April

A friend of mine has a baby that is really hard. Like, cries constantly. I can relate. After seeing an Instagram post of hers that he had only slept 4 hours in 3 days, I called her up to see if I could watch him. I was truly OK if he screamed the entire time I had him. I just wanted her to get a little break. That's all I ever wanted when my kids were hard. Someone to just take the baby for a couple of hours.

Weston LOVED him. And Olive was pretty intrigued too, until she realized he got to be held and she didn't. With considerable effort, we kept him happy for about 45 min. Then he cried for about 45min. to an hour. Then he slept for another hour. I was so glad his mom got a nap and a shower! We loved having him.

Weston started a new preschool this month with 3 of his friends, Rubi, Clara and Kreighton. It's on UNM campus nearby. I love that he has a couple times a week now to get out of the house and play with friends. 

Our niece, Abbey, sent us Flat Stanley. I had never heard of it before, but I guess it's a book where the main character gets flattened then goes around the country, visiting the class's family. It's too bad they didn't have family in a cooler place. Sooo, he came to our Passover dinner.

He rode an old fashioned train.

And he "hiked" to Pyramid Peak.

I wish I had thought to take his picture with a Route 66 sign.

He's just lucky I didn't take him to Wal-Mart.

Sorry, Flat Stanley. That's Gallup for you.

Our afternoon routine..

Collin gets home from school and everyone fights over who gets to sit next to him while he does his homework, then reads his book. It's seriously a problem. Weston is obsessed with Collin's schoolwork and sobs if he can't see the page he is reading. If you didn't notice, all 3 are sitting on my legs. It worked.

Just a game of Hot and Cold.

If Weston were smarter, he would have noticed that Olive was giving away the puppy's hiding spot.

Grandma Cat sent some belated birthday presents to the boys. Collin was beyond stoked to get this little doll house with doors that unlock with keys and doorbells that ring. It even made it to the coveted Show and Tell that Friday.

 If he only realized what kind of blackmail he feeds us.

 

 The week before Spring Break, Collin had a meltdown and verbalized that he hated that Weston and Olive were always around and that he never got alone time with me. Sooo, I decided to start parent/child dates. Once a month, each boy will get a "date" with a parent. One month it will be with me, then the next month with Dad. This time he got to pick three things, but I let them know that it won't always be so involved. It might just be going out for ice cream or a trip to Home Depot, what have you. But this date he chose to go to the movies, get frozen yogurt and play soccer.

He was beyond excited about this plan. That morning was constant questions about when we would be leaving. Then he asked me what I would be wearing. He wanted to match accordingly. After he saw what I was wearing, he went and changed into a collar shirt and khaki pants. As he watched me put on my make-up, he lamented that he wished he could wear make-up so he'd look nice like me. He was obviously disappointed in what boys have in their "looking nice" arsenal. Just the look on his face when it was time to go melted my heart. He was taking everything very seriously.

We went and saw Cinderella. Yeah, he got a little bored, but claimed later that he liked it.

Then we drove to the soccer fields and kicked the ball around for a bit. I don't know how people play soccer. Too much dang running.

Finally, it was time for frozen yogurt!

I'll admit, one on one time with Collin is fairly exhausting. The constant questions alone will put you into a coma. But I'm glad we got to have our very first date. :)

 After we got home, we went as a family to the bike park. There were lots of crashes and giggling at said crashes... much to the dismay of the crashees. But they love this place. Olive got thoroughly caked in dirt and I was just happy there was a Taco Bell across the street. :)

 

 Read a book.

That doesn't happen much anymore.

 It's a near death experience book with Second Coming stuff in the second half. Just like after reading Visions of Glory, I got some motivation for food storage. Time to get serious about that!

 One Sunday, Collin had to stay home sick. He had barfed several times the night before. It was Ward Conference and Travis had to be there, so he went and took Olive and Weston. That meant Collin and I got some more one on one time! I was hoping for a mopey, sleeping child, so I could get some stuff done. Alas, I don't think he was really sick. He was acting normal and eating and had as much energy as ever. He was bummed he was missing church too, and asked if we could have church at home. He was adamant and very excited about it. We had an opening prayer and song, then he wanted us to give talks. So I assigned us topics and we would take turns standing up and giving the other person a talk. He wanted it to look like we were reading from something, so we held the tablet as a prop. ;) This kid is too funny. This went on for almost an hour. We sang some more songs, then I told him I was pooped and begged for nap time at church. Luckily, he obliged. Only, he watched TV while I slept.

 One Monday, our FHE activity (out of necessity) was driving down to Big 5 to get Collin his baseball pants, belt and socks. McDonalds was in the same plaza, so I suggested we make it "Lindblom official" and get ourselves some cones for an FHE treat! SO many memories of doing this growing up. Only, we didn't make it truly official because we didn't spin "out of control" around any light posts, haha.

  A lazy afternoon, enjoying the sun in front of Tania's house.

 Megan's birthday was on the 21st. She loves my cardamom bread so I spent an entire morning making some for her. And then spent an entire afternoon eating a loaf myself. Literally. See that smidgeon of a loaf left? Yeah- all me.

 We also had a fun, girl's night for her that evening at my house. I made the Mile High Cheesecake off of Picky Palate's website. So rich.

 Most of the girls stayed til almost midnight. It was really fun, but I can't believe I didn't fall asleep standing up. That is like 5am, mommy time. ;) (And there were 4 newborns in the room!) I'm so lucky to be friends will all of these women.

 

 

I feel like all I read are parenting or church books. Almost done with The Entitlement Trap and so far I LOVE it. I can't wait to start implementing some of their ideas!

 Collin had his first t-ball game the last Saturday of the month. It was FREEZING! When my toes went numb, I took the kids and waited in the car. Trav went out to help coach. They really needed some help. We got super lucky to have a legit field to play in. Most teams just have dirt lots around town.

 

 Later that day, Weston and I had our date! We went to the movies and saw Disney's Monkey Kingdom. I was a little bit dreading it, but it was actually a really interesting documentary. Then we got frozen yogurt. I don't even know why I pay for them to get any. All they want to do is color on the table and throw the occasional, rock hard Mike and Ike in their mouth. I think he worked on that cup for 45 min. Oh, how I love my Weston boy.

 That afternoon, we drove up to McGaffey with several other families in our ward. We are just about the only losers who don't have a Razor. So we mooch rides off of everyone else who does. The kids have a ball playing in the dirt and in their "fort" of logs. And I'll be honest, I love roasting hot dogs and marshmallows while visiting around the campfire. McGaffey will hold lots of good memories for us when we finally leave.

 

 Had to document the "snack spot". We should really start calling it that. Since they can't eat on the carpet, this is where they like to eat and still get a view of the TV.

They happen to be shoving cookie dough in their faces this time. Since I never got any as a kid and was always admonished that "when I'm a Mom, I can give MY kids cookie dough if I want." So I do. Salmonella beware.

I'm disclosing all sorts of winning parent moments here.

 Last Sunday we had another Trek fireside and Ma and Pa training in Farmington. Bless our friends for being willing to have Collin and Weston so we didn't have to take them this time! It's such a long day. We sat next to the Mortensen's and Olive was more than happy to climb into Chris's lap and play with his wedding ring. We really ought to have more conversations with that girl about strange men.

 This picture is a pathetic representation of what we got to look at on our drive home. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking. There were some mountains in the foreground and the most beautiful clouds and colors I've ever seen.

 Grandpa came for a visit for a few days. He got some dental work done and spent lots of time playing with these lucky kids. We love having him visit!