Spring Break

This week was Spring Break. Of course my kids aren't in school but when everyone else is on Spring Break I kind of go to Spring Break mode a bit. We've had a pretty laid back week around here. I borrowed some movies from my friend Jen and on Monday we watched Wreck it Ralph and Hotel Transylvania. Scott went to Texas again this week. I babysat for my visiting teacher a lot this week. We thought maybe she was going into preterm labor on Thursday. Six kids five and under for five and a half hours was a bit of an endurance test for sure. I was happy that all was well and to cut my children numbers in half.

On Tuesday Scott's sister Carole had a baby. My kids finally have a cousin on the Cannon side. From what I could tell up here in Boise it sounded like a long and terrible labor that ended in C-section. Poor Carole, but little Greta was finally born 10 days late. She is a cutie.

On Saturday we went to the Easter egg hunt in the Albertson's store. I've always wanted to go but never have. I like that it is indoors so you don't have to worry about the weather. I also like that it's super close to my house and they give away good candy and prizes. It was fun. After that we decorated Easter eggs and then I made deviled eggs out of them. Corbin and I practically ate all of them by ourselves.

Today I made a special Easter dinner that included Resurrection rolls that I think are delicious. After dinner we watched all of The Ten Commandments while we napped, played Candyland, and played with the Lincoln logs.

Cute Greta Nicole Hansen. The cutest Easter bunny in the land.

Notice the drapes in the back. I actually took down all of my yellow curtains because I didn't like them. I took down all of the curtains in the kitchen and put up longer drapes in the family room. I like this look much better.

Seriously? Whatever those kids are cute!

Corbin is getting pretty good at riding his bike. He made a ton of progress on Saturday. He basically went from balancing for 2 seconds on his own to much more. It all happened in one day, thanks to me I might add. Ha. I totally have to make him do stuff. I am a little bit of a Tiger Mother, more like a tiger cub.  Doy! I never remember that you can't video tape vertically!

"Do hot pinks burn?"

On Tuesday I took Gabby and Corbin to the dollar movie. Scott was home so we went during Piper's nap time. It was fun. We went to Wreck it Ralph and we all liked it. This was my first time taking Gabby to the movie theater and I was a little nervous about it, but she did great. It was a little loud for her but it's too loud for me too. We had a great time. We went and bought candy and smuggled it in. I've always done this and felt a little guilty but I especially felt guilty as I was explaining it to Corbin. Nothing like teaching your kids to be dishonest! I might need to rethink that one.

On Thursday we all went to the doctor's office. I made Scott come also since Corbin and Piper were both getting shots and I was a little nervous about that. Corbin was super brave and was a really great sport, but wow I think he underestimated how much it would hurt. I felt bad for him. He just jumped right up and was ready for his shot but when it came he did not expect it to hurt that bad. Poor guy. Of course it's sad for me when my babies get shots too but it's a little different when they are 5. We talked to the doctor a lot about Piper's development. I think he is more concerned than we are but he was trusting our judgement and said he wanted to see her in three more months to see if she makes some significant improvements. She has been walking a bunch yesterday and today so that is good. I'm just really trying to boot camp her on talking. I wouldn't give her any milk yesterday because she would not even try to say it or sign it. (Corbin would smuggle her drinks, he didn't like to listen to her cry). Today she signed the word milk for the first time. That is definitely a step in the right direction. I have until June to see what improvements we can help her make. Corbin didn't say even one word until he was 18 months but as soon as he started speaking he caught up immediately. I'm hoping the same for Piper. We will continue to flood her with language as my mother in law (the speech pathologist) would say.

I continue to do preschool with Corbin. It's fun to see his improvements and watch him get smarter and smarter. My main focus is on his letters trying to teach him how to read and write so I forgot about math. Duh. Of course we count but we've started doing basic math and he's pretty good at it. I think he really likes numbers. I don't know who he got that from. So I will ask him basic addition and subtraction questions and he's picking up on it quickly. I'm excited to see what more we can accomplish before he enters Kindergarten.

He had another Summerwind chick day at the school. This one was not as fun. It was really more for the parents. The Kindergarten teachers told us how Kindergarten has really changed in the last five years and it is much more academic than it used to be. The kids need to come into Kindergarten knowing more than they used to. So they were just telling us the things they needed to know. I really appreciate that. It makes me excited for his school that they would meet with us before our kids are even in school so they will have more academic success. Corbin already knows the things he needs to know but I want him to be more than ready. We are going to continue to work all summer long.

