Creating our Spring Bucket List

So I've seen some really cute seasonal bucket list things online and thought that was SUCH a great idea! I've always wanted to create something for the seasons that just had a bunch of things that were good to do during that time. I knew I wanted to create this for us as a family to help keep us motivated to get out of the house or do something fun. 

I also, recently, realized spending our nights decluttering/organizing/cleaning wasn't so great for family time. I feel I got a good enough start that now we can switch it around a bit. Afterall, we should have a little work and play each day and I feel I was working all day Monday through Friday and only leaving play for the weekends (I feel Monday through Friday should be 80% work and 20% play, the weekends should be the opposite so that kids have a more well balanced upbringing). So with that in mind, I decided we are going to start doing nightly activities during the week and then Saturday mornings will be decluttering/cleaning/organizing, and then something fun for the afternoon (except cleaning weekends, that I need a majority of the day, I might have to plan something for Larry to take the kids to do so they still have fun with one of the parents).

A sample of the calendars I made for Spring Time.
I'll color coordinate the STEM activites, Crafts, and Game Nights
To help know what was done when and what to do when.

With that in mind, here are some fun ideas I have for the Spring (which I count as March through May):

• Safe Kids Fair at the Expo Center
• Jurassic Quest at the Expo Center
• Baby Animal Season at almost any farm
• The Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point
• Farmers Markets
• Feeding ducks at a duck pond
• The local Train playground runs a Train on Saturday mornings
• Plant seeds in pots
• Play Musical Shamrocks (like musical chairs, but with shamrocks)
• Some fun STEM activites I found on some family sites
• Make St. Patrick's Day/Easter/Flag crafts (for Memorial Day)
• Make stain glass pictures (tissue paper on cling wrap)
• Finger painting paints
• Spring crafts (butterfly and flower themed)

I hope to be able to get a bunch of these crossed off (I have more specific details written down, obviously, but don't need to fill the blog with those). I'm not going to lie, the idea of spring has made me feel anxious for some reason, so I'm hoping by creating this list and having things to do each week that'll make me feel better.

We also have the holidays, the birthdays, and a wedding coming up in these months so that'll help keep us busy as well!

Vacation Planning Fun

Oh. Em. Gee do I love planning vacations! I almost forgot how much I love planning them! 

This year is going to be SO amazing! Here's a quick recap of our last few Vacations:

• In July of 2019 we went to San Diego when Gwen was only 7/8 months old. This was SUCH a fun trip and we loved how well it went.
• In September of 2019 we did a road trip to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. While this was a good trip, it wasn't a real family vacation since the whole idea of it was to check out areas we might consider moving to. This was before my mom moved back and the idea of leaving Utah got nixed haha.
• We had PLANNED to do a Vegas trip for when Lucy turned 8 months, but then the dang quarantine happened and ALL travel had to be put on hold. We did quite a few staycations to use up PTO and have what fun we could have. Those were fun, but definitely nothing as exciting as seeing a new place.
• Every once in a while I'd load up some of the girls and go up to Idaho to visit Stace...those were also fun and better than Staycations, but not the same, still.
• I took a girls trip with Stace to New York back in October of 2021 and that was SO much fun! I got a bit of the vacation planning bug back. But, of course, that was sans family...not sure how much it counts.
• In December of 2021 we attempted Las Vegas, but that was a DISASTER!! We ended up cutting that short due to sinus infections, coughing sicknesses, ear infections, and finally pink eye. It was probably one of the worst vacations we've done (BUT we can laugh about it now). I may have gotten a bit gun shy of planning any more vacations with ALL the kids (and that was back when we just had 3!).

Well this year is a new year and we decided it's now time to get back into the swing of things. Originally I had plans to go visit Stace, but when I went last time she only had 1 guest room instead of her usual 2 (first world problems...am I right?) and I was sleeping on the couch. Not the worst sleep, but not ideal. I realized at that point visiting each other at our homes was going to be tricky and we might as well plan another girls trip. We landed on Boston in the Fall. I've been DREAMING of Boston in the Fall for so long so once the hotel and flights were booked I got SO giddy. I've been researching what to do, see, how to get to it all, and everything we need to know for weeks so I feel I've got a good plan on what to do which days.

