Avrilee

So Avi turned 10 this month!!!  AAAHHHH how did I get so old!!!  We don't do parties every year, so it seams like the even years work great after they turn 5.  Speaking of her turning 5, we did the same party (pretty much) for this party as that one.  If you want to be refreshed, you go look it up :)  I was a little slow on the planning, so we ended up trying to fit it where we could.  We did it on a Saturday morning, and while we waited for the straggler girls to show up, they played games.  I got the classic candy bar game for them and they had a blast. 

 Next it was off to the hair salon to get their hair and nails done.   They all loved being pampered for an hour or so. 

 I was sitting in the room with the girls while their nails were being done, and let me tell you I was scared!!!  They talk like tweens (I guess they are entitled to it since they are!!)  I kept thinking to myself when I had gotten so old. 

We came home for a BBQ for lunch.  Since there were 3  birthdays in their class during the week we weren't too excited about having cake or even cupcakes, so Avi requested Peanut Butter Cups.  Sadly Avi didn't end up with any candles to blow out this year, whoops.

We have found a wonderful thing near us, the outlets at Traverse Mountain.  We went a few weeks ago and checked out a few stores and were so excited to get so much stuff for so cheap, so during Memorial Day weekend, we stopped by for their even bigger deals.  While there we ended up getting most of our school shopping done, and got Avi her first bras.  AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!  I'm not that old, have I said that yet?  I really am having a hard time being ok with all of this, but it was time.  Avi has just started making us feel real old real fast.

Ending party

I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON!!!

Why in the world did I think that I could be room mom this year?  I'm so glad the school year is over because I am so ready to be done trying to put together class parties when my mind is so occupied with other children.  For the end of the year party I just wanted to be outside.  I filled water balloons and let them play Battle Ship.  They thought it was a fun idea, but since I got kicked off the water spout before I wanted to be I didn't get as many balloons as I wanted.  Oh well, they still had fun trying to peg each other as much a possible. And whats better than Girls against Boys!

Then we had an obstacle course.  Luckily we had just torn our yard apart making lots of extra obstacles for me to throw out there.

After that we had them play crochet, bocci ball, blow giant bubbles, and play soccer.  I didn't have enough stuff for them to do, but they still had a blast just being outside.  I'm so glad it's over!

Dailynn

I love Mrs. Candland!  She is such an awesome teacher that has such great ideas for the students to learn and grow.  At the start of the year she gave every student a sight words book and said that if they finished all 48 lists of 25 words or groups of words by the end of the year they would get to go to a bowling party.  When it was time for parent teacher conference in march we realized that we had only done about 7 of those lists.  We worked real hard for the next month and a half and got it done!!!!  It was a huge accomplishment for both of us!  The bowling party was so much fun.  Watching these 7-8 yr old kids trying the throw bowling balls down the alley and hit the pins was a blast!!

The other awesome thing is that the whole first grade got to go to the zoo for a field trip.  Before they went they had to do a research paper on an animal at the zoo.  Dailynn chose the Giraffe (I'm real good at spelling that now that we have worked on the project so much).  We spent a Saturday writing and rewriting the paper to turn it in.  Then the next week we got to make a poster with pictures and facts from the paper.  After going to the zoo, they then got to present their own zoo.  Each kid got to dress up like their animal and present their facts to the spectators (the parents and students from the rest of the school)  I was totally stumped on how to make a Giraffe costume for her, and slowly the ideas came to me.  I wanted to do a paper bag with yellow paint, but then realized I didn't have any paper bags, and was running out of time to go get one since there is only one store here that uses them.  I was wandering the isles at wal-mart and came across felt squares that were just about the right color.  I bought a few and glued them together to make the shirt.  I had an extra that I was able to make the mask from.  I'm not super excited about the mask, but it still looks good enough.  Dailynn had a blast painting the pattern on it and was so excited to go be in the zoo.  I have to say that was the cutest zoo I have ever been to!

just pics

So Nathan is really into disc golf lately, and one sat he let us tag along, kinda.  We went up to Taylorsville to a park that had a disc golf course that he and some friends from work wanted to try out.  We went and played at the playground while he played his game.  A short time later the girls decided they were done with the playground so to entertain them for a little longer we pulled out the camera (I know shocking I actually had a camera on me at the time)  and took some pictures.  Avi decided that she didn't want to cooperate, and Jeslyn had her moments as well.  This is what we get.

Oh and this is Nathan actually playing,

Can you see the disc and the basket.  I thought this was a great action shot for me to have actually gotten.

Phew

Has life slowed down yet?  Well since it is snowing today it sure feels like it.  I have been wanting to do this post for weeks, but with some absolutely wonderful weather and a house that has been slightly destroyed, I have had other things going on.

Keila is growing like a weed.  She is a little shy of 4 months old, and has finally decided that life is a little easier than she thought it was.

 Here is the blanket that my mom made for her.  She likes it don't you think.

 This is how she spent the time at La Sal if she wasn't in my arms.  The stinker didn't like anyone!

 We blessed Keila while we were down in La Sal.  Because it was Easter we had to have an Easter Bunny.

 

This is 3 mo. old wearing the outfit she came home from the hospital in.  she has grown a little you think?

 My friend Janina decided she doesn't like Utah weather anymore and ran away to Arizona.  We got together as friends to go for dinner and ice cream.  We miss them sooo much!

 Avi has some crooked teeth, so in order to keep them healthy and strong, she got braces put on the top.

Our trip to La  Sal for spring break, Easter, and time with cousins.

 "That's me in the picture"

 How many Easter Bunnies does it take to put Easter together?

 Who can pass up a tractor ride?

 What's a trip to La Sal without a jeep ride?

 As usual, Jeslyn can't stay awake on a jeep trip.

 Swimming with Grammy!  We love going to visit her and the pool.

 Fun at City Creek after swimming.

So I survived tax season.  I started working again when Keila was about 2 weeks old.  I only did it because it was peek and not only did I want to get in there to get my fair share of returns, but they needed me to help out as well.  The first month was a doosey and threatened to do me in, but once Keila started calming down a bit it was a little easier to think and focus on what I was doing.  All of my clients loved seeing her either in person or in the picture on my desk.  The last week of work was crazy!!!  I spent so much time in the office and did a lot of returns.  I ended up leaving work at 9:30 on the 15th because Keila was in desperate need of me, but then I found out the next day that the rest didn't leave until midnight.  Yuck.  Since then I have been cleaning my house.  I have found that I can't keep up with it, but I can keep it up to a descent level. 
The weather has been so wonderful lately that we have started our yard projects.  If you have been to my house you have seen the weed gardens that I have on the west of our driveway.  Nathan was looking at the street view of our house on google maps and was disgusted by it, so now we are in the process of changing it.  We have dug out most of the bricks and cinder blocks that have made up barriers and retaining walls.  Once we get the rest of the blocks up we will till the ground and start leveling to plant grass.  It is going to look so much better, and I can't wait for the grass to come up!
Projects on the summer schedule...
finish the tree house
revamp the garden
clean the basement
build a shed
fill a shed
bake sale
bake sale
bake sale
The girls believe they are going to save up enough money to buy a nexus so they are convinced that is going to happen by doing bake sales all summer.  I guess I will be teaching them about inventory, supplies, baking, pricing, etc. 
My other project this year is to finally fit into those size 12 shorts I bought 10 years ago.  Luckily I have breast feeding on my side to help with that.  I have been able to shed 12 lbs in 6 weeks, and am on track to keep up the pace if I just keep going.  Wish me luck!