Pirate Party Numero Uno

Carter's birthday fell on a Sunday so we had church all morning and decided to do his little family party in the afternoon. He's been asking for a pirate party for months. I don't know where he got the idea, but it was fun. During nap we decorated and set up. When the kids woke up they were directed to the dining room where there were wooden pirates (and a mermaid for Andi) to color. We also decorated Pirate dogtag necklaces. Then a package from a pirate ship sailed in and brought the kids their own pirate get up; a patch, earring, and sword. It also came with buckets for all the kids and kicked off a treasure hunt! At each clue they got a little goody to put in their buckets. The last clue took them back upstairs to where the presents and cupcakes awaited.

Carter got lots of fun things from everyone. A few of his favorites were Candyland...

And his Bumblebee Transformers costume. He's never even seen Transformers, except for the toys at the store. But boy was he excited and he wears it all the time still!

All hands on deck:

These were the last minutes before bed, Carter still in his Bumble Bee costume...

Thanks for a fun party!

Our Eggselent Easter!

We spent Easter at my sister's place. Actually, they have a clubhouse in their neighborhood so we reserved that and spent it there. Here are the kids Easter morning all ready to go and see what the Easter bunny brought.

The loot:

You may be asking why it is that Carter is sitting on my lap and I had to undo his Easter basket and show him everything in it. Well it just so happens that it was a cold, snowy, icy Easter morning and on our way to the clubhouse Carter was running and ate it on his face right before we got to the door. He had a bloody nose and fat lip. Once we got into the goodies of the Easter basket he chippered right up.

The Easter egg hunt was a huge success. The kids LOVED it.

After the kids found all the eggs, Carter hid them a few more times and they all kept the Easter egg hunt up for a good hour.

Taytum and her Easter chick from Gramzee and Grandpa Paul:

My little sister with Tay and my younger brother with his new boy Jay:

The new little family of three; Nikki, Sam & Jay:

Mama and me:

Taytum was pretty tuckered out after the days festivities:

We had the traditional ham and cheesy tatoes for dinner with everyone. We managed to catch pieces of conference while we wrangled kids and did puzzles. It was a very nice Easter. Summer and Josh were there, though I have no pictures to prove it. (I need the ones from the Easter dinner! Who took those?)

We spent a morning at the aquarium. It gave Summer a little time to breath and it was fun for the kids to get out for a minute. It's a small aquarium, but just the right size for our kids. My mom and I took Reece and my kids, and Alli and Nic met up with us. The penguins. It was a new attraction and the kids loved it.Petting the stingrays... or at least trying too. The water was too deep for even me to touch one.

We hit up the animal show towards the end of our stay. They brought out all sorts of fun animals for the kids to see, talking birds, spiders, snakes...

We grabbed a bite to eat after it was all said and done. The kids:

And the adults, courtesy of Carter:

The beginning of the trip

We headed down to Utah a few weeks ago to visit the two new beautiful members of our family. My sister and her husband had their second girl, Remi, and my brother and his wife had their first child, Jameson. They are only 11 days apart and so super cute. It was so fun to get to love on them.Carter & Remi:

My parents and my younger sister and her husband were able to come down from Oregon, so we had the whole clan minus my older brother and his family (you were missed Ben and fam!).

Nic & Alli with Andi & Remi:

Taytum does a lot of staring, especially when she is first around you. She'll just sit and watch you talk and take you in.

We spent a lot of time hanging out letting the cousins play while us grown ups chatted.

Reece would put Tay's binky in her mouth and Taytum would spit it out, which made Reece laugh hysterically. She did this about 20 times and laughed just as hard every time.

The kids did many an Easter festivity. My mom made Easter egg sugar cookies for the kids to frost. They each frosted and sprinkled one to the extreme, and then wanted to devour it and be done with it. That left the adults to do the frosting and decorating. The kids enjoyed it for their one cookie though.

We let the kids dye Easter eggs. I'll admit that this was my kids first experience with the dying of eggs. Not sure why we haven't done it in years past. They loved it and were actually pretty neat during the whole process. Here's my mom and dad managing the mess. (the rest of Easter will have to be its' own post).
My kids and I stayed at a hotel, and I must admit that one of my favorite parts of the trip was sitting in bed at night reading with my three beautiful kiddies sleeping in view. Is there anything more yummy than a sleeping baby? One night I heard a small thud and listened for a second thinking that maybe someone had fallen out of bed. Nobody cried and I didn't hear anything else, so I settled back into bed, and about five second later, little miss Andi crawls up into bed and snuggles into me and just goes to sleep. It was pretty cute. Our kids have never slept in our bed, so it was fun for the night, but not on a regular basis.

My mom helped us unload and get the kids to bed that first night in the hotel. This was the thanks she got. She may not be small, but my Tay is still a yummy snuggly baby when she wants to be.

Happy Birthday Carter

I have oodles and oodles to post about, but just wanted to dedicate a little post to my four year old!!! Carter turned four on April 11th. He really got that it was his birthday and enjoyed his day. He got sung to in primary, which he thought was great. We threw a little pirate party for him at Gramzee & Grandpa Paul's, and Ben, Sharon, Gray, Cal, Alli, and Nic all got to be there. (more on that in another post... and another pirate party to come).

Carter.... he is just my favorite! (side note: all my kids are my favorite). But really, if anyone is ever wondering if they should have kids, they just need to borrow Carter for a day, and then they would know that they want one! He is just such a joy in our home.

He is obedient. He really listens well and wants to please his parents. Sometimes he'll put up a fuss about doing something (or not doing something) but he always does what he's asked (for the most part).

He is sharing. Carter makes sure Andi always has some of what he's having. He is great about taking turns.

He is funny. He likes to say "just kidding" or "I was just teasing you."

He is really into puzzles right now. He'll work on a 1000 piece puzzle for an hour just to get one piece in.

He is loving. He loves Andi and Taytum so much. He always plays with Taytum without being asked and is always trying to make her laugh. He gives great hugs and kisses and says "I love you" frequently.

He is smart. He is really into learning and writing his letters and numbers. He is starting to sound out a few words with help.

He is ACTIVE! Yes, still running and jumping everywhere he goes, and most of the time he's on his tip toes. He could run back and forth in our yard all day if we let him.

He loves playing games! Shoots & Ladders, Candyland, Elefun and Frog Hop are his favorites. Plus, Wii bowling.

He is really into bugs. He spends the majority of his days hunting for bugs and putting them in his bug catcher and feeding them flowers and grass. (ps... ladybugs are cute until there are ten of them in a container and then they turn from ladybugs to beetles real quick.)

He is a lover of Lasso. Lasso is still going strong, though he plucked all of his stuffing out of a tiny hole in Lasso's nose. Lasso now consists of just fabric and a tiny bit of beans in his bum.

He loves to help. Carter loves helping in the kitchen cooking. He loves to vacuum, sweep, and help clean the bathrooms.

He loves music. He is a great singer and we hear him singing in his room at night and naps a lot. He dances all the time. And he also enjoys our little bag of musical instruments.

He is kind. Of course he has his moments when he hits Andi or lashes out, but he is really not an instigator. We've seen it around his cousins and friends, he just doesn't start fights, and usually doesn't hit back even if he gets attacked. He usually comes to us or looks at us like, "now what do I do Mom?" I sometimes just want to tell him to hit the kid back! But really, it's a good thing, and he's a good boy.

We LOVE Carter. I am so glad that he is a part of our family and that he's my oldest. He sets a good tone for the rest of our kids.

Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes his way and helped him celebrate!