Russell's Kindergarten Graduation

Our cute Russy boy graduated from Kindergarten.  He did such a great job this year at learning and growing.  I am so impressed with him and how well he makes friends and has a great time at school.  He was funny in the songs that they sang because he just will not do any actions.  He finally will participate int he singing so I guess I should be happy with that.  But there is no way he would do the actions that go with the songs.

 One of the Dads took everyones pictures so it was fun to see our cute smiley bear up there.

 Clara was really upset when we were trying to take pictures and we just couldn't get her to settle down, the thing that kills me though is just how Russ and Anne were just smiling away the whole time she was freaking out.

 It's nice that Kevin was there with me,  I love that he has a job where he can come to things like this.

Downtown Splashpad

 Park Day was downtown at the only splash pad our city has.  Oh how I wish they would get a decent one. We thought some friends might come but it ended up being just the two girlies and me.  We had a good time though.  They liked just going and standing in them, well Annie did,, Clara just would kind of back her bottom up into them.  It was a fun activity to do to pass some time and keep the girls busy while the big kids are still in school.

Rivercats Game

The Oklahoma City Dodgers were in town to play, so of course Kevy had to make sure we went.  It was too much money for everyone to go. (Hello it's minor league!) so we decided to just do it as a date night.  We went downtown before the game and ate out since we never get to do thing like that.  We went to Cafeteria 15L.  It was actually really good. It was fun to try something new.  After we went to the game.  It is always fun to go to a baseball game wit Kevin because he just loves it so much!  It was more fun than going to another Rivercats game because we actually had someone we wanted to root for and we also got to see some players that sometimes play for the Dodgers. I also just love being with my guy, no matter what we do!  The Dodgers ended up losing, of course.  It seems like we don't exactly have the best luck.  But it was still super fun to have a date night to a ball game. 

Memorial Day

 It was a fun Memorial Day with the our friends the Taylors. We didn't do a ton, but we got together at the park late in the day and had a picnic and played kickball.   The funniest thing that happened that day was we had all moved down to the far end of the park to play kickball after we had eaten. After a few minutes I looked around and realized that we were missing Annie and Clara. So I started walking over to the other side of the park to look for them. As I was getting closer I could see them and I saw Annie looking around like. " I guess we are alone,"  So she gathered Clara and Nellie's ripstick that had been left and started to head for home. It was so sweet that she was trying to take care of Clara, but I felt bad too that they thought they had been left. Poor little girlies.

Annie's Aloha Program

Our Annie girl is the silliest and spunkiest little girl around!  I am always so in awe at how much self confidence she has.  She is never shy or nervous about things that she should be nervous about.  It impresses me so much and always makes me wish I could be more like her!  She did her preschool program at Miss Patty's at the end of the year and of course sang her heart out!  She didn't have any reservations and I love it!  I cant believe that our Annie girl is done with preschool and will be heading to Kindergarten.  She is ready though, I cant wait to see her as a kindergartner.

 Annie was a little sad to say goodbye to her two good friends Liv and Grace.  These three had both years together in Miss Patty's and always had a great time together.

 It was fun that she got to sit next to her friend Joey.  He was a new student halfway through the year and Annie was the sweetest and really made him feel included Miss Patty said. I love that about my Annie girl!

She is the best!  I just love this little gal!

Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day each year.  Not because I think I am the most amazing mother, I know I have so much room for improvement. But I love it because I get to celebrate the fact that I am a mother to these amazing kids.  I grew up with a mother that hated Mother's Day.  So bad in fact that it was so dreaded because she was so depressed and hard to be around on that day because she felt so inadequate. It makes me sad just to think about it. I am glad that I don't feel the same way. I love this day because even though I make so many mistakes I know I am giving it my all.  I know that I literally put everything I am into being a mom.

  Its no secret that it's all I ever wanted to do. When I was in second grade we had a big program and spent a lot of time on what we wanted to be when we grew up.  Everyone made these large self portraits of themselves as what they wanted to be and then our parents came and we had a program and each got up and talked about our picture.  I drew myself as a mom holding a baby. Nowadays little girls would probably be shamed for that, but luckily I wasn't.  So everyday I try and find that joy in my life because I am living out my dream. 

 I loved getting to go to Annie's preschool mother's day tea. It was such a fun little thing, she sang cute songs and made me the sweetest present. I have had many mothers day teas in my day and each one is just as special.

 I just adore my life and these kids that I call mine. It is sometimes completely soul crushing and beyond difficult but at the same time it is the most wonderful and rewarding thing.  It's crazy how it can contain both the highest highs and the lowest lows.  I still wouldn't have it any other way. I am loving it more every day too with my kids as they are getting older. They are just so fun to be around and we have so much fun together.

I was so lucky this year because I got to go to a Mother's Day Tea for Russ as well. I am so grateful that they didn't fall on the same day so that I could go to both. I loved seeing my boy sing to me. I am so grateful that I have these great kids that I get to call mine.

Fairy Tale Town

There will come a time in a couple of years when I will no longer have a post about Fairytale town, and that will be a sad day!  I love this place. Its so fun to go every year with Miss Patty's place and get to see the silly puppet show and then have fun on all the slides and play equipment. It was fun to take Clara and Annie one more time because next year it will just be Clara left!  They had a lot of fun together.  I love seeing the relationship that they have together. 

It was nice because this year they weren't terrified of the slides and had a good time going on all of them and I didn't even have to help them! Progress! 

I love this sweet little face!  Their favorite and mine is the crooked mile and this was taken in the little crooked house.

It was fun for Clara to see her friend from the ward Rachel on the field trip as well!  They had fun playing together too!

Clearly I suck at Selfies. I dont even know how to take them well.

Thankfully we found someone to take our picture.

They were having a craft day that day so it was fun for the girls to make some crowns.  They always love things that they can make and color.

I know I post about this every year, but its truely one of or favorites. I catn help it. We always have such a fun time here.

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.