March and April Notes and Quotes

Hattie
- got her top right eye tooth on 3/30
- can point to her nose, hair, eyes, and mouth
- says all done, shoes, fish, hi, I see, and a succession of sounds that sounds like a drink of water (i.e. a dee a wa-wa). She says it consistently enough and always the same succession of sounds AND walks over to the fridge so I know that's what she's trying to say. Whatev. I'm counting it. I can't expect perfection. :)
- as of 4/5, Hattie can now say 'mine' and uses it when she's pulling a toy away from one of her siblings. I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or bad thing.
- is starting to make animal sounds; she can moo, meow like a kitty, and blow her lips like a horse.

Molly
- she says B's for F's so funny is bunny and fish is bish. She can make the F sound by itself but switches over to the B sound when it's in a word. "Molly, can you say F-F-Frank?" "Fff, Ffff, Bank."
- Molly loves it when I put a little pony in Hattie's hair. Molly calls it her "(s)piky hair" and asks if I can put a "whale (s)pout" in Hattie's hair.
- Last week Molly realized that Matt and I have first names. We were eating lunch over the weekend and she looked up at Matt and said, "Are you Doo-ie?" with a genuinely puzzled look on her face. She was still figuring that out throughout the day because she kept saying "Hi, Doo-ie, Hi Matt." It's interesting just how much our kids don't know about us!
- Molly busted out the ABC's on the week before Easter. She calls it 'letters' and sings the whole thing (though not completely accurately). She can also sing Jesus Loves Me, Ring Around the Rosie, Mary Had A Little Lamb, and a few others.
- at the very end of April, Molly said the whole table prayer by herself! We have gotten away from saying a standard monotonous table prayer but she sat down for lunch and said the whole thing unprompted one day. I believe she says "Come, MORE Jesus" just like the other kids still do. I'm ok with more Jesus. :)
- at the beginning of April, Molly was still counting to five - sorry, BIVE (because she doesn't say f's) - with help from us. A few weeks later, she's counting into the 20's and only missing one or maybe two numbers. Thank you very much, multiple games of hide and seek a day!

Alanna
- got the last of her shots so she's all ready for kindergarten. She did well at her appointment but cried when she got the shots. I remember that she weighed 37 pounds and have her other stats written down. Alanna limped around for a few days after she got her shots due to sore legs. I remember Charlie limping around, too. It's done though!
- a few government offices had pinwheels out for child abuse awareness and Alanna called them "spinwheels".

Charlie
- 3/29 Matt has had a training at a hotel in town for the past few days. Tonight at dinner, Charlie asked Matt, "So how was your day, Dad? How was your training? Did you just talk about how to clean the rooms and fill up the pool and stuff?" Charlie thought that since Matt had a meeting at a hotel, the meeting was ABOUT running a hotel! HAHA!
- 3/31 I took Charlie to Pueblo to get his pictures taken and out for a little mama/son date. He had some interesting things to say!
Driving in the car:
"Mom, if you get hit by a car, is that just it? Or are you born again?"
It took me a few seconds to figure out what he was talking about, but ultimately he was trying to figure out if we get more than one life. I launched into 'we only get one life and the most important part about life is loving Jesus', and Charlie responded with, "I just want to stay here for a long, long time." I had enough time to say one more thing (something along the lines of 'I hope you do stay here for a long time but heaven will be so much better than anything we can imagine') before Charlie's attention turned back to his movie. It was a 3-minute exchange, but it's so interesting to see what he's thinking about and how he's processing things. I hope he always feels like he can ask questions about anything not matter how big or small.

Still in the car later on:
"Charlie, do you want to go out to Chili's for dinner?"
"Ummmm.... do they have anything else besides chili?"

Waiting to take pictures at JCP:
"I can wait so much more patiently now that I'm seven!" **Disclaimer: we waited for probably 10-12 minutes and he fidgeted THE ENTIRE TIME. He wasn't complaining at all, but when my attention is on only one child, it's so funny how I might not have noticed it if my whole crew were with (talk about perpetual movement). He could not sit still - or stop talking! Ha!
 - Charlie brought home a big envelope for me that had all of Alanna's paperwork for kindergarten. It said 'Alanna Rustand c/o Julie Rustand' on the front. Charlie handed it to me and said, "Here, Mom. This is for Alanna. It's percent for you." HAHA! He thought the c/o was a percent sign!


