Easter

So like most people for Easter with children, we did the whole egg hunting event. Normally the kids get dressed up in matching outfits for church...cuz that's what you do, right? Well, this year we happened to have General Conference (watching church on TV in our comfy jammies) on Easter weekend.

I tried to keep it extra special since both are very rare for us. This sounds crazy but because breakfast was special and not just cereal, I made homemade oatmeal and bacon! Yup. Our kids love homemade oatmeal and can eat way more of this than any pancake breakfast. Although I'm sure if I gave them ooy-gooy cinnamon rolls like many other families have they would have no problem gobbling them up. After the first session of conference we did a small little Easter hunt outside. I didn't have any planned outfits so I just tried to make it look like I did. How did I do?

We joined the rest of my family who live in town for Easter dinner. Good food, good family, and good General Conference made a delightful Easter Sunday. Reina has always been very interested in learning more about our Savior and His resurrection. I showed her a couple of videos on the church website that really glorify Him and all that He has done for each one of us. Paul and I have a hard time really taking in all eight hours of talks for Conference with little kids. So the past couple years we have downloaded the talks and listen to them in the car. This helps tremendously!

March

What a mild month we have had! The weather has been so pleasant and not rainy that we have had multiple days of outdoor fun! I love that with my job I get to see the beautiful blooms on the trees in all their varieties and some spectacular views! There have been lots of trips to the park with family.

Mummi celebrated her 29th birthday again so I had everyone come over and enjoy a true Finnish Strawberry cake. I make at least two a year.

Paul's "I'm a Guinn Twin" shirt

We went on a 2 mile hike with the kids to Lacamas Lake Park (just a short 10 minute drive away). We didn't want to go too far as we haven't tested how far Reina can really hike. She did awesome! It did help that they had a fun little park nearby.

For St. Patrick's Day I tried to pack all things green in Reina's lunch. Well, I got about half of it green including green peas and green jello. For dinner we had an Irish feast of corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and onions, and dessert was mint chocolate ice cream.

Reina has been begging me for months for some glasses like mine. I finally got around to letting her choose some. I guess she liked mine! By the way, neither of us have a prescription.

Reina inspired me to wear mine on our "fancy dinner" date night

...and her friend Ainzlee

We had our ward talent show that Paul and I were in charge of. Phew! Glad it's over and it went very well! Paul did an AMAZING job as the host. He had to come up with all the jokes in between acts. He even did a made-up version to George Michael's "Faith". He totally nailed it! My cha-cha and hip hop dance went well-ish? The first part great, but I kind of messed up the hip hop portion with my mom and friend Melissa. My brain was not thinking about my dance as I had to prep for each act going up next. Oh well, I guess no one really noticed. Reina and her friends did spectacular at their Zumba dance to "Waka Waka". So dang cute! Everyone says that they will never look at us the same way again! Hopefully all good, right? You can watch Reina's and Paul's. Mine got taken off Youtube for copyright infringement :(

Reina's Waka Waka dance

Paul's opening George Michael parody

Here's some other random March happenings:

Usually I'm not one for tattoos, but I liked these gold ones. Apparently Reina AND Baelor did too.

Chinese with Steve and fiance Katie

If we ever go to Ikea, the kids are lucky if we stop to get frozen yogurt at my favorite shop.

Kids Club birthday party (they are waiting for the bucket of balls to fall on them)

Baelor and cousin Karter being put to good use washing Papa Will's car

Picnic in the park

First Trimester

It is hard to believe I am already done with my first trimester of pregnancy! I guess the more kidlets you get, the less time you have to "think" about the baby inside! I did not even know I was pregnant this time around for the first 8 weeks when I finally took a pregnancy test. Dating how far along I actually was is also difficult as I do not ovulate as frequently or at the "appropriate" times as other women. They had to actually do an ultrasound to figure out how far along I was. The first ultrasound dated me at 10 weeks 3days. Further than I had thought! I am lucky in that I never have had morning sickness with any of my pregnancies. Yes, this is fortunate, yet I am completely unfortunate with having diabetes. I have to check my blood sugar multiple times a day and make adjustments when the numbers aren't ideal. Early on in this pregnancy I have had quite a few mornings of low blood sugar (not my normal) where I literally wake up in a sweat, or I am starting to shake uncontrollably. It's not like a seizure or anything, I can just tell I need something soon! I told Reina that if she ever sees me on the ground and I don't wake up, to quickly go get me some candy and put it in my mouth. I have never had this happen but you cannot plan your blood sugar.

