Finally getting around to Easter. . .

Easter this year was fun but very busy. We got home late Friday night from our Vegas trip with Easter weekend to tackle. Unfortunately we left the house so fast to go on our trip that I didn't even get a chance to clean or pick up beforehand, and then of course we dumped all of our bags in the living room when we got back. I spent Saturday morning working at the bank, went grocery shopping in the afternoon, and then cleaned up the house Saturday night. I was ready to get the kids to bed that night when Jacey reminded me that we hadn't yet dyed our Easter eggs--why oh why did I have to buy that darn Easter egg dye? After finally getting the kids settled down I was so exhausted that I almost forgot to put out our Easter baskets for the Easter bunny to come fill and hide. That would have been a really bad "Mom Moment" to have the kids wake up on Easter and not have any baskets to find!

Of course Jacey was up at the crack of dawn on Easter morning ready to find her basket. The rest of us couldn't pull ourselves out of bed so early so off she went to find it on her own--and she ended up finding all of our baskets for us! The kids loved their candy, mini cereal boxes, and other surprises that they found in their baskets. After church we had some friends and their kids over for Easter dinner and an egg hunt. Then Sunday night it was back to cleaning up the house all over again! All in all, it was a really fun weekend but it wiped me out! Could it be because I am also 9 months pregnant?

Vegas Vacation!

For whatever reason, our kids love Las Vegas. I think that the main reason is because they love to stay in hotels, and that is about the only place that we ever seem to stay in one. The kids had the 3 days off from school prior to Easter for spring break, and we literally decided at the last minute that we should take advantage of that time to have one last family vacation before the baby comes. We went on Hotwire and scored some great rates for a 5-star hotel, and ended up staying at the Venetian. We stayed for 3 days, 2 nights, and had a great time with the kids going swimming, shopping, seeing some of the sights along the strip (the family-friendly ones, that is), and eating some good food! On our last day there we decided to check out the Lied Discovery Children's Museum, which is one of those hands-on, learning museums. The kids had a blast and didn't want to come back home, but unfortunately reality had to set in at some point!

Moving on. . .

Okay, so after dreading the amount of time it was going to take to upload Europe pics from Jon's trip and thus never getting around to posting them, I decided that most of the people who cared to see them anyways have either already seen them or you can check them out on his Facebook account if you haven't already (I think most of his close friends and family are his Facebook "friends" anyways.) He took quite a few good pics, so check them out when you get a minute.

We survived!

Jon had the opportunity to go to Europe a couple of weeks ago as part of a "knowledge trek" with kids and fellow co-workers from the school he works at. He did a similar trip a couple of years ago with the school, only this time they added Germany onto the end of their trip (where he served his mission). Although I knew it was a great opportunity for him (all expenses paid!), I was dreading the trip because he was going to be gone for 12 days. Not only did I know that I would miss him, but the idea of being on my own at 8 months pregnant with two other kids to take care of for that long made me a little nervous!

Thankfully, my brother Michael saved the day by volunteering to come up from California to help me out while Jon was gone. He stayed here for a good portion of Jon's time away and was AWESOME with the kids! They wore him out with puzzles, games, hide and seek, etc. which gave me a chance to get a break from time to time to cook, clean and do some work. I even tackled painting to kids bathroom while he was here, something I have been wanting to do for a long time. Michael, thanks for making the trip and helping me out. The kids love their Uncle Michael!

Jon made it back safe and sound (albeit very worn out) late last Monday and had a great time, of course! He got some great pictures that I will post soon. On a side note, he was very sweet to make up for missing our anniversary (March 28) by arranging beforehand to have flowers sent to me at work that morning. I wish I could have taken a picture of them because they were so pretty, but unfortunately Jon had the camera in Europe!

What a difference a year makes!

A few weeks ago Jacey lost her third tooth, another one on the bottom. It has been almost a full year since she lost her first tooth. and some of you may remember from one of my first blog posts that her experience with the first lost tooth was nothing short of traumatic for her. When she found out that this tooth was wiggly she got a little anxious about it and I was dreading another repeat of last year. One morning before school I noticed that her tooth was getting pretty loose and she started worrying about the possibility of it falling out at school (or swallowing it while eating lunch). I told her what to do if either of those scenarios happened, but told her it would probably be another couple of days till it came out. That afternoon when I picked her up at the bus stop she came running to the car, plastic baggy in hand. She had indeed lost it at school, but the amazing thing is that she had actually pulled it out at school herself (something that was unthinkable last year)! Now she has three more loose teeth, so more money and visits from the tooth fairy are imminent!

Now onto the next hurdle: we had a mouth appliance put on Jacey a couple of weeks ago for her thumb sucking. I hated to do it but she wasn't showing any inclination of giving it up on her own. It seems to be helping but we have caught her a few times with her thumb in her mouth still. If this doesn't work then we have to have the more barbaric, "pokey" appliance put in. Hopefully we can get her to stop soon as I forsee a lot of orthodontic bills in our future!