Ducks--finally!

We finally made it to see the ducks. We have had pretty decent weather the last few days and with it being spring break we took advantage of the nice weather to see the ducks. The kids had a great time. I think the ducks were full though because they didn't seem to want to eat to much bread. I think others had the same idea we did and the ducks were full after starving all winter without visitors. Here are a few shots of all the fun we had.

Railey's Birthday

Our little princess turned 2 today! Boy how time flies by when you are having too much fun. Time has always flown by though with Railey. I remember from the day she was born just wanting time to stand still and just wanting to savor every minute of her life. I have tried but it's hard. She truly is joy. Lately Steve and I just look at each other (all the time) and ask how we got so lucky to feel such joy with her. She makes us laugh and brings a smile to our faces at least once every hour of the day. We love her so much! Her latest word that she loves to say is "whatever" she's our climber, our outdoors girl and loves and admires her brothers like no sister ever has before. She's also a little mother to Kenna.

as a babe
one year old

2 years old

with her birthday cake

her cake (anytime she asks me to draw a picture for her she wants a flower and a butterfly so we did both on her cake!)

My helper

Railey is my little helper. I love it but there are times that we don't all need 3 spoons!

The Builders

Seth loves to build. He's my creative little soul. He will dump the lincoln logs out most nights and build all sorts of cabins. The other day he even had a "bay window" on one of them. I love the fact that he loves to do these things, it keeps his mind going.

Damen likes it too, but mostly does it when I pull the camera out, or after Seth has already been going for a time. They are both very creative though and I love that they just don't build the normal old house. They have started standing the little pieces on end instead of laying them down flat ("because that makes bigger windows Mom"). Oh I love my little creators.

Final Four

Since I didn't get any photos of the boys and their football season, I figured I better snatch a few of them watching basketball. They were down watching all night while Steve was at Priesthood session and they persuaded him to join them when he got home, just in time for the end of the game. It is so fun as a mom to watch her boys, all three of them, as they watch the game. Half the time they are snuggled up together and they other half they are passing the balls and pretending to shoot it. I just love how into sports they are and especially how into their Dad they are!

The Hunt

The Easter Bunny came between sessions of conference which was so nice of him because then we didn't have to buy conference snacks! But the weather was just bad enough and it had rained that he had to do it in the house. But it was a lot warmer and quicker. Here are a few of the festivities.

showing their loot (boys got a shirt and Railey some sandals)

dividing up the goods

Eggs

Growing up we would color eggs every year. We had all the tricks of the trade learned or so we thought and loved the tradition. We did it one year when Damen was little and since it has just never happened. My kids love hard boiled eggs right out of the hot water but aren't fans of them cold so I thought it was a waste to cook them and then not eat them. But we decided to go for it again this year. Doing so made me realize that there was probably a reason we had not done them in so many years, it's hard with little kids. Damen and Seth did great and were so excited, and only broke one. Railey on the other hand would DROP her egg in then take it out right away. She didn't understand that you had to leave it a LONG time to get really bright(one of those things I learned from doing it so many times :) ) But all in all we had a great time coloring eggs and I think the kids will want to do it again. Now to get them to eat the eggs!

Mess

I know I seem to post a lot about Railey and Kenna. I will have to get more of the boys on here. But another one of Railey. Today she had a Popsicle, which she loves but along with it came a mess! But never fear, Railey always cleans up her messes. It might be with my best hand towel but that's all she can reach! So today Steve was commenting on what a good little cleaner she was and said "I think she takes after her Grandma Bailey." I said "now wait a minute what about me." His quick response, "I think it skipped a generation, kind of like the whole going bald thing." Thanks a lot Steve! But he is probably right. I just hope Railey keeps learning and keeps wanting to clean up after herself.

New Meaning

See this beautiful picture that we have hanging on our wall. It is one of my favorite prints ever. It has so much meaning. Well today it took on a whole new meaning:

I was cleaning Railey's ears out and needed her to turn her head towards the light. Well I saw the picture on the wall and told her to look at what Jesus was doing, because this would turn her head the way I needed it. So when asked she goes "Wee, wee, wee, home." Can't you see that Jesus is doing "this little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home." I had never seen it before but think I will have a hard time noticing anything else now.

