March 2018

My kids have been into playing Yahtzee lately.  It's been kind of fun because it helps with their counting, addition, and writing numbers etc. so I like them to play it.  However, they're so mad that no one ever gets yahtzee.  Well that recently changed when Jaron got not one yahtzee, but 3...all in one game!  If I hadn't watched him do it with my own eyes, I would've never believed him.  Look at that face though!  He was so excited!!!



Jaron told Jennifer at a recent family dinner that he was signed up for Soccer and T-ball. So Jennifer told him to make sure to tell her when the games are so she can come watch.  The next day Jaron wrote this note so we wouldn't forget to tell Jennifer.  T-ball isn't until June! :)



For the girl's 1/2 birthday we took them to the Children's museum.  We hadn't been there in years.  In fact I think I was pregnant with Jaron when we took them last.  It was such a fun day there, the kids loved it and had we not had to get home for some things, we could've spent a lot longer there.



My kids are really into making leprechaun traps.  Each year they get a little more elaborate and creative.  This year they each made their own.  This was a week long project that they spent hours working on throughout the week.  They had so much fun trying to figure out the best way to trap a leprechaun even watching youtube videos to get ideas.  They were close this year but that sneaky leprechaun still made it through each trap, leaving behind some gold wrapped peanut butter cups which the kids were thrilled about.



The big excitement of St Patrick's day is when is the secret leprechaun going to show up.  I can't tell you how many times they ran to the door to check if he had come (even though he always rings the doorbell)  Each year it's different and this year he waited until later in the afternoon but he still made it and left behind some fun goodies to play with.  Thanks secret leprechaun, you make their day each year and they love it!



Since all 3 kids have been taking gymnastics this year I thought it would be fun to go to a University of Utah gymnastics meet.  They loved seeing them do their flips, especially what they can do on the balance beam.  Jaron I think loved going the most and watched the entire thing and was very engaged in exactly what was going on.  He loves gymnastics and is quite good at it.



I forgot to mention in the month of February the school had their annual Rocky Readers program.  The goal is to get the entire school to read a total of 1 million minutes.  They had lots of contests and prizes being given out throughout the month.  All 3 of my kids were into it.  They read a ton, they did Lexia and then they had me read to them lots of chapter books.  We did rotations a lot of nights of who would read to who and for every 10 minutes of reading they would get 1 ticket.

When they had their assembly at the end to celebrate making their goal, Jaron got called up because he was the highest Pre-K reader with the most tickets, he got 75 tickets.  He got a certificate and some containers of slime.  Well a couple weeks later he came home with a letter that he was chosen to go lunch at Pizza Pie Cafe with the principal and others students and they were being taken in a Limo.  Jaron didn't even know what a Limo was but was so excited.  I was a little nervous just sending him off with all these other kids with him being so little but he did great.  I knew a couple PTA members that were also going so I knew they would look out for him.  When they got back he got out of the Limo right by the principal and he laughed as he looked at me and said 'He's a good one that one, what a great time we had.'  I'm sure Jaron talked his ear off as Jaron has no inhibition whatsoever in talking to adults, older kids or anyone for that matter.  He had a great time and told me he ate 1 piece of cheese pizza and 2 pieces of dessert pizza.



The last 2 years the Jordan River temple has been remodeled.  So we got to go to the open house for it since they will soon re-dedicate it.  I always love any chance we get to take our kids to the temple and explain things to them and they always love to look in the mirrors in the sealing rooms and also love the beauty of each celestial room.



This year general conference started on March 31.  Each conference I try more and more to get my children to start listening.  In the past I've done conference bingo and that works for a short time but they talk the whole time and it drives me crazy.  Well thanks to my sister Michelle, we copied her idea and it worked really well this year.  I got a few snacks and things at the dollar store and told them if they listened quietly and then could tell me one thing the speaker said that they could earn a conference ticket.  Then they could spend it at the conference store.  Each thing was either 1,2 or 3 tickets.  This was a hit.  They sat quietly, usually could tell me one thing the speaker said and loved picking out their stuff.  It lasted 3 sessions out of the 4.  Sunday afternoon they were done and decided they didn't want to listen anymore, which was fine by me.  They went upstairs and played quietly and it was nice for me to enjoy one session with no interruptions between talks.

Glovers go to California 2018

February 23 was our 10 year anniversary.  The Monday before I called my mom and asked if she would babysit.  We started looking and there was nothing to do, not even a movie we really wanted to see. I was wanting to make our 10 year a little extra special so instead Shane and I decided that day to take the kids and head down to California.  We had been wanting to do it but between job schedules, school, etc. it just wasn't working out.  We didn't have one thing going on that weekend so we decided if we're going to do it we better just do it.  Since it was so close we decided not to tell the kids and surprise them.

