We had quite a busy Saturday recently. My grandparents were in town (in SLC) and in the morning we got a call from Opa asking if we could come up and see them. I didn't want to take everyone, but asked Eliza if she'd like to join me. Before I could even finish the sentence, she'd jumped up from her spot on the floor and run to the garage to get in the car. She and Opa have always had a special connection, and I got a little thrill seeing how excited she was to get to see him and Oma. I brought Luke as well and we had a great visit with Omes and Opes at my aunt's house.
We got home just in time for me to grab a quick lunch, then sweep Cat off to our Mother Daughter Book Club meeting. I haven't discussed this activity on the blog yet, but I'll devote a full blog post to it later on. We enjoyed meeting with our book club friends and discussing the designated book.
Then we rushed home to pick everyone up for a baseball game at UVU. Cat and Jack's school had been invited to sing the National Anthem to start the game off. We got an email around lunch time that the time of the game had been changed from 5pm to 3pm, and we managed to get there just a few minutes before the music teacher got the kids lined up and warmed up.
Eliza was quite content to relax in the grass with the stash of candy she brought from the house while the big kids got ready to sing.
The kids did a great job singing, even if they were small in number. I'm sure there would have been more people singing if the time of the game hadn't been changed at the last minute. I hope there would have been more people in the stands as well, but I really don't know.
We had a good time watching the game for the first few innings, then the kids got restless and we let them play on the playground at the end of the stadium. We were hoping to keep everyone happy until the 7th inning stretch, when the kids would be invited to go down to the field to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" but during the 5th inning, it suddenly got a lot colder, then started to rain, so we decided we'd had enough baseball for one day.
We wanted our family fun to continue, though, so we decided to go to the BYU Museum of Art, where there is an origami exhibit we'd been wanting to check out. The girls were excited at the prospect but Jack wasn't. I talked it up, telling him it would blow his mind, and he finally accepted the idea.
It did not disappoint. There were some amazing pieces in there, along with an interesting video about origami's applications in engineering. On display was also one of Sadako's original paper cranes, which Cat thought was awesome since she read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes in 3rd grade.
At the end, there was a room devoted to letting visitors try out origami on their own, with lots of paper, several tablets with an origami tutorial app ready to go, and a variety of origami books. We stayed in there a while as the kids worked on making various things.
The kids loved the whole thing. And the next day, Eliza asked me if we could go back to the place where "Jack's mind exploded." It took Cat reminding me of my "it will blow your mind" comment before I knew what Eliza was saying.
We finished our excursion with dinner at The Creamery - always a hit. Below you can see how Eliza was helpful enough to pre-dip the french fries for us so that the ketchup would be ready to go.
And Luke was in high spirits at The Creamery, which was really refreshing to see. I love the cheesy smiles he gives me when I want to take his picture these days. So cute. Also, he decided to bite the bottom off of his ice cream cone, which we all thought was funny because it reminded us of the book "Froggy's Worst Playdate" where Froggy's friend bites the end off of his ice cream when he offers to let her have a lick.
It turned out to be a really fun afternoon/evening, rounding out a satisfyingly full Saturday.
In honor of Mother's Day (shouldn't it be MOTHERS' Day? Since it includes all mothers, not just one? But I digress...) I thought I'd share a few pictures of the mothers in my family. Included below are my mother, my grandmother, my sisters, my mother-in-law, and my sisters-in-law. They have different talents and strengths, many of which are different from my own, and I have learned from and been inspired by them over the years. Isn't it great that none of us is on this journey alone? God gave us other women to help us through, and I'm so grateful to be connected with these particular women by family bonds that can last forever.
First Ever Sisters Weekend Savannah, GA 2006
The Three Broomsticks @ The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Mother's Day Weekend 2011
Four Generations Rocky Mountain National Park, 2006
Family Reunion at St. George Island Easter Weekend, 2011
Luke turned TWO! I mourned the loss of my baby last year, but this year... whoa. Now he REALLY isn't a baby anymore. I'm okay with that, though. But of course, I'm also okay with the fact that he still chooses me over everyone else 9 times out of 10, that he rests his head on my shoulder when he's ready to go bed, that he reaches his hand out to me when he pinches his finger and says "KISS! KISS!" So maybe there's still a little bit of littleness left there?
Well, Luke's birthday was mostly just a regular day. We got up and got Cat and Jack to school, then we sat in on Eliza's music class (more on that to follow), then I treated Luke and Eliza to Costco pizza for lunch, since "pazzi" is one of Luke's favorite things to eat. We ate at a nearby park and I tried to get some pics of the birthday boy (more on that to follow too), then we dropped Eliza off at school and we went home so that Luke could take a nap. That evening for dinner I made some of Luke's favorite things: macaroni and cheese, green beans, and strawberries.
Luke loves fish and get excited whenever he sees one, so I'd been thinking I'd do a little fish theme for his birthday, but as the big day arrived, it was evident that whatever feelings he has for fish, they pale in comparison to his adoration of all things THOMAS and CHOO-CHOO and TRAINS (and TRRRRRRUCKS, to be fair), so I switched gears and went with Thomas. I already had the banners anyway. To make the cake, I just baked two loaf pan cakes, frosted them, and positioned them behind an oversized Thomas toy we have. It didn't look too bad either.
Luke was overwhelmed by all the people in our house at the time and I think it affected the way he reacted to his cake. He looks either confused or disdainful or maybe just apathetic. But once we sing to him and he blows out the candles, he finally gives us an adorable itty bitty smile. You can see it around 0:33 on the video Lindsey made for me.
It's cake time. Who has time for utensils?
Luke had a good time opening presents too, and knew just what to do. He received some great board books and a few toys, many of which have already become favorites.
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