Things Kids Say!

Lately it seems like the girls are always saying something that cracks us up! The best was last Monday when my dad called me to say he was going to a farm not too far away. So I threw the kids in the burb and we met him out there. He just recently got a new job driving the UFA fuel truck and the kids wanted to see him in his new truck. Well we got out there and it was SO WINDY! We talked while he was filling up the tanks and the kids ran around and were being goofy. I had thrown on a hat before we came because I hadn't done my hair yet. Well it was so windy my hair was still flying around. At one point Abbi was by the burb laughing really hard and pointing at me! We said by to Grandpa and came home to have lunch and then hurry to school. While we were eating Abbi said very seriously to me, "Yeah mom, just like when you were talking to papa and you looked like a moose!" It caught my funny bone and I asked her what she meant and she clarified by pulling her hair straight up in the air by her ears. Then she said, "Your hair was flapping in the wind like this and you looked like a moose!" So I guess I remind her of a moose! ha ha ha! I laughed so hard!

 Grandpa Paxman showing the kids what he does. They thought the pump was too loud and would run away but they always came back to tease Grandpa!

 Grandpa and the kids by his truck.

The kids had fun running around and teasing Grandpa and then he'd either chase them in circles or swing them in the air. Always so fun.

Every night before we the kids go to bed we sit in the girls room and read scriptures. I got them the Book of Mormon for kids, so it has pictures for them to look at. They all love it and always remind me to read to them. One night I read and it was where the Laman and Lemuel leave Nephi and Lehi and become the Lamanites and the others the Nephites. In the book it says God cursed the Lamanites and their skin became dark. Anyways I finished reading and we said prayers. Brianna was sitting very quietly on her bed and I asked her what was wrong. She looked at me very concerned and said, "Mom Abbi has really dark skin. Is she bad?" It took me by surprise. I had to cover my giggles. All Abbi has to do is go outside and she gets very tanned. So I had to explain that God loves everyone, it doesn't matter the color of our skin. Brianna was very worried for Abbi, it was kind of cute!

DJ has been going to a speech class, Target Word, with me. It's basically been teaching me what to do. I took this class with Cadence 3yrs ago too. But it's been a good reminder and we've seen some progress in DJ too. Small but it's progress. He has mastered the word "bubbles" very well. He says it clear as day. I was helping him go potty and he was peeing and all of the sudden he said, "bubbles" as he pointed in the toilet. Yup, that's the first time he said it. So now he says it every time he goes potty! Another favorite word of his is GO, but he says it like, DOE. He's a very expressive boy and has his signs and sounds and I know what he wants about 90% of the time. He can even get others to understand what he wants! The speech therapist got a kick out of him and told me he's so expressive! He's a cutie and hopefully he'll decide to say more words! I did take him to the ear specialist again and he does need another set of tubes. It probably won't be till Sept, which is fine by me. That way we can get through summer without worrying about the tubes falling out because of too much water! Anyways, hopefully that helps too. People always mistake DJ for a 3 or 4 year old because he is such a tall boy. He has grown out of his clothes so fast. He is 4T already...crazy!!! He's getting way too big!!

DJ and his cousin Declan (who is almost 4) at Seth's birthday party!

On Friday Richard and I and DJ took off to Kalispell. The girls were very excited to have a sleep over at their Grandma Spencer's house. We took off that morning and dropped them off in Cardston. This was going to be a quick trip to get a fence for our yard. We got a fence, a oven for the rental house, a vanity for downstairs and blinds for downstairs. To say that our burb was packed is an understatement. We were loaded to the top! It was a very successful trip! It was weird just having one kid with us. DJ had fun with us. After shopping that afternoon we checked into the hotel and went swimming. He was so excited. He would stay in the pool forever. Then we went upstairs and got ready for bed and let him play. He got a remote control McQueen car to play with. That entertained him and then he wrestled with a pillow! I guess he missed his nightly wrestling match with the girls. But no worries, he had a blast taking that pillow out! He then went to sleep so good! We left at about 10:30 the next morning after we finished shopping.

We got to Cardston around 2pm. I went over to my sister's house for a bit. They are getting ready to move. Steve was home for the weekend, so it was nice to visit with him too. He graduates next week and he'll be a RCMP officer. Yeah, way to go Steve!