When they got home from school on Friday there were 3 shirts turned down on the couch.  I told them that mom and dad decided to invite them on our date and if they turned their shirts over it would give them a clue where we were going on our date.  They all started lifting the shirts they were wearing instead of the ones that were on the couch.  haha.  When they turned them over, they were Minnie and Mickey t-shirts.  We were off to California.



We drove the entire way down on Friday.  The kids did so good.  We got a bunch of movies and took their workbooks I bought from Costco that they love doing.  We stopped for 2 bathroom breaks and for dinner in Las Vegas.  When we stopped in Barstow they all fell asleep for most the rest of the trip so it was great.



We stayed at Christy's house and they are always so good to let us stay there.  They clear their kids out of 2 of the 3 kids bedrooms and let us take over the place.  They give us their bathroom, beach towels, food, etc. and no one ever complains that another family has just taken over their house.



Saturday morning we went and got doughnuts.  Yum, I love doughnuts in California.  Nothing like them in Utah.  Then we headed to Newport beach. It was coldish.  Warmer than Utah but still pretty chilly at the beach.  The kids didn't care.  They played in the water, built sand castles, collected sea shells and had a blast.  We brought our lunch and enjoyed it on the beach.



After lunch we went and drove our car across the Balboa Ferry.  The kids thought it was so cool that we got to drive our car onto a boat.  Then we met Christy's family at the Corona Del Mar tide pools.  My kids LOVED it there.  We stayed for hours just exploring.  They held hermit crabs, put their fingers in Sea Anemones and even saw a huge black sea slug.  The pictures don't show just how big these sea slugs were.



After that we went and got Chocolate Malted Crunch ice cream from Rite Aid (aka Thrifty's) and then that night Brett, Christy, Shane and I all went out to dinner to some yummy Mexican while the Brian girls babysat.  Yay!

Sunday we went to Church with the Brians.  The girls went to class with Emmy and Jaron was brave and went to his class by himself.  After church the kids just played and played with their cousins.  They went to the park, collected pine cones, and Mia showed them how to make Origami hopping frogs.  Meanwhile, Christy and I spent most the afternoon finding a pot roast recipe for her instant pot and then cooking it.  It took forever and was not instant but the roast turned out really yummy.  Konstantina also came down Sunday evening and hung out with us.  It was fun to see her and catch up.


Jaron has a new love in his life...his cousin Emmy. When Emmy woke up Sunday morning Jaron snuggled right up to her, laying his head on her shoulder. When I told him to give her a little space since she just woke up, he reached over and held her arm during the entire show they were watching.  When we were at Disneyland the next day, he asked me several times if Emmy was home and if he would see her when we got home.  Now he talks about her almost every day since we've been home.  #cousinlove




Monday we went to Disneyland.  We had a great day.  It was different then that last 2 times as the kids weren't as into the characters as they used to be but were so excited to ride the roller coasters and big kid rides.  Aria is my little roller coaster girl. During Thunder Mountain, Aria had her arms up the whole time yelling 'OH yeah, I love this'  Jaron loved Autopia and thought he was so big that he got to steer the car.  We went on Star Tours, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, etc. 






I convinced all the kids to go on Space Mountain.  I told them it was all in the dark and they were all ok with it except Siena but she was still brave and went.  Siena insisted on sitting with Shane and Jaron couldn't sit by himself so I asked Aria if we sat in front of her and Shane and Siena in back if she would be ok to sit on a row by herself.  She didn't even hesitate and said ok.  The only bad part was when we got the picture they take on the ride, Aria was no where to be seen and I had covered her up.  I felt bad since she was so brave to sit by herself so I took a picture of just her outside the ride to show she went by herself.



We did the cute rides too...Winnie the Pooh, Teacups, Alice, Pinocchio, etc.  The kids loved the Buzz Lightyear ride that I had never been on before.  On Pirates the kids were so curious if everyone was really fake.  I kept telling them they were but it was hard to believe me apparently.  They loved It's a Small World (yay) and we sang the song through the ride.  Our night ended watching Fantasmic, which I had never seen so it was fun and cute, and a close replacement to not having a parade cuz Main Street is closed (Boo!)  The kids did so good all day and we didn't have any meltdowns.  I loved that they were older, understood more and were more excited about each ride.  We were all exhausted by the time we got to the car and fell right asleep.  When we got home I couldn't even wake Jaron up to get him in his PJ's.



We got up early the next day and drove all the way home.  We stopped in Las Vegas for lunch and then of course had to stop and do our traditional pictures of Aria in front of the Aria hotel.  This was the first time she knew what we were doing and understood that the hotel was also her name and could read it so she thought it was pretty cool.



It was really a whirlwind of a trip and so fast but I'm so glad we decided to do it and had such a great time. And besides Jaron complaining he was hungry the last 1/2 of the trip home even though I was feeding him constantly, the kids were really good and did great on 2 long drives.  And it was fun doing a last minute trip that wasn't that planned out but turned out great.  Thanks again to the Brian's for letting us crash at your house last minute.