My only real complaint is that I have not been able to shake my cold since January! Seriously, this cold is like a chamelion that just keeps changing shapes or goes incognito just to reappear again. I still think it's due to the antibiotics that I was on for my root canal that ruined my immune system. I have had quite a few cravings with this pregnancy, and also some foods I can't even look at. It should have been a clue when I did not find joy in eating chocolate chips. I usually can't help but eat them daily and I can't even stand to look at them in the cupboard. This has been the same with all my pregnancies so no, I cannot tell if it's a boy or a girl! One of my most unusual cravings this time is onions! Yep, I figured out how to make baked onion rings and this has been so satisfying.Other foods that have been on the top of my list are apples, red meat, fruity candy, cucumbers, and peanut/almond butter. I sure wish there was a way of determining based on my cravings if it was a boy or a girl but I have had WAY more food cravings with this baby. I have tried to take a picture a week since I started showing. Here are the first ones:

11 weeks

12 weeks

For the first time EVER, Paul and I are split on whether we think it is a boy or a girl. With Reina, we both thought it was a boy. With Baelor, we both thought it was a girl. Both wrong, both times. This time around, Paul thinks it's a girl and I think it's a boy. So at least for once one of us will be right! Of course Reina is hoping for a girl. Baelor could care less, nor really understands until I really start to pop!

We are just so happy to have this miracle happen for a third time. We know that the Lord has His hands in blessing our family yet again.

13 weeks

Snapshot

To capture the beautiful spring-like weather we've been having, we took a quick photo outside our backyard. Apparently the spring weather had passed very quickly because it was FREEZING! If you couldn't tell, just look at Baelor's face. He wasn't sad, just really cold as he tried his darndest to keep saying "cheese".

Where Did January and February Go?

I happenend to hop onto the blog and realized I haven't posted anything since the kids' birthdays! Aye! Nothing spectacular has been happening at home, but it's always nice to refresh at least the few highlights and lowlights of the weeks past! We'll start with the lowlights to get it over with. Sickness. Ever since Christmas break when both Reina and Baelor were sick (may I remind you that I had two weeks off of work) for a good chunk of the time, Reina did not recover. She has missed, I think nine days since school started with a few of them being absences from Disneyland. She is becoming well-known in the health room at school. The majority of the time it is for something completely unnecessary, but there has been a couple of times where she actually has had a fever! We've had a discussion about not going to the healthroom unless you are REALLY sick. Well, a couple of those times she really was. She just hasn't shaken her cold yet. The cough has been there for weeks and then all of a sudden it's drippy nose again or fever. I have really been trying to figure it out because she has never been sick so often like this. Our new plan that I had to discuss with her teacher is that she be allowed a snack after first recess. I found out the kindergarteners do not eat lunch until 12:50! Her body has been needing that mid-morning energy boost. Hopefully this addition will help. She has said that having a snack has helped out a lot.

Baelor has also been sick, but just a bout of throw-up one night and now coughing. He is just at a difficult stage for us because he defies what you ask of him and gets into everything if you don't keep a constant eye on him. I understand that he is discovering his surroundings and that it is a good sign of a sharp mind, but I get tired of finding the beads or puzzles or cauliflower that I happened to leave out strewn across two rooms. We are happy to announce that Baelor is starting to go potty every once in a while when we ask him to. He even made a poopy! We know this is going to be a long process because he can be a bit lazy about things if it's not his idea.

