Taggart's Stitches

We had an eventful hour Sunday night. Our neighbor brought us a pie and we had just sat down to enjoy it. Taggart was climbing on the stool and it tipped over on him. I got the stool off of him and knew immediately that he needed stitches. Everyone listened really well and got in the car quickly. We went to the instacare in Saratoga Springs. He had calmed down by then and was really brave the rest of the time. They numbed the area and then he got 5 stitches without tears.

Girls' Night

This picture is lumped in this post because it happened the same day. We went to the dance festival and watched James and Lynnlee last Friday. It was cold but thankfully not rainy. We got some fun video of James and Lynnlee but no snap shots. The theme was music through the ages. Each grade Lynnlee danced to Sing, Sing, Sing and wore a dress and scarf to look like the 1930s-1940s. James danced to a mix of Surfin' USA, Locomotion, and Twist & Shout. He wore bright colors.

That night the boys went to fathers and sons and the girls kicked off girls night. Lynnlee chose to eat at McDonalds. They played on the play ground for a little while after eating.

Lynnlee thought Princess Peach was a little weird looking. She decided to copy what she thought it looked like.

She wanted to do makeovers after dinner. We stopped at Walmart to get a few other items and I let them pick out a new dress to go with their makeovers. She and Sienna were pretty excited about getting a new dress. Lynnlee did mine and Sienna's make up. Then I helped her with her own make up. 

Next we painted nails.

We had to document their transformations 😀

Lynnlee loves sleeping in my bed when Marshall is gone. We let Sienna join now that she is older.

My kids know that I need my daily dose of exercise. I told them I could do the treadmill Saturday morning or they could go in the bike trailer. They chose the bike trailer. We found a new trailer that was just completed. It connects the park by my house with the Jordan River trail. It was beautiful. There were views of the lake.

Kaden's Preschool Graduation

Kaden's preschool graduation was short, sweet and to the point. This year preschool was super hero themed so it was only appropriate for the preschoolers to all have a cape and mask. Miss Penny is so great for making them for all her students.

Miss Penny made a telephone booth and each graduate came out of it.

I can't believe Kaden is going to be in kindergarten. He is definitely ready and all year he has been asking me when he can go to school with the big kids.

Lynnlee took a picture for us :)

Birthday Weekend

These days I'm biking and swimming a lot since I'm still trying to figure out how to get my foot better. Ali and I did our own sprint triathlon. We swam 300 meters which is 6 laps.

Instead of doing the biking and running from the rec center, we drove a few minutes to a paved trail. All of this was done as quickly as possible with minimal breaks. Then we biked 12 miles and ran 3.1 miles. It was so fun and felt so good. Now we are ready for an official sprint triathlon.

Since it was my birthday weekend we took the kids to a matinee. Then Ali offered to babysit for the night. Thanks Ali! We went to Pita Pit which has been a favorite since I was in college. We did some shopping after. It was a fun night!

The minis were asleep when we got home. Best gift ever! We are going through a hard stage with the minis right now because they won't stay in their beds. Once they are asleep they sleep the whole night but if we could only get them to fall asleep! The cousins all had so much fun while we were gone.

Sunday we went to my parent's house for May birthdays and Mother's Day celebration.

The birthday desserts at the family parties are so yummy! A family favorite on the right is called a ninja turtle cake. It is a gluten free ice cream cake. It got the name from the green mint chocolate chip ice cream. The gluten full cake on the left was homemade kit kat bars with club crackers, caramel, peanut butter and chocolate. It doesn't get any better than that.
My kids wished me happy birthday all weekend and it was the cutest, especially when the minis said it.

Random Mini Pics

I'm trying to get the minis to ride their bikes more. Kaden started riding his at this age and got really fast. It made it so nice for Sunday walks. They are starting to take them around more but they are very slow.

The other day we dropped Kaden off  at preschool and then I took them in the bike trailer on a long bike ride. When we got home they said they were so tired and they made little beds for themselves.

