This past week Dan had to go out of town for work. I hate it when he's gone and I'm so glad he doesn't travel for work more often. I stay up too late and don't sleep as well. I also notice that I'm less motivated to get things done. Anyone else the same way? I was glad to have him home Friday afternoon. 

Friday Eli turned four months and had a doctor's appointment. He weighed 15 pounds, 8 ounces (50%), was 26 inches long (85%), and had a 50% head. He has the smallest head of our children. Bless him for it!

 (Like Sam's bedhead? He says some kids at school think he has a mohawk...)

Saturday, we went to the temple. Our ward had a special activity for the primary children, so Dan stayed with Eli and our kids while I went through. It was very nice. Afterwards, we went to visit some of our law school friends who just moved to the DC area after living in Mexico City. It was so great to catch up with them and watch our kids meet and play together.

Mother's Day was nice and relaxing. Dan didn't have any meetings before church so we got to go on a family walk and also go to church together. During sacrament meeting, I had to take Eli out twice because he was fussing. The second time I was out with him, Afton was misbehaving, so Dan had to come down from the stand and take her out. Then he held Eli in the foyer while I went back in to lead the primary children in the songs they'd practiced to sing to their moms. Then Dan came back in and handed Eli back to me and went back up on the stand. Then Eli pooped his pants so out I went AGAIN. I felt like a jack-in-the-box. After church Dan made dinner and we went on another family walk. Yay for nice weather!

I am so grateful for these babies of mine. Each one has such a special personality and spirit. 

I also got to talk to my parents. (We talk pretty much every Sunday.) I am so grateful for my mom. She is an amazing woman and I look up to her so much. She is so selfless and thoughtful. Thank you, Mom, for all you've taught me! I love you!

Dan gave Eli a bath and it turned into a family affair, so I thought I'd document it. That baby sure is loved.

Eli tried food for the first time. Pureed banana. Not sure how he felt about it. Didn't eat much.

Our neighbors have some really pretty irises that are in bloom so I asked if I could take some pictures of the kids in front of the flowers. Are you sick of pictures of my kids yet?

Eli watched from the sidelines with his number one fan.

The Saturday after my birthday, Dan and Sam went out and got me donuts. (Keepin' the celebration going.) Then Afton started barfing. She barfed all morning. It rained a lot.

Sam's work was selected by his art teacher to appear in our school district's art show, so he and I drove to a distant high school to see it. I am proud of his hard work! He had been talking about his mosaic for weeks and we could tell he was really proud of it, so it was nice to finally see that thing.

We came home and he got ready for his rainy soccer game and Dan took him while I stayed with Afton and Eli.

That night Dan and I got to go on our first date since Eli was born. He got to come, too. We went to a Greek restaurant near our house that we'd heard good things about. Then we went to a dessert restaurant that I've been wanting to try. (That was the main reason for our date, but we figured you have to have dinner before dessert, right?) Dinner was delicious, as was dessert, but the dessert place is much more trendy and loud and we couldn't hear each other very well. I don't think I'll go back. Plus it was kind of expensive. I got a yummy, huge slice of salted caramel chocolate cake that had about 7 layers, but I think it cost $8 or something. I'm tempted to figure out if I can make it myself. But I am already addicted to sugar and desserts so that would be bad news. In the past week I think I've made three types of cookies and 7-layer bars. (In my defense, we gave a lot of it away.)

Eli is looking as cute as ever. I took some pictures of him the other day.

Oh, that sweet baby skin!

I've tried to take him with me to the gym a few times, but he hasn't lasted over 30 minutes before they come and get me because he's crying. Poor kid. I try to work out mostly at night, but when Dan's got stuff at night, there aren't many other options.

Our garden is starting to take off and I'm excited to see if our broccoli makes it.

That's all I know.

My birth week celebration began with a visit last week from my parents.

They came and watched one of Sam's soccer games with us.

Sam is the one in the orange shorts with blue socks.

Mom and Dad brought over some presents for the kids that we had forgotten from Easter. Here's Sam with his cool styrofoam plane.

And Afton with her bracelets.

After that, we headed over to Maymont (a park with a nature center and an old house) to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Next we headed up to Cafe Rio for dinner and then a few doors down for some delicious gelato. It was really nice of them to come and visit me for my birthday!

