Our Family

Our Family

Friday, May 28, 2010

Lincoln Children's Zoo

While we were in Nebraska this week I took the kids to the Lincoln Children's Zoo. Kendall missed out since he was at work. :( The zoo was really tiny, smaller than the Peoria Zoo, but it was a perfect size for kids who had been sick the night before. It gave us a great afternoon activity. And we did the entire thing in just over an hour.

Sadie loved the reindeer, only she kept calling them goats. Here she is in front of one of said reindeer/goats.
Avri was so excited that they had Bobcats, because she reminded me that next year in kindergarten she will BE a Bobcat. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it, but she got her picture taken next to the sign anyway.
This is a terrible picture, but this is the baboon that tried to attack Avri. It was really funny, actually. Sadie was throwing a king-sized temper tantrum, so I was telling her she needed to calm down before she scared all of the animals. Well, right after I said that this (female, I think) baboon came right up to the glass to check out the screaming child. She sat there watching and raising her eyebrows at us. She seemed so motherly to me, coming to see what was wrong with this poor baby human. (Does Tarzan come to mind for anyone else?) And when Avri came over and tried to touch her, Sadie hit her away at the same time that this Baboon threw herself at the glass - right at Avri! That was enough to scare Avri and even get Sadie to stop her screaming. Come to find out, raising eyebrows is a gesture of aggression! haha. Maybe she wasn't as motherly as I thought. But who knows. At least Sadie stopped screaming!

They had peacocks at this zoo, just like every other zoo I've ever been to. But this one had this beautiful white peacock who gave us a beautiful display!
As I was telling Kendall about all the animals he said "It sounds more like an aviary with a few other animals." It was true, they had a lot of birds. But they were fun. I think these were my favorite with their funny hairdos. I told Talmage they looked just like him. He didn't think that they used "gel-o" in their hair like he does though.
Even my kids all got to be little baby birds.
We all had a great time. And Daddy came to meet us just in time for dinner! So we went and got Ruby Tuesdays for Mom and Dad and the kids were thrilled to get hot dogs from Sam's Club. Glad they were so easily pleased. :)

After dinner we ventured down to the swimming pool, which was a bit chilly. It would have felt wonderful right after we had been out in the heat, but since we had cooled off in the room the kids were being chicken about it. We eventually got Talmage and Avri to enjoy the pool. But we couldn't convince Sadie to join us until we got into the hot tub. I was happy that the hot tub was a decent temperature for not only children, but pregnant ladies too!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Every Kiss Begins with Kay

And this gift definitely earned a kiss. This was my Mother's Day gift from Kendall this year...
a Mother's ring!! The stones are (left to right) Avri: ruby, Talmage: blue zircon, Mercedes: aquamarine, and Rigdon: sapphire. They said that if he is born in August that they would switch it out for us without a problem. But with a due date of the 15th we are probably pretty safe. :) Who knew that we would end up with one red stone and three variations of blue. The colors are really not very good in the picture, but that's what you get with a not-very-good camera.

I was so completely surprised to get this ring this year. He said that he wanted to give it to me this year because by next year I would be expecting it. haha. Yeah right. :) Here it is on my recently sausage-like finger.I had a wonderful Mother's Day. The kids all gave me their gifts, we went to church, Kendall made a delicious dinner of Chalupas, AND he did all the dishes and clean up the kitchen for me. The only thing missing was Avri. She went on a weekend vacation without us, but that is for another post. Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there! Hope your day was as wonderful and full of love as mine was.

Monday, May 17, 2010

When Daddy's Away

So what does a pregnant lady with 3 little kids do when her husband goes out of town for a week?Tear down the wallpaper of course.

I've been wondering for the last two years what was underneath the painted-over wallpaper. So I decided to take a peek. And this is what it turned into. I found out there was not only wall paper, but also a border, at least 3 layers of paint, and a chair rail that had been put on and then painted over as well. What a mess!Talmage decided to use his sword or his knife to help get it off the walls.
Avri is perfect at demolition (or destruction of any kind, for that matter) and so this was something that she really enjoyed. When we left to go play at a friend's house she said "And when we get back can we do more wallpaper?" So even though it was kind of a crazy thing to start doing, it worked out well because the kids were busy for about 3 days, and having fun doing it! We are actually working on remodeling/redecorating all of the bedrooms, but the girls' room is first. It's getting close to being done. Talmage has been begging to have his room done next. So our room may just look like this big mess for a while. But at least we are moving in the right direction!

