First Hair Cuts

That's right, our kids are growing up! (Sniff, sniff)

Annabelle and Asa got their first haircuts together a couple of weeks ago. Annabelle's hair had never been cut and for the last 2 years or so it seemed that it didn't really get longer, just bigger.Here is her before shot:

I felt a little torn about trimming Asa's hair because it needed a little more length so that we could see whether or not it was going to be curly. But . . . the shagginess around the edges was just looking messy, so I went for it. Here is his before shot:

Annabelle was nervous that she would FEEL her hair being cut. Afterwards she exclaimed, "That didn't hurt at all!" Too cute.

Her hair turned out a little shorter than I was anticipating, but I got the eternally tangled ends off and over all it looks healthier, we might just have to wait a while to get it back into a pony tail. But most importantly - She likes it :)

Asa's haircut went a lot smoother than I anticipated. He loved standing up looking through the chair at a very helpful Sister. She kept him happy and distracted while I trimmed up around his ears and neck.

I didn't take any off the top, just the sides and back. But here is his final result:

I don't know that I'll always cut my kid's hair, but it was fun this time. They put up with me and at this age they can't point out any of the flaws!

April Flowers

Before May turns to June, I should continue with the update. April was highlighted with Easter, great weather here and a whirlwind weekend for a wedding.

In April Asa cut his seventh tooth. He also stopped eating and reverted back to nursing every couple of hours. Our first visit to the pediatrician revealed sores in his throat. It was suspected to be something viral and just to treat him for the pain. A week later, less sleep and even less eating we were back. The sores were so bad he was tested for strep throat, thankfully that came back negative and we were given some prescription pain killer and told it should be gone in a week. By the end of the month I was at wits end with a super cranky kid that was nursing 3 times at night and ornery the rest of the time, so we went back to the doctor. This time he had an ear infection, so armed with an antibiotic and reflux medicine we went home. Cue the applause! Within 20 minutes I had the happiest baby I had seen in weeks! Sweet wonderful medicine! His appetite returned and I am slowly getting him dependent on foods for nourishment - I'd love to begin sleeping through the night undisturbed. Whatever that feels like, I am pretty sure I like it.

One afternoon Annabelle came up to me and asked if I knew what reversible change was. "Uh, yeah I think so". She explained it was when something could go back to the way it was, "Like water turning into ice and then back into water." Normally my jaw would have dropped but I had a sneaking suspicion this had come from her Sid the Science kid cartoons. A few nights later I could hear Mike trying to convince Annabelle that she needed to remember to close her eyes when saying her night time prayers. She said she used to be good at that, but now that she had been keeping them open it was too hard. For some reason Mike went further into debate with her and explained that she had developed a habit of keeping her eyes open and that she could learn to keep them closed again and break the habit. I couldn't help but laugh when she argued back "It's not a habit Dad, it's called reversible change!"

Easter was a great day. I really enjoyed watching Asa try to eat every egg that he found. I hid these little freeze dried yogurt snacks in his eggs since he couldn't really handle candy. He loved them and popped them into his mouth one after the other all morning. And Annabelle of course made out like a bandit with her loot. I think her favorite thing was a magnifying glass in her basket. She immediately wanted to go outside and discover the backyard.

All month we looked forward to our trip up to Utah for David and Clara's wedding. David is my younger brother and we were excited for Clara to join our family. My older brother Adam also graduated with his masters in geology that weekend and so it was a fun packed weekend with great food and even better company. The wedding dinner was at The Lion House downtown Salt Lake. The historic building was beautiful and it was really fun getting to know Clara's family.

They were married in the Draper temple which was beautiful, we had never been before as it is so new. The morning started out cold but when we came out of the temple the winds stopped and the sun came out. Annabelle was thrilled to see Clara and all the flowers. She has quickly become attached to her new aunt. Their reception was great fun as well with flowers from my talented Aunt Julie and a cake made by Clara's sister in law.

Our pictures of that day aren't all that great but my old friend from Provo, Amy Bennion did a beautiful job with the professional pictures from that day. You can get a little taste of them on her photography blog, here. I love them. I wish I had known her before I got married! Maybe then I would have agreed to doing some bridals :) Amy even put us up for the weekend, not many photographers will do that for you! Thanks a million Amy, it was great seeing you and meeting your little Zac.

Oh yeah, back to the trip. It was so fun to spend time with my family. I think my little brother Jake was my hero of the trip. He almost always had a niece or nephew in his arms. Except of course when Mike convinced him to do a little climbing for the reception.

For those of you who know David and Clara they started their own little family blog. It is pretty funny, but private so you'll have to harass them to give you access.

Favorite photo of the month: Yes ladies, they're both mine.

