Busy Busy Busy

Is it just me or is life just BUSY. We have been doing a little of this and a lot of that. Keeping busy and gearing up for summer. We had grandma and grandpa Young visit us in good ol' Erie, PA.
(Were you impressed G & G?). We took two days and headed up to Canada to visit Niagara Fall and Marine Land. At Marine Land the kids got to touch and feed the Beluga whales. Jack was FEARLESS on the rides. He went on everything that his height would allow him to go on. Lily and Cole were a different story. They are a bit more cautious when it comes to rides.
Then we headed up to Toronto to go to the Toronto Zoo and the most charming farm called Riverdale Farm. It is a MUST see and do if you go to Toronto. The kids had fun and it was a fun little get away with my mom and Ken.Where are we moving?? That has been the big question for about 2 months now. We thought and were hopeful that we would be moving west. As a matter of fact we were 99% sure we were. Then, GE decided to send us to Norwalk, Connecticut. Can I get any further east! Norwalk is basically a suburb of New York city. It is about 45 miles from Manhattan. Looks like we'll be spending the fall in the the New England area. I am excited about being close to NY, good shopping, living by the real beach, the fall leaves, and especially Lily starting kindergarten in Connecticut. Maybe I can even talk my friend Sarah in NJ to come visit with her kiddos or I can go to her house. Just another fun place to make memories.

Summer might finally be here on Thursday. Wehave been wearing jackets on and off still, but expect 94 degrees on Thursday. What happen to the 75 degree weather? We skipped that part. Oh well, I'll take what I can get to have some nice out door summer days.

A Day In The Life Of My Children's Boring Life

Last weekend, in a 24 hour period, Lily went to see the musical Snow White,









while the boys went to the horse races.










Then we all went to a Celtic fest (not pictured).

Then Lily had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.









And then we all went to see Horton Sees a Who at the movie theater.























A day or two later Lily says to me, "Mom, I have a boring life."
Is it just me or is something not right!

Oganization In My So Unorganized World

I feel so much better now the the toy room is organized. We have always had our toys in bins, and I have always tried really hard to keep them somewhat organized. Typically my kids are each allowed one bin each. As soon as they want a different set of toys or bin, they have to clean up and then I'll get a them new bin. This usually lasts for a good 2 weeks, before eventually all the bins are opened and scattered throughout the toy room and even the house. Then, I find myself cleaning the toy room instead of the kids, because I want the toys put away in an organized fashion. They are good cleaners, but they prefer to just put any and every toy in any bin. In my mind, each bin is designated to each set of toys. Well, in my attempt to make my kids organize and clean toys the way I like, Matt and I bought a few more bins and labeled them with words and pictures. I am hoping this will make my life a bit easier when it comes to cleaning the dreaded toy room. We'll see.

Under Construction

I'm in the mood for change. So if things don't match around here for a while it's because I am slowly but surely changing up my look. I'm trying to make it a bit more fun and light hearted for summer. Still trying to have a chic look with a bit of whimsy. Ta ta!

A Day at the Dentist

I am sure all my dentists friends are going to be shocked appalled when they find out that Lily, who is 5 years 3 months, had her very first dentist appt. She did awesome. She was so excited to pick out raspberry flavored cleaner, bubble gum flavored fluoride, and get a Sleeping Beauty toothbrush. All in all, her teeth were perfect. The dentist told her she had a beautiful smile and teeth.
Things went so well, I made an appt. for the boys next week for their first cleaning as well. We'll see how that goes. I'm kind of dreading the drama!

Today Lily's preschool class had a special program for the moms called Mother's Day Tea. All the kids sang cute mom songs, made cute Mother's day gifts, and had prepared crumpets and tea (cookies and punch) for all the moms. Lily is a special girl, and I am blessed to have her as my daughter. She and my boys are the best Mother's Day gifts ever.

Baird Happenings

We have been crazy busy with traveling, work, play, company, etc. I thought I would share pictures of some of the fun things we have been doing. A little over a week ago we went to Palmyra with Papa and Mimi. It is about a 3 hour drive into New York. Trying to have a reverent moment with 3 small kids was not going to happen, but I am so glad I was able to take my kids their. Especially Lily who is starting to know and understand more about Joesph Smith and church history. These pictures were taken at the Sacred Grove visiting center. This is a nice green hill that Jack found . The other two are of Lily walking towards the Sacred Grove and Cole looking out towards the Grove. We have some pretty good winds here in Erie, which is great for kite flying. Mimi and papa bought these kites at the dollar store. They flew pretty good for dollar kites. The kids thought they were pretty cool flying kites while lying down.Matt and I have always talked about buying a canoe. So, we finally bought our canoe. Lake Erie is about 5 miles from our house (hence the city being called "Erie"). And it is great canoing territory.The kids put on their new "boat coats" (that's what Jack calls the life jackets) and we went out on a fun family outing. Cole basically freaked out the entire first half of the trip out. We kept telling him to "shoosh" because there were a lot fisherman around that probably didn't appreciate a little kid screaming at the top of his lungs, "The boat is going to tip. We gonna fall in!" There were all these turtles sunny on logs and branches out in the water. Cole loved that, so by the second half of the trip he decided it was kind of fun. That's about it. We are just waiting to hear where our next move is. We hope to know by Friday. The possibilities are Austin, TX, Scottsdale, AZ, and Seattle, WA. We are pretty excited about all the cities. I have endured Erie (actually it hasn't been that bad thanks to good friends we have made), so now it's time for a good location. We'll keep you posted.

