Animal Farm!

During our short Spring break, we took a trip up to the American West Heritage Center which is up by Logan. They have a working farm that you can go explore and also this particular weekend they had a lot of baby animals that you could pet. Besides the fact that there were a bajillion people that decided to do the same thing, it really was a fun day. There are not many things we all can do together as a family since Big T has a hard time with going many places, but we all enjoyed this!




After waiting just about forever for the pony ride, they tried putting Big T on the biggest pony, because he is BIG T. However, Big T did not like being so high up and kind of panicked. He was so excited to ride one that we asked if a little pony would be alright. So with dad standing right next to him, he mustered up all his courage and rode the poor smaller pony through the entire ride!

It was a beautiful day and such a beautiful place to wander through.

Creativity!

I have a lot of catching up to do! I've been able to print these blogging posts out and have found that they are a SUPER way to keep a family history. Of course my regular journal will be for the personal stuff, but this has been a great way to, like I said, keep a fun history of our daily-ish activities!

Loobey has been going through this really creative phase lately. She loves to design, color and anything else that brings out what she can imagine. At the end of March she decided to make Beauty and the Beast costumes for her and Belle. I think they turned out pretty darn cute!


She then decided to make the little costumes that her fairy dolls wear.


For her birthday her grandma gave her a doll house that you have to completely put together and decorate. When she saw all the millions of pieces she lit up like a candle! (I would have thought there's no way I'm putting that thing together!) But Loobey spent FIVE hours putting that thing together! I finally had to ask her to stop so I could set the dinner table.

It will be interesting to see what creative things she comes up with as she grows older!

Big Ol' Niner!

Believe it or not, my Big T had his big day again today! Nine years old! Since his party was a big success last year, we broke the rules and let him have a friend party again this year. (I left my camera at my sis's house, an hour away, so I had to use the darn cell phone for pictures. GRRRRRR!!!) Yep, that's a real live Snake Cake!


Big T isn't the greatest host if a friend comes over. He likes to be by himself a lot. Yet, when friends do come over he laughs himself sick for a while before retreating downstairs. For the past few weeks he's been asking every day if it was his birthday. I tried to help him countdown and probably should have made a paper chain or something, but he didn't quite comprehend the "only _ more days" approach. Last night when putting him to bed, he told his dad that, "tomorrow's my birthday!" So maybe he did get it more than we thought.
I just prayed that some kids would show up! We actually had 4 of the 6 come!! One was from his spec-ed class and the other from his reg-ed class. They were so good to him.
It was a little tricky to plan a party for a boy who is not mentally at his grade level and his friends who are. So, I didn't plan a whole lot. They did do a scavenger hunt and ate (not nearly enough I thought for a bunch of boys), and then I played them a game of b-ball (it's a sickness, I know. And crimany, they just about took me!) Then I handed out little squirt guns and let them loose outside.
By the time it was over Big T was exhausted (so was his mom) and he was ready to go be a hermit for a while.
He had a great time!! He's such a sweetheart that I'm so blessed to have!!

Amazing Mayzie

Two weekends ago was one of those that was just amazing! Rojita got the part of Mayzie in their school musical "Seussical" and two weekends ago they performed their show on four nights to almost filled auditoriums. Their costumes were amazing, the props and background were amazing and everything else you could think of was, yes... amazing!
Rojita didn't tell me a lot of what to expect, she said she wanted me to be surprised. Boy, I was blown away mostly by seeing that my daughter plays a great "hoochie-mamma!" This is NOT my Rojita. This is definately her "alter-ego" and boy did she let it loose! I went all four nights and loved every minute of it and hated to see it end.
Since I finally figured out how to download video, here's a clip from one of her songs.

Here's some shots of the show!

"No, don't thank me, I'd cry..."


Rojita with some of her fans!

She even had autograph requests!

Here's another clip...


Lots of fun! Can't wait for the next one!

March Madness!

Basketball season has officially begun. Remember my undefeated team of last year, which consists of me and Big T, well as of today, we are now 1-0. We successfully deafeated the other team of Ky-Guy and I-Gick, 30 to 15. The other team has grown a few inches since last season, which made this old lady a bit nervous. But it looks like I still have another year or so of dominating the court.

Ky and I-Gick were a bit frustrated at the end of the game, insisting that I threw too many elbows. But hey, when their heads only come up TO my elbows, it's hard not to catch a few. So, clearly my team will take 1st in our league this year, and yet the other team continues to trash talk. Whatever.

Exercise, Shmexercise!

So, can I tell you, I really do not like to exercise. I joined a gym a few months ago and went pretty consistently up until the middle of January. And now I've started up again. Today I did a cycling class and thought I was going to die. Now really, is a toned, fit, healthy body really worth all the pain? At one point during the class we were pedaling while standing with the tension on the wheels pretty tight and I thought my legs were going to explode. I truly could imagine myself falling sideways off the bike and since my feet are strapped on to the pedals, the bike falling with me. At that point, Bonnie, our instructor shouts out, "You're doing great! You're already HALF way through this 'hill'." At that point I imagined myself jumping off the bike and slapping her really hard for doing this to me. Violent, I know. But really, what's wrong with soft and fluffy?

SMILE!

For Rojita, yesterday was "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year!" After two whole years she finally got her top braces off! Happy Day!! She also has had a white spot with a yellow border around it on her front tooth ever since it came in and so we went to my old friend, Mark Geddes, the dentist and had him remove it. He did a great job and it looks beautiful.

I could have kicked myself over and over because I forgot my camera, so I had to use my cell phone. So here are some not so great shots of Rojita's great day!

Here's the before look:


And here are pictures of her still in the ortho's chair, then in the car after.



For those of us who've had braces we all know that great slimy feeling that comes from just having them off. We're sure that the whole world knows that we just got our braces off when we smile at them. It's like when getting engaged you're sure the whole world sees that beautiful ring on your finger and knows that it's brand new! What a great feeling!

So last night for our Family Night dessert I made a smiley cake, that unfortunately I didn't think about taking a picture of until just now. So here's our half eaten Smiley Cake...


Just picture in your mind a full smile, with braces still on the bottom and the word, "Smile" across the top. Thanks.

Happy Day!