{spring break fun}

We were really ready for spring break this year, mostly so we could have a little break from having to get up so early!  This is also the best time of the year here, and since we're in school for most of it, we wanted to spend as much as we could outside.  Unfortunately, Rick had to work, but the kids and I had a great time with friends, and enjoying the near perfect weather. Even if Rick could have had the week off, I think we would have stayed around town anyway.  For some crazy reason, almost all of Texas has spring break at the same time, so everything is TOTALLY packed, and not worth braving the crazy crowds for.  So...home we were, and it was a great week!

We spent a lot of the time at parks, and trying some different ones.  We came away with some new favorites, and it was fun to see parts of our area we haven't been to before. 

A ride on the trolley is always a favorite!

The weather was mostly in the 60's, but one day it was warm enough to head to the fountains at Waterway Square.  Texans are funny--everyone else there was in a sweater, and my kids where in their swimsuits!  Clearly, we have not acclimated.  ☺

When it rains here, it's almost always warm...unless it's winter time.  So...when it rains, the number one fun thing to do is get swimsuits on, and head outside to play! 

One morning the kids begged to come with me on my run, and so I took the four middle littles.  Caroline was sleeping, and Ryan was happy to stay with her, so off we went!  We ran to the park, played for awhile, then turned around to come home.  On the way, we encountered an impromptu splash park, when all the sprinklers were on along a whole long section of the sidewalk. We took a little break, and up and down the went, getting totally soaked, and loving every minute.  We had to make one more stop at the lake, where they built boats out of twigs and leaves. Yes, it was the longest run in history, but we all had a great time!!

 

 

Kind of random, but I got the boys these bath toys during spring break, and they are a HUGE hit.  They can build roads, towns...whatever they like.  I used to get arguments when it was time for a bath, but no more!  LOVE.  

 No week would be complete without a little trouble...and this is pretty mild in comparison to other things, but still.  These boys.  LOVE their guts.

It was a really nice week, and the next Monday came all too soon. Back to school...back to LIFE!

{instagram: our life through photos, february edition}

I came in to put the boys to bed one night and found this. {heart}

With the boys in preschool, it leaves me a couple mornings a week with just baby Caroline!  So.. we go to Target.  ☺

The best part...the spoon!

The hair.  That is totally natural, folks--no product included.  Emma had hair like this (and so did Jack, remember?) and now she has thick, curly, beautiful hair.  I'm crossing my fingers.

My newest running companion!!  Rick and Ryan leave so early in the mornings now, that unless it's Saturday, I'm taking her with me during the week. 

These toes!! Is there anything cuter than painted baby toes? I don't think so!!

LOVE this girl.

Go Texan Day!  (Of COURSE there is a Go Texan Day.  ☺)

YOU trying taking away these headphones from her!  Such a sassafrass.  She is THE queen bee!

Not really a swing lover...

but the boys love it!





 
Our favorite spot to sit in the theatre is the row right in front of the bar...so we can put our feet up!

 I take pictures of Emma's hand placements on her violin so I can remember than when we get home.  When they start playing the violin at a young age, it requires a lot of parental teaching at home for them to be successful, so I'm learning at the same time as she is! 

This was from one of my Sharing Times this month...it was a hit!

It has been a VERY long time since I had this done, and it was most definitely time!

Reading aloud at night is one of our very favorite things.  The current book?  The Princess Academy!

We had a ward talent show last week, and I was able to play a two piano duet with a good friend of mine. It's been a favorite duet since high school, and I love to do it any chance I get...which isn't often.  It was SO fun!!! 

We always use pails for the girls' valentine boxes, and even though we had some we've used in the past, I couldn't resist these that I found in the Target One Spot.  We added their names to the chalkboard hearts, and the girls loved them!

Just enjoying a beautiful day--windows open and lovely fresh air!

I was asked to participate in a Baker's Challenge with Reese's, and so I created these yummy Chocolate & Peanut Butter Brownie Bites!  Rick ate pretty much every single one of them--I'm surprised he didn't get sick, lol.