 Paul has somehow avoided the most recent bug in our home. Yeah, after writing this he suddenly came down with what we have. Hopefully it won't last as long though. He hurt his back at the gym one day and for at least a week that kept him not so happy or mobile. I, on the other hand almost avoided the icky cold until the end of January. I think it all started when I woke to tooth pain and had to get a root canal. That weekend was no fun as there was really nothing we could do about seeing the dentist on a weekend. My sweet husband and brother filled in and helped me out. Paul and I drove to my brother's dental office ( 7 hours away) when the office was reopened for the work week and got it taken care of. I had to cancel my driver education class for the very first time ever! When you don't feel well and you have to send texts or calls to many people, it is hard to stay focused. The highlight of our quick 26 hour trip was that we went to see "Unbroken" with my brother Teem and his wife Emily. I highly recommend it.

 I recently joined a book club with some other ladies in our ward. I feel so special to belong to a "girl" group. Ever since college I somehow have never felt very connected to the ladies in any of my wards, nor women in general. I just seem to get along better conversationally with men. I've been striving to be more attentive in conversations with ladies in our ward. I guess it paid off since they asked me to join a book club! Yeah! This is a big deal for me. I do believe much of it has to do with the fact that I do work (so playdates are very infrequent), and I work with teenage children. I don't have that ability to make plans with other moms. I do look forward to this "friendship time" when I can be a stay-at-home mom. What will I do with all of my "free" time? I know, it's not easy!

Dental Cleaning Day! Look how sweet they were holding hands for support!

Back to my root canal! After about a week of that mess and Paul feeling better we realized that January had passed. I think we went a couple weeks without really talking to each other because one of us was in pain one week, and the other the next week! Since I had to take antibiotics for the root canal and the massive amounts of ibuprofen (at least for me), it took a toll on my body and I caved. I got that super-long cough and once in awhile fever that Reina got. Ugh! Still trying to recover. I don't think my current class even knows what I am like without being sick!

I don't let sickness get me down though. I've kept substituting and working and being a mom. I might have slacked on being a pleasant wife though. We've had a few fun highlights these past weeks. We finally went on a date the other night since the first of the year! It was nice to go out to dinner with Paul's brother Steve and his girlfriend (now fiance!) Katie. (A quick reminder that I was good friends with Katie from sixth through ninth grade). We get along so easily as couples so it's really been refreshing to truly enjoy "couples" time. We met some of Steve's friends at karaoke afterwards and had a good time singing, dancing and playing pool. (I couldn't sing due to my cold, but I cheered plenty for everyone who did sing- okay of course just the Guinn boys sang). Next time I'm sure us girls will sing though. They both did a fabulous job as always.

One bug that I am so happy I caught these past few months has been the dancing bug! I have REALLY enjoyed ballroom dancing lately. It's almost like a drug where if I could do it every night, I would. Paul has been such a sweetheart in letting me go a couple of times a week. We had such a fun time at our church's stake Valentine's dance where we laugh, eat and boogie the night away!

For Valentine's Day/President's weekend, the weather was just perfect for a couple bike rides, soccer at the park with Grandma and Grandpa Guinn, and celebrating Reina's first Valentine's party at school. She made homemade Valentines for her whole class and even Baelor got to help make the cookies. He calls all cookies "cookie monster". It's so cute when he says he "wants a cookie monster." I actually had fever the day we made cookies for her class (after a fever during substituting in a special education class and taking Reina to dance class). I just pretended that I was a really good mom who makes pink cookies and has a special moment with my children. They didn't know I really just wanted to go lay down for the next 15 hours.

 One other highlight has been a new calling in church for me. I have been in Primary for years now. I have loved it, but sometimes I get tired of preparing a lesson each week. I am now an Activity Days leader. Twice a month I will lead all the 8-11 year old girls in different activities to fulfill their Faith in God achievements. This is not an easy calling, but I can see it being very fulfilling. I do love this age :)

And together, Paul and I are in charge of our ward's talent show! There is a lot of work but we are excited to see how it all will go. I'll probably write a separate post about this.  

During a visit to the doctor to get some blood work done, I cam out to the car to find someone scratched it without leaving a note...I had a fever and a very full day of work also. Not a good day.