3rd Week of April, 2019 (Easter)

This week was normal again. Hubby was in Florida most of the week.  But I worked with some DNA in my genetics lab.  And I thought it was pretty cool!

 Tuesday was gymnastics.  Wednesday was long school and church.  Thursday evening we mulched in the flower beds.  Don't they look great!!!

 And it was such a long day for Kelsey, she fell asleep on the couch waiting for prayers.

 Thursday night we had some storms again.  We hadn't really been able to recover from the rain the week before, so this was enough to put the river waaaaaaay up.  For example, this is what the amphitheater looks like on a usual basis.

 This, however, is what it looked like after all the rain!!!

 Friday, the kids had not school (for Good Friday), and hubby got home relatively early.  We had the Hills over for dinner.

Saturday was the Ward Easter Activity.  The kids got to hunt for eggs...

 And play some fun games inside!
The rest of the day we worked outside and cleaned up some plants and weeds.

Sunday was Easter!!  The kids find the basket beside their doors, and get to go through them before they go hunting for eggs.  This year, they all got goggles in their baskets!

I made the kids pose for a second, so I could take a few pictures.

Then they were let loose!

 After church, I made the kids pose for a few family pictures.  I think they actually turned out pretty great!

 And then, I used the timer on my camera, and got this great on of the family!

 And, because why the heck not, we took a few pictures of the dogs!  Hubby told his dog to sit, and she posed so perfectly!

 Then, he tried to get my dog to pose.  And she is so dang submissive to him, that she pees everytime he speaks to her, and rolls over.  So.... it was a good try....

 But this was the best I could get.

 Because she is a diva, Kelsey wanted a few extra pictures of her taken afterwards.  She is so sassy!

After studying for a while, we headed over to the Hills for Easter dinner.  I brought some Deviled eggs, and  thought they turned out quite colorfully!

2nd Week of April, 2019

This week was thankfully less busy.  I had my microbiology lab that week, and stained my fingers while staining the cultures.

The rest of the week was gymnastics, church activities and track practice along with regular school and work stuff (though hubby was in Florida for the week).

When Saturday came around, we had some work to do outside.  We finished the repairing the fence (just a few top rails here and there), and the planted the flower bed on the side of the pool that had been previous unplanted yet.

It's a good thing we finished on Saturday because on Sunday, it rained hard.  Like....  super hard.

Like, large river running from our neighbors yards through ours!  It was nice to see the pipes able to work so well!

Look how fast that water is moving!!!

That night we had dinner with a newer family in the ward.  I had taken dinner to them when they had a precious new baby, and they invited us over to thank us.  The dinner was lovely, and they had the same sense of humor as me!

1st Week of April, 2019

Monday was April Fools Day, and Kari got the kids pretty good.  She went in sometime early in the morning, and drew on their faces!  Kelsey was the only one who would let me get a picture.

That night, after school during the day, we went back out to finish fixing the zipline.  We needed to brace the platform, as well as brace the playset, so we could tighten the line and get a better ride.  And, of course, hubby is a smart cookie and was able to figure it out.  Check out the ride now!


We had to brace the playset from the inside in order to make things work better, but, work better it did!

 The kids brought some scrap wood under the platform, so they could have benches to sit on.

 But, of course they were happy to be on top too.  From this angle, you can see the bracing we did.  And the 2x12 will also serve as a peg board in the future.  And, who wouldn't need a rope to climb on?!?

Hubby had to get into the playhouse to brace it properly.  And what better way to get down that to slide?  I give the landing a 9.6 :)
The rest of the week was normal-ish....  Gymnastics on Tuesday.  School and church on Wednesday.  School on Thursday and Friday.

Kari had track practice all week for her first meet that would be on Saturday.  She ran and did great!  She didn't win, but, again, we were surprised when she wanted to try out at all!  So we were proud that she was able to do so well!

 Apparently, it was her friend Bree who convinced Kari that she would be able to do it if she worked hard at it!  We are happy she has such good friends!

Saturday also happened to be Kaitlyn's math competition.  It was at the same place, and similarly run as last year.  And she and her team had fun and did a great job!

 Again, I sat in the corner and worked on homework.

That weekend was General Conference.  We weren't able to watch much on Saturday, due to all the activities going on, but we were able to have the traditional french toast breakfast, and watch the Sunday sessions.

Unfortunately, hubby had a pretty bad headache from Friday through Sunday, but he did a great job of pretending to feel alright even though he didn't :)

4th Week of March, 2019

This week was the kids spring break!  Remember, mine was the week before, but this week was the kids.  So...  hubby had a jobsite down in Florida close to Grandma and Grandpa, so I stayed home to go to school, and the kids went down to Florida to play!

Monday, I went back to school and the kids left to go down to FL around 9:30 in the morning.  That evening, I started my second spring break with some Cherry IBC and pizza.

That night was also a storm with some pretty crazy wind!

The door was blowing open, and check out the fur on Pixie's head!!!

