Reagan's Dance Recital

Reagan had her end-of-year/Spring recital.  It was a far bigger production than the Christmas one was.  Reagan danced in 3 numbers, and it was fantastic!  I can't believe I am admitting this, but I have been very pleased with her taking dance lessons.

During the recital Elsa copied everything the other little girls were doing onstage.  She wants to do dance so badly!  I may sign her up for classes in the fall?

I'm still struggling with whether to sign Reagan up for more, or not?  I FINALLY have her "on board" with doing karate.  And I think she'd benefit a great deal more from doing karate.  I guess she could do both.... But I am NOT AT ALL ready to be gone multiple nights every week, taking my kids to their different lessons.  I know, that day will eventually come, but I'm going to try to stave it off for as long as I can

Reagan is a fantastic performer.  She loves the spotlight.  When the girls were doing their encore performance, Reagan did her own little solo. 
For this recital, she had many admirers in attendance (as illustrated by all of the bouquet's of flowers she came away with).

My parents, and Nick's parents were there.  Jenny came too (We love aunt Jenny!), and our neighbor Kelli, came with her little girl, Kenzlee.

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Catchup, Ketchup, Catsup

Life is coming at me. Fast!  Trying to keep my blog updated....  Well, I just need to keep at it.  I finally started using my Instagram account.  I love it!  But now I have to try that much harder not to be lazy about blogging.

The end of May saw:

Reagan and Elsa playing a lot with their friend, Evia.

The opening of H&M, at Farmington Station, near our house.  I hauled all three kids to the grand opening with me.  The kids liked dancing to the music, that was blaring from the speakers.

The hand-fans were the only free items we walked away with.  I had hoped to score one of their swag bags, but those were for the first 400 people in line.  We were probably somewhere around #600.  The line wrapped around the building, and from where we were standing, we had a great view of the front door of the stores, and we got to see the ribbon cutting.  We also had a great view of the "edgy" H&M employees, standing at the door to greet patrons.  One of the employees was a transvestite.  I caught Reagan staring, a few times.  I didn't say anything, or point it out.  She never asked me about the "dressed like a gorgeous woman"... And I was relieved.  It's one talk I'm not ready to have with her yet.

Memorial Day, we went to Grantsville, UT in the morning.  It's always enjoyable to see my Grandma, and the rest of my extended family.  My kids played outside for hours!

May 31st, my nephew, Lance, turned 7!  Heather invited us to the Syracuse Family Fun Center for a little party.

My parents are purchasing a house, just a few blocks away from us!  I am thrilled!  They'll be living in Fruit Heights too.  I don't know precisely how far away from us, it is...  But I intend to do a morning run over to the new house, sometime soon, so that I can calculate the mileage.

More Daddy-Daughter Dates.

The Monday fun continues with Dad!

Most recently, Nick took Elsa to the Hill Air Force Base Museum.  He said it might be better than the Boeing museum in Seattle, because HAFB museum has more planes.  But Boeing has more interactive exhibits.

 There was a trip to the Treehouse Museum, for both girls.

One weekend morning, Elsa was handled a little too roughly on the trampoline, by an (older) boy that lives in our neighborhood.  Hence, the scab on the end of her nose.  I tried to make light of it, and nicknamed her "Rudolph".  But the moment it happened, I was anything but lighthearted.  It took a lot of willpower not to smack that kid.  Instead, I just sent him home.

Elsa has the most animated face of anyone I know.  Here she is, doing her "thinking face". 

Kangaroo Zoo.  Reagan liked it a lot more than Elsa did.  Also, Nick told me that he "lost" Reagan at Kangaroo Zoo, when she went to the bathroom and didn't tell him.  She pulled the same stunt again, a week later, when Nick took Reagan with him to Barnes and Noble.  Nick had a "talk" with Reagan, and I had a "talk" with Nick.  It shouldn't happen again.

Isn't Nick a great Dad?!  We're all fortunate to have such a good man in our lives!

Preschool Graduation.

I LOVE the preschool Reagan has attended for the past two years!  Before Reagan turned 3, my original plan had been to do a Joy School with some of the other neighborhood Moms.  Then, SURPRISE! I found out Cohen was coming along, and I knew there was no way I could teach Joy School.

I took to the Internet, looking at nearby preschools.   I really wanted to physically visit some of the preschools I had found; but it wasn't going to be possible.

I took a leap of faith, and signed Reagan up for the very first preschool I looked at: Start Smart.  Boy, did I get lucky!  It has been exactly what Reagan needed.  Her teacher, Jolynne Porter, is a talented woman; and has helped Reagan immensely.  I will be sending both Elsa, and Cohen to Start Smart.

Here are some pictures of Reagan at preschool this year:

Thanksgiving Celebration

Trip to the Fire Station.

And before I knew it...  Preschool Graduation! 
Reagan gave Nick a sneak-attack kiss after the program.

She posed with a lot of people.  Cohen came with us.  Elsa went next door to have a playdate.  Sidenote: we recently got new neighbors next door, and I love having them there!  It's a family we already knew, and they have young kids!  In fact, the Mom was my visiting teacher for the first 3 years that we lived in Fruit Heights, Wendi is the greatest!

