April stuff

 Annie and Russ are seriously so dang cute together.  They used to be so mischievous when they would play together when they were little, bu now they are just so creative and have so much fun. They were pretending to be road workers. I love the "hard hat" and vest Annie is wearing, yep that's a baseball helmet and a life vest. 

 They kids in their new Easter dresses and shirt and tie for Russell.  I had found all of these online and I thought a purple tie would be really nice for Russ, but he was actually pretty pissed about it and it took A LOT of convincing on Kevin's part for him to wear it,  such a silly guy.

 Clara was given this jacket and even though it wasn't cold at all outside she insisted on wearing it. Haha.

 Clara likes to find my big boots and wear them around the house.

 Annie had her Miss Patty Place field trip to the Zoo and it was so great because it ended up being on a flex Friday so Kevy got to go with us.  Annie had a great time hanging with her two little friends, Liv and Grace

 Clara was my little buddy and it was so fun to take her because she is such an animal lover.  She had the best time.

 Russell kept reminding me before I went to take a picture of a bear.  The only one they have is called a red panda and it isn't a bear at all but more like a raccoon, but I made sure to still get a picture.

 My two little kangaroos.

 We had to get a picture of the giraffes because they are Clara's favorite animal and she was sure thrilled to see them.

 I am just loving getting to do things like this without babies!  It makes everything more enjoyable.

 The girls wanted to wear the dresses that grandma made for them one more time all together even though they are all growing out of them.

 My little messy face girl. She loves treats and reminds me of Nellie at the same age with the chocolate. Haha.

 Spring is track time now and probably always will be because of Lizzy.  It is crazy how much better she is even than last year.  She truly has some major talent and I love watching her run.

 Nellie joined track this year.  It has been a bit of a struggle with her because she doesn't really want to put in any real effort but she just wants to be really naturally good.  Plus she only wants to do sprints which she just isn't good enough at, so it can be a bit challenging. But she discovered near the end of the season that she liked hurdles and wants to try and do them next year, so hopefully it will be a good thing next year.

 These kiddies are just so silly. They started using goggles in the tub so they could go under. Its pretty funny but good that they aren't so scared of the water anymore.

 This boy is just so snuggly.

Clara really loves Janie and thankfully Jane is so sweet with her and always lets Clara hang out with her.  Jane is such a sweet sister and plays so well with everyone. Its one of the things I love most about her!

All about Annie-5 years

My cute little Annie girl!  I cant believe she is five years old!  She is such a silly, sweet, fun, self confident girl.  Miss Patty told me that she sees Annie being the CEO of a company or something because she is just so self assured and vocal. I love that she doesn't get nervous about things and is just so confident in all that she does!  I love getting to be her mom.  She is so kind to others and is really good at trying to include them in what she does.  She is a great big sister to Clara and they get along great most of the time.  It is a big improvement from how it used to be, although they still definitely have their issues.  Annie likes to color and draw and she likes to play outside with her siblings. She loves to run and still will ask to go running with me. I think she may end up really being a runner like Lizzy.  Annie's favorite color is still pink, just like her Grandma.  She loves that.  Annie isn't a very big eater and she sometimes doesn't  eat her dinner so she will miss out on treats.  Most of the time she is totally fine with it, but sometimes she will end up eating a lot late, (like when the food is all nasty and cold). so she can have a treat. Annie doesn't have anything that she really loves food wise.  Even when I serve her a treat she never eats all of it. This probably isn't such a bad thing.  Annie loves to go to preschool and she is really looking forward to going to kindergarten in the fall.  She is so ready.  She is so smart and will do so great.  I love this silly self confident girl!  

Annie's Fifth Birthday

Annie is five!  She didn't get a party because it was an odd year, so we just had our usual family party. She wanted a star cake and I though "Oh, piece of cake. I have made much harder cakes this will be easy." um no, this was literally the hardest cake I have ever made.  I am not exactly sure what the deal was, maybe it was just an off day, I don't know.  All I know is I was almost having a full blown panic attack making it. I couldn't get it to frost.  It just kept getting crumbs into the frosting as I spread it and with it being chocolate it just was a nightmare. I need to get better at my crumb layer.  I guess that is me next thing to try and master. Anyway it ended up turning out okay, but it really took forever to make!

For her actual birthday we took her out for her birthday lunch and she chose Costa Vida.  The funny thing is I didn't think she even really liked Costa Vida but she assured me she really did, haha. We got her a bike for her birthday which she wasn't super happy about. I think she wanted to choose something else for herself but she had to have a bike and so we got her one and she ended up coming around. 

Easter

 We had a pretty chill Easter this year since it was on Conference Sunday.  We watched the morning session and then in the middle the kids colored eggs.  It actually was so fun to do this year, just like everything is seems, as the kids have gotten older things have gotten easier and more fun.  Clara was so cute, she loved seeing all the pretty colors she made. After the afternoon session we had our annual egg hunt outside.  We have two different hunts, the one for the little kids and then one for the older kids and we let the younger ones go out youngest to oldest for a minute of two so the younger ones get their fair share. Although next year we may change it for the older kids because Nellie and Jane had gotten a lot before Lizzy even got out there.  Kevin and I hid all the eggs for them, which was actually pretty fun to try and find good hiding spots especially for the big kids.

 It was so fun to see Clara be so big and find all the eggs. She is just getting so fun!

 I just love all these kids so much. Every time I get overwhelmed by having six kids I just see things like this and how much fun it is to have all of them and it just fills my soul and makes me feel so overwhelmed with gratitude for my life and how blessed and lucky I am!

Lizzy got some masks in her Easter basket this year and was so sweet to share that night with her sisters.  Its so fun having all these girls! They sure are a special group!

Bodega Bay and Dillon Beach

 Oh the joys of being us.  I think sometimes we just don't have the best luck when we try and do things. I wanted to take a day trip since we hadn't taken a big trip for Spring Break, and I had seen so many people post recently about going to Bodega Bay and how great it was.  I thought why not go?  We had never been and it looked great and not too far away.  We drove down pretty early so we would have most of the day there.  The forecast said close to 70, which for the coast I thought was pretty warm honestly so we mostly all wore shorts and just brought a jacket.  Just our luck it was FREEZING!  The wind was blowing so hard and it was just so cold.  We walked around a little and went out to where there are supposed to be a lot of whale sightings and of course the worker said it was a lot warmer the day before and they saw a lot of whales as well. None the day we went though, haha. We walked down to the beach for a few minutes but it was just so cold and there wasn't good sand, so we decided to instead head to Dillon Beach because it was close by and we knew a lot of people that had gone there. Well unfortunately it was just as cold there.  We let the kids dig in the sand a while but honestly the whole time all I could think about was how badly I wanted to leave.

 We turned our chairs around so the wind was at our backs and it helped a little. But honestly I was miserable. I hate being cold I would much rather roast to death than freeze.

 The kids had a good time digging their giant hole that they love to dig every time we go to the beach, but I love it because they have so much fun together doing it.

This little monkey snuggled me good and helped to keep me warm.  Maybe next year I will pick a better place to go for Spring Break!