Matt
- Matt came home from work on Thursday 3/16 and after I asked him how his day was, he replied with, "You know that guy that has been missing for a few days? Well, I found him!" OH MY WORD. Matt found a missing guy. The man had been missing since Sunday after his car went off Tallahassee Road. Matt was out in his work truck with another coworker doing a little land tour and they came upon this man walking in the middle of the road. It is a crazy story that I'll have to have Matt document. I shall add this to my running list of 'Crazy BLM Work Stories'. Also on the list? Matt dropping to the ground after hearing gunshots whiz by his head. Seriously...

Daddy Daughter Dance

4-29

Matt took Alanna to the annual Daddy Daughter Dance put on by Young Life. Alanna talked about the dance for weeks (WEEKS!) before and was beyond thrilled to be going again this year!!! I curled her hair and she wore her Easter dress (or she wore her dance dress for Easter) and fancy white sandals. You would never had guessed that it snowed 3-4 inches of wet spring snow that day! 

How was the dance? I don't know because I wasn't there! I helped with setup on Friday night for quite a while so I got to see the decorations though. It was a Dr. Seuss theme and the girl who put together the decorations did a good job. There were over 1100 people there - and since I did a lot of the ticketing (admin duties), I can say that there were 1113 dads and daughters present and accounted for at the dance that evening, NOT including dance workers. It was a full house! 

Matt and Alanna left our house about 6:20 and stayed at the dance until 8:15 or after. Matt took Alanna out for a piece of pie at Village Inn after the dance. Last year they went out for ice cream at Cold Stone, but due to the snow on the ground, they opted for something a bit warmer. Alanna picked a piece of coconut cream pie and brought home her leftovers. I guess they got home around 9ish. I was planning to give Alanna a bath and put her to bed so I could hear all about the dance but she was all about Daddy that night and insisted that he do the bedtime routine. It was a very special evening for the two of them! Alanna was beyond excited about the whole thing.

 Hattie wanted to be in the picture, too.

 When Alanna and Matt left for the dance, Hattie stood at the window and started doing cute dance moves while Molly stood at the window and cried. In our house, you have to be at least 4 to go to the dance. Next year, Matt will have two little girls as his dates for the evening!!

 After we got our sillies out, we had our own special evening - we watched Finding Dory and went to bed! :)

Haircuts!

4-26

Alanna and Molly got their hair cut! This was only Molly's second ever haircut; her first being about a month before Hattie was born and the stylist had to cut Molly's hair while her face was buried in my chest. Alanna hasn't had her hair trimmed since then, either. Being that Hattie is 18 months old now, it was definitely time for a haircut. 

Molly's before pictures:

 Hattie wanted to be just like her big sisters so she stood by the wall and said cheese. What was I supposed to do? NOT take her picture?!? She, however, did not get her hair cut.

 Alanna's before pictures:

 Our gal Renese did a great job with the girls. Alanna was thrilled to sit in the chair and she was very cooperative. It's fun to have your hair done!

 Once Alanna was done, it was Molly's turn. She totally froze and would not sit in the chair. I kept asking her and telling her that she was just so excited to do it, and she kept saying no. Renese asked Molly what color of comb she would want IF she did get her hair cut, and once Molly responded with "pink", she was able to lure Molly over to the chair. Once she was in the chair with the pink cape and the pink comb, she was good to go. WHEW. Crisis averted! Molly had probably 2-3 inches cut off and it looks so cute!

 Alanna had 4-5 inches cut off into this cute shoulder-length bob. Renese put a little braid and some spray glitter in her hair, too. Her hair looks and feels a lot thicker with the ends freshened up. It's darling!

 Molly also got a little braid and some glitter spray! I took her picture when we got home. It's so cute!

 

More Visitors!

4-21

My parents flew in April 15 and back home again on the 20th. Meanwhile, Matt's parents left on the 19th and drove down to see us for a weekend! Though Mark and Jean left on the 19th, they actually arrived at our house on Friday the 21st just as I was picking up Charlie from school. They stayed until the morning of the 24th. It was so great to show Mark and Jean our house! Now they can picture what we're talking about as we share stories. I love that!

