Easter Morning & Hunt

We have decided that we will celebrate  Easter with the bunny all on Saturday so Sunday is left completely for the true meaning and we are really loving that. So on Friday night with Matt still out of town I was left to play the bunny solo which was a little tricky with the doll house we had gotten Hallie but I figured it out and luckily once the kids are asleep  they are deep sleepers. Here is our Easter set up

 Gracie's Stash

 Hallie's Stash

 Hallie woke up about 8:45. I heard her come up the stairs and gasp. Our Easter bunny leaves a trail from each of the girls bedrooms to the gifts he left. She came running into our room and said oh my heck she easter bunny came and left me lots of cool stuff. Could you get up so we can go see it...please? Matt and I rolled out of bed and went to see the surprises. Hallie loved her cotton tail cotton candy

 Finally our barbies have a place to live. She also got a princess beach towel, some books, silly string, and a few treats.

 We just played until Gracie woke up about 915 and Matt set her on the floor just outside her room. It didn't take long before she picked up a piece of candy and put it in her mouth.

 Nothing better than candy for breakfast

 Then we got ready to head to the Easter Egg hunt at Manor Care(the nursing home I used to manage) at 10.  We picked Allie up on our way so she could go hunting to. They had all the residents lined up to watch and did the hunt different than any one I have ever been to. They gave each of the kids a bag with a number on it. All of the eggs were numbered with coordinating numbers what an awesome idea! There were 10 eggs for each number. This was truly the 1st egg hunt that I have actually had to "hunt" for eggs. After about 20 minutes we had found most if not all of our eggs then they told the kids they could collect any eggs over the number 46. The numbers went up to 130 so there were plenty left and we all ended up with over 25 eggs. They also had special prize eggs that Hallie found one of and could redeem for a big basket with toys and candy...she was thrilled to say the least.

 After the hunt they had cookies, juice, and milk while we unloaded our eggs to see the loot we had gotten and so we could give the eggs back for next year. Gracie particularly enjoyed her cookie. She is getting really hard to get a non-fuzzy picture of but we will keep trying.

 It was a group effort to unload all those eggs

 The girls with all their goodies

I know a lot of people have had plenty to say about how they think holidays are being blown out of proportion and to that I say to each their own. I really think people have done holidays big or simple forever but no there is social medial and other see it and feel the need to compare themselves. In my opinion people need to grow up and stop caring about what others think. Everyone has to take into consideration whats best for them. As for Matt and I we love to spoil our kids any chance we get and if I do say so myself I am extremely thrifty sometimes almost to a fault but we set a budget and I usually get a lot for it. We had a great Easter spending time with family, playing with our new toys, and eating our weight in candy.

Dying Eggs

Matt ended up having to go to Seattle for business and was gone Thurs and Fri til way late so we ended up having to dye eggs without him:( It was a little different doing it by myself with 2 of them but luckily Gracie lost interest quickly. But before she ran away I wanted to take some pics but I don't think she quite understood what it was and bit into her egg shell and all!

 But then we got a smile and I took it away to peel it first

 And while she ate her egg Hallie and I finished the rest of them. Hallie was insistent that we did one for each of our family and then one for My mom(grandma), my dad(papa), Nic, Kyle, Rigs, Kinley, Kim, Ez, Luke, Nate, and Maddi. So needless to say we dyed ALOT of eggs she colored on them with crayons, dipped them in the dye, and then stuck stickers on them. This is her with her "Tangled" egg the way it turned out it was purple and pink just what this girl wanted.

 I decided Gracie didn't need another egg for pics...for fear she would eat more shell!

Hallie's Self taken Pictures

Uploaded the pics today to find these

Hahaha...enough said

A new baby weekend

We had such a fun and busy weekend. Friday Kim & Ez came up to stay with us for the weekend. Matt came home early from work so I could go to the hospital to visit Nic. It was nice to have a break and to hold Kinley uninterrupted for a couple hours while visiting with Nic. She is so cute, little, and perfect. When I got home I finished dinner so it would be ready when Kim and Ez got there. They brought Riggs with them to stay with us until Nic & Kyle got to head home on Saturday. It was so fun to have everyone under one roof. The kids were really good playing together and being for the most part careful and gentle with one another. -Hallie loves Luke and likes to make him laugh...I think he kinda loves her too. 

