A little REST...and some much needed reflection

Easter morning reflections....I'm sure the two of them were pondering something spiritually profound that they had learned that morning during conference.

Grandy and Coleson are the two walking "spots" with sticks in their hands. We looked out past the front porch Sunday morning and saw the two of them strolling down the road together. What a pair!

The girls, and Coleson, drove up the parkway to watch the sun go down Saturday night, while the men were at their Priesthood meeting. It was absolutely beautiful. The result of Linnea saying "down, set, hike!" to Coleson.

Katie worrying about the steep drop off to Coleson's left and hoping he doesn't lose his balance.

Saturday morning egg hunt. After a great hike through the woods.

We were blessed to spend Ty's final few days of time-off in the beautiful mountains; spending time with friends, celebrating the joy of Easter and the blessing of the Resurrection, watching and being completely rejuvinated by general conference and soaking in every beauty that has been created around us...It was absolutely WONDERFUL!

BEST Birthday EVER!

Because I got a new crockpot! YAY!
Honestly, I love my new pot. And, honestly, my actual birthday was a little rotten...but then the next morning Ty didn't have to work and I stayed in bed reading while they made waffles. And The waffles were soooo yummy, much better than birthday cake!

I may look pale and awful, but I was very happy to have the whole family home for a few days. I just shouldn't have worn a gray sweatshirt and come down before at least combing my hair...if only I had known sooo many pictures were going to be taken.

So why was it the BEST ever?!?

Ty got me.........................my MOM for my present! The crockpot was just a cover-up. He had actually planned months ahead for my sister to help watch my little brother (I LOVE my sister!) and my mom to fly out for a week in May.

The BEST present I have EVER gotten...EVER!

I was soooo incredibly overwhelemed. He is the most wonderful husband in the entire WORLD! I love him so much, and obviously he knows me really well. I am so LUCKY!

And then, as if that weren't enough...my dad and mom found a ticket for the same flights and they bought it.....so my DAD gets to come too!!! I can NOT WAIT! That week is going to fly by sooo fast, I am a little nervous about the way I will be feeling after they leave. But, I can not wait to see them. It has been almost a year since we left their house and I have never missed them more than I do now.

BEST Birthday EVER!

Thanks Ty! I love you!

All DRESSED-UP!

The kids wore their Easter outfits a week early. They all looked pretty cute. Everyone kept telling Coleson he was so handsome...He would respond "No I'm NOOOT handstum!" So adorable right? :/

Makinzie thought she needed to take one of me...not bad for her first time.

Thanks to Grandma Pam, they looked like princesses!

Can you tell what's missing? Now there is another one missing right next to it! Things could NOT be more exciting around here!

Hard at Work!

Ty had Spring Break off....which means...he WORKED like crazy! He built these garden boxes out of old pallets. Then hauled loads, and loads and LOADS of dirt and mulch to fill them. After we had lined the ground and the boxes with that black "ground cover stuff" (obviously I am a very good gardener :)). Try to imagine it with a nice rock path between the boxes and ground cover plants growing around all of the rocks...as well as a plush beautiful grass up to the edge of the garden area...Those are the eventual plans anyway. PATIENCE. It's hard to wait sometimes!
Then we managed to plant: lettuce, cabbage, cilantro, basil, thyme, green breans, cow peas, green peas, lima beans, carrots, leeks, zucchini, squash, broccoli, beets, watermelon, bell and hot peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, and 2 raspberry bushes (in another spot). Hopefully it will all grow!

The refinished kitchen table and red chairs.

A better view of Ty's bench.

The window seat he made.

I did paint the chairs red and make a cushion and some new pillows for the family room...Plus I tried to help when I could with all of the outside work...It was a great week!

Daddy's Day!

Ty got to give the FHE lesson on his Birthday! Lucky guy! He chose to show everyone his mission book...Makinzie is modeling the most frequent pose in the book (a cheesy thumbs up :)).

They loved looking at "funny" pictures of daddy. Coleson was happy to tell Ty ALL about what he put in his special Birthday card...dressed as Super Man, of course!

Wouldn't be complete without a good dose of silly faces and some very yummy brownies filled with Reese's pieces (or yummy M&Ms) and some ice cream on the side...

What did he get?!? A softball team membership, about $60 (but this also means I have agreed for him to be gone EVERY Friday night from April til September). He used his Birthday money to buy Baseball cleats and a new glove. He is one HAPPY Birthday boy! He was giddy with excitement the day they called to invite him onto their team. (Thanks Brooks!)

