Easter 2013

So lets see..... this Easter was spent with sick kids and a sicker husband. :(
But we still were able to get some egg hunting in, thank goodness. (insert sarcasm)

These were the best photos that i could get of all three of them. Sure love my kiddos!


We went to my grandma's house for the egg hunt! I remember many Easters there looking for eggs, now it is my kids turn.
They had so much fun!

The sickness started really fast. Thursday everyone was fine. We had a good day with school and the house was clean. I took them to the park. We were walking on a gravel walk away and i turned to look at Sam and he was throwing up in the gravel. I started freaking out because he had a huge handful of rocks in this hand so i was sure he had swallowed some and that was why he was throwing up. He kept throwing up so i took him to the ER. Looking bad i can see why all the nurses were giving big grins. He had x-rays of his belly taken and the doctor came and said that he had a stomach bug. I am sure they had a good laugh at me.... Silly lady thought that her son ate rocks when he really was sick! URG!

Oh well. Jacob got sick the next day and Neal was so sick on Easter. The girls dodge the bullet on this one. 

I am glad that is over and now it is April and I have 2 big birthdays to plan. Jacob turning 6 and Emma 4! What?!!

oh Santa Claus!

this past week has been strange.... with the weather that is.

Last sunday was warm. Like 60 degrees warm! Crazy. On monday i took the kids to the park, i think they are already starting to go stir crazy..... i know i am. Sam loves to be outside. He is the happiest when he is outside and playing with dirt. this winter is going to be hard on all of us.

This kid loves to be outdoors!

Jacob trying to climb a tree!

Trying to get one picture where they are all looking and smiling..... Sam hates sitting still!

This is about as good as it is going to get!

Of course he went right for the sand!! 

Sam loves the swings.

he is now brave enough to go down the slide by himself!

sam is 15 months and he wants to do what the older kids are doing.

found a stick and started digging in the dirt then eating it! He is such a boy!

the kids built a wall of leaves to keep sam away.....

that did not keep in from destroying it!

Friday we went to one of Neal's work Christmas Party's and the kids saw Santa. This was the first year that they actually sat on his lap without screaming and crying.... well except sam.

jacob looking very nervous.... told santa he wanted a light saber for christmas.

Emma was more talkative..... Told him she wanted a doll for christmas.

and sam just cried!

poor little guy.

This week is going to be busy. I have lots of gifts to make and treats to eat!! :) 

traditions

i am a firm believer in traditions.
as a child growing up my favorite memories where the ones that we did as a family daily, weekly, or yearly. traditions are beautiful and they bring a family closer.

i want to write down a few of our traditions so i don't forget.

1. every night before the kids go to bed we sing primary songs. my kids love this. they love singing and preforming for us. i try to video tape it once in a while and when they watch themselves they laugh hysterically.

2. every friday we have family movie night. the kids take turns picking out a movie.... it could be from our collection, the library or netflix. I make pizza and i let the kids watch while eating on the floor. They love it! for some reason the movie is more enjoyable when mom and dad are watching.

3. saturday night if neal and i are not able to go out for a date then we have date night at home. we put the kids to bed early.... (shhhh don't tell them!) and break out the "good" food. you know the stuff you hid so that your kids don't see it and want to eat it. :) usually it is hamburgers because that is Neal's favorite, but sometimes it is something fancy. right now my kids are at the point where they all sleep through the night so Neal and I can have more alone time.

4. sunday we do a couple traditions. we have FHE on Sundays because of Neal's school and work schedule. Growing up i always had family home evening on sunday's so it is normal to me. after FHE and dinner we watch America's Funniest Home Videos. That is seriously my kids favorite show! They sit and laugh and laugh. I know they love when we are all together and enjoying each other's company.

5. Once a month we try to take the kids to do something fun.... sometimes it is seasonal like the pumpkin farm in october and the festival of trees in November. I have great memories of doing things with my family and I want my kids to feel loved and enjoy being together.


I love traditions. Someday my kids will read this and remember all the good times that we had as a family and that their parents enjoyed being with them.

Christmas is a time for traditions and spending time with family. What are some of your traditions? As our family gets older the kids are getting more excited and participating more in the activities and I would love to see what other families do and get ideas!

via stephmodo

isn't this picture beautiful?

christmas tree!

So the beginning of this week started off yucky.
Emma was sick last weekend.... just a fever and a tummy ache. Thank goodness. That lasted for a couple days. Then it was Jacobs turn to get sick. then it was sammy's turn to get it. it is hard to watch your kids be sick. a) because i don't like seeing them in pain and b) because i get tired and don't want to clean up throw up.

 I know they don't look sick here but all i heard was "mommy my tummy hurts...." :(

this picture is of my pile of clothes that i washed and folded on monday. I usually do laundry Monday's and Friday's but with Thanksgiving i just never had time last Friday so this is what happened. How did we get so many Clothes!?

after a week of laying around by Saturday the kids we ready to get out. So we got a tree.

at a tree lot at albertsons!

Big Tree!

Sammy wanted to help pick out the tree!

He he!

Handy Neal putting the tree on the jeep!

Our first real tree! For the past 7 Christmas's we have been using a fake one and this year i wanted a real one!

The kids got a free candy cane and they got it all over themselves..... at least they enjoyed themselves!

We got the tree in the house, now to untie it!

And it is Huge!!! It takes up most of our family room! WE love it!

My kids..... sam does not want to cooperate.

My kids.... excuse the tv. they were watching their favorite show, America's Funniest Home Videos.

Sam loves the tree.... maybe a little too much. we put all the ornaments high on the tree so he can not reach them... so basically the bottom half of the tree is just lights.

Our Tree! The kids were so excited and the smell is amazing! Nothing beats the smell of a Real Christmas Tree! I don't think we will ever go back to our fake one.... Sorry fake tree!