 After dinner Kim & Ez headed up to see Nic at the hospital and Matt and I got all the kids bathed and ready for bed(that was quite the project...lots of little bodies to bath and get dressed). I didn't have Riggs bag so I found some old pjs of the girls and just put him in them...we couldn't help but laugh but really he just needed some clothes so it didn't really matter. Then they watched a movie til bedtime while they ate grapes.

 Getting them to bed was a lot easier than I had anticipated after we figured out if we laid by Riggs and sang he went right to sleep. We didn't hear a peep from any of them minus one late night potty break until morning. Saturday morning Matt & Ez went to play basketball while Kimber and I made breakfast and got the kids ready for the day. Nic & Kyle got discharged about 11am and stopped by for some lunch and so the other kids could meet Kinley. Hallie was so excited but had a little bit of a runny nose so she has yet to hold her just loving her from a distance. The picture below is Riggs meet Kinley for the 1st time without window glass between them...he was pretty intrigued.

 After we got Nic & Kyle headed home Matt headed off to take his GMAT and the rest of us headed to Tremonton for Trinity's(Gingers) and Cohen's(Linnie & Jer's) blessing. It was a great day and after some lunch and visiting we headed home just in time for Matt to get home from his test. He did great in my opinion and got a 580 although he really wanted a 600 for scholarship reasons. He submitted his Masters application and we should hear in the next couple weeks. On Sunday we headed to Nic's about 1pm with Linner(lunch/dinner) in hand. My mom got there shortly after we arrived. Kimber and I made sure we got our chance to hold Kinley before my mom got there Matt even got a pretty long turn. I told him the same thing he told me...don't get any ideas...haha. She is so snuggly and lovable. Once my mom got there we ate and then in true grandma fashion she broke out the surprises and some Easter stuff. All the kids got outfits, toys, and treats. The adults weren't forgotten either we got awesome treats too. Hallie loves her little computer she got.

 My mom brought her basket of eggs(since when she comes next week she will be flying) and her bunny ears  for us to snap some pictures of the kids. Nothing fancy but I think we got more laughs out of trying to set them each up. Gracie slept through the whole process so we will have to try again another day.

 Riggs was so excited until we got him all ready ...then he was done.

 After a long and busy weekend it was nice to come home for some relaxing with a smoothie and a book.

I love fun weekends like this but they sure are exhausting.

Grandma Time

It actually worked out really well that Nic had Kinley early. My mom came shortly after she was born but she and Maddi also had flights in place to come for another 10 days after Nic's original due date. So Friday morning the girls and I headed to Nic's to stay with Riggs while she took Kinley to her dr appt. Then we stayed the rest of the day and just hung out. The kids have a ball together and Hallie and Rigs are pretty inseparable alwyas looking for the other and always crying when we have to leave...I think its so cute. After lunch we decided since no one wanted to sleep it was time for quit time so we turned on a movie, with blankies in hand, and just relaxed. I sat on the couch with Kinley sleeping on my chest(that is pure heaven...my fav) and just enjoyed the time. 

 This little naked girl loves grandmas water bottle but figured out how to dump it down the front of her...she was soaked through all layers.

About 3 after food and potty breaks for all we loaded up all the kids and the car seats to head to the airport....another reason I love the suburban it makes all of traveling together possible. Of coarse all the kids fell asleep in the car so Nic and I visited while we waited for moms flight. They all woke up just in time, maybe because one of them was awake and started squealing when she saw grandma and then they were all awake but still happy because we had grandma. We have been lucky enough to get to spend a few days down at Nic's loving on Kinley and spending time with the fam.

 Hallie has had a yucky nose on and off since Kinley was born so we haven't wanted her to hold her but yesterday she had been symptom free for about 5 days s owe figured we were safe. She has been asking to hold her or talk to her or kiss her for weeks. Finally she got her wish. Can you tell she was excited?!?

