Quick Trip to Phoenix

The first weekend in May was my brother Adam's graduation from Thunderbird, a top international business graduate school in Phoenix, AZ.  I could not miss that!  I booked my flight for a really quick weekend trip on my own.  Then we realized that Glenn had a friend from high school getting married back East that same weekend and Glenn had planned to go.  So I had to rearrange our plans a bit and added the boys to my travel plans.  The flight there was actually not too bad.  Finn was pretty happy and Tate was so excited to visit Adam, Cami, and Baby Abby.  He talked about it all week and at one point even told me, "Mom, I don't want to leave."  

"You mean you don't want to go to Arizona, buddy?"

"No, mom.  I don't want to come home from Arizona."

Ahhh, well, that makes much more sense.  I should have known that leaving AZ would be a dramatic event when I had this warning before we even left. 

We got there late Thursday night.  The kiddos were bushed but still had a hard time getting to sleep.  This is how tired Finny was.  

 He let Auntie Mallo give him some VERY rare snuggles.  He was too exhausted to resist.  Gotta love when that happens.

 The next morning we woke up and got ready for Adam's graduation ceremony.  I was so impressed with the school.  It was small, but really prestigious and the student body was incredibly diverse.  They literally came from every corner of the world to study there.  I'm so proud of my brother.  It has been a tumultuous 2 years for his family and the fact that he was able to graduate from this amazing school, get a great job offer, and be such a sweet husband and daddy through it all is pretty darn awesome.
Here's Ad with his ladies, Cami and Baby Abby.

Tate and Finn were pretty good through the ceremony, thanks to Star Wars Angry Birds on Mom's phone for Tate, and tons of snacks and laps to crawl over for Finn.  At one point Tate was busy playing and Mallo asked if he would like to sit on her lap.  His response was, "Um, sure.  I'll be right with you!"  Awesome.
 The graduation party party:  Finn, me, Tate, Mom, Ad, Cami, Baby Abby, and Mallo with her sassy hand-on-hip pose.

 It was a hot AZ day and the boys crashed for a bit post-ceremony cooling off and waiting for lunch to be ready.

We had a delicious meal, provided by Ad and Cami and then changed and went swimming for a bit.  The water was pretty cold, but we were hot enough that it didn't stop us.  Tate had a ball.  Swimming until his chin started shivering, then getting in the hot tub for a bit, then diving back in the pool again.
That night we went to Outback to celebrate Ad's graduation.  
Ad and Cami were incredible hosts.  They planned meals for us, bought snacks for the kids, planned fun activities, and even stood in line at the library for 3 hours one morning to check out free zoo passes for us.  They were so great to help with my busy boys and treated us all so well.  They made this quick and busy visit so enjoyable.
The boys had a hard time falling asleep again that night.  It's just too fun having so many people to chat / play peek-a-boo with in the same room.  Mal and I woke up early to get in a nice jog together then we got ready and headed to the zoo.  Finny slept for the first half hour or so in his stroller.

 Tate was spoiled and loved by everyone.

 I got to get some snugs in with this sweet little lady.  I can't believe how easy it is to get her to smile.  She is so sweet and happy and man, are her cheeks delicious!

 We only lasted a couple of hours at the zoo.  We got there at 11 and left around 1, so needless to say it was wicked hot and after 2 hours we were wiped out.  But we did get to see some pretty cool stuff.  They had a monkey exhibit that you can walk through and get really close to the monkeys.  Close enough to touch them, but you're not allowed to.  They had lots of play grounds and climbing things for the kids and a splash pad as well.  We hit up their farm area and the boys got to play with some goats.  Always a huge hit.

After the zoo we sat around Ad and Cami's apartment for just a couple hours before they had to take the boys and I to the airport.  It was a rough farewell.  Tate was VERY upset about leaving.  I thought he'd get over it, or at least get distracted eventually.  Nope.  He was upset to the airport, through the airport, and kept remembering on the flight and on the drive home, until he fell asleep, that he was mad at me and that he wanted us to turn around and go back to Arizona.  My favorite moment happened at the gate as we were getting on the plane.  He had cried on and off all through the airport and when we got the gate the woman taking our ticket asked him, "What's wrong, little guy?"  His little lip started quivering, his eyes welled up and he said, "I don't like when vacations are over." And started sobbing all over again.  She got down on her knees and hugged him and sympathized with him.  It was very sweet.  Another favorite was being told, "Mom, you are not invited to my Star Wars party (the theme of his NEXT birthday party.  Yes, he's planning it already).  But Dad is, but you are not!"  Okay, sorry you feel that way.  Good to know what happens when you're upset with me.  

