Let it snow?...

Well, I am certainly glad that we had the kids' birthday party last Saturday because believe it or not, we had snow here in Utah today! Can you even believe it, it's the end of SEPTEMBER. I have this feeling that we might be in for a crazy winter, which will be great for those of us that snowboard :) Well, the kids and I had planned to go to the park, however, with how cold and overcast it was outside we opted for building a tower out of duplos, painting, and watching a movie while eating gummy bears and snuggling in a fluffy warm blanket. Oh, how I need these snuggly days every now and again :)

Daddy is home...

Johnny is home from Indianapolis
and we are so excited! We have missed
him this past week as work took him
away to the midwest. It was hard taling
on the phone because he didn't get done
until super late and since the time change
is 2 hours ahead of us, it was late here too!
He was home super-duper late on Saturday night, when the kids woke up Sunday morning they were so excited. They were both smiling from ear to ear and jumping around in our bed. Good thing it is a kigsize! Gennovah had to tell daddy about all of her adventures at school and EVERYTHING he missed out on. Despite the fact that it was 6:30am we were up and making chocolate chip pancakes to celebrate our daddy being home.

This week should be a lot of fun considering we have our daddy most of the time. Yeah for daddy's, they are the best!

More of the fun we had in Chicago...

There are so many fun things that we did while we were in Chicago for two weeks, but one of the most fun days we had was when we celebrated Boston and Gennovah's birthday. We went down to Bob and Barb's and had a "Thomas the Tank Engine" pool party. I guess that having a cake with Thomas and matching plates is a theme, then hey...

Gennovah had so much fun swimming with the older girls and she seemed to have blossomed into a little girl during this part of our trip. It is hard to imagine that she has gone from a toddler really needing my help to an independent little girl. She is talking in complete sentences and impresses me with vocabulary words she knows and the things that she wants to "do myself." It is hard that I have to start letting go and accept the fact that she needs me, but is big enough to do a lot on her own.

Boston came out of his shell of cautiousness and jumped into the pool and was very adventurous around everyone there. We are so grateful to everyone that was able to make it to our party, it was fun to see everyone and I am sure you can all see by the pictures that the kids had a blast. I wish that we love and miss, but keeping it short was in the best interest of the kids and hey, it makes you look forward to our next visit which will hopefully be around Christmas

Speaking of water...Gennovah started swimming lessons while we were back at Adler Pool in Libertyville where I used to work. The pool sure has changed, but swim lessons remain the same. I knew that she would so well, but this made her into a fish. I am surprised that she didn't grow gills. Although lessons were only for four days and the weather was super cold and rainy, Gennovah was sad whenever lessons were over. She wanted to stay and learn more! I am excited for lessons next summer when Boston will be able to join in the fun!

Andrew had his Eagle ceremony. I am so grateful to have been able to be there for it as well as to be a part of the ceremony. It was so awesome that he achieved such an honorable position within scouting and not to mention a pretty sweet and delicious party followed :) Despite the 56 mosquito bites that I received that night, it was a lot of fun.

Boston's Alone Time...

I bet he never thought the day would come when he could get his mommy all to himself. Boston had his first alone time with me the other day while Gennovah was at school. We played and laughed and played, mostly with trains. It's weird to have him all to myself without another tugging me in another direction. I felt as if things weren't the same, and of course they weren't nor will they be. Life is changing, but for right now I am embracing these moments of just us...

Boston is so content playing with trains and cars that I sat back and wondered about what he could have been thinking...I wondered if he knew that Gennovah wasn't in the house. Did he know that she was at school? Did he like having just time with Mommy? Did he feel lonely? As long as I nuture him with sweet love he should never know the difference. Oh how life changes with children.

When she had her "first day of school" picture taken in front of the door, he of course wanted one too. He as become quite the ham, saying cheese whnever he sees a camera. We are working right now on keeping his eyes open for the pictures!

Gennovah Starts School...

I thought I had a little more time than this! Well, Gennovah started preschool at a private school, Challenger. She was so excited her first day, I wonder if she even slept the night before. She was up at the crack of dawn, literally! And the first thing she asked me was, "Mommy, uh school a-day?" Which is Gennovah for, "Mommy, I go to school today?" She knew for sure that she was going to school.

She picked out a purple dress to wear and wanted her hair in a "twisty" and on her shlouders. Yes, I know...She does pick out her clothes and tell me how to do her hair and she isn't even three! We had pancakes for breakfast and all she could ask was when we were going to go to school.

She was so excited when we got in the car, smiling from ear to ear. At her school parents wait in an unloading line and the teachers actually get the kids from the car and walk them into the school so parents don't have to park and get out of their cars. It is actually quite nice. So we unbuckled and got her ready to go. Her teacher, Miss Stacey came and opened her door and she jumped out, grabbed Miss Stacey's hand and said without looking at me, "Bye Mommy, love you." Away she went into a world of her own.

What did I do? I cried the entire drive home. I couldn't believe how much of my mother I have in me. She cried the first two weeks of high school for me. I don't know what it is...maybe sadness that Gennovah is becoming independent...fear that she won't need me as much...pride that she has started school...excitement that she is going to be one smart cookie...genuine love for this precious little girl whom I cherish every minute of the day...and more feelings, I am sure I could go on.

She was very excited to see us when we came to pick her up. She was loaded in and we were off. The first thing she said to me was, "Mommy, I miss you." I just about melted into my seat. What an amazing little girl she is...

Chicago, there and back...IN A CAR!

Our trip to Chicago was soooo much fun! Well, I guess if you think of spending 24 hours in a car as fun then it was. Surprisingly Gennovah and Boston did really well. We left at about 10pm in hopes that the kids would fall asleep and we could drive through the night and into the morning. Boy, were we in for a surprise. Boston became a night owl and didn't get to sleep until after 1:30am! Gennovah on the other hand realizes how important sleep is and was out at 11pm. I felt that while we drove we had to have it perfectly silent, even the slightest crinkling of a wrapper and one of them would be awake. At about 4:30am we stopped in Laramie, WY to get fresh ice and gas up. Both kids were awake, so we stopped at the 24 hour Walmart and let them walk around even though they were so tired. Yes we admit, we were those people that had their kids at the store and some crazy late hour! It was then we realized that we needed to break up driving a bit. So we stopped here and there and made the 22 hour drive into 26. But eventually we arrived, much to the delight of my family. The weeks to come were full of fun and surprises. We sure did enjoy seeing everyone, and we are pretty sure that they enjoyed seeing us, even if we didn't look like normal kids!

We had so much fun and that is all that matters. But a CAUTION for those thinking about taking a longer road trips with little ones...DON'T! Save for another month or two and buy the plane tickets. It is so much easier to have a 3 hours plane trip than 24 in a car. Not saying we didn't think about it before we got back in the car to make the horrible drive home. We can say that we tried and and it was a testimony for us to now buy a plane ticket for everywhere! The only thing that kept us sane was the dual DVD player we bought a little while before and giving the kids a present every 100 miles or so. They tried to be on their best behavior so they could earn one. It was cute until Gennovah started asking "more prize to me." She's only 2! So in a nutshell we tackled it. We drove to Chicago and I will be the first to say that it will NEVER happen again, unless of course we move...