One of my favorite places!

We were able to go to Boston in the beginning of June. One of my friends had a son who was married in the Boston Temple, so we went to his reception. It was fun to see friends from when I lived there years ago. We stayed with some of our favorite people-the Olsons-My adopted family. Jordan calls Marion and Karin "aunties" We sure love seeing them and wish we could more.

This first collage is in the Boston Public Gardens-right next to the Boston Gardens. There is a big pond and they are famous for the Swan boat rides. The driver of the boat is sitting in the back of the boat pedaling-where the swan is. It was very relaxing and the kids loved it.
Then we went to see the "Makeway For Ducklings" statue. Jordan and Spencer liked it, but Landon wasn't thrilled because it was so hot. I was a really hot day. We then played at a little playground, then went to McDonalds for ice cream, and were pretty worn out by that time. Plus our 2 hours on the meter was out!! After we took Darin to the airport shuttle, I took the kids to my favorite beach. I used to live 10 minutes from it when I was a nanny and went there all the time. It is called Nantasket. I have lots of great memories of this beach...it was one of my "thinking" places. It is a great beach-especially when the tide is way out. The kids loved playing in the rocks. Spencer loved playing in the tide pools and Jordan liked to do art in the sand. Landon isn't too sure of the beach yet. They used to have an amusement park on this beach, but all that is left is the carousel, so of course we rode the carousel and had ice cream. Then we were all worn out again..
Here are Auntie Karin, Jordan, Auntie Marion, and Grammy "O" in Karin's fun hat. Jordan loves Grammy "O" for introducing her to word searches. She would sit by grammy's chair and help her look for letters. She would wake up in the morning asking if she could help grammy.
Aunties took us to Horseneck Beach in Westport Ma. We set up camp and stayed a few hours. It only took Jordan and Spencer a few minutes and they were having a blast. Landon, on the other hand wasn't too happy. The sand was pretty hot. Jordan found some friends and played in the sand for a while. Spencer loved running in and out of the water and loved being carried further out. He would say "again mommy!!" It was fun-even being knocked over by a wave.

I will warn you that putting the remainer of sunscreen on your self after you have lathered up your kids is not suffiecient from preventing yourself a painful outcome!!! Just a few pics of the car ride up to Boston and having fun at Cracker Barrel. It is our favorite place to eat on the road!!

Jordan's Favorite Person

Each time I have had a baby, I have heard the same thing from Darin for about a year...."she/he doesn't want me. " "He/She doesn't like me." It is a great feeling to know that your child needs you and wants you over anyone else in the world. It is fun when you know just what to do and are able to calm your child in a few minutes. I think it is a blessing and gift we have as mothers.

I do have to confess that these moments of only wanting mommy come at some hard times....cooking dinner, cleaning a mess, caring for another child...etc. This is where daddy can be soooo helpful. Luckily, there is a magical changes that happens sometime after each child was become 12 and 18 months.....daddy becomes a best friend!! I think it happens when they understand what "no" means. I am the one saying it all day....so Daddy is a welcome treat. Spencer has now joined in with Jordan and any time I do not make him happy I hear "I want my daddy" It is pretty cute. The children in the Maney home love their daddy. Each day when he comes in the door, which not to rub it in to many of you, is around 4:30, the kids all run to the door. We often play the "who gets the first kiss" game.

The winner is usually Jordan. She thinks her daddy is the best person around. There are many times a day when she would prefer him to be home!! He is the one who takes her to the movies and buys her new DVD's. When Spencer was born, her daddy was in charge of lots more of her care and needs, and since then, they have been true buddies. She always sits by him in restaurants, hangs out near him when we are on outings, and loves to snuggle next to him on the couch.
I will never forget the first time Darin held Jordan when she was born...He was so happy to have her-his little girl. It has taken a little time- but these two have developed the relationship that I knew was inevitable....they are truly daddy and daughter, and I am so lucky to have them both!!!

9 hours, 1 mini-van, 1 mom, 3 children.....

And I survived!!!

Darin and I drove together to Boston last week, but he flew home on Tuesday. I stayed and played around with friends and came home on Saturday. I actuall went from Boston to Hartford CT on Friday to see a long time friend and left from there Saturday morning at exactly 10:40. I pulled into our driveway at exactly 7:50. Here's a synopsis:

*Gas is $4.49 in Connecticut!!! I didn't want to run out in NY, so I only put $15.00 in because it is really cheap in New Jersey. I still paid $60.00 to fill up in NJ later......
*Horribly long, long, long traffic in New York. Luckily the DVD player was working-it gave us problems on the way up. Landon had a nice nap through all the traffic, but Spencer had periodic moments where he wanted his daddy.
*I took all three kids into one of the huge rest stops off the New Jersey Turnpike and only had one instance of my heart jumping when Jordan was casually looking at pink sunglasses when I was ordering food. Thanks to a double stroller the boys were strapped in.
* I had a nice thunder storm close to home-in Aberdeen MD. Almost felt like I needed to pull over, but we made it.
* I got over a little bit of road rage when the line for the Baltimore tunnel was miles long and when I was finally close a guy drove all the way to the front and wanted in. I really wanted to yell at him out my window, but reconsidered and let him in.....if you do it grudgingly is it still charitable?
*LOTS of prayers that I could stay awake and not crash the car......prayer is great!!

