Spring Break Part 3

By Thursday I was getting pretty tired, but I declared myself "Super Mom" (LOL) and took the kids to the fish hatchery anyway. And yes, I drug Becky along with me. You can't beat it for a handful of dimes. We always picnic in the grass afterward too, so we feel like it was a real outing.

But really the main reason for heading out there is to stop at the local fruit stands to get farm fresh strawberries. No candy beats them. They are SO juicy and sweet! I was planning on making some jam with them, but they are already half gone. 

Spring Break Part 2

I think Wednesday was my favorite day. My friend called me first thing in the morning with a work emergency and asked if I could watch her kids for her. My kids happen to love her kids, so it was a win/win. I took the kids with me to bootcamp and then packed up and headed down to the beach. The weather was gorgeous. Not hot, but not cold. I did keep pants on over my suit, but it was still really nice. I could have stayed forever if the sun didn't start to go down. We stopped at The Habit on the way home to wait out some traffic and got home in pretty good time. I can't wait for summer. I plan on being at the beach a lot this year. Carter is getting older and is getting so much easier to take places. Of course my kids always seem to head off in different directions, but still.....it's easier than having an infant. 

Brandon and Nicolas stayed at the waters shore for over an hour throwing a toy boat into the water and watching it come back to them. I had to make one rescue attempt on the boat, but other than that, it came back pretty well. 

Having six kids 9 and under at the beach still seemed like a bit of work, so I grabbed my favorite 16 year old and brought her along. Looks like someone has a crush on her huh! Carter adores Callie and asks about her all the time. Glad we have one more year before she heads off to college. 

Me and my little busy boy!

Ashlyn and Grace.

Total BFF's.

Becky has been humoring me and coming along where ever I drag her. Even though that little Baylee of hers is not at a good "outing" age. Next year will be much better. If she can survive this summer that is.

Spring Break Part 1

Spring Break is here and we are having lots of fun. Monday we hung out at the park with a bunch of friends. I took the boys home early so Carter could take a nap and my friend kept the girls for another couple of hours so they could play with her girls. 

Tuesday we went down to the Aquarium with Beth and Becky. Lourdes came with us too! It was pretty crowded, but we still had fun. We started out with a picnic outside of the Aquarium and then headed in for a couple of hours to look around. Glad we have passes. My kids love coming here.

That's a lot of kids and they all belong to our group. The little ones were even missing from this picture.

Brandon and Audrey have a secret crush on each other. Well, it might be more of a secret to Brandon. Audrey is more than willing to tell people. Brandon is a little more bashful. They're kind of similar those two silly kids. While Tyler smiles nicely for the picture, Brandon and Audrey have to make funny faces. It's kind of hard to tell, but Audrey is sticking her tongue out and Brandon is acting "too cool".

The water play area is always a big hit. We spent lots of time there. The weather was beautiful though. Not too hot, not too cool. 

Petting the sting rays and sharks. Carter really had fun here. 

Last Saturday

It's been spring break this week and while I have lots to blog about, I wanted to post some pictures from last week before I forget.

Saturday was a busy fun day. We started out with a pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt at the church. The kids had a great time. All except Brandon that is. He was kind of a crazy egg hunter and after being nice and sharing his over abundance of eggs, he decided he was done and threw a huge fit. I had to end up carrying him into the car and buckling him up while he screamed and yelled and hit me. But other than that, it was a nice morning.

After getting home Paul and I got ready and went down to the temple for a sealing of a couple in our ward. The husband had been inactive for years when the missionaries contacted him and his wife. His wife got baptized. He came back with her and a year and a half later they got sealed together. It was so nice to get to be there. They have no family that could attend, but a big ward family that could. So it was really neat to be there.

That evening my Encino gals got together for a belated birthday celebration for Brooke. We hung out at my house and ate and laughed and ate some more until well after midnight. It was a fun night.

Mom of the year award

Apparently if you hold your child back long enough, they will show you up and learn to do something anyway. Leah has been asking me and Paul for months to PLEASE take the training wheels off of her bike. I kept telling her no because I didn't have time to teach her to ride a bike and still watch her little brothers. Well today at the park she hopped on her friends bike and took off. No problem at all. Like she's been doing it forever. I think that qualifies me for the "(sucky) Mom of the Year Award". 

I sure am proud of this girl though! She's been impressing me left and right lately. 

The Egg Hunt

Had Easter Dinner with Ty and Heather, which was fun because most holidays that we try to get together, one or more of our kids is sick and we end up having to cancel. So it was nice to actually be able to follow through with our plans for once.

The older boys hid about 150 eggs and the little kids (Ashlyn included) had a blast running around the backyard finding them. They have a great backyard for hiding eggs, so it actually took the kids a while to find them all.

And no Holiday of ours is complete without SOMEONE getting hurt. Today it was Carter. Nice fat goose egg from tripping in the backyard and face planting with a root in the ground. OUCH! Of course he threw up from crying, and wouldn't let us put ice on it, but he's doing okay now. Just needs a good night's sleep. 1 pm church means no nap for this little guy!

Happy Easter!