Kid photos

We love our kids. They have really grown.

And shame on me- a few days ago I was looking at all our pictures and there weren't any current photos of them so I set out to get a few new ones. Here's what I got:

 Getting photos of toddlers can be a challenge. So I was only able to get a few. But I'm very thankful to have at least 1 good one so I can frame it.

Weeks Worth

Last week I burnt myself out.

Make Something Monday-  cleaned our house and played a water balloon target game.

Time to Read Tuesday we read books from our summer book club. The kids are about 2 books each away from being done with this book club. 

What's cooking Wednesday we made cookies and then gave them away.

Mason and Hailey asked me why Mike and I pray about everything. So I explained how we're to always ask God for his guidance and he'll answer us through promptings. So after we baked the cookies I had the kids pray on who to give these cookies too and they each received their own prompting and then followed it.

I am so proud of them that they are wanting to follow the promptings from Heavenly Father. 

Thoughtful Thursday we wrote to missionaries.

 Friday- we went to the park and I took some photos of our kiddos.

 Ducati- as she was walking she seen her shadow and said "Hello" to it.

But after the park I was so tired that I needed to rest. I haven't been eating right or getting enough sleep so we came back home and we relaxed in our grass. It was still a great low key week.

Cherish

Our little girl is growing up so much. During the day she jumped up and down on her bed, our bed, Hailey's bed and on the couch a few times. She made a train from her building blocks, blew bubbles in her milk, stole a bowl of strawberries, called for Mom about 230 times, ate 2 crayons, pretended to be a kitty about 10 times, licked everyone in our family, had her Barbie and Ken because they are married, colored on our walls a new art piece, cooked a pencil in the microwave, and given us a precious moment that we can cherish. 

Protection

For Family Home Evening I (angie) was in charge of the lesson for Family Home Evening. I had intentions on teaching a different lesson but I was thankfully guided by heavenly hands to this great lesson. 

So to keep everyone on their toes of what my lesson was on we played a game first. Who doesn't love a good game? 

I grabbed a poncho and Lily graciously volunteered to help me out. And everyone else in the family grabbed cups and cups of water. :-)

Then let her have it!

 Mike even brought out his super soaker.

After everyone was done dumping water on her (which she just kept giggling during) we went inside and I showed them this photo.

I seen it on Facebook and thought that it was a great representation of how powerful scriptures are to us. Mike got my point right away while the kids they were still connecting the dots. 

So for my lesson I asked Lily if she got wet from the water. She said "No". Then I asked her if her legs, hair, toes, fingers, ears, hands, arms, belly,back...if anything got wet- she said "NO"

So I explained that when we read our scriptures daily we'll have heavenly protection where no evil can get us "wet". That Satan might pour water on us but we'll be safe since we read our scriptures. The kids really liked this lesson. :-)

 And for the refreshment we had apple nachos. Since conference Mike makes it a point to tell me that the refreshments are the most important part of Family Home Evening. So all the recipes I saved on Pinterest are now being made for FHE. I've grown to really enjoy having family night since I've seen first hand that our family can get busy really fast.

Brave Date

For Easter Hailey received the video game coupon for her parent date. But video games aren't really her thing. So with the new movie, Brave, this was the perfect opportunity for redeem that coupon of her's. Plus using a great promo code for Buy 1 ticket Get 1 free from Fandango- this deal was even sweeter! 

photo source

So to make this mother daughter date even more special I wanted to get Hailey a Brave Shirt. But I didn't find any around where we live. Instead of paying for one on-line I resorted to making one for her. 

A red shirt she already had (since red is not a summer color unless there's 4th of July decor on it already) and a cute sketch with some fabric markers and Viola! Cute and one-of-a-kind "Be Brave" shirt. 

But to make this an even better date Hailey wanted Grandma to come with us. So it turned into a mother-daughter, mother-daughter date night. :-)

 I guess they were both very excited since both Hailey and Grandma Felicia arrived early. Since we had time to waste Grandma treated us to Zupas. Who can resist their desserts? I can't!

Nor can Hailey. Obviously since her mouth is full of cheesecake while posing with Grandma.

But now for the movie.... such a great movie! I had no idea what it was about. I knew there was a red head girl who didn't want to get married. And she wanted to change her fate. But not to spoil the movie this movie is an amazing mother daughter movie. All 3 of us cried our eyes out. Disney you've done it again! 2 thumbs up! 

Anyways this date was so fun. It's been a while since all 3 of us done something like this. 

This was a great memory for all of us :-)

Running

So our latest family success is running. Mike has been running for a while now. But with the latest trials of Mason's pre-manhood Mike started taking him on runs to get out some of that built up testosterone. So everyday they go running. Some days it's based on speed and some days it's based on distance. Mason has worked up to 5 miles. That's something I admire. I never been a fan of running but to say I can run 5 miles that motivates me into joining them. But it's boy bonding time so I stay behind and take the photos. :-)

Mike jokes that he takes this time to talk to Mason. He talks about teenage-hood, God, the gospel, school, family, temptations, etc. whatever the spirit prompts Mike to talk about. And since Mason is focusing on his breathing he doesn't say much- he just listens.

And so far- we've noticed a big difference in Mason behavior. He's calmer, more patient, and just more laid back after a good run. And on days he doesn't run- watch out grumpy pre-teen approaching.

