Gifts

My birthday is coming up, and I have already been receiving presents.  :)  Let’s just say, really COOL presents!

I have smiled at the gifts even before I have opened them because of their presentation.  I’m not good at that part.  I can put together a gift, but don’t necessarily have it wrapped beautifully or have some type of clever way about it.

Anyway, let’s take a look at what my mother brought up on Monday.

  

It was so glittery and pretty that I almost didn’t want to open it.  BUT I did.  Inside was a tiny little hinged bird house that my mom had in her greenhouse.  I had commented on how tiny and cute it was when I was down at her house.  I liked the hidden compartment.  Well, next thing I know it’s MINE with a bit of cash.  :)

Then today I got a package in the mail from my sister, Alesha.  She is always clever with her gifts.  I smiled as I saw her message on the outside of the envelope.  She had traced her hand and wrote, “It’s pretty much like I’m hand delivering it to you”.

Inside was filled with goodies.  I was stoked about the CD and then amazed at the craftiness of her banners.  She picked the cutest fabrics, ric racs, pom poms fringes, ribbon…. it’s just SO cute!  I of course had to hang it up.  I told the kids that we will be celebrating my birthday for the next 12 days, until it officially IS my birthday.  :)

 

LOVE thoughtful gifts!  LOVE how the presentation adds to the gift! 

Lifetime

The day before we headed down to my parents we spent the day at Lifetime.  We rock climbed, played basketball, and went swimming.  I was planning on it being a family outing, but of course the kids found friends at each of the activities.

It was such a fun day spent inside as the blizzard howled outside.

    

The boys kept pulling each other down.  They were about to drive me nuts! 

Stephen is always so good to play games in the pool with the kids.  It was good to see everyone laughing and exercising together.

Spring Break Part I

We headed down to my parents for a couple of days.  Life slows down when we are there.  I grew up in the middle of nowhere, BUT to me, it’s beautiful and it’s home. :)

We kept watching March Madness and played a little of our own.  I think Stephen is technically fouling Jacob on this play.

 

Mom is quite into Words with Friends on her tablet.  One evening we were sitting in the same room playing each other on phones, ipods and her tablet and realized that we needed to pull out a board game and have a little more interaction.

I was playing a game against my mom and she scored 108 points on ONE word.  It was the word “equal” and it happened to be laid on all the right squares.

 

There is just something that is rejuvenating about getting away from everything for awhile.  Road trips ROCK!

We ended up leaving Ashley with my mom and dad, AND we left Rebecca with my cousin Annie.  I missed those two so much!  I didn’t want to do anything without them, and yet I still wanted to do fun things with the kids that I had at home.  :/

Anyway, that was the start to our week….

Easter

Today we all met together for the third hour of church.  I sat there enthralled in the videos, quotes and messages that were shared.  I particularly loved this one, maybe because I love hearing Elder Holland …

This quote stood out as well,

"I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest.  But the doom of that day did not endure.  The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind.  Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.  But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.  No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come."       Joseph B. Wirthlin

I LOVE Easter.  I LOVE what it signifies.  I LOVE my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Uncle Drew

I know that Easter and Spring Break are all around, but so is March Madness.  :)

I just had to do one more basketball post.  :)

March Madness

I LOVE this time of year!  The brackets are filled out and teams are cheered on.  I love trying all the yummy Pinterst snacks as we watch the games.  I LOVE that the kids understand the game of basketball and get excited at various plays of the game.  I enjoy seeing a good coach run his team.  I enjoy seeing the underdog come out and take over a big team.

Jerrica filled out a bracket this year.  It’s her first year doing it, AND she is actually winning.  Money is on the line so the kids are quite anxious to be the winner.  Stephen pays out the winner, so he is quite anxious to KEEP his money and is trying desperately to win as well.

Anyway, just had to say how much I enjoy this time of year!  :)

Parent Teacher Conference

Am I going to survive Ashley?  Seriously, am I?!?

Last week I went to parent teacher conferences for the girls.  The first two were for the big girls.

“Rebecca is by far the top writer in our class.  Her writing skills are very advanced….”  “Kaylee is an incredible test taker.  She must love the challenge of a test, because she seems to always ace them…”

Then I see Kaylee’s drawing of Gabby Douglas that is hung on the wall, and I’m thinking these girls have got it going on!  :)

Then I go to Ashley’s teacher, and the mood changes.  A behavior report comes out.  The teacher wants to discuss AGAIN what the principal had called me about the day before…. :/ 

According to Ashley, she was standing in line minding “her own big fat business” and the boy in front of her turned around and spit in her face.  She then proceeded to punch him in the stomach for doing it.  When asked why, she said “because spitting is disgusting and now I have boy germs all over me”.  The principal then asked why she didn’t use her words and tell a teacher.  She then informed him that “Sometimes when you only use words, the person forgets what you are telling them but when you use a punch they are not going to forget to not spit on you.”

Oh that girl!  The principal gets such a kick out of her and just loves her.  (Probably the valentine she gave him a couple of months ago)  Both the vice principal AND principal talked to her together.  I guess she wasn’t a bit shy or scared and fully thought she was in the right for punching the boy.  She has such a strong personality.