Everyone was at Spencer's for Seth's birthday party. The cousins had fun running and playing together. We got them all together to get a picture and I think I got one good picture from the 10 I took! It was so nice outside. Which I'm glad we took advantage of because it's been raining ever since.

OK this was probably the worst picture. I think every kid is either doing something crazy or looking crazy except for Ella and Kyle!

Here is the best picture, they are all actually looking at me and smiling. I think it turned out pretty darn cute! So l-r is DJ (2), Cadence (5), Ella (6), Jasy (3), Brianna (5), Kyle (8), Seth (6), Abbi (5), and Declan (3). Lisa and Brian are having the 10th grandkid this August, so we are all very excited about that!

On Monday we got together with my family at Henderson Lake. The kids were able to play on the playground before the rain started. Then we ate in a picnic shelter and then came home. It was a fun weekend. Now that it's Wed, I'm halfway done my crazy week. I feel like I've been running around like crazy. I was snack mom for Cadence on Tuesday and then for Abbi today. I have one snack mom day left! Next Wed for Brianna and then we are done...YEAH! I'm excited for the summer and no school for a while. The girls will miss it but I'm hoping we'll have nice weather so we can do fun things!

I was just going to bed and went to tuck in all 4 kids and found the cutest thing ever so I had to share the picture.....

My cute little DJ had such a hard time going to bed tonight (probably because he had a nap!), and was up and down. I could hear him reading books to himself and play and finally was quiet. I went to tuck him in a lot later and he was sleeping like this with Cadence's baby on his chest! Not sure how he got the baby in the first place...must of climbed up and got it from the top bunk because Cadence sleeps with her baby every night. But somehow he did. Isn't it the cutest thing ever...I think so! Good night!

Aggie Days!

We had such a good week. The weather was beautiful out for the entire week! YAHOO!! The girls wanted me to either walk them to school or ride our bikes to school each time. I didn't have time to walk them on Monday so the girls decided to walk on the sidewalk by themselves. I drove slowly on the road. It was cute to see how excited they were! They walked half way and then jumped in with me!

On Tuesday morning my mom told me that it was Aggie Days. So I made a quick decision and packed a lunch and the kids up and away we went. I had a few things to get on the way. My friend, Tiffany, met us there with her two kids. It was so much fun. The kids loved going to each of the booths and doing different activities. We were taking our time and letting  the kids have fun. I looked at my watch and realized we weren't going to make it home for Cadence's school. So I called and excused her! She was a little bit upset but then was fine.

Brianna and DJ trying to pet the baby Llama. They were so cute.

Cadence, Brianna, Abbi and DJ looking at all the cute baby chicks. My girls were pretty concerned about the chicks mommy's. The nice lady was trying to explain to them that the chicks don't need their mom. It wasn't working, they still wanted to know where the moms were! Too funny!

My 4 cute kids trying to pet the miniature horses. I was surprised at how brave DJ was. He just wanted to touch all the animals! Even if it meant climbing the fence (caught him a few times trying to climb over.....crazy boy)!

 DJ, Cadence and Brianna petting a baby goat. This was in the petting zoo where they could walk up and pet the animals.

 DJ watching the calf lay down.....he was totally fascinated with it.

As soon as it was down he RAN over was the first one to pet the calf. He's a brave little boy!

 This picture captures Cadence's true feelings about the whole petting zoo. She was NOT a fan! I guess it would be a little scary to turn around and be nose to nose with a donkey!!! ha ha ha, funny to watch though! I ended up holding my cute 5yr old while we were in there!

 My girls with their friend, Jayda! They were so excited to be together and they ran from booth to booth!

 Brianna loved to follow the animals and I think she was able to pet every single one of them. Here she is with some sheep and a baby goat! She's my animal lover who has the worst allergies ever!

Brianna, Abbi and Cadence checking out the baby ducks. Cadence was ok with this because they were in a cage!

 The five kids busy squishing their canola seeds to make oil. That booth was a huge hit with them!

 Abbi finally got to hold a baby chick. She was so happy and didn't want to give it up.  I had a hard time keeping up with this girl, she would take off and run everywhere!

 Brianna holding a chick. She was so gentle and careful with it!

Cadence was very brave and pet a baby chick. I had to quickly stop the lady as she was trying to put the chick in Cadence's hand. That would of been a disaster, poor baby chick flying through the air while Cadence is doing a dance and screaming (yup it would of happened!). She was happy petting it!

