Spring break!

We had a fun, busy spring break around here!  We didn't go on any trips or anything, but we decided to make use of these pogo passes we bought a while ago that get us into different fun places around the valley.  We had a lot of fun!  Not everything worked out just how we planned, but I think that the kids still thought it was awesome!

Just before spring break I had my first relief society activity since I've been the 2nd councilor, and I thought everything turned out very cute and fun!  (not thanks to me, my committee rocks!)  It was a county fair themed party and we played speed friendshipping.  

Anyway, onto the spring break fun!  Our first stop on Monday morning was a place called the Play Factory.  It wasn't exactly what we thought it would be, but I'd go back!  Except for one VERY rude employee who sort of ruined it, the kids had fun trying all the stuff!  

Mason has been dying to try a climbing wall as he is our monkey who will climb anything he can!  He did pretty good!  But he did get nervous when he got up that high!  Brenna got just about as high too!  We went with the Dillworths too so the kids had buddies to play with!

Sooner or later they all realized there was a tv with the disney channel playing, and free video game playing and so we left sooner than planned since they get enough of that other times!  As we were leaving the Easter Bunny was making his way to his chair for pictures, and we happened to cross paths!  So he let us all do hugs and pictures right before taking his place in front of the long line of paying customers.  Talk about good timing!  Not that I've ever thought about getting my kids pictures with the Easter bunny before!  

That night I got to go to Sylvia's house to watch the Bachelorette finale with the girls since Jeremy needed to study (more on that later!)  The other picture is when jeremy got home from basketball the next night and found me sound asleep with my light on and book opened... Guess I was tired!  Also this is Sylvia's new puppy and he's soooo cute!  

 

Ok these are just random, pictures of Sadie, she's such a ham for the camera now and I can't resist!

Tuesday was supposed to be a stay home, catch up on chores/homework, relaxing day.... it was not my favorite spring break day!  We did mostly stay home, but Sadie was grumpy, and took a short nap then was even more grumpy!  So it was hard to get things done, and the kids were wanting to be entertained a lot.  I had my visiting teachers come, and I tried ordering groceries online for drive-by pick up for the first time to avoid taking the kids to the store, but it was a hard day for all of us home bodies!  So I decided to not have anymore days with plans like that!  haha

We went to pump it up the next day!  We went at 10 (because I checked and double checked online and they said that open jump started then but they lied!!) and we met all our AZ cousins there and were told it's booked for birthday parties till 2!  LAME!  So instead we went to the park nearby.  We went home for lunch after that and then after naps we came back for a 4pm jump session.  Can I just say... SO FUN!  I loved it as much as the kids I think!  I was up and down the slides, and through the obstacle courses with Sadie, and racing my nieces and kids for two hours straight!  I thought it was so fun!  And it sure got some energy out of the kids!  I got almost no pictures since I was busy!  But I guess that's ok!  

After that we had a couple cousins over for a sleepover which, of coarse, made the girls so happy!

Thursday was St. Patricks day!  We had green milk and green pancakes.  My nieces quickly drew green clovers on themselves to stop my pinches since they hadn't brought green clothes!   When Mason got dressed I yelled up that he should try and find something with green on it for St. Patrick's day.  I laughed out loud when he came down wearing this!  He thought he was pretty funny too!  

We took everyone to the park after the girls made a treasure hunt for the littles.  It's getting pretty warm here so I didn't know if the park was a good idea, but it turned out someone came to do a ladybug release right then and set free hundreds of ladybugs and that kept the kids pretty entertained!

Thursday afternoon we did our major chore for the week which was going through everyone's drawers and switching out the too small clothes and getting that all organized.  Brenna was the only one excited about this task!  But we did it and it kept us occupied, so win win!

Friday morning is our ward play group, so we headed back to the park (for the 3rd or 4th time this week, all on around 90 degree days!)  I snapped this picture because I thought Mason and his buddy Britton looked so grown up walking together, hands in pockets making plans for later that day!  Funny boys!

We had originally planned to do another pogo pass thing this day but it sort of fell through so instead we met some cousins at McDonalds for lunch with a play place... seriously these kids got spoiled!  We went home, had naps, then Mason's buddy came for a quick play date... Meanwhile...this was the day that Jeremy had his big test that he's been studying for.  He took his 6 hour CFP exam, which has been 2.5 years of cumulative work from Jeremy.  We are so proud of him and although we won't know for 4 weeks if he passed, I have complete confidence that he did!  He worked so hard and we are so proud!  He had been spending all of his free time studying lately, so we decided to celebrate that night with a babysitter and a night out!  It's fun to double with family too!

The finale to our spring break was a day with daddy home and free all Saturday.  We got some thing done,then we had to go get some signs up to find new renters so we took the family, did some work there then headed to Chick Fil A for dinner since we had some gift cards kicking around!  They all traded their books in for ice cream cones instead too!  Spoiled!

