Mad rush!

Today will be filled with a mad rush to finish the unfinished around here. Because of some other events in the week I am now push coming to shove to finish up Kayla's (and Rilyn's) bedroom. Her birthday isn't until Monday but at her request because of activities, etc... we are going to celebrate tomorrow instead.

I will be finishing the curtains today while I listen to General Conference. We will also be cleaning house. Why is it that when Mom is under the weather the rest of the family turns into lazy pigs and all of the sudden they are exclaiming they are sick too, even the Dad? Hmmmm....

I did get some candy for my kids to play the conference bingo, so that is a good thing! And we are looking forward to being uplifted and edified!!

I hope everyone has a great pre-Easter weekend! And for those of you who are not eating chocolate, sugar or candy for Lent - my hat is off to you - I do not know how you do it!!!

WHY?

WHY?

Why is it that this week since I've had all of my kids home with me on Spring Break that everyone has to comment or question on all of my kids?

"Are those ALL yours? "

"Wow! You must be busy!!"

"There goes YOUR spring break!"

"Kids take up a lot of time..."

"I hope you get a break from your kids today!"

"Wow, what a large family!"

These are all comments and questions I have gotten this week as I've been out and about with my kids. I do not, personally, understand their excitement. My kids, for the most part, are well behaved. I do not think we draw undue attention to ourselves, but we must.

Yes, I realize that I have more kids than most people in today's world. But there are still many others with more than me. Quite frankly I'm REALLY HAPPY to have my children, all of them. No, they are not a burden to me! I feel I exist to be the best Mother I can to them!! I know I'm so imperfect in many ways. But I do try hard and sometimes, too often, I fall short.

So in response to all those store clerks and strangers at the park, in the mall and on the street, "YES! These are all my kids and they keep me busy but I wouldn't want it any other way. Admittedly my hands are full but so is my HEART!!!" I could not imagine living my life and feeling like I should have had one or two more children and I never did and now it was too late.

I think I caught many of these naysayers off guard when I let them know my kids are not a burden at all and that actually I ENJOY spending time with them!

My children bring me so much happiness. They are really lots of fun to be around! It is not easy. They do keep me busy but that helps keep me young. They all have their own personality and individuality that makes them interesting and unique. I'm so humbled to be the Mother of these fabulous 5 kids. I think they teach me more than I teach them.

My kids and I last year on Mother's Day!

Spring Break Fun

On Saturday some new neighbors/friends of ours invited my girls over to make these elaborate looking 3-D Kites. They take a long time to make each one, like several hours each. They made them out of tissue paper, string, straws and a wooden dowel.

I guess they even look cool if after kite flying season is over you just want to hang it in your bedroom.

They took pity on Kyle and Rilyn and surprised us and made one for them to share.

On Monday, we cleaned house and went to the Dollar Store so the kids could spend the money they earned.

This is their FAVORITE store!


I ran in here to get some ribbon for the curtains I'm making.

When we were at the Mall we missed the first shuttle because I ran back to the van to get a plastic grocery bag for Kyle who said he was feeling sick to his stomach all of a sudden. So we went in the mall to walk around and right in front of us was this play area that I let the kids climb around on for a few minutes.
Tyler sliding down the elephants nose!



Rilyn laying on the green dinosaur.

L-R: Rilyn, Kayla, Alyssa, Kyle and Tyler in front standing in front of the California Pizza Kitchen at the Mall.
The kids looking at the huge assortment of Bubblegum at the Mall.

Finally the free Zip Shuttle was back to pick us up!

This is where we rode the shuttle to. It is this upscale McDonalds Restaurant. The kids all had Ice Cream Sundaes. Notice the fireplace behind Kyle.

And off to the left of the fireplace in this picture you can kind of see a big leather easy chair. They had some of those in there also. It is an unusual site in a McDonalds, that is for sure!

And on our way home, after the Flat Irons Mall, we went through the drive through of this McDonalds.
It is a very old one. And notice the one arch! (This picture is not so good because it was cold and rainy and I took the picture out of my car window.)

Tuesday, 3/27/07

We went on a picnic to a nearby park. We ate, the kids played and we all flew the kites the girls had made with the neighbors.

Here is Kayla flying her kite.

Alyssa working on getting hers up.
The kites really did fly!