St. Paddy's

I don't know why I ALWAYS seem to be behind...but St. Patrick's Day was wonderful! We had LOTS of green for dinner! And, an after dinner train! Little kids make everything 10 times more fun!

I took the two little ones to a preschool party. They made their own clover hats, played green light, read a few stories, sorted out rianbows and found some gold in a hidden pot!

They LOVED it! So much that Tank PASSED OUT on the way home.

What is it worth?!?

Who? Me?!?

Coleson will only go potty for immediate rewards...what works?!
*Reese's peanut butter pieces ("the yummy M&Ms")
*Sitting on the bench with the girls for meal time, instead of in his booster seat across from the girls.

*Any kind of ice cream, especially chocolate, can do the trick
*Sleeping in his Big-boy-bed.
"Not my baby bed!!! I will go do potty right now, all bamaself."

Didn't work:
*sticker chart (once it was pretty full he took it down and put stickers all over himself and proclaimed he was done going potty, he was satisfied with the amount of stickers he already had earned)
*smarty candies and even normal M&Ms are no where near as effective as "yummy M&Ms"
*big boy Buzz underwear is not as cool as the diaper with a robot on it...diaper companies need to start putting lame things or nothing at all on their diapers.
*and the list goes on and on...
So, hopefully, with the threat of his baby bed and him not getting to sit by the girls at the table, we have the right leverage now and we will have a potty trained little man within the week. I would really rather not use junk food as a reward, probably not the best teaching tool or coping mechanism...

CraZy KiDs

They can have lots of fun together...when they want to.

They dress up to play ALL the TIME and Addellyn is constantly getting Coleson to do what she wants...this is her demanding to be dipped and kissed like a princess.

The fearless lion...

A great Crepe maker...

Addellyn loves to be "beautiful" for church. Curly hair and a crown is always a request...

Ders a SEED in Der...ARRRrrr

There are moments that you REALLY wish you had a camera, but I will try to describe them so that a picture can be made in your head and so that these memories of our funny "little buddy" will last forever...
So, Ty has worked lots of nights and to celebrate the end of a week of nights we had a "movie night." Ty popped some popcorn and divided it among bowls and then the kids made their movie selection and we all sat down together. About half way through the movie we noticed Coleson kept sticking his finger clear up his nose...
We told him he should probably get a kleenex if he had boogies in his nose, to which he replied: "but ders a seed in der."
And, there definitely was, but it came out after a few "nose blowing" practices.

A few days later at church, I had them all there a little early because I had some copies to make and we always like to be in our seats early so we can be ready for the meeting to start, but Coleson had gotten into his "quiet time" bag while I was making copies. (I was alone, like a lot of Sundays this past month, by the way...)
Normally, I try to make them wait until after the Sacrament to have their own bags, but Coleson had gotten into his and I was able to get him to clean up everything except one last piece of paper that was already covered in stickers from the week before. I decided one piece of paper wasn't worth a fight in church, so he kept it.
All throughout the beginning of the meeting they were sitting quietly but I kept hearing Coleson saying "ARRRrrr, mma pirate." I didn't think much of it becuase he is usually pretending to be a pirate, dinosaur, buzz lightyear, or something and at least his voice was quiet this time.
But, when the sacrament came to our row I lightly nudged him and told him to sit up big and be ready to take the sacrament. Well, to my surprise, he whipped his head around to look at me (and the poor boy passing the sacrament) and his left eye was pinned open by a bunch of stickers. He had stickers all around his eye, and on it, and the sight was slightly shocking because his eye was being pulled in a weird direction and was a little squinty because of the stickers. Coleson also had a very big cheesy grin on his face, because he knew he was funny.
The boy began to giggle, but tried to keep a straight face and be reverent, it was then that I realized the little girl behind us was already covering her mouth and trying not to giggle too loud because she had seen him at work, and Makinzie, who must have watched him the whole time, was covering her mouth too, trying not to laugh too much louder. I couldn't help but laugh...the "ARRRrrr, mma pirate" suddenly made a lot of sense. He had spent the entire first part of church creating an eye patch for himself out of stickers, so that he would look just like a pirate at church!

My dog ONLY "barfs" outside.

I walked into the playroom mid-imagination time...

Addellyn to Coleson: "Well, my dog only barfs outside."
Me: "Why does your dog need to barf?" (probably said with a scrunched nose and a bit of a disgusting look)
Addellyn: "MOM, you know, "barf-barf" (she says in a high yippy dog bark)
Me: "Oh, what a good dog you have!" (trying not to laugh too much out loud)
FUNNY!