Tag: Emilee

The Terry’s start some new fashion trends…

Dad had to go straight from work to the baseball game this week. He takes his clothes with him when he has to do this so he can change at work. He forgot his tennis shoes. I could not stop laughing. I called him over like I had to tell him something and took the picture. When he realized what I was doing he turned around and walked off so I took the next picture. Still giggle when I think about it. Seriously, look at those pictures and try not to laugh. He said I was embarassed of him, which I was not. I wouldn’t have told everyone about it if I was embarassed. Hehehe! He lucked out though, one of the other coaches asked him if he needed some tennis shoes he had an extra pair or if he wanted to sport his current look that was cool too. Ryan took him up on his offer to borrow the extra pair of shoes he had. He isn’t the first coach on the team to have that happen either. We are lucky to have such good Dads to support their kids in their activities.

 

At our next game the fashion statements continued. Emilee came up to ask for a drink and I took stock of what she had chosen to wear and had to get a picture of it. Those are socks with water shoes. Yep, nice cozy socks with rubber water shoes, in 100+ temperatures. She thought it was a great idea. Cute little stinker. Again, I still giggle when I think about it. It isn’t her first interesting shoe choice though, Emilee is notorious for wearing inappropriate shoes for the occasion, mismatching shoes, or forgetting her shoes altogether. Lucky for her (an annoyance for me) her sister thinks the car is her personal shoe closet so there is usually a few pairs to choose from if Emilee forgets. Also as a side note. I tell my girls all the time that when they see pictures of themselves in 20 years and wonder what they are wearing I am going to remind them that I always offered ‘how to match your clothes’ advice but it was usually ignored or most likely completely scoffed at like I don’t have the slightest clue what I’m talking about. Unless it is church or family picture day or something like that, it is all them and their styling.

I haven’t mentioned Father’s Day or Ryan’s birthday yet. I have a picture that fits in great with the above pictures too. Both of his special days are usually close together if not the same day. We try to make it separate celebrations for him but this year we were leaving on our RV-cation on his birthday so there wasn’t a whole lot of time to celebrate. We did his cake on the road though. For Father’s Day the kids argued and fought and I about locked them outside for the day, but then we pulled it together and made him a nice steak dinner and played a game together. We gave him a power washer for his Father’s Day and birthday present. He has wanted one for a long time and I have been told for years how amazed I will be at how useful it will be. We also usually get him a cool new pair of pajama pants for Father’s Day. This year we decided to go with a shirt instead. I told him he was going to laugh and I had never seen this shirt before. He said he had found a shirt for his dad the other day but they didn’t have the right size so he didn’t get it but he almost bought it for himself. He told me what it said and it was the same shirt we had gotten him! I kept my game face on and didn’t give it away though.  The kids could hardly contain themselves when he started opening it. I guess potty humor never gets old.

Taking Moose to the Beach

When we were in Florida for Spring Break our beach day was not good. It was pretty cold and the water was freezing. We were only there about 45 minutes to basically say we went to the beach.

When we got to Florida after our rv-cation the weather was perfect for the beach  so we decided to drive Moose (the RV) to the beach and enjoy a good beach day.

It was wonderful. We set up the canopy so we had some shade in the beautiful white sand for the kids to play in. The water was so warm. We didn’t really even need towels. There wasn’t that much of a temperature difference being in or out of the water. We went out into the water and played in the waves, but we settled at a little tide pool area that was pretty shallow for the kids to play in. They covered a rock in sand and decorated it with shells, splashed and played in the water, and of course collected shells. Usually we just see clam shells, but this beach had lots of the little tiny conch shells. I told the girls to only pick their most favorite ones because we didn’t have a lot of room in our suitcase. I then watched as Emilee started picking shells up as fast as she could exclaiming how pretty they all were and she just couldn’t leave any behind.

We were there for a few hours then we rinsed off and went back to the RV to eat a nice lunch with the A/C running. Having an RV is a pretty handy way to travel.

Kenny stopped at Bahama Bucks, which is an icee shop on our way home. We all got a delicious icee and finished the trip home. Most of us were asleep by the time we got home.

