Another Braegger?

I'm sure you are all so intrigued by the title of this post.  You all thought we were done adding to our family, didn't you?  Well, you were wrong!

Meet Nimbus!

Ally has been begging for a kitten for the last couple of months.  We made a deal with her to show us some responsibility and she passed with flying colors. So, one trip to Walmart for supplies and a trip to our (not really sure what to call her) lady who owes us lots of money (as if a free kitten will make up for the thousands of dollars she owes us) and we had this cute little fellow.

His name is short for Cumulonimbus, you know, the clouds.  His grey fur reminded us of the skies outside lately and it seems to fit him.  We are all in love with him!  Holden always greets him with an "Oh, cute!" and that makes us smile.  He's playful, but loves to cuddle when he is tired.  He's supposed to be a garage cat, but we are all having a hard time leaving him out there.  Unfortunately Logan's allergies have been pretty bad so we'll have to quit bringing him in so much.  We haven't had very good luck with cats in the past so hopefully this one will turn out better!  He's a sweetie!

Bubby Strikes Again

Do you ever have one of those days?  The ones where nothing goes right and you feel like you want to crawl back in bed and hide?  Yesterday was one of those days for me.  Logan was on day two of the stomach flu and all our pet goldfish had already died.  Not a fun day.

Then while I was in my room folding laundry Holden came in and said "hot, Mom, hot".

"What's hot Holden?"

He just looked up at me with a scared expression and tugged on me to follow him.

About that time Ally walked in the door from school and yelled "Mom, why does it smell like something is burning in here?" (side note: I don't have a sense of smell so my kids are used to smelling things for me.)

That's when I made a bee line for the kitchen.

Nope, not the stove.  Nope, not the oven.

Then I looked at the microwave and thought it looked a little funny.  I popped it open and this is what I found:

Mr. T (the T stands for Trouble) decided to push a chair over to the microwave and put a hot pad in it. All he had to do was push one of the buttons from 1 through 6 and it started up just like magic. (I'm thinking he pushed the six.)  Aren't those "quick start" buttons handy?

When I opened it up the hot pad was still flaming a little-very exciting.  This was the point where Holden looked at me and said "Sorry, Mom". And yes, it killed the microwave in case you were wondering.  I guess we're going microwave shopping.  I hope we can find one that will fit in our custom built spot-bleh.  And I'm totally taking the cost out of Holden's inheritance!

Randall Easter Hunt

Next was the Randall Easter Hunt at Noon.  This is pot luck/bring your own sandwiches get together.  We never bring sandwiches because there is always plenty of pot luck items and we're still full from breakfast.  This year our family was in charge of cookies.  Ally made 5 dozen sugar cookies and they were very yummy.  At least someone in our house can cook!

Logan makes an adorable bunny, don't you think?

Holden got in on the bunny action, too.

Who knew it was so painful to say cheese?

Ally was VERY prepared for the candy hunt!  After we're done eating at the church, the adults hide the candy at Aunt Doris's house while the kids run around the church and play, which they love just as much as the candy hunt I think.  Then everyone has a list of what candy they can find and keep.  Holden didn't really follow his list very well.  Somehow I couldn't convince him to put stuff back for other kids.  It was a pure free for all for him!

Holden finding his "four sixlets".

I actually liked this picture of me so I thought I would include it.  Rare to find a picture I like of myself!

Don't they look so cute and innocent? 

Funny side story:  someone always brings pickles and Jensen couldn't get enough of them.  However, there were sweet pickles next to the dill.  Jensen's face was hilarious when he bit into a sweet one expecting a dill.  I wish I would have gotten a picture.  The look on his face was priceless!

After we got home, I was still feeling bad about my pants (dumb, but they were my favorite pants!), so Josh let me go shopping.  Ally and I went to Old Navy and all their clearance pants were six dollars! Yes, I said six dollars!  I ended up getting five new pairs of pants.  They are not nearly as cute as the ones I tore, but it made me feel a little better.

Then we got our strawberries and raspberries planted, colored eggs and then went to bed to await the Easter Bunny.

This is what the kids woke up to.  Ally got a cute stuffed bunny and purse, Holden got a cool ball, Logan and Jensen got legos.  Plus butterfly nets, candy and Tangled and Megamind on DVD.  Gotta love the Easter Bunny!  Ally and Mom got to be in a bell choir at church.  It's a lot of fun to ring bells and we both loved it! Whew!  What a busy and fun weekend!

Braegger Easter Breakfast

We had our annual Easter Breakfast on Saturday morning.  It's always fun to see the Braeggers and enjoy breakfast together.  We missed those who couldn't make it. The kids always love the egg hunt after we eat.  I think Jensen asked me 15 times if it was time for the hunt yet.  It's so hard to wait when you're a kid!

Holden insisted on wearing gloves-silly kid.  He had no idea what was going on while we were waiting for the hunt to begin.  Uncle Duane announced that anyone who started early or had too many eggs at the end would have to give all their candy back. Then Holden saw his first egg and ran out and grabbed it.  He grabbed two more before I could catch him.  Leave it to Holden to break the rules!  Uncle Duane let him keep his candy anyway. ;)

Jensen's patience paid off.  He loved the hunt!

Holden on the "tacter".  Anything with wheels makes him happy!  The kids ended up with tons of candy (and more to follow) and the adults all had full tummies.  There was enough french toast and bacon for the whole neighborhood, I think!  We love the Braegger Easter Breakfast!

Dinosaur Park "Trip"

Spring Break, or Spring Weekend as I prefer to call it.  Two days off from school does not qualify as a break to me.  Seriously, how lame is two days off?  And it was over Easter, as well.  That means we had all our Easter Weekend traditions to stick around for-so no fun trip. Lame.

