May continued...

I turned 31 on May 10th.  I was a nervous wreck about turning 30 last year and didn't really do a whole lot to celebrate.  I kept thinking maybe I should have made a bigger deal about leaving my 20s, so I decided to make sure I had a bit more fun this year. 

On my actual birthday I was spoiled with many beautiful flower bouquets from friends, and got to talk to my Granny Clark and my family for a while.  Later in the day I took the kids out for a picnic lunch in the park and then a sitter came to watch the wee ones while I went to meet Ryan at his work.  We had a really lovely dinner at Benihanas (what a show that place puts on!), and then he took me clothes shopping.  What a treat it is to shop for yourself sometimes! ha.  

The following day I went out to dinner at 'The Original' in Portland with some girl friends.  It was totally delish and we had such a fun night topped off with dancing at Lola's room for 90s night.  Hilarious times were had by all and I can't wait to go back again.

Well, the only bad part about that night was that I stayed out way too late and then had to give a wee talk at 9am church the next morning.  It was actually a really nice experience though.  I got to talk about one of my favourite people; my mum.  The rest of the day I was waited on hand and foot by these wee handsome devils...it was such a lovely Mother's Day.  

 Here's the card Ryan got me for my birthday...I love his, "Oh, wait..." comment! Funny. I also received an amazing new camera.  Starting with the flower pic all the remaining photos were taken with it...I'm in love with it and so enjoy learning to use it. 

These two wee girls have been getting into a lot mischief lately.  But look how utterly lovely they are!  I can't stay upset for too long, but really they are quite the duo...it's mess after mess, and chaos wherever they go.

 This one is still the ringleader and the biggest bossy boots you ever did meet! 

And the follower...although, she does try to stay out of trouble, it's just that Olive bullies her into being naughty:) 

 On the 18th, Jack's school, Joan Austin, had it's annual fundraiser community festival.  It was so cute seeing Jack get mega excited about showing me around the school, introducing me to his friends and the staff.  He is such a good boy and I'm so proud of how well he's getting on.

 Last Friday we met Ryan at Safari Sams in the evening and used our Groupon to let the boys play on the jungle gym, bouncers, and play mini-golf with Ryan.  The wee girls and I followed them around and had our own fun. 

  Unfortunately, we learned near the end of the evening that our friend from our ward had passed away.  It is so utterly devastating as he has left behind his wife and three young children.  We are grateful that he is no longer suffering, but he will be missed by so many terribly.

Jack has been working diligently around the house earning money from chores to buy different Lego sets.  He loves the Monster Fighters and here he is with one of his favourite guys, his Dad, building the Werewolf set.

 Peter has been attending a music class every Tuesday morning for the last 6 weeks with a small group of children in our ward.  He has some major intense passion for the Chimes, and the Ocean Drum to name just a couple that he talks for endless hours about! Ha.  I'm excited to see him develop his love of music even more, as I have always known how much he likes to sing.  

I also just recently signed Peter up to attend a Preschool two days a week this coming Fall.  He'll miss Jack being gone all day this next school year, and although he is great friends with the girls, I know he will thrive on having some other wee pals and a nice structured learning environment a couple days a week.  

 Callie came up to watch our wee ones yesterday so that Ryan and I could both attend our friend's funeral.  Afterwards, Ryan decided to just work from home the remainder of the day.  It was really nice to be able to go out and enjoy the returning sunshine with him and the kids for a bit after he was done.  We don't have much of a garden, but I do really love the closeness of our two wee parks and how clean they are kept up along with the gorgeous green surrounding grassy areas for the children to play on.  It was a sad, but beautiful day to appreciate and feel so grateful for our special loved ones.

May already

I have a lot of friends who say Instagram has ruined their blog and I may be falling into that group.  But I also never blogged that frequently anyway, so as long as I can get at least one post a month in I feel like I'm doing okay.  

After we booked the tickets for Scotland I was, of course, really excited, but I also haven't wanted to think about it too often because the wait can be torturous at times.  But May is already moving faster than April and I can only imagine how quickly June will go until the big day arrives.  Soon I may be doing the opposite and panicking that I'm not quite organized to leave for 4 weeks.   

Jack will be done with Kindergarten on June 12th.  When we were at the park the other day a wee girl asked Jack how long he had been in kindergarten.  His response was, " I don't know when I started going, but it was really long time ago."  What?!  No, it wasn't that long ago, and I'm really beginning to feel my age with him getting ready to start 1st Grade and my birthday tomo.

