Happy Easter!

For Easter, we had Mike's family party. We had a dinner, the basement egg hunt, and baskets from Grandma and Grandpa.  Mike's mom got all the kids swimsuits and goggles for our Florida trip in June.

Then on Easter morning, we had some family fun at home. 

I love family traditions!

Valentines Day Party

Last year we did a family Valentines Party that was so fun!  So we did it again this year. 

This was Isabelle's Valentien's Box for school.  She did it all by herself and did such a great job!

We had a puzzle contest 

Stacked conversation hearts 

And some Bingo 

Spencer fell asleep while I pulled out the treats. Ha! 

Sisters Weekend

 Back in February, we had a Sister's Weekend.  We have done these off and on over the years and they always look different, but it's always at least Melanie, Jill, and I.  There just is nothing like your sister.  These two are simply amazing and help me be a better person.  I can tell them absolutely everything and they love me anyway. They are the best!  We have never gotten to live close so we try to get together when we can. We talk on the phone A LOT, but it's just not the same as hanging out together. Melanie is living in ITALY right now.  The time difference has been so difficult to stay in touch like we normally do. Melanie and Jane came from Italy, so we took that as a chance for a get together.  It was just at my house in the midst of our crazy, but still fun. This time the group was Melanie, Jane, Jill, Mom, Dad and my brother Danny.  It was a little odd with Melanie and Jane coming from Italy, they were super jet lagged at the beginning. And then Jill was super early pregnant, so she was pretty miserable the last few days.  We never had a day all of us were totally on our game, but it was still fun anyway. Haha. 

This is what sister's weekend is.  Hanging out in jammies chatting.  We were going through some of my grandma's things. 

We visited my Dad's parents. 

One day I let Isabelle skip school and we drove to meet my Mom's parent's for lunch at Chuck a Rama. My cousins, Jay and Nicholas, and Uncle Dwight also came.  I'm bummed I don't have a picture of all of us. It was so fun!

After lunch was lots of shopping! 

And we headed to BYU campus to wander, see an art exhibit (That was packed and we couldn't get into) and have a mint brownie and chocolate milk.  A couple of family favorites.  

One night we had a surprise retirement party for my dad.  We played a great Jeopardy game that Jill made about DuPont and Dad's career.  And then had "DuPont cookies." When I was a little girl, before I could read, the symbol on the Oreo looks like the DuPont symbol.  So I called them DuPont cookies.  It kinda stuck. 

Then we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday.  It wasn't until a few months later, but since it was a big one, we wanted to do something special for her while 4 of us kids were together.  

It was a fun few days with my family.  I was able to get lots of babysitters and "friend time" for my kids so I wasn't in full mommy mode. Love my family and especially my sisters and the effort we make to see each other. 

Mommy Dates

I was noticing everything I did was a "group effort."  I was always saying "Everybody come...", everybody get jammies on, everybody help clean, everybody come read stories etc.  As that was happening behavior was going down.  Kids need a little one on one time.  So I have started Mommy dates (among other tips and tricks I'm trying that are helping a lot).  They are totally sporadic when they happen, but the kid gets to chose the activity (within reason).  I get a babysitter for everyone else and we do something fun together.  

Last week was Luke.  He chose Del Taco for lunch and then Chuck E. Cheese for some fun. These smiles make me laugh.  He was SO happy and SO excited.  He definitely needed some extra love this week.  

In June, Isabelle and I went to a play.  We went and saw Jane Eyre.  One of  my little sister's college roomates played Jane Eyre. She did a fantastic job and the whole play was so great!  We both really enjoyed it and she is super excited to be my theater buddy.  Don't be surprised if this is our "thing" for dates. 

In May, Michael started off our Mommy Date tradition.  He wanted to go to Wal-Mart to spend his money and go to McDonalds for dinner. He bought some window markers and a minion stuffed animal.  He also needed a new helmet so I footed that bill.  I didn't do any other shopping, just focused on him.   

I have really really enjoyed doing this with my kids! Spending good focused time with each kid has spread into our home life too.  It's been a change for the better around here. My goal is about 1 kid a month, but obviously that won't always happen.  And I haven't decided when Spencer's will start. They are each already planning their next dates.