Sep 15
Everyone,
Today we took a break from being tourists to just rest. (Rest is a relative term here.) The boys rested. Butterfly went to school. Grandpa rested.
Nana and I went shopping.
Well, all of us went shopping first at IKEA. Except for Butterfly who was in school and Juice who was working. Man I love that store. I would buy everything I could in that store if I had money. As it is, I bought meatballs and a stool for the sink in the bathroom downstairs. Big spender!
The boys took a nap and Nana and I went out to the mall. We’re looking for Christmas outfits for the kids. No such luck, though. We are a little early for it. But I start planning out my Christmas now. I even have several presents bought. Does anyone else do that?
After dinner, we took the kids to the park to get their picture taken. And ice cream.
Pretty restful day if you ask me!
Safire
PS- Today’s giveaway is all about doing something with your kids while you are NOT going out to be a tourist. Butterfly loves to play games. And this game that Pressman Toys sent me, is just up her ally!
You see, it’s a code breaking game for young kids. In this vertical version of MASTERMIND designed for kids, players secretly stack their animals into a tower. By asking yes or no questions, they try to find the order of the animals. The game can be played at three different levels. You can even mix up the difficulty levels. Juice and Butterfly play this way: Butterfly has 6 animals that Juice needs to find, and Juice has 4 animals that Butterfly needs to find. Both are happy with the level of difficulty. The first player to break the code of his or her opponent wins!
Want to be a winner yourself? Comment below! Let me know what was your favorite game as a child. I personally loved The Game of Life.
For an additional comment: vote for my picture here! Then come back and tell me you did. Thanks a million!
Happy Commenting!
PPS- Just so you know, I was given this game by Pressman Toy for free to review and I get to keep the game at the end of my review period, which I’m really happy about because we play it ALL THE TIME.
Safiregiveaways, grandparents giveaways, grandparents, shopping
Jun 02
Everyone,
After a super late night last night (thanks Momster for the fun time!) and a very busy night with Butterfly and Professor, we decided to stay in and just have a down day.
Apparently, Butterfly is not allowed to watch Scooby Do. Every time she does, she has bad dreams. Last night’s dream was about a skeleton that no one could kill and it was in Nana’s house. Scary stuff! Professor woke up at least 2 times before she did, each time needing a binkie find and a back rubbing. Butterfly complained about the nightmare only about half an hour later. I snuggled in bed with her for about an hour, and then went back to my own bed and a huge crick in my neck. She got up to use the restroom. I kicked Juice out of bed (much to his annoyance) to go snuggle with her some more.
And once he was back in bed, Professor needed a binkie find. Then early this morning he cried again but found his binkie himself. Unfortunately, he woke me up. 6am baby. Thanks a lot kid!
The rest of the day has been filled with little fun tidbits. Like I went running (I know!) and left the kids, including Cappy, with Juice for 20 minutes. Not once, but twice did I see one of the brood in the middle of the street chasing after me.
I went to my annual girl lunch with my BFF Mink, sans kids. It was so nice to just sit and chat and be a friend and not a mom. We went to our usual place, which is a very old house converted into a small cafe. We both had caramelized pear and gorgonzola salads and half sandwiches (me: veggie with hummus, her: chicken). Mostly we talked about cars. I know, it’s a weird subject for a girl lunch but she just bought one so we discussed having the ones we have and getting new ones.
My mom and I spent nap time doing our annual cousin camp picture book for the kids. We are almost done! Now if only we can do last year’s book, we’ll be set.
We surprised my grandparents by going to see them this evening. My dad is taking pictures of all that side of the family and wanted to pick out the right spots and get his super cool lights set to the right setting. The kids charmed my grandparents and my aunt (who lives next door to my grandparents) and my dad got his pictures set up.
Everyone is in bed horribly late (yet again). We expect another fun filled day tomorrow!
Safire
Safirecousins, exercising, grandparents, kids in trouble, Mink and Spider cousins, Great Grands, Mink, nightmares
Jun 11
Everyone,
Today we had nothing scheduled. It was a weird day for us…we often have every day scheduled. We did think that Juice could paint my parents’ deck today but with the weird weather and rain Utah has been getting we figured today would not be a good day for deck painting. (Good thing too because there was a huge thunderstorm this afternoon.)
We thought a movie might be something fun to do instead. We had been wanting to take Butterfly to see “Up” for awhile. What better time to take her when we have built in babysitters for the boys! Because really, movies for them are no an option until they are older. Juice’s parents watched the boys this afternoon while we took Butterfly and my mom to see “Up”. It’s very cute but very adult in places and pretty scary at the end. At least, Butterfly told me it was kind of scary at the end. If the screaming and crawling up my arm to bury her head in my neck wasn’t an indication of being scary, I don’t know what is.
We spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa (thanks for a fun afternoon!) and got the most awesome grape juice from Grandma to help with our sickies. Yes, we are still sick here. Everyone has runny noses (except for me, I have a sore throat and ear pressure) and Juice seems to be coming off the worst in our little family. Sadly, my dad has pneumonia AGAIN (I think this makes 4 times in a year?) so we are trying not to spread the love.
No one got a good night’s sleep last night so I’m hoping that tonight will remedy that. I’m off to bed!
Safire
Safiregrandparents, movies, sickness 2009, trips to Utah
Jun 04
Everyone,
We made it to Utah today. We are in Moab for a few days to see the arches and then we are headed up to Salt Lake. Butterfly calls this the “Shiny Rock Place” because we’ve been talking about being here to look at pretty rocks. My mom met us here tonight and I love having her around.
We got here earlier than all the other days of driving (we got here around 4pm as opposed to 7 or 8pm) so we had some free time. There was a miscomunication with the kennel where Soot was supposed to stay tonight (this lady has to have an hour with me and the dog to get her “acclimated” to her place. An hour! She says it’s for the good of the animal and I have to counter with it’s just an animal and one night!) We went out to eat at a pizza restaurant (not great) and did a little geocaching in town. I’m going to have to buy a souvenir t-shirt I think. Butterfly had her first bright blue snow cone. Pirate has fallen off the bed about 4 times in an hour so he’s no longer allowed on the bed with no supervision. As in, you have to be next to him at all times. They are currently sleeping and I hope they will stay that way.
Professor slept in bed with me from about 2:30am on last night. I did not sleep well and was pretty cross today. Pirate was also really cross and cried a lot. Poor kid. We are all feeling a little done with the car. Good thing tomorrow we are going hiking.
I’m going to have to get some new toys for the trip back. Everyone is tired of what’s in the car now. And we still have a 5 hour drive on Saturday to Salt Lake. Ugh…I am looking forward to being at my mom’s house and just being in one place for awhile.
Safire
PS- Kelly, I got the message…will call you when I get to my mom’s house. 
Safiregrandparents, road trips, traveling
Apr 09
Everyone,
I love having my parents with us. It makes me want to move closer to them all the time. I would love for the boys to know them better and for Butterfly to have someone who would like to read books to her all day long. The same book. All day long. Mommy gets very bored but Nana doesn’t! Or Grandpa! Love having my parents around. Just love it.
Since they are around and since I intend to spend all my time with them, posting will be sporadic and short. Sorry! I only get to see them twice a year (if that) so these 10 days are important to me. Hey, when you only get to see each other 20 days a year, it’s a big thing!
Tomorrow we are off to gain our title of Ultimate Tourists as my Mom has trained me to be. Which reminds me, I really should print off directions.
Later!
Safire
Safiregrandparents, my Dad, my family, my Mom, visitors
Aug 24
Everyone,
We have been here a week now and we’re having a ball! This morning I surprised myself and was able to get everyone dressed and ready for 9am church with my mom. Okay, we were about 10 minutes late, but that’s still really great. My mom’s church is right next to the new Draper Temple (as in they share the parking lot when it’s finished) so we sang several rounds of “the temple song” for Butterfly. Now that I think of it, I should have taken some pictures. Maybe I’ll go up there and do that since it’s literally 4 or 5 blocks away.
I spent most of church in the mother’s lounge (as I always do feeding babies) and it made me miss my own church. I was alone in this mother’s lounge. At home, I think there are 5 of us nursing new babies and it’s so much fun to go in there and chat. The only other mom that came in today was someone to change a diaper with an older child and she muttered under her breath to her 4 or 5 year old that he didn’t need a diaper change, that daddy only said that to get them out of his hair. Wow, not something I would say to my child! Anyway, this mother’s lounge has also sparked a desire to change the furniture in the mother’s lounge in Maryland. I think I may be on the look out for free couches when I get back.
After church, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa’s for some yummy turkey dinner. I ate my fill (no small feat right now) and sat down to feed a baby. 4 hours later, I finally woke up. Apparently I am tired. I did have a few baby swaps in there, but I mostly sat on the couch and slept. Butterfly played hard with Juice’s old toys and he had a great time playing with her. She fell asleep on the way home and didn’t wake up being put in her bed. Or getting a night diaper put on her. Or anything.
We watched a movie with my sil and Cappy. Now, off to bed!
Safire
Safirechurch, grandparents, trips to Utah
