April 2021

 April 1, 2021

She'll come ask me, "Party?" to let me know she wants to play tea/lemonade party! Emma loves to have "parties." Who could say no to such a cute girl?

 

 

As you know, Ammon's mom used to make homemade marshmallow eggs for Easter every year when Ammon was a kid. A few years ago, Ammon asked me if I make them. So I asked Carrie to come over and teach me. I've made them every year since. This year, I had an 'ah ha' moment. I realized that some people love antiques for the history the item holds. I love traditions. I guess I'm a minimalist and don't want "stuff", but I L.O.V.E. carrying on a family tradition! It's my version of collecting antiques!

In the past years I've tried decorating the eggs with buttercream frosting and royal frosting. Neither one was my favorite so I tried something new this year. I drizzled white chocolate that I put food coloring in. I love how the turned out. I'm sure this is what I'll do each year now!

 Tonight we dyed Easter Eggs. This year we used a science method! I put food coloring in the bottom of a cup, put some baking soda on top of it. Then placed a hard boiled egg in and let the kids squeeze vinegar into the cups. We let them sit for 5-10 minutes before pulling them out. We had so much fun!

 Every year I feel like when the kids start hunting for the hard boiled Easter Eggs, the eggs have condensation on them, which makes the dye rub off onto their hiding place. Anyone else have this problem? I'm about to either stop dying eggs because of it, or just tell the Easter Bunny not to hide them (just dye them for fun).

Funny story...neither of the kids were trying to be funny, they were both being serious...

I pulled some hot dogs out of the fridge to cook for dinner. Caleb felt them and said, "You bought the wrong hot dogs! You bought cold dogs!" Isaac piped in, "If they're cold then they're called chilly dogs." Isaac has no idea that there is actually a food called chili dogs.

April 4, 2021

Easter Morning!

When the kids started eating their candy, before opening each plastic egg, Caleb would shake the egg and say, "What's in there?" as if he truly didn't know. It was cute!

May 11, 2021

Today I tried to get some nice spring pictures of the kids. Just in the back yard, nothing fancy. I can't tell you how many pictures I had to delete! lol. I didn't get any "gems" but here's the best I got:

As I was taking the pictures, I was trying to be fast because, ya know, kids attention spans are are big as an ant. So it wasn't until I was looking at them later that I discovered Isaac was making a weird face in almost all of them. I busted up laughing. This is totally him. He gets bored and just starts doing something to entertain himself. Keep in mind it is 1,000 times funnier when you're clicking through picture after picture...smile...goofy face......goofy face...smile...goofy face...it's almost like you can see the wheels turning inside his head! Here are my favorites:

And my absolute favorite:

 

I can't wait to put these photos in his wedding video some day!

April 12, 2021

Proud Mom Moment:

Background info: I'm not a mask wearer. Ammon has to wear one at work and has gotten respiratory infections from wearing them. It almost went away when he worked from home for a week, but as soon as he went back into work, it came right back. I have multiple reasons that I don't wear a mask, you can ask me if you want, but I'm not going to go into it here. If you have strong opinions that are in opposition of my opinions, that's fine, that's what makes it an opinion. No need to comment or be mean. Just move on and don't read this story.

I've taught the kids well. There is this wheel of fortune style thing for kids at HEB (using Buddy Bucks) where they can win a prize. Isaac and Caleb both won a few things today. They got a jump rope, rubber bracelet and something in a bag. Holding up the prize in a bag, Isaac asked, "What is this?" I took the package and had to read the label, "It's a face mask."

Isaac responded, "Ewww. I guess I'll throw that away."

 

 

April 14, 2021

When I ask Emma to do something that she doesn't want to do, she magically turns into a kitty or a puppy who doesn't understand me. She goes all they way too...meow/barks, sticks tongue out and pants, even will give you kisses by licking you! Every time, I'm fighting laughter or frustration...secretly I think it's super cute! Here she is evading nap time:

I trimmed a gigantic rose bush today and Caleb asked to take the flowers over to our neighbor, Mrs. Cindy. It was so sweet!

April 17, 2021

How is my baby girl 2 years old! Actually, she is anything BUT a baby! When we go to the park, people ask how old she is because she does things kids twice her age are just learning. I always tell them she has 3 older brothers to keep up with. Also, that there is no point in telling her she cannot do something. She's going to do it, she'll just wait until she thinks I'm not paying attention. It's better to just teach her the safe/right way to do it.

Anyways, we had her birthday party today! It was SO MUCH FUN! Normally we only do birthday parties on odd birthdays, but she didn't get a big birthday party for her 1st birthday because of Covid. I know most people don't think 1st birthday parties are worth it because their child will never remember it. But for us, the first birthday party is OUR (Ammon and mine) way to celebrate getting through the baby stage. So it's something fun we like to do!

Emma's party was Minnie Mouse themed. She LOVES Minnie's Bowtique and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse shows.

I guess I never got a picture of all of the food on the table...ooops. We had:

Mickey's Sandwiches (PB&Js in Mickey head shape)

Minnie's Bowtie Pasta (pasta salad with bowtie pasta)

Hot Diggity Dogs (mini hot dogs in sauce)

Donald's Cheese and Quakers (Meat/Cheese/Cracker platter)

Daisy's Vegetable Garden (Veggie tray)

Figaro's Fruit Salad (Fresh fruit salad)

Chip & Dale's Chips & Dip (Potato chips and ranch dip)

Pluto's Puppy Chow (Chex Mix)

Gooey Fish (Swedish Fish)

Clarabelle's MOOOO Milk (Chocolate Milk)

Goofy's Grape Juice (Grape crystal light type drink)

Handy Helpers (utensils and napkins)

This cake caused me A LOT of stress the morning of the party. But I love how it turned out!

