::spring break 2015::

It's Spring break!  Spring break is nice because I don't have to haul everybody around to school, dropping off and picking up all day.  BUT kids also just really want to have fun all week, and that's tough sometimes when there's still all the regular stuff to do.

But I did my best this week, along with the regular work.

Tuesday was a very exciting day for Max.  He had earned a rather sizeable amount of money from a few different sources (poop pick up, office work, learning Ring of Fire on guitar.) and he decided what he really wanted was a ipod nano 6th generation that could be worn as a watch.  He carefully picked out the one he wanted on ebay (they're not available new anymore) and waited with complete impatience for it to arrive.

On Tuesday we were going down to Albuquerque with Caryn and Emily to visit Barnes & Noble and the Disney Store and have lunch and stuff.  But before we could leave I had to run Max to the post office to pick up his ipod. (The guy had sent it with signature required and of course with the way our stupid mailbox works I had to go sign for it at the post office.)

It was the best thing ever when we finally got it.  He was very happy and proud.

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We had fun in ABQ too--despite what Sandy's face in the above photo is trying to say.  We found some great books and mostly just enjoyed the good company.



Another day, later on in the week, Max saw the little car (HIS old car, probaby the best toy we've ever bought--the most used anyway) and realized that it would be perfect for Lucy.

It was perfect.  She couldn't have been more excited to ride in it.



So Max pushed her around the house for a good long while.  At some point he put a speaker in the little back trunk area and they were jamming to tunes too.  She really liked it.  She loves attention from Max no matter what, but the car was so awesome to her.



So I hurried and got some work done while they were busy.



Sandy was busy being Doc McStuffins--If you haven't seen it, Doc McS is a cute little Disney Junior show about a girl who doctors broken toys.  Sandy found this Buzz Lightyear that had been sitting in the washroom waiting to be fixed for who knows how long.  He talked me in to fixing it and was so pleased and proud that Buzz finally worked!



And he ate bananas too I guess.



Eventually the little car ride morphed into a stroller ride.  This is also something that Lucy really likes--though I'm not really sure why.  Max pushes her around the house.  That's about all there is to it.  Oh, and sometimes they do chase Sandy, I guess that does add a little extra fun and excitement.



Later that day we went to the movies and saw Cinderella.  It was beautiful!  But of course with the wiggly kids it was hard to concentrate.  Lucy did pretty well, and honestly so did Sandy with how long the movie was.  He lost patience at one point, but later said he loved the movie and wanted to go to it again.



So there you go.  See, I'm a fun mom, right?

::cousin time::

Cousin Esther came to visit and brought her mom and dad along.

Lucy thought she was an interesting creature--really wasn't too sure what to make of her actually.



Lucy and Esther are basically the same size, but Lucy is lighter.  Now, the other difference is that Esther is almost exactly 3 months younger.  She can't crawl yet.  Lucy thought this was ridiculous.



She wanted Esther to play catch with Pooh, and that wasn't quite working out either.  But she perservered until somebody else finally stepped in and helped Esther play her part.

Esther liked me pretty well, though she doesn't always like to show it.  In the below pictures she was snuggling her head against my face.  And the hilarious thing is that her facial expression stayed exactly like this for quite a while.



I was taking pictures with my phone and laughing so hard, and she just stayed in exactly the same spot.  She's a funny thing.



The girls did play together some and had fun, but most of their interaction involved Esther finding a fun toy in one of the boxes, then Lucy crawling up and taking it away.  Then Esther would get sad and eventually find another cool toy which Lucy would promptly take away and then crawl away to a safe distance.



We were hoping Lucy's mobility would inspire Esther to try a little harder, and I actually think it did, but actually frustrated Esther more than inspired her.



The interaction is too funny.



Sorry everybody in the below shot--it's an action shot.  Both babies look silly, but oh so cute.







It was a fun visit and we're pleased that Murphy and Laura would take time out to drive to us and spend time.  They're always so sweet with the kids and Sandy and Max adore them.

It's going to be really fun to see these girls grow up and spend time together, hopefully they'll be very good friends!!

::sunday kiddos::

Here are the kiddos all dressed pretty and ready to leave for church--maybe on time, but probably just barely late--as usual now that there are three to dress and feed and herd into the car.



Sandy always likes to wait until the last second to put on his socks--wouldn't want to wear socks for too much of the day.



I love Lucy's hair here.  Of course halfway through sacrament meeting she pulled it out and I couldn't get it back up without making her scream, but oh well.  I got some pictures!



He works so hard on these faces.  I'm sure he'd be very proud of hos this one turned out.



I think Sad Sandy was just told that he can't wear his superhero cape to church.  Boo hoo.



Now we're to after church--late afternoon after dinner.  Lucy plays piano with Kris.
This picture KILLS ME.  She looks so so cute.



You'd think Max was singing along in the below picture, but no.  Don't be fooled.  He was talking loudly about something.



I just love those cute little chubby little legs on the Lucy.

Sundays are nice.  Wish they could last twice as long.

::not really in the mood for selfies::

Think she needed a nap?

::more skiing--this time with sandy & murphy::

Murphy and Laura came to visit us, which was super fun.  Saturday was one of our last possible family skiing days though, so we made them come with us.

But before that, early in the morning, Kris and Max got up before the sun to go up and hike up the mountain and ski down.  This is something that Kris does regularly in the winter, probably close to once a week.  But he's never taken Max with him before.



I was a little worried about Max wimping out, but reportedly he did great and was very brave--though of course very silly.



Bryce's daughter Eva who is Max's same age also came along and did great.  It's fun to see the kids and dads getting quality time together.



So the boys did that, and I got everybody up and ready at home and led Murph yand Luara up the hill to the ski area.  Sandy didn't want to go of course.  But little did he know how fun it would be.  This day's skiing was all about the Sandy.



We met up with Kris and Max, got Laura and Esther all situated in the cafeteria, got Lucy dropped off at childcare and we were all ready to go.  Murphy and Max and I went off to Easy Street to get Murphy comfy on his borrowed skis, and Kris, Sand and the hula hoop (which we found in our garage after we bought the house) went off to the magic carpet.



Sandy was pretty excited!



Here's my silly brother and I observing at the bottom of the magic carpet run.



I realized that Sandy really needed two of us to help him ski, and he was DYING to go on the run with a lift, so I sent Max and Murphy off to ski together and stuck with Sandy.  Murphy is really good anyway and both of those boys are above my level, so they had lots of fun adventuring together.



We did the magic carpet a few more times, then at Sandy's insistence we went to Easy Street so he could go up the lift.



Getting on and off the lift was definitely a little complex, but he was thrilled out of his mind.  And it was fun going down with him.  He stayed in the hula hoop and "chased" me.



He insisted at the end that he wanted to go on the lift with me--that made me pretty nervous because of the off and on parts, but I was very careful and he did great.  He really has great balance so that helps.



He probably went down the big hill about 6 times--he kept saying it was the last time but then when we'd get to the bottom he was excited to do it again.  It was super fun.







At the end, Murphy went up to see him family and Max came to ski with us for one run.

So it all turned out really fun.  Lucy had a great time because she was the only baby at Chipmunk Conrner.  Esther and Laura were cool about hanging out and the rest of us had a lot of fun skiing.  And afterwards we got to go have lunch together at Bumblebee.  It doesn't get any better than that!



Love this little boy and his little skis and huge helmet!