We had a miserably cold January and February. Our outings have been indoors.
We go to the children's museum usually once or twice a month. Often with Drayton.
Does the dentist count as an outing? Either way Eve had her first dental examination.
We have gone swimming almost once a week.
These pictures capture Dane perfectly.
One day we were at the children's museum. It was honestly 12 degrees outside. Kayleen and Drayton were with us. The boys wanted to play outside and Eve wanted to go in so Kayleen took her in, about 20 minutes later I got a call from Kayleen saying the Eve had peed her pants!! What? She hadn't done that in months. Point in case, I hadn't changed my emergency clothing to pants - I only had shorts from the summer.
Sometimes they are adorable! (but not lately - Eve has started to just irrationally scream and cry when Dane does anything she doesn't like. We are going to need to nip it in the bud)
Another children's museum. Dane pained a picture just like in the friend to friend. He was SO PROUD! He has been painting it and drawing it every chance he gets.
Bubbles!
One day it was like 35 degrees and the museum had an adorable winter outdoor exhibit. It was awesome!
And a perfect sledding hill.
Can you see my purse? Just a quick little story. I was at the Children's Museum in November. Well, lets back up. First off: I am very trusting and I don't like to live in fear, I am often like "what are the chances". I assume the best out of people. Also I am lazy. So there is that. Anyways I often put my purse/diaper bag what ever room we are in and then we play, but I don't take my purse with me around the room. I have done this for 15 years. Well... someone stole my wallet. The weird thing is, it was in arms reach and I saw her (sort of). But before that you should know I started babysitting kids to earn some money for our house remodel. I had accumulated 800 dollars in checks that I hadn't got around to cashing. It took a couple months, but on Wednesday while the the babies were at preschool I decided to go cash them. I knew I shouldn't carry that much cash around with me, and I didn't want to forget, so I asked for an extra envelope, put the cash in, then "hid it" in a different pocket in my wallet so I wouldn't get it mixed in with my regular cash. The next morning I took the babies to the Children's Museum. This money has not been in my wallet for 24 hours. When it was time to go we stopped by the "train room" for just 5 minutes. It is the last room on the way out. I put my purse up against the wall and started playing trains with Eve. It was within arms reach. I started talking to a younger mom who had 2 kids close together, but were 18 months and new born. She noticed mine and started asking questions. This is a common occurrence. I spend about 80% of my outing time with Dane and Eve talking to younger moms and convincing them to have more than 1 or 2 kids. This was never my intention, but the conversation ALWAYS leads to "I really want more kids, but I am scared becasue ____". Where upon I can't help but testify to them and do my best to calm their fears. I don't know if any of my evangelical work has ever led to another child, but I hope so. So anyways, I felt like I was GUIDED inot the room to talk to that mom and calm her fears. While we were talking a 12 month old who was just learning to walk fell down and knocked my purse over and it spilled out my water bottle. I went to grab it and clean it up, but the mom of the 12 months old grabbed it and picked it up and said "sorry", I waved my hand away and said "no problem" and went back to talking with the mom. About 2 minutes later (according to the security tape) we went to leave and i picked up my purse and immediately noticed it was lighter, I looked in the purse and noticed my wallet was gone! She stole it! This was the worst timing ever - on so many fronts. Not only did I have 800 dollars in cash(a whole summers worth of babysitting, but many gift cards, chick e cheese cards with saved up points, plus it was passed lunch and nap time (we stayed in the train room longer than planned because I felt like I needed to help this young mom). Long story short (or is it too late to say that?...). The woman didn't leave. She hid in the bathroom. The security people sort of tried to help, but not really. We sat by the exit for another hour. We found out later from the security cameras she was watching the exit from the bathroom, about an hour after waiting by the exit (and an hour after lunch and nap time), eve ran up the stairs and I went to follow her, as soon as we stepped away from the exit she ran out the door and left.
A few things I learned: I felt very violated and had a teeny tiny bit of anxiety and ptsd from it. This surprised me as I don't normally react to things emotionally. It gave me greater empathy for people what have actually gone through hard things - if I could feel this way over a wallet, imagine a child!
After a few hours I wasn't mad at her anymore. I decided to give her the money. She must has needed it. My whole perspective changed and I felt as though all my babysitting over the summer was for her. It was a service I provided for her - the money was never mine. It was always hers. There is a talk by Elder Brook P Hales called "Answers to Prayer" that addresses this. Heavenly father knew she needed the money, he knew I had the time and capacity to baby sit, he knew I really didn't NEED the money, he knew I would cash my checks and leave the money in the wallet. NOW I KNOW she stole it - but that has nothing to do with me. He will deal with that with her. But as far as I am concerned the money was never mine to steal. It was always His.
Anyways... the point of the picture. I always keep my purse right by me now.
The big kids had a day off of school and Maddie came to open gym with us.
