It's so fluffly I'm gonna die

I can't stop taking pictures of Andrew sleeping.

Those lips.


Those cheeks.


Those eye lashes resting against those cheeks.


Did I mention the lips, cheeks and eyelashes? How about a chubby fist?

Deep conversations

It seems bedtime is the best time for my boys to just open up their little hearts and ask the most probing, deep questions.  All day it's the usual, "Why is the sky blue"and "tell me about dinosaurs" stuff.  At night, it gets more philosophical.  And it's usually as I'm reaching for the door when a little voice pipes up: "Momma? Can I ask you something?"

Why, just tonight we covered infertility and adoption, death, Heaven and Hell, the 9-11 Attacks, and the Presidential elections.  I try to stay age-appropriate but not brush them off.  I come upstairs hoping I've addressed their concerns and given them peace. 

Once, though, it wasn't at bedtime that I got a surprise. I was backing up out of the driveway when Max announced, "Mom, I don't want to die."  Me: "Whaaaa?" Bonk, I backed right into my neighbor's bumper.  His steel contraption is fine. Mine is slightly dinged.  I still cringe over that.

Books and Bagels

An email from JB on a recent Wednesday morning to me at work:

"Just got back from Books and Bagels. The boys had a great time. They listened to Jason Washburn from the basketball team read Curious George and Dr. Seuss. We got a great picture with him afterwards. Benny even sang "Utah Man" to some of the athletes."





Best part was walking home. Benny said in his most earnest voice, 'When I grow up I want to be a Ute player and then when I get tired of that I'll be a firefighter.' Made me smile."

Awkward

Today I wore a long maxi skirt, fitted shirt and ruffled cardigan. I felt stylish and spring-y.

Then Benny came up to me at the end of the day, patted my lower abdomen and said, "You look like you have a baby in your tummy, mommy!"

Um, hehehehehe. Nervous laugh. Quickly gather shards of dignity.

"I don't, Benny. My body has just changed because I've had three babies already: Max, you and Andrew."

"Oh. But when are you going to have another baby?"

"Um, (another nervous laugh), that's something your daddy and I would have to talk about. And it's kind of up to God."

"Oh. I'll say a prayer then. Dear Heavenly Father, please let mommy have another baby."

Oh jeez. Why did I have to wear this skirt today? Look what it has wrought!

I'm going to buy some Spanx.

Trip leftovers

I was looking through the pictures on my iphone and I laughed and laughed.

I found 6 pictures of Benny's night-night blanket, and 36 pictures of his sweet face. He took them during his turn for the phone during our trip to CA. This is a screen shot of my photo album on my phone.




He also took some video. Here's just a portion. I love seeing his little piggies as he had kicked his shoes off, and hearing Andrew babbling.







I took this with my cell phone one night in the hotel. It reminds me of the picture in this post at my sister's house years ago.

The pool

Next time I think we will just get a hotel room with a pool closer to home. It was one of the boys' favorite parts of the trip. The pool was perfect for them -- warm, and no deeper than 4 feet.

We are getting them into swimming lessons again after soccer. Benny still hugs the side of the pool but Max really gained some confidence by the end of our CA stay. Look at these jumps!

The beach

It was snowing in Utah when we were on the beach in California. Weird. Anyway, the ocean was a bit cold, but we still had a lot of fun.

Drewy-boy's first time on a beach.

Max was fascinated by the waves. They were pretty big at times -- we saw surfers.

Max and Benny got cold after a while. That's a bathrobe that Benny used to wear when he was smaller. It's very cozy. Just a little short now.

Andrew didn't really want to get his toes wet after that first time.

Then Andrew curled up on me and fell asleep. So I read a little Scarlet Pimpernel while he snoozed.

I'm wearing the same white UV Skinz jacket in all the pictures from our trip, and even have a big hat on at the beach even though it was cloudy. One sketchy mole is all it took to scare me silly about skin cancer.

Knott's Berry Farm

I do so love the chicken at Knott's Berry Farm. and the Wild West Stunt Show. Good times.

Max was so funny. Two years ago, when he was 4, he rode the Sidewinder 6 times. This time, he hesitated to do it even once. He seems to be worried about roller coasters now.

