Thomas the Train

Baylub has always liked the show Thomas the Train. Not his fav, but he likes it fine. My bro and his wife are here visiting from Ohio (medical school) and we thought we should do something fun all together. So, I, Suzanne, Mom, Jessie, and all the grandkids drove up to Heber to meet Thomas.



We took a 25 minute ride on Thomas. Oddly enough, Thomas's passenger cars were so old, it made me feel like I was back in Ukraine. Here is Baylub on the train right after he got LOST!



That's right, it finally happened. I lost my son. I took him out of the stroller, bent down to get Lulu out telling him to go run by his cousins who were two feet behind me, the next thing I know, I can't see him anywhere. It was insanely crowded with people everywhere. I stayed surprisingly calm through the whole ordeal. I contacted security, we searched for about fifteen minutes on and off the train. While standing on the train, I spotted him being carried by an employee on the other side of the tracks. He wasn't fazed a bit, didn't even know he was lost.

Here is some of our party enjoying the ride (which was actually pretty boring). The other activities were a blast though. I highly recommend going. Lulu was feeling so sick but she stuck it out so well. What a sweetheart.



Suzanne, Daniel, and Maren.



Along with the petting zoo here, they had huge bubble wands, a large toy area with tables filled with trains and train tracks, a tent with a detailed lego city with a moving train driving throughout, Mr. Topamhat, and live shows including a a magician and musicians.



It was for sure Baylub's cup of tea. He could have stayed there for hours more than we did. I felt bad making him leave, but Lulu had had enough and I could tell he himself was getting tired. He zonked out right when we started driving. He is getting a lot better at his picture smile so I had to show an example.



Thank you for such a fun day, Meema!

Childhood

It's amazing what childhood experiences can still make you feel 20 years later. So, everyone knows the Disney movie "Enchated"...




...I personally thought it was darling. I LOVE Prince Edward and how he hams it up. Being a little girl at one point in my life, Disney princesses, especially Ariel, still have a special place in my heart.

I recently discovered that some REAL Disney princesses make some cameo appearances in the film, "Enchanted" and I am amazed at how excited I am by seeing my real princesses in real life...on film.

Ever wonder about that random part where Giselle puts a live fish in her mouth and then spits it out? It's a bizarre and subtle reference to the fact that the secretary is the original voice of Ariel! The real Ariel! I keep watching her over and over again trying to hear if Ariel pops out of one of her lines.

Then there is the soap opera that inspires the bad guy Nathaniel. You'll here a small musical reference to "Beauty and the Beast" because the mean woman is the original voice of Belle.

Last of all, as Prince Edward knocks on apartment doors looking for Giselle, a pregnant woman opens the door surrounded by tons of kids. THAT is the original Pocahontas. She's blond, I was amazed to discover.

It makes me so excited to see the real voices of the princesses. So magical!

Happy Birthday Easter

Lulu is one and we are so happy! So is she. We had a fun two days celebrating her first birthday ever. She really didn't know it was all about her except for when we sang Happy Birthday to her and used her name. Then, she grinned a lot and you could tell she felt special.




So far, our family tradition is the birthday girl/boy has to wear a very special hat. She loved it enough to leave it on her head for about thirty seconds, which, considering her age, I thought was pretty good.

Here is everybody helping her open her presents. Bayleb did pretty well not wanting to keep everything himself.



She also needed help diving into the easter themed birthday cake. I wanted it cute but I'm just not hip enough to make an AMAZINGLY awesome cake with fondant and toys and characters on top. I thought it turned out pretty cute anyways.


If you can't tell, its an easter egg.





Easter was very special. The Easter bunny came to our house and brought some books and candy. He brought Lulu a Berenstein Bears book. I have forgotten how much I LOVE the Berenstein Bears. I want to read it every night by myself when the kids don't want to. It makes me want to collect them all. These are their new Easter outfits that Grandma bought for them. They are so cute.



Looking especially feminine and petite, Lulu weighs only 18lbs at one year old. She is in the 95th percentile for height and the 8th percentile for weight. She eats really well, I think she just got her dad's genes.



Caleb went nuts with the easter stickers that came in the egg dying packs. He loves stickers almost as much as candy!


We hope you all had a wonderful and peaceful Easter weekend.

So Proud...

My little sister, Amy, got third place in her age division running the half marathon in Salt Lake City. There were 349 other girls running and she was faster than almost all of them, and she says she didn't train that much. What a champion!





Congratulations Amy. I love you!

Milestones

Only once in my life have I owned a car with over 100,000 miles on it, and that was when my dad made me buy my grandpa's 1983 Cadillac Cimerron after I graduated from high school. My grandpa is an amazingly meticulous man and he kept the little brown car in the best shape it could have possibly been in considering that it didn't even have FM radio. (wha...) I was shocked that three of my siblings actually drove it after I had moved on. I don't remember how many miles it had on it, but there were plenty. So, I felt it necessary to record the milestone when we drove our current vehicle beyond the 100,000 mile mark.



They are a little blurry but you can still see the numbers.



Lulu has been using the office as her bedroom pretty much since she was born. We just put her in the play pen and it works nicely. We finally put both of them in the same room and it all went surprisingly smooth until the last week or so. This is what happens as soon as I leave the room.



They giggle and laugh together better than during the day. So, we end up having to put Lulu back in the play pen until they fall asleep. It is so cute although bothersome. Caleb's face is him trying to smile for the camera. As soon as I walked in the room and he started saying "smile smile." What would life be like without kids?

Eleven Months

So our little angel is almost ONE! I can't believe it. Her first year flew by even faster than Bayleb's. Here she is at 11 months old, crawling around the living room and playing with everything (her favorite pastime).



Please note the hair. We have been putting it into little ponytails for about a month now. She has a lot of hair growing on the sides and back but not in the front, so her ponytails are on the very tip top of her head and stick straight up. It's really cute. I have learned the art of bow-making (kind of) and so try to expand her hair accessory collection. It takes like three minutes to make one, so I have made quite a few.



I have done quite a number of other crafty things I am proud of that I think I should blog about but I never do. Maybe I will someday.



My favorite things about Lu Lu right now are
- she crawls over and snuggles with my when I lay down on the floor,
- her smiles and giggles are given freely and make me melt
- she lets me do her hair although she often rips out the bow
- she has an independent little spirit that I know will carry her far in life
- she pats my back when I give her hugs
- she is not a picky eater
- she is still a light weight and easy on my back
- she loves to snuggle stuffed animals