Parakeets and Pioneer Day

*I didn't proof read this one because it was so long, so forgive the typos

Sean had his first on call day with Foothill on July 24. When you are on call on a holiday you have to go work the urgent care in the morning and then answer whatever calls come in for that 24 hour period. Since he had half the day off I thought we should figure out something to do for Pioneer Day but couldn't really think of anything. I was feeling stressed about it so Sean and I decided to just have a normal day. In the afternoon Brett decided he wanted to make butter like a pioneer (he must have learned about it from a friend or at church). So we decided to run to the store to get some heavy cream and make some butter. The kids were very excited to shake the cream in mason jars. 

 On the way to the grocery store Liz fell asleep so Sean stayed in the car with her and let her sleep, then when we got home she snuggled into him and fell back to sleep. She's at a hard age where she doesn't want to nap anymore but still needs one every other day or so. While Brett and Alana were starting on their butter, we listened to the Nashville Tribute Bands Trek album. The kids started asking questions about pioneers and we had such a great chat about how the children had to walk and walk and walk and sometimes with no shoes. The kids were fascinated! We also talked about why they had to leave Nauvoo and Kirtland, and the kids were really sad that people were allowed to be so creul.

 It was a Tuesday and we hadn't done FHE on Monday so Brett declared it a family night. My parents called and wanted to run out some clothes they had picked up for the kids. We were having spaghetti so they came and got some and then stayed to visit. When I asked Brett what the activity should be he declared that we were making covered wagons out of graham crackers! I'm sure glad I had the stuff. Grandma and Grandpa joined in the fun and we all laughed and ate way too much sugar. Especially Lizzie how just kept eating it =) Alana loved the frosting and marshmallows.

 Grandpa had a unicorn pull his covered wagon.

 After we got the kids to bed, Brett kept coming out. He was having a hard time getting to sleep and was feeling lonely in his room. That got me thinking we needed to up the decorations and such in his room, it was pretty boring. Sean and I also discussed getting him a pet. We have been talking about it since we watched Elroy and I had looked into getting a dog. I did more research on dogs that night and just felt like it wasn't a great fit for our family right now. We don't have a yard yet, I'm not up to training a puppy, and they cost a lot! Especially the 2k-5k poodles and labradoodles I was finding! Brett loves birds and Brett and Alana have both been asking to get birds. I looked up a website and found that parakeets might be a good fit for our family. By this point Brett was in on my bed with me researching. We finally told Brett to get to bed, then we heard fireworks outside. We walked out and I saw Brett staring out his bedroom window, of course I went and got him and told him he could come see the fireworks. The girls were sound asleep through the whole thing! Brett was really brave and tried a sparkler and we had a lot of fun visiting with our wonderful neighbors. Brett and Alana ask me everyday if they can play with Grace and Eli! Kari and I ended up sharing funny stories about our ancestors with each other. For not planning a Pioneer celebration, we sure had a great one!

 The next day was Sean's day off and after getting some chores and shopping done, we decided to go buy some birds. We went to the DI first to find a table to set them on. Then we went to Petsmart. We told Brett and Alana that they could each pick one bird, but that the bird would not be theirs, it would be the family bird. They also each got to choose a name. Lizzie was confused why she didn't get to carry a box with a bird at first and kept saying "where's my bird", Brett was so good and said "Lizzie this is your bird". They have all done a great job and sharing the birds and loving them equally. The first bird we picked was Brett's choice, a very pretty green one. He named her Flutter. She was really hard for the worker to catch! The next bird was a beautiful blue one chosen by Alana and named Pecksy.

 We were going to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner that night so we took the bird cage and stuff over to their house to get it set up. Sean put the cage together and then we stuffed ourselves in the bathroom to get the birds from the box to the cage. It was fun to hear that my mom had a parakeet when she was young called Sunshine and that it loved strawberries and would sit on her shoulder. We all enjoyed some dinner and then we headed home with a cover over the birds.

 Then next day we had some friends that we met in Albuquerque over for a playdate. My friend Mikey and I had Brett and Mia around the same time and we loved to do Insanity together in her living room. She was the perfect one to workout with because we were both going through the same things with sleeping babies, bodies (and bladders) that had just given birth, and living in a city away from family. She lives in Murray now and we try to get together often. Her girls loved our birds and her little baby boy AJ loved the cars and babies.

