Time is Passing

The other morning these two little hands poked under the bathroom door. It made me smile. It was a sight that I realized that I rarely see anymore.  This used to be a regular occurrence, numerous times a day, with multiple different children.  It used to drive me crazy. "Can't I just have a moment?!" But this morning, last week, I found myself wishing those little fingers would stay.  My kids are getting bigger and time is slipping by and I haven't been good at recording all those little things I never want to forget.  That's what this blog started as..."I just never want to forget this..." As I look at this blog that is SO full of memories and in every way, our family journal.  I'm so sad I've gotten so lackadaisical in it.  I've had excuses off and on.  But it comes down to, it just hasn't been a priority.  I would love to go back and be as detailed to "Catch up." But I'm realizing, it's just not going to happen.  So here I am, hitting the reset button and starting where I am today and jumping back on this.  My kids have been asking for the next book in line and I haven't made it! *Gasp!"* So even though time is passing.  My kids ARE growing up.  I can still savor fingers under the bathroom door forever.

Spring Break

In April, my kids had Spring Break.  We just stuck around here, but made sure to have lots of fun.

Our gym (which is amazing, by the way) started the week off with a balloon artist...

We babysat 10 baby chicks.  Like brand new babies.  They were my neighbor's, but couldn't take care of them as babies.  So we took them until they could be outside full time.  The first of 6 weeks that we had them, was spring break.  They got LOTS of extra love with the kids being home all week.  

We made lots of trips to the ice cream store. 

We did dinner at IHOP one night with dad

And had our first movie together as a whole family in the theater.  It was so great.  We saw Zootopia.  The kids were all well behaved! 

We went to the aquarium at one point and saw one of the 3D movies.  They are super short, but still fun.  It was the first time we did that part of the aquarium. 

We finished off the week with a trip to the Thanksgiving Point Museum of Curiosity.  Mike was even able to join us, which is always a special treat. 

It was a fun schedule-less week with lots of good family time together. 

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. 

"Glow"

Isabelle was in a school play (way back in like January, haha). It was called "Glow." It was about a lady bug helping a firefly find his special jobs, "Because everyone has a special job!" Isabelle was the leading lady bug.  We practiced for MONTHS! 8 pages, people. We memorized 8 pages! She did awesome. 

The performance night, I was running lines and braiding her hair....brought back SO many high school memories doing just that for One Act.

This is Jackson, he was the firefly.  These two were pretty much the whole show with every other kid having a line or word here and there.  It was full of songs and adorable. Apparently all my pictures didn't turn out, but my videos did, so this is what you get. :)

Our neighbor, and her best friend, Avery came to support her.  These two have the most amazing friendship.  I call her Isabelle's golden friend.  Never fight, get along perfectly, love animals and art and are outside for HOURS. Love these two!

We had another special guest.  My 96 year old grandparents came. We had front and center seats so they could see the whole thing.  She was ecstatic she had special visitors.

And even Dad made it. 

I was so impressed with how well she did.  She didn't get nervous at all, got all her lines right, and sounded like she actually performed it, not just memorized it (which for 2nd graders is a feat, haha). She got lots of compliments and did a great job. Way to go my cute little Lady Bug!