Air Show

(Posted by Jacob, hijacking Colette's account)
Two weeks ago we went to the Air Show on a Saturday. It comes to Tucson every other year (alternating with Phoenix).  We got to go inside a C-130.  In the picture below Annie and Ryan are hanging out under the C-130's wing.

Here we all are right before we went inside.

Here we are in the cockpit.  Rachel is the pilot and Ryan and I are handling co-pilot duties.

Here's a shot of all of us inside the cockpit of the C-130.

In this picture, Annie and I are standing behind a Predator Drone.  This is an unmanned aircraft that drops bombs and shoots missiles at terrorists.  We weren't allowed to touch it.

The next aircraft we got to climb into was an HH-60G Pave Hawk.  This is a rescue helicopter. Here's a shot of Annie manning the machine gun.

The kiddos in the cockpit of the HH-60

Here's Ryan checking his instruments.

Here's a look at the HH-60 from the front.  It's a big helicopter.

Here's a shot of Rachel trying on the pilot's helmet.

The kiddos also got to climb around in some kind of ATV.

The last aircraft that we got to climb around in was a Black Hawk helicopter used by the Border Patrol.

The Thunderbirds were scheduled to perform at 2pm.  So we bought the kids some frozen lemonade and headed back to our van to watch the show and then make a quick getaway.  On the way to the van I had Colette take a picture of me in front of the B-52.

And in front of the B-1.

We waited by the van for about 40 minutes, but we didn't see the Thunderbirds and decided to call it a day.  We later learned that the performance was canceled due to excessive wind.

All in all it was a fun Saturday for everyone.

This week

Rachel had a Reading Fair project due tomorrow. She finished it up last week ahead of schedule. It's about the book Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in Her Pocket. All of the info about the book is written on the little "peeps" she made, and put in the pockets. Turned out pretty well for her first big school project.

 Annie was bummed to miss swimming lessons on Tuesday because she had a tummy ache, so Wednesday we got out the pool for the kids to swim in. It was really windy that day so Rachel didn't get in at all and Ryan only stayed for 2 minutes or so. Annie played for a while in the pool, and eventually got out to warm up. She laid down on her towel, asked me to cover her up, and shortly afterwards I found her asleep. On the nice hard bricks in her wet swimming suit.

 Ryan has been on a coloring kick lately. Unfortunately it's always markers he finds to color with. Luckily we've learned to only allow washable markers.

 Sometimes he gets extra creative with his coloring. Water table, arms, goatee, and lemonade stand all colored thanks to Ryan.

 Ryan's other love (besides markers): cars.

 He lined them up here and counted: 1, 2, 5, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 19, 20!

A few weeks ago I decided to paint our other crib white so it will match the girls' room when the baby eventually moves in with them when she's sleeping most of the night. The girls both sleep like rocks, where Ryan will wake up at little sounds, and I'm unwilling to give up the beloved play room (though she may sleep in the play room for a few months with some of the toys moved out into the loft), so we'll have a girls' room and a boy's room. The girls are very excited about it. For now. Annie was especially excited to help me paint the crib. She got her fill after two 10 minute sessions, then I was left in peace to finish it up.

 Our garden is looking very pretty. We're getting tons of tomatoes and some squash, all from plants that survived the super mild winter we've had. The other plants are all coming in nicely and should be producing in the next few weeks. Here's a carrot we pulled that the kids got a big kick out of. They liked how it could walk with its legs. :)

 Daddy is thankfully sometimes the popular parent that everyone wants to sit with. My tummy is getting so big and the braxton-hicks contractions have gotten well underway, so whenever a kid climbs on me it gives me a contraction. And they love to climb. So I'm always thankful when Daddy is the preferred parent and I get a break.

Ryan sporting "Daddy's hat!" He won't wear his own hat for 5 minutes, but he wore this one for at least a half hour. It only stays above his eyes for a couple minutes, though, before you can't see his face behind the bill.

