T-Ball

Colin had his first T-Ball game today! He did a great job hitting and was even the pitcher for one inning. I was really proud of him.

The game lasted almost two hours!!! Is it just me, or is that a little excessive for T-Ball? Kids his age just don't keep their focus for that long! They have practice or games three times a week for that long! Craziness.

Just let me sleep through the night

If I tell you exactly how moody I am right now, will you still respect me in the morning? If I tell you that the tears for no reason at all and the 1 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that I just downed ( I swear my diet was exemplary the rest of the day) are all because I am pregnant, will you believe me?

The second trimester started off nicely but this last week I have really started to feel pregnant again. Weird things - like I woke up this morning and my legs were sore. The only thing I can think of that might be the cause is that I drove a lot yesterday. Over an hour for church and over an hour to have dinner at Levi and Audra's, and my legs were aching by the end. Seriously?! Sore legs from driving?! I just feel so pathetic.

Yesterday at church I was carrying a large box of nursery stuff back to the storage closest (quite capably I might add) when one of my friends, who already had a large bag and binder, ran up up to me and insisted on carrying it for me! I am only 5 months pregnant! Please don't let me lose all of my dignity yet! Or is it too late for that already? Are you allowed dignity when yogurt gives you heartburn?

No consoling comments please. Only grumpiness and complaining allowed on this post.

I am going to go eat some more PB&J. Only Jif understands me.

Ugly Dresses

My oh my, this website gave me a few good laughs. Check out the above dress....not as horrible as some others on the website, but it is done in DENIM! And you have to check out the pregnant prom dress. I would have posted it here but I knew it would make me ill to see it on my blog every day. Yes, this is how I spend my time when Chad is gone.

Hurray for Colin!

Colin and I have been working in a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Colin does a great job and is proving to be as bright as I knew he was, but he isn't always enthusiastic to begin each lesson. They only take about 15 minutes each, and once he starts he seems to enjoy himself, but he never wants to start. I told him that each time he hits lesson 25, 50, and 75, he gets to go on a date with me - wherever he wants. At 100 he gets to have a water balloon party. Well, he got to lesson 25 (thanks in part to the Wii we got, which he isn't allowed to play if he hasn't done a lesson that day ) and decided that he wanted to go to Red Robin, which was convenient, because he still hadn't used his free meal from his birthday. We had to take Gabe along because Chad had to go out of town (more on that later), but Colin said that was okay. We had a really fun time and Colin actually ordered something other than mac' and cheese for once!

Chad is on his way to Spokane to see his Grandpa Jack, who is quite ill. We miss you already Chad!

Funny Converstation

Santi and Evan were over the other night and we put on Curious George. There was a preview for Barbie's 12 Dancing Princesses. I thought the conversation that ensued over the preview was cute and very indicative of their different age levels (Evan is 4, Colin is 5, and Santi will be 6 this summer) -

Santi: I don't like this.

Evan: I do!

Santi to Colin: Evan likes girls! Evan LOVES girls!

Colin, after a pause: I love my mom.

Evan: So do I.

From spending time around all them, it seems like Evan is still at that age where he freely admits to liking all "girl" things, Colin still likes those things okay, but doesn't admit it as openly, and Santi, who has been to school, draws the line much more distinctly between "boy" and "girl" things. It is crazy how early that begins!

BTW, this is pretty old picture of them.

Yummy!

Have you tried this cereal? It is my new favorite somewhat-guilty pleasure. It is 11:00 pm and I can't sleep, so I eating it with some very cold milk. So good.

Spring in the Garden

I have been anxious to get to the garden ever since we got home, and since it was sunny and 71 degrees today, I headed over with the boys and a picnic lunch. I was in heaven, and the boys were happy and uncomplaining the whole time I dawdled. It was a lovely day.

Happy Birthday to My Dad!

We love you and miss you already. Thanks for everything!

Easter Egg Fun!

You'll have to excuse me for posting Easter Egg pictures so long after Easter, but I didn't have a chance 'til now, and I couldn't resist....

The boys had a really good time coloring eggs. Gabe's hands were disgusting afterwards.

And after the kids went to bed, my mom and I decided to dye some more. Then we discovered how cool colored Sharpies were on the already dyed eggs, so we got it a little carried away! I have always loved coloring eggs, and I think Sharpies are going to have to be included every year now. It was so much fun!

This was my mom's finest piece of art!

Who can guess.....

what this is a picture of?

Colin's birthday cake

My mom made it! Isn't it great? Colin was all about the Hot Wheels this year, so it was perfect for him. She made two extra-large half circle cakes (with Lindsey's help while both my mom and I were sick) and then shaped them into this race-track. She also bought some candles that spelled out Congratulations, which happens to have all the letters for Colin. Thanks mom!

Happy Birthday Colin

Colin's birthday was on Wednesday. I will post some pictures later, but I liked this video. This was the second attempt at singing to him, after Gabe blew out the candles the first time. Watch Gabe at the end.

We made it home!

Almost didn't get on the flight in New York, but here we are, safe and somewhat sound.

Notice that the boys already have the toys and screw-driver out.

Good Luck? Update

After searching online for hours, and checking all the sites like Expedia and Travelocity, we still couldn't find tickets for under $350 a person. We were quite depressed and not at all ready to spend another $1400 . We decided to call some airlines directly to see if they had any kind of special deals for people in our situation, especially since we read an article about some airlines doing that for ATA customers who were in a similar situation earlier this week. The first two airlines we called were absolutely no help at all. After putting Chad on hold for half an hour each, they offered him fares for $600 and $900 per person. We passed.

I saw that JetBlue had a redeye Monday evening for $199 each, which would stink because Chad really really needs to be at work on Monday, but we decided to call and see if maybe we could get that deal for an earlier day. Chad called with our sob story and the representative was extremely helpful. She had just received a memo about a special deal they were offering jilted Skybus customers - $50 each!!!!!!!!!!! She booked us standby tickets for tonight at 10:30 pm. It isn't a pretty flight - we have to fly to JFK and then down to Charlotte, arriving at 9:15 am, but we don't mind one bit. We are thrilled. She was quite positive that even though we are on standby we will have no problem getting on the flight because they are nowhere near full - the standby status was the only way she could book it through this deal. I sure hope she is right or we might be calling Chad's aunt in Phoenix tonight.

I still can't believe that we are getting four cross-country flights for a total of $200 and I don't think I will be able to really breathe until we catch that second flight. If all of this works out, I will dedicate the rest of my life to praising Jetblue.

In addition to that good luck, we called Priceline, who our hotel tonight was booked through, and explained what happened and they gave us a full refund!!!! We were shocked and so thrilled! Hurray for Priceline!

Bad Luck

We are all packed up. The plan was to leave tomorrow morning, go visit Chad's brother and sister-in-law in Santa Ana for the day, spend the night in Burbank, and fly out on Skybus on Sunday. I just received an email from Skybus informing me that....

THEY ARE CEASING ALL OPERATIONS AS OF 12:00 AM TOMORROW MORNING.

What does that mean? It means we have no flight home and Chad has to go back to work on Monday. Can you imagine getting a cross-country flight for anything resembling a reasonable price at such late notice? Somebody shoot me.

What was supposed to be a great deal ($75 a ticket!), is getting awfully expensive!