Spring Break

 We had an amazing vacation in Portland for Spring Break this year!

This was Luke's second plane ride, but his first one that he would actually know what's going on.  Getting through security wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated.  Luke seemed excited to go on an airplane, and taking off only added to his excitement.  Then he looked out the window the entire time, until the clouds covered his view.  He kept saying "wow" to everything he saw.

We were on our way to visit cousin Bella for the week, and Luke and Bella have a love hate relationship.  Most of the time they loved each other, but they had their hate moments.  Portland is an amazing place for kids to visit.  Bella was a wonderful hostess, or I should say Aunt Brooke was fabulous.  Every day was filled with a new adventure.  We had so much fun, that I didn't even remember to take lots of photos!

 Our first stop was this fabulous children's museum.  I have never seen anything like it before.  Each room was filled with a new adventure to try.  The water room was Luke's favorite!  Each child wore a water proof smock, and they were off to play and splash around. 

 There were buckets to fill, and wheels to turn to dump out water.  There were balls and rubber duckies to float down and around, it was just a water wonderland.  The other rooms consisted of a veterinarian clinic for you to play animal doctor.  There was a grocery store and a cafe to pretend shop and eat.  Which included shelves of pretend food, shopping carts, cash registers, pizza ovens, refrigerators, microwaves etc.  This museum was amazing!  There was a craft room, where ANYTHING was ok.  If you wanted to glue your fingers together, it was acceptable and even applauded.  There was a theater room with all kinds of dress up clothes and a stage for your audience.  There was a dig pit with everything recycled foam that resembled dirt.  It was all simply the neatest things I have ever seen.  Everything was perfectly Luke's size just ready for him to explore.

 Our next stop was the zoo.  The Oregon zoo is HUGE.  SO much to see and do.  We had to ride the train, and Luke was so excited to be riding a choo-choo train in real life!  We were able to see lots of animals on our train ride.  It was only a trick to keep Luke inside the train!

 Even Clara seemed to enjoy the train ride!

 One of my most favorite moments of the entire trip, was this moment inside the zoo, where we went in to feed these birds.  I can't remember what these birds were called, but I'm assuming they are closely related to parakeets.  You could buy "juice" for them to drink, which was some sort of nectar.  I'm guessing its pretty sweet because Luke decided to give it a taste, and said "yummy" after wards.  All you had to do was hold out your cup, and the birds would fly down to you and get a sip.

 I was hesitant that Luke would even do this.  He seems to be a scardey cat about these kinds of things.  I thought for sure the bird would come up to him, and he would drop his cup and run away.  He surprised me, and was so enthralled with the birds.  He kept going for more, and kept saying "wow" the whole time.  He thought it was awesome!

 I thought it was pretty awesome too!  I even got one of the birds to land on my arm, and Bella and Luke got that bird to drink from their cups!

 Then their juice was all gone, and they still decided to chase the birds, I guess they liked feeding the birds a little too much!

 Clara spent her time at the zoo, all bundled up in a nice stroller ride.

 It was ever so slightly raining while we were at the zoo, which made our zoo watching experience slightly better!  The animals were much more active, and put on a nice show!  The hippos were amazing, they were out and walking around, not just laying there in the hot sun.  The penguins and sea lions were also WAY cool, swimming around.  The kids thought it was all so cool!

 We even got to see the Lions roaming around, yawning and playing!

 Our next stop was a huge jungle gym just for the kids.  It was 4 or 5 levels high and full of things to do.  We had to burn lots of energy because these kids kept feeding off of each other and seemed like energizer bunnies.  We had to wear them out, and this jungle gym was the place to do it!

Luke love the slides!

Portland is also very baby friendly.  There were specific baby or infant areas every where we went.  Areas meant just for the little ones, and Clara enjoyed crawling around and finding new toys to play with as well.

Every night included bike rides around the house and the bouncy house.  Bella was constantly asking Luke, "you want to ride the bike? Ride the bike Luke?" Bella wanted to drive, and Luke turned out to be a pretty good rider.  It was hours of entertainment.

 

The last place we went to is called OMSI- Oregon Museum of Science Institute.  

We had SO much fun here, I completely forgot to take any pictures :(

It was also filled with a water section for you to play with and an indoor sand pit. 

Luke LOVED the sand pit!

There was also a ball area with tubes that you could put the balls in to be sucked in our pushed out.

Luke loves anything balls, so he spent a lot of time with the balls.

Sometimes it worries me that Luke never looks around to see where his parents are,

which was the case at this museum.

Luke just has so much fun, he doesn't care if he is there alone.