Can you see JB turning around to check on Max?

But then he rode this huge swingy-swirly thing and had a great time. That's JB next to him there practically upside down.

It's quite fun to drive a semi-truck around
.

Andrew is a driver, too.

Waiting for the train to start.

The swirly hats make me dizzy but I take it for the team.

See my face? That corner whips you around with quite a surprise. I was holding on to my little baby so he wouldn't get hurt.

We love these pictures of Benny. He did such a great job on the trip. NO meltdowns or tantrums, tons of patience. A gift from Heaven I believe.

Disneyland

There must have been a million people at Disneyland last Tuesday. It felt like it. I know, I know, spring break, our fault.

I found out today that one of Max's good friends was there with his family the same day -- it would have been nice for them to keep each other company in the long lines. And we randomly met people who used to live in our neighborhood while chatting on the Tram. Thank goodness for my free media passes (I get four a year if I request them) or I would have felt a little peeved to spend all that money to jostle through crowds just for a few rides.

But we had good fortune. We got there right when it opened, and hopped over to California Adventure right when it opened. We used Fast Passes when we could, and the rider switch for people who have strollers is VERY helpful. The boys were able to ride a few rides twice in a row, once with JB then once with me, thanks to the stroller switch. That was nice after waiting in line for so long.

I had quite a scare. While JB and the boys were on Soarin' Over California, this little runner-climber fell off a chair and smashed his nose. Blood was everywhere. It was awful. My sweet, sweet baby. But a really nice cast member helped me to first aid and he got cleaned up (did you know Hydrogen Pyroxide takes blood out of clothes? True story) and there was no sign of concussion or anything wrong. He already had a cut lip from falling at Legoland. He just is in that run-faster-than-those-little-legs-should-go stage.

Andrew waiting for the boys and me to finish Toy Story Midway Mania, and watching the big roller coaster nearby.

Max holding Flat Stanley for his class project.

Max took this picture of me and JB on Tom Sawyer's Island.

Look who was in JB's arms at the time -- a very sleepy 15-month-old little boy.

Benny liked Splash Mountain more than Max. Can you see JB holding Benny's arms up? They both loved Soarin' Over California and Star Tours and the teacups and Tom Sawyer's island and Pirates. Andrew liked Pirates because it was dark and cool in there.

Mama Cozza's Italian food after our long day. Guy Fieri recommended it.

For 24 hours we thought 200 pictures were gone. Our SD card was bad it turns out. But when we got back Friday night JB found a way online to get almost all of them back.

A few more posts to come -- Knott's Berry Farm, the beach, and hotel pool -- all with pictures we recovered.

California trip

We are back from our Spring Break trip to southern California. A few hundred thousand other people had the same idea. But no matter, we had a great time. Now it's time to vaccuum out the car and blog about the trip.

The three boys did so well in the car for the drive, even when it took extra time to get through all the Las Vegas to California end-of-the-weekend traffic. We had a friend's DVD player with a car mount, and I am never traveling that far without one again. I also printed out "travel tickets" I found through Pinterest. Every half hour they got another ticket to help them break up the time (12 hours there, 10-ish back to SLC). They traded in tickets for treats or prizes, though twice we had to keep asking Max to stop counting down the minutes until the next ticket. Andrew didn't holler as much as we thought he would either.

First up, Legoland!

This car, like so many buildings and figures and sculptures around the park, was made entirely out of Legos. It was a fascinating place for little boys. There were also many places in the park that sold Legos. I went to Target before the trip and bought the boys two new Lego figures to give them after Legoland. Saved me a ton of money and saved us some meltdowns.



Waiting for Bob the Builder 3D.

Driving their own cars, with a gas pedal and brake pedal.

Andrew spent a lot of time looking through the fences at the boys on their rides.

He also spent a fair amount of time sleeping in the stroller. Here he fell asleep mid-snack. When he woke up, he looked down, saw his granola bar, and kept eating.

This was after waiting in line for an hour for a ride. Man, oh manny but do I wish spring break was spread out for other people.

Next up, Disneyland, with even MORE people. But we had good fortune.