After flying the kites, the kids played around on the play equipment.
Kayla, Alyssa, Kyle, Rilyn and Tyler (facing wrong direction) on the slide after they had played a fun game of hide and go seek.

Tyler happily swinging. He and I had to play a classic game of, "I'm gonna get your toes!"

Wednesday, 2/28/07

We went to Hammonds Candies for a tour of the Factory. And we got some yummy candy to eat too, huge lollipops (most of my kids picked the Key Lime Flavor), Mitchell Sweets (this yummy carmel coated marshmallow candy, and some chocolates!

The kids all got to put on a hat for the tour, of course Kayla, Alyssa and Sierra (Kayla's friend) didn't want to do that. We started by watching a movie that told how Hammonds Candies got it's start and then we got to see how they make the candy. Each batch of the candy is 60-70 pounds! It is as big as a giant bed pillow before they start working it on the machine where they mix in the flavor.

Next, they form it into a large pillow again and place a "jacket" on it which is the pretty, outside part of the candy. Then they start moving it through these machines that stretch it into long thin ropes that make it as big around as a candy cane.

Once it's cut it's ready to cool and be packaged. It really was amazing to watch. We were too far away to see them making the Mitchell Sweets (Marshmallow candies) and they were not doing Chocolates on the day we were there.

We came home and the kids had friends over most of the rest of the day, aside from an hour or so when Alyssa went to her friends house.

Today, on Thursday, we went here.

I forgot my camera again (and still need to try and see if I can get the ones off from my cell phone from the candy factory). We all got up early with Dad and went to Breakfast.

I had the Garden Omelette (with the egg substitute). It had fresh tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms in it. It was very tasty! Laren had French Toast and Sausage. Kayla had their new Cinnamon Roll covered with some kind of dark frosting, and it also came with French toast, bacon, scrambled eggs and sausage. The rest of the kids all got pancakes with strawberries and whipping cream on top and sausage, bacon and eggs.

Laren left for work and the kids and I ran to Walmart, McDonalds for some $1 movies to watch and to Target.

Spring Break!

My kids are home from school on Spring Break this week so I've been spending more time with them and less time blogging!

So far we started the week getting the house cleaned from top to bottom (the kids helped tremendously)! For their work they each got some money to spend at Dollar Tree, their favorite store EVER!!

After we went to Dollar Tree (on Monday) I ran to JoAnn's next door to get more ribbon for the curtains/shades I'm making to go in Kayla and Rilyn's bedroom. Then we drove to Flat Irons Crossing, a mall in Broomfield near Boulder. We shopped at Old Navy, Claires (2 different ones), the Limited Too, Bath and Body Works, and a few others.

Before that we rode the Zip Shuttle across the Mall Complex to the other shopping district and stopped in the fanciest McDonald's I've ever been in to have some ice cream sundaes. This McDonalds had a nice fireplace and some leather easy chairs in it. I will post some pictures in the next day or so to show you. Then we rode the Zip Shuttle back to the Mall.

It was raining when we came out of the Mall. Mother Nature sending us some of her "Good Stuff" to hopefully keep us out of a drought so we won't have lawn watering restrictions this year.

We stopped and got some burgers at another McDonald's on our way home. It is a really old one. So old that it just has ONE arch. Can you tell where my kids like to eat? And I had to run into another Joann's to get more ribbon! (These curtains take 28 yards of ribbon!)

Then we came home exhausted!

Yesterday we had a picnic in the park. The kids played on the equipment and Kyle blew his Bubbles, a giant mega bottle he got at the Dollar Store. And we all flew these cool, triangular, 3-D homemade kites the kids made on Saturday with some of their friends. It was a windy day and so it was perfect for kite flying!

Today, my oldest daughter, Kayla, has a friend over and Alyssa, second to oldest, is at a friends house. Earlier we all went to Hammond's Candies for a tour. I forgot my camera but took some pictures on my cell phone. So, I'll have to see if I'm able to get the pictures from that. It was a fun tour, we got to see how they make the candy and actually watch them making it through the glass windows.

Then they have some free samples they gave to us at the end of the tour. But that was not enough for us! We had to go and spend $28.35 more on candy!! It was yummo though! We got a pound of chocolates (from the oops table -- otherwise they'd have been more than double that), this other yummy carmel marshmallow candy and the kids each got a round lollipop. It's not your cheap dollar store candy, but it is a fun experience and has yummy candy!

So, we're having lots of fun this week and enjoying our Spring Break!!