Fam, thanks for the great, though much too quick trip! And congrats to Ad on your graduation.  So glad we were able to make it!

The Boutique and our first Tate Date

Now that it's been almost 2 weeks since the big day, I should probably post about our boutique.  It was crazy.  My mom and Aunt Tam drove up just for the weekend to help with the boutique and they were incredibly helpful and so fun to have around.  They kept us from getting too stressed...well, my mom kept me from getting too stressed out.  Aunt Tam kind of stressed us out on occasion.  We were hoping for a much better turn out, but I guess none of us really expected it, considering that this is our first time trying to run a boutique ourselves.  We did everything we could think of to advertise, but we still had very few people come.  And yet, even with the slow traffic, we still made a good deal of money.  We had a lot of big sales, and the total at the end of the day surprised us all.  The club house looked amazing.  Our vendors really made their displays look wonderful and the clubhouse was pretty full with our 15 vendors' booths.  

 Here's my little table of baby things.  My mom set it up while I was running around like a crazy person.

 This was one of my favorite booths.  We found her from her etsy shop, Sedula.  Her name was Lili and she's from Lithuania.  Her things were so so cute.  Really pricey, but cute.

 My aunt Tam's candy table.  She really went all out.  She probably had 10 different types of candy, all wrapped up super cute with darling ribbons, tags, and signs for the table.

 Aunt Nancy's table.  She made darling home decor signs.

 My momma, hanging up all of her darling doll clothes.  I wish I could find a good place to sell them for her because they are so beautiful!

 It was a really good experience.  The hardest part, and the part that makes me think hard about doing it again, was sitting there in the club house for so many hours feeling sad for our vendors who came and spent so much time and we couldn't get people to come shop!  They all made money, and we still made money, but I felt bad that we couldn't make it more worth it for them.  I know it's just hit and miss with craft fairs.  I've done a few where I didn't make my booth fee back, and at least that wasn't the case for them.  A few of them really did quite well.  But I still wish we could have had a better turn out for them.  Oh well.  I'm still really glad we tried it.  I think I need a few more weeks before I decide if I'm up for another go though!
I should also mention that Glenn was ridiculously supportive through the whole thing.  My favorite form of his support was that when I got home from the boutique at the end of the day, I found that he had cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed the house, and cleaned all the bathrooms.  Yep, he's that awesome.

The next week we took Tate on our first ever "Tate Date".  We found out that Mary Poppins was coming to town and I could not resist getting tickets and taking Tate!  We got a sitter for Finny and Tate, Glenn, and I went to the show.  We watched clips from the show online and talked about what a Broadway play was and what kinds of things he was going to see.  We talked about theatre etiquette and when he should clap to let the actors know he liked it.  It was so fun!  Here we are before the show.  Gotta love Tate's "Smile for the camera" smile.  Wow.

 He was so sweet during the show.  He whispered when he wanted to tell us something or ask a question.  He clapped immediately after every song and was really enthusiastic about it.  My favorite song was "step in time".  The dancing was incredible and at one point Bert walked up one side of the proscenium, danced across the top upside-down, and walked down the other side.  It was awesome.  Tate's favorite song changes every time you ask him.  He liked Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious of course, and step in time (which he calls "the one on the roof"), and It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary, when the statues come alive in the park.  He thought that was pretty cool.
It was very late, and we were surprised that he lasted as long as he did.  But by the end of the play he couldn't hold out any longer.  He stretched out across our laps and fell right to sleep with about a half hour left in the show.

