.getting into summer.

We are heading into our second week of summer vacation and we have stayed relatively sane with all the littles running about the place.  Finn is still the main cause of teasing contention, but we are working VERY hard on helping him think before he acts (not easy for a six year old boy).  We find that being outside seems to help us all get out our excess energy in a positive way.  

Roy set up the hammock, and it has become a favorite place for the littles to laze away the heat of the day.

We have ventured out to a few of our favorite outdoor hikes the past weeks, including Willow Heights.  We failed to take into account that spring hiking sometimes entails snow at the higher elevations.  It was a little bit of an adventure as we scrambled up the trail, occasionally sinking in up to our thighs in slushy snow, but it turned into a perfectly wonderful hike.  We lunched in the meadow on our coats in the sun, and decided it was pretty cool to hike in the snow with shorts and jackets on.

I took Meg to her cousin Grace's play and thinking she would be my child to really enjoy that kind of thing.  She did ok for the first little bit, but by the end she was more enthralled with the treats and the group of teenage girls (none of which we knew) behind us then the play.  Maybe she is still a little too young.

One of my favorite things about this time of year, is how everything comes to life in such a vibrant way.  Laying in the hammock one day, I looked up in awe at the beautiful contrast of the green leafs against the blue sky.  What a beautiful world we life in!

The kids have been very diligent about picking up pine cones since Grandma offered to pay the a penny a pinecone.  It's been a great way for them to make a little extra money.

Roy and Finn enjoyed their campout to white rock in May.  Finn really enjoyed climbing around on the rocks and exploring the small caves that pitted the rock.

E finally completed her potty training chart (no small feat for a girl who poops twice a week), so her and daddy celebrated with her stickers.

It's corn on the cob season, which is fairly frustrating when you're missing your four front teeth.  He still managed to get at it.

Meg finished her first year of preschool, and loved it like nothing else.  Her teachers threw an end of year splash party that she thoroughly enjoyed along with the four slices of pizza.  What?!?!?

We are sad that her teachers are retiring after this year.

For Memorial day we ventured out to the new park down the road.  We had no idea how incredibly epic this park was.  We weren't quite prepared for all the awesomeness, but we made the most of it.

We also ate copious amounts of watermelon...because we could.

Finn completed Kindergarten this year, and is ready to rock first grade.  The requirements for Kindergarten kind of blew my mind, but it didn't seem to phase Finn.  His reading is coming along pretty good, and he is as curious about the world around him as ever.

He thought field day was pretty much the greatest thing.

Last day of school.

My niece J opened her mission call on the same day she graduated.  Anchorage Alaska will be lucky to have her!

Am I the only one who does silly things to their kids just because you can?  I laughed so hard when I pulled E's pj pants up as far as they would go, and she was just strutting around like this.

We decided to kick off our summer with a backyard movie.  The kids, and the cat, loved it.

The kids have requested more hikes this summer, so we are trying to get up to the mountains weekly.  This little nature walk up to Big Springs Hollow, was super easy, but so pretty.

Saturday projects are great too.  Finn is always wanting to lend a hand and be apart of what daddy is building.  This was a roost they were building for our newly acquired chickens.

Cousin J has been trying to take it all in before she leaves on her mission in October, and she has invited our kiddos for solo horse rides.  Last week was Meg's turn, and or course it was pure magic.  We are definitely spoiled by our family!

.bits &

We are well on way into spring, and most days I feel like I drag myself into bed at night exhausted from life with three little kids.  I know I'm not the only mom who feels that we are in WAY over our heads, and it seems like lately there are a lot more days of frustration, tears, and burnout.  And even though I love these little humans with every part of my heart, motherhood seriously smothers me some days.

In an attempt to breath a little I needed to focus my small reserve of time and energy to something productive...not the productive of a clean house that never seems to stay clean, or a mowed lawn that sprouts dandelions the next day, but something I can look at and smile because it reminds of my good things.  So I'm catching up the blog in one fell swoop.

JANUARY-  

Finn turned 6.  He requested an Oreo cake (strange for a kid who doesn't really dig chocolate) and a night out at an arcade.  I didn't do much research on nickel cades before we drove to the closest one, but soon discovered we had picked the dirtiest broken down one.  Roy and I were totally disgusted, but Finn didn't seem to notice.

Finn has also become a very gross eater...ughhh.  We are constantly working on manners.

Taking E anywhere is a gamble, because there is often a tantrum thrown, and lots of laying down in utter defeat.  Serious drama!

One day in a frenzy of cleaning and organizing,  the girls were left unattended long enough for meg to find a bottle of red sparkly nail polish and gift it to E for a manicure massacre.

Meg is the master of pretend, and loves to put on her "teacher glasses" and  lead all of her imaginary class in preschool songs.

We burn a lot of energy in the hot tub during the cold days of winter.  The goggles are my favorite!

Roy is determined to teach his littles to skate.  I still can't believe they make skates that small.

FEBRUARY-  after a lot of deliberation, we decided to move Finn's room downstairs and the office up.

Finn created this pin the head on the snowman game for some entertainment one day.  He amazes me with his creative abilities!

E is notorious about taking advantage of unsupervised moments.  Like getting into a whole tub of lotion while mom exercises.  At least it was just lotion, right?  Another mom win for me!

Preschool field trip to the fire station, and yes my kids make up half our neighborhood group.  E was clearly not having any of this.

She is incredibly cute though!

 MARCH- we had a sudden warm spell and we took off to the mountains of course.  We have had such a wet year, that for the first time since I can remember, the dry riverbed at the temple quarry trail, was in full spring run off.

The girls and I spent hours just throwing rocks while dad and Finn explored.

Warm days call for doing homework outside, right?

Our really great stove decided to crap out, and through a series of events I ended up not having a stove for about two weeks.  We eventually found a used replacement

APRIL- E turns three and requested a unicorn cake.

Meg had her Easter party at school.  She really enjoyed the bunny hop game, but completely melted down when she found her allotted 6 eggs first and had to watch all the other kids find their eggs.  She kept yelling, "they're cheating!"

 Spring Break we spent a day downtown at the Planetarium, and having lunch with daddy.  Another day we park hopped.  E found a favorite slide and rode it down close to 40 times.

Finn's favorite park is the old Copperton city park.  It hasn't changed much since I was a kid and played there.  Can you see why Finn loves it?

Another day we did experiments.  An obvious favorite was the slime making.

E was obviously thrilled with Easter.  We had a great time doing a small egg hunt with my family, and enjoyed getting together for Easter dinner on Sunday.

Finn started swimming lessons, and couldn't be happier.  He is constantly flapping his arms or splashing large amounts of water in excitement while the instructor tries to teach.

we started our small garden again with peas.  The kids love watching the plants grow as much as me.

We had a run of rainy days and spent plenty of time inside.  The girls pulled out most of the dressups one day.  E was particularly cute in this little bat costume.

 With Roy's calling as scoutmaster, he seems to be constantly camping.  He often takes Finn with him on the overnighters, which alleviates some of the added stress of him being gone so often.   Last month they camped out at white rock, and really enjoyed climbing around on the rocks.