She Photographs on Tuesday Challenge!!

So, this week Lelly issued a challenge to show signs of Spring! This was a delightful challenge!! After a long and sometimes dreary winter in Denver it is SO nice to have Spring here!

One sign of Spring at our house (since we just bought a new house and the landscaping is not done) is that my husband, Laren, is out moving dirt and landscaping:

Oh, it's so nice to even see that dirt since it spent most of the winter snow covered!


Another shot.


This is a tree in bloom. You can see the buds just coming out.


Another sign of Spring is my kids playing outside.


Actually it is their Spring Break right now and we spent yesterday having some fun together (that I will blog about later) and here they were waiting for our shuttle (bus) to come. You can see their short sleeves or light weight jackets in these pictures. Proof positive that Spring is here!!


And finally,

I had to show this shot of Mother Nature giving us warning of her Spring Showers!! We have had some rain lately and it's been lovely!! It smells so fresh and clean. It gives the ground much needed moisture and it is one of the main things that will help those flowers pop out of the ground!!

Blogging Hiatus!

Life keeps a person busy, that is for sure!! So in the midst of my busy-ness I took a break from blogging for a few days. But, I missed it and hope to get right back at it!!

The past few days have been filled with my husband working long hours and him taking a short business trip. Him working longer always amounts to longer "working" hours for me too, as I'm sure many other stay at home moms would agree!!

I've had miscellaneous things going on including painting my 10 year olds bedroom to have it done in time for her 11th birthday next Monday. Oh, I can't believe my oldest will be ELEVEN!! It doesn't even seem right! I still remember the day she was born very vividly.

Today I taught my little Sunbeam class again and it was much better than the last time, 2 weeks ago. I have a team teacher so we trade off and teach every other week. Today our lesson was on being thankful for Fish. And how the Lord created many things on the earth, including water, plants, trees, animals and even FISH!! It was a fun little lesson.

I told them the story of Jonah from the Old Testament, and how he was swallowed by a big fish and how he repented and went back to Ninevah to tell the people there to repent. And we played a little fishing game of our own where the kids fished with a little make shift fishing pole made of a stick and string and a magnet. They got to "catch" fish by the magnet attaching to the paperclips on the paper fish.

We came home from Church and I made Crepes for dinner. Strawberry and Banana Crepes with either Chocolate or Vanilla Pudding and fresh cut up strawberries and bananas and Cool Whip wrapped up in a homemade crepe

tortilla. It was yummy!

We then took a nice long walk, and the kids cleaned their rooms. We stopped by some friends house to tell them we missed them at Church and then had a family council about plans for Spring Break this week and had scriptures and prayers and got them to bed. They have gotten to bed far too late the past few days, so we needed to get our groove back!

One of the BEST things in life:

ONE of the BEST things in LIFE

IS cuddling AND holding

your KIDS

Tyler, Rilyn and me getting in some great Mommy time last night!!

Tyler wasn't feeling so well or he would, in no way, have gone for sharing my lap with Rilyn!! Rilyn wanted to show off her Hello Kitty stickers.

Tyler loves to lay in front of the TV on the floor and watch it.

This is him this morning!



I cut up some strawberries for breakfast and generally the rule is, no food anywhere but the kitchen (or formal dining room), but this morning I let him lay right there and eat them. I wish I could've captured his expression of joy as I gave him his bowl of strawberries!! This picture didn't get the good shot, instead he looks a little inquisitive as to why he is being photographed!!

Oh, the simple pleasures in life!!

LESSONS to Learn

And the teaching moments are everywhere and all the time when you are a Mom! I'm sad to report that my daughter will have to have repeat dish duty tonight because she didn't finish them last night.

It is one of the hardest things for me to do, leave their chore unfinished for them to finish when they get home. But I don't know how else they will learn. So, I will try and resist the temptation to wash these dirty dishes today!!

And finally, some

GOOD MAIL!!

A very cute Easter Card from Bridget! (Thanks, I LOVE it!!)



My friend Shannon, sent me this cute little package with some adorable stickers on the front. It had these cute refrigerator magnets inside, this sweet card and a yummy Hersheys Symphony Candy Bar with Almonds and Toffee Bits inside. I've never had that kind before, but my kids and I scarfed it right down!! It was delish!!

I'm kicking myself because I had taken some great shots of her cute package and it accidentally got deleted, by me of course!!

