Ten On Friday!

OK here goes my post of ten random facts or just things that have been going on in our lives. I actually really love doing this. So fun to think of 10 different things!

1. Beautiful weather that we've had the past couple of days. Monday we hit a high of 30C. Holy crazy, and it's only April. We've been playing HARD outside, and it makes for very tired kids by the end of the day. I love it! The kids had their swimsuits on all afternoon and played in the swim pool and jumped on the tramp with the sprinkler underneath.

2. I need to be careful with what I agree with. My girls asked if they could have a pool party and I said yes. They are always having pretend parties so I didn't even think twice about it. Well I looked outside a little while later and there were at least 7 extra kids out in my yard running around in their swimsuits! I guess they went around and knocked on every door and invited kids to come to their swim party! I was fine with it until they are all trying to walk in my house with wet, dirty feet! Oh boy! Richard finally locked the little garage door and the front door, so the only way they could come in is through the sliding door and I was on the deck, so that was ok. I would ask what they needed and get drinks for them! Fun, fun! The girls thought it was great!

Here's some of the kids. There were more in the pool. I couldn't get a picture of them all.

They would race to the pool then jump in!

Loved this picture of the kids in motion! Looks like DJ is doing a hop, skip and a jump!! ha ha

3. DJ ended up with a horrible tonsillitis infection. A really bad one. I think it's been festering for the last couple of weeks. Because he hasn't been the happy boy that we are used too. The doctor said that they are normal symptoms for tonsillitis. Poor kid! Hopefully it clears up fast. The doctor wants to see him in a week, because he thinks that one round of antibiotics might not totally clear it up. Crazy.

4. I love the rain. It's pouring right now and I love it. It's making everything so green. Our grass needed it really bad. Loving having a yard this year. Wonderful!

5. It's been a SCREAMING week. Really it has. Don't know if I can handle it much longer. DJ has been on antibiotics since Tuesday and I'm hoping it's helping. But he has been one sad and grumpy boy this week. Yesterday he screamed for 30mins straight. All because he wanted to pee on the grass. But, no it couldn't be our grass or the grass across the street. So I'm not sure what grass he wanted to pee on, but he screamed about it till he almost screamed himself to sleep. Really! I had to keep him awake. There was no way I was having him fall asleep at 5pm and then be up till 11pm. NO WAY. I kept him up and he was in bed at 6:30pm. Nice!

6. Did a Cutbank run with Cadence and DJ and we invited Renee with her 2 kids. It went pretty good. She's never been so I showed her my hot shopping spots! Ha ha! Oh on a funny note, Cadence kept calling Cutbank, "Buttbank". It was pretty funny. On the way home we stopped at Aunt Karen's house to use the bathroom. They had a little lamb down by the barn so we went to see it. So cute!

Cadence, Keaton, DJ and Straton checking out the cows.

DJ and Keaton climbing the fence together!

Cadence being brave and petting the lamb, which they called Popper.

7. I love my church calling. I've been playing piano in primary for 2 1/2years and LOVE it! I've actually gotten a lot better with playing too. I had someone compliment me last week. They heard me play when I first started and then heard me last week. She told me that I've really improved! Ha ha! Thanks, I think! LOL!

8. Am getting very excited for the summer. I phoned and cancelled our car pool rides. Starting Monday, we are going to be walking or biking the girls to school. They are very excited. The last day of school for them is June 8th. Not very far away! Yeah!

9. So glad that my kids play good together most of the time. Right now they are playing "house". DJ is the cute little puppy! So funny to listen to their conversations when they are playing pretend.

10. I am sick of doing laundry. It's a never ending job and just when I think I'm all caught up, it starts all over again. Now excuse me while I go do my huge pile of laundry!

11. I just remembered one more thing, so you get a list of 11 today! On the weekend I took the kids to the Children's Festival. They had fun at the petting zoo and they got to see Barney! That was a huge hit. Abbi got her face painted too and it was done very good. It was pretty funny on how real it looked.

A picture of all my kids trying to feed a goat.

Abbi, Brianna both holding bunnies. Cadence just being cute and showing us her smile! She wouldn't hold a bunny but she did pet them.

There's Barney singing and dancing on the stage.

This was DJ's expression. He wasn't sure what to think about this talking dinosaur!!

Abbi showing us her tiger face. It's the best face painting that I've ever seen. It was hard to take off too!

Easter 2012!