Friday afternoon and evening was spent visiting, playing, and touring the house. We spent Saturday around the house, too doing more of the same - playing games, playing dolls, Grandpa watched the Wild game, Matt/Jean/I went to Elm Street Nursery and picked out some flowers for around the house, etc. Just a low-key quality time kind of day. 

 Grandma and Molly had a little coffee party...

... followed by a puzzle

 Alanna and Hattie were having a blast with this little doll stroller (that Hattie is maxing out) even though it's for pretend babies, not actual 1-year-old babies.

 While Jean, Matt, and I were at Elm St Nursery, I also bought 27 strawberry plants for a little strawberry project I had in mind. One of the best places to pick strawberries in Roseburg is at this place called The Berry Patch where they have elevated strawberry plants in PVC pipe. It's super, super easy to walk up and down the rows and pick berries that are literally 3 1/2 feet off the ground - no stooping! I wanted to recreate this idea hoping that eventually we will have enough berries to harvest and make jam and freeze for smoothies. Matt helped me bring the idea to fruition. We picked up three 9 1/2 foot pieces of 6'' PVC pipe at Ace and had the Ace guy cut them in half. We bought caps for all of the ends to hold the soil in. Matt cut out rectangular sections in all 6 pieces and then drilled drain holes in the bottom of each piece. We put a layer of rocks down, filled it with potting soil, and then planted 2-3 strawberry plants in each rectangular section. A few days later, Matt quickly whipped together four stands to hold the PVC sections and they are currently sitting on the deck. The other two sections are sitting on L brackets that were attached to the deck railing. When we're gone, we can simply move the PVC pipes into the yard and the strawberries will be watered by the sprinkler system. It all makes sense in my head! I plan to pick off all flowers and shoots this year hoping that the roots will become established and that next year we can start to get some berries. I'm hopeful!

 Jean is always willing to help with a project!!

 On Sunday, we decided to take a little trip over to Salida. It's a cute town with a fun area down by the river and plenty of cute shops to check out. We played at the park for a while before heading down to the river. I didn't realize that there was a bunch of really fabulous new playground equipment down by the river! I guess it was installed last fall. It is SO NEAT!

 Grandpa is pushing Molly, and Grandma and Charlie are swinging next to her. Alanna was swinging as well, and eventually Hattie joined in the fun, too.

 Some pretty nice Rustand boys!

 Hattie and Alanna were playing in this little raft thing. It tips and moves around like you're riding the rapids, though it's not on a spring or anything like that.

 Alanna on the new, huge equipment!

 This was climbing up to the tree house area. There was also a fun toddler and adult swing where the adult can sit and swing facing the toddler. Both the kiddo and the adult stay in motion by the adult pumping their legs. It was rad! Molly and I tried it out, and Matt tried it with Hattie later on. So neat!

 There are some nicely developed sections of the river, but rocks are hard to come by so there wasn't a lot of things to throw into the water. We played for a bit before heading out for lunch. After lunch, we came back downtown and walked through a few shops. It was a really beautiful day outside! It gets quite a bit colder in Salida and you can see that the trees hadn't started budding out yet.

We had pizza when we got back to Canon and spent some time outside before getting the kids to bed. Matt and I tried soooooo hard to get Mark and Jean to stay a while longer, but then ended up leaving on Monday morning as planned. It was an extremely fast visit! We had visits from both sets of grandparents in a span of 10 days and they didn't overlap - whoa! We're looking forward to seeing everyone again at the end of May when we go to Minnesota. Thanks for coming out to visit, family!

Daytrip to Westcliffe

4-18

On Tuesday, Mom, Dad, Alanna, Molly, Hattie, and I took a little day trip to Westcliffe. Charlie had a four-day weekend over Easter but had to go back to school on Tuesday. We didn't have too much of an agenda in Westcliffe so we played at the park, had a super yummy lunch at the bowling alley (with beautiful views of the Sangres!), and walked downtown and checked out a few shops. The mountains were really pretty!! It was a great outing, and now my parents can say that they have been to Westcliffe, CO!

 Grandpa and Alanna were doing some trick moves on the merry-go-round.

4-19

My dad introduced the kids to kickball and they played several games in the backyard. We had such a good time playing and being together. Our time together went really quickly! We're so thankful that Grandma and Grandpa could come for a visit!