 DJ was not interested in petting the chick because he was so enthralled with watching all the chicks running around the cage. He thought it was funny!

 DJ loved this train car and kept coming back to it. He threw a fit when we left because he wanted to go back to the "vrrrmmmmm"!

Loved this picture of my kids on a bale of straw. Even though DJ is still backing up his little bum to sit down this was the best picture of them! This was before they were running on the bales jumping around and then we left!


After Aggie Days the kids and I ate our lunch in the burb on the way to Jayda's (Tiffany's daughter) house. We got there and the kids played outside ALL afternoon. They had so much fun. I realized later that I should of put sunblock on the kids. DJ got a good sunkiss across his nose and cheeks and his ears got a little red. I'll be more careful next time. Especially since I have 2 very fair skinned kids! The other two are so dark, just like me! On the way home I stopped and got everyone a slurpee so DJ would stay awake on the 30 min drive home. He was about to fall asleep when I yelled, "Oh no Cadence I think the monster is going to get you." Well that popped him up and he pretended to be a monster and tryed to get Cadence! He loves to be a monster! He stayed awake!

Brianna and DJ ended up with strep throat this week. I got them on medicine right away so they are doing much better. It didn't really slow them down too much. Wednesday was a crazy day with me running DJ to speech at 10:15am (in Raymond). Then going out to my mom's to get the girls. We ended up having lunch there and then I ran into town and met Richard. He took DJ, because DJ had a Dr's appointment at 12:40. But I had to run back to Magrath to drop the girls off at school by 12:35pm. Then I turned around to run back to Raymond to the Dr's office. Sure enough he had strep. Got his medicine and then came home and put DJ down for a nap.

On Friday Shaylee and Mikah came over in the afternoon for a sleep over. My kids were SO EXCITED! We are sad that they are leaving soon, so we thought it would be fun to have them over. I made pizza for dinner and the girls were all talking about their "slumber party"! So after dinner they went into Abbi and Brianna's room and decorated it and got their jammies on. They all had so much fun. I told my girls that they could stay up as late as they wanted. That made them all happy! The funny thing is I came up and put DJ to bed around 6:45pm (he was one tired boy). I sat up here and was reading when I hear a little voice, "Mom I'm tired and want to go to bed." It was Cadence! I looked at the clock and it said 7:10pm. Silly girl! So she went straight to bed and went to sleep and 10mins later Brianna came up saying she was SO TIRED! So she went to bed at 7:20pm. So funny. Abbi called it quits at 8pm. So technically she was the only one who stayed up past her bed time! Funny girls!

 Abbi letting Mikah do her hair! They were just getting ready to go down to watch their movie with popcorn!

Cadence getting her hair done by Shaylee. Cadence would laugh so hard when she looked at herself in the mirror with her hair sticking out everywhere. It was pretty funny!


Saturday morning Brianna and Cadence had soccer. This was their 2nd week but my first time going with them. I was in Calgary for their first week. So they were both excited to have me come. I also bought them some cleats to wear, so they were both ready to go by 8:30am! It started at 10:30, so they were very excited. We got there and Mikah, Shaylee and Abbi ran over to the playground. Cadence and Brianna went up and they were given a shirt to put on with their team color. I noticed Brianna was green and Cadence was red. They put them on and went over with everyone else. I walked over to the bleachers to sit down, when I heard this SCREAMING. I turned and Cadence was running to me hysterical. I was having a hard time to settle her down. When I asked her loudly (so she could hear me), "WHATS WRONG CADENCE?" She finally got it out that her and Brianna weren't on the same team, and they were last week. She was so sad and upset. So I went over and had them switch Brianna to Cadence's team. I guess they had decided to split up any siblings. But that didn't last long! After that everything was hunkey dorey and they had fun practising their skills!

That afternoon the kids wanted to turn our slide into a water slide. So everyone went and got swim suits on and I got the hose ready. They sprayed the slide and Mikah flew down first. Well it was so crazy fast that she shot out and landed hard. It really hurt her. I felt bad. So to solve that problem I got our blow up mattress and put it at the bottom. It worked great. The kids had something soft to land on. So they did that while I got dinner ready. It was so funny to watch them.

 Shaylee flying down and ready to hit the mattress!

