Jenny's high school graduation

Abi and I flew to Kansas in May to enjoy our last trip only buying one ticket. I love that under 2 years old is free! I will miss that for sure! We made sure to get home so we could celebrate with Jenny, my youngest sibling and apparently twin, who just graduated high school.

Isn't she lovely?

Jenny walking in to her graduation

Sneaky wave

Katie, Shane and I sat with our three kids in the bleachers and tried to keep them contained. (Which translates to keeping them from falling down the bleachers, touching the people's hair in front of them, getting grunginess from their hands all over the seats, banging or throwing toys, screaming Jenny's name, crying because they're hungry and I forgot to bring snacks, staying close by and not squeezing through everyone else to explore, or other such normal though chaotic toddler behavior.) Thank goodness they are adorable children and have such great innocent faces.

Jenny giving her valedictorian speech

Jenny gave a great speech! So proud of her!

Fist-bumping her principal to get her diploma

As predicted, Jake is a favorite with his nieces and nephew.

Jake got to come home for a few days while I was there which was so nice! I love having him around because you can always count on him to do something - anything - with you. He's also amazing with kids!

Nothing like playing in the barn in your pajamas

It's also nice to have Jake around when we are too tired to run after our kids. He has loads of energy still and loves the kiddos, so it's a win-win for everyone!

Jake and Abi look a lot alike with their fair skin and red hair!

I am so glad Abi is red-headed so that she and Jake have a buddy. :)

Frozen - for the 43,567,424th time

But how can you deny that face one more viewing of her favorite show?

Singing to Let It Go in their lovely blue dresses like Elsa.

They both love this movie but at this point Daphney usually gets a bigger kick out of watching Abi watch the movie. And then we get a kick out of watching Daphney watch and mimic Abi who is watching and mimicking Elsa and Anna. Eventually, I'll edit the video footage I have of them watching the movie together and singing. Then you can get a kick out of it too!

Mesmerized by the awesomeness!

Abi enjoying the blankets while she can

Demitri loves blankies and basically stakes a claim on any blanket he finds. He had decided these three were all his, but while he's asleep, they're fair game, so Abi took advantage. :)

I think she thinks she's being sneaky

I remember watching TV around the wall or the couch like this... I usually got caught.

My parents just had to live on a hill and have a box full of balls...

So, apparently Abi's favorite activity is carrying the basket balls to garage entrance, and throwing them down the driveway and watching them bounce and roll down the hill. It's hilarious to watch but then you realize there are about 13 basketball (which is funny since none of us kids were really into basketball ever) and you begin to calculate how many you can carry at once to clean them up and how many trips that equates to... and then it's not so hilarious. Still cute though. I just have to teach her to pick them up herself.

She loves chips and dip!

Katie, Jenny and I thought it would be fun to take all three kids out to eat with us. We figured it was three kids to three adults but sometimes, the kids win still. Haha! We had a great time, but there were definitely chips and french fries all over the floor when we left. And maybe some ketchup and salsa.

Like really loves it!

Like, ate-this-whole-bowl-of-dip-herself loves it!

This is yet another way we know Abi was meant for our family - not many American families eat more salsa than ours. We love Salsa and now Abi does too! YAY!

Grammy with Abi and Demitri

Abi is learning to like the garden... slowly.

Mom, Katie, and I and sometimes Jenny really love playing Alhambra! It's a great boardgame based on an actual building in Spain which I got to visit when I was there in 2006! Love it! But let me just share a small pet pieve here... The H in Alhambra is silent. Ok? Please don't putting any huffing H sounds in the word. :) I went to buy it at our favorite game store in Utah and when I asked for the game (using the correct Spanish pronunciation) the guy totally corrected me and said, "You mean, AlHHHambra?" I wanted to say, "No, I mean exactly what I said, crazy!" I really wanted to be a smarty pants but I held my tongue... until now. Haha! Anyway, fun game! Beautiful place to visit!

My Alhambra

Doesn't mine look like a dinosaur? Love it!

Mom's Alhambra

Katie's Alhambra

The score

Every time we play, we have super close games. We must be too nice to each other or have played enough games together to anticipate each other's strategies. In any case, every time we play, we end up in an almost tie. It's becoming a ridiculous joke. By the way, we didn't get only a few points; we actually lapped the board. :)

Demitri needed a break from shopping

And she loves Chinese food!

The whole family went to eat Chinese and Abi loved almost everything she tried! It was all you can eat buffet so she got to try a lot of new things. So fun to watch her be brave and eat so many new foods!

Reading her fortune

Miss these storms. Kansas has the best thunder!

Truly, there is no thunder storm like the ones in Kansas!

My successful Pinterest find

This isn't really medicine, people, don't worry. I ordered the container on Amazon, filled it will bite-sized snacks and then let her eat them on the plane. It's at least a half-hour activity because the doors are not super easy to open and she has to really work her fine motor skills to dig the snack out. Love this activity!!! Great for cars too I bet.

Flying through clouds never gets old!

It's still so miraculous to me to look out the window and realize I'm in the sky! I'm at eye level with the most beautiful clouds ever!

Ok, so our plane was descending into the airport in NYC when the captain came on and said that they had just grounded all planes and we didn't have enough fuel to circle around for the estimated time, so were going to fly back to Harrisburg, PA and land there and wait for LGA to open back up. Saith what??!!?!!? We're literally 15 minutes from our destination! As awful as it sounded, it was actually quite nice or at least way better than I predicted having a toddler who was way past bedtime and hungry.

In the cockpit

We landed on the tarmac and sat for about an hour before taking back off to land in LGA. It was a huge delay but amazingly it was one of the best flights I've ever had. The crew was super nice and accommodating, the passengers we all super nice. We were parked way far out on the tarmac so they opened the door and let the kids sit at the top of the plane stairs and watch the airplanes land and take off. They invited us up to tour the cockpit. They passed out extra waters and snacks. We all just sat/walked around and talked to people and by the end, we were pretty much all old friends. Crazy, eh? I didn't hear a single complaint!

If only all changes in plans went so well - especially at airports. I wish I could have told all those people on the plane how grateful I was for their happy attitudes that contributed to the well-being of the whole lot of us. Especially when I had a toddler who could have been horrible but everyone was so great and entertaining - even sharing toys, etc. It was fabulous! Lesson for the ages and a testament to the goodness of all those Midwesterners flying from KS City to NYC. Basically, it's why I love my prairie state!

Sitting on the stairs

Abi's not happy here because she wanted to go down the stairs and they wouldn't actually let us do that... But, we got a picture anyway!