Happy Memorial Day!

It's been a long, fun, memorable Memorial Day. We went to Denny's for breakfast and had a terrible experience there. Serves us right when we are loyal IHOP customers. Lol!

Anyway, we went to several garage sales after breakfast, which we didn't do very much last year at all, so it was fun to go again. We also played a few games together, such as Uno and Guess Who. (We bought Guess Who at a garage sale earlier in the day, so of course we had to teach Seth how to play today!) 

Enjoying some warm days!

The weather has been sooooo nice! We've been outside a lot because of it.

Kai is learning to pedal. Up until now, he's been on a running bike (see the video below) so he balances really well, but he doesn't pedal so well.

 Playing at the park just a few doors down from our house.

Gymnastic Exhibitions!

Kai and Seth both had their gymnastic exhibitions this past week! :D I can't believe how well they're doing and how strong they are. Seth especially loves it. They both did so well. I can't say enough about it, and I can't describe how wonderful they are, so I'll just share the pictures and videos and let you see for yourself. :) The theme was celebrating our nations heroes.

We'll start with Kai.

Happy Mother's Day!

 (I wish S could be in this picture with us!)

First of all, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mother's out there, but especially these two wonderful women!

If you're wondering, Russian accents are cute, but not sexy. Lol!

So here are some of our Mother's Day traditions:
- The Saturday before Mother's Day, we go to Tucanos for their Mother's Day special. They serve extra types of meat and give the moms truffles and carnations, one of my favorite flowers. (To find out why it is one of my favorite flowers, go to our profile with LDS family services and read our "Getting to Know Us" page. HERE is the link.)
- We also go to Deseret Industries (DI) and let the kids pick out some clothes for me. I try them on, find a few that fit (that I would really wear,) and let them each pick out one thing to give me. It's hilariously cute how much they love doing this. And it's really fun to see what they choose for me.
- We also do breakfast in bed on Sunday morning.
- And we do a nice dinner Sunday afternoon.
- At some point we open my presents (the clothes the kids picked out at DI).
- Jason sends me flowers through the mail (because he does everything through the mail.)

That's about it. We have the exact same traditions for Father's Day in June.

Fun FHE

We had a Family Home Evening with our amazing friends. We roasted marshmallows and starbursts and played in the backyard. It was so perfect and fun. I related it to the way Lehi and Nephi did their cooking as they wandered through the desert. If I had been more on top of things, we would have "hunted" for our food first and a few things like that, but we had fun either way.

Seth enjoyed his s'more, in case you couldn't tell by the picture below.

I met S's parents!

The last few days have been better between Kai and S. Kai has figured out that he gets special privileges by not being the baby, and I think that's curbed some of the sting of change for him. I think it's also sunk in that my love for him hasn't changed just because S is here. I'm glad things are getting back to normal. I even got some really cute pictures of Kai and S together.

We went to a parent meeting and I got to meet S's parents. I've been so curious to see them, to see who S looks like more, mom or dad. I've wanted to see how they interact with S also so that I may get an idea of how to make this transition easier for S. If they sing a certain song or hold her a certain way, it might help if I do the same. It went pretty well, though S was worn out by the end. S didn't seem upset at all after we left, which was better than I thought it would be. Yay!

Jason has been trying to do it all lately. He helps out SOOOOO much with the kids, which I couldn't be more grateful for. Just as an example of how wonderful he is, Jason helped me put the kids to bed and then wandered outside to build more garden boxes since we are expanding our garden a LOT right now. This was after a long, long day. I had to snap this picture.

Foster Care Placement

I have slacked on the blog writing front. I know. I apologize. But I have a good excuse! We got a placement through foster care! :D :D :D The child (heretofore known as S) is younger than Kai, which has moved him into the middle child position. He's not happy about it. Between taking S everywhere S needs to go, filling out paperwork, and showing extra attention to S and Kai to squash any sibling rivalry, I've been terribly busy. It's a good type of busy, and I've enjoyed most of it. I just wish Kai were enjoying it also.

Seth, on the other hand, is SO EXCITED. He loves having S around, and he loves having a sibling to sit on either side of him at all times. He steps in between Kai and S when needed, and I'm so grateful for his kind spirit. He wants more than anything for everyone to get along. If it were up to him, he'd have a dozen younger siblings to take care of. I think Kai wouldn't have a problem with another sibling if that sibling came to our family as a baby, because he would have time to adjust to the idea before having to share his brother or his toys. I'm sure things will even out as time goes by.

This is not to say that Kai hasn't had his good moments. He often is found sharing his toys and helping out with S. He just asks me to do things I can't, like last night when he wanted me to sleep on the floor next to his bed. I told him I would put S to sleep and then come sleep next to him. He was disappointed and tried to talk me out of putting S to bed. I went anyway, and when I returned, he no longer wanted me there. I was a little heart broken. Tonight, he asked if I was going to kiss S to sleep. I simply said, "Maybe." I couldn't say yes and break his heart, and I couldn't say no and lie to him. I'll soon take him on a mommy-son date. We both need one.