Keeping Busy

We've been keeping ourselves busy this summer - Every morning, I've started the kids off with a short list of things that they have to do before we can do the fun stuff.  And they have to get it done before James goes berserk and needs to go down for a nap.  :) This has helped give us some routine and helped keep the house in some sort of order (which would never happen with 5 kids home all day)  Fun stuff has included running around in the sprinklers and having friends over and would have included going to the library, but they didn't manage to get done in time that day.....

Monday-Thursday this week, the girls got to go to an afternoon girls camp put on by my cousin Lucy and 2 of her Girl Scout friends.  They played with them, did crafts with them and gave them snacks from 1-4.  The girls LOVED it - they had a ball with their cousin and the other girls there - they loved going and looked forward to it every day!

Eileen's friend Taylee came over and spent the night - the girls had a blast and Taylee was sweet and easy - hopefully they can do this again some time!

Anna's birthday was on Thursday - Grandpa and Newell and Becky and family came over to help us celebrate.  Anna wanted a Hello Kitty birthday cake - so she got one, and if I say so myself - it came out pretty darn cute!!  She loved it - which was the most important part.  :)

James rather liked it too.  He downed his cake and ice cream in like 30 seconds....  :)

Friday, we took a trip to the Butterfly Pavillion - when Eileen realized where I had brought her - she gave me a HUGE hug and when i finally got her to let go, she jumped up and down for the next 10 minuted.  The kids all had a great time - James did well and the kids had a blast holding Rosie the Tarantula and looking at all the bugs and especially looking at the butterflies - it really was amazing - there were TONS of them everywhere!  We even got to watch some coming out of their chrisalids and got to watch them release some new butterflies into the rainforest environment.

This is Evie holding Rosie - LOL - she enjoyed it, but was rather surprised by the tickly feeling.  :)  

Aaron was the only one who managed to get a butterfly to land on him (he actually got 2, but I think one might have been coaxed on despite my insistence that they NOT try to get one to climb on them....

On Wednesday night, Eileen had Activity Day Girls - i dropped her off and grabbed Anna's cake pan, then went home and helped Dan cut down some dead trees in our yard and load them into a friends truck to take with her.  We had fun working and chatting together, then I picked up both our girls from  Activity Day's.  On Saturday, Dan decided that instead of digging out the stumps, he was going to get a couple 2 x 4's and level the stumps off and make a balance beam for the kids to play on.  The kids have been having fun playing on it ever since.  Eileen was very excited about her ability to balance on one foot up there - Aaron and Evie wanted to hold hands while they walked across.

Home Again... kinda!

Well early Monday morning, we packed up and headed home.  Our first two days were mostly spent packing, doing laundry, running errands and settling back into life.  After that, I started trying to implement my summer plan!  

Here are the kids in the car, ready to head home!  

The kids are putting together "Summer Fun Passports"  It's basically a notebook that is going to have a page for all the things we do this summer - and the page will have a photo and a ticket (if there is one)  and their favorite part of it - so we had fun starting it this week and doing some of our pages from our time in Texas.

Friday, I picked up a friend from my Freshman year at BYU - from the airport.  Then we met up with a bunch more of our Dorm floor friends and headed up to the cabin for a weekend getaway.  We spent a great couple of days hiking, playing games, walking around Breckenridge, and of course lots of chatting - reminiscing, catching up and uplifting.  It was wonderful to be with a set of women who are all trying their best to be good moms, good wives, and good disciples of Christ.  We shared stories, experiences and lessons learned.  It was wonderful!  These ladies are wonderful and I'm so glad we could do this, and soooo looking forward to next time!  I came back spiritually and emotionally refreshed (now if only I hadn't had allergy issues all weekend....)

As much fun as we had, I am glad to be home with my wonderful family!  My sweet boys!  I just love how James is looking up to his big brother here.

We got to watch the incredible Leadership conference tonight - it was just AMAZING!  such a powerful spirit, such incredible messages and such a neat experience!  

