He picked them out himself!

Above Jaina's bed there is now a big Disney Princess poster.
Their room is slowly becoming more girly!

We moved the dresser out of the closet,

and the toys from the computer room into the closet.
So we can close the doors and not see all the craziness!

This is just a cute picture of Katy (and her crazy
hair) in the "new" room.

SATURDAY Jeremy had stake choir practice in Suffolk for a few hours in the morning, then was home long enough to eat lunch and pack up Reilly and Jaina to go with him to help a family movie into the ward. Apparently there were two 26-foot trucks involved, and they didn't come back for over 3 hours... I think something else happened Saturday evening, but I really can't remember...

What else have we been up to? Our eating habits have shifted a little, since Jeremy hasn't really had any wheat for the last 3 weeks.  He's been thinking for a while he might be a little sensitive to it, since his throat feels like he's getting sick several times a month. We've been using less carbs in dinners, and doing a lot of steel-cut oats and berries, Greek yogurt, stuff like that for him. A little more meat, which isn't necessarily a good thing, but mostly we're just trying it all out for a while to see if it continues to make a difference for him. It's not easy, but it's a lot easier than being completely gluten-free, and it's not that hard to come up with stuff that doesn't involve wheat. For treats I've been making no-bake cookies and I just tried some spelt/oat cookies today. I wish I was closer to my mom; my dad was wheat-free for a few months possibly, so they have a lot of spelt, and a way to grind it! Alternative flour is -expensive!- So mostly we just avoid flour. :) Jeremy even tried his hand at making his own granola, see?

Here's a funny picture. Reilly's been trying to earn some extra money lately, so we revamped our chore charts (we weren't really using the old ones) and he's been doing "extra chores" to earn extra nickels and dimes. I asked him to switch the wet laundry into the dryer, and turned around to find this:

He couldn't quite reach the stuff at the bottom...  These crazy kids are so full of it. It would be easy to just let them watch tv all day, (which they would love) because the house stays SO much cleaner. But we usually try to limit it to some during Katy's nap and/or during the crazy making-dinner time when everyone feels hungry and grumpy and we're all a little crazy. They've been enjoying the warmer weather, and we've been trying to get outside a lot. I really look forward to having a yard for them to play in at some point, but there's lots to do around here, and they even enjoy playing out on the balcony every once in a while.  Here's are some pictures we took out there last week. They are cute little troublemakers!

Busy-ness.

Towards the end of April we made a quick temple trip down to Raleigh, NC. We love the D.C. temple, and had a hard time deciding which one to go to, but we were glad we picked Raleigh. The traffic was SO much calmer, and it was so beautiful down there. It was our first time staying in a hotel all in a single room (if we do hotels, we've generally tried to find some kind of suite on Priceline or something so there's a better chance of everyone sleeping). When we walking in, Reilly said, "Why is the room so small?" It wasn't really that small, as hotels go, but I guess we've been spoiled. All sleeping in one room together was a bit of an adventure for us, but it worked out. I know, poor us. We really do have super light sleepers, (including me) even though they've done a lot of room sharing and are all pretty close in age. I think I've lost about 5 years of my life already (stressing) because of this...

Waiting for Mom outside the temple

A few days later, because the kids had been asking for weeks, I finally too them back to the Children's Museum in Portsmouth. It was only my second time taking all 3 by myself, and I only lost Katy once. In my defense, about 10 minutes after we arrived, several elementary classes arrived as well, so it was a little busy. (Though not nearly as busy as I've seen it a few other times) The kids had fun, as usual, and I was grateful for our membership (Thanks, Mom & Dad) so I never feel guilty only going for 1.5 to 2 hours, and then calling it a day, even if we haven't played with everything. Trying to keep track of three busy kiddos is a little crazy in a place like that!

I don't want to think about what germs may or may not be lurking on
that box. I don't think Reilly should be a cashier...

The weather's been back and forth a lot the last several weeks, with some really hot days, and some kind of chilly or wet ones. We haven't gone to the beach anymore lately, but in the next week or two I hope to go again. The kids have been spending a lot of time playing with their toys (Littlest Pet Shops, Playdough, games like Candyland and Pictureka - Disney edition, etc.) which means a lot of mess, and noise. They have a lot of imagination and a little too much energy some days. They've also been spending a LARGE part of some days with Legos, which is great, but the pick-up is killing me. I need to get my sewing machine out and try to make something like this: http://www.dailygrommet.com/products/lay-n-go-activity-clean-up-mat

Katy with the Minnie Mouse Daddy brought her from Orlando. She loves it!