I'm on a stake decorating committee for a Relief Society event. It makes me so glad that I was in charge of the ward Christmas party so I could do what I wanted. I would rather do more work and do it my way. I guess I'm not a team player. There are like 10 people on the committee (way too many).  It will be an interesting experience for sure. I'm not in charge, so I will try to be a good support and help out but really I would just rather do it myself. There is one old bitty who doesn't like any of the ideas and certainly doesn't seem like she likes decorating. Why did she sign up for the decorating committee, I ask you?

On Saturday ward basketball started up. We like to take the whole family. It's fun to watch Scott play and it's even more fun to watch my kids watch their dad play. Of course that doesn't last too long and I end up chasing them around the church a bit but it's still a good time. Scott scored one of the first baskets, which was a 3 pointer. Our team was quite a bit behind and they had a major come back. I missed the come back because I was wrangling my kids but I came back and saw that there were only 2 minutes left and they were tied. When did that happen? It was intense. Our team had the ball and who scored the winning basket with 17 seconds left...Scott! What! It was awesome. The other team tried to score again and it didn't happen. Boom roasted!

Lastly, tonight I was talking to Gabby about colors and she said "do hot pink's burn." Ha! I love my kids!

Piper started copying Gabby by getting an iPhone and putting her hands on her elbows. Funny.

Party on mom and dad's bed.

Scott decided to try to have a Gabby cuddle in her bed.

Before

After. I bought those pillows for 2 dollars each at Goodwill and recovered them. I remade a total of 7 pillows for $42. $6 bucks a pillow is pretty good.

"Don't say any words."

We have been enjoying nicer weather this week. I went out with the kids and did a couple hours of yard work. I love when I have work to do while the kids are playing outside. It is so much more entertaining to me. I even got Corbin in on it. He is not great at entertaining himself but he quite likes to work. I gave him a weeder and a bucket and he pulled a bunch of weeds. Working is fun! I think happy people like to work.

Last week I took Gabby with me to the store and I thought we should bond so I was trying to talk to her about stuff. After awhile I got to a stop light and just inhaled a deep breath to start talking again and before I could say anything Gabby said, "don't say any words." Ha. I died. So funny. She is quite like her old mother and gets easily irritated by stupid things. Apparently she wasn't appreciating my commentary.

Piper has a very unique personality. She is funny. She gets very excited by everything. Her nursery leader says she screams with excitement every time they do anything. She can say the words "uh oh, mama, and boo but she rarely does. She also will hardly ever walk. I seriously try to get her to walk and talk all the time. She understands very well and will listen and obey (when she is feeling like being obedient). She is very good at cleaning up. She signs the words more and please all the time. I generally know what she is asking for but sometimes she will come up to me pleading more and please and I have no idea what she wants. She also nods her head yes very slowly and dramatically and she says "UH-UH" when she says no. "Piper do you want to go to bed?" "UH-UH!" It's pretty funny when she does that. She has a doctor's appointment this week so I guess I will see what her doctor thinks about her development.

Corbin gets to go to the elementary school for the Summerwind chicks program this week and he's already excited to go. It's reading and math this time instead of music and PE, I guess we will see what he thinks about school after that. Reading and math is definitely not as fun as PE and music.

Corbin's weeds.

Piper walking, a rare event.

Gabby wanted to watch a Sunday show with Scott and didn't last 5 minutes.

St. Patrick's breakfast: green eggs and ham, and green waffles. I also made green chocolate chip cookies. One thing's for sure, food dyed green is not as appetizing.

Happy kids enjoying their fun breakfast.

Girl's Weekend!

I just first want to give a shout out to my husband. I love him! He is the best! I left him alone with the kids again this weekend. There are a lot of jerk husbands out there that wouldn't let their wives do that. Lucky for me I didn't marry a jerk husband. This weekend the Beal sisters and sister in laws all got together. No husbands, no kids. My dad got the heck out of Arco. He did not want to be anywhere near that many women. He headed to Boise to spend the weekend at Gabe's making beds.