He's a handsome, silly, extremely energetic wee guy and I'm always so touched by his heart! He enjoys a good cuddle and says, "I love you" so freely to each of us.

Peter is also as silly as ever, and insists on pulling his version of a funny face whenever I try to take his picture lately.  He continually has me either laughing hysterically or pulling my hair out.  June 15th can't come soon enough for my wee boys.  This year for their big day we are having a Jake/Peter Pan theme.  It brings back some brill memories for me of my own childhood when they watch Peter Pan; it was definitely a favourite of mine and my wee brothers.  

The weather here has been incredible the last couple weeks and my lovely wee ladies have not wanted their shoes off!  They are obsessed with going to all and any parks, but more specifically the swings.  On occasion it can be quite the dramatic ordeal when the time comes to leave.  I'm now having to adjust to having two toddlers and the tantrums that come with their age, but thankfully, they are really lovely the majority of the time and I don't give me much bother at all.   

Before, during, and after Easter

We hadn't made it out to the zoo since December I think, so one afternoon when the weather was just lovely I loaded all the wee ones in the car and we took a very spur of the moment trip.  We arrived an hour and a half before closing time....and by far this was the greatest time we have ever had there!  Everyone was on their way out as we headed in and it was like we had the whole place to ourselves.  We walked briskly to see all our favourites, but that's what I love about having a pass, we can just see our favs and not worry about having to cram in everything each time we go.  I will definitely be getting another pass next year.  

The twinners seemed to really enjoy the animals more this time than ever...just their age I guess.  Jack hadn't been so keen on the idea of going, and wouldn't you know, he was running around like a nutter the whole time, having the greatest time of his life.

 Lately, we have been out to the Woodburn Outlet Mall a lot.  We had a whole big carry on with a pair of shoes Ryan had purchased out there, so the kids and I made about 3 trips out to get it all sorted.  We didn't really mind though, because my children are completely obsessed with these silly rides that cost an arm and leg for a 30 second (ish) ride, but more importantly there is a Disney store there (which has also cost me an arm and a leg).  I love it too though.

 We bought some goggles recently, but haven't used them yet in an actual pool.  I'm hoping to get Jack and Peter into swimming lessons soon.  I probably should have before now as they both really love the water, but  for now these three are loving wearing them around the house as they pretend they are deep sea divers.  Olive won't let them anywhere near her face. 

 We started out our Easter weekend with a two massive packages of yummy chocolate from Granny McArthur and a box of goodies from Grandma Liz.  It is never a good thing when Granny sends that much...well, it is, but it's just mostly terrible because I can not control myself!  I know where Peter gets his love of chocolate from!  I never eat sweeties over here, but the second chocolate from home comes, I loose it! 

Anyway, Saturday we went to a Easter hunt in Jaquith Park with our friends and got loads more sweeties there.  It's all split into age groups. Poor Peter didn't get much from his heat, but Ryan took him over to Jack's after and let him participate in that one too because there were hardly any kids in that group.  They both scored big time, while I had the girls over at their hunt.  We followed Ryan's strategy to run past all the other kids to the farthest eggs and then work our way back...worked like a charm.

 The Easter bunny brought them a few nice wee things that they looked through before we headed out to church for a lovely service. 

Callie and Zoe came up afterwards for dinner, egg decorating, a lovely walk, and some cupcake making/eating.  We had Callie snap a few pics of us, but it might actually be impossible to get all of us looking and smiling at the same time.  

 We did get a few cute one of the wee ones together.  Notice Peter's face in the bottom left pic....I always laugh out loud when I see it!  That boy is something else! 

 Finally, as Callie's husband, Josh, has been away (and still is till June), at an army training thingy, we have seen a little more of her and Zo Zo.  I have really loved watching these three wee girls interact and hope they have a really great friendship as they continue to grow.  It does make me wish that I was closer to my nieces and nephews in Scotland and Adelaide all the more too though.  I feel so sad that they can't see them more often, but we are going to make the very most of our time with the ones in Scotland this Summer.  

Oh, I actually can't wait!

We finally did it.  After a few pesky months of trying to figure out Ryan's work schedule, sort out whether or not we were going to take Jack out of school,  and coordinate my friend's availability.....oh it was all a bit much and terribly overwhelming (only for me, I think), but the tickets are now booked and I am on cloud 9 about it.  

