Worlds of Fun

Last week I got to spend some quality time with Beth and Patrick. Their school had an end of the year celebration at Valley Worlds of Fun (which is kind of like a glorified Chuck E Cheese without Chuck. We had such a good time! A fabulous friend of mine watched Thomas and Cate for me. Thanks again Tash!




Skee ball was not a big hit....they kept throwing the balls at the glass, not getting the technique quite yet.



Air hockey was a hit though





Beth was really good at this mini-basketball game. I sense a future HS b-ball star....



On the teacups with Beth's "best friend ever", Alexis.

Hair Cut

Check out my Slide Show!

Resolutions

I've decided that New Year's is not the only time to make a resolution. So, these are the the items I hereby resolve to.

1. I WILL get off my Cate-weight. I lost 6 pounds last week on the Special K challenge and today I got the new Flat-Belly Diet book in the mail. I realize that I did Weight Watchers for a total of 2 years and their new slogan is "Diets don't work," but guess what? I'm sick of counting points!!! I'm going to gauge my success by how my clothes fit and how I feel rather than being a slave to my scale which is how I felt every week weighing in. Also, last night I went to Zumba for the first time and loved it. If you don't know what Zumba is, imagine the most high-intensity aerobic workout and do it for an hour. But, you don't even realize how long you're doing it. It's set to Latin music and is a blast.

2. I will follow my weekly schedule I have set up for myself so that I can keep my house in better order. I implemented a new laundry system last week and everything has actually gotten folded and put away the same day I wash it. I will also add weekly entries in my blog to my to-do list. I'm trying harder to become a journaler for there to be a record of my life for future generation. I think this is my best hope.

3. I will read the Book of Mormon all the way through. Yes, I admit it. I've never read the whole book and I'm very ashamed. But, if I can read The entire Outlander series (which is 7,000 pages )in five weeks, I can conquer the scriptures.

4. We will have food storage. We are taking action this week and are ordering from the Cannery. Last week Costco started rationing rice, flour and oil. We are headed for trouble and there's no way my children are going to go hungry as a result of it.

Spring Break

So, why people reminisce about family car trips is beyond me. We drove out to New Mexico for spring break (3200 miles round trip) and Wow. That was a lot more painful than I thought it would be. The first day of driving was fine, it was the second day that almost killed us. On the upside, I was able to read almost 3,000 pages of the Outlander series (my new obsession). That's almost a page per mile...

Even though we borrowed my MIL's conversion van and had a ton of room it was still two long days of driving. We stopped in St. Louis to stay with Tom's cousin who was nice enough and crazy enough to let us stay the night. I think we were very good birth control for her and her new husband.......

So, the drive was long and the visit was short. We got to meet up with some old friends of mine and eat LOTS of good food. There are not enough days in a month for me to eat at all the places I miss. One of the places we got to go was the Frontier which has the best tortillas on this earth. We also got to take the kids to some fun places. The boys went to the Unser Family Racecar Museum while us girls were shopping. We went to Explora, the children's museum, which was amazing. They had stuff for every age group, even Cate's.

While I did appreciate all the quality/quantity time we got to spend with Tom. I don't know when we will be doing that excursion again. I think we'll stick to having my mom fly out to visit us and us flying out there in a few years......

According to the kids, New Mexico is not a real desert because they never saw any cactuses (cacti?). Darn that Diego....






the Frontier Restaurant......absolute best sweet rolls, tortillas, burritos, etc.





On the rooftop at Explora they had life-size Lincoln Log-esque building materials. This is the "cabin" we built.

Time flies

Has it really been a year? It's hard to believe this is the same sweet girl I brought into the world. Cate has been such an amazing baby and I love seeing her personality really shining through now. She tries so hard to keep up with her older siblings already. We went took a picnic dinner to the park and after eating the older kids went off to play and as soon as Cate saw them leaving the table she started climbing out of her stroller to go join them. I let her down and she took off!

Whoever thinks there can't possibly be enough love for a second baby has never met a mom with a fourth. I love her as much as our other kids. Your love does not divide with the birth of each child, your ability to love simply grows. I am still so in love with this darling and I definitely think I have more patience now.

At least at this stage in the game. My dad commented at Cate's birthday that I seemed more relaxed as a mother now. I agree but the thought also makes me very sad for my twins whom I feel very cheated with. I honestly don't remember the first 6 months of their lives due to sleep deprivation and the first few months of Thomas' life were so hectic having 3 kids so young. But I guess I just need to take it as experience and enjoy the most I can with where we are now.

An introduction

Well, here they are. At the top is our baby, Cate who turned 1 at the end of January. The middle picture is Patrick, who is the oldest and one of the twins. They will turn 5 in May! At the bottom is Thomas, 3 in October, and Beth, Patrick's twin sister. Yes, they keep me busy and stretch my sanity to its breaking point but give me so much joy also.