 We are learning very quickly what a parakeet needs. Lots of articles will just say teach them to go on your hand and then let them out of the cage to fly free for at least an hour a day! Sean and I are a bit nervous about that plan. We found some helpful articles though that explained how to "hand train" the birds. We put our hand in there and feed them Millet Spray (a treat) and help them know we are safe. We also try to put our finger gently on their belly and say "step up". The training is going very very slowly. The birds are still super nervous of us, probably because the kids like to help with the hand training and Lizzie especially loves to run right up to their cage =) We found out that Dad P also had a parakeet growing up named Dugan, he was apparently very tame and loved to play in the dish water while Emma Lou was washing dishes. I asked how they got the bird back in the cage and he said the bird would just eventually go back. No one seems as concerned as I feel about let them out, what if I can't get them back in?

 It is Alana's job to keep their water clean and fresh everyday and Brett job to get them fresh seed. We are supposed to give them a diet of lots of fresh food, but every single fruit and veggie we have offered has been rejected. The most adamantly rejected food was the watermelon. Sean thinks the red made them very scared. Brett loves to read to them and we all whistle and sing to them often. They love it when the sun shines in on them in the mornings and they love the piano. The groom each others faces which looks like they are giving each other kisses, it is very cute. They sleep in Brett's bedroom and then spend the day in the family room with us.

 Our friends from Holladay the Harts asked if we could watch their 3 kids while they went to a wedding and luncheon one morning. Alana and Brett love Jack and Will so we were very excited to have them come! I decided we should get out of the house for a bit so they didn't tire of being in the house so we went to the park. They all had fun, except poor Jane who was really hot and wanted a snack (I only brought water). Alana and Lizzie loved the swings and Brett and Jack and Will played a game where they were running around taking care of animals and riding dragons. We all got hot and decided to head back. There is a toddler play area on the way with some fun bouncy toys.

 We all had some lunch and then Jenn and Brian came to get their kids. It was a lot of fun, but having 2 two year olds is a bit crazy! Later that evening Neil and Rebecca brought Kaden and Lexi over. Brett and Alana had invited them for a sleepover! We played lots, made homemade ice cream and then put it in the unicorn ice cream dispenser and covered our sundaes with chocolate and sprinkles. Lexi slept really well in Lizzie's bed and Liz slept in the pack n play then Alana in her own bed. Brett slept in his bed and Kaden had a blow up mattress on the floor. Brett and Kaden stayed up late talking and building legos =)

We've been trying to help the birds learn to eat from our hands to help them trust us enough to come out of the cage. 

Our new little neighborhood is trying to foster a good sense of community right from the start. Brett's piano teacher is super social, and great at reaching out to people so she and some other ladies in the neighborhood put together a really awesome block party. We all donated $5 to help pay for the rentals and meat and then they asked people to volunteer to bring other stuff. We brought a salad and hot dog buns. The party took place behind our house in the green space. The kids were excited to wear their swim suits and play in the water slides and slip n slide. We met lots and lots of neighbors and had a really great time. There is talk of doing a movie night soon. I think its great we live around people who want a strong friendship with neighbors. 

I keep making the mistake of inviting too many people over and my kids get overwhelmed! We had Brianna, Afton, Rowan, Alana's friend Elsie, and Brett's friend Ulyses all over. They did have fun, but Brett and Alana were struggling to keep it together.

Brett and Alana really wanted to take swim lessons and I was having a really hard time finding a good class. My friend Grace reccomended her friend Lexie. I called and got the kids scheduled for private lessons at a home in Holliday. Lexie taught Brett and Savanah taught Alana. Both Brett and Alana learned so much and felt a lot more confident in the water. We did it for about 4 weeks and wish we could have gone longer! 

 They let Lizzie play on the stairs while the older kids had lessons. I liked the once a week model better than every day, but getting to Holiday by 9:30 was pretty hard, we've gotten pretty lazy this summer. 

 When Sean and I went to see Newsies a few weeks ago we were thinking how we would really like to share theater with our kids. We looked online and found that Hale Center in Orem was doing a production of Aladin Jr. We got tickets for mid day on a Wednesday since that was Sean's day off. The girls wore pretty dresses (because they like to wear pretty dresses  every day).

 Everyone really enjoyed the show. The actors were awesome. I love how they condensed the storyline and added funny little jokes. 

Alana and Lizzie have been big helpers with the parakeets cage cleaning!

  I finished 5 giraffes for the service project we are doing for Christmas and I was really proud of the way they turned out! 

  As the end of summer has grown closer the kids have gotten a bit more bored with being at home. I can tell because they have been arguing more. I think I also wanted to get out of the house so I made a list of places we could go before the end of summer and tried to fill up the week. I took the kids to the Church History Museum. We packed a little lunch and got there about 11:30 since we left after Brett's piano lesson. We parked right outside, had a little picnic, then went inside. While we were eating lunch Brett got kind of emotional and upset and told me he was really worried about school starting and all the things that were new that were coming up. We talked about it a lot and I think he felt better, but I assured him that I wasn't going to just stick him on the bus on the first day and make him do it on his own. We went to the Children's section first and had a lot of fun! Brett folded oragami birds, Alana and Liz colored some pictures, we build temples with blocks, played with geometric tiles, and rode the camels. We spent at least an hour there, the we went downstairs to see the panoramic First Vision film. The kids loved it and so did I! We browsed through the gift shop then came home. 

