End of the year

Life is flying by so fast that I can fit the last 4 months into one blog post...sloooow dooowwwn!!!

Easter outfits

I try to do a mommy and me skip day with the older kids each year.  They get to miss school and pick what we do.  Katie and I spent her morning shopping for new room decor while Jax was in preschool and Zane was with the sitter.  And because Katie is a daughter after my own heart, after we picked up Jax and Zane we headed to Valencia for Venezuelan arepas.

The kids school did a color run.  It was a really short lap, but the kids could run around as many times as they wanted--and run they did!

I ran the first lap with Jax, he spent the whole time running AROUND the color stations instead of through them, crying whenever anyone got near him.  But, after one turn with me, he ran off with Katie and come back covered in color.

LOVE the kid's school and their group of friends!

Sanofsky kids are the greatest

We signed up to help out so the kids also got a chance to throw color on everyone  else.  I think this might have been more fun then running through it.

We had lots of play dates while we waited for the weather to get better.

Jaxon was so excited to have his best preschool friend over to "jump on the trampoline and swing in the hammock"; a bee joined them on the trampoline and his friend was scared of the hammock, but they managed to have fun anyway.

My kids with one of my best friend's from high school kids...instant bond.

Lulu and Katie

Mia and Addy in their fashion show

I try to be involved in the kid's school, it is so much harder with 5 kids.  I was too stressed to volunteer in the classrooms this year, but I was room mom for both Marcus and Addy.  I also co chair the plant sale 2x year.  The Spring Plant sale is a favorite of my kids.  I spend the entire week in the school, which means they get to spend an entire week thinking up reasons to get out of class so they can come visit me.  They eat lunch with me everyday and any break or recess they show up to hang out.  They are the envy of all their friends, who go home begging their parents to volunteer so that they to can eat lunch in the hallway.

Plant sale kids

Teacher appreciation week is always the week of the plant sale.  We heart attacked the teacher's doors to show them our love.

Spring finally arrived and we have spent everyday outside since them. 

Jax was the first to discover a frog in our back yard, but was not the last.

Finally warm enough to go to the beach!

Hiking with my boys

Yeah, this is Jax peeing on a walk

 I went on a field trip with Marcus and Addy, and even got to ride on the bus with them.  We visited some historical sites around Stamford, learned the history of the city and even met the mayor.  That evening our family was getting frozen yogurt and Mark saw us on TV!

For our skip day, after some donuts, Addy and I ended up at the mall and in a chair at Claire's.  Addy had no idea that I had planned to get her ears pierced, but she was so excited, and scared (she almost didn't do it...like, after I had already paid she tried to back out and I might have forced her.)

I don't think she was mad at me

Then all the sudden it was the end of the year and field day!  Thank heavens Marcus and Addy are in the same grade so I didn't have to spend 3 days at the school with Jax and Zane.

Kaite and Jasmine

Then there was Zane, he kept growing and growing.  I took him to his 6 month appointment and they told me to lower his crib side and I laughed.  At his 9 month appointment, they assumed I had, and I laughed.  This child took forever to move, and we didn't care (ok, I admit, it crossed my mind that it was possible he wouldn't be moving when he was 19 but...).  It was so nice to lay and later sit him in one spot and he not move.

Finally, I walked into his room one to day and found this...I didn't laugh...

time to lower the crib (which took us 3 weeks, but we did make him sleep in a pack n play until we got around to it).

Zane is an angel, this child has cried exactly 2 times in his life.  I think we might love him more then all of our other kids put together.

These boys...!

This Spring Addy and Marcus did swim for a month and then tennis for a month and Katie played soccer.  

We had a fantastic school year, but I am always so excited for it to end.  I really look forward to the end of a schedule.  Bring on summer!

Trip to Virginia

There was a family reunion happening the last week of school at my parent's house.  Since we are going to Utah this year, Mark couldn't take off work to join us, so I did the 10 hours alone...with 5 kids.

Katie had a soccer game in the morning and Marcus and Addy had tennis and then a birthday party.  We let them have their fun, and then were on our way.

 Two and half hours into the trip, Jaxon starting whining.  Luckily, it was right as we were passing a Cabella's, which is the perfect place to stop with kids.  They loved looking at all the animals and fish (as long as we didn't talk about how they got there).

After some serious running around Cabella's we got back in the car. Another 2 1/2 hours later we stopped for dinner at Chick Fli A.   Our goal was to make it 8 out of 10 hours, in my mind  I planned for Jax and Zane to fall asleep in the car the last couple hours.  Epic fail!  Right around when they should had fallen asleep they both started crying.  Hours later, everyone feel asleep 20 mins before the hotel...I had to haul 5 kids into a hotel at midnight.  Weirdly enough, the hotel was bumping, so I got all sorts of strange looks.

The next morning we drove the rest of the way to meet my family at church.

We rented a few cabins to house everyone.  Hannah and I shared one that was next to Jenn's family.  Ours had a large pond that was a highlight for all the kids.  They spent hours catching and releasing tadpoles.

 

Sunday after church, everyone came to our cabin for dinner.  The kids don't need entertainment, just being together is more then enough for them.