Last Week in Texas

We've kept busy this week!  I guess we figured that if we kept busy, we wouldn't miss Daddy quite so much....  only worked a little....  We've spent some of almost every day out in the pool.  Grandpa has been giving them swim lessons again and they are all doing really well!  James didn't much care for the pool at first - but he got used to it pretty quickly and had fun (when he was awake)

We also got together with our friends a couple times - they came down to swim and play once and we went up there to play and crochet once.  We had a great time both times!

Grandpa took us to a base ball game - we went to go see the Frisco Rough Riders.  The kids spent most of the time whining and asking to go get a drink of water - but I enjoyed it!

Friday we went out on the boat - the girls got to waterskii again - both did amazingly well and then they all had fun on the tube.  Grandpa went with Aaron and both wanted to go so slow that I couldn't keep the front of the tube out of the water - and once I turned around to check on them and Aaron had a death grip on the front handles (which were under water) and was getting dunked!  But he wouldn't let go!!

Friday night, I met Lori and Megan for dinner at Chuy's - we had a great time eating and chatting - it's funny how even a year apart and we fall right back into normal.  :)  These ladies are two of the reasons I most miss Texas!

We went to the Zoo on Saturday - it was sweltering!  We found as many chances to get misted or wet as we could and spent our whole time running around to different shows and things they had going on.  We did a lot of walking and a lot of playing and had a great time - but came home exhausted!!

We went to the bird show again and Anna got to be one of the volunteers which she loved!

I went to pick up Dan from the airport today - i got there and he let me know what gate he was at and I got there and found a HUGE gaping hole in front of his gate (and the 3 or 4 gate on either side)  so I had to spend a bit of time trying to figure out where to pick him up at.  :)  But he's worth the trouble!

We had a little birthday/father's day celebration this evening for Anna and Dan and Grandpa.  Cake and all!  Evie kept walking around asking Daddy if it was his birthday today.  And once she saw the cake she was asking every 2 minutes when she could have cake!

I sure am blessed to have such wonderful men in my life!

Texas!

We have had a busy week!!  And lots of pictures to show for it!  Monday, we took off for Texas - it was a nice relaxing trip - James did pretty well and the other kids were content to watch movies and color.  We arrived a bit after midnight - no worse for wear!  

The day after we arrived, my Grandma Penny arrived.  My mom - feeling the need to keep my kids entertained, planned lots of fun.  Wednesday was the beginning - My dad spent some time in the morning in the pool with the kids helping the girls learn to water ski.  Then that afternoon, we went out on the boat.  Eileen and Anna both got to try it out and were able to get up - Eileen was able to stay up for quite awhile.  After (since mommy was exhausted from swimming around after them and helping them) we pulled the tube out and let them each have turns in the tube.  They all had a blast - Eileen and Anna especially LOVED the fast bumpy tube rides.  However, when asked their favorite part of the whole day - their unanimous response was "when daddy fell off the tube!!!"   Dan had taken a turn on the tube and Grandpa had driven him around and got a bit crazy on accident and threw Dan off - skipping him across the water....  

Thursday, we all went to the zoo - in the morning, the weather was wonderful - a bit overcast and cool which made it a really nice day to be there - not too hot!  The kids had fun - Eileen especially loved the bird show and wanted to take pictures of all the birds.  Evie's favorite part was feeding the birds - she wanted to hold one so bad, but got scared when ever we managed to get one on her :)  James just loved looking and pointing at everything.  Anna, of course loved everything.  After lunch, it started pouring!!  We took the kids on the carousel and then headed home!  

Thursday evening - the Tilton's came over to play and swim.  It's always good to see them - It's also fun to watch Eileen and Sonora's friendship pick up right where it left off and before the Tilton's went home to have both girls begging to see each other again before we went home to Colorado. 

Friday morning, we had a girls morning getting pedicures - we all had fun - and Evie even left her nail polish on mostly!    

The kids have spent some of every day in the pool - and Saturday they spent almost the whole afternoon in the pool - from noon to 6 pm - they were in and out of the pool - Eileen and Anna are getting very comfortable in the water - and both are looking really good with their swimming lessons from Grandpa.

