spring fever

I think spring has finally sprung around here

along with the start of our spring break.

Friday the boys and I headed out to watch Hailey in her track meet.

The boys quickly became bored so they wrestled and rolled around in the grass, 

which left me lots of time to visit with Nicole and Jim and to cheer Hailey on.

We watched her in the shot put, discus and 100 meter.

She did great and was so full of energy.

 Just one more day and our vacation will start,

off to the happiest place on Earth!

double the fun

We celebrated two birthday girls today

Brooke and Summer.

Brooke hosted the party today at her apartment,

she was so excited

and has been preparing for this day I think since February.

We had sandwiches-chips-potato salad and individual mini cheesecakes

opened presents-visited and played charades.

Fresh french fries was our favorite word not guessed,

Luke misread the card and thought it said that instead of just french fries 

so how we were supposed to guess that I have no idea. 

Having the family all together in close quarters was fun and LOUD

but reminded us of the old days when we would all get together at our first house.

Just think at the next family party we will even have another person added,

I love it that our family is growing

but I don't love so much how hard it is to get a good picture.

Picture Titles

Jazz Hands - The Sweet Birthday Girls - The Shirt Over the Head

Cell Phones Because There's Nobody Else to Talk to? - Elf Ears - Matt Knows How to Clear the Couch

Good Times Today

a long few days

I don't know if it was the time change, Heath being gone fishing, the full moon, the gloomy weather, too many to-do's but it's been a long few days and I've been in a funk.

Thankfully today was a good day though. I feel like myself again and life is back to normal.

A quick little catch up.

Heath left Saturday to go steelhead fishing for five days, it was supposed to be six but since the fishing was slow he is coming home a day early.  Of course all of a sudden the fishing turned around and they had a great afternoon fishing today so it will be late tomorrow now when we see him.
The boys had fun celebrating Ruby turning five with a bone and a jar of of chicken and gravy baby food they couldn't believe how well she could lick the jar clean, the baby food was leftover from Desert who doesn't seem to really like the taste.

Cody finished up with his last basketball game on Saturday.  All season Cody didn't get his hands on the ball that often so the coach tried so hard for him to have as many chances as possible to shoot the ball.  She had a new inbound play called "stack special" where Cody would get the ball under the basket for a shot but it just never happened.  He worked so hard at it but sometimes would have a tough time losing the guy guarding him, one time he even ran out of bounds then ran back in just trying to lose the kid.  He had a great season  though and loved everything about the game and I never once heard him complain.
The older boys had a birthday party to go to Saturday so Ryan and I got to hang out together at the house.  Since the weather was nice we went outside and I worked in my flower beds and when I found a caterpillar Ryan was thrilled, he loved his new 'calipitter' friend for the rest of the day.
With the time change we were in a bit of a rush to get out the door so I didn't exactly notice what everyone was wearing to church. The kids love to try and sit as close to the front as possible (me not so much) and Cody insists on always sitting on the end of the pew right next to the aisle so he can see everything.  As church started and I looked over at Cody I see that he is wearing pants with a hole in the knee and as I look a little closer I see that there are grass stains and dirt or food stains on his pants too, I leaned over and asked if he had gotten the pants out of the dirty clothes and of course the answer was yes.  So between that and Luke thinking he only needs to shower only on the weekends we have a few things to work on around here. 

After church we headed to Matt and Summers.  We hadn't seen the baby's room yet so it was a good excuse for a visit, plus the kids were entertained by Uncle Matt's big kite and we got a lunch out of the deal so it was a win-win-win for us!  The boys loved checking out all of the baby stuff especially the fancy baby monitor with the video screen, boy have things changed a lot since I had my babies!  Luke whispered to me during church that he couldn't wait for Kimberly to get here because she was going to be so much fun, I agree buddy. 

After getting a call from my Aunt today thinking she was maybe on her way over for a visit (which thankfully she wasn't, I only say that because with Heath being gone and me being in my funk you can only imagine what the house was starting to look like), I finally kicked it into gear and got some things done today. Now I feel a whole lot better about the rest of my week,  (so you're welcome to come and visit now Aunt Sandi).  To have a little fun with the kids today I brought out some cry babies for the kids to chew on which made for some funny faces and some much needed laughing,  Luke is one tough kid I tell you he didn't even flinch.

Happy days are back!

three highlights

When I knew that Luke's class was going on a field trip to watch a part of the Cinderella play being put on by the high school I read the boys my old childhood book to get them a little familiar with the story.  I had no idea that Luke would enjoy the play that much so I made plans with Amanda to take the kids on Friday so we could see the whole thing.  Cody had a birthday party so it was just Luke, Ryan & myself and Amanda & the girls for the night out.  All of the kids loved it, Ryan got a little tired and was a bit confused because the play didn't follow the book exactly and he would ask me what 'your highness' meant and told me it sounded like your hinney. I guess with three boys we didn't watch too many princess movies around here.  We had a great night together with friends and I love that the kids got to experience something new and just look how cute they were all dressed up.

Saturday Cody had his second to last basketball game for the season.  My sister, Hailey, Tucker and his girlfriend came to cheer on our #2 player.  The teams were evenly matched so it made it much more enjoyable to watch, unlike some of the past games where it was obvious that we were the underdogs.  Cody seems to really enjoy basketball and always says how much he loves it even though if given the choice he would never just go outside to shoot some hoops and practice, he is just so laid back.  This was the first time that the boys have been around Tucker and his girlfriend so they had no idea how to act, it was so funny to watch.  They think Tucker is the coolest cousin ever and would normally be all over him but with his girlfriend  around they were for sure going to keep their distance. Thanks everyone for coming to support Cody, he always loves having fans in the stands.

 Sunday Cody and Luke had their first reconciliation at church along with their religious ed class.  This is where they go and talk with a priest individually to confess and repent of their sins.  The boys didn't seem nervous or anxious at all, Luke informed us the night before that if he had to confess all of his sins he was going to be in there for a really long time. On our way home from church I had asked the boys how it went and  Cody didn't really have much to say  but Luke said that he loved it and wanted to go every week and if he couldn't do that then at least once a month, what a funny kid.  I'm glad it was such a good experience for them and it's always a good reminder for us all that we should forgive others just as easy as He forgives us.

expectations

I wasn't expecting to get this much snow today

or to get any more snow this year for that matter,

it is march first today and I'm so over winter and so ready for spring.

I also wasn't expecting to have to cancel my plans today

and to stay home because the roads were so bad.

I really wasn't expecting Amanda's call to say let's play in the snow after school,

I reminded her how bad that turned out for us last time we went

and all the work it takes and that I just put away all the sleds in the attic just this weekend.

She didn't care though, she said we were going anyway.

The kids weren't completely convinced with this idea either, but like it or not we were going sledding.

And how happy I am that we did because I didn't expect that we all would have such a great time.

Luke wasn't expecting that I would prove him wrong when he didn't think that I could catch him and throw him down in the snow, I bet that I only have a few more years of being able to do this though. 

I wasn't expecting such a good laugh when this little girl (a first grader) pointed out to me that her and I had matching jackets, just the day before Amanda and I were sharing funny stories about this same exact thing.

I just love seeing these five together, I never expected that they would become the best of friends when we met the neighbors ten years ago.
So it turns out that I wasn't expecting any of this to happen today, but I'm awfully glad that it did.

Hello, March.