It was raining when we got home and all Jordan wanted when we pulled up was for me to go in and get her umbrella....where are her priorities?

So it wasn't as bad as I was gearing up for. The DVD player helped and sleeping children were great too-also having swedish fish, twizzlers and peanut M&Ms at arms lenth was a helpful thing. Don't tell my WW leader!! At one time all the kiddies slept and I actually listened to the radio.....so now we are home and have to get back on schedule!!

I'd like it just on my shoulders.....

I have I have had some bad hair cuts in the 5 years I have lived here-which is sad because I had the best hairdresser in Utah who gave me a great cut every time.. Mostly because I am cheap and go to the Haircuttery where it is seldom a person who is a native english speaker....one time I went back twice to have the lady fix the back-I have a huge cowlick right in the back that presents huge problems when it is dry.

Anyhow, the title is what I told gal when I decided to get a hair cut last week. It has been over a week now, I think I like it. So, as usual the gal asked me what I wanted. I told her it is really thick and I mostly wanted it thinned out and to rest on my shoulders-it was a little below my shoulders for those who haven't seen me recently. We began chatting, and she kept cutting, and cutting, and cutting.

So.....here is the end product. As usual, I can't manage to put the pictures on in the order I want, so you get the back view first. The good thing is that these are all my natural curls. Front view-sorry bad lighting, but you get the idea.

I have been through the "I love it" stage right after, to the "I hate it" a few days later to now "I will manage...it will grow back....well, I do like it now that I am used to it" stage. At least I can just barely pull it back into a tiny ponytail when I get really hot and sweaty-have to love the DC humidity!!

Kindergarten

Back in March, I went to a meeting about the Spanish Immersion Program at Rose Hill Elementary. It is a very popular program and they had a video of college students who were the first to go through. A couple of them had come back to substitute for the current teachers. We decided to go ahead and put her in the lottery for the program. Anyone in the county can enter the lottery for the multiple immersion schools.

Anyhow, we are not in the attendance area for the school, and they only take 50 kids, so we were not too optimistic. A family in our ward was very far down the wait list last year.. We wondered how many spots were saved for siblings of current students, etc. I have not had my hopes up and was actually getting excited to have Jordan ride the bus to school this fall. We went to the open house of the school Jordan would attend.... BUT......

I checked the mail Friday and much to my surprise, we received a letter telling us that Jordan has been ACCEPTED to Program! We were so excited and a little shocked, really. I was a little sad about the bus, but Darin who does not cart kids around all day, said I have been doing it for 2 year so it isn't any different. If Spencer gets chosen to be a model in the preschool like Jordan has been doing for the last 2 years, I will make 3 trips to that school each day.....yikes!!!

But we are very excited. The program sounds really good. Half the students are native english and half the students are native spanish speakers; so they do half the day in english and the other half in Spanish. Once she is in first grade, all the way to 6th grade, they do math and science in spanish and the rest in English.

The boys will automatically be in the program as well since siblins are accepted, so now I know what my life will be like as long as we live here!! I will have a house of Spanish speakers. Maybe I will learn with them. I told Darin he was going to have to help with homework. It will probabaly be good learning for him as well even though his is fluent from his mission.

Adios!!!

Jordan's new bed

Jordan has been fighting bed time lately. It has been really frustrating. We do the whole bedtime routine like normal. Read books, etc. She has her bed loaded with stuff to play with, yet she makes a trip downstairs every ten minutes. We send her back up over and over again.

Last night was no different. We sent her back up and didn't hear anything for a while and thought she must have been asleep in her bed. We went up stairs only about half an hour later. When Darin went up, he did not turn the hall light on, and this is what he almost stepped on!!

These are REAl pictures. I would like to know how you just fall asleep on the step? Seems pretty uncomfortable, and you can't really even see the TV from there......

Anything to resist going to bed......

I love boys!!

When I was pregnant with Jordan, I talked myself into the fact that I was having a boy-we didn't find out. All the women in my family had boys first, so I thougth for sure....to our surprise, our little princess was born. I have loved having her so much....but lately I have had cause to think about what joys my little boys are. I just love them...even after cleaning up mess after mess. The dishwasher is one of Landon's new favorite toys...not too much of a problem if the dishes are clean!!
Who needs a hat....a strainer will do. He put this on his head himself!! How brilliant!!
We forgot to cover our sand box before the monsoon season hit and now it is a swimming pool with sand at the bottom. I had forgotten about it one day when Spencer went out to explore. I hears splashing, and this is what I found....I did what any mother would do....found the camera. Notice the socks and shoes!!


Landon loves to go outside and this was the look when I shut the door to bring him in the house so I could dry Spencer off. Poor boy...

More water fun. Another item we forgot filled with water. They sure had fun with the bucket. Can't wait to go swimming this summer. Landon should take to it really well.

Does this look a little mischievious to anyone else?

I really love my boys and think every mom should have one just like Spencer.......

These last couple pics are from our car this weekend....big moment....we drove around the neighborhood to watch it happen...we love you fun minivan-thanks for driving us around so well!!