There is hope!

I just have to quickly report that I got 6 whole hours of sleep in a row last night!!! I can't even remember the last time I had more than 3 in a row. You can probably tell I have more energy, by all the blog posts today! :)

Easter fun

We had a great Easter weekend at our house. I like to do a small Easter egg hunt on Saturday because Sunday mornings always seem so busy. Megan used her basket like a purse. The girls had a fun time finding the eggs and discovering what was inside. In fact, Megan opened several before the hunt was all the way done.
Of course Easter would not be complete without new Easter church clothes. I love my cute kids! Katelyn sang in a special musical number at church called "Beautiful Savior." Grandma-ma, Cheryl, Amy & Scott and the kids all came for the occasion. It's so fun to be here in AZ! I was so grateful for the help. It wasn't until about 5 minutes before the meeting began that I realized that while Katelyn was singing, no one would be sitting with Megan and Adam if we didn't have family with us. (I played the piano for the musical number and Chris was part of the choir which stayed on the stand for the entire meeting.) Katelyn did a wonderful job. It really brought the right spirit into this special Sunday.

Adam looked so handsome in his little vest. It was fun to catch him smiling on camera. Our days are full of loads of smiles!

Easter evening, we had an amazing dinner at Grandma-ma and Grandpa Ed's. After dinner, they all had an Easter egg hunt. Katelyn just asked me what I was writing and I told her I was blogging about her pictures at the Easter egg hunt. She replied, "mom, that was the best!"

Chesnik cousins come visit!

We were lucky to have my brother Josh and his family come visit us during their Spring Break week. We had so much fun!! The cousins loved playing together. The girls especially had fun at night because it was just a huge slumber party. Their favorite daytime activity was playing outside. The weather was gorgeous. Ben thought it was pretty cool that he could just pick an orange from our tree and eat it. I think my favorite thing was being introduced to the "concrete" at Nielsen's Frozen Custard. Wow. Other fun activities of the week included a trip to IKEA, a mall party trip, and the now famous dance party. Apparently Josh and Kristin and the kids do this dance party often in their home. Now it is a part of ours; although, Josh is the best DJ around. The fun pictures below are of the crazy dance party.



Notice in this picture Megan is getting ready for a summersault. This was her favorite move...a little dangerous with everyone else around, but there were no casualties!




Thanks for a fun week Josh and Kristin!

Shake those hips!

Katelyn did this little number on Easter afternoon, which provides the perfect pair to the video from my last post with Amy and Kaley. I'm starting to debate whether Amy and Kaley teaching Katelyn dancing is the best idea. :) At least I know they're all having fun!

My crazy sisters

This little clip proves I love my sisters - you'd have to to still call them family after this!  :)  I found this while going through some pictures of Grandpa Long's State Championship 50th Anniversary celebration at the Jobing.com Arena.  I'll post some more about the main event later.

Megan is 3!

Our cute little Megan turned 3 on March 16th. She is a very determined girl. Somehow she got into her head that she was already 4 years old. I spent a lot of time and finally convinced her about a week before that on her birthday she would be turning 3! Fortunately, if you ask her now, she gives you the right number.

A month ago, on Blake's birthday, we learned that Krispy Kreme gives you a free dozen glazed donuts on your birthday. Combining that with a dozen from Amy's amazing contest win, we had a very sweet breakfast. Chris let Megan pick out one donut just for her since she likes the chocolate ones best.

We wanted to do something different for Megan's birthday than just play at a park or something like that. At Christmastime, Chris and the boys got to pick out sets of left-over golf clubs from Grandpa Long's reunions. They try to go out with Scott once a month on a Saturday. Because of that, the kids have started wanting to go with and play golf too. So, Chris came up with the idea to go to Golfland, a miniature golf + other stuff amusement park he went to as an Arizona boy. We decided to invite the whole crowd (Uncle Chase and Aunt Kaley, Uncle Scott and Aunt Amy, and all the Arizona cousins). It was the first day of the cousins' Spring Break, so it was a perfect time to go.

Megan was the princess of the day, of course, so she wore a "Happy Birthday" tiara all day long. Chris' mom offered to watch Adam while we went, so that made the outing a lot easier, though it was still plenty crazy. We got to Golfland pretty close to opening, and started our adventure. (One funny note is that because Megan is only 3, she golfs for free!) We chose the Lost Dutchman course and kinda let the kids go as fast or as slow as they wanted too. It wasn't too busy that we felt rushed by anyone, so that was nice too. There were a few lost balls, possibly because some of the kids have been learning to golf on Amy and Scott's Wii, so their practical skills aren't too honed yet. But everyone had a great time, especially Megan, which is what mattered.

We hit the nearby McD's for lunch, and then it was home for a little relaxing afternoon and get ready for cake and ice cream with the whole Partridge family. I made another little slideshow of some of my favorite pictures from the day. Enjoy!

Two months later...and we are still alive

I can't believe it has already been 8 weeks since Adam arrived (well, 8 weeks on Tuesday). Our last post said we would post again later when we had more time...Well, I have come to learn with a little newborn, a potty-training toddler, and a preschool kid that there just isn't more time. We have had a lot of fun ups and downs in the past 2 months. Adam is a great baby. The girls love him and they are wonderful mommy helpers...most of the time. :) My mom and grandma came and stayed with us for a week when Adam was born. It was so nice to have them here. They are a huge help, and we even got a few card games in. I have also had so much help from Chris' family. This experience of transitioning to 3 kids has been easy with their help. Here's my list of things I love about Adam....

Snuggling
Full body stretching
Yawning that takes up his whole face
Smiles
Cooing
How much he looks like Chris when Chris is holding him
Any time I get 4 or more hours of sleep in a row
Cute boy clothes

It is hard to imagine our family now without him. We love our little man! It's amazing how fast kids grow. I made a little video to show pictures because there are so many to show! This is actually my first video I have ever made. Chris is so good at it, that I haven't ever tried to do it. This might not be as good as Chris would make, but I tried!