Easter 2013

I can't believe that it is already Easter time.  It feels like we just had Christmas.  However, with the beautiful spring weather we are experiencing I am not going to complain that it yet again this time of year.  I think the hardest part for me about it being Easter is that Dimples is almost 11 months.  I really don't want her to be that old.  It makes me sad to think that my last baby is soon turning into a toddler. 

 

Like every other year, we spent the Saturday before Easter over at Duema's (JBody's Mom) house.  The kids had a blast looking for eggs (over 300 in total between the big kids and little kids).  Dimples held onto the one and only egg she found for the majority of the day. 

Poor Razy woke up Saturday morning throwing up.  But stayed well enough to search for some eggs for a bit.  Her hair was a mess, but I wasn't fighting a sick little girl on her looks.

Lil' E and Doble spent some of the afternoon over at the pond with cousins.  They came back to show us the salamander eggs they found.  Yes they did return them to their original spot.

I can't get enough of this cute little ball of sunshine.  Always smiling and always showing off those cute dimples. 

After the festivities, Lil' E and JBody worked on their pinewood derby car.  This is Lil' E's first derby race and he and daddy are excited for the big day.  The car he is holding is his extra one. 

 

Sunday morning we got up and the kids checked their Easter baskets.  Poor Daddy was super sick and so he stayed downstairs just long enough to see the kids get excited and then went back to bed.  We all (excluding JBody) got dressed and headed to church where the kids did awesome singing with the primary.  After church Mema (my mom) hid eggs at our house and the kids, their cousins, and a couple church friends looked for eggs.  Then we piled into the car to have Easter dinner at Mema's.

After dinner we took daddy out for some fresh air to see the pretty cherry blossom trees that are in full bloom.  Oh and the kids had their jelly beans grow into lollipops again.

 

 

We had a wonderful, beautiful Easter with our family.  I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. He Lives!!!  and through him I know that I will one day be resurrected and be able to live my family for eternity.

Introducing Dimples!

Meet Dimples!

Our newest edition was born May 15th at 1:46pm. 

 (I know she is making her bloggy debut a bit late). 

She weighed 5 lbs 15oz

and was 19 inches long. 

 

Can you see why we call her Dimples?  She was only 11 days old here and you can see those dimples clear as day.

 

Just a few pictures of the last 10 months with this bundle of sunshine.  We have been asked if she ever doesn't smile.  Not too often.  She is always so happy for the most part.

 

Dimples at 4 months.  Love Love Love this little girl.

She is so loved by her siblings.  Our family wouldn't be the same without her. 

Can you tell who these babies are?  One is Dimples and one is Peaches (Me). 

I not only see her resemblance to her brother, Doble, but she and I could have been twins 31 years ago.

 

There you have it.  I know I am late, but I told you yesterday that I would introduce her.  It took awhile to come up with her bloggy name.  I liked Sunshine and Doble liked Dimples.  Both are very fitting.  But how can you not call her dimples?  Look at the picture on the right.  You can not only see one dimple, but there are THREE!!  She is full of them.  The two deep ones on her cheeks she gets from her daddy.  The little one under the eye is from mommy. 

 

Hello again!

Wow.  It has been almost a year since I have last posted.  I am a bit embarrassed.  I think I have a good excuse though.  With the birth of our 4th last May, our life became just a little more busy.  And on top of that I decided to less busy my life.  Many things went on the back burner.  One of those things being this blog.  However, I am glad to report, I am back.  Hopefully to post things a little more often. 

So what have we been up to?  Well that is easy.  THE KIDS.  Sports, school, church, home, LIFE!!  Our new little edition (not so little anymore) has our favorite thing to keep us busy.  I will have to post about her in a later post. 

This post is just a little shout out to say HELLO AGAIN.  We are still here and with the start of Spring Break, ready to start posting some of our fun projects and adventures.  Before heading off to baseball practice in 30 mins I though I would share with you two of our little beauties. 

To you remember this little beauty.  Razy is now 5 1/2.  Where is my little girl going.  She has become quite the little lady.  I found an idea similar to this on pinterest and made it my own by having her hold a picture of the Seattle Temple (where JBody and I were sealed).  She had quite a fun time wearing my wedding dress and even showed her friend that day the dress she got to wear.

 Now meet our newest edition.  Can you believe that part of the reason I haven't posted is because I can't come up with a name that is fitting for this spunky, cute, bald, baby?  I know lame excuse. Without further ado here she is (well her back side).  We will reveal more latter.  Lil' E hates this picture because is shows her bum.  He thinks we need to blur it out. 

