Day 2 of Spring Break

It's St. Patrick's Day which Bryan refuses to acknowledge but that's okay because I tried to and it didn't work so I'm not going to try next year. I made green waffles which only Bryan and I ate because "that's gross Mom." So I made oatmeal for Courtney and Ethan didn't eat.

Bryan ran to work and Courtney, Ethan and I ran errands. We ended up at the dinosaur museum where we had a 2-for-1 coupon. Courtney was free and they only charged me for Ethan and made my ticket free. Score! It was a fun time. They had rubbings you could do of different dinosaurs, fossils to dig up and some touch exhibits. We watched a short movie about dinosaurs and then explored the museum. It isn't much but it is interesting to look around. We bought a couple of things at the gift shop and then went outside to their sandbox. In the bottom of the sandbox are fossils that you can dig up. It's pretty cool and the place where the kids spent the most time.

Then we were off to the Art Museum. Ethan had been there once before with my parents and we have been there once as a family, but I wasn't sure how interesting it was going to be. We had a 2-for-1 coupon for that too, but they charged me full price and let both the kids in for free, so I really couldn't complain. They had a beautiful exhibit on Zion National Park which Ethan loved and wants to take Bryan to see. But the best part was the kids art area. We were the only ones at the Museum, which I think isn't that well attended, so my kids had the run of the place. They had art supplies all over and paints for the kids to use. They each made a couple of creations and then Ethan found a little play area where he could design his own museum. He liked putting things into categories and putting teh smallest paintings together and so on. Courtney loved the book nook where she could look at all kinds of children's art books while sitting on a bean bag chair.

While we were looking around the kids section we found some clipboards with a quiz on them. The instructions said to go around the museum and find the answers to the questions and then take it to the front desk to claim your prize. Ethan was very excited and we took off to get all the questions answered. Since he can read, he would read the question to me and then find the art. He would then ask me if he was correct or not and write the answer. It was great! I helped Courtney, she would write a few letters she knew and then I would take over the rest. When they finished we took it up to the front desk where they claimed their prize. The woman apologized because the Art Museum is going through some rough financial times so the prizes weren't all that, but my kids loved it anyway.

Then we used our free pizza coupon and got Dominos for lunch. Courtney took a long nap while Ethan read and then played with friends. After her nap and Bryan was home, she and I ran to the library to check out the first Harry Potter movie. Bryan just finished reading it to Ethan so we wanted to watch the movie. We had dinner (split pea soup to go along with the green theme) and then popped popcorn and had orange julius while we watched the movie. It was fun and the kids loved staying up late, although now we can't get Courtney to go to bed. But that's life. Maybe she will sleep in tomorrow...yeah right!

Day 1 of Spring Break

Monday morning after breakfast and Bryan left for work we had a movie morning. The kids and I cuddled on the couch while watching, "The Princess Diary." When that was finished, we loaded on our bikes to ride to the park to play. The park is a couple of miles away so I hooked the bike trailer on back of my bike so Courtney could sit in it when she got tired of biking. Her little bike fits nicely on the bike trailer too so it isn't a problem. The problem came when we were about a mile from our house and Ethan started to get really tired. His bike is WAY TOO SMALL for him and I knew this but didn't realize just how hard it was going to be for him to ride a small bike so far. He was so tired by the time we got to the park. And Courtney kept hopping in and out of the bike trailer. One minute she wanted to ride her bike and the next she wanted to ride in the bike trailer. We almost turned around about 10 times, but we finally made it.

The kids got their snack and then played for a while on the equipment. But then a day care van showed up with a ton of kids on it and Courtney and Ethan wanted to go home...but neither wanted to ride their bike. So I put both Ethan and Courtney in the bike trailer, both of their bikes on top and took off for home. Now, Ivins is kind of a bowl shape. The park is on one rim and our house is on the other and you have to go through the bowl to get from one to the other. Luckily, both kids finally wanted to get out before we had to really start up the last incline, but I got a pretty good work out. Then they ended up walking their bikes the last 4 blocks because they were exhaused.