 Cadence flying down and when she landed she'd slide across the mattress and at one point went beneath my legs! They flew down pretty fast!

DJ coming down. He always landed so crazy on the mattress. Of course he did a lot of grunting when he crashed too!

After supper and my kids were in bed I had Shaylee and Mikah show me how to make flower bows. They are so easy! So we made a bunch. Then Stacey came to pick them up. I stayed up late making a whole bunch of bows. My girls were so excited in the morning to wear them to church! It was so much fun having Shaylee and Mikah over. My kids absolutely loved it!

Mother's Day 2011!

To start out the Mother's Day weekend I got to go up to Calgary with my sister, Megan. We left around 5:30pm on Friday evening. Richard stayed home with the kids. I was so excited. We went up to Cody and Em's place and then on Saturday Megan, Emily and I went to TOFW (Time Out For Women). We got there are 9pm and both Megan and I walked in quietly just in case the girls were sleeping. Well I shut the front door and Cody jumped out and grabbed me! Sheesh, so that scared me a little. Of course that gets him laughing! I have to say that we all sat around and talked and laughed till late that night and it was a lot of fun. We were telling stories and got laughing SO HARD! We have some crazy stories of when we grew up and it makes it so much funnier when we all remember different things of that same story! Anyways back to TOFW, it was AMAZING! The only down part of the day was my mom wasn't there with us. She was the whole reason we were there but she ended up pretty sick and couldn't come. We felt so bad that she couldn't be there to enjoy it with us. So we made sure to take good notes so we could report back to her!

We listened to some amazing speakers talk to us. Every talk was different but the outcome was the same. They all left me feeling so uplifted and ready to take on the world! Kris Beltcher, one of the speakers, had everyone laughing so hard we were crying. She has an amazing story and for all that she has gone through it amazes me that she can stand up in front of 2000 people and share her sad story, but yet have us laughing so hard! I loved all the talks and Hillary Weeks talked to us and sang to us through out the day. She has a beautiful voice and is so talented. I loved listening to her sing. A few of her songs brought tears to my eyes and I had to fight it so I wouldn't start bawling! They were so good. For lunch Emily took us to a really yummy pizza place. I can't remember the name but it was delish! I really enjoyed it and next time TOFW is in Calgary I am for sure going again and this time with my mom!

We then went back to Cody and Emily's house. Travis and Shelley were there helping Cody with something in his yard. So we had fun visiting with them too. After they left we had some yummy dinner that Emily made, Indian tacos, so good! Then Megan and I left for home. It was a fun, fun weekend.

On Sunday I woke up and could hear whispering going on in the kitchen. I stayed in bed and Richard came in with the kids and brought me some toast. Then they all gave me their card and mothers day gifts. It was so fun. The girls each made me a card and a necklace at school. They were so excited to give it to me. Richard made a card for me from him and the kids and he also made one for me just from him. It was very sweet!

We were all ready for church by 10am. So we went for a little Sunday drive and I got some fun pictures of the kids at the farm. It was a beautiful day out. We got to the church by 10:35am to practice the song the primary kids were going to sing during Sacrament meeting. I was a little nervous about playing it, but it turned out so good. The kids sang it perfectly. The song was "mother tell me a story".  I felt very spoiled that day and very proud to be a mother!

My cute kids and I down on the farm in Magrath. If you look closely you can see the 3 necklaces my girls made for me!

Love this picture with Abbi's big happy smile and Brianna's "shy" smile!


I love being a mom. I couldn't think of anything else that is as fullfilling as being a mom to my 4 kids. Sure there are hard days but it's all worth it. We have alot of fun together and learn lots together too! I love listening to my little girls say their prayers. It's always so sweet to hear all that they pray for. One of their favorite things to do before bed is to read the scriptures. If I'm in a hurry and forget they always remind me. We've been reading the Book of Mormon with all the pictures, so they can understand easier. They all love it. I love all the hugs and kisses they give me. It's great being a mom.

DJ saw his sisters hugging and had to run and be apart of it! He thought it was so fun to hug them all!

My triplets hugging each other! They are such good friends and love each other so much. It's cute to see them interact with each other, it never gets old!

Taking a little walk around thefarm. You can see that Cadence is in mid skip and DJ was in mid run! The kids love to run around on the farm!