Better late then never, here is my Easter post! Richard and I decided to take off with the kids Friday morning for Kalispell. Just to get away as a family and have some fun. I got a hotel on Priceline, and we went to Red Lion. It is a perfect place to stay with kids. The pool is nice and the breakfast is delicious and there is something there that all my kids like (that's a feat in of itself!)!

We got down there early Friday afternoon. The kids were all restless and ready to get out of the vehicle. So we stopped at McDonald's Playplace. They have a blast running around and playing. We noticed that DJ was not acting his happy normal self. He was sad and kept saying, "Go Home Mom. Me go home. Peeaaassse." It was so sad. He was laying around on the floor in the playplace. We finally got him to come up on our laps. But he wanted to lay down. I've taken him to the doctors (since this trip) and we can't figure out what's going on. I'm taking him again today. It's been 2 weeks and he just doesn't have the energy that he normally has and is complaining about having an ouie. But I can't figure out where it is. I've had his ears, throat and nose checked and they are all fine. He's on his third day of having a fever. Poor kid. So hopefully we can figure out what's going on. It hasn't been a very fun couple of weeks. He's not his happy self and wants to be carried everywhere (he's a big boy). I've been taking my stroller places so he can sit in that. Normally there's no way he'd sit in the stroller. He will walk for a little bit then stand there and cry. Anyways, I've been a little worried about him and hope we can find out what's bothering him.

Well back to our weekend away. We finally got DJ to agree to go to the hotel. He loved it there. He called it his house. We went swimming and the kids had a blast playing in the pool. We came back and got dressed and I took the kids for a walk to the mall, which is joined to the hotel. Richard went and got us some supper to eat in our room. We decided not to go out to eat since DJ was so sad. He was a lot happier in the hotel. We ate some yummy pizza and watched a movie. Then I went back to the mall to do some shopping at JC Penny's by myself.

In the morning we all went swimming again after eating breakfast. We decided not to be in a rush. So we took our time. Check out wasn't till noon, so that was nice. We checked out and went and did some shopping at Walmart. I got the kids all new swimsuits and some shorts too. I got a few grocery items that we always stock up on when we go down.Then we went to Lowes and Richard had to get a few things. I stayed in the car with the kids until Richard called my phone and we had to come in to give him something. The kids helped me pick out some seeds to plant in our garden. They are all very excited about having a garden! I got them all a little garden shovel. They were very excited! We then went and ate at McDonalds and had everyone use the bathroom so we could be on our way home. I wanted to stop at Target before we left. But DJ was done by that point. So we got a movie going and Richard dropped me off. I ran in and quickly got the things I wanted. I'm a fast shopper when I'm by myself. I came out and gave the kids there own little snack cup full of cookies and crackers and gave them a drink and we were on our way. DJ had a good nap on the way home, actually so did Cadence and Brianna and Richard too!

We got home around 6pm, and I hurried and made us a quick supper. Then we unpacked and put things away. We bought the movie, Toy Story, so we had a movie night. We already had Toy Story 2 and 3, so I decided to finish the collection. We had popcorn and enjoyed watching the movie together. They didn't get to bed till later (9:30pm) since they all had a nap. It was 10pm by the time they were all asleep. Then the Easter bunny got to work!

DJ woke up early, around 6am. I kept him in his room, watching a movie so his sisters could sleep a little bit longer. I quickly hid the eggs while he was watching his movie. The girls woke up around 8am. They were super excited and couldn't wait to go find their baskets and eggs. It was fun to watch them run around looking. I helped DJ a little, but we made the girls look by themselves. They would come back to us and ask us where it is. We would give them little clues like, have you looked behind everything. They all found their own baskets. It was fun to watch them.

DJ was the first to find his Easter bucket, behind the curtains.

Brianna found hers in the reading room.

Cadence finally found hers hidden in the hallway closet. She must of walked by it so many times!

Abbi's was the trickiest. It was hidden in our china cabinet. She was so happy to find her bucket!

They ate chocolate all morning long. So by the time we went to church at 1pm they were all pretty hyped up with sugar. We got to church early and sat down on our bench. DJ proceeded to pull out his cars that he brought WITH a car mat. Yup a car mat, it was big, in church. Didn't realize he had packed that in his backpack. Crazy kid. Richard picked it up and took it out to the suburban. Well DJ proceeded to FREAK out. Screaming and crying over his "tar mat"! He was so over tired. So I took the keys and him and we went for a little drive. I think it took all of 5 minutes and he was gone. I came back to church and carried him in and he slept in my arms during Sacrament Meeting. He was a little grumpy about going to primary but went to class really good. Funny boy!

