Kirtland and Cleveland

We went off on a short vacation for Good Friday and the weekend. We're only about 3 hours from Kirtland, Ohio. We wanted to go again (last time we went Victoria was only 1!) so the kids could learn some church history. We went to Palmyra 2 years ago and plan on seeing Nauvoo and Missouri this summer, so we had to get this trip in to make our church history tour complete, once we complete it.

We left Thursday evening and got in later than we planned. The good thing was that Erik was really tired the next day for the tours, so he was quiet and cuddly, trying to fall asleep instead of bored and crazy, though it could have easily backfired into tired with tantrums!

  First, we toured the Newel K. Whitney store and home. Many amazing revelations were given in the  rooms above the store. I know the kids felt the Spirit and seemed to listen pretty well. They especially enjoyed seeing the old-fashioned way of life. Erik took a snooze on the picnic table while we had lunch (good thing the rain cleared up by then!). We toured the Community of Christ church afterwards. They have a little museum in their church building full of church history, then they showed us a video about the Kirtland temple before giving us a tour of it. They currently own the Kirtland Temple. It was very informative and the kids enjoyed being inside a real temple! The best part, for me, was singing The Spirit of God at the end, since that was the song the Saints sang at the dedication of the Kirtland temple.

Saw Mill and Ashery

Erik's lunchtime snooze

River where many Saints were baptized.

Kirtland Temple

We went to the Johnson home/farm last and again felt the Spirit as we learned about all the revelations given there. The boys were laying on the ground by the end, but they were quiet, at least! We got to bare our testimonies on the step where Joseph Smith often preached from.

Steps where Joseph Smith preached from. Erik kept hiding from the sister missionary trying to take our picture- stinker!

After a better night's sleep, we spent the next day at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. Driving through Cleveland, it looks like a great place! There's lots to see, so we'll have to go there again sometime. The kids, who are all very much into experiments, loved the museum and the shows we saw! It had been a long time since we had been to a Science Center.

View of the lake behind the museum.

Karissa is flying a plane!

Astronaut

On Mars

On Mars

Austin is taking of in a rocket ship.

Kid's play area.

Before going home, we had to eat at the authentic Puerto Rican restaurant there. Wow, way good! We'll need to go back just for that!

Mofongo- a popular Puerto Rican dish made of mashed plantain and cooked in a broth. This one is covered with shrimp. There are other varieties too. This was the best we've ever had!

Rincon Criollo

Yoda's Tale

For about 4 months, our cat, Yoda, was throwing up at least once a week. Let me tell you, that was not fun! It started in November when I accidentally bought the wrong food. It was kind of accidental, but kind of not. I wanted to buy a bigger bag of his food, but they didn't have it at our Petco. In fact, that time they didn't even have it in the smaller bag. So I but a different kind. And so starts the four month of cat vomit adventures!

Around that same time in November his water was moved next to his food. I didn't think it was a big deal, until I realized being in a different place was not helping with his water intake to flush out his tummy problems. Only recently did I move it back to where it used to be.

We quickly but his old food after he threw up for about a week consistently, but I think that triggered an upset tummy. Jason had bought me a poinsettia plant for Christmas. Recently, I discovered that Yoda was eating the plant. Did you know that poinsettia plants are poisonous? I did, though I didn't know he was eating it until I saw one of the leaves in his vomit two weeks ago. I also discovered, that he was eating fake evergreen from a Christmas decoration on the floor of our storage room.

Now that he is on even better food, thanks to Kay and Auburn, is drinking water again, not eating fake evergreen, and not eating poinsettia plant, he hasn't thrown up in over a week! He is acting more like his obnoxious self instead of hiding out all day and throwing up in mysterious places.

One last addition to you Yoda's recent hard life. In January, I was playing Life with Victoria. Yoda was sitting in the box, kind of unusual for him at that time since he was not very social then. When I went to grab a piece of money from the box, he clamped down on my hand with the hardest, longest bite ever! I screamed long, loud, and hard. It hurt! He has nibbled on me before and bitten me here and there, but never like this one. I now have a lovely scar to carry the memory of my cat forever!

The next day.

I am glad he is not throwing up anymore, knock on wood, and that we can enjoy him more again. We love our Yoda!

(I wanted to post a picture of him, but I don't have one on my phone right now. Of course I can't find him at the moment and I can't use our computer because it is broken! ) 

Freedom With a 10-Year-Old

Victoria is almost 10 1/2. Over the past year, I have left her and Karissa at home by themselves while I went to the grocery store for about an hour, maybe 3 times. They were random times when the kids were home and I desperately needed to go to the store, but didn't want to take four kids. I remember the first time was a big deal. She was still nine. We went over and over about not answering the door or the phone. In fact, I had told them, since our door is also a window, that if anyone came up to the door, they were to freeze so the person outside wouldn't see any movement. Luckily, not many people come by, so I don't think they had to deal with it.

Last week they had two half days. On Thursday, Karissa had a doctor appointment with the optometrist at 1:30. I had decided that I didn't even want to take Erik. So, I gave Victoria her first real babysitting job with both the boys. When I returned, everyone was calm and somewhat quiet (playing wii helped with that) and the house was clean. The boys had chocolate milk, which they enjoyed thoroughly, and plenty of other snacks I am sure. I felt free!

On Saturday, I had to visit teach a friend with a new baby in her small apartment, at 9 am. We had a busy day ahead and Jason was going to a church leadership meeting in Lansing (Elder Cook was there among other prominent leaders) so I needed the girls to get their homework, chores, and piano done. I gave Victoria her second baby sitting job (both of these she got paid for, which she was thrilled about!) I brought Erik with me this time so they could get work done and not have to worry about monitoring the boys. I left a list for each of them and they were all super excited to get it done. I believe that Austin got most of his work done as I was getting ready to leave. Victoria took charge and helped him with the things he needed help with. Again, when I returned, the work was done and it was peaceful at home.

