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!

Pink eye...

This poor baby got pink eye somewhere. He was so cute about it. "My owie eyes." "pink eyes." "No touch eyes." "No more drops."  "Wipe yuckies pease. No I do it." "More hanitizer." "More rock rock." "More chiggington." He got a nasty cold along with it. We were crazy about the hanatizer and Luke was the only one that got it. When I took Spencer to the instacare to get drops, I asked for a big bottle assuming the whole family would get it, but they never did! I was shocked! 

The funniest part of the whole thing was Michael. He is such a germ-a-phobe! He carried a bottle of hanitizer with him constantly and used 1/2 a bottle before noon. I heard phrases like, "AAAHHH! He looked at me with his pink eyes!!! I need hanitizer." And "He touched my back, I need more hanitizer." " He's sitting on the couch with me!!! I need more hanitizer!" (He was on the opposite side, nowhere near touching.) 

All in all, I'm surpised it took us this long to get our first round of pink eye. I'm sure it won't be our last.

Funny Funny Kid

Spencer makes me laugh. Like a lot. He also makes me a little crazy.  He is difficult when he doesn't get his way.  Well, he's 2, you say.  Well I've had 3 other 2 year olds, and they haven't had this much fire in them. So here are a few examples.

He wanted to eat his whole tomato in the living room, but I moved him to the counter....

So he told me how he felt about that.  

Then he complied 

Who sits in a stroller?  Not this one.  He stands on the little bar at the bottom backwards. 

This was a hilarious moment.  He was trying to get this old cell phone in his pocket, but he couldn't see around his belly.  Somewhat like a dog chasing his tail.  It was definitely entertaining. I tried to help, but he didn't want it.  Big surprise.  He finally let me.

He fights me every morning changing his diaper wanting undies, so I put him in underwear, but then he fights me to sit on the toilet.  It's a really awesome power struggle. Isabelle has more luck than I do, then again she usually comes with an iPad. Haha! I gave up over the holidays, but am going to hit it hard again soon.  He's super ready, i just need to get my act together to do it.  

One day he smeared "something great" down every single one of my stairs. And laughed. It was impressive enough that I did too. Haha.

This baby NEVER wears clothes! We walk in the door and he takes off his pants.  He usually at least has on a shirt, but rarely pants. It makes me laugh. "Spencer, where are your pants?!"  His response, "I take them off. I no wike a pants!"

 This was a soccer game in late September when the weather starts getting chilly. I wish I could remember all the circumstances about how he ended up this way (he usually stays dressed outside of home), but with a naked baby running around the soccer fields, I was laughing pretty hard.  

Dirt. He gets so filthy and just laughs and smiles.  

I just find myself laughing all day long at him.  The way he talks, his reactions, the way he thinks he runs the place, the way he thinks he's 5 years older than he actually is, the way he sucks his thumb the way he loves his trains. I just love this little boy.