These wee cute lads are too.  Jack wrote it on the calendar and we look at that magically exciting word  often; wishing the days away until we get to board the plane.

It will have been 2 1/2 years since my last trip home and to have only two weeks there just didn't seem fair.  Ryan couldn't take any more time off of work and, so my dear friend, Catriona, who has been my bestie since we were 11 yrs old is flying back with me (she has no idea what she's gotten herself into!Ha!)  She'll then stay here with us for a fortnight...brillso...the holiday that keeps going! Again, she's in for a right shocker of a time with my four wee ones, but thankfully, for now, she can hardly wait.

June 17th-July 15th.....what a great time it will be! 

Jan-March 2013

At the end of last year we took a visit to the new aquarium in Milwaukie.  I was a tad disappointed.  Maybe just because I had built it up in my head to be really great...not that I actually had a reason to do that, but I just expected a little more.  My wee ones still really loved it though and that was the important thing.  Jack still loves sharks and everything ocean related, so he was pretty eager to dress up in the Hammer head shark costume and touch the sharks and stingray as they passed.  In the spring they were supposed to be getting some seals and puffins, so we may have to take another trip back sometime during Spring Break.  

Our Valentine's Day traditions are fairly simple; we make each other some lovely handmade cards, the wee ones get some fun goodies and we get a yummy Abby's Heart shaped pizza for dinner.  I was completely floored by the amount of Valentine's Jack got from school.  He made a great folder to hold them all in and was very generous in sharing all his wee sweeties with Peter.    

Jack had his two front teeth fall out in February.  He always gets a little upset when any teeth fall out, but then he remembers that the tooth fairy will be visiting and he becomes very excited.  When asked by anyone what he's done with his tooth fairy money, he immediately replies, "It's in my piggy bank for Scotland!"  I did not tell my kid he needs to save anything for Scotland, but oh how happy it makes me that he wants so badly to go and spend time with his family there.  He is my budding little artist boy; drawing at every opportunity he gets.  I can't get enough of his artwork and love that as soon as he sits down to draw soon enough the whole family (bar Ryan due to being at work) are sitting around the kitchen table drawing along with him.

Peter has been learning to write letters (there he is with his first 'm' that he wrote without any help).  I am still shocked by how eager he is to keep up with Jack...he may be a wee bit competitive actually, ha! 

I have been thinking about whether or not to put him into some kind of preschool next year when Jack is gone all day at school, but I may just do some more at home stuff with him myself.  He gets on so well with the girls too that he won't be lacking in wee play pals.

He has been asking me for chocolate at least once a day..heaven help me...that kid is a blooming chocoholic.  He's so excited for Easter, I guess that makes sense since there is so much chocolate involved.  

Penelope has been playing 'Mummy' a lot.  It's great fun watching her feed her wee babies, but FLIP, she's still a wee baby herself...at least that's what a keep telling myself.  

Olive is the funniest wee girl I have ever met! She's been singing up a storm lately and will come sit with me for ages during the day just to have a good sing-a-long...we have a brillso time together! 

In February my very first roommate ever at BYU came with her husband to visit us.  They moved to Seattle after being married last year and for so long we have talked of getting together.  Finally it happened, and it was just so lovely to visit with her and meet her new man.  The last time I saw her Jack was a newborn, so she was really excited to meet the rest of my brood.  We won't be leaving it 5 years till we get together again that's for sure!  I love you, Kat!  

Lastly, just some cute pics of my wee ones that I thought I'd throw in.  After I got this new laptop and got some photo programs on here, I think I got a wee bit too carried away with all these collages! Ha. It's quite fun though, isn't it?! 

Dear Penelope,

Hiya Gorgeous girl!  I just reread the letter I wrote to you back in Nov.2011.  It was so funny reading that I called used to call you "wee Madam"; my, how you have changed.  I remember thinking that Olive was going to be my mellow child always and you my little outgoing, social butterfly.  How strange that you would reverse roles.  

You are still very dainty and gentle; a mere 20.5 pounds (at your check-up recently due to an ear infection, sad).  You're due your eighteen month check in a few days though, so we shall see if you are still the same.  Boy, you hate going to see the Doctor and subsequently, I hate taking you! Ha!  It is one of the hardest things for me to do, being in there with you and your sister while you get your jags.  You'd think a murder was taking place in our room if you were a passer by.  Heavens!  