On my actual birthday, Dan got me flowers and oreos,

and a sweet card in the morning with a button that said "Another year sexier" which he made me promise to wear on a lunch date with some friends.

I did, but not for very long. There's another girl from church who's got a birthday two days before mine so another kind friend coordinated a birthday lunch for us both at Panera. It was delicious and fun. But Afton wanted to sit with me at a booth for two, so I felt kind of out of the loop through no fault of theirs. She's funny.

Since I didn't really know what to ask Dan for (I don't need anything!), he gave me some money to buy clothes with since I said I'd like to get some soon. He didn't just hand over the dough, though, he turned 20-dollar-bills into clothes! I thought that was cute and clever.

He also offered to watch the kids while I go on a shopping trip. Here's his Roald-Dahl-esque rendition of that:

 

After we picked Sam up from school, I coaxed the kids into going for a walk with me around the neighborhood.

Dan came home early to work on his latest cake creation. Then we had chicken divan for dinner, cake for dessert, and I opened the rest of my presents.

 Mr. Drooly watching the action.

It was a great day!

Spring Break 2015

We stuck around for most of Sam's spring break this year. Here's how the week went down.

The weather was looking great for Monday so we chose that as the day to go downtown and visit Dan for lunch. He wanted to take us to eat at Capitol Square so we picked up some sandwiches and ate on some benches near Virginia's capitol.

Then Afton had a potty emergency so we rushed into the capitol to use the bathroom. First time I've ever had to go through a metal detector to use the loo.

Tuesday was gray and rainy, but we found a little snippet of time when it wasn't raining and went to the middle school track to practice bike riding skills. Sam is getting much better. Afton still isn't really interested and walked/ran around the track instead.

Wednesday I took the kids to a branch of the Richmond Children's Museum that I thought was closer to our house than the main branch, but it's not really. I think it was probably less crowded, though, so that was a bonus. The kids loved it and went spent two hours there.

 (Above: Sam taking orders at the diner. Below: Afton manning the register at the grocery store.)

Thursday we headed over to Earlysville again for more Cheney grandparent time. We met my dad for lunch at Bodo's and Mom watched Eli while I took the older kids to see Cinderella. It was cute, but I don't go to movies very much anymore and it totally gave me a headache to have such loud noise and sit so close to a big screen. I'm getting old.

On our way out of the theater, I saw a sign for a new donut place I've been wanting to try (we just got one in Richmond, too) and you know I couldn't pass that up!

They make 'em while you watch so they're nice and warm (like Krispy Kreme) but they're better. More dense.

Friday we went to a pie restaurant to meet Dad for lunch again (he had meeting late Thursday night so we didn't get to see him much). Thanks to Candice for the recommendation. It was good.

Then we played at Mom and Dad's, had dinner, and headed back home.

Saturday was spent prepping the garden and planting our new crop. We ditched cucumbers, onions, and carrots this year. We're still doing cherry tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, and romas. We're going to attempt broccoli, pole beans, and zucchini, too. We'll see how it goes.

I just noticed how much food I mentioned in this post. I really like food.

Easter

We began Sam's spring break with General Conference and Easter. Last Saturday we watched/listened to Conference and Sam had a soccer game. Saturday night we drove over to Earlysville to spend the night and Easter with my parents.

We woke up to a chocolate egg hunt (a Durst family tradition).

Grandma Cheney generously contributed these babies to their baskets.

We ate a delicious breakfast and then went and hid plastic eggs outside for the kids.

We went to church to attend the morning session of conference and then back to my parents' house for another wonderful meal. Steak, cheesy potatoes, jello, the usual Cheney fare. Yum! I made an Easter cake the kind of ended up looking like a white football.

I am so grateful for my Savior and such a special day to celebrate His resurrection!

Date with Destiny

My fabulous friend and former roommate, Destiny, is currently living in the Raleigh area, but her family is moving this summer to Alabama. She used one of her spring break days (she teaches) to drive up and see me with her son, Parks.

It was so fun to have her here, if only for the day. We hung out at my house most of the time so that the boys could nap (which neither of them did very well). We took a walk around the neighborhood, and just spent lots of time catching up and chatting. It was so great to see her and hopefully I'll get to see her once more before she leaves for good.

Thanks for coming, Destiny!

Here's a picture Afton drew of us together with our babies.

And even though it pretty much looks like the above, here's a real picture.

I am grateful for good friends!