Summer Fun Schedule

I have a lot to catch up from the past 2 months, including the recent birth of our baby girl on May 15th.  However, before I do I want to share with you a fun way to spend your summer vacation with your kids.  I was recently looking on pinterest for fun things to do with the kids.  There are hundreds of ideas and so little time to do them in. I was trying to think how we could implement these ideas into our summer.  I am hoping to have our summer be fun, educational, simplified, and relaxing.  I came upon to summer schedules that can help with this.  However, I am not going to force myself to stick with this schedule 100%.  A brand new baby, and three other siblings definately alter schedules all the time. But with these fun schedules it gives us something to build upon this summer. 

Make it Monday: This can be anything from building with the Kinex and Legos, Craft projects, Baking, you name it. 

Take a Trip Tuesday: There are lots of fun places to visit where we live, whether it be somewhere outdoors, or just a walk to the park.  You can visit the library, a museum, the pool, or  grandma's house. The kids are always asking me if we can have a bike ride.  I think there will be lots of these (whether permitting) this summer.
Time to Read Tuesday:  This was another great idea.  I really am hoping that Lil' E can continue to practice his reading this summer in a fun way.  This would be a great time to take a weekly trip to the library to choose books to read during the week. 

Wet Wednesday: Around here this is subject to change all the time.  Obviously if it is great weather on Monday and the kids want to go out and run in the sprikler they can.  If you live somewhere where the weather is always sunny you could easily make this a set day.  You could take a trip to the pool, get the sprinkers out, or have a water fight.
What's Cooking Wednesday:  This is more realistic for us.  Lil' E and Razy love to help me when I am in the kitchen and they are always asking if they can help.  Whether you choose to make cookies or have the kids help with a dinner or lunch menu they would have a blast doing it. 

Thinking Thursday:  I really like this idea.  Lil' E was really into science this year and I found some fun experiments to do with the kids.  Thinking thursday would be a great day to do those.  You could also use this day to learn a new skill or learn about something you have been interested. 
Be Thoughtful Thursday:  I also really liked this one too.  Today could be used as a day to get to know your neighbors by taking them a goody that you made on Wednesday.  Or maybe write a letter to a friend or teacher.  There are endless things to on thoughtful thursday.  Today could be used to focus on service and kindness.

Friend Friday: The kids love playdates and after talking with JBody we have decided that we would much rather have friends come over to our house than have our kids go to friends houses.  This way we can control what they are learning and taking in.  Yes this potentially means 3 more kids every friday, but sometimes it is easier to get it all done in one day and use the rest of the week to focus on family time.  Besides have you noticed that sometimes it is easier to have extra kids at your house because they are the ones entertaining you kids instead of you?

Now that I have put up our not so much set in stone schedule, let me also tell you what the kids need to do to earn these fun outings and activities...Bedrooms and small chores need to be done before hand. Yep that is all I have asked from the kids.  So as long as they get up and make their beds, and make sure their playroom is clean they are good to go.  They do have other small chores to do throughout the week, but those are on a need to do bases when mommy asks. 

I have also set up a system for them to earn tokens that can be redeemed for Kinect and TV time.  Every day the kids have a list of things to do each day.  If they chose to do them they get a token and those tokens can be used to go for tv time and kinect.  This list includes:

Reading: Atleast 20 minutes.  If they choose longer they can have more tokens.  Reading can be done alone, or with a sibling.  Asking mommy or daddy to read to you also counts.

Writing: Every day I would like the kids to write in their summer journal.  For the little ones this could mean drawing a picture and dictating to me what it is they drew.  They can write about whatever they want. 

Physical: They can do this alone or with their siblings.  They can ride their bikes, or take a walk, play tag, or just play outside. 

Practice: This is a time to practice a skill that they would like to.  This could be reading, baseball, riding a bike, music, ect.  Any goal that they have chosen. 

Home: If they would like to earn extra tokens they can ask me for a chore that needs to be accomplished.  The skies the limit on mommys choosing.

They can earn extra tokens for doing extra time in each of these areas or by taking time to help eachother out.  I am hoping this not only helps our summer run smoothly, but that the kids will get along with eachother and learn a little extra something before school starts again. 

Today's Easter Message

The Lamb of God

There are three parts to this video. 

For some this can be hard to get through.  I know that it has always been one that has brought tears to my eyes as I watch.  To see the pain, mocking, and cruelty the Savior went through on my behalf. 

Week Long Easter

Today's Easter Message

He Lives



I love hearing the testimonies of our latterday apostles.  As the kids sat and listened I was impressed that even my four year old recognized each one the spoke.  This truely has been an awesome week.  We were able to start it off with General Conference and then end with Easter.