Once we were home the girls showered up and relaxed while Sherri and Kenny made dinner and I cleaned the RV up for the next renter that is picking it up on Monday. Another big help of our RV-cation is I have a lot more hands on knowledge now for the RV in general and for the whole process of preparing it and sending it off with a renter. When Moose left on Monday we have all of our RV’s out on the road for the next month. They have all been out a few times but this will be the first time all three are out for a while. Pretty awesome.

It was nice to have a few days in Florida before we came home. Once again I love seeing my sisters and spending time with them, but I am always sad when I leave that we don’t live closer to each other. Thank goodness for modern travel options but it would still be wonderful to live close enough to see each other whenever we want instead of a couple times a year.

Summer fun

So far I would say our summer has been going great!

Our theme for the summer ‘Work Hard then Play Hard’ has been going pretty well. We have to jump start it again when we are gone out of town for a few days or even if I work it gets thrown off. I guess it might be more accurate to say that if I insist on it, they are cooperating for the most part, and it is working. The overall quality of their efforts and work is improving too, which was one of my biggest grievences. The electronic chore chart seemed to be the key for them and me.

Along with working on improving our work ethics we have done a lot of fun too. We are chipping away at our bucket list of things we want to do this summer.

Swimming, has been going successfully. We have gone as often as we can. I love having three swimmers now too. Last summer I hired a lady in our neighborhood to do private lessons for the kids and she had Emilee swimming after a few lessons. My kids are not scared of the water and I have found for them that if I want them to learn to swim 5-6 private lessons is better than years of summer group swim lessons. At least here in Olathe Kansas. I usually have a brief 1-2 lessons to refresh everyones swimming skills or work on better technique if they are more advanced. I didn’t get around to it this summer though and Emilee keeps asking to take swimming lessons because she ‘can’t remember how’ so I did sign  up her and Alli up for a few private swim lesson through the YMCA but still haven’t heard back from them. They have been getting better on their own just going to the pool a lot so I might end up not worrying about it.

We went to a pottery painting place a few weeks ago. We have done it before but we found a new place to try. Everyone picks out their own piece of pottery and then can paint it however they want. When we are all done painting we leave it there and they fire and glaze it for us and we pick it up when its done. Everyone likes it and has a fun time but Matthew could take it or leave it and Emilee suprisingly gets bored with it pretty quick. Alli and I spend a lot more time and detail so it takes us a lot longer. We were annoyed and feeling rushed by the end because Matthew and Emilee were done and not very patient waiting for us. We decided we would save that for a Alli and me day out next time we did it and leave the other two home.

Matthew had a busy week earlier this month. He wanted to sign up for a baseball camp and it happened to be the same time as the Vacation Bible Camp (VBC) he went to with his friend Finn that invited him. He spent the morning at baseball camp and then he ate lunch in the car on the way to VBC when I picked him up. He liked basball camp even though it was really hot. They had some new tips and drills for him that he learned. His favorite part of VBC camp is the food packing drive they do for Harvesters. They get to assemble bags of food for people that need them. They also have a shaving cream fight and fire truck hose everyone off on the last day that is fun.

Alli has been working hard on her gymnastics. The gym offers 2 hour camps throughout the summer to focus on more specific skills so she likes to go to the tumbling ones. She has her front and back hand springs down pretty good. She can do them on the trampoline, she just needs to be a little braver to do them on the floor. She does them great with a spotter too.

We go to the library a little  more often in the summer than we usually do. They have a statue of a bull dog that they hide somewhere in the library on Fridays. That is the day they like to go because if you find him you get to pick out a prize.

Emilee went to Target with me the other day and was dying to have me record her doing one of her ‘most favorite things ever’ so here it is for your enjoyment…Emilee slides on a red cement ball!!

Jovee had her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year. She gets to pick a friend to go in the ticket booth and try and get as many tickets as they can in a minute or something. I thought it was pretty cute when I heard she had picked Matthew to help her. Clever girl.

Sarah returns!

A few weeks ago Ryan and Matthew had something going on and it was a gorgeous night so we went to a park to play. I was pushing the girls in the swings and realized that I knew the person standing next to us. Her name was Nikki and her younger sister Sarah was my kids first babysitter. She used to watch them when I worked in the summer and then through out the school year for dates and stuff. The kids LOVE her. She was their main babysitter for about 4 years until she moved to California. They still talk about her and remember all the amazing times they had with Sarah.  She is graduated now and actually just got back from a mission about a month ago. Her parents are still in California but she came to visit her sister for a few days and happened to be on her way to meet Nikki at the park. My kids were over the moon excited when she showed up. They were running and playing tag with her within 5 minutes and so excited to see her.