After church we went over to my parents for Easter dinner. Cam was there with his 3 girls, Megan, David and Tiffani was there too. It was a yummy dinner. Fun to sit and visit too. After we ate Megan and David played the Easter bunny and went and hid some plastic eggs around the backyard. They told all the kids that they could find 2 eggs each. Well they were off. I was with DJ and we were walking around. We found one egg and we're looking for his last one. I found one hidden underneath some cut grass. I pointed and he excitedly went to pick it up. Just then a huge spider came on top of the grass. Well he jumped back and was like, "Uh uh, mo (meaning no) egg." I smashed the spider and he went to pick the egg up and the crazy spider legs moved again. Sheesh, poor kid was getting traumatized. So I kicked the egg away from the spider and he happily picked it up. It was a bit funny to watch. After us adults played a game. It was fun to relax and enjoy ourselves. It was beautiful out, so the kids had a blast playing outside.

On Monday I cleaned quickly in the morning. Then we had to go take Richard into Lethbridge to pick up his van. He got a sign on it. Then we had to fly back home to pick up a few things. I threw in the kids bikes in the back and then we went to Cardston. We got there just in time to eat. I was planning on getting there earlier but it just didn't work. We were at the church. We ate and then Lisa, Mandy and I played Easter bunny and hid eggs in 3 big rooms of the church. The kids then took off looking. It was cute to watch. They all definitely got their fill of candy this Easter! Then Grandma put on the movie to watch, while everyone was eating their candy. The kids had fun going out in the parking lot and riding bikes and then coming back to the gym to run around. It was good times. My girls are getting so good on their bikes. It's funny to watch them zoom around. I think it's Abbi's goal in life to go as fast as she can and as close as she can to everything. She scares me! We cleaned up the church and moved the party across the street to Mom and Dad Spencer's house. It was nice out and the kids had a blast playing outside. We headed home at a decent time, since I knew my kids were going to be so tired. It was a fun, busy weekend!

DJ finding some eggs in the Relief Society room.

Cadence finding one behind the curtain on the stage.

Abbi found a candy whistle.

Everyone in the gym with their goody bags. Thanks Shelly for the yummy and fun Easter dinner.

Ten On Thursday!

I've decided that I'm going to try to do "Ten on Tuesday (or any day I get to it)" once a week. It's a great idea on how to keep up to date on my blog. It's just a list of ten random things that have been going on in our lives. So here it goes with my first list of ten!

1. There's a reason why I only sub, bus drive. I think I would go crazy if I drove bus every single day. Makes for busy days but they are fun too! My kids LOVE going on the bus. I am driving the bus this week, Wed-Friday and then again on Monday. It's a little bus with a small route. It's actually a Raymond route too.

2. The weather has been beautiful out the past two days. The kids have been playing HARD outside. I love that my kids choose to play outside rather then watch tv. It's great. We've been riding bikes, going for walks, playing at parks, jumping on the tramp and playing with the kids in our neighbourhood.

3. We have neighbours with twin boys that are almost 18mths old. My kids LOVE playing with them. The other day they ran over and asked if the boys could come outside and play. So they came out with their mom. Their yard is just dirt and mud right now, so the boys have a blast running around on our grass and playing in our sand box. It's fun to watch all the kids play and how well my kids do with them. So cute. I also love being able to have some adult conversation with Andrea.

4. DJ can now ride a two wheeler with training wheels. But if he had the choice he would always ride his tricycle, so I gave it away to Keaton (my cousins son). At first DJ was mad, but when I explained that Keaton had no bike and really wanted to ride a bike, then he sat there and said, "Yes, he my bike." Meaning yes, he can have my bike. It was super cute and there was no tantrum, which I thought there would of been. I was so proud of my boy!

5. It didn't get dark till almost 9pm last night. I lost track of time at the park and we didn't get home till after 8pm. The kids got ready for bed super fast and were all asleep within minutes after their heads hit the pillow. It was heaven!

6. Richard and I have been watching "Modern Family" Season 1 and now Season 2. Seriously the funniest show ever. I laugh so hard. It's hilarious! We've made a pact not to watch it without the other person! Ha ha! So every night we watch an episode or two.

7. My brother, Brent and his wife, Tiff, had a beautiful little girl on Wed, April 18th. I love having new nieces and nephews to hold. She is a doll. So tiny and cute. Congratulations Brent and Tiff, you guys make a cute little family!