Tuesday I met with the house warranty people to come over and fix part of the landing on the stairs.  Unfortunately, they did a pretty bad job of blending it in, which meant there would be more repairs in the future.

I had leftover pizza and more fancy soda for dinner that night while I watched the Greatest Showman again and worked on some homework.

The kids, however, down in Florida were able to go strawberry picking with Grandma!

Wednesday was my long day of school and labs, then straight to church for my regular activities, even if the kids still weren't there.

Thursday, I had lab and ran several errands.  But I also took a bath and had some spare time to read.  The bath water looks kinda gross, but I used a bath bomb, so...  its ok.

On Thursday, hubby took some time off to spend with the kids in Florida.  He took them to see his jobsites and then to the Clearwater Aquarium where Winter the dolphin is housed.

Friday I went to school and did some homework and studying.  The rest of the family got home around 5 pm.  Funny story for the day, while I was outside looking at something over by the fence, Sienna was standing with me.  But, a dog barked and attracted her attention, to which she turned around, intending to take off across the yard and defend my honor.  Instead, she fell right into the pool!  She swam right out, and ran over to the fence anyway.

Saturday we spent most of the day working on building a platform so we could install a zipline!

At some point, the kids got hot, and hubby and I decided to push Kari into the pool.  Turns out, she didn't mind, and most of the other kids wanted to jump in.  But its more fun with your clothes on.  I don't have a picture of Kaitlyn in, so she might not have joined the others.  And to be fair, it was pretty flipping cold in the pool.  You can see it in their posture or faces in some of the pictures :)

And, if you are gonna be in the pool, you have to do it right! 

After everyone dried off, and we ate some lunch, we finished the platform and installed the zipline.

We attached the zip line from the platform to the swingset across half the yard.

Unfortunately, our first try didn't exactly work out like we intended.  And somehow, Dylan was voted to try it out first.
So, we adjusted a few things, and tried again...  it got a little better.
Of course, each of the kids had to try it.
Kaitlyn

Kelsey, being the lightest, was able to get most of the way across.
Dylan tried again, and got most of the way across.
Kari, being the biggest, did not get across at all....
 And hubby wasn't willing to try it.  I guess I don't blame him :)

At that point in the day, we had to stop.  For one, we were kinda tired, and for two, we were going to the Hills to attend a baby shower.  Jade had planned it for Alice, and it was as "Frat Party" as Mormons can get.  Jello shots, beer pong, yard games and margaritas (all non-alcoholic).

It was a fun night, of course!

Sunday was ward council, and Kaitlyn gave her first talk in Sacrament!  She rocked it!
After church we tried to fix the zipline by reversing the direction, so they could start higher.  This is what we ended up with, and it worked out fairly well!  A few tweaks still to be done, but, it worked better!

Under the platform became a fun place for the dogs and the kids to hang out.

The kids had fun with Grandma and Grandpa, hubby was still able to get some work done, and, ironically, without anyone else to look after during the week, I had a more relaxing break that week, even though it wasn't my actual spring break!

3rd Week of March, 2019 (Dylan's Birthday)

This week marked my spring break!  Yeah!  Party!!!  Just kidding.  My spring break and the kids spring break was a week apart.  So we couldn't go anywhere :(

I used my time off to pay bills, nap, get the oil changed, and go grocery shopping.  I know.  I am, like, super fancy!

Thursday I took the kids to the doctor for well check ups.  Technically, Kelsey was a month late, but Dylan was right on time.

At 10 years old, Dylan weighed barely under 70 lbs (which put him in the 35th %) and was 56 inches tall (the 75th %).

At 7, Kelsey weighed 52 ish lbs, and was 48 inches tall.

For comparisons sake, Kaitlyn was 56.25 inches tall.  So, she was still taller than Dylan, but....  not by much.  And, that meant that both Dylan and Kaitlyn could be out of the car seat!  Technically, state law says they can be out of the booster around 6, but I follow the recommendation of my pediatrician which says a certain height.

Friday we left to go to Pa's house.  Since the I didn't have school, we took the kids out early and were able to get down there before dinner time.  Joe and Amanda and Nana and Pop joined us!

 Pixie went ahead and made herself at home on the ride down.  The different hair colors are pretty interesting to me.

 But she is pretty dang cute!

 And once she is comfortable, she went right to sleep.

Dylan got some stuffed animals (that make me laugh.....  they are sharks!)

His sisters were nice enough to give him some more Pokemon cards.

And the Hills gave him the boardgame Operation.

He wanted a Lego cake, but there was only so much I could do.  So I ordered some edible Legos online and used them to decorate my poorly frosted cake.  It doesn't look pretty, but....  he seemed to like it!

Happy Birthday Dude!  We are so happy you are ours!

Sunday afternoon, I rode home somewhat early with the Hills so I could get some studying done.  Hubby and the kids got home after bedtime, because....they had spring break the next week and didn't have to worry about bed time!