Thursday night Ryan got the throw up bug that Annie had had the previous week, and Rachel got Sunday night. Thankfully, while the girls both threw up for hours on end, Ryan only threw up twice. I don't know if it was the hour of pleading prayers on my part while I lay by his crib waiting for him to throw up again, the blessing he got after throwing up the first time, or a strong immune system, or what, but whatever it was, it was a miracle and I was SO thankful to not have to deal with it any worse than it was.  And now it's gone through all the kids, so hopefully we can all be healthy for a little while.

Easter fun

While we wait for Jacob to get around to blogging about the airshow that we went to a couple weeks ago, I suppose I'd better take care of the other pictures that are accumulating.

The day before Easter we all planned to go to Grandma and Grandpa Knight's house to dye eggs and have some Easter fun. Unfortunately the night before Annie was throwing up every half hour for 4+ hours, then a couple more times after we were up for the day. So Annie and I stayed home to recover and Jake took Rachel and Ryan to Grandma's house for some fun.

They got pinwheels, new swimming suits, and other goodies and surprises they loved.

 Rachel discovered that the AC unit worked well for spinning her pinwheel. It also blew bubbles really well.

 Rachel's new swimsuit bottoms felt too big for her so she just wore her regular shorts.

 When Ryan woke up from his nap they colored eggs.

 They ate dinner then headed home to see how the sickie was faring. By then Annie was feeling much better and was very excited to play with the bubbles Grandma had sent home to her.

 Grandpa had made a bunch of these bunny cakes and he sent two home to us. We waited until the next day to eat it, however, when Annie's tummy had gotten more back to normal.

 Easter morning the kids woke up excited to find the Easter eggs hidden all around.

 Rachel got a rubber band loom to make rubber band bracelets like she's been begging for for quite a while. She got right to work and made 4 or 5 bracelets before church. She also got her own Book of Mormon engraven with her name on it. Her goal is to read it all before she is baptized. She's making decent progress.

 Our neighbor, Shannon, left some baskets for the kids on our garden wall. The kids loved them! She knew that Ryan couldn't have gluten or dairy, so instead of the chocolate she got the girls, she got him some fruity candy and a nice big bunny that he loves. It's bright pink with flowers all over it, so to combat the girliness factor, Jacob convinced Ryan to name it Trogdor. Ryan loves his Trogdor.

(Annie and Rachel got new Easter outfits, too, which they're sporting here.)

Sunday night it was Rachel's turn to be up sick all night. Not the best end to Easter, but at least she got to enjoy her Easter before it hit.

The kiddos

We've been keeping busy lately doing whatever it is we do. 

Ryan is talking a ton now. He uses complete sentences often these days is pretty good at using words, when he's not horribly mad or sad, to ask for what he wants. When you ask him something requiring a yes or no answer instead of answering "yes" or "yeah" he always says "suh" (sure). Not sure where that came from, but it's cute. He is also our narrator. He narrates our entire life. "Mommy going downstairs. Ryan stay upstairs." "Ryan see a tractor over there!" "Red motorcycle go bye bye." "Daddy's sleeping, Annie's sleeping, Rachel's sleeping, Mommy's awake, Ryan's awake!" (This occurs all too often as he is our 6am riser. Thankfully the girls sleep until 6:45 or they're super cranky. 20 or 30 more minutes for me is all I really want but his personal alarm clock is set and he's not changing for anybody.) 

He loves his push car (and his bike) and rides them all the time. His car is a favorite because under the seat there's a secret compartment that he can fill with all sorts of treasures. He'll put his cars in there, stuffed animals, food, even sippy cups. And if it doesn't fit, he doesn't really care. He'll ride on it even when it won't close at all.

Unfortuately, like I said, he puts everything, including food in there. He had been carrying around magnetic letters in there for a few days when he decided to add some animal crackers. Then some sidewalk chalk. And when he had a sippy cup of milk he wanted to bring along he'd put it in upside down so it would slowly drip over the animal crackers, turning them to mush. Lovely. Yesterday I hosed out that nastiness and gave the letters at the bottom a good scrubbing. Some had started growing mold, what with our nice warm weather, and the moisture from the spilled milk. Science at its finest for our budding scientist.