8.  I was sick of my hair, so I got it cut a bit different on Tuesday. I've been watching the show "Missing" and love Ashley Judd's hair cut in it. So I showed a picture to my hair dresser (who comes to my house...love it!), and that's how she did it. I don't look exactly the same because my hair is bone straight, but I love it!

9. I really need to go have a pedicure, since sandal season is here. Good thing I have a gift certificate, now I just need to find the time to go spoil myself!

10. Richard decided that it was finally time to get a sign on his van. We've gone almost 3 years with no signs. So he got one and it looks great. We also got a smaller one that just says "Spencer Plumbing and Heating" and then our phone number on the back window of the burb. I'm glad we finally got it done.

Well there you have it, 10 random things going on in our lives! Till next week, have a great weekend!

Random Happenings!

The last week in March was beautiful out. It kind of put us in a spring fever kind of mood. My kids LOVED it!! I was still trying to get over my bout of being sick. It took me a good two weeks. Not so fun!! I would have a burst of energy and then by afternoon I was exhausted. Anyways, on one of these afternoons the kids got a piece of board and some nails and hammers out. They decided to make something out on the grass. Richard stopped by and actually gave them all the hammers. So I decided, why not. I told them to be careful. They worked out there for at least an hour and a half. It was wonderful!! They were happy kids. They probably would of stayed out there longer, but I called them in for supper. The only down side, was I found nails all over the lawn. They were everywhere. I think I got them all picked up now! Oh the other down side, is DJ thinks he can fix anything with his hammer (it's a toy). He was pretending to fix our newly plastered wall (we made our knock down walls smooth). It was a mess. We had to have the guy come back and fix it. Good thing it was our friend, Dean, and he thought it was pretty funny! He's a funny boy!

My busy kids working away out on the grass!

DJ watching Abbi work on the board. They found our numbers that we bought to put on our house. They were nailing them onto the board! Oh well!

Lately whenever I am on my computer or phone DJ comes running up and asks me, "Me watch my bunny (meaning funny) tow (cow) dance." The first time he asked I was at a loss. I had no clue what he meant. He kept asking over and over. So I went on you tube and typed in "funny cow dance". Well up came a 2min video of dancing cows. DJ LOVES it!! Seriously he would ask at least 5 or 6 times a day. He watched it all the time. We always got a good laugh out of it. The other thing he asks now is, "Me watch my mouse." Meaning he wants to watch Mickey Mouse on my computer. He loves it. I should also mention that DJ is doing awesome with his speech. He says more and more and sometimes shocks us with what he comes up with. His favorite thing to say when he's mad at me or someone else is, "Abbi RUDE." It's hilarious to see, because he makes quite the mad face when he says it!

DJ sitting on the couch watching the "cow dance" on my computer!

I think we just got home from somewhere and this is how I kept him awake in the car, watching mickey mouse on my phone! Oh funny thing about the coat DJ is wearing. He calls it his "puppy coat", because it's really fuzzy inside and he always pets it before he puts it on!!

I watched Keaton one afternoon and this is how they all sat and ate lunch, watching Mickey Mouse!! They all ate very good and it was a quiet lunch.

My crazy boy who was suppose to be sleeping! I came to take a picture and the monster almost got me!! ha ha! Don't you love his left over tattoo on his chest. I thought I was buying my kids stickers and they were tattoos that ended up staying on them FOREVER.

Just because this is a random post here's a random picture of DJ painting with a girl apron on!! ha ha! He loves doing things like this with me when the girls are at school. It's fun times!

DJ really turning into a comedian in our family. His goal in life is to make his sisters laugh. He usually does a very good job at it too. Here, he thought it was funny to give himself a butter beard!!! Of course, his sisters thought it was hilarious. I have a hard time getting this boy to eat at supper time, because that's when he's usually all crazy and trying to get his sisters to laugh....no time to eat!!!

We had conference the first weekend in April. I talked to my kids and we had a FHE on conference. We explained the importance of listening to what the Prophet and his apostles have to say to us. We all agreed that when the Prophet talked, all the kids would come sit down and watch. I watched the first session on Saturday, while the kids were playing. Well they came in just as it started and they all sat down and watched for the first 30mins. I was pretty impressed. On Sunday they watched a bit too. I kept them busy with a conference coloring package I printed out. I love that we can watch it at our house. I get so much more out of it when I'm not wrestling with my children, trying to get them to sit down or be quiet. I really enjoyed listening to the talks and getting the spiritual boost I needed. It was wonderful.