We also decided that the kids are old enough to go check out Legoland this year. We're doing that one during Fall Break at school (so pretty close to Boston, but it'll be worth it). I heard Legoland is good for younger kids and most of mine are really getting into Legos. Pierce will be about 18 months old when we go so hopefully it'll be smooth. We decided to stay in the Legoland California Hotel to really make it a memorable trip. While I'm a tad nervous to have us all share a room and be in a hotel instead of an AirBNB, I'm sure we'll survive and still have fun. I've been watching YouTube videos of tips for the park and tours of the hotel/rooms and so I'm pretty excited. I think the kids will have a lot of fun.

I also have a brother getting married in April up in Idaho and since Marie moved up there recently I figured we could stay at an AirBNB in a middle area and visit both (plus visit Stace as well haha). I'll be getting that booked soon and so I'll be pretty happy to do that. I'll bring all the girls up with me before the wedding, have Larry bring Pierce up for the wedding and maybe one day after to see his mom and then they can come home early and we'll head home after a few days. 

I also started planning our vacation for next year because I just can't get enough haha. Details on that to come, but it'll be a big, exciting one that I need to research A LOT of things for.

I'm just so excited and giddy and nervous and anxious (in a good way) for all the fun we have coming. I'm trying SO hard to not keep waiting for these future events and just enjoy the moment until they come. Wish me luck...it's too much fun haha.

Valentine's Day 2023

Okay, okay, I know I don't need to go into my schpill of how much I usually dislike this day. However, this year we had a lot of fun with it! I ordered my fun decorations for the house and even though I could use more, I have a good start for it.

I made plans to pre-make heart shaped pancakes and waffles on the Saturday before and freeze them for breakfast this morning. I ended up finding a heart waffle maker so I thought that would be perfect, but after seeing how small it is I realized it would take WAY too long to make enough for all of us so I decided to make 1 waffle and 2 pancakes for us for Saturday morning AND extras for today. I froze the ones for today and toasted them for breakfast. The girls seemed to really like them!

Our new recipe this year was a trifle. We made it Saturday and even though the custard didn't ever thicken so the cake itself looked disgusting, it tasted AMAZING!! I was pretty happy with how it turned out. 

Cara had her class celebration so we got to decorate a box. We went to get some unicorn paper to cover a shoe box with and then we had some heart stickers she added to it. I think it turned out really cute. I only cut the paper too, she glued it on and put the stickers on herself.

Cara's Valentine's Box for school

I also got us all some candy, I got the kids a toy, a book, and a game for a fun Valentine's surprise this morning.

The only down side is I had also planned to get makings for Fondue for dinner and a fun pink drink to have with lunch, but I totally forgot to get the ingredients for that (and I had been planning this all for WEEKS). I was also going to "love bomb" their doors, but decided since they can't really read it might not be best to do that this year. I also forgot to read our "Night Before Valentine's Day" book I bought a couple years ago.

I was bummed that with all my planning I only got things for the morning done so it felt like once breakfast was over so was the day, but Larry reminded me I've already done more than I have in the past and more than our parents did for us so I shouldn't beat myself up so much for forgetting. I did make sure we all said why we loved each other during lunch so that we had SOMETHING that wasn't too materialistic and kept us focused on why we celebrate the day, which is the most important part.

Overall we had a pretty dang good Valentine's Day. I still dread when the kids are older and they deal with the "buying a candy/flower/whatever for your friends" thing the schools do (I so wish I could get rid of that!), but for now they are happy with the day and I'll do my best to make sure they hold onto those feelings for the holiday.