It was so fun to share that with him.  I think there will be more Tate Dates in the future.  And eventually there should be Finn Dates too.  It was great to spoil and spend time with just one at a time and make him feel special.  The next day we flew to Arizona for Adam's graduation (another post, of course), and he kept telling everyone at the airport, "I just went to my first Broadway play last night!"

Latest favorites

Tate and Finn have some new favorites lately and they definitely deserve a little post.  

Star Wars is the coolest thing ever at our house right now.  Tate cannot get enough of the movies (we've only let him see the old/best ones so far) and he's constantly playing make-believe with some sort of star wars theme.  When we went to Disneyland the Star Tours ride was one of his absolute favorites.  The vehicles we supposedly ride in are called Star Speeder 3000s (trying saying that with a lisp.  It's delicious.)  They had toy Star Speeders but we didn't buy one and he's been asking about them ever since.  Luckily, I found a printable Star Speeder online.  They had several different colors and types so eventually we made them all and now he has a little cardstock star speeder fleet.

They are pretty cool and it's fun to watch Tate play make believe with them as he runs around the house making sound effects and narrating his story.

Finn was absolutely dying that he couldn't get in on the fun but we had to keep them out of his reach because he has no idea how to be "soft" and he would just destroy them.  So eventually we retired one of Tate's fleet and designated it as Finn's special star speeder.  He was thrilled and now whenever Tate plays with his, Finn has to have his star speeder to follow him around the house.

 Now it looks like this.  Finn doesn't care one bit.

 Another new discovery/obsession of Tate's is Star Wars angry birds.  He saw it for the first time on someone else's ipad while we were waiting in line somewhere.  He hovered uncomfortably close to these strangers, watched them play and was just fascinated by it.  So when Glenn got his ipad as his "good job getting a bonus" gift to himself, guess what the first game he downloaded was.  

 I love the tongue sticking out with concentration.  If we let him, Tate would play star wars angry birds all day long.  He loves it.

Then while walking down the toy aisle one day he discovered Star Wars angry birds toy sets.  Oh. My. Word.  He got a gift card from one of his friends for his birthday and he knew exactly what he wanted to buy with it!

 You build this little tower, put the bad guy characters, all shaped like pigs, in the tower and knock it down using a sling shot shooting good guy characters all shaped like birds.  

 He loves all his little birds and pigs.  They have so many cute little characters and he has quite the collection now.  A special thanks goes to Nana who doubled his collection during her visit.  

Finny has recently discovered the marble ramp.  Tate got it for Christmas a year ago when Finn was a brand new baby, but we had to put it away once Finn started crawling.  We recently got it back out and Finn can't get enough of it.

It's especially fun when someone plays with him.  He'd be happy to have anyone play marbles with him, but it really makes his day when Tate plays with him. He sure loves his big brother.

Really recently he's started to figure out how to get his Lightning McQueen ride on to scoot while he sits on it.  Though he much prefers it if we push him around the house while he sits on it.  It's most fun if we chase Tate while we push.  But beware.  If you start to push him and then, oh let's say, get tired after a while and need a rest.  The blissfully happy Finn quickly deteriorates from this:

to this,

 then this,

 aaaand finally he just loses it.  

Why in the world would we break his heart like that?  So so cruel.

My latest favorite thing is the boutique that we are going to host on Saturday!  A couple of months ago my aunt, my cousin, and I decided that we should try our hand at our own boutique.  It has been so fun to put together and it's finally here!  This Saturday we're hosting Favorite Aunties' Boutique.  We've sifted through tons of vendors and invited our favorites to participate.  We've passed out fliers, posted everywhere online that we can think of, and even got an announcement printed in Colorado Parents Magazine.  We've updated a blog with some of our favorite vendor highlights so shoppers can see what we have in store.  We've all been sewing and crafting like mad trying to get our own product ready and I can hardly wait for Saturday to get here.  It's been so fun hosting our own event and even if the turn out isn't amazing, it was still worth it to give our own boutique a try.  I'm sure I'll post pictures after it's over.  Wish us luck!

Easter and Spring Break!

We had a really fun Easter this year because we were lucky enough to have guests visiting!  Auntie Kenzie had spring break so Nanna and Kenzie drove out and stayed for a whole week.  It was bliss.  We played hard and had an awesome time.  

