Earth Day Family Night

So, it wasn't really Earth Day, nor was it Monday {our designated Family Night}. But even so, we celebrated Earth Day for Family Night. A couple weeks ago Austin began picking up EVERY tiny piece of trash he saw EVERYWHERE and telling me how we shouldn't litter. Then he started asking me if we could walk instead of drive our car. Apparently he was learning about Earth Day at school. So I asked him if he wanted to celebrate it as a family.

Together we decided on Earth Day we would take a walk around the neighborhood and pick up trash (sad to say, there's plenty around here that blows in and gets tangled in the sticker weeds in the empty lots), we would plant something, and for dinner everything we would eat would come from the earth. And of course we would have rainbow cupcakes for dessert.

We were in Utah for Jared's graduation on Earth Day so we celebrated it this week. And we did it in stages, because our evenings are chaotic {baseball twice a week, Elder's Quorm on Tuesdays (Cameron's the new President), Young Women's on Wednsdays, and this week we also had Austin's preschool art show to go to on Friday}

Tuesday night we had our "earth dinner" and cupcakes. Talked about how God created the Earth and we should take care of it and keep it beautiful.

Yesterday we did our planting. Since I bought the stuff I got to choose what to plant! We planted my favorite herbs: basil, cilantro, and Italian parsley. And we've just been picking up trash all week.
The kids loved this and want to do it every year. So, I guess it's our new tradition.

And since late is better than never here's Ella's {THREE} month picture. I can NOT believe how fast the time has gone. Life has pretty much gotten back to normal around here. Cameron and I even got to go out on a date Saturday night! We took her with us, but if we didn't have the big ol' car seat to carry around we wouldn't even have known she was there - she slept the whole time.

At three months Ella is:

• awake a lot more during the day - she just hangs out, kicking and punching, cooing, and looking around
• sleeping well (depending on when she goes to bed she wakes up once between 2:30 and 6:30 in the morning).
• eating about every 3-4 hours a day
• smiling ALL the time
• giving us a few little giggles - still waiting for big belly laughs
• playing {holding for a few seconds at a time and rubbing} with squishy little toys
• rubbing her blankets and pulling at her clothes (or mine - she loves to rub my shirt when I'm feeding her). When she gets sad and I can't hold her (especially while we're driving), usually a blanket (or burp cloth) to hold will satisfy her.
• she knows when she has her "lovey" (a crocheted mini-blanket) it's time to sleep - and she goes to sleep on her own, with her lovey and her musical mobile turned on
• a CHUB-A-LUB! She has fat cheeks and a double chin and baby fat rolls everywhere! She weighs 14 pounds and is quickly growing out of her 3-6 month clothes. She wears size 3 diapers. But, I must say, she holds her weight well. She's adorable!
• the SWEETEST little thing I could ask for. She is truely peaceful. Just happy and content.