March Review

The kids spent a week with their cousins (Todd's sister Missy) and Grammie and Poppa while Todd and I went to the Caribbean.  They had lots of fun, once Hazel got over her fear that we'd be captured by pirates or eaten by sharks.  

Otherwise, we've had lots of time to play as a family, with Todd not headed back to work just yet.  We've been to children's museums and Temple Square, rode the train through downtown Salt Lake City, and taken our bikes to the park and gone hiking.

Todd brought Hazel a scarf from Afghanistan.  She's worn it quite a bit, mostly as a cape, but it's mainly been used as a hammock.

The kids are dying for warm weather.  We had a mild day in the 50's once, and they thought it felt good enough to sunbathe.  They are looking forward to California's sunshine!

Hazel has been playing library - making elaborate story times for us to attend.  She reads us stories that she "wrote" and then has us check out books, get our hands stamped, and do a craft.  This book is "Frozen 2."  Also, notice the massive scrape on her face?  She crashed on her bike. Thankfully, it is healing well.  Vitamin E, please work wonders for us!

Hazel had her last day of preschool last week, because this week is spring break, and we are moving back to California next week.  Here she is with Teacher Josie.  I almost didn't even think to take a picture when I came to pick her up, but I'm so glad I did, because Hazel said later how happy she was to have a picture with Teacher Josie.  I guess it was a big deal.  Sometimes I wish I were more sentimental so I would think more naturally of important things like that.

Since then, we spent a few days at Todd's parents' house again.  The kids rode the tractor, got rides on the four-wheeler, and spent plenty of time outside even though it was quite chilly.

From there, we drove to Cedar City to visit with Todd's sister Laura and the other cousins for a couple of days, then made a farewell tour on the drive back home, stopping to see Kelsi and David, Ryan and Kathryn, and Missy's family again.  My parents have been coming over a bunch this week.  I think we are going to be missed when we take off!

Gemma now solidly says, "Up," when she wants to be picked up, and is good at signing "all done" or "more" at meals.  Otherwise, she jabbers quite vehemently, but it might as well be in Chinese.  She hasn't made her jaw-dropping face in a while; her latest trick is the "smoochy smooch."  She puckers up her lips and comes in for a kiss, and is getting quite a lot of mileage out of it.

Jack eats breakfast like a champ, but otherwise is quite frustrating to dine with.  He daydreams at the table and barely takes a bite. Generally, he's not been very responsive to incentives, but I thought I'd give a sticker chart a try.  Hazel was amazing with them at his age.  He earns a sticker when he finishes his food during meal time (at lunch and dinner) without being reminded again and again to take a bite.  I've been cutting out snacks and trying to give him smaller portions so his plate doesn't look so overwhelming to him.  It's still hit and miss, and he needs a lot more work on his table habits, but I'm just so relieved that it only took him a couple of weeks to fill in his chart.  Looks like it's movie night tonight!

Other than that, we've been packing.  We are going to split the drive into two days, and should roll into Sunnyvale April 10th.  We're excited!