Anyway, on Friday we met the Kotters at the Dinosaur Park.  The kids were pretty excited to be getting out of the house.  I wasn't too sure about the weather, but 45 degrees felt pretty warm.  That's the good thing about spring.  Cooler temperatures feel warmer than they do in the fall.

Well, as we were walking into the park, Holden could hear the dinosaur noises and got scared.  I picked him up to carry him and one of my kids decided to walk in front of me, right in my blind spot, and all three of us took a tumble.  After making sure the kids were okay and looking around to make sure no one saw me fall, I heard Logan say "Mom, you're pants don't look too good".  Sure enough, not only had I skinned my palm and knee, but I ripped a hole in my favorite pants.  My favorite pants!!  The ones that are way comfy, match tons of shirts and people always compliment me on!!

I was not happy.

In fact, it made me quite grumpy.  My apologies to the Kotters 'cause I know I wasn't good company. After bandaging myself up we proceeded on our outing.  It took me quite a while to feel like taking pictures, so I don't have too many to share.

Feeding the ducks.  My kids are a little obsessed with ducks and always search them out wherever we go.

Ally, Katelyn, Jensen, Holden and Logan

The kids loved looking for "gold" in the sand/water.  Overall, it was great to get out of the house.  We have a family pass and I look forward to taking the kids back.  I will definitely make sure to watch my step next time!

Haircut, etc.

Ally and I went and got haircuts the other day.  It was a fun little outing for us.  I'm sure I glad I have her to keep me sane among all the "boyness" in our house!

She chopped it off!!  It makes her look so grown up...sigh.  I can't believe she is FIVE MONTHS away from Young womens!

She was also in a play a couple weeks ago.  She was Vanessa the mermaid and a narrator in the play "Hook and the Stolen Pixie Dust". People think she is so shy and reserved, but you should have seen her in the play.  She did so well!  She's quite the little actress.  She had her "snobby" mermaid part down to perfection.  She also just had her piano recital.  She played "Ben Hur Chariot Race March".  This song is sort of a family tradition.  Two of my sisters and I learned to play it and it's a lot of fun.  I have to give her props because I didn't learn it until I was 14 and she's 11.  It's pretty difficult to play.  I dare say she's already a better pianist than I am-and I couldn't be prouder!

When I was taking Ally's haircut picture, Holden wanted his picture taken, too.  Notice the scrape on his forehead.  There were bruises on his cheek as well.  The kid is just an accident waiting to happen and never stops moving.  Church is a nightmare!  If looks could kill, we would all drop dead at church every week!  Well, most people are nice and understanding, but there are a few who probably do a happy dance when we aren't there!  Not sure why they always sit by us...

Other happenings?  We got to hook up to Willard's new sewer.  Whoopee.  Bring on the extra forty dollars a month.  The boys start Little League this week.  That will be fun for them.  We really enjoyed it last year.  I have a feeling I'll have a hard time keeping Holden off the field, though!

Blessedly Normal

I love to read blogs.  Friends, family, strangers-I don't care.  It is almost an obsession.  I truly find other people's lives fascinating. Well, in my random searchings through the web, I have been stumbling across a lot of tragic stories lately.  These are families who have lost children in tragic accidents, their kids are fighting cancer, or perhaps it's even the blog author who is fighting cancer.  I naturally gravitate towards the ones who are LDS.  It is amazing how strong these families are and it has really made me take a step back and evaluate my life.

That is why my blog now has a new title:  Blessedly Normal.

Sometimes I get so tired of doing the same things, day after day, week after week.  I feel like my purpose in life is to do laundry, drive kids around and break up fights between them.  But after reading about what others have been through, I feel so grateful that my life is so "normal".  I don't have a disease that might take me away from my family, I don't have a sick child who requires constant care and I've never had a child die.  I've never even experienced losing a parent or a close family member.  I am so blessed!  I know there is no guarantee that my life will remain so "normal".  That brings me to the point of this post.  In reading all these amazing blogs I have found two main themes that they all have in common.

The first one is to be "present" in your life.  Be there.  Be aware of every single person that goes in and out of your life on a daily basis and make it a point to make them happy.  You never know if that person will be there tomorrow. For me that means I have a lot of work to do.  I have become so complacent about my life lately. I don't think I have been very "present".  It has become so easy to just let the kids do their own thing. I figure that as long as they aren't hurting each other or the house, that they're okay.  I need to make the effort everyday to check in with them, make sure things at school are going well, find out their new interests, play with them, etc.  I need to make my relationship with Josh a priority as well.  As a mother it is so easy to get caught up in daily kid stuff that you neglect to nurture and grow your relationship with your husband.  I think, "he'll be there when the kids are grown and gone".  Well, guess what?  If I don't work on the relationship he won't WANT to be there when they're grown and gone!

The other theme I have found is service.  On every one of the blogs the authors are always flooded with service as they experience their tragedies.  What is their response?  To want to give service back to others.  I was particularly touched by the mother who raises money to pay for head stones of children who pass away.  Even though she lost her sweet little toddler, instead of wallowing in grief, she raises money to help families remember their children.  Service is something I want to be better at.  It's not just these blogs, but lessons in church seem to be focusing on that subject lately.  I think it's something Heavenly Father is telling me to do:  get out of your rut and help others, Heather. It will bring you and those you help happiness. 

So that's what I've been thinking about lately.  These blog authors are so inspired with what they share. I know they have inspired me to enjoy my "blessedly normal" life.