When the girls told Matthew about it later that night he was pretty disappointed he didn’t get to see her. She ended up stopping by later that week for a few minutes to see Matthew too. I thought he might be ‘to cool’ but he was just as happy as the girls and had perma grin the whole time she was there. Emilee couldn’t get close enough to her and Allison was trying to tell and show her everything about her life in ten minutes. It was pretty cute. I love that they have those fun memories of her babysitting them. I think Matthew was 6 the last time she watched them. Emilee was only 1-2 so she doesn’t even have any actual memories of her but the older two have built her up so much she loves her by association. I am glad we ran into her. She was only here for a week then headed home for a bit before going to school, so it was good timing.

Summer begins!

Well yesterday was Matthew and Allison’s last day of school, and today was Emilee’s so we are officially in summer mode!

Emilee and I went to the elementary school for the last hour or so to watch the 5th grade slide show with Matthew and eat treats with him while they signed t-shirts and year books. Then we went to Alli’s class and ate popsicles and danced and took silly pictures with her. Then the whole school lined up in the halls and all the 5th graders walked through the school for their ‘final walk’ while everyone cheered and gave them a high five. It was a fun time.

Emi had a fun time today for her last day and got her little preschool diploma and gave Ms. Cristi a big hug. She will see her a few times over the summer when I work, but once kindergarten starts next year we probably won’t see Ms. Cristi to often anymore. She is an awesome teacher. Allison and Emilee love her to death. They love her so much that Matthew holds a grudge against me for not having him go to her for preschool. (It was her first year and I already had him enrolled in another one when I found out she was going to do it). Apparently his preschool experience was hardly bearable.

Switching topics a little, a few years ago we started working with a therapist with Allison to help her deal with her emotions a little better. One of the things he wanted us to start implementing right away was a ticket system that basically for doing things we want her to do she earns tickets and then can use those tickets to do things she wants to do. It is supposed to help her learn cause/effect, choice/consequence, need/wants, etc. We started out all gung-ho and did good and then have been off and on after the first little while with it. I won’t bore you with all the details as to why but it has become a pain in my butt. Everytime we go see him I know he is going to ask me if we are doing it, and I always go in with the intentions of telling him where he can stick his stupid ticket system, and then I always leave telling him we will rally and try again. He is a good therapist…or at least good at getting you to agree with him to do something. So we go home try it again and start the cycle over again. Again, I won’t bore you with details as to why it falls apart and all the different things we have tried, but two years later we haven’t figured out how to make it maintainable…until now…I think…I hope.

I found an app the other day called Chore Monster. Basically it is the same thing her therapist has been wanting us to do. The app tells them their chores for the day and when they do it they get points and they can use the points for rewards. Same thing. Being electronic for some reason makes a huge difference for me. There is a parent app that goes with it called Mothershp. So I had to basically plug in the ‘master chore chart’ and the rewards and then the kids can get on any of our phones or ipads and find their chart. I can totally cater it to each kid and make it more specific for one and general for another. It is easy to change if something isn’t working (without certain kids even realizing it and throwing a fit), I don’t have to redo a whole chart or carry stupid tickets everywhere with me, or remember to get or give tickets because I didn’t have them on me. They don’t get lost, they can’t be torn up, scribbled on, or leave me mean notes. The parents are the only one with access to changing things. All the kids have to do it click ‘done’ or ‘claim’. I can even set it up for Matthew that he can just basically use it as a reference so he knows what his jobs are because he doesn’t need to be monitored as much, except for his electronic usage which this will do too. For the girls I get a notification when they complete a chore so I can approve it or not, which is awesome because I can check it right then to make sure it was done right or not. Which leads into another thing we are working on this summer.

Each summer we make a bucket list of fun activities we want to do. Each summer I also have to adjust and let go of my house being as clean as I like it all the time, which is something I like and want but I don’t want it to be more important than other things to me. I do feel like the kids should help contribute to keeping the house clean though since we all live in it and they should learn to care for their surroundings. So, last night Ryan and I told the kids that along with our regular bucket list we were going to have a summer theme too. We had a mini family meeting to tell them that the theme we picked for this summer is ‘Work hard and play hard’. We even made a poster to hang up to remind everyone of the theme everyday. Then we talked about using our time wisely and doing our jobs we are supposed to do, to the best of our ability and try our hardest the first time. We talked about how learning to work is good thing and helps them become responsible capable people. All things that Ryan and I have been wanting to improve and work on lately. Then we showed them the app and how it works.