This was one of the best trips we have ever taken.  It was full of adventure and new experiences for Luke, which were all kid friendly.  Our flight home couldn't have worked out better.  Both kids fell asleep during take-off, and woke up only minutes before landing.  I guess they had a week so full of fun they were exhausted!

 

POPCORN!

 Popcorn is Luke's new favorite snack.

He asks for it all the time.

He LOVES to make a mess out of it too,

and popcorn kernels don't vacuum up very easily. 

 Clara is all too happy to clean up Luke's spills.

She finds all kinds of things to eat....

We are grateful we don't have to worry about Clara eating,

she eats plenty all on her own.

She likes popcorn too!

Our First Stitches

I know this picture is totally gross, but we need to record our first stitches.  Lately, life has seemed difficult in our household, just seems like we can't catch a break lately.  Today only added to a long list of things that just haven't gone our way.  We started out our day happy and great.  It's Tuesday, so we hit up the weekly double coupon sale at Walmart.  It was great, got lots of great deals!  Luke always loves shopping trips because I totally bribe him with candy!!!

Later, we had a lunch/play date set up.  I was excited to go to this lunch date, because we were ordering in Cafe Rio!  We were also celebrating a birthday.  The kids were playing in the play room, and the mommies were eating lunch at the table.  Within about 5 minutes, we heard a kid crying.  I knew it was mine, but it honestly sounded more like a whine.  It was a different whine, one that I had never heard before, but I knew it was Luke and it didn't sound that bad.  Until I saw him, and blood was everywhere.  I scooped him up, and ran him over to the kitchen sink to try to wash it off.  I then saw the gaping hole in his lip and immediately knew we needed stitches.

Gilbert and I have talked about this day.  We knew some day, Gilbert would get the frantic call at work to meet us at the emergency room, time for stitches.  I knew this would be bad.  Luke is a fighter, and he is very strong for such a little boy.  I walked into the the emergency room, and I said to the nurse, "we need stitches, do you have an ice pack?"  She immediately got up and went for an ice pack and came back with a nurse.  They looked him over, and within another minute or two, a doctor came out to look at him.  They were commenting on what a nice gouge that was.  It was definitely going to need stitches.

I proceeded to ask them what they could do to take away his pain.  I didn't care what the cost, I just wanted them to make it stop hurting.  Luke was sucking on it, and licking it, and just making it worse.  They told me my options, all of which would take time to kick in.  Or else, he would have to endure about 10 seconds of pain and it would be over in about 10 minutes if they just hurried up and took care of it.  It needed to be taken care of immediately because Luke was not leaving it alone.  I was anxiously awaiting Gilbert's arrival because I knew I couldn't watch.  I told them just to hurry up and take care of it.  They wrapped him up in a sheet to try and contain his arms and legs.  They didn't believe me when I told them he was strong.  They needed to give him shots in his lip to numb it, that was going to be the 10 seconds of pain.  After the second shot, I wasn't feeling very good, and I decided to sit down.  I asked Gilbert to go stand by Luke instead.  Luke was screaming bloody murder the whole time, which absolutely broke my heart!  

Within another 30 seconds, I told the nurse that Gilbert needs to sit down, he was gray and plastic looking.  Gilbert sat down, and was having a difficult time.  They called in more nurses to help hold down Luke so they could finish.  In just another minute, he was done.  I handed Clara off to Gilbert because Luke wanted me to hold him.  About 30 seconds later, the doctor was taking Clara from Gilbert and nurses were swarming around him.  They were quickly getting Gilbert to lay down on the ground and breath in through his nose and out through his mouth......  Gilbert was going down....

Both of our kids were screaming, Gilbert was on the floor, and I was laughing......

No, this moment was not funny, it was just a comedy of errors.

I was standing there, now holding both of my children, trying to calm them both down, 

and watching Gilbert trying to breath and get some color back into his face.

We finally left to go home, trying to keep Luke from pulling his stitches every 3 seconds.

So this was our first stitches experience.....

stairs

 I was taking pictures of this cutie,

climbing the stairs,

which she is WAY too young to be able to do....

 I remembered I had pictures of my other cutie (below)

doing the exact same thing....

climbing stairs WAY too young,

and getting into things way too early!

connected

 Every night we have a routine for our kids.

Every night this includes bath time.

My kids LOVE bath time.

Luke will stay until he is a prune,

or the water runs cold.

 This is my view-

I was sitting on the floor next to the bath,

and looked up to see these two cuties.

In that moment, 

I realized....

nothing else matters.

 Nothing else is as important as spending quality time with my little prince and princess.

I have 1 major flaw about myself,

that I absolutely resent!

I am a guilty person.

It doesn't matter what it is,

or if it even has anything to do with me,

I feel guilty.