New Job...Again!

So I realized just today that I still haven't posted about Kendall's new job! Last week Kendall was offered a job with Belcan, a company that he interviewed with 8 months ago, and we have been hoping to get on with them ever since. It is here in Peoria and is doing much the same thing that he was doing before he got laid off last March. He will be working on engines for Caterpillar. Belcan seems like a really good company to work for and has nice benefits and everything. And, they even have an office in Provo, so there is a good chance that somewhere down the road we could possibly transfer out there.

His current job has been going through some changes. The plant that he was working at moved to Nebraska, and so there are 3 of the guys at work that are on a rotation traveling to Nebraska, which means that Kendall goes on a business trip every third week. So he's home for two very short weeks and then gone for one very looonnngg week. So we are extremely excited that he will not be traveling anymore. He has one more business trip next week that he has to complete and then he will be starting his new job at Belcan on June 1st! And the great thing about this business trip is that we will be going with him! They put him up in a Residence Inn that is big enough for the family and has a kitchen. So we will go hang out in Nebraska for a few days and get to enjoy the pool. :)

The other great thing about him finding this job is that we knew his current job would be ending at the end of July. So now we don't have to worry about what we will do after that. We will have insurance and a job when the baby comes, and that is a huge relief. So we are very excited about the newest developments! Congrats Sweety on the new job and on being such a wonderful man!

**Since this is a post about Kendall, I will also put in this bit of info. I'm writing this while he is in surgery getting his esophagus stretched once again. The poor man will probably have to have this done roughly once a year for the rest of his life so that he doesn't choke on his food. :( It is outpatient and a pretty quick thing, but still not very exciting. But I'm sure glad that we can get it taken care of so that we don't have to have so many near-death experiences when he can't swallow. AND...this is the hardest part for Kendall. He has decided to give up pop. They told him that pop is very high acid and that is what causes his problems. We don't know if he needs to avoid other foods or not, but pop is going to be difficult for him to give up. He loves the stuff. So I'm proud of him for making this difficult decision.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Tour of the Fire Station

Every time I drive down the street where the fire station is Talmage asks when he can go in. He asks when he can drive a fire truck. He's totally fascinated. The kids have this little video that is of a book called "Dot the Fire Dog" and every time it comes on they all get so excited, and even Sadie sits there yelling "Dot the Fire Dog!!" So when a friend of mine from the ward set up a tour of the fire station I had to join in! We went a couple of weeks ago and the kids were totally enthralled! We learned about some of the equipment on the fire truck.
And the kids got to see the fireman in his full uniform. They like to do this for the little ones, so that if there were an emergency they would understand that this is actually a helpful person, not a scary monster. Some of the littlest kids got a little nervous, but Talmage just thought it was cool. (Isn't Sadie so cute, holding hands. Awwww...)

Here are a few of the kids that came, all lined up in front of the firemen's suits.
After we toured the very small station and saw where the firemen slept and exercised and cooked their meals and relaxed, they gave everyone a hat, coloring book, certificate, bookmark ruler and sticker! Talmage has worn his almost straight for two weeks. My favorite is at the store where everyone gives us weird looks. Oh well. Being a Mom is all about being embarrassed for the first few years and embarrassing THEM for the next few.
Here are a few of the kids sitting on the fire Engine. I didn't know the difference between a truck and an engine until this! The Engine carries the water and hoses, and not really anything else. The truck is much bigger and has the big ladders and all of the equipment for every emergency situation. Very cool.
After we left, Talmage kept telling me "Mom, I want to go into a burning house. I want to go into the fire." And then he puts on his helmet and tells me that he needs something to breathe in. I don't have a mask. I'll have to improvise something one of these days. This was VERY cool and I'll have to do it again some day!