Grandma Lautenschlager Day and a Visitor

The big kids got to do one of their favorite things today:  visit Grandma Lautenschlager!  It's funny because we go over to their house for dinner maybe twice a month at least and we see them at least once a week.  But they think it is so great for Grandma to pick them up in her car and take them out for the day!  The were gone for about 9 hours, and had a blast getting lunch at McDonald's, watching Frozen (which came out today!) and making individual scrapbooks; they were so proud to show me the latter!  Im glad they had such a fun day!  

 We had cousin Megan come over to play for a little bit while the big kids are out.  Meg, James, Sara and I all cleaned the toy room together.  For me, that meant sorting toys and throwing away garbage/broken pieces.  For Jackson, that meant playing in his exersaucer.  For James, that meant playing with every battery-operated toy we own, given that I was also replacing all the batteries.  For Megan, that meant eating every toy possible!  It was funny watching which toys she deemed edible, and which toys she discarded.  She kept putting a smallish eyeball lego toy in her mouth-nothing she could swallow, but on that brink of "you probably shouldn't put that in your mouth".  Every time she put it in her mouth, I would say "Megan...." and she would immediately hand it over!  If Kristen reads this, I don't think I told you that-it was seriously cute!  It was fun having her over, she and James played so well, and Meg is so tall, she doesn't look much younger than James!  Fun times!

Family Outing to the Zoo

We hit up the Zoo for the first time today (in a long time) as a whole familyl.  We took Karianna's friend Braelyn with us, and we spent more time there than we anticipated-so much so that we missed lunch and ended up making a taco run on the way home to calm some starving stomachs!  We used our free stingray bay passes that came with our membership and enjoying watching the sting rays splash around the pool-literally waving and splashing at people!  We took our normal track around the zoo, then took the bear track, and even took the AZ track as well-we usually only do one of those tracks, so it was a lot longer of a visit for sure.  In any case, the kids did great, we got to play at the splash pad and the park area a little, and saw a lot of animals out and about.  A fun day for everyone!

He Likes Toys....

...that do not count as "kid-appropriate".  Alas-he is a true Lautenschlager boy.  

On a way good note, I put Jackson down at 10:30 last night and he stayed asleep until 7:00am-by far his best stretch of sleep! We'll stick with that schedule for the rest of the week and then move it up to 10pm.

Payson-Just for Fun

We drove up to Payson this weekend for no other reason than just for fun.  We like to do this every now and then just to escape from the realities of life and hang out as a family.  Even though this weekend was pretty rainy, the drive was still quite beautiful and that was almost the best part!  Of course, we all sang Wicked and Frozen at the top of our lungs, which was also super enjoyable!  Once we got up to Payson, we headed to a park that has 3 separate lakes.  We enjoyed walking around the lakes, skipping rocks, and log-rolling down the hills into a basin of a field.  We also got to see the Veterans Memorial that I didn't realize was in Payson.  It was pretty overwhelming to see the casualty statistics from past wars, and the kids seemed touched by them as well.  The weather was beautiful with fluffy clouds dotting the sky for miles-it was a perfect little retreat as a family.  With a snack and a bathroom break under our belt, we piled back into the car to head home.  Again-nothing big and huge, but a fun little daytrip nonetheless!

Awards Ceremony-Yes, there is a Reason for that Title!

Well, Karianna got the official news yesterday-she had won something at the District Science Fair and needed to attend the awards ceremony today!!!!!  WOW!!!  How amazing is that!  We were just casually hoping for a blue ribbon at Bush' scienc fair, and now Karianna is winning an aware at the district level!  Have I mentioend how proud we are of Karianna?  We really and truly are, she worked so hard, and it is so cool to see her reaping a more tangible reward as a result.  My hope is that she feels as good intrinsically as she does extrinsically!

Karianna and I headed to the Masonic Lodge in downtown Mesa for the Awards Ceremony today.  It was pouring rain, so we didn't bother taking her project to set up one final time.  The lodge was packed-no seats left when we got there.  Thankfully, someone sitting in row 3 scooted over and flagged us over to sit by her-it was the same judge who interviewed Karianna!  She has been in the district for 27 years, and remembered Dad fondly-how neat to find that connection!

The presenters were giving awards by school, and Bush ended up being first.  It was then that we heard Karianna had won 1st place in the elementary school level for cellular/molecular biology!  Just amazing!  She went up to accept her certificate and 10 dollar prize money, and was just beaming from ear to ear.  I couldn't help feel a little overwhelmed as a mother-I love seeing Karianna perfectly content with herself, and this was one of those moments.  2 other kids from Bush also won awards in different categories, so that was also neat.

4th graders unfortunately are not allowed to go on to the State Science fair, so this is the end of the road for Karianna.  But again-we are just so proud of her and her hard work!  Go Karianna!

**These are not the best pictures (they are just flat out bad), but its what I got!

DISTRICT Science Fair!

We got word last week after Bush's science fair that Karianna was selected to move on to the district science fair to represent 4th grade and Bush!  We were so, so, so tickled to hear that-I didn't even know MPS did a district science fair!  What a cool and amazing accomplishment for Karianna, we are so proud of her!