We ate lunch, Courtney took a nap, Ethan played games and then Bryan came home. When Courtney woke up we went to Fiesta Fun to play miniature golf. This was pretty funny because a) Courtney kept switching balls with me because she couldn't decide between pink or purple; b) Courtney kept trying to hit the ball sideways instead of down the green; c) Courtney missed most of the time she tried to hit it so she would just pick up her ball, put it next to the hole and hit it in from there and then give herself a little cheer; d) Ethan did really well and it was fun to watch him really try and concentrate on the shot; and e) we were playing as a family without pressure of anyone around us because we were alone on the course!

Then we went to Applebees for dinner. We each get to choose 1 restaurant during the week to go to for dinner and it was Courtney's choice. Luckily, Ethan's choice was already on our list because we have a coupon.

Then we came home, had FHE, played as a family and went to bed. It was a good day and Ethan said he even had a lot of fun riding to the park...good thing for short memories!

Staycation

This week is Spring Break and we debated whether or not to go someplace, but at the end decided that Bryan couldn't take the work off and we didn't want to spend the money. Besides, we have too many trips and things coming up this summer that we have to prioritize. So we decided to do a staycation (a stay at home vacation). I saw an article on it from Family Fun magazine and thought we should try it.

We bought a Dixie Direct discount card at the beginning of the year from Ethan's school and it has a ton of coupons in it. I started by looking through there and making a list of all the activities and restaurants that had coupons. Then I made an itinerary of activities we would like to do each day. Bryan is working in the mornings so the kids and I do things in the morning and then after Courtney's nap, when Bryan gets home, we go and do things as a family.

Ethan wasn't too sure about it at first because his friends are doing things like Disneyland and camping, but it has worked out so far and we have found a lot of places around our area that we hadn't explored too well before. I'll keep you updated!

Bible Stories

Courtney was sitting on Bryan's lap during Sacrament Meeting looking at the pictures in the children's version of the Bible stories the Church prints and you buy at the Distribution Center. She is fascinated by the stories and kept asking Bryan to tell her what was going on in the pictures. Unfortunately, each story she picked wasn't the real upbeat stories that you want to tell your 3 year old during Church.

The first picture she wanted explained to her was where Abraham was posed above Isaac getting ready to plunge a knife into him. The second was the story where the king (I don't remember his name) was going to cut a baby in half so he could find out who the real mother was, so it was a picture of a baby with a knife posed over it. And it went on and on. We were nervous each time Bryan turned the page to see what she would find next. It seemed that she could find the worst pictures in the book to look at! Poor Bryan was dying! How do you nicely and delicately explain to a 3 year old that a baby is going to be chopped in half?!

Anyway, it doesn't seem to really phase her but it was funny to us.

Another one gone!

Ethan seems to lose teeth in pairs. He lost one on Thursday and then tonight Don and Kathy took us all to dinner. When Ethan left the restaurant he commented on how loose his tooth was and was playing with it. I told him to pull it out and so he started to try but couldn't get it out. As we were driving away he said "I got it out" but was just kidding us. We got on the freeway and drove a ways when he shouted again that he had pulled it out and then said "I'm serious, I pulled it out!" I handed him a tissue so he could blot the blood and there was his tooth. He said, "I figured it out. I know how to pull a tooth." He then proceeded to explain to us how you do it, which I won't go into because it makes you cringe. I think he should be a dentist or oral surgeon when he grows up because blood and pulling teeth doesn't even phase him! Now he looks like a jack-o-lantern!

Out little tree

Spring is here in St. George. The trees all have blossoms on them, the grass is getting green and the weather has been really nice. I noticed our little tree in the backyard had some blossoms on it, but not too many. It kind of looks like some stray cotton landed on it. Here's what it looked like, poor little thing:

Latest Cakes

When it rains, it pours. I got orders for 2 cakes this week. Luckily they were pretty easy and weren't a problem so it wasn't bad. I did another soccer ball cake, which isn't the most fun, but Bryan and I are getting better at this so it looks great. Bryan puts the pattern on the cake and then I trace it and decorate it. He does it much better than I do, it's a spacial thing I just don't get! Anyway, they turned out cute.