Superbowl 2023

Now normally I don't feel the Superbowl warrants it's own post, but this year/season I REALLY got into football! The Packers weren't playing as well as they usually do, so we threw in Cowboy games as well so I really got to see more teams play. I knew The Packers weren't making it to the Superbowl so seeing the other teams got me excited. 

I knew this year I wanted to do a lot of frozen foods and chips and dip and some chicken raviolis with vodka sauce I got at Costco. I was pretty excited so I decided to invite Andy, Rachel, Mom, Grandma, and Will. Everyone said they'd like to go so I thought "maybe we need more food?" Then Don text me saying he was looking for a TV to watch the game and he knew I was into the sport so I told him of course he could come! I was getting excited at how full the house was going to be and having my first real superbowl party. I was secretly voting for The Eagles to get to the superbowl and win so when they made it I was pretty excited for that as well.

Our lovely HUGE spread of food!
Also, pretty much the only picture I got

Fast forward to this morning. I got a text from Rachel saying Andy and her had some food poisoning so they wouldn't be able to make it. Mom said her and grandma would be there, but Will had a migraine so he would be staying behind. Then Don sent a text saying that Tracy wasn't feel up for socializing so he was going to stay behind with her. So basically my party turned into just a small gathering...if that haha. I was a little bummed, but I love just watching the game so I didn't NEED people here, I just wanted to eat and watch the game.

Luckily, it still ended up being a great day (even with a loss for the Eagles), I got to visit with family, we set the girls up with their tablets, and we played with them for a bit as well. We watched the funny commercials. While I do look forward to next season and watching more games, I am pretty happy this seasons is over and I can take a break from HAVING to watch the games (you just can't record them and watch them later). And now we can get into fun winter activities!

February Family Date Day

This month Larry had a choice for our Family Date Day. I always bug him the whole week leading up to it to see what he's going to choose, but he's such a last minute planner. This month he decided on Kangaroo Zoo. Funny story is Stace wants to get us this Groupon to Kangaroo Zoo she found as part of our Family Christmas Present. She asked me when she should get it for us so I asked Larry and he said May would be best because he felt it was a good Summer place to go to. I laughed at that thinking that's silly because it felt like a good winter activity. Then when he said he wanted to pick it for our family activity I couldn't help but laugh that we could've gotten it for free if he thought of this sooner.

Anyways, we went this weekend and we ended up having a GREAT time. Gwen had been talking about going to a place with slides and bouncy places for a while (after watching a Blippi episode where they go somewhere like that) so she was so happy when she saw everything. We let Pierce walk around so much so he was having his own blast. Lucy was nervous at first, but then we started going down the slides with her and she warmed up and ended up having so much fun. There was one slide she just wanted to go down over and over and over. I was more than happy to go through all the crazy obstacles to get to the slides with the girls since it was the first time I had been and not been pregnant so I was all for it....boy did it tire me out haha.

We stayed so long and then went to Pizza Pie Cafe afterwards (one of our favorites!) where we stuffed our faces with regular and dessert pizza. 

Pierce is TEN Months

   I am TEN months old!

I like: being around everyone (which means if you leave me alone I'll be mad!), being held so he can be in the middle of things, eating ALL the foods (except baby food, I'd much rather have YOUR food), when we nibble his belly or play peek a boo, when his sisters play with him. He just really likes being involved in all our days, if we just put him down to play he doesn't love that, walking around with our hands or on his walker, throwing things (such a boy!).

I dislike: having to crawl to get to the action (though he will crawl with a purpose! This boy M.O.V.E.S.)...that's about it. If we put him down we have to play with him a little bit so he doesn't think we're just leaving him.

I am now: Oh boy this one is GROWING! He now wears 18 month clothes, size 4 diapers, I'm pretty sure he's taller than his sisters were at this age. I'm sure his measurements are very similar to where he was at 9 months, but he's just getting SO big (and he's SO solid)

40 weeks in VS 40 weeks out

A Typical Day looks like: 

 

Wake up around 7:30. Whether he's already awake and chatting or trying to sleep, we get him up at this time.