Christy came up with the great idea to throw Trisha a secret baby shower. When there are 9 people involved with just your family you don't even need to invite anyone else. We all gathered Friday night. The weekend consisted of a lot of eating, a lot of talking, a lot of movie watching, and more. It was so great! We all had the best time. This may need to become an annual trip. Jory brought a service project that we could work on if we wanted to. Some of the great moments were trying to get Trisha to go to bed and stay there so we could set up her baby shower. It was a success. We were laughing at 12:30 in the morning outside in the freezing cold gathering presents. Good times. Another big event was going to the Family Dollar store. This is new to Arco. It was so exciting to go to Arco and actually purchase goods. I have been searching casually for a year for a maxi skirt I liked that fit well and by golly I found it at the Family Dollar store for $10. Score! My sister bought an adorable lamp for her bedroom and I got Gabby some cute sheets. Family Dollar store in Arco...who knew?

We then went to the A&A market at got the movie Pitch Perfect from a Blue Box. What even is a blue box? Anyway wherever we went I felt like we were invading the place. I also felt like a sister wife a little bit, a million wives and no husband to be found. At church we were quite a sight as well.

On Saturday night we watched Pitch Perfect which was funny, cute, cheesy, DIRTY, and dumb. It was a bit of a mixed bag which is too bad because I thought some things were super hilarious and I loved the singing and dancing. Then we popped in Dan in Real Life which I keep trying to like and I just don't. By that point it was midnight and there were only 3 people who had not gone to bed. Then Kelsey and I actually stayed up and watched 27 Dresses which I had never seen and I really liked. We went to bed at 2:00 in the morning but with the time change it was 3:00 in the morning. I rarely, rarely, go to bed after 12:00 so it is going to hit me soon.

After my mom's Sunday dinner, which I may or may not have thrown a slight temper tantrum for, (she actually thought of making something else for Sunday dinner, UH-UH,) we gathered up our things and headed home. All the Rexburg and Rigby people in one car and the Boise people in the other car. It was so much fun! We all had the best time. I came home to my cute kids and husband, love them!

Before

After (I forgot to spray paint the sides of the drawers so I still need to do that). Doy!

I finished the pillows for this couch. After my fabric comes from fabric.com I will finish the pillows for the other couch.

Gabby's in that stage where sometimes she takes a nap and sometimes she doesn't. This day she didn't take a nap and then crashed, costume and all.

Piper is walking much more!

This is basically where we were all weekend. It was so great!

Baby shower! Do you see Christy's cute diaper cake? She is amazing!

The heart pillows we sewed for St. Al's.

I hate myself in silly pictures. We someone take our picture at church so we could all be in the picture.

Guest of honor Trisha to the left.

Rachel and I went ahead and both bought matching maxi skirts.

Piper Walking

Corbin and Gabby reciting first and second articles of faith.

Corbin's Scripture

Let's see can I even remember last week. Scott went to Texas last week. I found a king size duvet cover at Goodwill for $5 and made new curtains out of it. I don't love them, but they were a pain in the neck to make so I will keep them for awhile at least. Pretty much same old same old with the kids this last week. We did go outside quite a bit. Corbin is getting better at riding his bike. I really want him to learn! It will make my life a lot easier if he can ride his bike while I push the girls in the double stroller this summer.

Corbin gave a scripture in primary and he did a great job. He went up by himself and said the whole scripture by himself. I guess he was only supposed to give the first half of the scripture so the primary teacher was getting up to move on and was surprised to have Corbin continuing to speak at the pulpit. It was pretty cute. I was proud of him. Love him!

There's not much to talk about this week. That's all!

Wearing their loot from Texas.

Piper got a monkey from Texas. She is so funny with her somber expressions.

Our neighbors have a cute pug puppy. My kids were loving him.

I finally got to go grocery shopping. It was like Christmas over here. My kids were so excited. I told them I bought them a treat and they needed to find it. They thought everything was the treat even the celery. It was funny.

Here's my $5 curtains.

I recovered some of my pillows. I want to make several more.

Don't mind his mumbling. My mom used to always tell me not to mumble. But hey, he had it memorized and he did it all by himself. I say job well done! Oh and the scripture is Doctrine and Covenants 43:34. This was particularly brutal since he has a hard time saying his th's and he especially gets them confused with his f's. Brutal.