Of course there was some skeptisism and baching but today was our first day and it went pretty good. They like that it is an app too so they get to use the phone or ipad to see their jobs and use an electronic.  The app also gives them a ticket everytime they complete or cash in their points. Just a fun little side thing the app does is there is a little wheel they can spin with each ticket and win a ‘prize’. It is totally silly, the prizes are another spin if they get a smiley face, if they get a sad face it is a bag of hammers, or a dirty sock, or Matthew got a bag of farts last night. The wheel is just a little bonus. They don’t actually get anything from spinning but they think it is hilarious to see what is in the bag.

Today was our first day of implementing it. The kids got up and got their jobs done and then started using their points to play. It worked pretty good, they all did their jobs, they all have plenty of points, they all had fun doing things. It was a good day. Crossing my fingers that it keeps working.

We also started crossing a few things off our Summer Bucket List too.  We went to lunch with dad. We got new books to ready at the library (first of many times this summer). We went swimming (also first of many times). AND we always have a night or two that we go fire fly hunting. A friend of ours told us about a really cool place she found that has tons of fire flies so the girls and I went to check it out tonight. It was amazing, there were thousands of them, we will have to take dad and Matthew with us another time (they were at a baseball thing). I took some pictures and videos but they don’t do it justice.

 

Last preschool field trip…

This is our last week of school and we are continuing with last weeks crazy end of the year schedule with concerts, awards, field trips, parties, and everything else! Only two days left!

Emilee’s preschool teacher Ms. Cristi had her daughter get married last week so her preschool schedule has been rearranged a little but yesterday after much much much anticipation from Emilee her preschool field trip to the Arboretum finally arrived.

Most days I have to drag Emilee out of bed if we plan on being anywhere before 10am. If left to her own choices she will gladly sleep until somewhere between 9-10 in the morning. But she was so excited for her field trip that she woke up on her own, took her pajamas off that she wore over her clothes for the day (to save time obviously) and finished getting ready and was waiting in the car for when it was time to go by 7:30 am. It was pretty impressive. Especially since the field trip didn’t start until 8:30.

The Arboretum is a beautiful fun place that we have been to a few times but never with both pre-kindergarten classes, Ms. Cristi and most of everyone’s parent and some siblings. It was a pretty big crowd. Emilee isn’t my most outdoorsy kiddo. If we pick blueberries or strawberries or do something at a farm she is less than impressed and immediately begins requesting to go home or at the very least wait in the car. But so far this summer she has been really aware and into the flowers when they started blooming and loves walking around and finding all different kids of flowers.  The Arboretum does not disappoint for options of flowers. It is so pretty. The kids of course had a great time and played hard. We had a snack mid morning and read a story and then played hard some more. When we got home Emilee went straight to the couch and took a nap for two hours.

We had a busy weekend with baseball and late nights, and I have worked lately so she plays with friends all day long at preschool or Ms Sheila’s day care, plus her ‘early’ morning so she was ready to catch up on some sleep.

They were all nicely lined up for this first picture but I was to slow before they took off again, so I got an action shot.

Checking out the Coy fish in the pond.

Moments of the week.

This has been a good week. I have tried to focus on ‘the little things’ more and enjoy the moments. There have been lots of good moments.

Allison has day camp coming up for Girl Scouts. They are supposed to make little trinkets called ‘swaps’ to pin to their hats and trade with each other all week. They suggested that each girl bring 15-20 of them to have ready to trade. Alli and I did some research together and found some cute ones she wanted to make and then we went to Hobby Lobby and got all the supplies for them. We have worked on them a little bit for the past few nights. She has at least 35 now. She is pretty excited. She is counting down the days until camp. The one on the left is a cotton candy swap, the middle one is a ‘squishum’, and the right side is a slime stress ball of course. It wouldn’t be right if slime weren’t involved somehow.