Favorite Videos from March

These kids are hilarious. I wish I had more moments like these on video. Enjoy!

Nona & a Flower Bed

At the end of March we were spoiled to have Nona, my grandma, come visit us. She is busy with her own work and responsibilities at home and we were thrilled that she was going to make it out this spring. She made the ultimate sacrifice by hanging out in the Denver airport during a blizzard for a day and a half just to fly here. She said people were crying, babies were restless, it started to smell, but she eventually got on a flight and made it. Thank goodness!

Nona is turning a young 70 years old this year and is so young at heart. She has a healthy laugh. She is never to proud to have fun and as a result kids and sometimes other adults are encouraged to join in. One example is when we went to the neighborhood park. I have definitely become the mom that sits and watches. Playgrounds are for the kids to get their energy out while mom watches from a relaxing distance. Right? Not when Nona is in town. She was chasing Annabelle up and down, yelling for me to bring Asa up to her so that she could take him down the slide . . . add some bubble blowing and it turned into an afternoon of real togetherness.

Another major highlight of the trip was visiting the zoo. We went last year and this year was to be no exception. We pet the manta rays, rode camels, pet the goats, looked at animals of course, road the train, enjoyed a picnic. It was a jam packed day, followed by pizza, a movie and some deep sleeping.

We were also able to go to the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant. It is a big outdoor production portraying the life of Christ. It is great to watch and really helped Annabelle to recognize why we celebrate Easter. The costumes were fantastic. We couldn't resist chasing down this guy afterward!

Nona and I usually put her energy to good use while she is in town and so our project for this trip was to brighten up a spot in my backyard. We spent some time picking out flowers and employed Mike in carrying heavy bags of soil. Here is a little photo journal of the whole event:

This is what he had to work with.

Here are the flowers a little more upclose and personal.

This is how Anna feels about gardening. Really, she asks to pull weeds on a regular basis.
And this is really how Asa feels about gardening.

Cute, huh? Well it brightens up my little view.

Thanks for a great visit Nona! Happy Birthday and we'll have you back anytime :)

March in a Minute

Yes, I realize that it is, uh, May. But for my sake I'd like to do a little catching up. It seems to be the theme for my blogging thus far this year. March is one of the most beautiful months in Arizona. I love the sunny warm (or as many here refer to it as, cool) weather. Great for hiking, play dates at the park, visiting the zoo and all of that.

Needless to say we spent a lot of time outside. The citrus fruit is also in season, which means many friends are looking to dump their excess fruit. I love making homemade lemonade and I think we perfected it this year and added puree strawberries.

In March Asa sped up his crawling and mastered going up the stairs. I have a gate at the top of the stairs but can't bring myself to get one for the bottom . . . seriously, can you imagine, having a baby on one hip, an armful of something else and trying to negotiate a gate, climb the stairs, negotiate another gate and then have to do it all again on the way down? Safety First? How about 2nd? I do put an ottoman at the bottom of the stairs to block him when I can't keep and eye on him. Teething, drooling and waving made up most of Asa's month. Take a look at those teeth in there, this kid's smile cracks me up!

Annabelle enjoyed her first field trip in April. Her preschool class went to a fire station. She talked about it for weeks and initially didn't want me to go with her, but a few days before said it would be alright if I came along after all. I might have embarrassed her with all the picture taking . . . she survived. Since the field trip and Safety Week at school, she has been more focused on safety. She asks WHEN our house will burn down, she notices wether or not bike riders are wearing their helmets, if firemen will come to our house, if girls can be firemen, when she'll be old enough to bathe Asa without me . . . I'm glad she has taken over as safety officer for me. I have to admit issues of safety don't cross my mind as often as they do Anna's.

A highlight for us in March is celebrating Mike's birthday. I had to steal this picture off of our friend Tacy's blog as she managed to remember to take a picture! Tacy and Mike share a birthday, exactly. Well I don't know what time they were born, but I love them both and so we got together and celebrated. Oh, and they both love cheesecake, so it works out perfectly. Later in the week they packed up and moved to Utah. It was a fun night, but a bitter sweet farewell as we'll miss them, but I know they'll enjoy being closer to family.

Mike got a new macro lens for his birthday and has been a mad man macro photographer ever since. He usually shares his favorite shots with his fellow Sherwood photographers on the family photography site, if you want to see what Mike's world looks like in macro take a peek through the archives.

Other March happenings deserve a post all of their own. I think the time is up on 'March in a Minute' but I couldn't help but post this last picture of Asa - - with all the crawling and disinterest in eating as of late he doesn't have quite this much chub anymore. Oh yeah, and I think this is evidence that he'll get some curl to his hair.