Sickuary

Only one, maybe two days until Jim comes home. 

We miss him so much.

Real quick, I just want to get this off my brain...

Today Avery came home from school and seemed down.

She sat at the table with her kitty and was sad.

I asked her what was up?

Someone was mean to her on the bus. This is the second time this girl has been "so bossy" to Avery.

But this time it really made her sad.

I just...my heart just breaks. I know that this is nothing new, and really not a "big deal". It's just a mean kid on the bus. 

But my sweet Avery. Doesn't the world know how wonderful she is? Doesn't that mean girl know how creative and caring and smart and funny Avery is?

The world is so mean and cruel. 

I just want her and all my kids to know that the world is also so kind and loving. You just have to find the right place and the right people. 

And you can start with the people in this house. We all adore Avery forever and ever.

Then go to the people in your classroom. Mrs. Shapiro is such a warm teacher.

And all her friends in her classroom that hug and giggle and swarm around Avery when I visit.

Grandmas and Grandpas.

Cousins.

There are so many people to love and be loved by.

There's no need to waste our time on mean kids on the bus.

Speaking of being loved.

I'm not sure what is going on, but Andrew will not let me out of his sight.

And he won't let me put him down.

Sure he's getting over being sick, but I think he's also afraid I will leave again.

And where the heck is daddy? 

I think it's all manifesting itself in the need to be constantly held.

I don't totally mind it.

 Except around 2:30 when I start cooking dinner.

I cooked with one arm yesterday. Set the table with one arm.

Then again around 6:00 when I clean the kitchen. 

I eventually had to leave it a mess so that we could go sit on the couch together and cuddle.

Tonight is the first night that there is no coughing coming from the bedrooms.

I think I can say that all the kids are on their way to complete wellness.

February has been Sickuary around here. Remember this all started February 5th with Avery's goopy eye?

Well, we are wrapping it up here at the end of the month.

So long, Sickuary. Let's get this month over with please.

PS Evan gets himself ready for school about mmmmm three hours before his bus gets here. He loves it so much. He told me about a story they read today where something when up someone's nose. giggle giggle.

We have our yearly IEP next week...

I'm so thankful that my kids' little bodies know how to fight off viruses.

They kick up a fever and the immune system goes to work.

I'm so thankful that we are on the road to wellness and Jim being home. 

Spring is coming. We almost made it through a tough winter of Airbus training.

But the seasons do not let us down. The sun will return! You can bet on it.

There's so much to be thankful for. 

Florida Weekend Get Away

All three of my kids are/were sick, so I packed them up and dropped them off at 

Grandma and Grandpa Larsen's house so I could go hang out with Jim for the the weekend.

There is this youtube video of an Airbus flying through the clouds to the song,

"Paradise" by Coldplay.

Jimi has watched it a half a dozen times.

On the flight there, Evan was looking out the window and started singing,

"para! paradise! wooaahhhh oooohhhh ooohhh oh".

I asked him where he heard that song,

"daddy's Airbus video".

The plan was to run through the airport and hand my kids off to G and G without exiting security.

This included putting Evan in the stroller and Andrew on Evan's lap...running, sweating, 

giving Avery the stroller full of boys and telling her to just keep walking. G and G were through the hallway - I could see them, but Avery couldn't. A quick text to make sure my children were in the right hands, 

then I was running running sweating running

to the Southwest counter.

Got there in time to be told the flight was full.

All the flights to Orlando were full. 

It was the place to be this weekend.

So plan B: fly to Tampa and have Jim come pick me up (2 hours of driving, but whatever)

So, la la la, I'm in the middle of a 3 hour wait,

I am charging my phone at a charge bar,

happen to look up,

and there is my dad coming out of the bathroom.

I had no idea that he was doing any kind of traveling this day or any day - not any mention or whiff of a trip to Kansas City for a 24 hour dairy meeting.

So when I see him, after hours of being surrounded by strangers...

I exclaimed, "Brian!"

for some reason I didn't exclaim "Dad!".

I was just so surprised.

We only had about 10 minutes to spare, but we sat down and had a nice little visit. 

On the flight to Tampa, I was seated in front of a kid who kicked my chair and slammed the tray table up and down...just like Evan does to the stranger in front of him. I just smiled and settled in for a nice little flight wherein I didn't have to keep any little boys in line. 

After much deliberation, we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom the next day.

It was a busy weekend, like I said, so all the parks were packed.

The deal breaker here was that the Magic Kingdom was opened till midnight.

First ride of the day was Splash Mountain!

I had never been on Splash Mountain.

Oh, hey, by the way, the front row gets drenched with water.

So we started the day trying to dry off.

ha!

The splash splashed all my mascara down my face. 

During rush hour at the park, we left and went to eat at Downtown Disney

at TRex cafe. It is a themed eatery, and it was so awesome.

The problem here, you understand, is that all of these dinosaurs and princesses and parades made me wish my kids were with us! (kiiiiinnnnd of)

We have plans to come back with them. We were doing investigative family vacation work.

We went back to the park and stayed until midnight when they had to kick us out.

Theme parks at night have such an exciting vibe.

We had a blast. 