Emilee and I went to the Zoo together. She has wanted to go for a while but the weather or our schedule hasn’t cooperated. Usually we go with a group but it was just the two of us so she got to sit on any statue she saw, choose where we sat on the train, tram, and skyfari, and pick all the animals she wanted to see. Today we made cookies together too. I let her measure everything herself even though I had almost the same amount of flour on the floor as the cookies did when we were done.

With Matthew I have cornered him a few times and made him talk with his mom. He tries to act like it is an inconvenience but he loves it. Once he starts talking he just keeps going and going. He is good at including all the details he can recall. He had a double header tonight. He has been working hard on hitting lately and he has decided he wants to start working on pitching too. He had some great hits tonight but his play of the game was when he was playing 2nd and the hitter hit a line drive a little to Matthew’s left. Matthew ran at it then leaped and caught it in mid air and closed the inning. It was pretty awesome. He got a standing cheering ovation from me and the rest of the parents of course but he even had parents from the other team coming over and telling him what an amazing catch it was. He was pretty happy.

 

Days can be long but the years are short.

I think this time of year with Spring finally coming and things blooming and changing and getting to be outside more and summer getting close and the school year starting to wrap up I start to feel naustalgic.  We have a few months left before we officially finish up the toddler phase of our family and enter the everyone is in school all day phase of our family. It is a bitter sweet feeling. On the obvious side of the perks of having the kids at school and the time that opens up to get stuff done faster and get to things that have been put off for a long time that will be nice. It will be nice to be able to get stuff done so once they get home I can focus on just them and not have other distractions. On the other hand though I will really miss having some company during the day. For the last 12 years of my life I have had at least one of my kids with me for the majority if not all of the day. This is going to be a big change. Things just aren’t the same once they start school, everything speeds up.

I remember before Matthew started kindergarten I thought the parents that said they cried when they took their kids to school for the first time were kind of weird. I envisioned myself doing a cartwheel. Then I took Matthew to kindergarten and I wasn’t crying (ok, I cried when I got home) but it pulled at my heart strings a lot more than I expected. He had been my buddy. He is such a good kid too. He is so kind and pleasant to be around. His cute little giggle and adorable smile. He loved to play and run and do whatever I was doing. He is a thinker and is good at making people around him feel good. One of my favorite memories of Matthew is when he was about 18 months pushing his little bubble lawn mower next to his dad and wearing one of Ryan’s hats while Ryan mowed the lawn. I remember watching them and wishing I could push pause on time for a while. Contrast that to yesterday while Ryan and I were working in the yard and Matthew was riding MY bike in circles in the driveway while he talked with us. He is still an amazing kid but he is starting to get a little teenager in him and doesn’t want to hang out as much as he used to or has a lot of things going on with friends and baseball that keep him busy.

Allison was my saving grace when Matthew started kindergarten. She was still home with me to keep me company. With her little determined independent self accompanied by her cute little bouncing blond pony tails she has always been a force to be wreckened with. She has always been ready to go out and explore the world around her. I could put Matthew and Emilee on a blanket on the grass and they wouldn’t leave because they didn’t like the poky grass. Allison never paused for a second, she would immediatley take off to explore through whatever terrain surrounded her. Her being the middle child Emilee was on her way so she didn’t get as much one on one as everyone else. But we still had many fun times together at the park, or on walks, or story time at the library, playgroup, and anything else we did. She was very good to Emilee and liked to take care of her and help with what she needed. Allison was only going to be five by a couple weeks when she started kindergarten so she only did one year of preschool. She really is an independent person and wants to do everything her older brother does so she had no problem starting school and never looked back. I am more of a home body and she is the exact opposite so sometimes it is exhausting for me to keep her satified with getting out and doing things but I am glad she is that way. She is already great at making things happen instead of waiting for things to happen.

Matthew and Alli were only half day kindergarten, which I thought was perfect for them. Last year was the last year Kansas did half day kindergarten so when Emilee starts next Fall she will be gone all day. I think she will do fine with it. She will be almost six when she starts and has reached the stage where she wants more social interaction and activities going on during the day. I am the one that is going to struggle with it. Emilee is a joyful easy companion. She is fun to take pretty much wherever I go. She has done preschool a few days a week the past two years but it will be very different to have her gone all day. She is my little buddy. I will miss having her joyful little self skipping around the house. I have been feeling a little glum lately wanting to push a pause button on time again. When I got her preschool pictures back it got me thinking about it all again.