I remember when Nic announced she was pregnant my mom said, "you guys just arent going to give us a break are you?" and the answer to that is no because if we keep the babies coming we see them a lot more often...haha.

Projects & Daddy Time

Now that Matt is done with his test and we have a small window before he starts the Masters program we have switched into project mode. The 1st-bookshelf. We like books around here and often buy them instead of toys. Gracie had a little 2 cube bookshelf  and it quickly became to small for all the books we have. And luckily Matt is extremely handy and built her this bookshelf. After a few coats of paint it was ready to go. I thought look at all the space she has for more books then I brought all the board books up from Hallie room now it is pretty much full so we shall see how it works out but we were pretty impressed at how it turned out.

 Along with doing all the projects Matt has been trying to also find time to spend with the girls. The best way to do that has been to combined activities. He has been running in an effort to become more healthy so he packs the girls the the jogging stroller and off they go. He often times stoops on the way back and chases the girls around or in these pictures blow bubbles. He is such a good dad...but then again I never doubled that he would be.

 Projects 2&3 Next spring we will probably move Gracie downstairs with Hallie. With Matt starting the Masters program, working and teaching 2 coarse next fall I will probably be on my own a lot...I just keep telling myself it will be worth it. So we decided during his off time we should get Gracie's room ready it has been pretty fun so far and since we aren't really in a rush it makes it more enjoyable...oh the joys of planning ahead. Were going to do coral and turquoise with white. We have quite a bit of furniture to redo including a bed and dresser(that I am still looking for). So I started small with the night stand and lamp shade and I think it will look really good once we get it all together.

Hallie 3 1/2 & the dentist

Hallie at 3 1/2 has continued to change a lot. She has developed a little bit of a attitude at times mostly when she is exerting her independence. Luckily for the most part she just need a reminder not to act like that and to just use her words to say what she is thinking and we work through it. She loves to sing, play pretend, and read stories. She loves to cuddle and stalls almost every night to go to bed. She is very sweet and compassionate towards other people. She says some of the funniest things lately. The other day some judge show on and she said "look mom its judge judy but a man is in judy's seat." The other night she got up in the middle of the night to go potty for some reason she likes to come upstairs and go but usually just comes to go potty and goes back to bed. This particular night she came in and asked me to tuck her back in I(a little irritated she woke me up) told her she was fine and to go back to bed. A few minutes went by and just as I started to fall back asleep I heard a timid little voice, "mommy, m-o-m-m-y," yes Hallie. "Can I tell you something" yes Hallie what is it. "If you come tuck me in and in the morning you eat all your breakfast I will give you a treat." Needless to say I couldn't help but laugh and got up to tuck her back in bed. A couple weekends ago Kim & Ez came to stay and Luke was having a hard time pooping. Hallie has decided she really likes babies. She was talking to Luke while Kim was rubbing his belly and said, "So your having a hard time pooping huh? Sometimes I have a hard time pooping and I sit on the potty and grab my knees and just push really hard. Maybe you should try that." Kim and I were trying so hard not to laugh because she was being completely serious. Hallie has had a snotty nose for I swear like the last 6 weeks on and off. Last week she spiked a temp and said her tummy hurt. She laid around for a couple of days and then seemed to be back to her normal self. Hallie went to the dentist....not for the first time but the was the first time they did xrays and cleaning beyond counting her teeth and letting her sit in the chair. We had been talking about it for a few days and Hallie was excited to go. In the past I have had to hold her so the dentist could look at her teeth but this time she informed me that she was a big girl and could do it herself. She did really well and the dentist said everything looks good.

We have decided not to put her in preschool next year and to just let her take dance and spend time at home. We are thinking we will do one of the online programs just to let her have something different to do. With the money we would have spent on preschool were going to buy different passes to places and take the kids there instead. For a couple of reasons 1-she will spend many years away from us and want to enjoy all the time I can with her. Realistically she doesn't need preschool she is already doing everything she needs to do to go to Kindergarten. 2-I like having the freedom to go to Salt Lake with my sisters for the day to the zoo, to lunch, or just to hang out. Life will only get busier so were going to enjoy the simple life as long as we can.