Oh. And we ate A LOT of theme park treats. A LOT.

The churro ladies practically knew us by name.

Theme parks are so fun, but so exhausting.

The next day I just wanted to do nothing and nothing.

We went out to eat, and napped and did nothing. 

It was so great. 

 

Once again, the flights on SWA were sold out, so I flew Allegiant to 

Des Moines Iowa, had a four hour layover (got a shuttle to a hotel, exercised in the workout room, shuttled back, ate an awesome burger)

then flew to Vegas. 

A mom traveling by herself when she is used to traveling with three kids is a delightful adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed my flights and layovers. 

The skies were beautiful. Evan usually hogs the window seat.

I stayed the night at Hotel Kelvington,

and woke up to snow.

If you're keeping track, the last time I was in Vegas it snowed. 

I swear I bring it with me.

I met G and G and my kids at the airport and we flew home.

It was so clear! I saw about 5 volcanoes. 

Also, it is a new era of flying with my kids. Having Andrew in his own seatbelt was amazing. So easy! So roomy! I was practically twiddling my thumbs.

My kids had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa. 

Last night I was showing them some pictures of Elsa and Anna in the parade.

I said, "I wish you guys could have been there!",

and Evan said,

"no we wanted to see Grandma".

Nothing makes you love your kids more than being away from them for a few days.

I definitely needed the recharge though because we are going on week two of Jim being away, and we are all feeling  the hang over. It is hard. More on that later.

Every chance I get, I pick them off their feet and squeeze a hug out of them. 

Andrew won't let me out of his sight. More on that later.

Some Things I Don't Want to Forget

The kids have been playing school lately. 

These are Evan's drawings. I LOVE his people renditions. 

Listening to their imaginary play, I can hear bits and pieces of what they do in their real classrooms.

They discuss the calendar, sing days of the week song, talk about what jobs everyone has today...

When I am in the kitchen getting Andrew some milk, 

he stands their with the most intent look on his face, licking his lips,

*literally licking his lips*

and rubbing his fingers together.

It is my favorite and I don't want to forget it.

Lately we are into the movie Wall E.

I love when my kids get into a movie so much that they act it out.

Last night Evan put a rolled up piece of paper on his hand and was walking around "cleaning" foreign contaminants.

Avery was Eva. Wall E was Wall E.

Evan has such a keen sense of direction.

When we drive anywhere, he knows where we are going and how to get there.

He points out all of his friends from the bus' houses. 

He spends a lot of time driving on that bus, so I guess it makes sense.

Andrew is 2. Years. Old.

He is in the "chair pushing, chair standing, counter climbing" stage.

Everything is getting put up higher and higher out of his reach.

The sound of the chair push...is the worst.

My kids are all battling colds and coughs. 

One night, Avery's nose was so stuffy. 

I was laying by her while she was trying to sleep, and she just kept tossing and turning and trying to breath.

Finally she sat up at her wits end, and whispered a prayer. 

After she said amen, she sighed deeply and immediately fell asleep on her pillow. 

 At the zoo, the kids were begging for stuffed animals from the gift shop.

Both kids had 5$ saved up, but none of the animals were that cheap.

Later that evening when we came home, Jim got the mail, 

and there were some valentines from G and G Sorensen.

Inside each valentine was money. Combined with the amount they had saved up, they had enough to buy their stuffed animals!

Jimi got on Amazon and the kids picked out the animal they wanted.

They counted down the days until delivery day.

And today was delivery day. 

They were literally staring out the window after school, waiting for the UPS truck to get here.

Avery got a snow owl, 

Evan a snake, 

Andrew a penguin.

I'm sick of my kids being sick. I hear Evan coughing from his bed right now.

Despite the humidifier, Mentholatum on the bottoms of his feet, and medicine, he is coughing.

It must be February. 

Every February we do this. 

Lastly,

Jim is in Florida for the rest of the month. 

After February is over, this whole Airbus transition comes to an end and he will be flying out of Bellingham again.

He hasn't done that since November. 

I am looking forward to March.

The hope of spring is real and true in March.

By the way, the daffodils are about to bloom, and the frogs are singing from the pond. Is this the norm? Or are the hibernators confused? I can't remember.

Woodland Park Zoo!

Yesterday we took a family trip to Seattle's zoo. 

It was such a great family day.

We got to feed the penguins.

Five bucks buys you four little fish, and the kids got to drop them into the penguin's mouths. 

Except they didn't really land in their mouth so much. 

But it was exciting.

I love this zoo! 

I think it might be my favorite. 

All of the dens where animals usually hide away and sleep have little windows so you can watch them. 

Plus this zoo isn't huge, so we were able to see everything without getting overwhelmed or wore out. 

Me and Jim have been to many zoos, and we realized yesterday that I LOVE the primates -

I could have sat and watched the orangutans all day,

and Jim LOVES cats -

which I find beautiful and amazing, but not my favorite to sit and look at.

Evan said his favorite was the snake -

there was a giant anaconda sneaking up a rock and back down into the water.

And Avery's favorite was the flamingos.

Last year when we went to Hogle Zoo, she was so excited about seeing a flamingo, but there weren't any. 

