March Winds

March blew in like a breath of fresh air.

First of all we had some much needed sunshine after dealing with the winter inversion and a vortex of sickness between all the kids. It was sunny enough to break out the shades!

Believe it or not, it was even warm enough to sit outside with some cold treats.

We had a fun St. Patrick's Day. I was lax with the camera and didn't snap any pictures during the week our leprechaun Shamus O'Reilly visited or the chocolate gold coin loot he left on St. Paddy's Day morn.  I did however, get a picture of the apology note Ava left Shamus after she gave him a make over with make-up and then was devastated when we told her he was going to leave and never come back. 

He accepted her apology but didn't cause any mischief or participate in their traps until he was thoroughly cleaned. Our St. Patrick's Day feast this year consisted of Beef Stew made with shortribs and Irish soda bread homemade by Tyson himself.  It was fantastic and the kids actually ate some. For dessert we had Green mint shamrock shakes.

After the holiday, my niece Tanille and I went to Arizona to visit my sister Michelle and her family.  It was a fun girls weekend full of movies (Divergent), bowling (I scored like a 50), service for starving children (box 500), good food (Michelle's taco salad), card games (Oh My!), gym time (working it), hiking (or trying to kill me) and pink eye (yep I got pink eye about 4 days before the trip). We also learned that I am an alarmist and panic when stuck between a rock and hard place. My other sister was suppose to go with us but sadly she had to have an appendectomy on the day we flew out so she was unable to join us. We had so much fun just being carefree, kid-less and responsibility-less for a weekend.

Plus sleeping in was to die for!

While I was gone, Tyson and the children survived quite well.  He even braved the zoo on two different days and let the kids take friends.  If any men need lessons on how to be a good Mr. Mom, then Tyson's the man to teach you. The kids probably didn't even miss me.

We ended the month with a trip to Antelope Island with some friends for a picnic and some hiking and some sight seeing.  It was actually a lot more beautiful than I thought and totally something I would love to do again.

The Island's namesake

They are HUGE!

 

In the midst of our adventures at Antelope Island, we had to get in and out of the car a lot and Talmage got weary of not being able to see anything. He finally had it and would not let us put him back into the car until we reversed his car seat to forward facing. Now he is a happy camper (or car rider at least).

These two had fun dealing in all sorts of shenanigans since they were finally feeling better.

 

St. Patrick's Day

Last Sunday we were all Green!

Green for St. Patrick's Day that is...okay and we just wore green.

St. Patrick's Day hasn't been a big holiday to us traditionally since we are both of Welch decent and honestly not aware of any Irish in our blood. We also don't drink so that means we don't get into that part of the holiday. So we have thought of ways of making it a fun family holiday. Last year I found a great kids book called The Leprechaun Trap. It is all about how a leprechaun comes to visit a family for awhile before St. Patrick's Day.  He is full of mischief and every night he makes some sort of mess/trouble for the family. Each night the kids set a Leprechaun Trap to try and keep him from making mischief and because they know that if they can catch him, they will get his pot of gold. 

The next day after we read the book our own leprechaun named Shamus Reilly. No he comes back to cause mischief for us each year for the week before St. Patrick's Day. He causes the same kind of mischief like spilling boxes of Crayons and dumping out folded baskets of clean laundry on the floor. Ava really gets into the idea of trapping him and came up with some good ones like putting him in the refrigerator and then stacking all sorts of stuff in front (I wish I would have gotten a picture of it...still getting use to this blogging thing). When Shamus got out this is what he did. 

We also found him like this one morning.

The girls love it so much and Ava is getting super clever. On the night before St. Patrick's Day we went out to dinner with some friends (see next post about our fun time). The girls fell asleep in the car on the way home and when Tyson went to put Ava to bed he found Shamus tucked into her pillow case.  I guess she figured she would catch him escaping. We didn't know where he had disappeared to so... Whew! good thing dad noticed a lump...if you know what I mean (wink wink). He was gone for good on St. Patrick's Day morning and I guess we won't see him until next year.

Ava was disappointed she didn't get his "real" gold but the girls have fun finding golden chocolate coins around the house and they each found a little pot with some chocolate coins as well.

We started our morning out right with chocolate and some Lucky Charms before church (okay Claire had Reese's Puffs because she couldn't understand why we were having Lucky Charms). We made sure to incorporate some green in our outfits to avoid any pinching. When we got home the girls played beauty parlor while we made dinner and I let Ava paint Claire's finger nails and toe nails. Claire was so cute showing them off and Ava was so proud of herself.  She is growing up too quick!

 We have decided that each year we will do something different for dinner, either Irish themed or green. This year we had corned beef. I could hardly believe when Tyson suggested it because he vowed he would never eat it again after an overload of it on his mission.  I guess 16 years is long enough to wait (wow...16 years...he is old...j/k). We had red potatoes, carrots, rolls and a store bought rainbow Jello thing (not nearly as good as home made). Oh and to wash it down we had Apple Beer...yum.  It was good and Ava loved the corned beef.

Claire dazzled us with some dinner entertainment.

