It's Summer!

School is out and the kids are excited for summer!  Notice I said the KIDS were excited for summer-not me.  Ugh.  I think it's only been the last couple of years that I have dreaded school being out.  I used to miss my kids while they were at school.  Not that I don't now, they are just getting old enough to whine about being bored, trash the house in 30 seconds flat, and fight like crazy with each other.  I have already heard "I"m bored" at least two dozen times-even from Jensen who never had a problem entertaining himself after morning kindergarten.

Oh well, like I've said before, I need to cherish these moments while my kids are little and life is good.  I hope to have lots of fun with them this summer (and hopefully Josh will take the boys to work with him a lot!).

Here are a few pictures from our last few weeks.

Jensen's Kindergarten Program-Together, Together, Together Everyone...(I know you all know that song, so feel free to sing along!)

Cute neighbor Liberty and Jensen after the program.  They look like such a cute little couple!

Jensen really tried hard to sing during the program.  It's not really his thing, but he did so good.  His favorite song was "Snowman".  It was pretty funny during the program because Jensen's pants kept sliding down and he kept wiggling his hips to keep them up.  We weren't sure if it was a potty dance or not.

As most of you know, we have been storing electric golf carts for a friend.  He let us use them and we got quite addicted to the convenience of getting around town in them (we can drive them on the street in our town).  So the day after he came and took the last one away, we got on KSL (a classifieds site) and found one to buy.  We were able to get a REALLY good deal and so we are the proud new owners of a blue golf cart. (It's not the one in the picture, I'll try to get a picture of it soon)  We are all loving it and it saves on gas for all those tiny trips around town.

Other things going on:

Jensen is playing coach pitch baseball.  His team is the Phillies and he has hit the ball every time he was at bat.

Logan is playing Little League and got his first hit the other night.  His team is the Orioles.

Ally has her first softball game on Monday.  Her team is the Orioles, too.  Not cute according to her because no one wears orange-ew.

I've been going to Zumba classes twice a week.

Logan and Ally are still in piano, Scouts and Activity Days.

The kids did really well in school.  At least I think they did.  It's hard to tell with the new grading system they have.  It's numbers between 1 and 4, with 3 being "at grade level".  They all got mostly 3's.

Ally graduated from Elementary School.  She was sad.  I'm terrified.  I do not want her to go to intermediate school!  It will be such an eye opening experience for my sweet sheltered girl.

Life has been crazy busy, but I love it!  Now onto the craziness that is summer...

Mother's Day

How was my Mother's Day you ask?  Well, let me tell you.  Ally made me chocolate covered strawberries, a cute flower pen and two different cards at Activity Days on Wednesday.  She couldn't wait to give them to me so I got them on Wednesday.  Jensen made a sillouette of himself in Kindergarten and gave that to me with a card on Sunday morning.  Logan forgot about his cute card and didn't give it to me until Sunday night.  This is what I got from Josh:

Isn't it fabulous?  Isn't he the most thoughtful husband ever?  He is such a wonderful husband that there is no way that I would have to order something like that for myself, huh?  

Let's just leave it at that. ;)

It's really hard to get a picture of jewelry with a crappy camera so if you want to see what it really looks like (with other kids names on it) you can check out thevintagepearl.com.  Needless to say I love it and expect to wear it a lot!

At church I even got a present from the bishop.  I got released from Cub Scouts!!!  Not that I'm excited or anything.  I might be wishing to be back in Cub Scouts when I get a new calling.  I will miss the boys and the people I've been working with, but I've been a Den Leader for a long time and I was feeling kind of burned out.

Our Relief Society lesson was about being a mother and there were several moments of laughter along with some uplifting thoughts.  The teacher even quoted a poem about motherhood that my Mom has always quoted.  I would like to share it with you.

Song For a Fith Child, by Ruth Hamilton. 1958

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
and out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
but I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

I love this poem and I will be using it as the excuse as to why my house is always messy!  And it's also a good reminder to spend more time with my kids.  It shocks me to think about how fast time has gone since I first became a mother 11 and a half years ago.  And my "baby" is so big now.  I keep looking around for "the baby" but he isn't there!  He's growing up so fast!

Well, the rest of Mother's Day was spent at my Mom's for lunch and Josh's Mom's for dinner.  These are two great women that I am glad my kids get to know and spend time with.

I love these kids and I am so glad I get to be their Mom!!

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!