Everything in between...

 I don't remember everything that has happened in the past couple months, but here are the things I took pictures of.

There was a bike race in our neighborhood.  The kids were so excited to watch it, it was everything they were waiting for.  We even witnessed an accident, lucky it was mild.

 

 

 I dropped M & A off with Mark (during his lunch) while I went to an appt, he took them to the Discovery Place right by his work.  It is always super exciting to see him during the day.

We took a looong walk to get ice cream/custard.  Marcus and Addy were in the stroller and Katie rode her scooter.  The kids were supposed to take turns on the scooter but Marcus threw a serious fit about having to walk, then he fell asleep (seriously, it was a long walk).  The ice cream has a dogs eat free policy - so Rufio was pretty excited about his small ice cream cone.

Marcus and Addy came strawberry picking with me.  We met a couple friends there, one friend had a large bucket that she was putting all her berries in, so Marcus decided to add all the ones I picked to hers, AYE!!!  Then, Addy decided to dump a gallon of berries back onto a plant, stinker.  Luckily, one of  my friends finished earlier and took all the kids to the swing set.  I ended up with too many berries and we now have lots of freezer jam and frozen berries.

My boys wore matching suits and looked smokin hot! (My girls looked pretty cute as well.)

 

 Rufio and my kids are stinkers

Addy came downstairs one morning and asked Mark if he could help her "button her pants with his fat fingers".  She is always saying something ridiculous and funny.

We have been having lots of fun with friends.

Marcus, Dax and Addy at the Nature Museum

The kids were all in gymnastics for a 6 week class at our Y.  They loved every second of it. Addy is amazing.  I just couldn't find or remember to bring the camera during most of it.  There were only a couple other kids in the class, I think they liked it more bc it gave them more time on the floor.

Katie started soccer.  I won't lie, she is AWESOME!!!  She really wanted to score a goal this season so she started praying hard, I reminded her she needed to practice just as hard.  She is still one of the smallest on her team but she is not letting that stop her.  She has been doing so well.  A couple weeks ago she finally scored her first goal, Mark missed it because he was home with a contractor so Katie made it up to him by scoring two at her next game!!!

Katie had asked us before that game if we would buy her a present if she scored two, we told her yes...luckily she decided she wanted chapter books.  (Does it bug anyone else that Junie B. Jones does not speak proper English?)

 

Katie is becoming quite the reader, I love that I can find her reading to Marcus and Addy (and even Rufio sometimes) while they are playing.

This past weekend my little sister Heather graduated from high school so we made a day trip to the mountains to celebrate with her.  We drove up early and spent the day with Flossie (she had baby number 3 today, I had spent this past week making her a bunch of freezer meals in preparation).  We met the rest of my family at the park for a picnic dinner.  Of course my kids were in heaven the whole time--what is better then a million people who love you.

 Heather leaving to get ready

Her graduation was outside and they only had bleachers so half the crowd was standing or sitting on the ground.

People in my family

 Marcus had a couple of very loud emotional breakdowns, when I threatened to punish him he called my bluff by crying louder and getting hysterical.  There was nothing I could do right there, on a hill, in a crowd; oh my, what do I do with my kids?

More of my family, we mostly just talked to each other the whole time, we couldn't really hear and you could not see.  But we did yell really loud for our Heather.

Another important note is that my little sister Hannah is going on a mission for our church to the Dominican Republic!

And finally, yesterday Mark needed new shoes so we took a trip to the mall.  We haven't been shopping with all the kids in a really long time.  It went a lot better then expected (probably because we promised frozen yogurt if they were good for the whole trip)

 

Riding the carousel

Easter

Better late then never...

Easter morning we got up and went to church.  We got ready quickly so we would have time to take pictures.  Little miss Addy was being a stinker and wouldn't act normal.  We did what any good parents would do and threatened to take away all her Easter treats if we didn't get a good one.

After church the kids found their Easter baskets and spent the rest of the day eating candy and playing with toys, Mark and I spent the day relaxing (in between cooking dinner).