Of course I have a LOT of good examples of mothers around me. There's my mom, who I think is the best. She loves to be a part of our lives. My kids love her and are always so excited to go to the farm. If I ever need advice or just a listening ear my mom is always there for me. I love her so much and am so thankful that I am so close to her!

My mom with Abbi and Cadence. We were just saying good bye. Mom was talking to one of my sisters on the phone!

My mom and I and Abbi. She is the best mom ever!

Another good example is my mother in law, Shelly. She, too, has always been there for us. My kids always love it when she stops by unexpectedly to visit or if we go to her house. She loves to watch the kids if we go to the temple, on a date or even away for a night or two. She always jumps at the chance to watch them. We love you and are grateful for all you do.

My sister, Stacey, is also a great example to me of an awesome mom. I can always ask her any question and she is more then willing to help. She's been through most of what I'm going through and I love to get her advice. I'm so sad about them moving so far away and am going to miss her and her family so much. We're excited for them and the opportunity they have to further Steve's career. We are just going to miss them.

 

Sorry this post took me FOREVER to put up. I was having some technical difficulties! But I hope all the mom's out there had a great day!

Week Off of School!

I'm trying really hard to catch up here in blogger world. Before I do a post on Mother's Day I really wanted to catch up. The week that the kids had school off (2 weeks ago), was a little crazy. First off Abbi had to be very careful with her arm. I had noticed that the past week that my ears and throat kind of hurt. Then it got so bad that I couldn't go without advil and tylenol. As soon as it would wear off I had to have more. I felt silly making a doctor's appointment for just me (I know a little crazy)! But I did. They couldn't get me in for 3 days. But by Tuesday I was in a lot of pain so I phoned and asked if I could be fitted in somewhere. So I got in on Tuesday. Dr. Smith looked at me and sure enough I had ear infections and strep. Ouch! So painful. I got on medicine that day. But by Thursday morning I was still in pain and my body was on fire and itchy. I reacted to the medicine. So I had to wait till the Dr's office opened that morning and I called in and had them change the prescription for me. So finally by Friday I was feeling somewhat normal! One of the things the kids did to entertain themselves was dress up Macy! Good thing she is such laid back dog! The girls dressed her up a few times!

Sick or not, I still had to keep the kids happy and busy that week. Oh I should mention that we found a nice young couple to rent the main floor of our house in Lethbridge. Yeah! Talk about showing it to so many people. I am very picky and we waited till we felt really good about who to rent out too. Anyways, I had to run in Tuesday to meet them and get the damage deposit and sign the contract. DJ had gone to his room just before we were to leave and fell asleep in his bed. So I hurried and called a babysitter to come and watch the kids.

I've been looking everywhere for one of those playhouse swing sets. I really wanted one for our backyard. The one I love was $1500.00. I just couldn't do it. My mom mentioned that someone made their deck into a playhouse. I thought it was a good idea and mentioned it to Richard. The idea was to have a slide coming off the deck and then building a little playhouse underneath the deck. Well Richard took it too heart and bought the slide, stuff to make a climbing wall, a steering wheel, and a telescope. He came and put it together that afternoon. The kids were besides themselves with excitement. It was so funny to watch them! I still need to get some gravel for underneath the deck so we can make it into a playhouse. But it's been great so far. The kids are out there playing on their slide and climbing wall all the time! Cadence giving me her "awkward" smile! Still so cute! She is usually very cautious about slides, but she flies down this one and loves it!

Abbi ready to slide down! Notice the mud on both of their boots! It's everywhere...on the deck, in the house and on every pair of shoe and boots we have! So nice!

Abbi climbing up the wall for me!

Cadence showing me how she can do it! I've added for more "rocks" to the wall since these pictures.

Cadence FLYING down the "water slide"! They had this bright idea of pouring water down then sliding. They flew off. It was a little crazy!

Brianna ready to go down! They played on the water slide for awhile. It was so funny to watch them go down.

Abbi going down with her hair flying everywhere. They were so dirty afterward that I gave them all a shower to get clean. DJ ran away from me when he figured out I was putting him in the shower (he was naked). I finished cleaning Cadence and Brianna and went to get DJ. I thought he just went to his room to watch a movie. But no he was running around outiside, butt naked! Crazy boy.

