A Turquoise Bedroom

The rest of spring break turned into a painting project. Sydney had moved into a room that had bright golden yellow walls. They were okay, but little kids had drawn stick figures all over her walls with ball point pen. She decided that she wanted to paint her room turquoise and get a new comforter for her bed and from there the project mushroomed into a massive reorganization effort, but it was all worth it in the end.

Say good-bye to the yellow walls girls, today is the day that we paint! The day before we had removed all of the furniture and spackled and sanded the walls. Putting up the tape is always time consuming too. Painting is really the easiest part and the most rewarding.

This is the only time that you can tell the kids, "Paint your name on the wall!" It was fun to goof around a little bit as we worked.

Sydney was determined to help paint. She did an excellent job rolling the walls.

Maura wanted in on the action too. We helped get her name on the wall for a bit, and a heart and a smiley face too.

Why is Michael pretending to lick the roller? Maybe he has already taken in too many paint fumes, but we are only half way into the project!

The Buffalo Zoo

Since the children were out of school for a full week in April, we decided to explore a few new spots in town. We headed to the zoo one morning, but it was so crowded that it was hard to park and move around once inside. Here are the kids by the giraffes.

This anteater was pretty amazing to watch. Our kids like to watch the anteater cartoons on the Boomerang channel. So every time I see this photo, I hear the voice of the anteater saying, "Hey, ant!"

I love this picture of Maura. She was so excited about this rhinoceros and it was just a model!

We can't remember the names of these furry animals, but they are cool to look at. The color on the birds is incredible too. This is in the rain forest area of the zoo.

I swear every zoo must have a train. It is every parent's worst nightmare and every child's dream to ride the train before leaving. Of course it is always an additional expense beyond the admission. These train rides must fund every zoo in America. It was the favorite attraction at Hogle Zoo in Utah too. Luckily, Hayden and I were really too big to ride it and Sydney and Maura had the experience this time.

Easter 2010

It was Easter weekend, but Maura was still pretty sick. She would fight her fever for a few more days, but we still had to do a few traditional things, like dye eggs. I think this picture pretty much captures the mood of the kids.

Luckily, Sydney is always photogenic and happy to pose for a picture.

The Easter Bunny put these bunny masks in the children's baskets this year. What a photo opp!! Too cute.

Finally, Maura was smiling again. She found solid chocolate ballet slippers in her Easter basket, but the Easter Bunny reminded her that candy would hurt her tummy until she made a full recovery, so she hid everything away for a day or two.

Strong National Museum of Play

In hopes of having a fun weekend get away, we packed up the car and drove to Rochester. We went straight to the Strong National Museum of Play and explored for several hours, but little did we know that within a few hours we would be in an unfamiliar ER with Maura pushing a fever of 106 degrees!

Here are the kids and Michael in the butterfly conservatory. Hayden is sporting the beret that he made in French Club. Maura is starting to look a little bit ill.

There were a lot of interesting moths and butterflies to observe there, but this one was especially intriguing.

After finding our hotel and checking in for the night, Maura soon began to throw up all over the room. We gave her Motrin for her fever and got her to bed, but then she awoke and did not know who we were. She had a small seizure in front of us, so Michael scooped her up in his arms, we ran down to the front desk and asked for directions to the closest ER.

We spent several hours with her at the hospital. They brilliantly decided that she needed fluids, and gave her water and a popsicle. After promptly throwing up everything that they offered her, they decided on suppository Tylenol and released us into the dark night around 1 am. Michael and I aimlessly drove around Rochester trying to find a pharmacy that was open at that hour to buy more Tylenol since they would not give us any more at the ER.

After a horrible and restless night, we packed up first thing in the morning and returned to our house to ride out the rest of Easter weekend caring for our sick little girl. Thanks to good friends that hosted Easter dinner, Michael, Hayden and Sydney had a nice holiday. Maura and I would like a do-over.

St. Patricks 2010

Meet Maura the Leprechaun! Gotta love the preschool art projects for all of the holidays.

After school, the girls and I went around town and took pictures with "Flat Stanley." One of our cute Utah cousins mailed Flat Stanley to us so that he could have an adventure in New York and then return to the classroom in Utah and report on it. One of the spots that we stopped at was Ralph Wilson Stadium where the NFL team the Buffalo Bills play. If only the team had more luck at winning!

Valentine's Day 2010

Michael and I have given up going to dinner on Valentine's night. Over the years the wait time at restaurants kept getting longer and it seemed crazy to hire a babysitter so that we could sit in a drafty lobby and wait two hours just to sit down. Now we just make a nice meal and eat with the kids, but we do lay out the red table cloth and light pillar candles. The last few Valentine's I have also given simple gifts to each member of the family and I put the wrapped gift on their dinner plate. The kids get excited to come down to dinner and rip into their surprise.

Hayden and Sydney both opened Nerf guns and they were excited because they wanted to buy some but did not want to give up allowance money for it. Maura opened a tower of Pip Squeak Markers and Michael found a tie, dress socks, and a Food Network magazine in his bag. Everyone got some chocolates, including me! Michael also got me a great gift, a new griddle.

Sydney is Now Nine!

How time flies by. Just a year ago we were in Utah planning for Sydney's baptism and trying to sell our home. Now we have been in New York for seven months and she is turning nine. Life was busy during her birthday week. I agreed to make cupcakes for her school class, but we bought this cake to celebrate at home.

The kids had fun celebrating, but especially for Maura, it will be a long wait until her birthday in June. She was right there wanting to blow out the candles and open up gifts.

Yes, it is hard to believe, but I actually had one more American Girl box hiding in my closet. Sydney opened up an outfit that she had been wanting for her Julie doll.

Since we are thousands of miles from our family, we opened up the birthday celebration to the missionaries serving in our ward. Michael is the ward mission leader so they are over here quite a bit. It was their P day and they had just come from dodge ball with their zone so they were not in their suits. After dinner we played Ticket to Ride.

Sydney was so excited to take a birthday treat into her school class. I made 24 cupcakes and drove her to school the morning of her birthday. Later, we would have a party at JoAnn Fabrics with 12 of her school friends. Happy 9th Birthday Sydney!!