She learned the song in her nursery class and has been singing it for weeks.  We love to hear it and request shows over and over again.
Overall St. Patrick's Day was fun even though we aren't Irish or Catholic.

Finally...2012 in Review January through June

I am finally doing it!

I am doing our 2012 in review post.

If I could rewind time, I would have started blogging when I was pregnant with Ava.  I wish I had recorded cute moments and funny things she did and said.  Even in this world of technology, we didn't have all the gagets and things to record her first moments.  She has tons of pictures, but no flip camera videos or video of her at the hospital.  I know I don't have all that for me and I am fine.  I am just glad I made the leap now to keep a record.  

I decided to do the review by month.

So here goes!

January

 Claire's 2nd Birthday!  She was and is still obsessed with shoes so we did a shoe party.

It turned out cute and of course she wanted Pink incorporated. 

We found out we were pregnant with #3!!!

Tyson was out of town at SIA (which remind me to tell you some other stories about what SIA makes my husband miss) and I took a pregnancy test for fun.  We had had to do Clomid for this pregnancy and I was anxious to know if it had worked since it was our first round. We had been trying for over a year and I just had it in my mind that it would take a few rounds. I also thought it was way to early to tell since I had just taken the medication at the beginning of the month. I had had a negative pregnancy test with Claire before I got the positive one because I hadn't waited long enough. I quickly took the test and then I hopped in a quick shower because my niece was coming over. When I got out, I almost didn't look because I was in a big hurry but when I stole a quick glance I saw a faint second line. 

I was flabbergasted (love that word!!!)

Just then my niece knocked at the door and when I answered I immediately blurted out,

"I think I'm pregnant!"

She confirmed for me that you can't have a false positive test and then I took another one just to be sure.  When Tyson came home, I waited until we were in bed and then said,

"All four of us missed you!"

He is no dummy and he picked up on what I said immediately. He was excited (in his deer in the headlight way)!!

February

We love Love day around here.  These are the cute Valentine's that we made for the girls.  Ava handed hers out at school and Claire gave some to our family.  She wouldn't smile or hold her hand out so we just stuck the sucker to the side.  I love her little face/cheeks/nose in that picture. 

 

We decided to go with non-candy items this year, but we aren't sure what our decision will be in the future.  Ava got a Barbie car to go with the doll house she got for Christmas, and Claire got a little computer (So we could get some peace and quiet from the constant battle that ensued each day over the one that we have. This may not have been our best parenting decision, but we sure enjoyed the silence!!)!

Our romantic Valentine's Day dinner.

The girls love helping to set the fancy table.

 We told our Families we were pregnant.

We had Ava draw this family picture to announce we would be going to a family of five.

 March

St. Patrick's Day.

We started a new tradition this year. We invited Shamus O'Reily to our home to visit.

He is like a stuffed plush during the day, but at night he awakens and if he can get out of or avoid the trap the kids have set for him, then he causes mischief.  He told the kids that if they can trap him, then they can have his pot of gold. Each night they would devise a way to keep him trapped, but he always managed to escape and create some sort of mess.  One night he dumbed our whole crayon bucket out on the middle of the floor.  Ava was upset that she had to clean it up.

I had to work on St. Patrick's Day, but Tyson said that Shamus left the girls a trail of golden chocolate coins to follow. At the end was a small pot of chocolate coins,

M girls can't wait for Shamus to make his appearance this year.  They are already devising plans of how to trap him and get his pot of gold. 

( of which they are going to buy barbies and bubble gum with).  

    April

Had some fun doing a early Easter egg hunt at Grammy and Granpa's.  
They did it early because Claire was getting her tonsil's out and we wanted her to enjoy some of the holiday before the surgery.  We weren't sure how long she would be out of commision.
  

In an attempt to keep Claire from getting so many colds/sinus infections/sore throats and to help her sleep better (she is such a noisy sleeper, you can hear her breath through the wall), we opted to get her tonsils and adenoids out.
It was AWFUL!
The doctors, nurses and hospital was wonderful, but it was awful watching my poor baby come out of anesthesia and the whole recovery period was a NIGHTMARE.
She was too young to reason with and it made giving her the necessary pain medications to her miserable.  In retrospect, I think I would have waited a year or two longer. When the doctor said ten to fourteen days would be the recovery, he wasn't lying.  It took that and more.
Here she is before the procedure.  She had no idea what she was in for.

 My mother in law watched Claire a week after the surgery. You can see she wasn't feeling tip top yet.
I love this picture!

 We dyed Easter eggs for the 1st time.
Poor Ava, we always forgot to do it previously because we don't love hard boiled eggs.
Since last year that is the Easter memory she has talked the most about and keeps saying she wants to do again. 

 

Easter Day!

The girls woke to a hunt to find where the Easter Bunny had hidden their Easter Baskets.

After assessing the goodies that were left, we gave a short little lesson about why we celebrate Easter to remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Then we headed off to church where of course we wore our Easter outfits (at least the girls did).

After Church we visited one set of grandparents to show off our Easter dresses and then headed off to our other grandma's to have a family dinner and Easter Egg hunt.

By the end of the fun filled day, Ava kept saying that Easter was her favorite holiday!

(It was also nice to enjoy some much wanted good weather.)