Marshall found a new place to set up the hammock.....under the monkey bars! He and Taggart enjoyed some snuggle time.

Our library has educational backpacks you can check out. They usually have one or two books and then toys to go along with the book themes. Last week we checked out five backpacks which was the first problem. It is very hard to keep track of that many items. So of course we lost a little finger puppet bug out of one of the back packs. We looked everywhere but couldn't find it so I took the back packs back to the library and paid for it. The next day I was mowing the lawn and found this in the grass clippings. It was completely unharmed! The library took it back and gave me a credit. Yay for answered prayers.

Our neighbor gave us a huge container of mayo as you can see in the picture. The container was half full. The container was taking up so much space in the fridge so I transferred the mayo into smaller containers. Taggart licked the spoon after and loved it. 😁😜😝

Lynnlee helping Taggart at family night.

James helping Sienna at family night.

Burritos

My seasonal job is finished for now and so it has been nice to have more time to play. One Saturday morning we made burritos. 😀

Jameson's Accomplishment

A few months ago James got a package in the mail from Grandma Lowry. In it was a Book of Mormon and a daily reading chart. The challenge was to read it before future missionary camp in June. I really thought it would be a chore for me to get him to do it. When he started I encouraged him to do his reading before he had any screen time each day. He is very self motivated and it wasn't a chore at all. He is an early riser and every morning I found him on the couch reading before he did anything else. Occasionally he would tell me which part he was reading and we would talk about the stories. He said that there were times when he dreaded reading but he changed his attitude all on his own and kept reading. He really enjoyed it. I'm so amazed and grateful for his good example. You can accomplish anything you set your mind to.

Mother's Day '17

There are so many moments that I compare how my relationship with my kids is like my Heavenly Father's relationship with me. For example, all the times when my kids don't listen to me and I think about all the times I may not be listening to the spirit or times when I put my own will before the will the Lord has for me. He must feel the same way I feel, Why aren't you listening to me!? :)
I also love to think of different analogies with daily events and the gospel. Like the other day I was thinking about all the maintenance for your car and upgrades to regular maintenance. You have standard oil changes but then you have premium oil changes with all sorts of exrtas. I compared that to daily spiritual maintenance. You can do the basic package which might include reading scriptures and saying prayers. Like a basic oil change, your car works and runs. I think about the days I take time to listen to conference talks, read RS lessons or Sunday school lessons, etc. Then I love thinking about what I've read and it really boosts my day. This would be like doing more for your car and having it run even better.
I'm grateful for Mother's Day and the love I felt from my kids and Marshall. James and Lynnlee were so excited to give me their presents they made at school. James misplaced them the day he brought them home and he came home crying. It was very touching that he would care so much about something not even for himself. Luckily he found it and I could see how much work went into it and why it meant a lot to him.

If Sundays weren't so crazy I would get a picture of my kids each week. Kudos to the moms out there that can do that. Luckily for us we at least manage a picture on most holidays. Thanks Marshall for the great pictures!

Japanese Room

The basement bedroom has been a work in progress. We were so happy to have Brooke stay with us and motivate us to get it all finished. It is a Japanese themed room. Marshall worked hard and did a great job! I helped in the end with hanging things on the walls and making the bed but he gets all the credit.

He found a bamboo window cover.

He designed the light, built it and hung it all himself.

The wall decorations are from his mission and our most recent trip.

He made the sliding closet doors. I love how it turned out. If you ever need a place to stay it's open. Not only is it a guest room but also exercise room, business office, and view of the pool (kiddie pool stored in the window well).

Walk-a-thon

Our school walk-a-thon was a few weeks ago. It was a cold day. Each grade walked 10-12 laps which took about a half hour. Then they got a water bottle and banana for participating.

Lynnlee didn't want to participate but after she was happy she did it. Kaden ran a few laps with her. The minis played on the playground most of the time.

Lynnlee and some of her class friends.