Then yesterday, it just happened that the flamingos were the very last animal we saw. All day long, she anticipated those birds.

They are so funny how they stand their on their one-leg-kickstand.

Hey ladies!

Around the time we were exploring the rainforest exhibit, we all went out the door from the humid habitat, back to the cool fresh air. 

The trail forked...we went left, and Andrew unknowingly went right.

A little ways down we realized he wasn't with us and we all went searching. 

After about a minute or two of a missing child, panic sets in.

The worst is when Jim and I meet back up and neither of us has found him yet. 

Plus there are ponds everywhere.

My blood is pounding at this point, and I go to talk to a worker (really what can they do? but I am desperate), and I hear Jim yell, "Kelli!" 

I run toward his voice and am relieved to see him holding Andrew.

He is standing by another mama. She saw a wandering baby and kept him safe until she found his frantic parents. 

I walk up and she opens her arms and we share the warmest, softest hug.

She is buxom and motherly and Gaia.

It is a soul healing hug, and she tells me, "another mama was taking care of him. it takes a village".

I cry a little, and we tell her "thank you" a million times before we go on our way.

We ended the day in this great play place.

Avery was doing the Lion King thing.

I love when family outings are a success. 

We had so much fun until the very end when they practically had to kick us out.

Evan Interview

What's your favorite food? chocolate, cookies, pizza...

Who is your best Friend? Gabe (he is the boy in the picture. They take turns playing at each other's house on Wednesdays. Avery comes over to him and says "what about me?" they hug and Evan says "Avery too.")
Also from school he loves Otto, Dustin, and Hunter.

What's your favorite thing about school? I love getting gummy bears, and I pick in the treasure chest.

What's your favorite job at school? bell ringer, table setter, calendar.

What's your favorite shirt? jo jo! (he has this donut shirt that he wears the minute it comes out of the dryer and he calls it jo jo for some reason)

What do you like to do for fun? play with my dinosaur monster truck and bike (both things he got for his birthday, but trains are his favorite)

Color? seahawks colors and black and white.

Favorite letter? E - V - A - N

Show to watch? Cars, Toy Story.

What makes you happy? sharing

What makes you sad? When Andrew breaks my train track. (then he made me draw a train and train track on the paper I was writing this interview)

Favorite animal? Horsey, pigs, and they snort "oink oink!" (then he giggles). "I like dinosaurs."

Book? Freight Train, and the mighty machine one where they look at the moon (Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site)

Primary song? Heavenly Father... (A Child's Prayer)

Favorite thing to do as a family? I love to sit down. I lay in bed and I got to go to Chuck E Cheese. I love seeing Grandma Larsen at Disneyland.

What else? I like to go to the store and get money and get a toy. I'm good at wearing a batman costume. I love skipping and run. (I sneeze and he says "you splashed on me!")

Evan is 5!

Evan came into my room the morning of his birthday. 

Avery and Andrew were already awake and on my bed. 

Avery told him, "happy birthday Evan! You're 5!"

He clapped and stomped around then hurried to the bathroom.

Then I saw he had pink eye.

I swear he is always sick on his birthday.

We were so sad because his teachers had a celebration planned for him at school.

But our family party that night was so much fun.

Today his eyes were better, so I took treats into his class to share. 

I love being in his classroom. It is so fun to see him follow directions and routines.

After snack time they brush their teeth. He got his toothbrush and was holding it in the air. I told him to brush his teeth, and he said, "no we wait for everyone to be ready", and then they did a whole thing together in an orderly fashion.

The teacher asked Dustin a question, and Dustin sat there and "thought" with his finger to his mouth,

and Evan whispered to me, "Dustin is thinking. He always thinks."

Then they read silently for a few minutes,

and then it was show and tell time.

Evan earned his 5th red dot today and got to go pick in the treasure chest.

I am so happy I got to be there for it. He gets soooo excited about picking in the treasure chest. 

He got a little red stegosaurus. 

Sick Day

Today Avery woke up with a puffy, goopy eye, 

so I kept her home. 

This Brontosauruas is the queen (see below). Avery drew her a dress, cut it out, and taped it on her.

(why no picture of that? I don't know)

You never know what kids will play with. 

Today it was dinosaurs for hours.

Messy! 

But I've decided to romanticize this mess by taking pictures of it. 

I do want to remember how well they played together all morning until it was time for Evan to go to school.

They played Mr. Potato Head, hide from the monster (me), Spot It!, chase around and around the house... 

And they watched "Ah ah ah".

That's what Andrew calls Toy Story. 

(So cute! I will never correct him for as long as I live.)

Do you have a toy that you like more than your kids?

This is that toy for me. I am basically collecting them. 

They like them too, but not as much as me. 

After Evan got on the bus and Andrew went down for a nap, 

I mopped the floor (for hours),

and Avery played this game where it was the dinosaur Queen's birthday.

She worked forever on making presents,

and then they had a nice little party for the queen.

Continuing with the romanticizing theme:

I really enjoyed Avery's company today.

I loved listen to her be creative and imaginative.

She is starting to grow out of this stage of play, so it was such a treat to hear the interaction of the dinosaurs.