Well, here we go: I'm a stay-at-home-mom. My last day at work was Friday-- the people in my office were actually moving locations on Friday as well, so the whole thing was a little surreal. We came back from my good-bye lunch (tasty Firehouse-- thanks, guys!) and found that my desk had already been dismantled and removed from my office. Apparently it didn't take long for them to get over me! Ha ha! It was a fun day, though, and I was happy to say farewell to that part of my life.
Since becoming an official SAHM, I haven't really stayed at home all that much. I spent Monday in Salt Lake City dropping Allison off at EFY, lunching and catching up with my dear friend, Karin, visiting and relaxing with my cute mother-in-law, and swearing under my breath at the bad drivers on I-15. Oh, and stopping off at Krispy Kreme on the way home! On Tuesday, I spent most of the afternoon outside, watching the boys ride their bikes and scooters with the neighbors and playing with Neilly in the shade. I'm enjoying hearing the sound of kids running around our neighborhood and smelling the sunscreen and tasting the first popsicles of the year and reminding the kids to drink a lot of water. It's going to be a fun summer.
Thomas has his last day of school tomorrow, which makes me feel all old and nostalgic. When did this little tiny boy grow up into a big kid? He informed me today that he participated in the school talent show-- an impromptu decision that kind of irked me (I would have liked to be there to tape it or something!) but also made me so proud. He's such a modest little guy, much like Chris, and the thought of him deciding on the spot to share a piano solo with his entire school just made me want to hug my talented little guy. I am trying to relish the moments that I can still hug him-- I have a feeling that one of these days he'll realize that it isn't cool to hug your mom.
I can't remember if I blogged about this last year or not, but Thomas has not been very excited about riding his two-wheeled bike by himself up to this point. Chris or I would take him out, hold on to the seat, then watch him ride about ten pedals before putting his feet down and whining that he didn't want to do it any more. He had trouble turning and stopping and the whole thing just kept turning into the frustrated-parent/crying-child situation, so we just dropped the subject. Well, just a few days ago, Tom asked me to get his bike off of its winter storage hanger and he jumped right on and took off! Just like that! And oddly enough, now his bike seems too small for him and it looks like we'll be buying a new, bigger bike sometime soon.
As for Gor-Gor, he has been such a little hoot lately! I have some great pictures of him dressing up that I still need to download from my camera. Every morning, he puts on some kind of costume-- usually it consists of gloves, his back-pack (filled to the brim with who-knows-what) and some kind of hat. This morning he also donned his snow boots. Then he'll announce what he is: a bear, a robot, a "pogo stick" (from the watched-ten-times-a-day Animusic). It's pretty funny.
Gordon also likes to go everywhere with me and gets offended if I'm not in the mood to take a friend. Today I did manage to go to the store by myself, though he was quick to shout "Get me a treat!" as I was on my way out.
Little Neileroo is still as sweet and snuggly as ever. It's so fun to have a lovey baby! I could just eat him up. It's time for another haircut with him, but I'm going to avoid it for just a few more "what a cute little girl" comments. :)
Okay, it's rewind time: back to our April vacation in California! I am determined to get completely caught up in the next couple of weeks!
After our trip to Oakland, we went back to Danville for dinner. We arrived at the restaurant (the Basil Leaf Cafe-- yummy!!) right as it opened-- a parenting trick I'm going to practice as often as possible from now on! We were the only ones in the restaurant, so there was no waiting, no people to bug or give us dirty looks, fantastic service, and happy kids. That, my friends, is a good restaurant experience! Oh, and they had paper table covers and crayons for all, and a kid-friendly menu. It was a marvelous time.
Look at these cuties...
Afterward, we walked around downtown Danville-- so cute and quaint!-- and went to Trader Joe's in search of Chris's elusive Grade A Light Amber Maple Syrup. No dice, but Chris did buy a bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans and spent the walk back to the car with a trail of kids following him like the pied piper. It was such a cute sight and as Heidi said, one of those unplanned events that becomes a favorite memory.
Chris and me enjoying a lovely evening, and perfect weather.
The sun was a little bright, but they still look sweet!
Me and my favorite accessory. :)
More CA on my next post, but for now, let's switch over to Memorial Weekend in Idaho Falls. My whole family gathered once again, plus my brother's cute... uh, friend that is also a girl, Sarah. We went to the zoo on Saturday with Dal and Hadley. I love the IF zoo because it is little and shady-- you don't spend a lot of time there, and you don't have to worry too much about sunburns.
Dallis, Thomas, Gordon & Hadley-- I think I took ten pictures, but none of them had smiles from all four kids, so I just chose the best one.
I love this picture of Neil getting a drink in the monkey house!
The kids absolutely loved this teeny baby lemur. He's so cute!
Zoo-goers.
On Sunday, we had dinner at my parents house and just hung out together. Naturally, we broke out the games at some point-- the best one for pictures is The Great Dalmuti.
Aw, my sweet little Princess. Chris is the fairest maid of all, isn't he?
Me and my little stowaway.
Our weekend was nice and relaxing, especially because we slept in my parents basement bedroom-- cool and very quiet. We're always a little sad to have to go home after such a fun time.
Well, that's it for now. I'm off to hand out water bottles!