7:40: He gets a squeeze pouch of fruit food, which he usually gobbles up (unless he's getting new teeth, that'll slow him down on his eating for the day)

8:00 get a 6 ounce bottle

8:30 - 9:30 wiggle & giggle time. He crawls around, plays with toys, plays with his sisters. Whatever.

9:30 - 11:00 nap time (although I feel like he takes a bit to go down and he's awake when we get him up so this nap might be getting shorter soon)

11:00 next 6 oz bottle

11:30 - 12:30 He gets another pouch of fruit and veggie baby food for lunch. Then it's wiggle & giggle / hang out while we clean up time. He likes to feed himself stuff so I give him something to snack on (puffs, chips, or whatever) once he's done with the pouch.

1:00 - 2:30: nap time.

2:30 next 7 oz bottle

3:00 -3:30 play/hang out time. Dad goes to get Cara from school around 3:30 so I'll give him some more snacks on his activity table (might be puffs, might be some cereal, just whatever)

3:30 - 5:00 hang out with dad while he works out. Most of the time he hates this because he can't be walking around with us, he has to entertain himself or have his sisters entertain him, but he is starting to warm up to it now that we took the gate down (Larry moved it to around the treadmill so Pierce can explore without coming near the treadmill while he's working out....a problem he had before)

5:00 he gets a 6 oz bottle. 

5:30 dinner time, usually another fruit & veggie pouch and then bites of our dinner

6:00 - 7:15 play time, night activity, whatever we're doing.

7:15 7 oz bottle

7:40 start bedtime. Sundays and Thursdays start with a bath (around 7:30), then it's diaper change, pajamas, a little cuddle/rock while we read to him, and in bed by 8.

This Month: This month was a BLAST with Pierce! He's getting more teeth (his top left side front tooth is in, his top left front tooth is coming in and we think we see his other top and top side tooth are next). Luckily, he is handling teething really well. I think he knows that means he gets to eat more things! 

He LOVES laughing. He'll laugh at the most random things and our days have LOTS of random moments of the girls coming into the office (while we're working) saying "want to see what I'm doing to make him laugh?" Haha.

Pierce, I feel, is getting really close to walking now. He loves to be standing, and LOVES when we try and make him stand on his own. He'll walk along things or with our hand/his walker so quickly so I feel we're getting so so close to that!

He absolutely loves games like falling backwards into our hands or when we pretend to drop him. He laughs SO hard. Sometimes he still loves when we pretend to nibble his hands. He's getting more curious about our teeth/mouths and is constantly putting his hands in them haha.

He's becoming such a boy, he loves throwing things, hitting things together. He recently figured out "shaka shaka" with shake toys and started clapping recently. He gets big smiles when we say "yay" while he's clapping. He just loves moving around and discovering everything. Oh and he still really loves bath time and brushing his own teeth (he's very stubborn in that he won't let us brush his teeth so we have to be tricky haha).

He also started loving feeding himself his pouches. We just take the top off and put it in front of him and he just sucks them down. He misses the last little bit which we have to be sneaky with helping him with. 

Overall, life is just so much better with him in it and I'm excited to celebrate his 1st birthday soon!

Update on last month's goals:

• Start introducing our foods: We do this when we have foods he can have (mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, dry cereals, etc.) He is still getting used to the harder textures, but he does like some of the things and always opens his mouth when we bring a spoon/fork to him.
  
  
• Get him closer to walking: He's SO close I feel like it's going to happen this next month.
  
  
• Get smiles, laughs, and cuddles from him: he laughs so much and I love nights where I get to just spend time with him and play with him and make him laugh. 
  
  
• Get him to say "mama" or other words: Still a work in progress, he doesn't say too much still. 

Goals for next month:

• Walking!
  
  
• More foods
  
  
• Celebrate the Superbowl (lots of food to try) and Valentine's day (a bit more fun foods to try)
  
  
• Get ready for his 1st birthday!