Brian and Jenny came.  Brian was a little late because his motorcycle ran out of gas on the way to the graduation.

Reagan was supposed to introduce herself, and tell the audience what her favorite thing about preschool was.  Reagan said, "Hi.  My name is Reagan, and I love going to California".  She has California on the brain!  We're going there in two weeks to meet up with her Best Friend, Lily, and her family.

Reagan got her diploma.

And now it's off to Kindergarten, in the fall.  I took her to Kindergarten round-up, at the elementary school.  She had a great time.  I got a picture of her with two girls from the neighborhood.  I wish I would have captured a picture of her with Evia, the gal she spends most time with!

I know it has been said before, by many parents.... But I am shocked at how quickly the time has gone!  I feel like the start of Kindergarten officially ends the years of Reagan being "all mine, all the time".  I'm having a hard time letting go.  It isn't easy having all 3 of my kids with me 24-7, but most of the time I really like it.

On My Mind.

Blogging seems so passe.  I'm guessing my 2013  blog book will be pretty slim.  I like blogging, I think it's a positive thing, so I'm going to keep at it.  Even if, it isn't the "popular" thing to do anymore.

To begin with...  Having a two year old is difficult!  They get in to everything.  Their curiosity makes them naughty little monsters.  For the past year, Elsa has been demonstrating this to me, on a daily basis.

A few weeks ago, she painted Cohen in lotion.  He loved it!

Loved it so much, in fact, that he did it to himself yesterday.  Before this, I had no idea he could twist open the lid to the lotion.  Yesterday was also the day that Elsa finally figured out how to twist door handles hard enough to open doors.  This morning, I found that she had exited her bedroom, opened the door to Cohen's room, and climbed in to the crib with him.

 

Talk about harsh realizations!  Just as one child grows out of the terrible-twos, the next one is hot on her tail.   Heaven help me!  I do feel lucky that Cohen is turning in to a relatively mellow guy.  The pediatrician warned me that Cohen was of the age when temper tantrums are commonplace.  But, unlike the girls, Cohen isn't a big temper-tantrum thrower (knock on wood).  He is very easygoing.

He started going to Nursery class, at our church, two weeks ago.  I was terribly worried about how he'd react to going.  After all, he is a total "mama's boy".  I told Nick that I feel like Cohen has an umbilical cord made of titanium!  But Cohen surprised me, and has gone to Nursery without a fuss.  In fact, I think he really likes it.  At Cohen's 18 month well-child appointment, I mentioned to Dr. Swensen my concerns about Cohen.  IE- his massive preference to crawl, rather than walk; and his lack of verbal communication.  Cohen is awesome at sign language, but not at speaking.  Dr. Swensen said that, for now, we'll say that Cohen is a late bloomer.

Reagan went to a Fancy-Nancy themed birthday party.  It's shocking to me, how grown-up she is getting.   I took her pictures before the party, and she wanted to pose for all of them.

It's no secret.  I've missed living in Seattle.  Nick and I both miss our friends/"pharmacy family".  This past winter, nearly put me over the edge.  The snow, and cold was too much.  I felt very isolated.  More than ever before, I was ready to move.  Reagan would ask to have a play-date almost every day, and I struggled to find someone for her to play with.  It seemed that the little girls, her age, in the neighborhood had already paired off with one another, and Reagan was the odd man out.  It was heartbreaking for me! 
I love that my girls play together.  I want them to be best friends.  The hardest part of the day was when Elsa would go down for a nap, because then Reagan really had no one to play with.
Yes.  I was 100% ready to hightail it out of Utah.
It weighed heavily on my heart, and I prayed about it a lot.
Then, I feel like the sun came out.  Literally, and figuratively.  Our little neighborhood warmed up.  We got to know several families that moved in to the new subdivision across the street from us, and that has been wonderful.  Also, I got to know a neighborhood Mommy (Karen L.), that has a daughter (Evia), Reagan's age, and a son (Seth) Cohen's age.  Reagan and Evia play together all of the time now.  It has been an answer to prayers!
We got invited to a play-date with Karen, and some of the Mom's across the street.  We went to the Trampoline Park.  It was a blast!  That place is so awesome!

More on me:  In the past year I've lost 30 pounds.  The past two months I seem to have hit a plateau.  It doesn't bother me terribly.  I know it's because my work-out routine isn't diverse, and my fat intake is too high.  There isn't a donut I can ever refuse!  I may get back to being more strict in my diet... But right now, I'm really OK with my outward appearance.  I feel better than I have in years, and I like the way I look.

I'm working a lot more on my "inward self".  Because I love my husband so much, I decided that I wanted to make one last-ditch effort to mend the rocky relationship I have with his parents.  I put a lot of time and thought in to what I could do?  I talked to Nick's Mom- face to face.  I told her that I wanted to be on friendly terms with her, and I proposed that she and I get together on a regular basis and do genealogy for the Scheurer side of the family.  We've done this twice, since I originally spoke to her, and there has been an improvement in our feelings toward each other.  Love can build a bridge.  Truly.