Cole's It!

Cole was tagged by his second cousin Ryder. I think I needed this so I could take a few moments to brag about my buddy Cole. Here are ten fun things that I love about Cole Jones Baird.
1. Cole is my best eater. He is typically willing to try anything once. And even though he my scrawniest kid, he out eats the other two.
2. Cole is a mama's boy. I will admit, sometimes it drives me NUTS. But I can always count on Cole to just sit and hang out with me when the rest of the family is busy or playing.
3. Cole loves the water. He is a fish in the water. I love that he isn't afraid to put his head under the water and loves to take baths.
4. He is feisty! This kid will NOT let up when he wants something. I don't always love the way he acts, but hopefully this feisty trait of his will turn into a positive in his life and always guide him to get what he wants out of life.
5. Cole loves animals. I love this about him. He is just like me in always wanting to go to the zoo and play farm. This kid can tell you EVERY animal and the sounds they make. I'm not just talking about cats and dogs, he can tell you about platypuses, meerkats, aardvarks and any other strange animal you can think of.
6. He is not a big sweets fan. Cole can pass on the frosting, syrup, ice cream. How would it be? I wish I was more like that.
7. I love that he is POTTY TRAINED! Way to go Cole.
8. Cole loves Diego and I love to watch it with him. He is so funny to watch it with. He follows along with the show doing the actions, making the sounds and even pretends that he is either Diego or one of the Bobo brothers. It's so cute.
9. I love that Cole is a good brother to his sister and twin. I love to hear and watch him play and share with his siblings.
10. What I love most about my Cole is the sweet spirit he brings into our family. He makes our family complete. He is fun, cute, silly, smart, talkative, and lovable.
I LOVE YOU COLE!

Congratulations Matt!

I must say, Matt is pretty awesome. He completed his 2nd Boston marathon with a time of 3 hours 48 minutes. We had a blast going from spot to spot cheering on our runners. What a fun crowd and environment to be in. Matt, just want you to know that I love you, and I think you are THE BOMB!Congratulations to all our running friends, Matt, Heather (Matt's sister), Carter, Amy, Heather, and Blake. You guys ROCK. Thanks for putting on a great show.If you have never been to a marathon, may I suggest you go. It is a fun and inspirational environment. There are people running with prosthetic legs, blind people, cancer survivors, wheel chair bound people, 80 years and older people and so many other amazing people with amazing stories. I will NEVER say I CAN'T run a marathon. If I chose not to run, it is not because I can't, but because I won't. I hope so bad to get into St. George in October. Below is a picture of a man and his son Dick and Rick Hoyt. Dick is 65 years old and has pushed and pulled his son across the country and over hundreds of finish lines. They do both marathons and full length Iron Mans. When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is in a small but heavy, firmly stabilized boat being pulled by Dick. I was able to see this amazing father son team run at the Boston Marathon. Talk about inspiration.

Greetings From Boston!

Can I just say, "I LOVE BOSTON". Everything about this place is fun, charming, historical, and exciting. We have had a great time thus far. We are here with a great group of friends, parents, and family enjoying, restaurants, shopping and site seeing. One of the little Restaurant we ate at was called Stephanie's on Newbury. Newbury is a fun street with boutiques, cafe's, and shops.









Yesterday we went to the Boston Red Socks game. We aren't necessarily big Red Sock's fans, but how often do you get to go hang out in Fenway Park and watch world class baseball players.? The Red Socks beat the Texas Rangers 5 to 3. And, Matthew McConaughey and Lance Armstrong were there.







Then this morning we planned on attending church. We decided to go to the 11 am ward so we could sleep in. As we walked into the chapel, Matt's cousin, Elder Tyler Standing was their.
How exciting. We knew he was on a mission in Boston, but Boston is HUGE. What are the odds of going to his ward, in his building in that city. Very cool. Tyler told us if e would have gone to the 9 am ward, we would have seen Danny Ainge, who is now the bishop of that ward. But we are glad to picked the 11 am ward to see Tyler.After church we decided to go see the Boston temple. Which is a beautiful temple and also has that New England charm.There is this Mormon church on the same property, so I decided I needed to go to the bathroom. We started to walk down to this church, and low and behold, it's Mitt Romney and his lovely wife, who were kind enough let us snap a quick photo and have a brief conversation. I'm still so bummed he is not going to be president!
Finally we ended up in Concord, Ma., which is a charming town just outside of Boston. This is the place where the Battle of Lexington and Concord happened, which is considered the initial conflict in the Revolutionary War, April 19, 1775.
Also known as the place where "the shot that was heard around the world" took place.
We have had a great time so far. Tomorrow is the big race. The reason we came. Good luck to all our runner friends, Heather, and my hubby Matt. I love you Matt and KICK BUTT!