Sunday we went to Sandi's ward for Kai's baby blessing - she is such a sweet baby - generally quiet and happy - and totally sweet and beautiful!  The kids love her too!  After, we went to Jon's parents house and had fun with Jon's family.  The kids all had a lot of fun playing together - and playing outside and running amok.  It was a fun afternoon - then we came home and fed the kids and put them to bed.  Dan left for Seattle this morning and we are now looking forward to another week in Texas.

Anna and Taz really are getting along well - they seem to have similar energy levels and Anna has been a really good big friend/babysitter.  She wrote him the cutest note to Taz telling him how much she liked him and how she would miss him.  She has been really good at playing with him and helping take care of him - which has been really good for him too since his life has been a bit crazy lately.  Out of all my kids - Anna is the only one who's name he can remember - all the kids are "na-na"  

Summer Fun

We have started our summer off with a nice easy-ish week - we spent most of the week trying to use up our food and enjoying the sun. The kids mostly played outside and helped me run errands to get everything ready. Wednesday was choir practice as usual and Thursday was piano lessons as usual. 

Wednesday, we went to the library to return some books and go to story time - Eileen also got a great list from the librarian of books to read.  They got to use these little shaker eggs during story time and James LOVED them - and didn't want to return them....

Friday, we had some of the guys over from Dan's work to play Settlers of Catan - It was a lot of fun - they all have a similar sense of humor to Dan and I and so we all had a blast quoting movies at each other.

Saturday was my Colorado Mormon Chorale Concert. It was a lot of fun - fun music, great audience and a really neat thing to be a part of!

Sunday was our normal busy church day - then Dwayne came over in the evening to hang out since Nicole is visiting her family.

Other than that, our week was mostly spent getting everything ready for our trip - doing laundry, packing, getting the kids entertainment sorted out. We spent a day getting the house cleaned up, and the kids had the chance to do some extra chores to earn money to go spend at the dollar store - then we all went and I got some coloring books and stuff for the car and they had fun picking out stuff with their chore money. Daddy and Evie especially worked hard. Dan lay down to take a little nap on Saturday afternoon - when i came in to get ready for Choir - I found them both curled up in our bed - Dan didn't even realize Evie was there until he woke up.

 

Summer Here We Come

Well, we are officially on Summer Break - the girls had Monday off, and then went to school on Tuesday and Wednesday (really - why would you do a teacher in-service with only 2 days left in the school year....) and then they were done.  On Wednesday, after school, a bunch of kids from the girls classes and their parents got together at a near by park to play and have a little end of school party.  They had a blast - but Eileen and Anna's favorite part was this tree - it was a huge and very climb-able tree - Anna went nearly to the very top of it - but did just fine both on the way up and on her way back down.  All the kids had a great time - It was really warm - Aaron just ran around playing, Evie befriended all the parents (mostly because they were near the food) and I chased after James for an hour and a half.  He was funny to watch - at first he just stood by me quietly observing.  Once he got going though, he was unstoppable.  He climbed up a grassy hill, then scooted down on his bum saying "weeee-oh-weee-oh-weeee"  

Mostly he wanted to run around looking at people and things.  

The girls have been wanting to get their hair cut for summer, so we took them to the mall to get a hair cut - Eileen and Anna both have cute little bob cuts now (you can kinda see in the picture below)  While we were there, I took Evie to get her ears pierced - she has wanted it for awhile now and she did pretty good - she cried a little, but was fine once she got her suckers.  The only problem, she lost one and she didn't like sleeping with them on - and so before she had them pierced for 24 hours, they were out.  I'm rather sad and annoyed by it...... but what can you do.  

Dan got into town early Thursday, he sent me out of the house to meet Becky for lunch and a pedi - it was really nice to get out for a bit and nice to de-stress.  Then we went to piano lessons and then home.  On Friday, Dan took the girls up for a Daddy-Daughter camp out.  They had a blast - but Daddy came home totally exhausted on Saturday.  Saturday night, we got a baby sitter and went out with Newell and Becky to see the new Star Trek movie.  

Aaron and Evie got a hold of some combs and water and had fun doing my hair for awhile - it's funny to listen to them - and I like getting my hair brushed - even by two little kids.  :)

Church was really nice today - James was rather talkative, but at least he was happy.  One lady who gave a talk quoted the psalmist who said "Children are an heritage of the Lord" then reminded us that they are a gift!!  And I started thinking that often, I think and act more like I am God's gift to them - when really it's the other way around - so my goal for this upcoming week is to look for ways that my kids are a gift to me, and also look for ways to show my gratitude for that gift.