 We set up her science fair project today at Red Mountain.  It was funny to walk my old campus!  This is the first year 4th graders were allowed to qualify for the district science fair, and with a 4-12 crowd, Karianna was definitely the smallest kiddo!  The lady sitting next to me asked me if she was in 7th grade....really????  Her display board looked really impressive even next to the junior high/high school presentations-you could tell she was pleased with how it looked!

 Karianna was one of the first to be judged.  I sat back in my little corner and completely let her take the reigns-this is such a good exprience for Karianna, to respond to an interviewer who is judging her work!  From what I could hear, she explained her project from the problem all the way to her conclusions.  The judge asked her several questions that I didn't quiet hear, however Karianna was calm, enthusiastic, and positive while answering; in several moments, she referred to the graphs on her board and picked up the pictures or indicated the jars of balls.  I was so proud of her, she seemed so sure of herself, and that's a big deal for Karianna!

The lady with the long hair is the judge-at this point, Karianna was done talking and the judge was reading her board.

We will find out tomorrow if Karianna needs to go to the awards ceremony on Saturday.  We are not expecting anything, and that's okay-the experience of even being selected for the district fair, and representing Bush along with only a few other students was just very special, and we are so proud of Karianna!

Jackson's Cardiology Update

 When Jackson was born, I asked our cardiologist to do an echo just to make sure his heart looked good.  His fetal echo went very well, so we weren't expecting anything to be wrong-just needed the peace of mind.  He had his follow up echo on day 2 of life in the hospital. Nothing major was wrong, though they saw a potential PDA and some mitral regurgitation.  We scheduled another follow up when he hit 3 months, which is what we did today.  I wasn't worried necessarily, though the thought of having 2 babies with heart issues scared me enough to make me have bad dreams the night before.

I didn't plan for childcare very well, so I decided to experiment taking James and Sara with me.  We got to Banner Desert just a few minutes late due to an accident on the 60; I had called the office to let them know, as I hate being late for doctor appointments.  It ended up not mattering, given that we were not allowed to enter the building when we got there!  A policeman blocked our way and told us no one was allowed in the building because there was a "situation" on the bottom level and police were searching every floor.  We found out later shots had been fired on the bottom floor of the building and though they had apprehended the shooter, they were searching the entire building just in case.  We were just fine waiting.  About 25 minutes later, we were allowed back in and finally headed up to the card's office.

 I didn't know what to expect from these two hooligans, but they both did so very well-to the degree that I would take then all again.  They sat and watched quietly-and that's it.  They ate their snack.  I didn't even have to pull out the distractions I had packed in the diaper bag. Overall, pretty darn impressive!

Jackson was a happy little cookie-head the entire time too (I call the younger kids "cookie-heads" all the time. I don't know why.).  He would not stop smiling after his echo, which he was awake for and just watched the moving images on the baby Einstein movie the entire time.  As the echo tech said, doesn't he know Doctor appointments are no fun?  Apparently not!

 James loved watching Jackson get his stickers during his EKG!

 The whole crew waiting for Dr. Garn to come and tell us everything looked great-which he did!  Jackson's heart looks perfect, and there is no sign at this point of a PDA or any mitral regurgitation.  He does not have to come back for any check ups either.  I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear that!

 Dr. Garn also said that we could schedule James for a May appointment as opposed to a June appointment.  That makes me feel a ton better because I am mentally preparing myself for a summer surgery.  I just feel it in my gut...I hope with all my heart that I am wrong.  How happy James was today, probably because he was at the cardiologist and it was NOT his turn!

Feeling very grateful today!

Preschool Olympics!

Sara's preschool did a preschool olympics today and she had such a blast!!!  I love when her school does activities like this, the kids get exposed to so many fun activities and they have so much fun.  She was especially excited about playing soccer, doing the balance beam, and running the "tag" races, which I assume were relay races.  She got a little trophy, which is just super cool!

Bush Science Fair!

 Karianna had the chance to present her science project at Bush's science fair tonight!  She did a fantastic job writing each section of her project, designing the display board, and deciding what her title would be:  "Mysterious Growing Globies"!  Better than my title suggestion, "How Diapers Work" (though I still think it would have drawn a crowd).

 Upon arriving at the science fair, we found she had won a blue ribbon!  Yea!  She was super proud of herself, as are Jared and I! We kept telling her it was a good way to recognize not only a good project, but her own hard work-we always emphasize to Karianna that she only needs to do her best in everything she does; she certainly met that expectation tonight, and we couldn't be prouder of her!

 We walked around the science fair for quite a while while Karianna met up with all her buddies and before I traded places with Jared and the boys.  Sara loved the snakes-they were kinda freaky, shaking their rattlers and watching the Gila Monster skittering around his aquarium, trying to get out!

 Jordan's class did the class Floating Egg experiment, and their board won a class blue ribbon!

 JD's class did a popcorn experiment, seeing what temperature popped the most popcorn.  I think they also won a blue ribbon!

Bush only does a science fair every other year (on the off years, they do a talent show).  Though Karianna's projct took a lot of time/work, I really enjoyed helping her through the procedure and seeing all the neat things she learned along the way!  I almost prefer to do a science project every year just to see that growth.  Congratulations Karianna on a great individual project, and congratulations to JD and Jordan for fantastic class projects!