Elsie turns 5!!

Miss Elsie turned 5 on march 14th. This was her year for a birthday party and since every child is obsessed with Frozen right now, she wanted a Frozen birthday party. She had quite the invite list... Wanted boys and girls to come this time... So we ended up with about 13 little ones here! It was a success tho. This first picture is on her actual birthday. We went up to St. George for her birthday dinner at the restaurant of her choice... Pizza Factory of course! They make the pizzas into the number of your age which is pretty fun. Elsie is my free spirited girl and it's hard to get a serious picture from her:) 

The rest of the pictures are from her party. I commissioned David to draw Olaf for our pin the carrot on Olaf game. He did amazing!! 

Melted snow to drink... 

Elsa crowns for the girls and Sven antlers for the boys 
Ice crystal suckers...

Party favor... Snowman building kit...

The decor... Snowflakes, white tissue paper "snowballs" and paper chains which was supposed to look like snow falling. I'm always too busy during the actual party to get any good pictures so there are none of the kids or activities we did:( i was lucky I grabbed my phone to snap the ones I did get before it all started! Overall it was a success! Elsie had a great time and I was completely worn out afterwards. How it goes right? 

My life.

I realize this picture is super blurry but I had to capture it because it sums up my life pretty good right now. This boy. He is in a difficult stage!! He is stubborn as ever. He gets something in his head and it is impossible to reason with him or try and change his mind. He can throw fits with the best of them. He thinks he can get a new monster truck every time we go to Target. This particular trip the answer was No. And he just couldn't take it. He has to have things done a certain way. Like every morning he has to get dressed immediately after waking up. I mean immediately. No hanging in pjs for this fella. Clothes on. Then breakfast. He used to ONLY want me to do everything for him which was super frustrating and exhausting with a new baby. He is finally coming around to the idea of David being able to help him with things. But the stubbornness! Wow it wears you out so fast. He can be the sweetest thing in the world. But he can also be a nightmare:) he loves to be outside riding his bike, playing in the sandbox, playing with the neighbor boys and tryin to keep up with whatever they are doing. He is happiest when he is outside. He can be saying "I love you mom" one minute and the next "I don't like you!!!!" Because he isn't getting his way. I wish he came with a specific manual on how to parent him;) I do know he responds best to love. If I am getting upset with him he tells me "don't be mad mom" and then will get even more upset. So as hard as it is sometimes, I try to keep an even voice and just say things in a "nice" voice. I am hoping one day his stubborn nature will turn into serious dedication and perseverance and will take him great places... Until then.... This will be my daily life.... 

Cousins

We had lots of cousins come to St. George for a wedding and it was so fun to play with them.  It had been a really long time since all the cousins on my side of the family have gotten together. We love living close to home so we can get together who them often when they come down to Cedar. We played at the park and then the highlight was riding the mini 4 wheeler that Poppy recently purchased. Mason was in complete heaven. At first my dad had said he was too little to drive it, but mason is sooo persistent that eventually he got his way. It is equipped with a little tether thing that an adult can hold and run along side while they are riding so in case you need to stop it you can just pull the tether and it stops the motor. I was amazed at how well he could drive it! He didn't want to give  anyone else a turn. (Go figure:)  we are working on sharing and taking turns but it's a hard lesson to learn with this one:) I hope I survive his childhood! 

Dash.

This happy boy is such a joy to have in out family. He is so sweet and mellow which he needs to be! I love waking up to his smiling face. He is now 4 months old! I can't believe how fast time goes. He has rolled from his front to back a few times. He is chunky and has delicious cheeks (face cheeks:) and some good thigh rolls. He is almost always happy and smily. He has discovered his hands and has them in his mouth often. He has lost lots of the beautiful dark hair he ha when he was born but his hair is still dark brown. He loves the bathtub and loves attention from anyone who will talk to him. He has definitely found his voice and babbles and squeals often. We can get him laughing pretty good by tickling him and scaring him with a good "BOO!" Or fake sneeze:) he is our "Chubby" as I call him and we love him to pieces! 

Skipper of the School

Maia's PE teacher does all these amazing competitions and races. It really gets the kids excited about PE. One of the most recent ones was "Skipper of the School."  The kids have a couple weeks or so to earn "jumpers" during their pe time. These are little plastic charms that go a a necklace. You earn them by being able to jump rope consistently for a certain amount of time I think. Anyway you had to earn at least 6-7 to be in the competition. Maia wanted to be in the competition sooooo bad. She talked about it all the time and prayed about it at night:) and she made it!!! The parents can come watch the school wide competition. She was nervous which makes me so nervous. And yes I realize this is just 1st grade simple stuff. I'm going to be a mess when she's competing in more serious things! She just didn't want to be the first one out. They start the timer and then you just jump rope until you make your first mistake then you're out. The last one still going is the winner.... And they just keep on going trying to get the best time. Anyway she did really good! She wasn't the first one out! Somewhere in the middle of the group she stopped. It was fun to watch her! Proud of the little accomplishments of my kids:)    

Sleepy boys.

This is how our scripture study ended a few weeks ago: two tired boys sound asleep. I love dash's chubby cheeks. Sooo kissable! 

Mason.

This boy is ALL boy. He had been watching the lanscapers work in the yard... Or the "cut guys" as he calls them. He made good friends with Juan, one of the workers, and followed him everywhere just watching what he was doing. A day or so afterwards I found mason out working in the yard with his snow boots and David's work gloves. He was just a digging away in the dirt and moving rocks around (actually undoing all the work the landscapers had done:) he was so serious about his job tho I just couldn't tell him he had to stop. It is so fun to watch how different he is from the girls. He is definitely his own person and a total boy through and through. 

Journaling.

Trying something new with the blog... Making it more of just a quick journal with pics from my phone and little snippets of documentation so I can remember the moments I want to. 

This paper is one Maia brought home from school that she had done during their free writing time. It made me so happy. Like maybe I wasn't completely failing as a mother after all. Being a mom is hard work! Lately I have been feeling so frazzled and like all I do is get after my kids. I hate feeling that way! Motherhood brings me the most joy but I sometimes wonder why I don't always feel that joy. I know part of it is over scheduling and over doing and focusing too much on things that aren't important.  I'm trying to change that! It's definitely a process...every day I tell myself that today is going to be different. I'm not going to yell at my kids. I'm not going to get after them about the little things.  I'm going to spend quality time with them. Bedtime is going to be a happy time and not a crazy time.... Then the day begins and I feel I've already failed by about 8am:) But I'm so thankful for the sweet moments that come that make it all worth the hardwork. Because every day there are moments of sweetness among all the craziness. Love my family more than anything!!