Somewhere in there we had an Easter egg hunt (Mark thought that this was an appropriate time to teach Marcus that it was ok to be outside without a shirt on--he refuses to swim without a rash guard on)

That evening we had a yummy dinner and a family night focused on Christ and his resurrection. 

Spring Break

A couple weeks ago Mark had a business trip in NYC.  We went up together the weekend before and then I flew home alone on Monday evening.  The weekend was blissful and I spent Monday hanging out with Heather (my friend from the mission).  Problem is, when I got home I had a very difficult time transitioning back into mom mode, sometimes I just get tired.  Luckily Mark had been coming home earlier for the past couple weeks so the kids weren't completely neglected.

Katie had Spring Break last week, and I resolved to get back into enjoying parenting.  Monday morning we visited the local firehouse with some kids from the gym.  Marcus asked if he could drive the fire truck (they said when he became a fireman) and Addy asked if she could see their beds (which they showed her).

We spent the afternoon hanging out with friends at the park.

Tues Flossie came down to take Bethany and Eric to the airport, we met her at IKEA.  IKEA with 5 kids is a little crazy.  Afterwards we had an Easter egg hunt at our house and dinner afterwards, Sarah and her family came for the festivities.

Cooper, Addy, Talia, Marcus, Carson & Katie (yes that is a leotard on Addy)

Enjoying their spoils

 Wed, Flossie, Sarah and I took the kids to an indoor playground and then out to eat.  Everyone did pretty well, until the waitress waited to bring us the checks.  Ten mins after we were done eating Addy dropped a glass and it shattered all over the restaurant (as you can imagine we got our check pretty quickly after that).

Thursday morning we headed to the zoo.  We met my friend, Vanessa, there with her three kids (her youngest Sean was in M & A's preschool class, and they live in our neighborhood).  Before we left Addy told Mark she wanted to see a jaguar and a reindeer, Katie wanted to see a horse and a lamb and Marcus wanted to see an elephant and a snake.  Marcus was the only one who had a real chance. 

Ben, Addy, Katie, Marcus, Logan & Sean

 Friday was a perfectly lazy day.  I was supposed to go to the gym, but didn't.  The kids played from 9:00am until 12:00pm without acknowledging me.

I read...and...did nothing, it was great.  After lunch we took a long walk combined with a scavenger hunt.  To top off a great day Mark's boss sent him home at 4pm (and no, he wasn't fired)!

B & Farm boy

 Bethany and her husband Eric have been staying at my parents house while they are in Guatemala.  They were getting ready to go back to BYU-I so we decided to go hang out with them for a few days.

First, we made a pit stop at the park and met Flossie and her kids for a picnic lunch and a hike.

Addy was being a little stinker at the end of the hike, she laid down in the grass and would not come with us.  I told her that I was leaving, and waved goodbye, Katie and Marcus freaked out and ran and got her, the three of them ran towards me holding hands (Carson jumped in for the picture).  The last three years have been crazy for me but there are some benefits to having so many kids so close together--they are all best friends.

 After fun with the cousins we headed to my parents house.  There was a baby goat that my kids were so excited to see.  First thing they did was help Eric feed the goats.  Addy didn't want to go with them at first, she stayed back by the house with the dogs (she was afraid the goats would eat her).  Somewhere along the way she started calling Eric "Farmboy".

The next day we went walking on the creeper trail.  I should have brought a stroller or something, cause the kids whined most of the way.

On the way to the trail, Rufio wasn't in his crate, he got scared from the bumps and jumped on the kids lap, Katie was so excited about having him on her lap in the car that she asked me to take a picture and post it.

The kids kept picking up sticks to take on the walk.  Addy was getting frustrated because everyone had a bigger one then her.  She fixed this by pulling out a mini tree.

That night, Bryan and his boys and Flossie and hers came up to my parents house for a mini family party.   Three single parents, 7 kids five and under and one pair of newly weds made for a good time.

 

My parent's dog was a little jealous of the attention that Rufio was getting so Bryan decided to treat her like a puppy.

In between all the kid time I got to chat (and gossip) with Bethany and Eric.  And of course, Bethany made us some yummy food.

Thanks Bethany and Eric for the good time.