Happy Birthday Dan!!

It's been a busy week around here - my cousin Frankie was with us until Friday - he was very helpful to have around - he mostly kept to himself and spent his time getting homework done and playing games - but being able to let James sleep while I went to get the girls from school was a BIG advantage.  

Tuesday was a bit crazy,  Marie and the kids came over to play with us around lunch time - we filled up the little water table and the kids had fun making mud and soaking each other. In the evening, the missionaries and Dwayne and Nicole came over for another discussion about the Plan of Happiness - it's so neat to share these truths that I love and that I KNOW have made me a better person with people that I care about!  I had to leave a bit early though for a meeting at a school - we are still trying to figure out what to do with Aaron for this upcoming school year.....  followed by a presidency meeting at my house.  

Wednesday we went to the library.  The kids had fun at a "superhero" themed story time, and then we had fun in the kids are until James got cranky.  The kids always enjoy the library - and the kids area there is nice and closed off, which is really helpful.  

Eileen and Anna had a fun week at school - the school had 2 days of "immersion classes" where the kids got to pick a subject that they wanted to study and then spent 2 days with a teacher learning and doing cool things.  Anna chose a cooking class - she got to have lots of fun learning about kitchen and dining etiquette and rules and cooking yummy food.  Eileen chose an outdoor animal class where they got to spend time talking about animals, dissecting an owl pellet and then going to a local wild life refuge.  

Great Grandpa Francone got Eileen a bird feeder and a bird house for Christmas and now that the weather is warming up - we are finally getting visitors to the feeder - Eileen has been having a blast watching for birds and then identifying them.  

Anna has been having fun making playdough - we got a recipe from her teacher as part of a math assignment and she made 3 full batches of playdough - big batches - and the kids have been having fun playing with them.  The recipe involved  15 minutes of kneading the dough - which she did amazingly well at - not only did she do almost all of the kneading, but she did it really well.  

Friday was a fun, but totally exhausting day - since Dan would be leaving on a trip on Saturday morning, we had a birthday party for Dan on Friday night - which means that I spent almost all day Friday cooking and cleaning.  We had lots of family and friends come over to celebrate with us and enjoyed lots of yummy food and had fun playing together - Evie told me the next day "mommy, I really liked having all our friends over here - I wish they could all come over again"

Saturday was dismal.... lol - not only was I still recovering from Friday but Dan left - I love my kids - but my world is SO much better with Dan in it - Eileen and Anna have recently started bickering a LOT - and both have been so self obsessed and unfeeling towards each other, and by Sunday,  I was heartily sick of it - so before they could eat a yummy dinner, I made them sit down at the table and Eileen and Anna each had to say 1 nice thing about the other person,  2 nice things that the other person has done for them, and 3 nice things that they could do for the other person.  After hearing their half hearted attempts (and not allowing comments like "she's nice to me SOMETIMES")  we had a WONDERFUL dinner, full of polite conversation and kindness!  I told the girls that any time they start fighting or arguing, they are going to have to sit down and do this again.  :)  This little idea was a flash of inspiration from the Spirit that I am SO grateful for - as I try and teach these children, I am so grateful for help and guidance from the wonderful examples around me and especially from the Holy Ghost and the prompting that he gives me in ways to help my kids understand and be a bit better.

Evie was so sweet this morning - as I was getting ready for church, she came in and saw me and said "I really like this skirt mommy!  You look FABULOUS!  I wish I could have a skirt like that!"  Little sweetie made my day!

Spring, Spring, Spring!

It's been a busy but fun week around here - we had our usual busy-ness.  James has been working on learning to feed himself with a spoon - he is actually getting pretty good - he gets more in his mouth than on the bib anyway.... (which is a definite step up!) He also hates to have anyone else feed him anymore - he wants to do it all himself - at least until he gets frustrated with his low skill level.