The morning that they were driving in, the boys and I went to an Easter egg hunt at a nearby community.  It was incredible driving up and seeing several huge fields completely covered in Easter eggs.  They said they "hid" 12,000 total.  There were fields lined by cones and designated for different age groups.  We waited at the younger age field for the horn to blow and tried to get a few good pictures.

 Unsuccessfully.

 Poor Finn is still getting used to walking on uneven terrain.  When he's on grass or gravel or bark at a playground his little body tenses up and it looks like he's walking on nails for how uncomfortable he is.

 Tate, anxiously waiting for permission to cross the line of cones.   The crowd was pretty thin when we arrived but as it got closer to 10 the crowd grew until we pretty much lined the entire park.  They blew the horn, we "ran" as quickly as we could and gathered just a few before they were all gone.  It was fun to watch dads carry their kids to the middle to get there before anyone else.  Parents who had strategies of how to "win" the egg hunt.  That's just not me.  It is, however, Glenn.  And I know that's just how he would have been if he had been able to make it.  Whispering to Tate before it began, "Okay, Tate, this is what we're going to do...."  I love my honey.  As it was, we had a really fun time and the boys were so happy.  It was fast.  At 10 exactly they blew the horn, by 10:03 we were walking to the car.  Awesome.  We will definitely be back next year.
Mom and Kenz got here Saturday night and watched the boys while Glenn and I went to a movie.  It was so great to not have to worry in the least about the boys while we were away.  I like my baby sitter, but she's not my mom and sister, ya know?
The Easter bunny came with some fun loot this year.  Finn was pretty excited when he realized that the eggs contained candy and spent the rest of the day carrying them around, grunting to people to open them for him and then carrying the candy around grunting for people to open that for him too.

 The Easter bunny at Glenn's house when he was growing up always left little piles of bunny poop around the house.  This year, he pooped all over our house too.  It looked pretty gross.  Tate noticed it and said it looked like bunny poop.  Glenn walked over and threw some in his mouth and exclaimed how yummy it tasted.  So Tate tried some and said, "This is candy!  The Easter Bunny poops candy!"

 He spent the rest of the day telling people about it.  I'm sure he told his primary teachers too, "The Easter Bunny just pooped all over my house and I ate some, but the Easter bunny just poops candy!"  We did have to make sure to clarify, that we can only eat the Easter Bunny's poop, as we have access to lots of real bunny poop, and we do not eat that.

 Finn decided to try a little too.

 His favorite treat of the day were jelly beans.  He couldn't get enough.

 This year the Easter Bunny brought some special Easter eggs just for our Star Wars loving boy.  Darth Vader shaped Easter eggs.  They were a huge hit.

Tate was assigned to give the scripture in primary that day and we had worked with him all week.  He had it memorized perfectly, but we weren't sure if he would be ornery about getting up in front of the primary to say it.  The week before the primary was supposed to sing in sacrament meeting and we spent the first part of the meeting trying to convince him that he should go up with them.  Finally, Glenn just agreed to go up with him and he agreed to go up.  So we weren't sure what to expect this time.  I went up to the front of the room with him and when it was his turn he didn't ask for help, he just walked up to the microphone and started saying his scripture.  The primary president asked him to wait for a minute while she shushed everyone, and he said, "Oh, wait a second.  I didn't know that."  Then when she told him to start again, he did.  Just a small accomplishment, I know, but I was just thrilled for him and he was so proud of himself too.  It was like passing Go in the parenting game and getting a huge pay day.  Well done Tate.

We spent much of the week lounging and watching movies, 

 going shopping (one afternoon we even sent Kenzie to Charming Charlie by herself and she came back 4 hours later with 2 pair of earrings.  So glad she can drive so we didn't have to wait around for her on that one!), eating out, making yummy treats, and watching the kids play.  It was a pretty chill visit with a couple of big outings.
One morning we went to the Science museum.  Tate was so excited to show Nanna and Kenzie his museum.  He always gets a map and "plans" our visit by looking at the pictures and deciding which exhibits (a great word with a lisp) he wants to visit.