Thomas and Petey

Miley

Jax and Thomas.  He was so excited to see Thomas, they are going to be super heros and football players together when they get older.

We brought bikes down, Jax LOVED being able to go outside and just bike down the road.  Oh, I miss the country!

Tori and Jenn

Grant

Monday my parent's rented out the local roller skating rink and the family gathered for lunch.  This is an all time favorite activity for my kids-mostly because it might be the last roller skating rink left in the USA.  The ice skating lessons have really paid off, both Marcus and Addy were able to skate this time.  Jaxon was convinced that he could just put on real skates and take off like the other kids, he was so upset when it didn't happen.  I tried to get him to put on plastic ones but he refused for a while.  He then continued to make my life difficult until Flossie took a time out with him, thank heaven for sisters.  After that, Jax tried the plastic ones and skated around like a pro.

Tuesday, we went to Tweetsie Railroad.  I was very nervous about doing this with all 5 kids by myself but it was easier then I thought.  Katie, Addy and Marcus are responsible and more mature then I realized and were able to do their own thing with their older cousins.  So really, I just had to focus on Jax and Zane, and since Zane is an angel, I really just had Jax to worry about.

 

It was Thomas day so we got to ride Thomas the Train.

Last year at the fair, Jaxon wouldn't go on any of the rides.  At Tweetsie he was nervous at first but was willing to ride with his cousins.  He was so proud of himself and had so much fun.

Zane was so excited to get out of the stroller at the petting zoo, he kept trying to grab and eat the baby goats.

Jax and I rode the bumper cars together.  I'm not always the smartest mom and I let him drive.  He almost killed me.  He rammed us into a wall and I got a dented knee and whiplash, my back is still killing me (seriously, I am in physical therapy for it).  He was so scared after the crash that he didn't want to drive any more.  I had to fight through the pain to encourage him to keep going.

Zane went on his first Merry Go ride.  He was so happy being a big boy!

Jax really wanted to ride the airplane but all of his cousins were gone, so he had to gather his courage and ride by himself.  I don't know who was prouder, him or me!

Wednesdays was one of my favorite days.  We biked the Creeper Trail.  It is about 17 miles from the trail head near my parent's house to the where we were ending.  We brought the kids bikes down.  Jax really wanted to ride his own, but of course we had to tell him it was too far.  We put him in the bike trailer with Caden, which he resisted at first, but in end they formed a never ending bond.

My parents watched all the little ones while we were gone for a few hours.

The trip was an adventurous one, Carson's chain kept coming off.  Flossie and I stopped each time, so we go behind the rest of the group.  Randomly, my parent's neighbor passed a road crossing at the same time we did and had the tools to fix it.  Next, we ran into Bryan who was stopped with Cooper and his flat tire.  We tried pumping it up, but it went flat again, then Cooper went on Flossie's bike  and Bryan carried the bike as he biked with his tag-along.  Neither worked well, finally we tied the the bike to the bike trailer I pulled with Jax and Caden, and Cooper hung onto Flossie.  We finally caught up with the rest of the group where they were stopped for ice cream.  Marcus and Katie both managed to have bike crashes and had band aids when I saw them again.

Jenn had a bike with a baby seat on it.  After ice cream we talked Jax into riding in the seat so we could put Thomas with Caden and Cooper in the bike trailer.  Jax was too heavy for me to balance with Jax, so Bryan rode with Jax and I rode with Colby on the tag-along.  Jax LOVED riding with Uncle Bryan, Bryan is crazy and does things mom never would. 

 

At the end of the trail we met shuttles that drove us back to our cars.

Thursday, we went to Grayson Higland's Park for a day of games and hiking.

After a photo opp, we met everyone at our usual spot for lunch.  We chatted, at lunch, played games and watched packs of children run in and out of the woods then we went on our favorite waterfall hike.  Halfway through the hike there is a spot at the bottom of the falls where the kids can play in the water.  I was at the back of the group with the little kids and by the time I caught up with everyone Katie was halfway up the side of the falls.  All of my kids were drenched by the time we kept going.

 

Friday we didn't have any plans, so we all ended up at Flossie's house to let the kids jump on the trampoline and run through the woods.

She also had kittens, enough said ...

Jaxon has to many older cousins to get any quality time with the kittens so he settled for chasing around the mother cat.

Katie begged and begged to bring this one home for her birthday.  Crazy girl thought there might be a chance that I would give in.

We went back to our place for lunch and one last hurrah at the pond.  Friday evening we headed to the mountain for dinner at my parents house.  Katie and Jaxon were so excited to see their garden.  After eating a belly full of strawberries, they  picked veggies and made a salad.

The kids would have stayed on the mountain all night, but we eventually had to leave so I could pack.  Saturday morning, the kids hung out with the Swapp kids while I loaded the car.

Finally, I gathered up my tired but happy kids, full of good memories, and we started the long drive home.  I learned my lesson and we left early enough that we would be home by bedtime.  With thoughts of soon seeing Mark, we reversed ourselves and stopped at Chick Fli A and then at Cabellas and then finally home.