DJ has used the slide to send all his cars down, then he sends his car box down and then he goes down. He picks up his cars and comes back up and does it again. He did this one morning for over an hour. He thinks it's funny house the slide makes the cars launch far! When he first went down the slide he had his feet up and he flew up in the air and landed on his bum. It was so funny. He yelped, "OU" and grabbed his bum and then laughed. He ran up and did it again! He's now getting the hang of putting his feet down and catching himself! He had us laughing so hard the first few times he went down. It was pretty funny!

DJ went down and FLEW through the air and landed hard on his bum. He screamed and was grabbing is bum and was trying to pull down his trunks. He got grass all over himself. I guess I should of caught him instead of standing there and taking pictures! Oops!

He decided to be the water guy and get the slide wet. I finally convinced him to try again. Silly boy!

Cadence, DJ and Brianna playing with the slide!

Another exciting thing is we have new neighbours that moved in behind us. They have 2 little girls who are 5 and 3. Oh my girls were so excited! We had them over a few times that week, while their mom was unpacking. Tessa (5) and Calli (3) are so cute and get along so good with my kids. They just play and play and play! So it's been fun for my kids to be able to run over and invite their new friends to play with them. I've been getting to know their mom, Carmen, too. She's very nice and we've had fun talking while the kids play.
Here's Calli (standing by Cadence) and Tessa (up on bunk with Abbi) playing with my girls! They have so much fun together.

We had a really nice week, well I shouldn't say really nice. Because we had some CRAZY WINDY days, but the kids still went and played outside alot. So that makes it nice for me and them! We woke up Friday morning to crazy wind and snow which equals blizzard! ha ha! So we made a spur of the moment decision and decided to go to Kalispel for the weekend. I cleaned the house quickly and packed while Richard did some errands for work. We were out of here by 11am. Got to Cardston, which had more snow then us, but kept on going. Oh my the Duck Lake road was a little scary. I mentioned a few times that maybe we should turn around (which means it is bad, because it takes a lot to turn me around!)! But we kept going. I found Richard's ski goggles and that's how he drove. We got to East Glacier and got behind a semi. That's what saved us, because all we could see was his trailer lights and we just followed the lights. It was a whiteout and hard to see anything. So if that truck would of gone into the ditch, we would of followed him! But luckily he was a good driver and we stuck with him. We went all of 60 km/h till we got to the other side of Mariah's Pass and then we were able to speed up a bit. We found out later that they closed the pass a little bit after we went through. It was very crazy! Sheesh!

Our portable dvd player gave up the ghost on the way down. So that was one of our purchases down there and new set. It's a life saver for traveling. That's all I'm going to use it for, is trips. We checked into our hotel, the Hampton Inn. It was very nice and had an awesome pool area. We basically spent most of our time there at the pool. I didn't bring my camera, or else I'd have some super cute pictures! Oh well!

After swimming we went out to eat and stopped at Target to get a few things. We got some water toys for the kids to play with in the pool. When we got back we got on jammies and went down to pop some popcorn. Guess who we ran into, Great Grandma and Grandpa Spencer! The kids were SO EXCITED to see them. I think they chatted their ears off! So they came into our room and had popcorn with us. The kids went to sleep afterwards.

In the morning we had our breakfast downstairs and then went swimming. We swam for over an hour. Then we went with G.G&G Spencer to Costco. They agree to put our winter tires in their van to bring home, so we were able to get some new tires on. Then we went to McDonalds for lunch and said bye to G.G&G Spencer. They took off for home. We decided to stay another night. Went back to the hotel and Brianna and I went shopping at JC Penny's while the rest went swimming. We got back and joined them, then Richard ran and did some shopping at Home Depot. By the time we were finished swimming they were down there for almost 3 hrs. I got DJ dressed and he cuddled on the bed with me and instantly went to sleep. The poor guy was so tired. I woke him up an half hour later so we could go with Richard and get something to eat.

We stopped at Walmart first and did some quick grocery shopping. I also got the new portable dvd set there. DJ was trying to go back to sleep in the cart. He was one tired little boy. Richard kept him awake then we went to IHOP for dinner. We thought it was a terrific idea since our kids love pancakes. Well it would of been a good idea if we had a good waitress. Not sure what was up with ours but she had a bad attitude, was grumpy and slower then cold tar. By the time we got our food our kids were a little wild. I was past the point of caring, because I didn't blame them. Who wants to sit and wait for food for an hour. We ate, and the kids were starving so they ate really good. Then we paid and got out of there. Crazy IHOP, not sure if we'll go back. The food was delish but the service not so much.

