On Monday, Tansy got to have a birthday party with the Abshire side of the family. She actually stayed really clean while eating her chocolate cake. Shocking. I let her choose her own cake at Walmart. She was pretty impressed with that. Sydney kept trying to get her to choose a white cake, but Tansy would not be swayed.

I had to snap a picture for St. Patrick's Day. Yes, we all wore green, but we skipped the green pancakes this year since Ben had an early class. The girls got green milk with breakfast instead. Tansy was really not sure about that. However, you will notice her trying so hard to copy what Sydney is doing with her hands. She is Sydney's little parrot. I'm so glad for two little girls who play so well together. Zack just tries to stay out of the way because the girls play a little rough with him.

On Wednesday, Ben left for Wyoming for an ROTC base visit. Just me and the kids until Saturday afternoon. It went surprisingly well, except for Sydney's cold. Ben even took some pictures of base housing they visited so I could get an idea. It was so nice. I'm so excited to move into a house!

The "big girl bed" is working out great for Tansy. She loves that she can get in and out of it by herself, and I love it too. She always seems to wake up when I'm in the middle of something, usually feeding Zack. I often find books or toys in with her at naptime. I'm glad I skipped the talk about not getting out of bed. It never occurred to her to just get back out until yesterday.

This is Sydney being "bookalicious." Her word. She wanted a picture, and she is modeling her preschool shirt that she had worn that day for a field trip. They went to the Willow Park Zoo Education Center. They learned about a lot of animals and got to touch a snake and a lizard. This is how we discovered that Sydney is allergic to reptiles. Twenty minutes after getting home, she was covered in hives. Poor girl. Good thing we always have Benadryl on hand here.

Ben had Spring Break this past week. Such a nice break. However, the weather didn't get the message about the "spring" part. On Monday we got a foot of snow. That's Cache Valley for you. Ben got to sleep in and recuperate from the crazy semester he is in right now. Only six more weeks to go.

In preparation for our move, we decided to return my sister's crib. We borrowed it since Tansy wasn't big enough for a toddler bed when Zack was born. She was just too short to climb up, which really defeats the whole purpose. Tansy had a great time helping Daddy take it apart.

We had a bit of crisis, though, when we got one crib disassembled, moved the other into Zack's room, and then realized we had no idea where the hardware for the toddler bed was. Ben discovered it under a box on a shelf in the closet of Zack's room. That was totally me, since Ben would never do something like that. We got the bed put together right before we left for Orem for some family fun.

We stopped by Hill AFB on the way to my parents' house to get a couple more things for Ben's uniforms. Sydney was so excited to see so many people in uniform.

On Thursday, Ben and I took Sydney to lunch and to the Draper Temple Open House. She was so excited to go inside a temple. She kept asking when we were going to get to the room where you get married. That's the last stop. She really loved the Celestial Room.

On Friday, we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Sydney is really into dinosaurs right now, and she loved it. The kids were so exhausted by the time we were done. The pictures are of Tansy in the
Erosion Room and Sydney digging out a dinosaur skeleton in the sand box at the end of things.

Friday night, we had a birthday party for Tansy and me. Tansy turned two on Saturday, and I will be (gulp!) thirty on the 28th. Ben has promised adventure and excitement for the big day. He actually picked up a gift for me at the Shopette at Hill AFB when we were there on Wednesday. It's a license plate cover for my van that says that I am an Air Force Wife! I love it.

No orders yet, so the moving plans are kind of on hold, but I'll keep everyone posted when I know anything.

To clear up the situation from my last email, here's the update. I left some treats on my neighbor's doorstep with a note hoping to clear things up. She stopped by our apartment and told me that she didn't even really know what happened and wouldn't have if the police hadn't come to her apartment. She apologized for her friend's behavior and said she was glad that it wasn't going to cause a problem with us. She also said he isn't coming back.

Moving on to real news, we got our dates from the Air Force this week! We are to report to Whiteman AFB in Missouri by May 21. However, dates only mean that the detachment can begin processing orders. We need orders to get on the housing list and set up lodging at bases along our way. They won't be done for a couple more weeks. Sigh.

My sister Kari and kindly agreed to come with us to help with the kids on the move. We have two cars that we have to drive out there, so having an extra pair of hands is vital.


I buzzed Zack's hair again this week. I took off an inch and a half! I didn't get the gasps at church that I expected. When I buzzed it when he was 2 months old, you wouldn't believe the horror. It's not like I use a razor, people.

His hair was so puffy and would get so messed up. I could put barrettes in it, for goodness sake. He looks much more manly now. If only we could get Tansy to grow an insane amount of hair. Sigh, wishful thinking.