Lots and lots

I've missed a ton of stuff since I haven't posted in over a month. Not anything extraordinary but just lots of things to keep us busy. So here are some of the things we've been up to with pictures for the things I actually had my camera for.

-I had another birthday and my mom surprised me by showing up on my doorstep for it. It happened to fall on Easter this year so I had to share my cake with our yearly Easter Bunny cake















-We had a few zoo trips






























-A couple field trips for the kids schools

-Farm visits












































-Lots of walks and park visits
























































































-Darren had a birthday. Check out all that smoke! ;)

















-Our friends and their 4 kids came to stay a weekend with us and we played around, stayed up way too late and us girls took the kids to a indoor amusement park while the boys did boy things

-We've had a couple bouts of sickness both cold and flu wise
















-Allie graduated from her 1st year of preschool
















-Emmie had her last day of school and bike-a-thon

I think that brings us up to speed with where we are now. Emmie and Allie start a summer school program tomorrow for the month of June and I have 3 weeks left till my due date for baby #4. I updated my pregnancy blog finally (yep I've sucked at updating that too) Hopefully I'll be updating at least 1 more time this month on this family blog when the babe arrives!

This and That

The girls were playing out back the other day on this barrel, they were being super sweet and cute with each other so I went and grabbed the camera. Instead of catching the cuteness this is what they gave me. At least it shows their real personalities. Little stinkers
















This is a random picture off my camera. Emmie's school was having a crazy hair day during their spirit week but it happened to fall on the day all the kindergartners got to sing the National Anthem in front of the whole school. So we decided to make her crazy hair patriotic. She loved it and wanted me to do it again the next day.
















Last Sunday was a nice day so we all piled in the car and checked out a new park we hadn't been to yet. It was a great one and we'll be heading back there for sure. We only snapped a few shots of the kids, mostly on the swings since they were running too fast to get them doing much else.










































































The "Spring" here in Utah is such a tease. We had 2 days of 75 degree weather a couple weeks ago followed by a day of snow then rain. It's extremely bipolar. But on the warmer days it's been so nice to get out. Utah gets a little too warm in the summer some days and I'll be extra large with all the baby weight but I'm still so excited to be outside every day!

Mommy Fail

Today was kind of a bad day. Ok it sucked. The kids were totally on one fighting and hyper and just being downright annoying and bad. Me being pregnant and tired and dealing with the duties of keeping up a house (dishes, laundry, feeding the kids, vacuuming after every meal because the kids can never seem to make the food go in their mouths, running errands, cleaning up toys and keeping the kids entertained) I was pretty cranky today. I tried things like taking them on a car ride, going over to Burger King just to let them play at the play place etc. So the day winds down and we get Emmie's homework done, books read, them all dressed for bed, teeth flossed and brushed, prayers said. While I kiss Emmie goodnight she whispers to me that she left something on the counter she wants me to look at. I come down and clean up the rest of the toys scattered around and remember what Emmie said and I find this little book.











































































She did it all by herself this afternoon and I feel so bad I didn't notice it sooner. Eliza didn't go down for a nap for some reason today but I kept going upstairs trying to get her down. Emmie had asked me to help her make a book to take to school and I had been so exasperated and told her I couldn't because I was too busy with Eliza. I told her if she wanted to do it she would have to do it herself. (yes makes me sound like such a mean mom) So seeing her book pulled at my heartstrings and made me shed a few tears for not being able to stretch myself thinner today and give each of my kids the attention they wanted/needed.

Being a mom can be so hard sometimes and even though there are days I feel I'm doing pretty good there are days like today that remind me I can always do better and need to reevaluate my priorities.

Please let it stick

So remember back in December how the littlest stinker was potty training, she caught on super quick and was totally potty trained? Well we went to Oregon for Christmas and she did great the whole drive there and the first day. But we were worried about accidents at other people's houses so we made the mistake to put her in pull ups. That led to her using them like diapers and this caused her to totally regress back to diapers full time.

My mom took Allison to Oregon last week for a week so I decided it was time to revisit the training with one less kid around. She was doing amazing until my mom came back with Allie. She then had 5 accidents in one morning and I, being pregnant, emotional and cranky, threw her back into a diaper the rest of the day and felt totally defeated. Luckily by the evening I came around to rational thinking and put her back into panties. She's been doing great and I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel again.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I hate potty training! If there was a place around here that offered a service to train your kids for you I'd totally put my kids in it and be willing to pay big bucks for it. So all you ladies out there who don't mind it, just know there are tons of other moms like me and you should start a business. You'd make a killing

Camera +No memory card = No Bueno!

Darren and I took a trip with just the two of us and brought our camera to take lots of fun pictures, only problem was I left my memory card in my computer at home instead of bringing it. We were staying at this amazing resort tucked away from everything and of course they didn't sell any memory cards at their gift shop.

















Luckily Darren's company was awesome and had old school prom style pictures for each night so we dressed up for those and still came home with 2 pictures of our trip. Too bad in one of them Darren's wearing a cowboy hat and gun holster and I'm wearing a boa and holding a gun (it was a western themed event) If I knew how to use our scanner I'd load them to give you guys a nice laugh but I don't know how.

I have to give a shout out to my mom and step dad for coming out here and watching our 3 kiddlets while we were gone though. It was an awesome weekend and it was nice of them to take on the challenge of all our kids. Sadly I only got one picture while they were here and it's this one of my mom with Eliza cramming herself into a comfy spot behind my mom. She likes to put herself into weird places and make you just deal with her being there.

Nice to Meet You Again

We've had some warmer weather and it's been so nice to be outside and let the kids play a bit. I can't wait till it's warm for good and they can be out each day! I love the sun and the kids have been so much happier since they've been able to get out. Here are a couple not so great random shots to document the occasion though. I really need to get my camera out more.

I also updated my pregnancy blog with a name poll so go vote on your choice or add another name idea to our list.













































I had to add in this picture of Eliza since it made me laugh so hard. I told her to smile and look at me but I was standing with the sun behind me so she couldn't keep her eyes open. She looks like a total nut in the picture. I love this little weirdo!

The babe is 2

Eliza's birthday was on Sunday and she turned 2! I seriously feel like it should have been her 1st birthday because it doesn't feel like I had her 2 whole years ago. Luckily she was feeling better and had a good birthday. Hard to believe that just a week before she was in and out of the hospital feeling like poop with pneumonia and RSV. I'm so glad kids are so resilient and that she could have such a good birthday.

Since it was on a Sunday we kept things super low key and did cake and presents after church and her nap. It was just Darren, me and the kiddos. I love when birthdays can be so simple and fun. Here are a couple pictures from the day.





























































I love this family picture, Darren is cheesing it up, I'm sporting a fake smile and look super tired, Allie's in the middle of talking. It just shows what a real non posed, non done up, family photo looks like.