Playing with their Schleich animals. (And a Peter Pan set)

Jeremy having fun with his camera

Sacked out. She always has about 6 friends in her bed.

Well, I've done it again.

I put off blogging because I glance through pictures and think, "There's really not much to write about, and no pictures to go with it..." and before I know it I am 3-4 weeks out and there is so much I don't want to forget about, and would like to share.  So here we go, I guess.  I'll try to catch up in the next few days. (Since I know you're all on the edge of your seats, just waiting to hear from us...)

But, not right now. We're headed to MacArthur mall to get some wiggles out, since it rained like 3-4 inches yesterday and the ground is a soggy mess outside!

Here are some pictures that were taken when our kids got a hold of the camera a few weeks ago:

Beach-bumming it Around

First, a few of the things we've been up to since we got back.  It was great to be home again, and we've really enjoyed it, though we miss all our family in Arizona. We got to go to a fun birthday party of a friend, and Katy had no trouble going to nursery (thankfully - it's been a long 3 months, but she had just started to come around before our trip). We had been home for about 4-5 days (and had enjoyed Easter (see a few posts below) and Easter candy when 3-4 of us came down with a cold. It didn't seem to bother Reilly or Katy very much, but the rest of us were slightly miserable, and Jaina and I are still coughing. It was the day/night before Jeremy was supposed to leave for Orlando for a NUCCA conference, and he was a little sad that he was sick AGAIN for it. He has the worst luck with those. But he was able to have a great time anyway, and even got to go to Universal Studios and US: Islands of Adventure for half a day. He was pretty excited about this, because he has really been wanting to see the new Harry Potter World, but didn't think he'd really get to anytime soon.

In general, Katy's sleep has been a little better the last month. But she
still has her nights. This is one of them, at about 10:30 pm...

Katy was VERY impressed with the birthday cupcakes.

______________________________________
I've been here less than a year, but I'm convinced that Virginia is just a little bit confused, and has a hard time being in ONE season. Even in winter, we had 75º days, and now in the spring, it keeps going back and forth between highs of 62º and 85º. Which, with the humidity factored in, 85 is pretty toasty! We went to the beach once last week and once this week, and though the water is still pretty cold, we're excited to start doing that a few times a month. We can't live this close and not go often!! I was glad to see that Katy is more cautious this year. Last year she was crawling, and we kept having to grab her from heading right into the water. As I said, the water's pretty cold, so maybe that's why she's been content to play in the sand mostly. The first day we went it was about 70, and later in the afternoon. A little cold, but really fun, and the older kids couldn't stay out of the water. Jaina timed things a little too closely and fell on her bum in a wave. I thought there would be a lot crying and coldness, and we might have to leave, but all she was worried about is that I wanted her to sit and play in the sand with a jacket on. She wanted to keep playing in the waves! The second time was an 85º day, and it was about 11:30 when we got there. I don't think we'll go too much in the middle of the day. The sun is so intense and bright, and even though I thought we had everyone sunscreened, Reilly ended up with burnt cheeks and I felt terrible. We're excited for Daddy to be able to come with us sometime soon, and I look forward to the water warming up a little. I just remember how nice it was at the end of the last summer, well into the fall! :)

I was carrying all the stuff, but the sand was a little bit hard for Katy to
walk in, so her siblings got that job.

After her fall - still having a blast.

Not sure what she's doing here...

Modeling her new swimsuit. She stuck her stomach way out to show off
that Mommy got her a two-piece. With potty training around the corner
(hopefully) we needed to make sure our swim time wasn't too stressful...

Showing another look, with her new Minnie Mouse

Showing another look. Probably the one we'll see most, since the
purple rash guard (2T) already seems too small. She's in 24m-
2T, but I'm glad I bought her mostly 3T swimwear last fall,
or we'd be in trouble.

Our second beach trip was also a little windy!

Having a blast at Virginia Beach's Boardwalk!

Love.

Our friends that came to the beach with us!

Lunch in the sand! We had fun tossing little bites to the seagulls.

I don't know who this belonged to originally; the waves and wind were
tossing it all over. Katy was obsessed  with it!

Unfortunately for her, the other two liked it, too.