never a dull moment

Makenzie and I took some of the kids to a play place at the Galleria Mall. The kids had a blast and didn't slow down the entire time we were there. They were SUPER busy.

We filled up the whole elevator by ourselves (and we didn't even have all the kids with us!).

Then as we walked back up to her van (we had driven together), we saw a weird case shoved tightly underneath it…?! I pointed it out, and it was obviously put there after we got there and wasn't anything that we recognized.  Anyway, long story short, the bomb squad confirmed that it was NOT a bomb, but  small brown wrapped packages inside a cooler…?! It was a LONG day. And after that, I became fully ready to move. Goodbye Houston, you're too crazy for me.

spotlights

Hawken and Lullaby both got to do a "spotlight" for church and share some of their favorite things with their friends. It's sort of like show-and-tell. Hawken was very excited to show his friends at church some of his things. He brought Pokemon pictures, his monk, his blankie, and a few other things. This was obviously pre-haircut...

Lullaby brought her mermaid baby, some shopkins, a small purse, and a book about ballet. She was too shy to talk at the podium to tell everyone what she brought, so the primary president had to guess. :)

being a big sister

Lullaby can be so sweet and nurturing and loving and thoughtful, and then 2 seconds later she's stealing her baby brother's tricycle and riding away laughing as he cries for help… Why? 

Because she's Lullaby. Because she loves the reaction. Because she loves to do little naughty things so that later on she can give him kisses and make it better. Such a stinker.

love

My little lovers came home with lots of love on the Friday before Valentine's Day. Matix made me this great picture, and Hawken and Matix both wrote me several love notes. I love these babies of mine.

haircut for Hawk

Hawken's hair and nails always grow faster than the other kids. It's nearly impossible to have his nails short and his hair out of his eyes for very long. Here are some before pictures from his most recent hair cut. 

During, he told me that he wanted a "mohawk" which I initially cut, and then he said it was too long and described a much shorter version, closer to a faux hawk… So this was the end result that he liked, although the mohawk was cute too. :)

The next day at school was the Friday before Valentine's Day and he was excited to show Ms. Oncken his new look. He also brought her flowers. So sweet. But you can see how dramatically shorter his hair is now.

sick

Getting to see my kids while they're sleeping isn't a regular occurrence anymore. Sometimes Paul and I will sneak up to see them, and other times it's when they're sick and fall asleep at weird times of the day. Lullaby was sick and would tuck herself into bed at all times throughout the day. It was so sad. Those rosy cheeks were from her fever, poor thing. She's much better now, but how I loved to see her sleeping when she was still sick. Such an angel baby.

Pokemon Party

Matix and Hawken have seriously gotten into Pokemon cards. They collect them and trade them and play the card game. They love all things Pokemon. They even wanted a few friends to come over for a Pokemon play date. They had a great time. First the boys all traded (I checked with the moms first) and then they played and played and played. They all had a blast.  After playing several games, they branched out to other toys and had some lunch before their mom came to get them. It worked out really well, since both Madsen and Ryan love Pokemon too, and they're brothers, and they are in 1st grade and kindergarten like our boys. It was meant to be.

Hawken even ended up with a card that he had been SEARCHING for. He traded several other favorites to get it. Thanks Ryan and Madsen for the fun day! 

free frozen yogurt - again

When Yogurtland decided to celebrate "National Frozen Yogurt Day" with free frozen yogurt, which was a week or more after Menchies had the same thing, we had to go. The Flores family joined us and it was a par-tay! This place gave us a small cup and said we could load it up with as much stuff as would fit. Needless to say, all of our cups were VERY full. Yum!

After the sugar rush hit, it got very silly and crazy very fast. They always have fun together.

family resemblance

Sometimes Sully makes faces and I can really see baby Matix in him. He is for sure his own person, and resembles all of his siblings in certain ways, but this picture especially makes me see Matix.  Paul and I make really cute kids.  Here is Solace:

Here is Matix (on the right) at around the same age...

Lullaby

I cannot explain how happy I am that I have a girl. She makes me so happy. She is so definitively her own person. She knows what she wants and knows how to get it.  I love you Lullaby Loo.

workout

I make my preschoolers work really hard all day long. They leave here tired, but always wanting more. :) We did some ABC exercises out in the cul-de-sac and wore them all out!  I'm sure my neighbors think I'm a crazy person.

friend party

Baby Emme turned 2 and came over for her party. It was so fun to have her family with us to celebrate. 

We ate dinner and treats and stayed up way too late. Fun as always.  Happy birthday Emme!

why not?

Lullaby prefers her lunch to be cut into fun shapes. I don't know how long this phase will last, but for now, it's fun for us both. :)

temple visit

Dale and Vanessa watched our kids while we went to the temple, and the kids of course, never want to leave their cousins. Kjerstin is starting to interact more with the rest of the kids, which makes for a really LARGE group of kiddies. Then we stayed for dinner and drove back home. It was a very quick visit but always fun to see them!

Sunday dinner

Dinner with the Newells on a Sunday is always so nice. The kids get wild and dirty and have the best time. We get to enjoy each others company before we both move to some place new. We will miss them for sure!

100th Day of School!

For the 100th day of school, Hawken's school asks the kindergarteners to decorate a white t-shirt with 100 of SOMETHING. At first Hawken wanted to just make tally marks up to 100, since that would go really fast and he could be done. But after Paul and I convinced him to do something else more creative, he decided that he wanted 100 TINY Poke Balls on his shirt… 

We had to hunt for a color inkjet printer, finally we found a friend who had one that we could use! Then we had to cut out all the Poke Balls, which between his and Matix's (who of course wanted to make a shirt too - just for fun) definitely gave us arthritis. But it was worth it. Hawken got to lay out all of the little balls where he wanted them and design his own shirt. He loved it.

Then on the way home, Hawken and Stella (dressed in their fabulous 100th day attire) found jewels all over the road and collected them. It was an exciting day all around!