Happy Mother's Day!

 We had a great Mother's Day at our house.  I was awakened with breakfast in bed again.  It's becoming quite the tradition.  Actually, I woke up before anyone came into my room.  I could hear all the excited whispers downstairs while everyone got my "gourmet" breakfast ready.  Lucky Charms = lucky me!  I think the kids get more excited about holidays that don't involve presents for them....

Who wouldn't love these kids?  I tell ya, I'm the luckiest mom in the world.  And if you don't believe me, just check out my Mother's Day Cake.  Yum!  Okay, I'll let the cat out of the bag.  I made it.  I just had Ryan hold it for me.  :)  But what I didn't make was the iPad I opened up.  Sa-Weet.  What can I say, I'm tech junkie.  Not.  But I should be with all my tech-y things. 

So, to sum up my day.  Fabulous.  Breakfast in bed, no Ward Council, church and flowers, Angels Camp for dinner, and presents in between.  Can't wait for the next one!

Kendri Turns 6!

 Happy Birthday, Kendri!  Here are some highlights from the Monster Bash!

Opening presents

Blowing out candles

Just finished playing "Pin the Eye on the Monster"

Almost ready to party!

Monster Cupcakes

Monster Fruit Bowl

Monster decorations

Monster Brownie balls

And finally, our Monster for the game

 Kendri had a great time....and I'm glad because that's all the party she's getting!  Who knows?  Maybe I'll forget the stress of throwing a party some time in the next 10 years and I'll be suckered into another one.  But I doubt it. :) She had a huge group show up for the number of invitations that were handed out (9).  But I suppose the idea is the "More the Merrier", right? 

Kendri is doing awesome as 6 year old.  She is reading extremely well for her age and likes to play with the older girls.  She's a big help at home and loves to play with Shayli.  She and Kyson are cut from the same cloth (minus the orneryness).  She loves Scooby-Doo and is currently into Monster High dolls.  Which is why she wanted a monster party!  She loves to tease and is always up for a bag of popcorn.  We love Kendri!

Noteworthy Notes

We've been keeping busy and here's a rundown of a few of our "incidents" for the month.

1.  Kyson is a show-off (It's no secret where he gets it and I don't really think I need to spell out.  Do I, RYAN?  In fact, he was just on top of the play structure tonight talking to the neighbors who were trying to have a nice time while Kyson crooned, "Hellllooooooo, ladies!") 

Anyway, he decided to introduce his friends to his pet fishy while I was working on a sewing project.  Unfortunately, his idea of introduction is more like fish torture.  Now, I can't say exactly what went down, because I wasn't there.  But what I do know, is that one poor fishy soul got scooped up into small, grimy hands and carried to his deathbed - also known as the toilet.  I wish I could say there was a good reason for it or a happy ending.  There wasn't.  He just flushed.  We lost another fishy later that night.  Apparently, Kyson likes to hold his pets. 

2.  Shayli is mobile!  And has been for a while.  However, she also likes to eat all sorts of treasures she finds on the floor.  She coughed up a wad of tape during a Relief Society Enrichment. That's right.  A wad of tape.  And then I looked in her mouth and saw another piece clear in the back of her throat.  I dragged it out.  She was mad, but I was glad!  

3.  Lexi just got her abscessed tooth pulled.  And all I can say about that is -- it's about time.  I am happy to be rid of that problem.  Lexi was a champ, after the first initial break-down.  And now she really is resembling a jack o'lantern!

4.  And we're back to Kyson.  He stole a golf cart.  I ran to catch up to him all the while holding Shayli and jumping over my elderly neighbor who got pulled to the ground in an attempt to stop the cart with his "strong" arms.  I yanked that boy out of the golf cart (which then rolled to a "gentle" stop after shoving the trashcans around bit) and let him have it.  I was mad, he was glad.  Poor Will had to go ice his shoulder after all the trauma.  Luckily, I saw him the next day and he assured me he was doing fine and that it was "no problem!"

So there you have it, April at its finest! 

Pierced Ears!

The day has finally come....Lexi gets to wear earrings! And let me tell you, it couldn't come soon enough for particular little lady.