  

 We got the piano tuned and so Sean spent an evening performing for us. We sang loudly and out of tune to Frozen, Wicked, and Greatest Showman and had a wonderful time! 

 Our last week of swim lessons was last week and I thought it would be fun to go to the zoo right after. I figured the kids wouldn't mind being in their swim stuff especially since they may want to do the splash pad. I threw them each a change of clothes in the swim bag and we hurried out the door with our snack bag and my bag. We were already cutting it pretty close to get there at 9:30 and once I got on the freeway I realized I forgot the swim bag with the towels, change of clothes, swim, diapers, and goggles! I was pretty frustrated but knew I couldn't turn back or we would miss swim all together! I brainstormed a lot and finally realized we had a bin of old clothes to take to Kid to Kid. I rumaged through and found some t shirts to dry off a bit with. The teachers ended up lending us some towels while we were there. They had goggles Brett could use. I figured Liz would be OK getting in the pool with a regular swim diaper on. As the other kids swam and learned, I watched Lizzie's diaper get bigger and bigger. By the time we were walking out of lessons it was huge. I found the emergency blankets and one towel in the back of the van and snuggled Brett and Alana up so they could stay warm. Then I tackled Lizzie's diaper. It had burst inside her swim suit and she was covered in the little gel bead things. They were falling off her little body as I took her suit off. I was scooping them up off the gravel drive way to put them in the trash. I finally got her all cleaned up with a clean DRY diaper and some pajama bottoms and a random shirt from the trunk. We all buckled in and headed to the zoo. I was planning to meet my friend BriAnna there so we needed to at least go up to get her in, otherwise I may have just gone home. When I mentioned going home after getting BriAnna in, the kids were really bummed and really wanted to stay. I told them we would have to find clothes in the trunk or they would need to stay in their suits. Brett found some without too much problem, Alana really struggled. She is particularly picky about the way clothes feel so most of the clothes in the bin that are her size she has rejected for being too tight or funny feeling. After changing back and forth between 3 options several times she finally decided she would wear the size 7 shorts that fell off at the slightest movement. Did I mention we had no underwear? So we walked through the zoo holding up her little shorts, I'm glad she was able to sit in the wagon for most the time.
After such an epic start, we actually had a really fun time. It was hot, but we still saw lots of animals and rode the carousel twice and the train once. Brett and Alana were asking as we were walking out when we could come back again.

 None of the kids wanted to walk up the huge hill at the end, so they piled in the wagon.  They were pushing and complaining the whole time that there wasn't enough room, but they smiled for the picture so posterity will think they are perfect children =)

 I saw a praying mantis in our front flower bed that afternoon and called the kids out to come see. They were all really excited and ran to get the neighbor to show her.

 We love Eve! She's a lot of fun to play with and loves staying for dinner and telling us all about her favorite foods like sushi and pickles. I made some spicy hamburgers for dinner and she kept eating it, even though I don't think she liked it much. I kept telling her she didn't have to finish it, my kids certainly weren't eating it.

 Lizzie loves being just like her siblings and she has really grown up the last few weeks! She is talking up a storm now and loves to tell me all about everything. She likes to wear this bag on her back just like Brett and Alana do with their backpacks. She is such a sweet little player. She loves babies and stuffies and her kitchen. She loves to play all kinds of games and will entertain herself for a long time! I'm looking forward to more 1 on 1 time with Lizzie when Brett and Alana go back to school.

 Alana has been taking piano lessons from Sean and is doing very well!

 I babysat my friend Melanie's baby James the other day while she went to girls camp. It was so fun to spend time with such a sweet little guy. Having 4 kids was hard though!(and Sean even had the day off and was home)

 We have been having some real struggles with Alana's hair lately. She hates having it brushed and cries when it gets pulled. I asked her a few weeks ago if she wanted it cut and she said no she liked it long. So that Thursday I told her we should get it trimmed and that might help it to not get so many snarls. She decided she actually wanted a short cut. We looked at a few pictures and Sean made an appointment. He took her and Lizzie on a date to Costa Vida and then to Cookie Cutters to get Alana's hair cut. We all love it! She looks so cute and it is so much easier to brush! Blowing it dry is a bit trickier though.

 One of my favorite games Lizzie was playing the other day was to put all these stuffies in the bus and then she would pretend they saw a ghost and have them run away. It was so cute!