Connor's Birthday!

Connor is the big 6 today!!! Saturday we threw him a birthday party which he was soooo excited about. He had lots of fun and was quite the ham the entire time. I just can't believe he's already 6. It seems like just yesterday that he was born. He was a HANDFUL of a baby. He needed so much love and security. And even though it was hard, I loved being the one to give him the love he needed. He was this lean muscular baby too. It's fun to remember back to the way he was, and to be proud as a mom of what he is now. He's a good boy (even if he can be loud and all "boy" at times.) I wouldn't change him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNOR!!!!

My Little Womanizers...

I watched my best friend's little girl today (Saige) and I stumbled upon all three of my boys giving her a back massage. They did this for about 15 minutes. I told them if they kept up stuff like that, ALL the girls would be chasing after them!!!!

As you can see, Saige was enjoying every minute of it! Hehehe

Date Night...

Sunday night is generally a night where we allow one child to stay up and have a "date night" with just Chris and I. It was Christians turn last night and boy was he excited!!!! We watched a show called "Shock wave" with him (a show about shocking occurrences with near death experiences.) We had treats and he asked us to get his sleeping bag so he could lay right smack in front of the T.V. I love this new tradition because it gives Chris and I a chance to relate to that child one on one, and just have fun! Since we've started this about 6 months ago, I really feel a stronger bond with each of the kids. They are so quirky and fun in their own way. :)

One of my favorite things about Easter is Easter clothes!!! I shouldn't carry on this expensive tradition, but I do anyway, because it's just plain fun!

Grace was not happy in the least to be all frilled out! Oh well, she got over it eventually.

Happy Easter!

I wanted to share a few pictures from our little Easter celebration. We decorated eggs as usual, and of course the Easter bunny came with lots of goodies. There were probably 100 eggs hidden and they seriously found them in probably 5 minutes! It took me forever to hide those darn eggs! Oh well, they had a blast anyway. :)

Connor being his silly self ;)

Christian just took his time finding eggs...I had to rush him before the other kids found them all before him!

Even though Halee doesn't do the Easter bunny thing anymore, she certainly still takes advantage of the candy! I guess I can't blame her.

Happy Anniversary To Us!

I know I already posted that our anniversary was coming up, but now it's officially here, so I thought I'd post a few walk down memory lane pics, and one very recent of us. I can't believe I was only 19 when we married. I look at pics though and realize I definitely was! I'm so lucky to have been married to Chris for 11 years. He is my very best friend! I truly feel like we are a team and that's one reason why having 5 kids has been possible. :)

Back in the days when we still had time to kiss...haha..J/K.

Turning 38

I can't believe my hubby is nearly 38! His B-day is actually tomorrow, but we're celebrating today because tomorrow we're celebrating our anniversary because we couldn't find a babysitter for Fri. (our actual anniversary.) Am I making any sense?! Anyway, the kids LOVE to celebrate birthdays so we did the whole shebang today! Look closely at the gifts. They are so "them." They love to give little nick knacks, and even though it's not always something we would necessarily pick out, we love these gifts just the same. Chris looks genuinely pleased huh? :)

My Little Scripture Reader

I don't know where this child came from...every night he reads his scriptures in bed. He'll read I think about a whole chapter! He's already almost in Alma. The funny thing is, he actually said to me the other night "I can't wait to go to bed so I can read my scriptures!" He LOVES the stories. I think he's a great example to me, because it's hard to read them every day! I always think of him when I just don't feel like (or have time to) read them. I thought I was supposed to be HIS example, but one thing I have learned as a parent...you're always learning from your children.

Husband Tag...

