Kaden's Birthday

Kaden turned 6 on May 28th. We ended up having to have his cake and grandparents over on the 27th because Nate had to go out-of-town on his birthday. Our poor children hardly ever get regular birthdays.... maybe they like it though. He did get to open his gifts from his grandparents so I'm sure he didn't mind a bit it wasn't his actual birthday yet. I had this goal of making fun homemade cakes this year, but I'm already two birthdays down and have failed miserably! Tye's was a plain old chocolate cake with chocolate icing in a rectangle pan. I did make it though.... from a mix. Kaden's.... um, well, Walmart made batman cupcakes. Oh well. There's always next year!

The morning of his birthday he woke up at 6:15. He came to my bed, woke me up and asked where his presents were. Whoops! I forgot to wrap them! I told him to climb in bed with us, go back to sleep and when he woke up again they would be ready for him. I slept for 45 more minutes then got up and wrapped them. I couldn't believe I forgot. I hope he isn't scarred for life!
He pulls some of the best faces! I love it.

Happy birthday, Kaden! We love you!

Last Day of School..... boo hoo hoo

Boo hoo hoo is right..... but I'm not the one crying. I'm actually excited for lazy summer days. So Rachel meets me over by Kaden's classroom and says she is sad that she isn't going to see her first grade teacher ever again. She is moving and will no longer be at the school. We talk about how the year was fun and her teacher was so nice. The next thing I know she's clinging to my leg crying. I assure her it's okay to feel sad that she will miss Mrs. Johnson, but that she'll have a really fun summer. She stops crying and we go about getting Kaden and head home. When we get home she's the first to enter the house. When I come walking in she has her head down in her arms and is sobbing because she just can't stop thinking about her teacher. I felt so bad her last day of first grade turned into the saddest day of her life!

Kaden was excited to get his picture taken with his teacher, but was good to go after that. He and Rachel both had Miss Myntti for kindergarten. She's great!

Our neighbor had a fun water party to celebrate the end of school. The kids had lots of fun in the sun! I had fun sitting in the shade of my umbrella.... although I could use a tan!

Happy Summer!

Lucky

I never got a Mother's Day post made, but boy do I think I'm lucky! They may be a bit dirty and their clothes may be a tad worn out, but they still give the sweetest hugs and say the cutest things..... I love you, kids! Thanks for the breakfast in bed, all the notes and the flower basket you gave me for Mother's Day! {A big THANK YOU to Nate, too. Love ya, babe!}

Accident? I think not!

I had told the kids we were going to go to the store after dinner, but Rachel and Kaden disappeared. I finally found them at the "dirt pile" (some land that's in the middle of being developed in our neighborhood). "It was an accident," they told me. Ha! That's no accident! We did not end up going to the store.... that was their punishment. I wasn't as hard on them as their faces {especially Kaden's} portray. Kids will be kids! I wouldn't want it any other way.

Tye Turns 4!!!

Tye's 4th birthday was on Wednesday, May 13th. His most exciting gift was a new bike with training wheels. His little legs have finally grown long enough that he can actually reach the pedals! He's so used to his trike that he's a little hesitant on his bike, but he feels like a big boy now and is very proud. His birthday dinner request was...... ramen noodles!! What?! Am I that bad of a cook??? Well, what a birthday boy wants, a birthday boy gets!
He enjoyed the attention he got from his Grandpa and Grandma Swensen and his Grandpa and Nana Bishop. They both were spot on giving him Hot Wheels toys. He's a car boy for sure!

We thought maybe a little bear cub tried to taste his cake, but......


.....it was just our one and only Haley.

Happy Birthday, Tye!! We love you!

Odds and Ends of April

This is not such a comforting thing to discover in the morning. The keys had been left in the door all night! I'm not one of those ultra paranoid people, but still, I would prefer NOT to welcome just anyone in!! It's rare that we even have to unlock the front door from the outside. The power was out when we got home so we couldn't open the garage .

Nate played in a volleyball league with his brother and cousins this spring. (Thanks guys for inviting him!) This game was at the beginning of April. They just finished up the tournament last night and took 3rd.... or something like that. It was fun to watch and the kids loved running around at the good ol' MVHS!

Speaking of Mountain View High School..... I hadn't been back there in so long. It was fun to see the changes they have made. Of course, somethings never change, like how long that sucker is! Those of you who went there, especially in '94-'96, do you remember feeling like sardines walking through that hall and in the very middle where all the intersections met? You'd have to plan your "merging" way ahead of time. Then the new high school was built, and it didn't seem as crowded. I guess that was the whole point. Anyway, maybe someday I'll find some good old pictures of those days..... or not. Do we like flashbacks? Hmmmmm......
I do have one question for Amber (yes, YOU, Amber!) Was our locker the 4th one from the right or the 5th? Nate and I can't agree. Either way, it was the perfect central location our senior year.... and you can't forget about the "ledge" we spent many a lunch sitting on and the lovely "rail riders" at our backs. There were some fun times, but I'm glad it's all in the past! {Special Thanks to Rachel for taking our picture :)}

Moving on... Here's our lovely spring break snow storm. The kids had great fun in it. By the evening it was a slushy, sloppy mess and the next day it was gone! {Thanks goodness!}

Haley has discovered her belly button. She makes me smile!