I love watching my kids and discovering the traits they were born with from day one and the things they learn and develop along the way. I know I am not done with that either, like I said it is just changing. When we left the baby phase for good, I was a little sad about that too. Our new phase has its perks too. It is pretty easy to hop in the car and go places now. Our Florida trip really was pretty nice, everyone can entertain themselves and can handle being in the car all day. The girls still need a little help but everyone can get themselves ready for things for the most part. I also like them being able to explain and talk things through more, and have a few more reasoning skills.

To sum up, I am happy and gratful I get to be a mom, and I get to be a mom that gets to stay home with her kids. The sleepless nights, blow-outs, being thrown up on, crying, tantrums, fits, sickness, messes, diaper changes, days without a shower, no adult interaction, reading the same book 50 times in a row, singing the ABC’s ‘one more time’, and all the other exhausting sometimes mind numbing activities that aren’t the easiest part of being a mom are completely worth every hug, smile, kiss, giggle, snuggle, laugh, joyful discovery, dried tear, fixed ouchie, silly, funny, happy, once in a lifetime moments that come along with it.

Here is some of my favorite moments from the past few years.

 

 

No more training wheels.

When Matthew was 5 he asked us to take his training wheels off and we helped him get started once and he was good to go. I was shocked at how fast he got it. Allison was almost 5 and we were in Utah visiting Aunt DeAnna and her family. We would ride bikes out front several times a day. They had one of those balancing bikes with no peddles. Alli had been trying it for a few days and then tried a regular bike and took off. We like to go on family bike rides, and last summer I sold our bike trailor to someone because it was getting to hard to drag Emilee behind us. The next bike ride we went on Emilee rode her bike along with us with her training wheels. As we all know it takes a lot more work to ride a bike with training wheels than without them. At the beginning of the ride she was singing and loving it, about halfway through she was wailing and crying at how stupid bike rides where and saying she never ever wanted to go on another bike ride. We made it home and told her it was time to start working on no training wheels. She practiced through the Fall until it got to cold to ride a bike. She could do it but then started thinking to much and over correcting and eventually crashed. We tried again a few weeks ago and she was doing much better but couldn’t get started on her own and still got nervous with turning sometimes. Last weekend Alli spent a little time working with her and it finally clicked. She can start, stop, turn around and do anything else she needs. Of course she loves it. I remember how exciting it felt when I was learning to ride my bike and it finally clicked and all of the sudden I could just do it.  It is fun remembering and seeing these little milestones as they grow up. Between Emilee learning to ride her bike and loosing her first tooth, I am a little overwhelmed lately with how fast time flies and before you know it your babies aren’t babies and your toddlers aren’t toddlers and your son is almost a young man. So crazy.

 

Another example of time going to fast is Emilee had her Kindergarten Round Up, last week. The school has all the incoming Kindergartners come to the school and see the class rooms and meet the teachers and see the library and lunch room. They have several activities for them to do too while the parents fill out all of the paper work. I was actually at a dental conference so Ryan took her. She is pretty shy in new situations but went to the activities and did what everyone else was doing when it was time. Matthew and Alli were in half day Kindergarten. They have changed things around since then and there isn’t really a half day option anymore, so Emilee will be going full day. She will be almost 6 when she starts in the Fall and has done a few years of preschool so I think she will be just fine but I feel like I am getting shorted out of my time of having her at home with me.

Easter Weekend

The last few weeks have been flying by! I’ll start with Easter and work backwards. This past weekend was Easter and also General Conference for church. It was also April Fool’s day much to Alli’s delight, and we got to have Grandma and Grandpa Jones come visit us for the weekend.

Friday night started with the girls and I going to Disney on Ice with Aliya, Cambrie and Lori McDonald. They had a special offer through the girl scouts and Lori’s daughters are in girl scouts too so we all went together. It was really good! Disney always does a good job. Everyone had a fun time and got to sing along to fun songs. Emilee was over the moon excited that Moana was part of it. Allison sang her little heart out for the Frozen songs.  After the show they had a special behind the scenes for the girl scouts. We went down and sat right by the ice rink and they showed us different things that make the show work and told us fun stuff about the show, and we watched some skating of course. We were so close we got sprayed with the ice when they went by. We were all hungry afterwards so we went to Freddy’s for some hamburgers and ice cream.  It was a really fun girls night.