We went for one last swim before bed time. By this time I was totally swimmed out! So I sat on the stairs and watched the kids play and have fun. DJ was getting brave and going deeper in the water by himself (with his life jacket). He didn't want me to touch him. He was in his own little world and having so much fun! The girls can go everywhere by themselves and do really good. We make all our kids wear life jackets. It's so much easier. Then we had popcorn and the kids went to bed. It was a fun day!

Sunday morning we woke up and ate and then we took off. We had to be back for church so I could play the piano. The roads were clear and we had our dvd player with a couple of new movies. DJ fell asleep by 9am and slept till 10:30. I think we wore him right out!

Totally random picture of Brianna and Cadence sleeping together. We came home from the temple one night and found them like this. Aaawww, so so cute!

So that was our fun getaway. Then the girls went back to school on Monday. So back to the normal routine! They love school and are going to be really sad when they are done, which is only in 4 weeks. Crazy!

Easter Sunday and Monday!

On Saturday night the kids were SO EXCITED about the easter bunny coming. Oh about the easter bunny we did tell our girls this year that he isn't real. The reason being is any time people asked the girls if the easter bunny was coming to their house Cadence got this terrified look on her face and started to freak out. This happened more then once. I guess thinking of a big bunny jumping around her house freaked her out! ha ha! So we told them that we are the easter bunny, but not to spoil it for other kids. So that worked out fine!

I should say that for the last 3 FHE I have been focusing on the real meaning of Easter. I did it in a few different ways. But I wanted them to understand why we have Easter. I love how they all focus on me and listen so well. Then afterwards when Richard and I ask them questions about what we just talked about they are really good at answering. One of the ways I taught them was putting different things in plastic eggs. I just did 4 eggs, and hid them around the living room. So when they found it, we would open it and talk about what was inside. The last egg we opened it was empty. I then showed them a picture of the empty tomb, and we talked about how Jesus was resurrected. It was a good way for them to learn. Whenever we asked them about Easter they would say "Jesus' tomb was empty, just like the egg, because he got a new body." They always put that in their prayers too!

Anyways they were very excited for easter. We were all around and on our bed ready to say our prayers. Someone said the prayer and while they were praying Abbi was bouncing up and down on her knees on my bed. I went to open my eyes to have her stop, but she bounced right off our bed and smashed her elbow on our night table and then landed on her elbow. So the poor girl was crying and crying. I kept telling her she just hit her funny bone and she'd feel better if she went to sleep. Well she fell asleep and then 30mins later woke up screaming. This happened a few times. Then I put her in bed with me and I was up and down with her all night. Richard went and slept with DJ in his double bed. So neither of us got too much sleep that night! She was not a happy camper. She finally fell into a deep sleep at about 4:30am and slept till 7:30am. We made the others wait for Abbi to wake up before they went to look for their baskets and eggs.

I knew she wasn`t feeling good when she just aimessly walked around. I felt bad for her and helped her find her basket so she could sit on the couch. DJ was running around like crazy, so excited. He had a blast finding all the eggs. Brianna and Cadence were searching for their baskets and finally found them. The easter bunny was tricky this year!! So they had a yummy breakfast of chocolate.....oh so healthy!

DJ and Cadence finding the first of the dyed easter eggs that were hidden.

Cadence finally found her basket hidden in with the babies! It took her awhile to find it. I finally had to tell her to stop running around and looking so fast. She had glanced in there twice and then when she took her time she found it!

DJ had one of his sisters help him find his basket. He was very excited to find it hidden. He thought that it was kind of funny!

Brianna found her basket hidden under DJ's cozy coupe car. It took her a while to find it too. She was finding everyone elses but not hers. The rule was they couldn't pick up the basket unless it had their name on it!

Abbi was watching everyone so I finally took her into the laundry room and told her that the basket is in this room. So she looked and this was her face when she found it in the dryer!

Cadence, DJ and Brianna checking out the goodies in their baskets!

Abbi relaxing and trying to tell me she doen't need to go to the hospital. It's her right arm. But as soon as I would ask her if it hurt then big tears would form in her eyes. She was trying to be so tough!

