Quarter Fun

The finished product, a dragonfly!

The other day I went to Target and found the majority of their $1 section 75% off. I was quite excited! I actually got a few things for NEXT Easter and some other fun things. They had these cute Lisa Franks craft type kits for a quarter! I have to say that I am typically not the type that loves projects with four million tiny pieces. I decided I needed to step out of the box because I knew that Lyric would love it. At times, I need to remember to let go of my own selfish reasonings and do things, even if they aren't my personal favorite! So, today, she chose which pattern she wanted to make and we were kept busy for about 45 minutes. Not too bad for a quarter!

Exhausted

Every morning, without fail, Lyric is up between 6:45 and 7:00. I know that she has a literal internal alarm clock that goes off. This means that by 7:00pm, she is so ready for bed. She usually crashes fast and hard! The other night, this is what I found when I went to check on her and Paxton! I put her back up on her bed, and when I went in there a little later, she was like this again! She was too tired to notice that she had slipped off her bed and part way onto the floor.

The Cake

I just had to post a full picture of the cake Jamie made for my birthday. Isn't it great?!?!

Success!

Yesterday, Jamie and I ventured out with our five kids to do post-Easter pictures at Kiddie Kandids. We weren't 100% gung-ho about it, but, then again, I don't think you ever are about getting pictures done! All of the wonderments and what ifs about all of the children run through your mind! We knew, or at least really hoped, that it would be worth it in the end!

Their outfits were so cute that my mom picked out, we knew we wanted their pictures done in them. My mom does such an amazing job finding the perfect coordinating outfits for the grand kids. I always get so excited to see what theme she will have at each holiday!

The picture taking went surprisingly well. It went really quick, and then only having to wait ten minutes for the pictures was even better! Afterwards, we ventured to Target with them. We wanted to hit the after Easter sales. That was WAY more intense then getting pictures done! It reminded us why we typically do this when the dads are home and able to stay with the kids! We did manage to find lots of fun stuff!

Easter Sunday

We had a great Easter this year. Saturday, we decorated eggs at Jamie's.

Sunday morning, Lyric slept in until 7:15 (haha), and then we did Easter baskets. This year, Lyric really started understanding the whole Easter Bunny idea, so that made it extra fun. I attempted to do bunny footprints, but they ended up looking like baby footprints! My mom will have to remember how she used to do them!

Then we headed off to church for Easter Sunday. We did our traditional picture taking after sacrament meeting.

After church and naps, the kids had an egg hunt at our house. We filled the eggs with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. I think we learned that they might appreciate this when they are a little older! They were asking where the candy was! My mom bought the girls these slips that were supposed to go under their Easter dresses. When they arrived in the mail, she realized that they would be about two feet longer then their dresses! They were "costume" slips, meant for plays. She decided they would be fun to wear after church, the girls absolutely loved them!

We then headed to my parents' for the rest of the Easter festivities. My 25th birthday happened to fall on Easter this year. This is the first time this has happened. Jamie made me the coolest looking Pepsi can cake. When I get my camera back, I need to post a full size picture of it. It was amazing! She knows that Pepsi, either diet or regular, is my absolute favorite! It tasted just as good as it looked!
Next, we had our annual Easter egg competition. Last year my mom won, and this year it was my dad! The evening ended with a little Rock Band. Jamie and Tucker along with Mike and I, decided to go in together and buy this game. We figured it would be a fun activity for the family to get involved in together. I don't think my parents were sad to see it end! It is very fun, but for sure, not a quiet activity!

Playing Catch Up!

When we were in Arizona, Tiffani gave Lyric a Tinkerbell tubby wand that you put coloring tablets in to change the water colors. Lyric absolutely loves it! As you can see, she chose for her and Paxton to bathe in purple on this particular night. Tubby time is probably the favorite thing these two do together.

This is Paxton's latest. He loves to get up and rock on all fours! Whenever I walk into the room to get him out of bed, he is up on all fours rocking! It is so funny to watch. I keep waiting for him to rock so hard that he lands in the sitting position. He has yet to move in the forward direction. He has mastered the art of the backwards scoot, cause that's just way easier! Lyric thinks it is the funniest thing in the world to get on the floor and imitate him!