We love this sweet girl! We are so grateful to have her as part of our family. She keeps us on our toes...more than the boys...but I can't imagine life without her! She proves to Ammon and I every day that girls are naturally different than boys, but that they can definitely keep up with the boys! Every night she has a bed full of specific stuffed animals and baby dolls she wants to sleep with, she loves dresses and picking out her own clothes, sometimes when I panic because it is too quiet, she is just sitting quietly reading a book. BUT she can also beat Caleb in a wrestling match, pin her brothers down to the point the claim they can't move, run as fast as her brothers, climb up anything her brothers can climb up. She has a special relationship with Isaac, which I find so sweet. Isaac knows that Emma just wants to snuggle sometimes and will welcome her to sit under a blanket with him. When she does something nice for Isaac, he notices and says something appreciative to her. Watch out world, this girl is going to accomplish a lot...and watch out boys, because not only does she have a Daddy, but she's got 3 body guards you're going to have to prove yourself to!

April 18, 2021

Today is Emma's actual birthday. Did I mention we were blessed to have Grandpa and Grandma Eggett in town for her birthday? That made her birthday weekend extra special! Among so many other things, she got a play kitchen for her birthday and I made her a Minnie Mouse apron.

April 21, 2021

Conner was trying to convince me to let him do something. His argument was... "I'm almost 7 and that's basically a teenager." Oh good gracious. If 7 is almost a teenager, I'm in for it! lol

 

April 23, 2021

Today was a very rainy day. VERY RAINY! As we were leaving a friends house right after lunch, Isaac asked if he could splash in the puddles. I have to be honest, my first thought was "I don't want to clean up that mess." But I quickly changed my attitude and said, "Sure! That looks like so much fun!" So we stopped at a couple of big puddles/pools of water on the drive home and I let Isaac and Caleb splash around for a few minutes in them. Then once we got home, we all went out and had a blast! Have you read the Winnie The Pooh book where they play Pooh Sticks? Each of the characters stand on a bridge and drop a stick in the water on one side, then run to the other side to see whose stick comes out from under the bridge first. Anyways, we played Pooh Sticks with our crocs because they floated! We didn't have a bridge, but we just let them float down the gutters. These are the kind of days when memories are made and I am so glad I looked past the wet mess and had fun with my kids!

We help Emma say her prayers each night. Ammon or I will say something and then she repeats it. Tonight Emma went rogue and started telling her own story about "Grandba" and "Grandba". It was very cute! 

 

April 25, 2021

After church when we were getting out of the van at home, Emma was throwing a fit about something. Conner was such a helpful big brother and asked Emma if she wanted a ride inside. She said yes, so he let her climb on his back and gave her a piggy back ride inside the house. Sweet brother!

 

Caleb has been riding a balance bike for a while now. And he is super fast on it! He's my first kid to use a balance bike. Today I spontaneously decided that since he's so good on the balance bike, let's give a 2 wheeler a try and he rocked it! Which makes me a huge believer in balance bikes, because my older 2 boys didn't learn as easily as he did!

Which means I lowered the seat on the balance bike for this Little Miss Sunshine! She is always trying to ride it, so I expect her to love having the balance bike being her size!

 

Conner couldn't find his water bottle. He said he had looked everywhere. So I finally went to help. I figured it was in the backyard, so I looked there first. After spedning 5 minutes looking outside, I headed inside and saw it on the bottom floating shelf (right next to the back door). When I showed Connere where it was, he asked me, "Why didn't you just look there first?"

Ummmm....why didn't YOU just look there first, buddy? lol

 

April 26, 2021

Here is the proof that Emma loves to wrestle with her brothers...

Also, Emma has no fear...

April 27, 2021

Well, the Minnie apron was a huge hit! Emma will come into the kitchen, open the drawer where I keep the aprons and ask, "Cook?" I think she might think 'cook' is the name for apron! She loves to cook with me now! 

April 28, 2021

Emma says, "Look at me!" a lot these days. She'll climb on something, do something she thinks is tricky, etc then say, "Look at me!" and she is so proud of herself! Today as I was trying to get the kids in the van, I hear "Look at me!" from behind me, so I had to take a picture of her climbing the tree!

My conversation with Caleb:

Me: "Caleb, time to go upstairs (to take a nap)."

Quiet...

Me: "Come on, Caleb!"

Caleb: "I'm invisible."

Me: "No way, how did you become invisible?" I walk past the under the stairs playroom and see only his toes as he is standing on the wall next to the door.

Me: "Wow! You are invisible! I can't find you anywhere!"

Caleb pops out of the playroom, "SURPRISE!"

LOL 

 

April 29, 2021

Isaac has been studying fairy tales in school. Today he came home with some crafts he made to aid in telling the story. So cute!

 

 

April 30, 2021 

Conner has a long term substitute because his teacher had a baby. Isaac said he wants to have the same teacher as Conner and Conner responds, "You can't because she is just a substitute. I like the word substitute, do you know why?"

Isaac responds, "Why?"

Conner answers, "Because it has a toot in it; substi-TOOT!"