I definitely did not think I was in this picture... not sure what my face is doing! 

These goobers better not think this is how life always is!  haha but I had fun doing some things we wouldn't normally do, and keeping the kids off their bums as much as possible!  Mason still fit in more than his share of Mario time, he also got ahead on his reading and is doing really well on that! Brenna seemed to almost always have a playmate nearby, and we all had a good time!  Monday we are back to the grind!  The kids now can't wait for summer!!!

Spring is here!

Spring is in full swing here in AZ!  It's been unseasonably warm, which is an unwelcome reminder of things to come, but also the kids are enjoying it as it is near perfect weather (perfect summer weather if I had a choice, but it is what it is!)

We have been spending more time outside and Sadie it LOVING the freedom of playing in the backyard with her siblings!  

Brenna and Mason had spirit week at school.  Mason dressed up for purple day, and then that was it.  Brenna enjoyed dressing up for all days though and especially loved wacky wednesday!  She came up with everything on her own, her shirt is backwards, different shoes, one sock, her hair has a braid, a piggy tail, and in the back a messy bun.  I like how particular she was!

Sadie has been a little spit ball lately!  There have been some drawbacks, like resisting naps, and being very demanding with occasional tantrums, but also it's been a lot of fun since she is babbling all the time and saying more cohesive words all the time.  She has also been giving me so many goofy photo faces and it's been so funny!  She eats up the attention of the camera!

apparently being naked makes everything more fun!

 I am pretty happy with this gem I managed to capture on our weekend just the three of us.  These two are seriously the cutest together!  Sadie gets tired of the attention sometimes, but that doesn't stop Owen from doting on her!

There are maybe two types of people.. those whose kitchen's always look like this and those who take pictures of it when it does just to prove it happened... I'll let you decide which kind I am!

 Mason wants to play Monopoly any chance he can get (or chess or checkers or cards or whatever!) and so I sat down and played last Sunday... Brenna had so much money she had to fan herself with it!

And Soccer is started back up in full swing!  I'm actually coaching Brenna's team since nobody stepped up, so that's been a bit of a circus, but it's got it's perks too.  This is Mason's team, I couldn't snap one of Brennas team since I was in the photo!

Owen has gotten so good at counting lately, and he also recognizes his numbers 1-9 reliably too!  He's excited to be 4!

Life has been busy and crazy as usual, but we're happy and healthy and couldn't ask for more!

I have no pictures again but we also just really enjoyed seeing Devin a little bit this weekend!  The kids were so sad when they realized he was gone and they wouldn't see him for a while!  He's a good uncle and such a fun guy to have around!  We loved it!  We will miss you Dev!

Owen's 4!

We had another Birthday at our house!  Owen turned 4 on the 1st of March and he was so excited for his birthday!  Although of all my kids he is the one that actually wants to stay my baby and promises that if he could stop growing he would.  He even got emotional recently telling me he wished he could stop getting bigger!  I wish he'd slow down too, but It's fun to watch him grow!  He's 4 now and it's hard to believe!  He is doing very well with his speech and is much easier to understand now.  He is my affectionate, sweet, kind boy.  He is always willing to share with his little sister or do anything to help someone be happy if they're having a hard day.  He is the sweetest big brother and loves Sadie to bits.  He is Mason's pal and will tag along whenever he can with the big boys!  We all love our Owie to pieces and our family wouldn't be right without him!

To celebrate we had a fun birthday where he got to run through the streamers (I chose a slow motion video instead of photos this time, so I only have an after picture).  

He had school where instead of treats they ask for a book donation of their favorite book.  They sing to them, put their picture in the book and read it for story time.  After school we picked up one of his buddies and went to McDonalds for happy meals!  It was a special treat he was looking forward to!  Later that night we decided to out to dinner as a family (also something we never really do) to "the peanut place" (Texas Roadhouse).  The kids had fun and enjoyed a special night out! He has repeatedly asked when his party is and I feel a little bad for not planning him one... but I figure he's so little and won't remember, we'll save it for when he's 6!  

This is a picture the school sent home from a picture day I didn't know happened.  We didn't pay so we had to send the pictures back, but I snapped one first with my phone! 

You can't really tell but this is Owen trying to kiss Mason to say thank you for the present!  Mason doesn't like kisses!

They sang to him nice and loud at Texas Roadhouse!  He was not sure if he liked it or not, but it was fun to watch!

 We went to the doctor today and Owen got 4 shots!!  He was such a brave boy and didn't shed a single tear!  I was very impressed!  He is in the 91st percentile for height, which is way higher than any of our other kids have been by the age 4!  We've always thought he'd be the biggest and tallest!  Time will tell!  Owen is excited to be old enough to start soccer and things in just one more birthday!  As I said earlier, he is really a sweetheart.  I have heard only good things from his preschool teachers and primary teachers and I couldn't love him more!  Happy Birthday Owen!!!