Look at those cankles!
Lookin' pretty studly in my new kicks...
Let's see what happens when I pull this string....
There ya' go mom!

Friday, Jamie gave me my early birthday present. She had Lyric and Paxton ALL day while Mike and I spent the day together. There are very few people that I would leave them with that long, but I feel lucky when I get the chance to do this! They had fun with cousins and grandma even stopped by for a visit! What can be a better feeling then knowing they are with so many people that love them! We went to lunch at Famous Dave's and then went to quite a few stores. I love being able to run in and out of a million different stores without having to load and unload kids! I love to shop, but quickly learned that my stamina is not what it used to be! I was so incredibly tired by the end! Mike and I used to do this every Saturday when we were first married. We then came home and were able to watch a movie before Lyric and Paxton came back. Of course I missed them, but it is scary how easy my mind was able to bounce back to it being the pre-kid days! Thanks for the day off!

On Thursday, we ventured out to the zoo. This was Paxton's first time, and Lyric's second. The last time we went was two years ago! I was excited to go, because I have been wanting to take Lyric back for a long time now. It was quite the group with 6 moms and 17 kids! It went surprisingly smooth with that many kids 7 and under. Lyric loved every part of it, and Paxton just sat there in the stroller and enjoyed being outside! It was such a beautiful day followed by a fun picnic lunch.

On Wednesday, Jamie and I had the great opportunity to go to lunch with my mom, just the three of us! With 5 kids between the 2 of us, this can be a hard thing to accomplish. It was so fun and relaxing. I really enjoyed spending this quality, adult time with them :)

Tuesday night, this little stinker FINALLY did something he has not done in four months, he slept through the night! From about 2-4 months, I was getting rather spoiled with 10-12 hour stretches. That quickly changed to 3-4 wakings per night. I was very pleased when I woke up the next morning! It has not continued to be a regular pattern, but I'll take it when I can get it!

Tuesday night, we went to Jamie's and for pizza. She kept up the tradition, and had made Mike a cake. He got an Ipod for his birthday, and so it was only appropriate that she make an Ipod cake! This may look like any ordinary cake, but what you don't know is that it is actually the world's biggest and best tasting sugar cookie! I can't even begin to describe how heavenly every single bitee tasted. Trust me, I ate it until I felt physically sick!

Whoa!

One of Mike's passions in life is lifting weights. It's a hobby, stress reliever, confidence builder, and a way to stay healthy. His area of strength has always been squatting. During his junior year of high school, he beat the school record by squatting 515 pounds. After his mission, he was set back, due to not being able to squat for two years. His goal has been to get back his old record, and some.

In one of Mike's classes, he had to set a goal with a deadline. He then had to create a reward and a punishment to go with that goal, depending on whether he succeeded or not. So, his goal was to be able to squat 700 pounds by April. I knew he would be able to do it, because it's not like he was starting from 0 and trying to work his way to 700! Still, it was a big feat. He practiced, when timing allowed, and decided tonight was the night to go for it! We went to my dad's gym and cheered him on! I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Doing 615 as a "practice" round. Mike says, "Come on, this is TOO easy!"

Okay, 700 pounds, round 1!

Is the bar really supposed to bend like this?!?!

Because of how severely the bar bent while Mike was squatting, Ryan and my dad, the spotters, had to help him with the bar. The bend in the bar made the wait distribute so unevenly, therefore making it impossible to do. Thank goodness, my dad had JUST gone a few hours prior, and bought a new bar. It holds about three times more weight then this old one. Mike was willing to give it one more shot using the new bar.

Sending himself positive vibes and getting in the mode! Round 2!

Ready, Set.......

Mission accomplished! He was able to reach his goal! My dad and Ryan had their hands ready to grab the bar at ANY second! Thankfully, he was able to do it this time around. I think this more durable bar was necessary for his success!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Mike's 27th Birthday! He informed me last night at 11:00, that he was using a vacation day for his birthday. He always likes to surprise me at the last minute! He has really been wanting to take Lyric to Horton Hears a Who, and it came out today, so they left this morning to go see that. He will be seeing a movie later tonight with Tucker. Can you tell he LOVES movies?!?! Next week my family is going to Cattlemens to celebrate Mike's birthday and mine, since they are only nine days apart!

Happy Birthday, Mike! We LOVE you :)