What a week!!!

The week started out with Josh getting answered to Prom! He's going with a very cute girl named Saysha.

Jen had an incredibly busy week. She was Wendy Joe in Footloose at her school and did a GREAT job, and she also tried out for the high school cheer squad. In her spare time she decided to also run for student council, so we got to come up with a slogan, make posters and write essays.
Brennan had his 5th grade Wax Museum. He did his state report on Illinois so we decided to do his famous person on Pres Obama. It was fun to color his hair black and put a little "tanner" on his face. We think he makes a stunning Commander in Chief!

Gracie was a pixie in her very first dance performance. She did such a great job and was so sweet in her little blue tutu!

It was a very very busy week, in all honesty, most weeks are just like this, but this one was particularly fun!

I love watching my kids do things that make them better people, that stretch them a little, or a lot. I enjoy helping them and being there for them.

That's what being a mom is right?

Yep! And I love it!

Good job guys!!!

Fun in San Francisco!!

We had a great trip to San Francisco for Spring Break! It was a very long long long long drive, but we made the best of it, and NO my daughter is NOT flipping you off, it's the other finger :)

We had a great time at the Golden Gate Park


The Beach was too cold to swim in, but fun to look at!


The infamous trolley was a great ride!
The beautiful Painted Ladies (I LOVE the houses in this city!)
While on the sightseeing bus, everyone was STARVING so Jonny went and got a whole butload of hot dogs.....made the hot dog man really really happy!

The double decker bus was windy windy windy, but a fun ride.
And of course, no trip is complete without lots and lots of swimming.
We had a good time at Alcatraz, I think I'm going to post this sign in my house.

THE ROCK! (can we leave naughty children here?)
We had yummy crepes for breakfast one day, mmmmmmm mmmmmm good.
On the pier there were a whole bunch of Sea Lions, they were barking and fighting, it was pretty cool!
Cold and beautiful sunsets.
No trip to San Francisco would be complete without a trip and a big SUNDAE from Ghiradelli!
A ride down the crookedest street is so fun and different!
On Easter we went to a beautiful Catholic Cathedral, Jen and Marissa lit candles. It was a change from what we were used to and a neat church to see.
We went to the Palace, it was pouring rain and freezing cold, but made for pretty pictures!
Muir Woods and the Redwoods was gorgeous!

We had such a great time together, with great friends. What a fun trip we had. It is so fun to go to new places and see things we don't usually see. San Francisco is such a unique, and beautiful city! The kids were great, the company was great, the food was INCREDIBLE, and the memories will last a lifetime!

Easter Traditions

I love getting my kids Easter clothes. It's a problem, I really scope out stuff and look for the "right" outfit! It's kind of ridiculous, but it's really fun for me. This year I went with grey and I don't know what color it is....greenish, yellowish, goldish....whatever. I made Gracie's dress, it's a little bubble dress and I love it! (I'm not an incredible seamstress, but it was fun)! I also made Jaemon's tie, I think it's so cute. The others I searched high and low for, and finally found them! I was thrilled, they really couldn't care less, but it's a tradition that I love!!!!
Since Easter is during Conference and we will be out of town, they wore them today and I always make them do a big photo shoot, they're used to it now and don't whine as much as they used too, they were great sports!!!!
My oldest two kids are becoming quite accomplished in the kitchen and they made dessert (cream cheese brownies, mmmmm!) and potstickers for dinner. Josh learned how to make them in Japanese class and they were AWESOME! It's becoming a Sunday tradition that they cook at least part of the meal. I LIKE IT.....
Then we did our annual Easter egg dying extravaganza. Do you think 48 eggs is a bit over the top? My whole kitchen smells like eggs, I HATE eggs, but the dying is so fun. The kids had a blast, and they were very very colorful. We tried glitter eggs this year and sports for the boys, of course. Quite the artistic masterpieces.
We love Easter, what a wonderful time of the year, rebirth, renewing, starting fresh and looking forward to a wonderful Spring!!!

Best

I have 3 sets of kids; The Bigs, The Tweens and The Littles. I spend a lot of time taking The Bigs and The Tweens to all of their activities, and I mean A LOT of time. Sometimes The Littles don't want to be the taxi passengers and I forget that they really are really really LITTLE. I get upset with them whining and wanting to listen to "Eye of the Tiger" over and over (yes I know that's strange little kid music, but they really really love it) needing an ice cream any time we go near McD's, the smeary fingerprints all over my Iphone because that's what they play with whenever we're out n' about which is ALWAYS, but when we live in the car, I will do about anything to get them to stop fighting, complaining and carrying on!Many times the Bigs and Tweens complain about all the "stuff" too. Well, I got to thinking about when my BIGS weren't so big, and what we did all day. Things were a lot simpler than. A Lot. I started feeling melancholy and guilty. SO, we got out the bubbles. I'm telling ya, bubbles are the cure all for most things. We had a blast. My Littles got to be little, they were happy. My Tweens came home and they had a blast too, cuz after all, they're part little too. My Bigs saw the pictures and said "ahhhh, we want to play with bubbles". We all played with bubbles.
Sometimes I struggle between good things, better things, and best things. I try to juggle them all, I try to do what's right for all three sets of kids. But today, best was just bubbles. Nothing else mattered.
It was the best.

Piece of Cake??????

I've always thought that cake decorating was so cool, but also a little ridiculous. Why would you ever spend so much time on something...when you're just going to eat it? Plus, I don't really like cake, the actual food, I'll take brownies ANY day. However, I got asked to make a cake for a RS dinner and thought I'd toy around with fondant, which I think is like grown up play doh! WOW! It was WAY fun!!!! I love how it turned out, (well I don't like the writing on the little fondant lollipop, but I didn't have a smaller writing tool, so oh well) Anyway, I'm certainly no expert, not even close, not even in a category. BUT, it was fun to be creative with something different for a few hours! So, now I'm off to ruin it and eat it. But, this time I don't think it's so ridiculous, it was really fun! (Oh and BTW, the cake is triple chocolate fudge, very similar to a brownie, so I'm gonna love it!!!)

It's in the blood!

My big boy isn't the only one who loves basketball! My middle two love it too. They both played a great season, each of them had good coaches, fun playing, and even had other coaches ask about them to play on accelerated teams. The important thing though, at this age, I think, is to just have a great time, learn the fundamentals and learn to have good sportsmanship. I don't think we'll ever be NBA material at this house, but it's a lot of fun cheering them on, and I'm thankful for the good things they learn from playing sports!! Good job B and T!!!! You're AWESOME!!!!

Region baby!

THEY WON!!!!!!!