Eileen has been complaining about not being able to see small print that is far away, so we set up an appointment with the eye doctor for her and Anna and got their eyes checked.  Anna has perfect vision, but Eileen needs glasses - her vision isn't too bad, but she will need glasses for in her classroom at school and at church.  She loved picking out her glasses, but was very picky about the ones she wanted!  

Our neighbors wanted to clear out a weed-filled area and put in some rock, so Dan (and the kids) helped them to clear it out and level it out and shovel the rocks - James loved having a shovel to dig in the dirt!  We also cleared out one of our flower beds and filled it with plants this week.  The kids had fun digging and planting - now we just gotta hope that they live....

We got a lot of rain this week - I'm so happy that it was warm enough to rain and not snow (though there was a bit of hail) and this weekend it warmed up and the sun came out and it's been beautiful!  The grass in the back yard is needing to be mowed and it's really starting to feel like spring... just in time for summer break....

Friday, we had Dwayne and Nicole and family over for dinner - we did a little pizza party and the kids watched a movie - we also had the missionaries over and had a neat discussion about the plan of happiness.  

Saturday was busy with cleaning the house, working outside, filling the freezer, and Dan spent the afternoon and evening driving up to the cabin to help grandpa move some stuff out of his house and into the cabin.  He also brought Frankie back with him to stay with us for a week while his parents are out of town.  

Sunday was a gorgeous Mother's Day.  After church, we all enjoyed sitting and playing outside and enjoying the beautiful day.  The kids had fun playing hide and seek and playing on the play set.  

Everyone spoiled me rotten for Mothers Day.  I got this awesome cloak from Dan (too bad it was much to warm to wear to church today...)  I got a beautiful bouquet of purple roses, a sweet wonderful card and some bath salts from Eileen, Anna made me a beautiful heart shape, Evie rubbed my feet and put lotion on them  :)  Aaron rubbed my back, Eileen and Daddy made me breakfast in bed.  Also Eileen built me a lego "holder" with hidden compartments to hold stuff - Evie made me lego "baby birdies" and Anna made me a lego heart.  :)  All in all, it was a wonderful day with lots of love and hugs from my kids and husband!  We all chatted with my mom for a bit - the kids had fun talking to her and telling her everything they could think of.  I am so blessed to have these children and the wonderful examples of motherhood and womanhood around me!

May Day! May Day!

Well it's a good thing that this week was less stressful than last week since last week nearly put me out of commission for two days after.  Or maybe that was depression over the newest 4 inches of snow that got dumped on us.....  Thankfully it's mostly melted now.  And thankfully, between the snow, it's been beautiful and sunny - so we have still been able to spend a lot of time playing outside.

Wednesday - the first day of May we had a bunch of snow dumped on us - but thankfully the roads never got bad - the kids and I went to the library that morning - the only bad part was walking in it since the wind was driving it into our faces.  But the library is becoming a weekly trip again - Aaron and Evie are each allowed 1 book and I grab 1 book - so it's easy to keep track of them :)  and when we go each week, we don't have any over due books and if Eileen doesn't leave her lunch in the car and requires us to drive back and drop it off, we can even make story time.

Anna left out a half eaten apple - she had put it down, meaning to come back and finish it after some time on the swings, but James got to it first - and really enjoyed chewing on it - he didn't get much, but he really seemed to like it.

Friday, Eileen had a slumber party that she went to - she had a blast and exhausted herself good - and while she partied, the kids back home got to have their own little pizza party.

On Saturday, Eileen, Anna and I went to a Dolly and Me Tea Party at my Great Aunt Joan's Church.  She was one of the main organizers and many of the dolls on display were hers.  The girls loved coming with their dolls and getting their dolls dressed up and doing a special event with mommy.  They enjoyed making new friends with the other little girls there and they loved putting their dolls up on the display tables and then bringing every sweet little old lady who would give them her attention over to the table to see their dolls.  The girls also had a great time stuffing themselves with cookies and treats.

We have also been slowly getting some yard work done and trying to make our yards look more like we would like them to.  Getting some flower beds ready to plant and getting old and kinda ugly stuff taken out and dead stuff taken out.  The kids have had fun working with us and are looking forward to picking their plants to put in the flower bed.