A New Apartment

We have a closet that only had two shelves in it and we recently had three more shelves put in.

While we thought we were adding convenient storage space, it turns out we were adding an "apartment" for these little girls.

I can't tell you the endless fun these shelves brought to the small fry at our house, which translates into endless effectiveness for the grown-ups. :)

I loved that they started calling it their apartment and even moved some of their belongings in.  I'm not sure its the best storage space, but there's definitely nothing cuter I could put on those shelves. :)

What You're Gonna Get

Mother's Day is coming up this weekend and I have a birthday soon after, and this morning, Cory was wanting some gift ideas.  Merry Grace was listening to our conversation and decided to join in.

Merry Grace: "Do you want a jacket for your birthday?"
Me: "Yes, I would!"
Merry Grace:  "A nice, comfy jacket?"
Me:  "Oh yes."
Merry Grace:  "A nice, soft, comfortable jacket that you could wear?"
Me:  "I would love that."
Merry Grace:  "Well, you might get something else."

I love that girl and can't wait to see what the "something else" that she's thinking of getting me actually is. :)

Had a Bad Day?

Well, this might make you smile...

I know I did. :)

The kids have loved this song since it first came out.  One night all the cousins were together and we were having a "dance party" and they made up this dance to go along with "Had a Bad Day."

Since then, its become a family favorite. :)  I think you can see why.  Love it, love it, love it. :)  So here's to a Good day.

Easter Weekend

This is the very first Easter we have ever spent away from home.  We travel on a lot of holidays, maybe even most holidays.  But not usually Easter.  But we packed up this time and went to my parents for the weekend.

 The Easter Bunny always makes his appearance on Saturday morning, for many reasons, not the least of which Sunday morning is hectic enough as it is.  And its nice to get the fluffy Easter stuff done on Saturday and then we can spend Easter Sunday with a greater focus on the Savior.  At least that's the theory. :)  So this year, the Easter Bunny brought a pillow pet for each of the children, along with an early morning easter egg hunt.  (Paige isn't in any of these pictures because she is the only child with enough sense to sleep in.  But she liked her stuff when she finally got up.)

Later in the day, we went for a picnic on the mountain, something highly anticipated by all the kids, particularly Merry Grace.  What was supposed to be an 80 degree sunny day, turned into a cloudy 60 degree day, by some terrible miscalculations by the weathermen.  It was so cloudy, that when a breeze would blow through, the clouds would float right by us.  We affectionately referred to this as our "Picnic in the Clouds."

 After our rather unorthodox picnic, we headed off for a look at the view.  Instead of the spectacular view you sometimes get, we mostly just saw more clouds.  But even that was fun.  Here's my cute Daddy, who Paigie refers to as "Poppy."

 We hiked around a little and posed for some pictures and enjoyed the non-view.  It was a nice family outing.

Later in the afternoon, my Mom, Aunt Verona, Elise, Merry Grace and I, went to the cemetery to put Spring flowers on Grandma and Grandpa's grave.  The sun had finally broken through and even though it was around 6pm, it was the warmest part of the day.  The sunshine and the chance to do something for Grandma lifted our spirits a little.  We all agreed the flowers were beautiful and fitting.

 Which brings us to Easter Sunday.  Due to a logistical error, a timing error, one colossal fit, a couple of wardrobe malfunctions (and not the Janet Jackson kind) and a general state of exhaustion, there are no family Easter pictures this year.  Just kindly imagine Elise and Merry Grace in dresses matching Paige's, and Ian in a black suit, light blue shirt and tie to match the girls' dresses, and you will see what our Easter pictures *would* have looked like in a perfect world.

But since we don't live in a perfect world, these are the Easter pictures we took after all.  And while the hair isn't fixed just so, and outfits don't match and might even be a little dirty, and I didn't spend a lot of time having the kids get in different poses and its not quite "picture perfect", it looks pretty perfect to me.  And really, isn't that what Easter is all about?  Its about realizing that we aren't quite picture perfect most days.  Its through the Savior's Atonement, Death and Resurrection that we have the chance to try again, make a fresh start and have a new beginning.  And He can help us make up the difference where we don't quite measure up to that "perfection" we're aiming for.  And for that I am so grateful.  

Hittin' the Beach

Elise requested that this year we have the BEST Spring Break ever.  I'm not really sure what that entails and frankly, that's a tall order.  But we tried our best.  I loaded the kids up one day on the spur of the moment and headed off to the beach.

 As you probably know, even a warm, beautiful day in April can be a little chilly.  So even though we went on an awesome day, there was hardly anyone else there.

Paige took right off and started playing.  The water was right next to frigid.  But refreshing. :)

All four kids got in the water first thing.  The nice part, though, was that they stayed close to the shore since it was so cold.  Much easier to watch them that way. :)

Paige played in the water like a pro.  She ran out and didn't look back.

Until a big wave got her and completely wiped her out.  Luckily, she had a big sister nearby who was willing to help her back to shore. :) (While her mom took pictures, of course.)

And then she could wrap up in a towel and warm up before tackling the waves again.

Elise and Ian started digging right away, with Merry Grace playing errand girl.  She didn't seem to mind a bit.

 Paige tried to strike a balance between playing and staying warm.  So she stayed wrapped up in her towel and stood in this nice puddle.  Love it!

The older three continued digging with their shovels and running back and forth to the ocean for more water, not seeming too feel the cool air at all.

 While Paige was definitely not crazy about the temperature and decided to bundle up in the beach chair for a while and stay warm. :)

Elise took a turn running to the water's edge for buckets of water...

While Ian took a turn with the shovel.  I think it was all the hard work they were doing that kept them warm.

Paige finally unwrapped herself from the towel and dumped sea shells out of the toy truck.  Fill it up, dump it out...over and over and over again.

Then she decided to play in the puddle again.

The kids had dug quite a hole and filled it with lots of water. They were so proud of all their hard work.

Merry Grace even "swam" across their little pond.

And back the across to the other side. :)

The next thing you know, their hard work got wiped out by a big wave.  They were stunned.

But they got right back to work again.

I love this picture of the the older three, with Paige playing in her own little puddle in the background.  Too cute.

And then Paige playing with the other three in the background.

This girl LOVED it.  Although she really would have liked it to be a little warmer.  (I'm kind of with her on that one.)

 Just cute.  What else can I say?

 Merry Grace finally took a break to eat some of our favorite kettle cooked chips.

And feed some to the birds.  This is her telling me the chips are all gone. :)

 After a while, the kids decided to jump waves.  That was so fun to watch from my comfy beach chair.  Is it any wonder we love the beach? :)

It was soooooo windy.  The older kids had fun playing with their beach towels in the wind.

Except for Paige, who had had quite enough of the beach for one day and who's lips were turning blue from the cold.  She was on her way to the car, come what may.  I literally had to chase her down and bring her back so I could pack up.  And even once we got started, she took off and Elise had to catch her several more times before she finally made it to the car.

It was such a fun, relaxing day and we can't WAIT for more trips this summer.  Hopefully a day at the beach helped make Spring Break extra fun this year. :)