April Fools

And who says God doesn't have a sense of humor.
He seemed to have pulled the best joke of the day!
Too bad we aren't laughing

Oh Canada

Damen loves to sing, he has from the time he was little. I remember running around the track pushing him and Seth, singing all sorts of primary songs. When he was two he had the first 5 articles of faith songs memorized and even sang I hope they call me on a mission on a tape to Ben just before he turned two. In other words he loves music. When we got our piano we signed him up for lessons and with the piano suddenly our Hymn book was now out all the time, amazing how that happened. Anyway he started picking it up and singing hymns out of it. His latest though has been to sing the Star Spangled Banner (at the top of his lungs, at 6 in the morning), I feel like I am at scout camp or something to wake up to feeling like my hand should be placed on my heart. Then he memorized all 4 verses and has us quiz him regularly on My country Tis of Thee.

I came home from being down in St. George with all the sisters and Damen had learned a new song. I don't know why but he chose on his own, looked up on the Internet on his own, memorized on his own and now sings on his own--Oh Canada! Yes the Canadian national anthem. From what I understand most Canadians don't even know their own national anthem, but Damen does and he sings it for everyone, as loud as he sings our national anthem. I don't know if it was inspired by the Olympics or what but it has been cute and is starting to not be as cute anymore. J/K We love our Damen and that he loves to sing--now this week he has memorized "Fifty Nifty United States," so we are hearing all 50 states followed by Oh Canada. I'm wondering if he just thinks it's another state. :) No he knows it's not but loves it anyway. Oh our Damen.

Easter Dresses

Growing up Mom would take us to the fabric store a month or so before Easter and we would pick out a patern and some fabric for our dresses. That has always been a tradition that I hoped I would be able to do. Well now that I have a few girls I am doing it!! We tried to make some dresses out of an old skirt without a patern and that didn't go over too well, so finally I just went and splurged and bought a pattern for $3. I am so happy with how the dresses turned out. Here are a few pictures but Railey again wouldn't hold still so I don't have any of here yet. Maybe we will try again later in the week. It was called Sunday after church and no nap, I am not standing still for a picture! But again there were plenty to choose from with our photogenic little Kenna. I especially love the one with Dad and his girls. The boys had already changed their clothes so there aren't any of them yet either.

Our Princess

We went down to Richfield this past weekend for a quick trip and to pick up the tiller and while we were there Mom and Dad gave Railey her birthday present. She got princess stuff--gloves, jewelry, slippers and of course a tutu. Here are some of the cute shots we got of her. She is our little princess and has not wanted the stuff off since. In fact she slept with her purse that had her necklace and gloves in it last night.

She's naked cause she just got out of the bath and refused to get clothes before putting her princess stuff on. After a little bit though the tutu was itching so she allowed me to put some clothes on her.

Play date

We had Kate over to play yesterday. The girls had a great time and kept each other entertained most of the time. Here is some of what they did.

Looking at the cell phone

Playing peek-a-boo on either side of the door

Railey laughing at something Kate was doing.

Railey with Kates shoes

Kate with Railey's shoes

Railey took off her shoes and Kate took hers off so she could put Railey's on. Pretty soon Railey grabbed Kates and wanted to put them on. They always want what the other has whether it's sippy cups or shoes.

Picnic

We woke up to a beautiful day and again promised the kids we would go to the pond to see the ducks. Railey talked about it all day long and kept telling Kenna "Ducks Kenna, Ducks" over and over again. It was really quite cute she wanted Kenna to experience the fun things she had already experienced before. Well we got everything ready and stopped at Subway for some sandwiches and kept going. By the time we got there the wind had picked up and a cold front was moving in. We had barely pulled the sandwiches out of the bags when the kids and Steve already wanted to leave. They had shorts and crocs on and were cold. Kenna didn't like the wind in her face and was hungry so she sat screaming. But I will say this I have never seen the kids eat so fast we were in and out of there in about 10 minutes. We tried it again and failed again. Maybe next time we will actually get to see the ducks Railey keeps telling Kenna about. We are sick of the weather faking us out like this!!!!

Rough night

Railey had a rough night. Can't you tell!