What is his name? Chris Robert
how long did you date? Not very long! Six months I think.
how long have you been married? 11 years next week
who eats more sweets? Oh that would be me.
who said I love you first? I seriously can't remember!
who is taller? He is
who is a better singer? Me
who is smarter? He always says I am, but he's not a dunce or anything! He's pretty smart too.
who does the laundry? Lucky me! My kids too though, and sometimes Chris even pitches in.
who pays the bills? He does...thanks goodness!
who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Chris
who mows the lawn? Chris for sure! I don't mow lawns EVER!
who cooks dinner? Mostly me, but on weekends he makes us food after the kiddos go to bed and we party just the two of us. :)
who drives? I do more than he does
who is more stubborn? ME for SURE! He's wayyy easier to live with then me.
who kissed who first? He kissed me
who asked who out? He did
who is more sensitive? I am a lot more sensitive then Chris. That's one thing I love about him, he's pretty grounded and always gives people the benefit of the doubt.
who has more siblings? He does. He has 8 biological sibs and 14 adopted sibs from Russia
who wears the pants? I like to think we both do, but if I had to choose I would say I probably do a little more, but I try not to take advantage of that power I know I have. :)

Okay, so I tag Jenny S. Jenny M. Rachel, and Patty

Attack of the Grace...

I watched my friends baby Leah today for a few hours, and it was sooo funny because for some reason Grace is obsessed with this child! She basically attacked her at all costs. She was sticking her fingers in her mouth, and trying to grab her hair, and finally (see top picture) I just put Leah in Graces lap as though she was holding her...(Leah is 6 months OLDER than Grace. Grace just wanted to love on her so much. Leah was SUCH a paratrooper. Why can't all babies be that tolerant? :)

Just some cute pics

The picture at the top cracks me up because out of all the places to roam in our house Grace almost always ends up in this one corner in Halee's room where there's the littlest pets and doll house. I'm pretty convinced she's all girl!

Grace has the nasty habit of pulling anyone and every one's hair. She LOVES hair! Here she is attacking Halee's head right before bed time last night. Luckily the kids think it's soooo funny! Wait till she gets a little older...

Family Memories

Yesterday after church we took the kids to a park over in WA. I know it's not the worthiest Sabbath day activity, but we needed some family time. The kids had a blast...the weather was 70 degree's. Chris made a homemade banana cream pie Sunday morning so we ate that while we were there. It was so nice to just relax and have fun together!!!!

The boys of course found this barrel there. If it's possibly dangerous, and out of the ordinary, my boys will gravitate to it...trust me.

Sorry I have to add my pics in separate posts...something screwy is going on with uploading more than one pic. I'll work on it.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Christian. He would seriously LIVE at the park if he could!

Halee will be 10 in 2 months. I can't believe how fast children grow up! Even though it's hard at times having 5 kids, I really feel like that in a blink of an eye they will be grown...and I seriously think I will look back and wish they were little again.

This is a depiction of what we like to do on Sunday afternoons if the weather is tolerable. We love to just hang out sitting in any random grassy area. (I know, we're weird.) It really is one of our favorite things to do though!

By the end of the 2 hours we spent at the park, this pic was at our breaking point....fun was over, it was time to head home! I love spending time with my family. I wish we could do this every single day.

So Sunny...

Today was such a great day! For the past few months I've been in kind of a rut, with very little incentive when it comes to spending quality time with the kids, but with the great weather I'm feeling very determined to be a great mommy and spend LOTS of time with them. Today I took them to story time. Afterward we went on a picnic at the park. When we got home around 12:30, Chris came home for lunch and we took the kids on a walk around our neighborhood. Here is Christian and Grace ready to roll. We were love, love, LOVIN' this wonderful sunshine. It's still pretty chilly, but oh well! It was great. I love my kids so much. They truly are the highlight of my world. I'm so blessed to have such a great husband to share these little people with. :)

On Saturday Chris stayed home with Grace while I took the 4 kids to see The SpiderWick Chronicles. I was a little worried that they might think it was too scary, but they LOVED it! There were definitely a few creepy parts, but surprisingly they were all just fine! No night mares later either! I also really enjoyed it. If you haven't gone to it, you should before it leaves theatres! ;)