May
May brought some exciting events. First Ava had Kindergarten registration. She was excited to find out she would be in the same class with her 3 buddies, Ava R, Lola and Ellie! Watch out boys these four are going to be heart breakers.

We finished our final soccer games of the season. Our team is almost made up entirely of our ward.
Oh and Claire had to wear one of Ava's old jerseys each game to go to soccer. 
She would have a fit if she didn't look the part. 
  

 Ava Celebrated her Birthday along with Ellie at school
(because her birthday is after the school year).
We visited Grandma B in Heber City.
The girls love visiting her and playing with her grand kids and seeing all the animals on the farm.

Ava had her final preschool program and her graduation.  It was so cute and they did such a good job. I couldn't believe how much she had learned.  Her teacher Miss Patty was spectacular.

 Love these girls!

We kicked off the summer with a big Neighborhood bash to celebrate the end of school.
Unfortunately (mom fail), I did not take ANY pictures but have managed to "borrow" a few from others. Even though my kids aren't in the pictures, I want to show the fun time we had.  It was an all day event. I helped make and distribute cute popsicle shaped invitations. The daytime events involved two big bouncy water slides and a few small bounce houses and kiddie pools that people brought.  We had popcorn and pizza and fun in the sun. But that was only just the beginning. After going home, resting a bit, and showering, we all gathered to the Harding's corner lot for a big potluck BBQ. They had face painting, a cotton candy machine, a snow cone maker and a magician. It was so much fun and I hope it becomes a yearly tradition. One of the best parts was that the kiddos actually slept until after 8 am the next day...wonderful...heaven!!!

 

And last but not least some of the most exciting news of the month,
We found out that baby Bringhurst...is...a

Snakes, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails,
That's What Little Boys Are Made Of.

 Tyson actually shed some tears of joy.  He loves our girls but this was the guarantee that his family name would continue on he Grandpa's line.
Plus is was just so happy to have someone to share his love of Legos, Star Wars, and skiing with.
We took Ava and she immediately exclaimed,
"Yay, that means that he won't try and still my toys!"

June
We started June off with a bang. 
We attended one of the most fun weddings of one of the cutest couples ever,
Whitney and Jimmer.

It was wonderful to have a little mini trip with my boy plus I was almost completely over the morning sickness so I could enjoy most of the great food and fun. The wedding dinner was catered by a Italian place from Jimmer's hometown in New York and it was great. We lit flying lanterns that I know Ava would have loved (she hearts Tangled) and watched them vanish into the night sky.
 It magical and romantic!
The night ended with some great moves by Rich that kept everybody giggling. Jimmer jumped in on the fun and sorry to say...kinda schooled Rich.

 The Wedding Day was beautiful.
The sealing was one of the best and the Denver Temple was so peaceful.

There Reception was at the Cherry Creek Country Club and it was gorgeous and elegant.
That had a great dinner with some great speeches that made you cry and laugh at the same time.
No Wonnacott shindig would be complete without ice cream, so there was a delicious ice cream bar.
And of course more dancing. I have to say, Jimmer is almost as talented on the dance floor as he is on the basketball court. He was singing to Whitney along with the words to the song. Seriously...so cute and romantic.  What girl wouldn't be jealous? She got a keeper!

Right after coming home it was time for Ava's 5th Birthday.
This was the first year we let her have a friend's party and she was so excited.
We rented one of those inflatable bounce house / water slides that was shaped like a princess castle.
Because we were renting it for the whole day, we decided to have her friends party during the day and her family party in the early evening.  It was a long but fun day.  We also rented a cotton candy machine as a surprise.  She loves cotton candy.  That is the only thing she asked for at Disneyland when we went the December before. She never begged for toys or souveniours. She just picked cotton candy as her treat each day.
We did blue, pink and mixed to make purple (that was everyone's favorite).
I love my 5 year old!!!

 

 We started our summer tradition of going to Movies in the Park.
These are some of our favorite Friday nights in the summer.

 We went on our second annual Girls Trip to St. George with my mom.
This year my sister LeAnn joined us along with my niece Tanille and her kids and my nephew and his new wife. We saw Aladdin and then had fun shopping the next day along with swimming any chance we got.We went to the Farmer's Market where they just happen to be doing camel rides.

 We started our yearly addiction to slushies.

 We started private swimming lessons with Liz who is the swimming Guru/Nazi.
She is wonderful, but definitely commands respect and the kids to listen.
Ava responded well...Claire not so much.

 We used our Pass of All Passes and went to Trafalga with our cousins.

 We potty trained...successfully and rather uneventfully! PHEW!!
(Thanks mostly to my mother in law and Tyson)

We experienced stitches for the first time...well Ava did.
In her own words, "I was trying to fly like a fairy and jumped off the couch. I just wanted to be part of Tinker Bell's Team."
She landed on her knees after jumping off the couch and hit her head on the coffee table.
5 stiches and some versed later...she was fine and all stiched up.
She got a little goofy and said some pretty funny things while all doped up.  Apparently she has taught Claire everything about cats and Kindergarten.

 Half of 2012 down and half to go!

To Be Continued...