Just like Jack, you are very hesitate of anyone new, and being touched by anyone you don't know is a massive 'No No' in your opinion.  

But, at the same time, if you are left with a babysitter you won't fuss too much at all, so long as you can hover close to your brothers and sister for...protection? comfort?  I'm sure a bit of both, ha.  It still surprises me though how well you can manage without me so long as you have your entourage by your side.  

You have gone to nursery a few times now at church and are getting on well there.  I've noticed more and more how much you like baby dolls/prams, superheros, and most importantly colouring with pretty much anything you can get a hold of...you do not like to eat crayons like your sister, you use them properly! 

Some other favourites of yours are:  Helping Mummy with the laundry, watching 'Peppa Pig' on Daddy's tablet, watching 'Yo Gabba Gabba' with Olive and your blankie, your dummy(we will need to start getting rid of that soon), your Teddy bear blanket, listening to Daddy play his guitar, rocking with Dad in his chair, getting your shoes on and being out at the shops, skyping/waving at Granny, and going to bed.  

What? Going to bed? You used to be my worst sleeper, Miss Mouse, and now, you are an amazing, superb, incredible, and utterly fantastic sleeper!  I put you down at 7:30/8pm and don't see you up till 9/9:30am! Heavenly.

You aren't talking as much as your sister yet, but that is all good and well.  Since you are like Jack in just about every way I assume you may speak a little latter like he did as well.  For now you say, "Mum, Dad, Yes, Gabba, No".  I'm sure you'll be chatting my ear off one day like your other siblings.  

You are a quiet, beautiful, sensitive wee soul, my lovely, and oh how I love watching you grow.  I love being your Mum.

 Squeeze hug, Mum x

Dear Olive,

In a few days you'll be eighteen months old already little lovely.  How is that even possible?! You and your sister-friend have made these last 543 odd days some of the hardest and most amazing ever.  I have loved watching you come into your own and, well, really, it didn't take too long.  You are very strong willed, lively, and so funny! Very much like Peter in just about every way really. 

When at home, you don't seem to bother about me all that much because your brothers are around.  You'd much rather be right in the thick of all the fun, running around, laughing/screaming with excitement, and even wrestling with them.  

What's odd though, is that I always tell any babysitters that Penelope will probably struggle with me being gone.  Instead, it's always the opposite.  You are the one who gets extremely upset that I've vanished and throws a wee bit of a fit for a few minutes until reassured by your siblings/the sitter that you'll be fine. 

Some of your favourite foods are peas, olives, cinnamon applesauce, cheetos, egg yokes, spaghetti, and tomato soup.  You are saying lots of little words already: Mummy, Daddy, Elope(Penelope), juice, all done, eyes, nose, clean up, hiya, bye, baby, anny(granny).  You get so excited when you hear the theme tune for Peppa Pig and try to sing along even though you don't know how to say the words yet.  It's your favourite tv programme along with Small Potatoes, and Yo Gabba Gabba.  Another song you sing often is the "clean up" song, but you'd much rather make more of a mess than actually tidy anything.  

You are, of course, very fond of your big brothers and they are equally as fond of you.  Jack likes to kiss, hug you, and tell you how cute you are.  Peter tells you that you are a silly and very funny Miss Mouse...that's his favourite nickname for you along with Ollie.  

As far as your relationship with your sister goes you can be a wee bit of a bossy boots.  You grab her arms and start spinning her if you want to play "Ring around the Roses"; usually Penelope is extremely upset because you are quite rough! hehe...it's funny though.  You often devour your own dinner plate or snack bowl and then snatch away Penny's and dump the empty one with her.  Good grief, poor Penelope, she looks at you in utter horror a lot.  Who knew that being older by a mere 20 minutes would make you so bossy over her! Ha! 

Not to worry though, you and Penelope are still so very lovely together and you say her name so sweetly when chasing her through the house.  I've seen you stare right into her face and then kiss her on the cheek.  I've seen you take her hand and lead her to your favourite spot on the bottom stair to sit and eat a wee snack.  And I've seen you sit so closely to her when watching your favourite programmes that your wee heads touch.  It's the loveliest.  

What a gorgeous wee thing you are my Olive.  I love being your Mum.

-Squeeze hug, Mum x