CELEBRATE!

We've had a busy week full of celebrations and fun!  On Wednesday the kids had an awards ceremony.  I took Lilah and Celeste to back to back assemblies, one for Madeline & Calvin and then another for Anna Elise.  The girls were OK, Celeste seemed to think she needed to sit with the big kids and was a constant source of entertainment for everyone at the assembly (except me).  The kids got citizenship, academic, and art awards and did very well. I didn't have the right lens for my camera so the pictures are not good.  With their certificates they get various coupons for the local fast food restaurants - so after school we met Mike at Chick-Fil-A and had some free ice cream cones to celebrate.   On Friday the kids had their last day of school.  They came home at 11:30.  We had an end-of-school carnival to celebrate!  They got tickets to use for their hot dog lunch and then had to earn more tickets playing games - the coin toss, bean bag throw, and duck shooting.  They used their tickets to buy prizes and candy.  Although my efforts were certainly not pinterest worthy, but the kids had a fabulous time.  On Saturday we got a surprise package from our cousins (thank you Jana, the kids were ecstatic and LOVE everything you sent) and then that evening we were invited to a BBQ/Birthday party and we had a blast celebrating, eating way too much yummy food, and playing.  We continued our celebrations today for Father's Day with cards, singing, playing, a really yummy apple pie and lots of other goodies.  We are completely partied out.

With all the fun and celebrating comes some 'party fouls' (as Mike would say). Calvin got pink eye.  He had a trip to the Dr and missed the last two days of school.  I was standing on a stool trying to decorate for our carnival and I fell - the stool tipped over, I fell back and landed on the stool.  I have two amazingly painful bruises on the backs of my upper legs where I hit the stool.  I avoided hitting my head on anything but I swear I have a mild case of whip lash.  I am getting so old!  On Saturday Anna Elise came down with pink eye as well, she and Calvin missed the BBQ - but had a fun little party at home.  On Saturday night Madeline threw up - she had seriously over indulged in chips and dessert and had a stomach ache.  She managed to hit her bed and then leaned over her top bunk bed and hit Anna Elise's bed on the way to the floor and splattered most of her room.  It was lovely!  Since we had kids that couldn't go to church Mike had stay home and miss church on Father's Day.  So sad. However - we have still had a fabulous weekend!

In other news I finished my redecorating!  I still have a few more things I need to figure out - but for the most part the room is done.   I realized that I hadn't ever taken any pictures of the room since we did the switching, so lots of pictures to follow.

 Calvin waiting to be called and Madeline up front receiving her award - look close

 Anna Elise up front getting an award with her little shadow and afterwards with all of her loot

Celeste cleaning up the coloring on the wall - right after this picture she handed me the magic eraser and said Momma's turn - so glad she is learning how to share!

Last day of school for the girls - Calvin's second day at home with pink eye

End of school carnival - Lilah's lunch and her tickets

 Celeste drinking her lemonaid

The coin toss - Celeste had it figured out!

 The duck shoot - it was pretty difficult even without the ducks moving!

 Madeline tried every which way to aim the gun and just could not hit anything!

 Shopping for their loot with all of their tickets!

The only before picture I could really find - this is at Christmas before we switched rooms, there is a bookcase on the right and then one on the left.

 The new room, the L shaped couch on the right, it's almost twice the size as the old room. 

The window seat - I bought the curtains (there is another window in the room) cut them off and used the extra fabric for pillows and the wall hanging.  The window seat cover is from a sheet set I purchased and the solid colored pillows are from fabric I already had.

Cute vinyl that I bought from my sister-in-law.  I love it!

Looking back towards the doors on the other side of the room.

Close up of my pillows.

Winding Down

The school year is almost over and we are so ready for summer!  It feels like everyone is already done with the school and here we are still chugging along for another week!  This week the kids had field day.  It was pouring rain on the scheduled day - so they moved it inside and did games and activities inside.  The kids still had fun.  I was able to see them each in their classrooms and also in the cafeteria or gym playing.  I only had my phone so the pictures aren't great.

Madeline with the hula hoop

 Anna Elise dancing and then playing crab soccer

 Madeline playing with shaving cream in her classroom.  She now dots her i with a heart.

 Calvin playing with the parachute and then playing crab soccer

Celeste helping me make brownies

Calvin used his legos to make rollerskates - no they did not work!

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day we were invited over to a friend's house for BBQ.  It was such a nice afternoon.  Our kids played well together, it was delicious food, and very sticky s'mores - perfect!  We had to get home to go to bed on time, because we had a big day at Busch Gardens planned!  You'd think we'd eventually get tired of it - but not yet!  The kids stayed home from school and we practically had the park to ourselves.  We didn't wait in line for anything.  I took Celeste on a ride that was just a bit too much for her, but she handled it very well.   We had fun on the rides, dinner, and then home.  The rest of the week flew by.  We were planning on attending our Stake Conference meetings this weekend but unfortunately Celeste got sick and so we had to split things up.  Mike did make it to his leadership meeting and I took the three oldest to the general session - I thought we went a half hour early so we could park and find seats and go to the bathroom and get settled - we actually went a half hour late.  Oh well.