Along with talking in complete sentences, Ryan is singing whole songs on his own sometimes, too. He had just sang the whole song, I am a Child of God, with me hiding in the kitchen listening, when I pulled out the camera and tried to get him to do it again. Not completely successful, thanks to his obsession with the camera and showing off, but pretty good.

Ryan is not ready for official potty training yet, but likes to practice on occasion. The girls convinced him to come watch a movie on his potty the other day. He has a short attention span, though, so he got up and wandered, found some cutting boards, then when I threatened to put a diaper back on him he ran back to sit on the potty some more.

Ryan is our little navigator in the car and tells me at every intersection, "Go that way!" Then gets mad if I don't follow his directions. He's very aware of his surroundings and can tell me how to go to gymnastics, swimming lessons, our house, and Grandma and Grandpa's house. Of course every time we get in the car he requests "Go Gramma's house!" And if we're driving on Kolb and I don't turn onto the street that goes to their house he gets mad at me.

Ryan and Annie are still having a hard time getting along for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. If Annie says anything in a mean tone of voice Ryan will go up to her and pinch her just to make her mad. If they are in the same room it feels like I'm spending 75% of the time keeping them away from each other and breaking up fights. I am so ready for this stage to be over with. Annie is slowly learning (and only remembers occasionally) that if she talks to Ryan in a sweet, kind voice and ask him to be soft, he will. But mostly she forgets and yells at him, so he pinches and pokes.

But there are those 5 or 10 minute spurts when they do get along and have fun and laugh together.

The love this cabinet and get in there often. A lot of times Annie will climb in and when Ryan comes to join her she closes the door and tells him, "No. This is my house. You go get me a toy, buddy." And he runs off to do her bidding. But sometimes she lets him join her for some fun.

We were playing and I told them to smile for the camera.

Nice smile, Ryan. He just wanted the camera and wasn't about to smile if I was holding it instead of him.

Annie is suddenly super creative and quite the story teller. She comes up with great stories or "dreams" that are very intricate and totally random. It's pretty entertaining to listen to her stories. She is finally taking an interest in learning letters and can point to them correctly if I ask "Where's the ___?" But pointing to a letter and asking which letter it is she only gets it right about half the time. But still, that's pretty good progress for her. She and Ryan have been watching the Leap Frog Letter Factory a lot lately (one of the few movies Ryan will sit and watch all the way through, so I put it on when I want to shower in peace), and Ryan's getting some letters down, too. W and F are his favorites.

Annie is drawing and coloring a little more these days, too. She drew this the other day after we had been practicing letters on the white board and told me it is Grandpa Jolley.

 Unfortunately the girl has a deep love for markers. On the carpet and on her arms. And without lids. One day Rachel will learn to keep her markers hidden if she wants them to last... maybe.

Annie is getting pretty excited about preschool that she gets to start in July when school starts back up. Yesterday we were at the bus stop waiting for Rachel and one of the other moms said something to her about if she was excited or ready to start preschool. Annie's reply: "Yeah! I get to go to preschool soon! I know how to wipe my own bum!" How nice. She's never really hit the "do it myself" stage for getting dressed (which Ryan is currently going through) or on the potty, so I've been trying to get her to take the initiative. The only thing I've found that works is telling her she has to be able to do things like that herself before she can go to preschool. It has been sufficient motivation for the important things. :)

Over Spring Break we had a play date where Rachel invited a few of her friends from school to come play. Isabella and Isabel came and they had a fun time playing dress up and singing every Frozen song over and over.

Rachel has been into fashion off and on lately. When she feels particularly cute she'll come and ask me to take a picture of her.