My 3 girls (you can see 2 of their heads at the foot of my bed), watching conference and coloring.

Richard, Brianna, Cadence and Abbi watching conference. It was a good day!

On Monday, we had an Easter FHEFHE evening. Of course the kids were so excited about coloring their eggs. It was a lot of fun.

Cadence showing us her blue egg and blue hand! Crazy girl! She loves it when DJ insists on her wearing his clothes!! So yes, she is wearing DJ's jammies! Crazy girl!

Abbi was trying to dye as many eggs as fast as possible. She's trying to do 2 here. We had to slow her down so she could get the eggs a bit darker! Too funny!

Brianna, on the other hand, liked to take her time and make sure her egg was exactly how she wanted it!

Here's everyone at the table working hard!

DJ just thought it was great to color the eggs. He did so good this year. Was pretty careful about putting them in and taking them out. No cracked eggs this year! That's a record!! ha ha!

Tuesday morning, which was April 3rd, we found out that Justin and Tennille had their baby early that morning. She was due on the 23rd of April. So their little boy, Ethan William, came a bit early. He weighed 6lbs 8oz. He was so tiny and cute. The kids were excited to see a picture of their new cousin on the computer. On Wednesday afternoon we got a surprise visit from Justin, Tennille and Ethan. They were on their way home and stopped for a little bit. He is so cute. It was fun to hold a tiny baby. It's been a while!! The girls had fun looking at their little cousin. Cadence sat down beside me and held him very carefully. She loved it! Congratulations Justin and Tennille!

The proud parents, Tennille and Justin. One of my girls (can't remember which one) took all these pictures of the baby.

Me, with my newest nephew, Ethan, and Cadence.

Brianna with her new cousin!

Cadence loved little Ethan and just couldn't stop staring at him and wanting to hold him!

So that kind of gets us caught up till Easter time, which is my next post. Till next time!

It Snowed!!

This winter really has been weird. Not that I'm complaining or anything!! We've had the most bizarre weather ever! Hardly any snow, which is fine by me, and the kids have been complaining that they haven't made very many snowmen! So when it snowed a couple of weeks ago we made the best of it!

I picked the girls up from school and we came home and had lunch. I got a call from the girls tutor, who had to cancel for the day. Which was even better, so we were able to go spend the afternoon out in the snow. We went and picked up Renee and Keaton and Lincoln. They came and played with us at the hill by the hospital. It was a lot of fun.

Brianna, Cadence Keaton and Abbi sitting in the snow. DJ is in the background, in the red coat, playing by himself!

Brianna and Keaton.

The best part was it wasn't cold out. The kids had a blast running around and trying to slide down the hill. The sled kept getting stuck, so I pulled it down the hill to make a track. Then it seemed to work better.

Abbi going down the hill on her sled.

Abbi was going down and Cadence thought it would be funny to jump on top of her sister!!

DJ doing a belly flop in the snow! He thought that it was hilarious!

We all started making a big snowman together. The kids had a blast working together and making this snowman. That is until crazy DJ came running towards it and tackling and kicking the snowman. I had to protect the snowman till we finally got it done. Then everyone helped kick it down. It was a very fun afternoon and am so glad we did it.

Cadence was having a blast, and would fall into the snow and just laugh!

Renee, DJ and Cadence making the base for the snowman!

Cadence pushed it down the hill and it was huge by the time it got to the bottom!

Keaton, Brianna and Abbi by their snowman. DJ was trying to kick it down at this point! Crazy boy!

We told the kids to attack the snowman. They all listened very well too!! ha ha!

The girls were determined to break apart that HUGE ball of snow!!

DJ was attacking the head of the snowman. Look how happy he is!!

After we got home we cleaned up and bit and started to get supper ready. By then I was feeling absolutely terrible. I couldn't eat that night and layed down in my bed. I felt miserable. Had the chills and could NOT get warm. Plus if felt like my head was going to explode. I felt like that all Tuesday too. Luckily my husband stayed home, he's awesome, and took care of everything while I was being pathetic and laying in bed. I ended up going to the doctors and I had a bad sinus infection, plus a touch of the flu. I got on antibiotics for the infection. Yeah! I started feeling way better by Wednesday. It took forever for me to finally get over everything though. I coughed so bad on the weekend that I ended up pulling a muscle in my back which was causing stabbing pains in my left ribs. It was horrible. I ended up going back to the doctor because I thought I was dying!! So hopefully I'm all better now. Sheesh, not fun! Other then me getting sick, it was a fun day playing in the snow!