Saturday we watched conference and played games with Grandma and Grandpa.  I have been teaching Allison a few card games, so she wanted everyone to play Wacky Six together. All of us can play except Emilee but she just sat at the table with us and colored and got to tell us when to start the round.  My parents and I also went to Spring Hill and looked around at some houses there. Hopefully they will be moving by one of their kids soon so I wanted to tempt them with some possibilities here if they end up in Kansas.

Sunday was a relaxed morning, the kids went through their baskets and found all the eggs. Aaron’s Easter basket has a little Easter lesson in it that we do every year. We usually do it for FHE the week before but we hadn’t done it yet so we did that too. We watched the rest of Conference Sunday. It was a really nice Conference, they changed several programs and ways that things are organized. They talked a  lot about ministering to those around us and taking care of others. We set out snacks like we usually do with a word that is said often in conference by each snack. When the kids hear the word they can pick a snack out of the bowl. It helps them pay attention a little better and they look forward to having fun snacks. We like to have ham and cheesy potatoes for Easter so we did that for dinner. My parents didn’t have to leave until Monday so we finished up the evening with more games.  It is always fun to have grandparents come to visit.

Allison has been counting the days down to April Fool’s day for almost a month. She was giddy about it. She doesn’t quite get what you are supposed to do though, so she used it as a day to be ridiculously silly more than pranks-which is fine with me. At one point she was wearing her clothes inside out, my bra on top of that, her hair in a pony under her chin so it looked hairy, and every body part she could reach labeled with a sticky note. I helped her do a few things like hide a few extra eggs with peas and carrots in them, and putting food coloring in the bottom of everyone’s cup so the milk changed colors. She has some pre-April Fool’s jokes throughout the month while she anticipated the actual day. All of us had our turn of going to get dressed one morning and finding instead of our own underwear, someone elses.

Emilee had a momentous occasion this past week. She lost her first tooth. It has been wiggly forever. She is going to be one of those kids that hangs onto her teeth until they fall out completely on their own. She could have wiggled it out days before it finally fell out. It was exciting for her though. Before we know it our youngest isn’t going to be so young anymore.

The weekend before Easter Grandma and Grandpa Terry came down for the weekend. They stayed at Ross and Lauren’s so we spent most of the weekend over at their house. Roger is getting ready to retire this summer so we talked with them about moving down here by us sooner rather than later. It was a pretty busy weekend with baseball, soccer, cleaning the church, a baptism, and other things so we didn’t get to see them as much as we would like but we are always glad when they come for a visit.

Earlier this month I was working on a Monday and left for work about 7am. When I work Ryan drops the kids off at school and then heads to work around 7:45. Earlier that weekend I had driven Ryan’s car for some reason. His car has a key you don’t have to put in the ignition. It just has to be on your person somewhere, and we only have one of them. I usually try to just not drive his car because I always forget to take the key out of my purse afterwards and there have been far to many times where I leave with his key and have to bring it back to him. It is very frustrating for all involved. So as you can probably guess, I forgot again and was 35 minutes away working in a dental office when Ryan called to see if I had his key. Grrrr. It gets better though. I found someone to pick Emilee up and take her to preschool and Ryan said he would walk the other two to school, and actually he had been planning on working from home so he was set. Now it gets worse. When it was time to walk to school it is not just sprinkling or drizzling rain. It is a solid steady down pour of rain. Allison was not swayed at and she grabbed her stuff and was out the door. Matthew was not so cooperative. Stubborn little stinker. If he gets hit with a 50 mph baseball he shakes it off like nothing happened, but if you tell him he has to get wet or cold against his will and he will have none of it. He refused to walk in the rain. Refused. Ryan asked, told, demanded, threatened loss of electronics (this usually works 99% of the time for Matthew), actually took away electronics,  bribed , begged, and demanded again, Matthew would not go. So he started doing the list of chores that would take him all day long to do instead of going to school. About this time Emilee’s ride came to pick her up and Matthew asked her to drop him off at school on the way. Like I said- Stinker.

Baseball season has started…but no one told the weather. Our first few scrimmages, outdoor practices and game or two have been canceled because of cold, rain, and snow. We have a game tonight that was rescheduled from a week ago. Matthew has been checking the weather every five minutes hoping it will cooperate. So far so good. He will be excited to have the first game under his belt and really get into baseball season.