 Finn was pretty chill being stuck in the stroller.  He's going through the rough transition from 2 naps to 1.  Some days he still needs a morning nap and will let you know, loudly, if you try to make him skip it.  Some days he does fine with one, but if you don't get him down early enough then he'll fall asleep in the car and refuse to go back to sleep at home.  Tricky.

 We saw Dinosaurs, the outer space exhibit, mummies, and the kids' discovery zone which is always a favorite.  Lots of hands-on stuff to explore and figure out.  Kenzie liked it too.

 Could we resist trying on different tails?  No, we could not.

 One day we went to a park after Glenn went home.  It was pretty chilly for most of the week but warmed up a bit towards the end.

 Kenzie wandered around playing photographer, which was actually nice, because I could just play with the boys and knew that she was documenting it all. Wish she was around to follow us while we play more often!

 Poor Finny was a little grumpers last week because he had a bit of a cold.  He did allow us to snuggle him just a bit more than usual, so we'll take it.

 We went swimming at the Y one morning and I forgot to bring my camera.  My cousin, Brady came and we all had a great time swimming in the really fun pool.  It had slides, a lazy river, and a huge, shallow pool for kids.  Tate is usually a bit hesitant of the water at the beginning of swimming season, but he wanted to use his buzz lightyear goggles this time and once he got them on his face and realized how cool it was to see under water, he spent the next hour diving under the water, then jumping up when he needed a breath, then diving back down again.  We could figure out how to get them to fit right so he kept having to empty the "aquariums" in his goggles, but he never freaked out or stopped swimming.  It was great!
Finn took a little more warming up.  He loves the water, he just couldn't stand that he couldn't do the whole swimming thing BY HIMSELF!  He was constantly trying to squirm out of the arms of whoever was holding him.  He wanted zero help, and he didn't learn that when we let him go, he sunk under the water and that was undesirable.  Everything pretty much made him mad.  Which was kinda funny.  Brady could usually cheer him up.  He loves Brady.  Who doesn't?
On our last day together Glenn decided to take the morning off, of course.  He can't miss out on ALL the fun!  We went for our morning walk/jog, then headed to the zoo.  When we got there and started driving around the entire zoo and eventually about a mile away and still couldn't find a spot, we bailed on the zoo.  It was such a nice day and would have been nice to be outside, but we did not want to fight that crowd.  So we headed to the Children's Museum instead.  Lindsay Banks met us there and hung out with us for a couple of hours.  We always like playing with Lindsay and are glad she'll join us on our kiddo outings once in a while!

 It had been a while since we'd visited the Children's Museum and a lot of exhibits were moved around or changed completely.  It was fun to explore it again, and this time with family!  The first level is a huge fire truck and a bunch of fire house things to play in and on.

 One of our favorites is a rocket making and launching exhibit.  Tate usually just gathers rockets that have been shot and discarded on the side of the exhibit and shoots them with the launcher over and over again.  He's never had any interest in designing and making his own from all the supplies on the tables.  He just wants to use the launchers!  Glenn, on the other hand,

 Was very interested in making the best rocket possible.  He very carefully designed the body and the fins and placement of fins and, while I was doing other things with the boys when the actual test launches occurred, mom, linds, and Kenz tell me his second attempt was very successful.

In the next room they had a new exhibit that sends plastic balls up a tube using vacuums.  The balls then roll on a track on the ceiling and down the wall on the other side, then we had to build a track down some stairs to get the balls back to the opening of the vacuum to start their ride again.  Tate loved it and Finn was happy to get to play with some balls.  The kid could throw balls all day long.

The last room we went in was probably the favorite...and the messiest.  The bubble exhibit is just so cool.  They have bubble blowing machines on the ceiling, filling bubbles with smoke.  When they're big enough the machine drops them and the kids (and Kenzie) get to pop them and see the smoke woosh out.  So fun.

There were a few different ways to make BIG bubbles.

And even put yourself in a bubble room.

Finny got in on a bit of the smoke bubble action, but he was pretty grouchy and tired by this time.

Tate could have stayed there all day.

Thanks for a great spring break Nanna and Kenzie.  We had so much fun!  Come again any time!  Tomorrow maybe?