Mother's Day

I woke up to a Mother's Day breakfast in bed from Jordyn and Sydney. The cool thing is that they did this completely on their own, even the idea itself. They made me cereal, a glass of milk, granola bar, 2 pieces of toast, and an orange.  Jeff went above and beyond and got me a 1 hour massage, cleaned the entire house, took care of all the kids needs, let me take a nap after church, and cooked dinner, like a REAL, legitimate dinner. He made homemade chicken fetticine alfredo with broccoli and a spinach salad. He also fixed our BBQ so now he can cook more:) Thanks babe! These are the really dark pictures we took after 8am church. 

 Home made gifts are the best. The middle picture Jordyn drew is of me. She also said she would rub my feet and I held her to it.

 Sydney made me a candle, a ceramic butterfly, and magnets with her picture.

 Levi wrote about me. According to Levi I am 14 years old, the best thing I cook is pancakes with frosting (?), and I'm really good at playing soccer (?).

The best thing about my kids is that they put up with me and love me unconditionally, at least for time being.

random stuff

1. Necklace I suggested Jeff buy me for Mother's day.

2.  Jordyn's Kindergarten muscial. It was about insects and arachnids. Tallest girls stand on back row. I never stood on the back row. Not sure where she gets her height.

 3. slip-n-slides. This bought us 3 hours of non-stop play time, and surprisingly no fighting, the first day. I love that it's big enough for all 3 to slide on at the same time. Jeff hit a home run with this item.

 4. Levi just looking so handsome before school.

 4. Macie wearing a hair clip that she didn't rip off right away. I snuck it on her head without her knowing. Macie has a fetish with toothbrushes, Q-tips, and pencils. Can you pick out the the common denominator with the 3 objects? Long, skinny items. It always frightens us that she going to fall with it in her mouth. We take it from her and a fit ensues. But she is a cute, little, juicy, Gerber baby. I always get asked, "where does she get her blonde hair from?," "were your other kids blonde?," and comments how cute her eyes and cheeks are. The back of her hair is curly. She signs: ball, dog, airplane, Jesus, more, and bird. I'm currently teaching her 'please'.  She LOVES when I show her the picture of Jesus and the temple in our house. She smiles and giggles. Her favorite book is "Little Blue Truck."

Easter

Easter--it's become my favorite holiday. It's more simpler and quieter than Christmas and more focused on Christ life, death, and resurrection. 

 Here we are at the Easter pageant at the Mesa temple. This was my first time at any pageant. The weather was awesome. You have to go a few hours earlier to get a seat. We went with Madi, our new GM for BB. We laid down a blanket, had a dinner picnic and played UNO until it started.

 A week prior I have a little devotional about the days leading up to Christ death and resurrection. I've done this for a few years now and the repetition is starting to pay off. Next year, I'd like to audition for the pageant with Jordyn and Sydney so they can have that experience and further know the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 They wanted to take pictures with some of the cast. A wise man above and soldier below.

 Easter Sunday. We said nothing of the Easter bunny. They know that I get them stuff and it was only Sunday stuff that I put in their Easter baskets. New church outfit, a Sunday bag with new colored pencils, an activity book, and notebook, church talks on CD, church book, and a "mom and me" journal - to write letters/notes back and forth to one another.

 Our church starts at 8am so it takes a lot to rush out the door.

 Love the girls together

 Levi is so handsome in his new shirt and tie.

 Great Grandma Marianne sent Macie's dress to her for her birthday. It is super cute.

 We dyed easter eggs of course. That's tradition.

 macie wasn't sure what to do with it....

 at first, but then she would lift it up and then bang it on the tray.

 and then pick off the cracked shell. I had to take it away because she still puts everything in her mouth.

 Easter dinner we had Madi over. She just moved here from Lubbock. No friends or family so I wasn't about to let her eat alone on her first holiday away from her family. The kids love her and I'll blog another post about the latest with Bahama Buck's.

Macie turn 1

To sound like a broken record, "I can't believe Macie is 1. This past year has gone by sooo fast." On her actual birthday we took her to Bahama Buck's and she had her first shaved ice--birthday cake no less with sprinkles. The crew sang her Happy Birthday. She took a bite and you would've thought she was tasting a lemon. She didn't like it so Sydney, Jordyn, and Levi gladly ate the rest of it.

 A week later Brooke and her kids came to visit with my mom for their Spring break. Macie and Finn bonded when drinking milk together or when we made them touch like with this picture below. A lot of swimming, playing, drinking smoothies we made at Bahama Buck's, and rollerskating were some fun things we did. The quote of the week was:
Levi: "Parker how old are you?"
Parker: "13"
Levi: "Then why do you pick your nose?"
It was hilarious and Parker spent the rest of the time here asking every adult if they pick their nose to prove Levi that everyone does.

 Macie seems to like girls better than boys and since Brooke only has 1 daughter she was Macie's preferred than the boys. Macie didn't want anything to do with Parker!

 We had a small birthday party for Macie. We made it a pool party, although the pool was still pretty cold. The Neeley's and Theurer's came over. We had a snowball fight, pizza, and cake. Of course I asked a lot of family and friends to write a letter to her that I plan to save until she turns 16.

Oh yeah, part of the snowball fight. The snowballs were a little hard and actually hurting the kids. Oops.

 It took Macie a few minutes to warm up to the cake. But once she felt comfortable with the texture of it she started stuffing her face.

 Gotta suck it allll off my fingers

 Then I smashed the girls faces in the cake and they all thought that was really fun.

 Macie opening some gifts. Jen hooked her up with an ENTIRE wardrobe. seriously.

and a picture of us together to prove that I was there. I was gonna go into the pool until I stepped on the first step and felt how cold it was. It was a fun week and glad that some family could celebrate with us because we had no family with Jordyn or Levi's 1st birthday. The cons of living far away.