Playing dress up and eating s'mores with friends on Memorial Day

Before

 During

 After - I asked her if she had fun and she said yes, I asked if she wanted to go again and this is her saying "noooooo"

This is the girls favorite ride.  Madeline did eventually cheer up - she was not happy because she wanted to go on the 'big kid' version of this ride with Anna & Calvin but she was not tall enough.

The family highlight this week is me.  It's been about a year since I got my diagnosis of Psoriatic Arthritis.  It's been a lot of ups and downs as we've tried to figure out the dosing of my medication.  I'm 'off' of one of my prescriptions - which is a good thing.  However, recently the psoriasis has popped up all over my hands, arms, and face and the arthritis has gotten worse and it has spread to my other hand.  So we will most likely be trying injections and hoping that we can get the other prescription figured out and manage the inflammation better.  I've been busy this week working on a redecorating project (I know, me, decorating and project all in the same sentence doesn't sound right) I am hoping to get the rest of my stuff this week and be able to finish all the 'do it yourself' part this weekend!  Hopefully I will have pictures to share!  So far so good and I'm excited!

Testing & Testy

This past week the kids have been testing at school.  It's been very stressful for the kids and for mom.  I don't know if it's the testing, spring fever, the end of the school year approaching or what - but my kids have been very testy - as in grouchy!  More crying, screaming, fighting, whining, and complaining than usual.  I hope it stops soon!

In other news we've had some actual spring weather - rain and mild temperatures.  I love it.  So does my garden.  My second round of seeds sprouted and are growing like crazy.  Unfortunately so is the fat neighborhood bunny that comes and eats my new tender sprouts every morning.  So far he has eaten most of my beans, half my watermelons and pumpkins, all but one of my cantaloupe and all my squash.  He has partially eaten two of my pepper plants as well.  Apparently bunnies don't like tomato plants or corn stalks.  Who knew?  I wish I didn't.  I'm not sure if it's too late to replant but I REALLY wanted to try to grow acorn squash and I REALLY want cantaloupe this year - so I will probably try replanting.  On the bright side  whatever is eating my strawberries has laid off recently and each of my kids have been able to eat a strawberry from the garden - they think it's pretty neat.  I'm hoping the caterpillars leave us a few blueberries this summer as well.   We are also making more progress on our chicken coup.  The gate is finished, now the kids can get into the coup and bother the chickens much more easily.  I actually think the chickens like my kids, even when they are being a bit 'much' - when my kids approach the coup the chickens run to greet them. It's kind of cute.

 I don't have very many pictures this week - just these two princesses!

Our family spot light this week is Mike.  I'm not sure who's turn it is, but Mike has news to share, so I'm making it his turn.  Mike has recently hired a new full time sales person.  Mike took the sales over back in February and after several months of trying to do it all himself has found someone new.  We are both so excited - to see our business growing and to hopefully free up some of Mike's time.  We'll see how it goes, but so far, it's been great!  Mike was also able to go to the temple with his fabulous wife (smile).  That doesn't happen very often.  Mike was also in another accident.  He was hit in a parking lot and while he had his rental car he was in a second accident - unfortunately it was his fault and he was, unbeknownst to us, uninsured at the time (apparently the commercial policy on his work vehicles don't cover rentals when they are for accident repair).  That is not a good.  We have a few other possibilities to explore, so we'll see how it goes.

Happy Mothers Day!

We've had a good week and ened it with a great weekend!  I feel like we've celebrated Mother's Day all weekend.  On Friday the older kids all brought home cards for me from school.  They were so sweet!  Mike took Calvin on the Father's and Son's camp out.  I stayed home with the girls and had a great time.  We went out for pizza, bought some treats and came home and watched Ella Enchanted (such a cute movie).  On Saturday we were busy cleaning the house, setting up the pool, and working on our chicken coop.  For Mother's Day Mike got the coop to the point where we could move the chickens out of my house (hooray), he ordered Chinese food for dinner so I didn't have to cook and then on his way home from his meeting that night he stopped and got me a blizzard.  It was a good day!
On Sunday I got more treats and cards from church and then Mike let me read all afternoon - it was very nice.  I felt very loved.

Other news - my seeds are sprouting!  Not very many, but they are coming!  Yeah!  It turns out that the straw I used to cover everything is hay stalks.  It turns out that the hay seeds can grow in the straw - no dirt
required.  The cardboard I laid down is doing a good job stopping the weeds from under it - but isn't doing anything for the weeds that growing on top of it, in my straw!

Calvin went to his first den meeting for cub scouts.  He LOVES it! Hopefully I can keep up with him!

 Why the chickens needed to be moved outside!

 Celeste pretending to be a chicken and checking out the coop!

 The coop isn't quite done by their running area is completely fenced in and safe now.  

 Tomatoes in the front, then some peppers and basil, the third row is my broccoli and the rest of the garden is seeds - hopefully they will be visible soon!