(Thank you for your thoughtfulness Shannon, you are such a great friend!)


And we got this little guy in the mail. We had ordered him (for free) like 2 months ago and he just came on Monday. We love Chik-Fil-A here at our house (though we don't eat there very often) and so my kids were happy to get him in the mail!!

SPT My Good Luck Charm

My Good Luck

Charm

With the risk of this sounding cliche, I have chosen my Good Luck Charm to be none other than my HUSBAND!!

**I'm not really one to have a "superstitious" good luck charm.

**Laren gives me great emotional support.

**He has given me wings to fly. When I want to do a project he allows me to purchase the necessary supplies and run with it. When I have a hair-brained idea to repaint or redecorate a room he not only lets me do it, but he usually helps me too.

**He has taken us to lots of great places like in the picture below.


**Without him it wouldn't have been possible to have our 5 children.

**He makes a good living for us.

**He does lots of things he doesn't want to for me, like going shopping on date night.

**He helps with the laundry and dishes when necessary.

So, for ALL of these reasons, I have chosen my HUSBAND as my Good Luck Charm for SP Tuesday. Thanks LELLY for the challenge, it created a lot of positive thoughts in my mind!!

Bolder Boulder

My daughter Kayla wanted to join the school's running club. They would run every week, several times from March through the end of May. The end of the club would culminate in running the Bolder Boulder a popular 10k race here in Colorado. Well, Laren and I did not want her to participate without one of us being there also because the race draws in crowds of people from all over the United States.

So after discussing it, we decided that I would run the race with Kayla. Hence my start to running this past week. Let's hope I can keep it up!! Running does not come easy to me. But I have to say, it's fun to do with my daughter and we have some great chats while we run together!


Kayla and Me.

Saturday

Our Saturday...

We started off our Saturday sleeping in until 8 am. Oh, it felt SO good!! Then we got up and had breakfast, got ready and went to the Church because we were assigned to clean it today (with several other families). I spent most of the time vacuuming and chasing Tyler down and keeping him out of trouble. Another ward was having a Primary Activity Day at the same time, so we needed to keep everyone out of their way.

After we came home, I got a few things organized and Kayla and I set out to Hancock Fabrics to look for some fabric for curtains for her bedroom. I told both Kayla and Alyssa that for their birthday this year they would get their rooms done as a gift since we recently moved into our new house and it would need to be done eventually anyway.

We have been searching and searching for just the right fabric, but up until today we could find nothing that was pink and chocolate (except for 1 style that I saw at Hobby Lobby the other day but it had a real "retro" look to it). Awhile back we decided on doing her room Pink and Chocolate brown.

Anyway, we lucked out and found this great fabric at Hancock Fabrics today. It was a little expensive, but we liked it well enough to get it anyway. Plus it is less than what it would have cost to buy pre-made curtains to hang.



















Here's the ribbon that we got to go with the curtain fabric. These curtains will be more of a shade than a curtain and will have ribbon lining it.















After we came home, I spent some time painting this wall-hanging for Kayla and Rilyn's bedroom. I want the border to be brown instead of white.

















I also spent some time in the backyard painting these closet doors.


















I helped Laren move some dirt in the backyard. The kids all had a hand in helping too. They had great teamwork!! The backyard is sloped towards the house at the fence line so we are trying to level it out.

Thankfully the "Call Before You Dig" guy got here before we needed to dig around where the utilities are located!
















Despite our efforts, Laren has done most of it!! We are also putting dirt up underneath the stamped concrete patio. They didn't have it right around the edge and we don't want it to break off at some point. It is back-breaking work!! Laren's back is going to be killing him when he comes in tonight!!
















Because the weather was so nice (in the 70's) we decided to have our inaugural barbecue for the season!! So this is what we had. It was soo yummy!!









Tyler helping to make the juice.




The yummy Island Ambrosia salad that Victoria mentioned on her blog the other day.



Some Green Jello because it is St. Patricks Day!



Some of the barbecued meat.



Chowing down!!











And then I got out on a run. It was my 3rd one for the week. It was more difficult today than the other times. But I just slowed up my pace and worked my way through the difficulty by keeping at it. It must have worked because it did eventually get easier and more enjoyable again. I ran for about 2.5 miles.

Now, it's make sure the kids did/are doing their kitchen duty and bath time to make sure they are clean for church tomorrow!!