Who's Older?

The girls had their 1/2 birthday on March 10.  If you know me, you know I love to celebrate my 1/2 birthday so it's only fitting that my children do too.  We don't make a big deal out of it but, I like to make it a little more special. For Jaron's 1/2 birthday we went to the Planetarium.  For the girls 1/2 birthday we went to the Children's museum.  Both of them we had free passes for we needed to use to it worked out great.


The night before I was telling them a little bit about being pregnant with twins and how Aria used to kick Siena in the head during the ultrasounds, etc.  Then they said the one thing they wanted for their 1/2 birthday was to know who was born first.  I've never told them who was older.  I didn't intend it that way but as the girls never knew or asked I just never said anything.  Then when they started asking I would just change the subject because since Siena is older and is most head strong and a bit dominate, and I didn't want her holding that over Aria's head.  And for the last year Aria has thought she was older because she was taller.  So I just haven't said.

So I decided that I better tell them.  They both insisted they didn't care and if their sister was older it was totally fine.  So I explained that you don't choose who comes out first, it's whoever is lowest in my tummy, etc.  So I said Siena was the first one that came out of my tummy.  With that Aria burst into tears with big crocodile tears rolling down her face.  I quickly recovered and told her that do you know what Siena did for those 3 minutes?  She cried the entire time because she missed you.  And you got to hang out with just mom for a few extra minutes.  It was our special time when it was just you in my tummy.  She loved that answer, was good with that explanation and they went to bed.

The next morning when they woke up, I wished them happy 1/2 birthday and they said 'Mom, we were awake when we actually turned 6 1/2!  Aria sang to me at 6:55 and I sang to Aria at 6:58.'  I thought that was the cutest little gesture they did for each other and I'm glad they each got their own celebration from each other.

And let it be known that I looked up their birth announcement and they are only 2 minutes apart and were born at 6:58 and 7:00.  Oops.  Well at least they were close.  Maybe I'll save that for their actual birthday.  :)

February 2018

The girls came home with a note that the school was doing a story telling festival.  You could re-tell a story or make one up.  It had to be 3-5 minutes long.  The kindergarten did one that if you wanted you could do one that was shorter but not do it in front of the whole school just Kindergarten.  So I asked the girls if they wanted to participate.  Siena gave a quick no way (she does not like getting up in front of people or drawing attention to herself.)  Aria said 'oh I do'  I kind of thought she would change her mind but she never did.  So I started to think of stories she could re-tell only to find out she wanted to make up her own.  So she took some paper and drew her story.  We spent all week preparing/practicing it.  When I got there to watch I asked her if she was nervous and she just looked at me and said 'no' and I really don't think she was.  She got up in front of the whole Kindergarten and told her story.  She showed some pictures and used her Halloween costume from last year to dress up as a unicorn.  I was so proud of her.  She ended up being the only one in her class to do a story and only about 5 other kids from all 3 Kindergarten am classes did it. That night I took her to get some ice cream to tell her how proud I was that she would get up there and tell her story and practice so hard the entire week. Here is her story:

Once upon a time there was a Unicorn named Uni who lived in the forest with her friends the fairies.  They liked to play hide and seek.  There was also a witch who lived there in a cave.  One day the witch found Uni playing hide n seek and cast a spell on Uni turning her into a dragon.  She told the dragon to go destroy the forest and she did.  The fairies came up with a plan to get Uni back.  They tied the dragon up with ropes and then sprinkled fairy dust over her and she turned back into a unicorn. The fairies and Uni cleaned up the forest and they lived happily ever after.



Ever since the kids got roller skates for Christmas, they've been begging us to take them to Classic so they could roller skate at a real roller skating rink.  We went on a day where we hoped it wouldn't be too crowded in case they kept falling but it didn't matter because they were all so good and a lot faster than I thought they would be.



The girls had their 100 days of school and had to decorate a cape with 100 things.  They both chose sticker hearts and then all 3 of them had to take 100 things as well to eat.  Jaron took 100 pretzels and they made a trail mix for his 100 days.



I got to go with Jaron and his Pre-K class on a field trip to the Aquarium.  I'm pretty sure he was more excited to ride the bus than he was to go to the aquarium.  He and his friend Simon sat with me and had a fun time.  We walked around for a while and Jaron was actually a little grumpy because he said 'it was boring, we just walked around and looked at things.'  lol...he was mad we couldn't go into the playground area that he's used to going in from when we had a pass there.  But he did get to do the rope bridge and hold a butterfly. 



We finally have started getting snow around here.  So we made our first snowman of the year.  Now every time we leave or come home I hear 'hi Frost, bye Frost, hope you don't miss us too much.'



We also took a trip to California but I'll save that for it's own post coming soon.