 The girls eating laffy taffy while watching our movie.

Calvin volunteered to take Celeste in the house and help her get her suit on while we put up the pool

 I was cracking up - he didn't know what was so funny

Here she is after I fixed her suit, much more comfortable and way cuter this way!   It was one of the awesome deals Karen helped me find at the Salvation Army.

Our family highlight this week is Madeline.  Madeline is getting tired of school and can't wait to spend the summer swimming.  She loves the chickens, she holds them and tries to train them, watches out for them, and  is a good little mommy for them.  Now that they are outside they are much easier to play with!  Madeline has decided she wants curly hair.  I try to curl her hair, but it's what I call 'string bean straight' and is very uncooperative.   She doesn't understand how mommy can have curly hair and how Anna Elise's takes to the curling iron so well and holds curls but hers won't.  I tried to cheer her up by telling her she has hair like Aunt Trina's - but because Aunt Trina has brown hair she did not understand!  She is still happy and silly except when she is sad and emotional.  Sometimes growing up is hard!  

Grandma

Grandma flew into Richmond on Friday night to be here for Calvin's baptism.  She stayed to play for the week.  The weather wasn't real cooperative and Mike was busy at work - but we had fun having her with us.  She did lots of dishes and helped around the house, we went out for ice cream, walked to the park, had a picnic (inside since it was cold out), celebrated Celeste's 2nd birthday, visited with my uncle, and we were able to go to lunch and do some shopping one afternoon. I was excited to go buy some things for me!  It was good to have her here to visit with and we were sad to see her go on Friday afternoon.

After she left life quickly resumed it's normal crazy pace.  Mike's work car was hit in a parking lot on Friday.  We had to take the car to the body shop and pick up a rental.  We also ran errands that afternoon.  On Saturday we had Calvin's friend birthday party, worked on the chicken coop, replanted all the seeds in our garden (not a single one sprouted) weeded and reseeded the front lawn, and ran some errands.

At the park with Grandma - she is playing ball with Calvin.

 Celeste's birthday.  She opened that purple book from Grandma and was completely satisfied.  She didn't need or want to open anything else.  It took a lot of coaxing to get her to continue.

 The next day she used her birthday money from Grammy & Pops to buy a purse and a doll.  Getting her to pick out a couple of things at the store was crazy!

Calvin waiting for his friends to come to his party

Mike took the girls to THD during Calvin's party.  He had to run a small booth for NHance and the girls participated in the festivities.

 Celeste in her new birthday dress from Grandma and me in my new dress from my shopping spree!

Our family highlight this week is Celeste.  I know it's not her turn, but it was her birthday.  She is growing up fast and getting to be more '2' every day.  When I asked her to go put her shoes in her closet she replied with "no, mommy do it".  She has started hitting and yelling and generally being ornery.  She has decided that she loves cheese and asks for either sliced cheese or cottage cheese for every meal and snack.  When she is hungry she tells me she wants lunch, if I say no she tries asking for a snack, breakfast, or dinner - whichever word will get me to feed her!  She likes to take her nap and goes to bed very well.  She regressed with her potty training a little while we had company, but is already back on track and doing fabulous. 

Grammy & Pops!

On Sunday evening Grammy and Pops flew into Richmond!  We were so excited to see them.  We had a fabulous week of fun with trips to get ice cream, going to the park, fun at home, some work and some shopping.  On Friday we celebrated Calvin's 8th birthday.  We all went to Busch Gardens, Pizza Hut for dinner, and then ended the day with presents and ice cream cake. It was an exhausting day. That night Grandma flew in.  Saturday was a busy day getting ready for Calvin's baptism.  It was a special day and it was a good program with Grandma giving a prayer, Grammy and Anna Elise speaking, Pops witnessing, and Mike performing the ordinance.  We were so thankful that Calvin made the decision to be baptized and for all the support of our family and friends on that day.  Grammy and Pops had to leave early Sunday morning.  It was sad to see them go.  

 Pops 'helped' Mike start a chicken coop.  'They' made a lot of progress.  Unfortunately Mike was busier working then he wanted to be - so his Dad did a lot of the work with his helpers - Grammy and Lilah.

 We went to Happy Hour at Steak & Shake and got half-price shakes.  We had a great time.  Thanks Grammy & Pops!  Below you can see Lilah doing her 'trick'.  She said to me "Look Mom, I can drink my shake with no hands!"

 At Busch Gardens!

 There was hardly anybody at the park.  It was perfect weather and no lines.  The kids literally sat and rode rides over and over again.  It was a lot of fun!

 Calvin opening presents and blowing out his candles. 

 Calvin's Baptism

Our family highlight this week is Calvin.  He is growing like a weed and has the appetite of a full grown man (a large one at that).  He is always hungry.  Calvin still loves Legos but picked out some Bay Blades with his birthday money and has been enjoying those as well.  He is getting ready for a re-match with his cousin Tucker ;).  Calvin is compassionate and helpful.  He is happy and fun when he gets enough sleep.  I recommend that he always get enough sleep!