Nick is amazing.  I want to be a better person, because I want to feel like I deserve him.  I am very lucky that he is forgiving, and overlooks my faults.  I wish my PMS weren't so extreme.  I am so quick to anger, and it's really bad when I am PMS'ing.  Nick usually gets the brunt of my fury.  I'm honestly surprised he's stuck with me through all of it?!  It is something I will have to work on for the rest of my life, I'm sure.  I hate that I make him feel like he can do nothing right, and that I know just what to say to hurt him.  There are days when I can be a really crappy wife.  I'm working on changing that.  Right now, I'm reading Dr. Laura's Woman Power.  It makes my faults even more glaringly obvious.  But I'm determined to change, and to become the partner that Nick deserves.

I'm also determined to get my spending under control.  It's another aspect of life that I struggle with.  It is one thing I know I can conquer, with a little will power, though.

My teeth and hair are spectacular, and are some of my favorite things about myself.  Now, I just need to bring my shortcomings up to snuff, and put them on the same level as my superior qualities.

A Pharmacy Conference in St. George.

Nick had a pharmacy conference in St. George, UT.  I thought it sounded like a good excuse for a vacation!

Rather than staying at the Marriott this time, I decided on a more budget-friendly option; and booked a condo through VRBO.

I made the reservation at the beginning of January.  I started to get nervous when it was 10 days before our scheduled stay, and I hadn't heard anything from the owners.  Turns out, the condo was sold the week before our stay, and the new owners were very inept, when it comes to customer service.  It was not a pleasant experience.  Up until the moment we arrived at the condo, I still was not certain that we'd have a place to stay.

The condo we booked was at the Sports Village.  In the VRBO listing it said that the complex has 3 pools, and a playground.  I guess, technically, this is true.  But one of the pools was a hot tub.  And the other was a kiddie pool that was 2 feet deep, and the size of two bathtubs put together.

We spent a total of 15 minutes at the pool.  Definitely not a selling point!

The condo was dated.  Functional, but dated.

The next time we have to go to St. George for a pharmacy conference, I will pay extra to stay at the Las Palmas condo complex.  It was across the street from where we were staying, and looked a LOT nicer.

So, Nick was in class all day.  This left me with kids to entertain.  St. George, fortunately, has a lot of nice parks.  We visited several of them.

One morning, I took the kids to the LDS temple in St. George.  We wandered the grounds, and took in the beauty.  I tried to get a picture of my three little ones.  But never could get one where they were all looking at me, at the same time.

I did drag the kids shopping with me, at the outlet mall one day.  None of us enjoyed that outing.  I bought a few things at the Children's Place.  But that was the end of it.  My kids don't like to shop.  They must get that from their father.

I did a little research online, to find places to eat; but that search didn't turn up too many "must try" places.  On the way to St. George, we stopped in Fillmore, and had lunch at Cluff's Drive-In.  That was good.  In St. George we found a wood-fired pizza place, called Rigatti's.  It was A-MAZ-ING!  We ordered pizza there twice on our trip.  It was the highlight of our trip!

Beyond that, yes we were boring.  I took the kids to McDonald's for lunch one day.  At least this McDonald's had a good play place.

Cohen could get on this slide, and slide down all by himself.  He found it very entertaining.

The kids did really well in the car.  Cohen surprised me, and probably was the best behaved of my children!  We had a nice time, and we all enjoyed the sunshine.  I told Nick (more than once) that I could certainly live in St. George.  Nick's response?  That he would much rather live in a rainy/lush place (ie-Seattle), than a desert.  I guess we won't be relocating south any time soon.

Spring Break 2013.

We were on the go!  The entire week.  It was great.

One of the days, I met up with an old friend, and coworker from my Zions Bank days.  Aimee. She brought her two little boys, and we had lunch at Sugarhouse Park.  I left Cohen at home with Nick, and I am glad I did!  The girls were more than I could handle.  They wanted nothing to do with the picnic lunch, or even the playground.  It was 60 degrees outside,and all they wanted to do was get in the water.

Of course, Elsa, ever my accident-prone child.  Fell in.  She was soaking wet, and muddy by the time I was ready to leave.  Because Cohen wasn't with me, I hadn't bothered to bring any diapers.  Elsa's pull-up was falling apart.  So, I was scouring my car, trying to find something to use to cover her bum.  I found some newborn size diapers in my first aid kit.  It's a good thing Elsa is so skinny.  I put the diaper on her.  It fit.  Barely.  She looked like a mini-sumo wrestler.  It was funny!

Another day, a neighbor had a bounce house set-up.  In the afternoon she invited my kids over to play. 
Reagan and Elsa LOVED it!  

Then, there was the day when I grabbed my (new) neighborhood friend, Karen, and we took our kids to Thanksgiving Point.

Cohen doesn't really love animals. He hated the pony ride!  I tried to get him to pet a goat, and he didn't like that one bit!

It was a fun, but very exhausting week!

When the week was over, I was surprisingly sad.  In the past, spring break hasn't really even registered on my radar.  But this year, Reagan didn't have pre-school all week, or dance class either.  It was so relaxing to be able to get ready at our own pace in the morning.  It made me realize that I am excited for summer to come!  My kids are so fun (most of the time)!