Our poor pooch got shot with a pellet gun on April 22nd. He likes to run away. He never comes home until we find him or someone calls to tell us they have him. I got a call right about 9:00 a.m. from someone saying they had found Tag. I was just about to take Rachel to school and of course, had my other three kids. Nate wasn't even home (he was close by, but not home). I just said "okay" not thinking much of it because this is nothing new. Then the guy finally proceeds to tell me Tag was bleeding pretty bad and he thought he had been hit by a car. He even offered to bring him to me before I could even say anything. So when I tried to take him up on his offer he thought I didn't care about my dog and was appalled at me for my reaction. I was just trying to figure out what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. It was all just bad timing. How was I going to get Rachel to school, pick up an 80 pound bleeding dog and throw him in my car with my kids looking on wondering what's wrong with their pet? Then drag a dog and at least 3 kids into the vet's office? It just wasn't going to work. Luckily, Nate was close by and picked him up and took him to the vet. The vet right off thought it looked like a gunshot wound so we were relieved when the x-ray showed it wasn't from a real gun, but at the same time someone still SHOT him. The pellet is embedded 4 inches in him forever more! He was pretty shook up the first day, but each day was able to move around better and a week later, is now fine. He's even run away once since! We were hoping it would have taught him a lesson, but no such luck. As for the man who wasn't very nice to me, come to find out his lab had recently died and he was re-living his own trauma. I guess I'll forgive him!
It looks worse than it is. He just has one little staple. The rest is just residue from all the gore.... Nate said it was pretty bad. I'm glad I didn't have to see it! When Rachel got home from school she cried and cried when she saw him.

Dear Tag,
We love you! Please stay home.
Love,
Rachel, Kaden, Tye and Haley

Happy Spring Break

I knew it was coming, but didn't want to believe it. Spring break spent indoors with nowhere to go..... I think we'll survive..... maybe..... if we're lucky!

Easter 2009

This year for Easter I tried to make it a bit more Christ centered using this book that my sister Marci gave me years ago...So we started our Easter celebrations on Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter). Since my children are young we kept it pretty simple just by doing some sort of activity each day. Although, I have to admit I slacked off for a few of the days, but I really think we made this Easter so much better by focusing on who and what it's all about a lot more than we have in years past. Our Savior, Jesus Christ lives! That first Easter morning gives such great comfort for our journey through this life and into the next. I'm grateful for the renewed testimony I received this past week.

Of course, we still had Easter egg hunts and a lot of fun along the way!

Hunt #1... or #2 if you count the neighborhood one we were late for and missed out on.... or #3 if you count the one Kaden, Tye and Haley went to on Friday morning while Rachel was at school and still count the one we missed. Did I lose anyone there???!! The weather was chilly, but the rain held off until Grandpa and Nana Bishop's egg hunt was over. The kids loved it! Haley was happy to get one egg and eat it's contents immediately!


Hunt #2, 3 or 4..... depending on how you're counting, but really, who's counting?!! Oh- that would be me.... I'll stop. Grandpa and Grandma Swensen's egg hunt had to be indoors this year. Rain, rain and more rain kept us inside. The kids didn't mind, though. This year we let the older grandkids hide the eggs and let the little ones collect them. Then we divided them out evenly so the older kids got some treats too. We also had dinner all together because my sister and her family were visiting from Idaho. It makes for a crazy house, but so fun!

I didn't do any fancy Easter outfits this year. The girls got new jumpers, but the boys had to wear their same old stuff. They actually had no clue and I'm sure wouldn't care if they did know. Don't mind the finger prints and smears all over the fireplace.... obviously that's not one of my priorities around here!
Haley was a joy! Rachel was an angel. Kaden had his moments. Tye....

I was only 3 feet away from her. It shouldn't have been so traumatic for her!

I guess the best I'm going to get is 2 out of 4 kids to smile. I like to look on the bright side, though.... Tye's hands are out of his pants!!


For our Easter dinner I decided it would be fun to have foods from Jesus' time. I didn't make flat bread, because I had left over rolls from dinner with my family, but we scrounged up enough things out of our fridge (and Shelly's freezer... thanks for the fish!) on our list of foods from that era. I may make this a tradition, but broaden our horizons next time.

We ended up dyeing hard boiled eggs on Easter afternoon because A) I have NEVER let my kids do it {at least that I can remember... what kind of mother am I???} and B) we needed an activity to do. It was one of those SLOW Sundays.... a good one, but time was definitely in no hurry for once.

We had a great Easter and hope you all did too!

Happy Monday!

We're off to a great start!