Side Note: Mason really liked running with Mike that they are signing up for the July 4th 5k race in our county. Mason is really excite and wants to run everyday so he can be ready. We're really excite and proud for him. 

Summer Preschool

A few girls in our neighborhood wanted to earn some money so they teamed up and started a summer preschool for some kiddos in the neighborhood. So twice a week Lily goes to their house to play, read, color, play games, and just hang out with her friends. So for $2 a week it's going for a good cause.

Father's Day Hourly

Every Father's day our kids rush into our room, jump all over Mike, throw at him tons of gifts and then we spent the rest of the day either playing, watching movies, and eating. But the feeling of Father's day ends after breakfast. So this year the kids and I cooked up a different plan for Father's Day. 

A gift every hour! We started at 6am and went until 8pm. The cereal boxes each had something inside and the brown wrapped gifts were the gifts Mike could take with him to church to open. 

 6am. Breakfast in bed! I seen the "Best Pop Ever" soda can cover printable off of Pinterest. Wrapped it up around a  Mountain Dew and instant gift. :-) 

 7am....movie- Invictus

photo from Amazon

8am....photo journal book. I took some photos of Mike with our kids a while back and ordered this book from Shutterfly and on certain pages the kids and I wrote something that we remember.- a special memory. A special moment that we each spent with Mike. And I wrote several quotes about fatherhood all over the pages.

 He really liked it! He said it was one of his favorite gifts. Yeah- he's getting choked up  ♥

 9am.....Usher cologne
10am.....new black socks with starburst

11am.....ties messages. Mike already had ties so each of our kids and myself included made special tie tags for each tie.

And I made him this tie holder. 

12pm...... cards. I ordered him a great card. A one of a kind Farter's Day....I mean Father's Day card. He liked it.  

 And you can't have a Farter's Day card without a whoopie cushion.

 And our kids made him "I love you this much" cards. Handprint cut outs and string the length of their arms makes for one sweet card.

 Lily was showing him how we made them. "I love you this much daddy"

 Then she asked to play with his fart balloon.

 1pm.....magic card trick set
2pm...... pistachios
3pm...... a small bag of fireworks
4pm.....movie Breaking the Press

This movie is amazing. The story is based on the story of the prodical son from the Bible. It's one of my favorite stories. This movie is really touching and made us a cry a few times.

5pm....a new journal with clicky pens. Mike likes pens that click instead of BIC pens.
6pm.....some caramel popcorn
7pm......Chrome Cologne
8pm.......2 tickets to the new Batman movie that comes out in July.

photo from Fandago

So this Father's Day Mike was spoiled but he's such an amazing dad he very much deserved it. Mike said he really liked the hourly gifts. It kept the spirit of Father's day ALL DAY! So this is for sure something we'll be doing from now on. And a great fact....all of this spoiling cost around $50. I love coupons! 

Diego Education

With having Netflix our girls absolutely love Diego. On their days they always pick to watch an episode. Which is no problem since they are learning all about animals. 

Last week my mom was going to take us to the zoo so I was looking around online for some discounted tickets but wasn't able to find discounted day tickets but I did find a discount on a season pass. So for the cost of 1 trip of 2 adults and our 4 kids it would cost pretty much the same as a season pass. So she purchased our family the season pass. Which we're so grateful for (thanks Mom). But when our plans didn't happen our girls were bummed since they wanted to see the animals so after our neighbors baptism  we hurried home, changed, and threw some snacks into a bag and headed to Hogle Zoo. (sorry mom for not waiting)

Lily and Cati were so happy that photos can't even explain it. Lily kept asking if the zoo has animals like  in Diego. So when they seen this elephant Lily started to tell me all the info that she learned from the show. It was so adorable!

 Lily: "They use their long nose to put water on their heads"

 Cati: " There's a mommy elephant and a baby elephant."

Lily: " The rive otter can swim and wiggle"

 Every where in the zoo where these water fan mister things. We all loved them!

  Snack time in the giraffe house. Mike and I were playing around with the sign.
"Please don't feed them anything" hahaha......parent giggles :-)

"Cati what does a giraffe do?" (camera shy)

 "Lily what does a giraffe do? "

 Zoo maps. Lily was trying to read her map the staff worker gave her but she kept getting confused. So when I pointed out the signs we heard the biggest "WOW!" from her that Mike and I just laughed. She was absolutely amazed by these signs.

 
And Lily was kind enough to smash a few box elder bugs for us. For living in where we live I would think she'd get use to them but she hasn't.

 Our poor girl. She refused to sit in the stroller. I was sort of hoping she would change her mind since she skipped nap time but nope- she just took lots of breaks.

 Visiting the gorillas means Lily needs to swing like them.

 "Look daddy. Monkey carpet." (burlap bags)

 "Look daddy he makes his bed pretty like I do"

 "Look CHICKENSSS!!!!"

Lily: "Oh daddy can I climb the monkey?"
Mike: "Alright only if Mom can get 1 picture of you with your arms folded"

 "Look I'm on the monkey's head. heehee"

 "Me too. I want to sit by the monkey"........"No not on his head. He's too scary"

 Another break.....

 We're having so much fun!

 Not sure if we've ever noticed this but there's a painting inside a money habitat that looks just like the Statue of Liberty. Don't you think?

 Super fun and super exhausting day.