I hope I stay sane with this girl of mine.  :/

Jake’s Swim Meet

Jacob is swimming for high school.  There are 30 boys on his team.  He has eight practices a week, which is killing me mentally and him physically!  This week he had his first high school swim meet.  He was a little bit nervous and wasn’t swimming in events that he felt comfortable in.  I bought him a new towel for good luck.

Stephen and I were both able to be there to cheer him on.   He is solid muscle and so fun to watch.  I couldn’t be prouder watching him swim against these big Senior boys.  We sure love you Jacob!

Kaylee’s Mall Party

The unsuspecting victim thought she was out for the night with her parents, going to a Greek restaurant….

However, we had a surprise in store for the birthday girl.  Can I just say that I love surprise parties, especially when they are actually a surprise!

  She is way into taking pictures and instagram, combined with the mall, I thought it would be perfect for 12 year olds.  I invited a few soccer friends, and then a few school friends.  We split into two teams so that the girls would feel comfortable in their own groups.  I had Kaylee switch teams halfway during the scavenger hunt because I knew she would want to be with both.

I had two very sweet friends help out with the teams.  I gave each one of the teams a flashy purse that had a mall directory, pen, scavenger list, change for candy dispensers, and then giftcards for some of the activities.

Here are a couple of candids….

 

We ended with blizzards from Dairy Queen at the food court. 

Kaylee had a blast!  Happy 12th My Kaylee Girl!

Random

This last weekend the boys both had basketball tournaments.  It was fun to have my mom and dad in town to watch the boys play.  It was a lot of running back and forth to the different tournaments.  Nathan had an incredible tournament.  He made 20 points in his first game and 21 points in his last game.  I so enjoy watching basketball!

I volunteered to help out being the chorister for the Primary kids in our church on Sunday.  I went down and dug in my singing time bag for something to use.  As I looked at all of the stuff and ideas I have, I realized that I should do a post and share some of the ideas. 

I chose my big mouth with the cardboard covered teeth that have songs on the back of them.  The kids love pulling the big fat teeth out. 

I’m actually working in the Relief Society organization of our church right now.  Last week we put on a big birthday dinner.  The decorations turned out so cute and the dinner was delicious!  At the end of the program and dinner we let the sisters make gratitude journals.  We also made extra for the young women in our Ward.  I made one for Kaylee, since she is 12 now.  I always smile as I listen and watch women working on creative projects together.

 

I finished one book and launched into another really good book.  I was surprised when mom was here, that she had already read it.  Have any of you read this one?

We finished the weekend off by eating at Texas Roadhouse with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend.  Lots of laughter and delicious food.  I sure could use one of their rolls and cinnamon butter right now!  :)

Enough of the randomness, on to another week!

Birthday

My sweet Kaylee turned 12 today!  Oh how I love this girl of mine!

Family, grandparents, friends and a list of special things that she can do

because she is 12.  Today was awesome for her!

Pi Day

Pi Day is always fun.  The kids eat loads of round foods, including pie.  They do projects and crafts that relate to pi.  Yet, the favorite tradition each year is the Pi T-shirt. 

On the front of the t-shirt it says, “A Peace of Pi” and on the back was a big peace sign with the pi number in it.  I think March 14th will always stand out to my kids because the school makes such a big deal of the day!

Stephen LOVES pie.  Rebecca came home and said, “Mom we had 13 different kinds of pies on the food table.  I thought of dad and how he would have been in heaven to see it.” :)

Jerrica and Her Dad

Stephen started working from home a year before Jerrica was born.  She has grown up having him here, around her every day.  They are VERY close with each other and anytime Stephen is out of town, it is Jerrica that misses him the most.  She LOVES her dad!

She takes treats into him.  She climbs up on his lap to read with him.  She draws pictures for him.  She is just totally smitten with her dad.  I in turn think that she has Stephen wrapped around her little finger.

Our Hands

These hands of ours are busy everyday doing activities that we enjoy.  Jerrica constantly has a book in hand that she is reading to her dolls or siblings.

Nathan just received his Life badge.  He has a slew of merit badges.  All he needs is a few more camp outs and his Eagle project.  I’m so glad that he has a fire under him right now to get it all done.

Ashley is always writing a story or drawing a masterpiece.  Her hands constantly have a pencil wedged in them!

Stephen is always tapping away on his computer trying to earn money to support all of us.  We sure appreciate how hard he works!

 

Ipods and phones are always being used to play games and communicate with friends.

 

Jacob is swimming for high school.  They practice EIGHT times a week!  He was jumping out of the van for a practice and I told him I wanted a picture of his goggles.  “Mom, you can find a picture of goggles online”  I replied that I sure could, BUT they wouldn’t have HIS hand in the picture!  :)

 

I don’t mention the piano as much as I should.  It is a BIG part of our days around here.  From Jacob all the way down to Ashley, they all play.  They each practice 30 minutes every day.   It is expected of them and they know they can’t do other things if they don’t.  The piano is always going and they are getting to be quite the pianists.  I love listening to their songs.

 

That’s a glimpse of our hands.  We are busy and we are grateful to be busy!