She told me she had thought about it, and she did NOT want to hold my hand while she was getting her ears pierced. She wanted to do it by herself. Lexi changed her mind right before they pierced them, so I did hold her hand. But she was a champ. She didn't even flinch! (Notice the concerned looks of her siblings? Or perhaps "horrified" is a better word. They were extremely interested in what was going on!)

And DONE! This was about a month ago and so far things are going good. She's taking care of them on her own and they feel pretty good. Two more months to go!

Easter - Part One

Talk about parties! We believe in stretching our holidays out. Which means we like to have 2 days minimum of holiday fun. If we can fit in more, we will! This is Day One of Easter.

We went to Angels Camp to dye eggs and party with the cousins. We managed to get alot of the food preparations done during that time, too, which is always a bonus!Lexi and Rachel - These girls are getting so big! My goodness. Before we know it, I'll be posting prom pictures. ;)

All the troops making Easter magic!

Happy Easter - Part 2

And so the fun continues.....Easter morning we were up bright and early. And when I say early, I mean early. Kendri came into our room at 4:00 in the morning wondering if the Easter Bunny had come yet. I told her she had to go back to bed until 6:30. I think she only heard the "30" part, because guess who came back at 4:30? And then again at 5:30? Sheesh. This mama needs some sleep. Between Shayli waking up 3 times a night and Kendri/Kyson/and sometimes-Lexi-but-not-usually, I should be getting paid graveyard hours. And overtime. And we might as well throw in holiday wages while we're at it. (Ryan? You owe me big, fat check! He, he!;))

We had some time to kill after church. So we decided to start taking Easter pictures. Kyson certainly loves his little sister!

Sew, are these the cutest skirts or what? I was sew excited for them to wear them. It was a little challenging to get all of them matching, but SEW what?!? Okay, I'll stop being "sew" clever....;) Okay, okay. I'll tell you. It was my first big sewing project. And I finished them without throwing anything out the window (sewing machine/skirts/bow tie). Which is actually a huge accomplishment because there were certainly those moments!

And here we all are in our Easter finery. Happy Easter!

Flyin' High

Kendri (with our friend) skiing. She was a little nervous about the ski lifts the first couple of times she went.

Lexi and Ryan ready to go. Apparently, the girls have even made it to the ski park. Yikes! I haven't gone this year. I stay home with Kyson and Shayli while the rest of the family parties.

And here they are on the Magic Carpet by the bunny slope. They've gotten good enough that this slope is BORING! Or so I'm told. What isn't boring is this next picture.....go ahead and get a good look at that.

In case you don't recognize it, it's Kendri's jacket dangling from the ski lift, inside out. Ryan texted me this picture (while they were busy "partying" and I was busy cleaning) with this message:

"The picture was taken after she tried to get off the lift. No worries, we got her down after a few minutes."

Huh? So I needed extra clarification about what exactly was going on. Here is the second text:

"Yes. She was in the jacket prior to the photo."

Well, that cleared that up. I think my next text may have said something like, "Party over. Pack it in. Put those girls in the car and come home!"

Apparently, Kendri's lift ticket got stuck in the chair while she was trying to get off. She called over to Ryan, "Uh, daddy! A little help here!" As she was swooped up and being carried off into bright blue sky. Luckily, the guy working the lift stopped them immediately and let everyone know what was going on by calling down, "We have a dangler!" Because that's what she was doing....dangling. From the ski lift.

Cute nickname. She was called "The Dangler" the rest of the day by everyone who witnessed it - friends and strangers alike. But who am I kidding? After an experience like that, aren't we ALL friends??? :)

Anyway, back to the end of the story.....Ryan and the lift guy could reach her feet so they somehow managed to get her gloves off her without letting her come crashing down. Once those were off, she could slip her arms through the jacket and come down. I thought for sure Kendri would have decided enough was enough and call it quits. But it was quite the opposite. She thought it was fun! Fun!?! Can you imagine? Well, okay. I guess it could be....maybe. :) Moral of the story - keep your jacket zipped!