I haven't been very good at keeping track of the funny or insightful things the kids say. I always think, "I should write that down." Then forget to actually do it. Except this once. At movie night when we were watching A Little Princess, when Miss Minchin was being a big meanie and Sarah yelled at her that "all girls are princesses and didn't your father ever tell you that?" Rachel commented, "I think she got her heart broken and put it back together crooked." That's probably the case for a lot of cranky people.
Another notable funny thing I was just reminded of that Justin posted on faceboook: "You know the world is changing for the better when your niece sings "Do you want to hide a body" to the Frozen song "Do you want to build a Snowman"...watch out Weird Al, my niece is coming for your career." Not sure where she came up with the hiding a body idea, but after Justin laughed so hard when he heard that, she repeats that version whenever she's looking for a laugh. 

There's a girl in Annie's gymnastics class that has a 6-year-old brother, an almost 2-year-old, and a baby. Since their kids match up with our kids' ages so well and the kids love playing together while waiting for sisters in gymnastics we decided to have a play date. We also invited Jill and Karolee and their kids. So there were 15 kids running around having fun. And most of them piled into the little kiddie pool we have at some point.

It made for a fun summer afternoon. 90+ degrees in April. Blah. That's supposed to wait another month.

Rachel is quite a reader. She could sit around and read for hours on end. Lately she's also (finally) gotten into writing a bit. Grandma Knight gave her a notebook and a cool pen that immediately became her journal. She wrote every single thing that happened to her for several days before she lost interest. Then she remembered these blank books Grandma and Grandpa Campbell had sent to her with her castle that Grandpa Campbell made. She's filled them with her own stories now.

A Princesesses Birthday By Rachel
Once upon a time a princess was about to have a birthday. The next day was her birthday. First friends came over. First they played some games, then they had cake, then they opened presents, then her friends went home. The princess wanted to see her bird friend and pony. First she went to see her bird, then she went to see her pony. She got on her pony, went home and got in bed and went to sleep.

All About Princesses
When a Princess gets up... she puts on a crown, a bracelet, a bow, and gets her wand and umbrella. She gets out of the castle and rides her pony to the village and gets her mail and picks some flowers. She sees a butterfly, a bird, and a bee. With her money she can buy shoes, a brush, a mirror, a blt. She sees a pearl. She goes home, she gets her pillow and goes to sleep.

When I Grow Up By Rachel
When I grow up... I want to be a firewoman. When I grow up... I want to be a vet. I am all grown up. What will I be? There is so many choices. A vet is cool. Or maybe a farmer. I have an idea! I can be an... author and illustrator. What the book looks like: My Job. Finally! The end.

All About Jewelry
I love jewelry. Necklace. Ring. Here are some pretty things that go with jewelry: wand, vase, tiara. Here are some princesses: Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Ariel, Rapunzel. I love Jewelry. The end.

Pretty good author and illustrator for a kindergartener, I'd say.

Other things we've been doing lately.... Rachel and Annie are still enjoying gymnastics, though I think we'll take a break when school gets out until sometime after the baby is born when we've got some semblance of "normal" and can handle getting places on a schedule again.

We've also been doing swimming lessons lately. My goal was to have the girls comfortable and safe enough in the water by summer time that we can be in the pool without me having to hold them the whole time. We signed up at Sunshine Swim School for a couple of sessions and even though they are more pricey than I like, they have small classes and it really is making a difference. Rachel can now swim across their small pool all by herself. Annie will jump off the step by herself and kick to the teacher on her own, which she would never do before. And Ryan is pretty good at a back float and LOVES jumping in and going under water.

Here's Rachel swimming across the pool all by herself (though with some slight desperation in her breathing), and Annie practicing her back float on the right.

Rachel is still doing piano and does a great job at it. She is usually pretty frustrated the first day when she tries a new piece, but by the time the next week comes around she's got it mastered. We're working on her getting comfortable enough with riding her bike that she can start biking to piano all by herself, since it's just the next street over from our house. The goal is to have her comfortable enough before the baby arrives in July. She's fine riding it, it's just tough for her to start on her own since her bike is a little tall for her. And she doesn't react fast enough when stopping to stop if a car is coming at the intersection she has to go through. She's getting more confidence, though, and is motivated to be able to ride all by herself.

And that is our nice long update of what the kids are up to these days.