Needless to say, I am excited about this new-found freedom I have with a developing babysitter. Victoria definitely has a "take-charge" personality, and I think it will come in handy for when there's work to be done while I am away. Now, if I can only get her to do the same while I 'm around!!

She won the coloring contest at school, awarding her with this certificate toward a book at the book fair. 

Frozen on Ice

We surprised the kids and took them to Disney's Frozen on Ice last Saturday. I don't know who enjoyed it more, me or them! I had always wanted to see Disney on Ice. We were informed it was coming here and it worked out perfectly being the same week as my birthday. It was about as close as we can get to Disney out here. We enjoyed the opening welcome by some of the main Disney characters.

 Frozen just makes sense being on ice! I enjoyed using my imagination with the characters as they performed chase scenes and falls off cliffs that are hard when they're not controlled by a computer. The boys loved when Marshmallow (the big snow monster) puffed up really big. Erik's mouth was down to his chin! The girls loved the music and dancing on ice skates. I never asked Jason what he liked best, but I think he enjoyed all of it.

The pictures didn't turn out great with the white colors and lights over the ice, but these are the best ones. The rest, we'll just keep in our memories!

We snuck of pic with this poster in the back before the  thronging crowd came over this way.

Luckily, I thought to bring the Elsa costume. Every other girl Karissa's size and smaller had one on, just about. 

Here's the welcoming crew from Disney. You can see Pumba there in the front on the left.

Elsa and Anna right down on our side. 

Let it Go was beautiful and the sparks of light were awesome!

Nice ending pose with the main characters. 

Pre-Birthday Thoughts

Tomorrow is my birthday. Here are some thoughts I've had this week:

-I don't feel as old as I thought I would this year. I have many friends, including my sister, who turn 40 this year. I'm still three years from that!
-I've been going from feeling exuberant to exasperated this week. Exuberant because of the fantastic weather we've been having (highs in the 40's mostly, but today and tomorrow, 52 degrees!!!) Exasperated because Erik has been giving me triple doses of his pill and I've had more lunches returned home untouched, than I like. It's not just Karissa this week, either! On a side note, she had her 8-yr-old check-up today. She grew 3 inches and gained almost 5 lbs. in a year! She's still in the 6th percentile for weight and 9th for height, but at least she's consistent.
-My last recurring thought: why is the time change the week of my birthday now? I think that is part of the core to my problems this week.

This is what it looks like outside right now. We had so much snow, that even after 5 days well above freezing, most of those were sunny, the kids still have to wear snow suits at recess. It was 52 today and they came home dressed in gloves, hats, and snowsuits!

More Progress

This progress has nothing to do with Erik's eating, but with his social skills, something I've been focusing on a little. I know he's a 3-year-old boy, but when he doesn't want anyone who is not in our family to talk to him at all, and gets really mad when they do, and then when he finally gets comfortable in a public area, "asks" for attention by growling, barking, screaming/yelling, and running  around or tackling people, I decided I wanted to help him get more comfortable in public situations. I'm sure it's mostly because he's getting older, but I thought taking him to that cooking class and a gymnastics class, that we've been doing, would also help as he is exposed to other kids and other adults in a learning environment. In January, he got to start going to the Sunbeam class at church. I think that has helped him too, though it's been rough. Jason, or I, had to be with him most of the time up until two Sundays ago. That's the week the progress started to take affect.

Erik stayed in the Sunbeams class the whole time by himself and even got a good report this last Sunday and the one before! (The teacher has also figured out the best way to help him calm down after Daddy leaves: ignore him!) At gymnastics last week, he walked by the teacher at the station she was assisting the children at (the other stations the parents assisted), instead of completely avoiding her. He even looked at her! He also stayed with the group more, rather than wanting to do his own thing. Then, when I brought him to a friend's so I could volunteer in Austin's class, he actually talked to the mom instead of avoiding her, which is what he has always done. She commented that she didn't know he talked that well because he had never really talked to her before!

Tomorrow is supposed to be his last day of gymnastics, but I will sign him up again if really wants to. Here he was last week when he was doing what he was supposed to.

Notice his shirt? It's the one I got him for his birthday that he refused to wear until now. 

This wasn't actually what they were "supposed" to do here, but he was staying on the right equipment, at least.

Can't go wrong with a tunnel!

The pit has been his favorite from the beginning.

Here's to more progress!

Snow Fun

Some people think "'s no fun" being here at this time of year, but we actually enjoy the snow and an excuse to get more things done indoors (like reading some good books). Okay, I have to admit that when the wind chill is -15, which it has been a few times recently, or even just regular temps like 5, then it does get old because it's a little cold to go outside then. (It was -32 with the wind chill the morning I took the boys to church when everyone else was sick. That. Was. Cold! and my lungs could tell for the two minutes it took to walk inside the church!)

Despite the extremely cold temps here and there, we've managed to enjoy playing in the snow when we can.

This was before we got the 16 in. in two days. It was so "warm" this day, Victoria didn't wear her hat and had a t-shirt underneath. She was still hot.

Austin and Logan didn't seem bothered by the "heat". They just enjoyed the good, icy sledding.

We went sledding after the big storm and there was so much snow, we couldn't even move down the hill yet! This slide was a good alternative.

This year's snow fort.

It has since been "snowed" under.

Erik is getting good at making snow angels.

We now have a hula snow girl in our yard.

Karissa made one that is selling snow balls.

Victoria has since put her "hands" on her hips.

 Some day soon I'm buying cross country skis. That will be the year we don't get any snow!