You can ask me to do anything,

and I will, simply out of guilt.

Not because I am a nice person

(secret: I am NOT a nice person)

I only do things out of guilt.

I need to learn how to say one simple two-letter word:

"NO"

I will start saying no more often because it is taking away from these 2 cuties(pictured above).

Another thing:

We live in a world of connectivity.  I was so delighted when I got my smart phone, about a year ago.  I know everyone else had one before me, but I finally got one.  I loved reading the news and looking at my blog 10 times a day.  I felt a new "connection" with the world.  I am now realizing that it is not good to always be connected.  I don't want to read every email the second it arrives, or respond to every text with in seconds.  It is taking away from what is really important in life.  I don't want to be able to be reached 24-7.  Let's be honest, most of us sleep with our phones only inches away!  As I said before, I am a guilty person.  So if I hear that notification sound from my phone come through, I feel guilty immediately knowing I probably need to respond.  I have thought several times about shutting off my phone completely.  This way I won't even be aware of something that may need my attention.  There will always be the good and the bad with new technology, and I think being constantly connected is not always a good thing.

Park Day

 It is finally feeling like spring outside.  My kids are not "inside" kids.  They like to run and enjoy active afternoons.  The weather has been pleasant 60s and sunny.  We spent the afternoon at the park.  Clara confined herself to the blanket.  She was NOT about to crawl on the prickly grass.  She loves to watch and listen to other kids playing.

 Luke was busy trying the big kid toys at the park.  He tried the monkey bars, and climbed all the way to the top of this tower.  Luke is mostly chicken when it comes to a lot of things, but surprisingly he wanted to climb up this jungle gym.  

 The swings are always a classic favorite.  Luke sometime will look like he's not having that much fun, yet doesn't want to get out of the swing.  We were trying to teach him to pump and swing himself, but he wasn't very keen on that idea.  He learned to say "more push please" pretty quickly.

 Clara wants to be a big kid now!  She is busy standing up and trying to take steps!  Whoa, this little princess needs to slow down!  She wants to be involved with everything Luke.  They fight over toys, and fight over mommy and daddies attention. 

This is what happens when

mommies stay out too late

children go to bed too late

and we all pay for it the next day...

There won't be any more girls nights in my future!

You NEED this recipe...

I call these "almond joy brownies".  It's a variation from my mom's recipe.  These are to DIE for, and make sure you are giving some of these away, or else you will eat the whole pan!!!

Brownie:
4 1oz. squares unsweetened bakers chocolate
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs

Filling:
3 cups flaked coconut
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Topping:
6 Tbs. butter
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Grease a 9x13 pan.
In a large saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat and then remove from heat.
Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and then level off.
Add sugar, and eggs to butter chocolate mixture and mix well.
Then add flour, salt and vanilla.
Spread 1/2 chocolate mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.
Lightly spoon filling over the chocolate batter.
Carefully spread the remaining batter over the filling evenly.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, the edges will be firm, and center will be soft.

Allow brownies to cool.
Melt together the butter and chocolate chips in 30 second increments in microwave safe bowl.
Pour over the brownies and smooth out.
Refrigerate brownies until firm, and store in the refrigerator.

choo-choo trains!

 Luke has been obsessed with his choo-choo train set lately.

From the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed, 

he wants to play choo-choo trains.

He can't play them by himself,

because he wants you to build him a tunnel or a tower for his trains to go through.

 Luke doesn't care much for the tracks to go in a circle.

He just wants to watch them go down the tower,

and then do it all over again.

 Or he likes to knock down the tower,

so you have to build a new one.

 This princess is commonly referred to as "godzilla"

She doesn't play choo-choo trains very well.

Luke holds out his hand, in stop sign fashion

and yells "stop" to her.

She obviously doesn't listen.

Luke gets a little mean if Clara touches his choo-choo trains.

 Clara just wants to eat them anyway.

 The weather has been hot and cold, literally.

One day it will be 50 degrees,

the next will be snow!

So on the good days, Luke begs to jump on the trampoline.

It's snowing...

 It's been snowing outside the last couple of days,

which means we have to stay inside.

February was confusingly so WARM,

we had several days of 50 degree weather.

So we found some time to start playing outside.

Now, we have had to get creative with playing inside.

 So we took some car rides around the house.

Luke was always quick to tell Clara her turn was over,

he would kindly try to pull her out of the car,

they sit down and say "my turn."

Hey, at least he gets the concept of taking turns!

 Luke even offered to push Clara around for a ride.

Since Clara doesn't giggle, she has this high pitched squeal when she is happy.

It's kind-of a weird noise, but its her happy noise.

It also comes with this face- this is a happy face believe it or not.

 Clara is already all about the money!