I, then decided to run Abbi into the hospital. I called ahead so they knew we were coming. We waited for a bit till the x-ray technician got there. Then she did some x-rays of Abbi`s elbow. Oh funny thing, as we were waiting, Abbi was trying to convince me that she was all better. She did NOT want to be there. She had a big smile on and said look mom, as she kind of straighten out her elbow. But when the technician was moving her arm at different angles it really hurt her. She was so brave and just bit her lip. Then when I asked if that hurt she started bawling. Poor girl. Anyways the doctor couldn`t tell if it was sprained or broke. He said when it`s on the elbow it automatically goes to the specialist in Lethbridge. So he put a splint on Abbi`s arm. It made a huge difference. She couldn`t move it and I could tell that it brought huge relief to her. I gave her tylenol and then we went to church. We missed sacrament meeting, but made it for classes.

As long as she had her advil and tylenol with the splint on she was pretty happy! I just made sure she took it easy. We went over to Grandma and Grandpa Paxman's house for Easter dinner. It was very yummy. It was just us and Cam there. So it was quiet too. After we cleaned up dinner, Grandpa told the kids that the easter bunny came to their house and hid some eggs outside for them. So we ran out and they ran around the backyard finding lots of eggs full of goodies. It was beautiful out and perfect for them to do it outside. Of course I forgot my camera, but they had a blast. After playing there and having fun we headed home for bed.

On Monday Richard finished putting lights up and doing some odds and ends around the house. I cleaned up and got things ready to go to dinner at Spencer's house. We left and got there around 12:30pm. DJ had a little cat nap on the way there. We got there and had another yummy easter dinner. I love that my girls are old enough to sit on their own with their cousins. They have so much fun. All you can hear is a bunch of giggling going on! So cute! I remember doing that with my cousins!

Richard and DJ relaxing on the couch. DJ was still trying to fully wake up and Richard just loves it when I take his picture! ha ha!

The girl's table! There's Ella, Jasmine, Brianna, Cadence and Abbi!

Grandma Spencer gave each grandkid some bubbles. So after dinner they all went outside to blow bubbles. It was nice out and perfect weather for it. DJ, of course, stayed inside with his dad. He took his bubbles and asked his dad to blow them (by handing him the bubbles and rubbing his chest). So Richard took it out and blew some bubbles out. I just finished writing a really long paragraph of what happened after he blew that bubble, but I erased it. So all I'll say is there was an "incident"! Richard loves to tease and sometimes too much. I grew up with 4 brothers that loved to tease too. But I was pretty good at teasing them back or tackling them to the ground if they wouldn't stop! ha ha ha! Even now when we get together with my family there is plenty of teasing going on. We all tease back or sometimes playfully give the person a charlie horse in the arm! ha ha! But I guess not everyone can take teasing. I have to remember that and so does Richard! Grandma Spencer blowing bubbles with her grandkids!

Richard and DJ blowing bubbles together outside!

The kids had a blast playing with their cousins. It was so nice outside they spent most of it out there playing. I had a whole bunch of kinder eggs, so I went out back and hid them everywhere. There was enough for each kid to find 2. So they had fun running around finding their two. This time I did have my camera and got some fun pictures. They played hard till about 6:30pm and then we put their jammies on and came home. They all went to bed really good! We tired them out!

Brianna found her two kinder surprise eggs!

Abbi with her arm in the splint, found her two eggs!

Cadence ran around like crazy and found her two eggs. When she gets so excited it's hard for her body to slow down! On Sunday when she was looking for eggs on the farm she ended up running by an egg then turning to get and smashing her head right into a stump! It was pretty funny!

DJ was pretty proud that he found his two eggs too. He had to go eat them right away!

Cadence, Kyle and Declan all sitting together eating their chocolate and checking out the surprises in their eggs!

Grandma trying to get dessert ready with 3 little helpers, Brianna, Jasmine and Abbi!

DJ's new friend was his Uncle Justin. He wouldn't leave his Uncle alone. So Justin took him outside and played with him! What a good Uncle!
Cadence, Ella, Abbi, Jasmine and Brianna all on the tramp! These girls had fun running around and playing together.

So that was our exciting Easter weekend. It was busy but fun. The girls were a little sad to find out that they had no school the whole week but I'll do some posts on that next!