The boys have soccer practice at night, so it's always dark, and they almost always fall asleep either on the way there, or on the way home. They love it though--they think it's pretty cool to play when it's dark!

The house behind us was finished a few weeks ago, and we have new neighbors! They just happen to be LDS and in our ward, AND have five kids!!  It's pretty much a party going on back there all the time.  :) They even lived in Midland for a summer internship, and we have mutual friends. This small world of ours never ceases to amaze me! We're so excited they're here!

Life.  We love it!

{sick}

  Caroline got sick for the very first time in her little life a few weeks ago, and it was terrible.  At first she wasn't super sick--just a slight fever, some coughing, and a general not feeling well.  But it went on...and on...and on...and finally after two weeks she started to feel better. I was jumping for joy, not only because she was getting back to her old self, but because we could get out of the house after being inbound for such a long time.  

It turned out to be premature, because after a few days, she started getting sick again, and this time, it got serious.  One particular night she had a hard time sleeping, and I was up a couple of times trying to get her comforted and back asleep.  That morning she was down for a nap by 7:45am, so that tells you about how much she had slept the night before. 

When she woke up from her nap, I knew something was wrong.  Her breathing was shallow, and gasping, and it sounded terrible.  She wouldn't eat, and just clung to me. I called the doctor, and they were able to get her in in about two hours--so I continued walking around the house with her until it was time to go. By then her chest was severely retracting, and her breaths were coming quick and even more shallow than before. Honestly, I was scared to death.  I've never seen anything like it, and it took everything I had to stay calm, get the boys packed up with things to do, and drive to our appointment. If we had had to wait any longer, I would have just taken her straight to the ER, and in some ways, I wish I had.

I knew it was serious when we got to the office and they didn't speak---they just looked at her and when and got the doctor, who came in immediately.  They took her pulse/ox, which was very low (82), and within a couple of minutes she was getting a breathing treatment to help her.  It was horrible--she was screaming as the nurse and I held her down for what seemed like forever.  She had to have it on for 20 minutes, which honestly WAS forever.  The boys were being wild, since we were cooped up in this tiny room, and I had no hands to help them find something to do.  I was still really worried, and it was one of the craziest moments I've had...ever.  Finally Caroline calmed down, and the last few minutes were relatively calm while I played I Spy with the boys.  

When her breathing treatments were finished, she had thankfully improved enough for the doctor to give us our choice--the hospital, or home with around the clock breathing treatments.  I chose home--and after stopping to get the necessary machine and medicine--we were finally there.  Fortunately she responded really well to the medication and treatments, and continued to improve over the next week.  

I've never experienced a baby or child not being able to breathe, and I hope I never do again. 

{a happy valentine's day}

I love Valentine's Day even more now that I have kids. Rick and I go out and celebrate, but I think it's so fun to do things to make the day special for the kids too.  They are funny--they remember all the details from the year before, and they are quick to remind me "how we always do it".  So...it continues, and it proves to be one of the best days of the year!

I think the MOST exciting thing is heart attacking Rick's car. We usually go out the Monday night before Valentine's Day and do it when he's still at work, but this year it was raining that night, and the other nights were full of practices and lessons.  The night before Valentine's Day we planned to sneak out of the house after he got home, and decorate the car so he would find it in the morning. It worked like a charm--and we hurried so fast to get it done before he noticed anything.  They were supposed to keep it a surprise, but poor Henry, he tried and tried, but the excitement just overwhelmed him.  He ended up telling Rick, but Rick was good about acting SO surprised the next morning, and the kids were happy.  Definitely a favorite tradition! 

That night we set out balloons for each child on their chair, plus a bag of candy, and their fun Valentine's plate and cup for the next morning. We were READY!!!  I woke up SO early the next morning--before 5am-- so I could get breakfast going before Ryan left for seminary.  I also remembered why we usually have cereal in the mornings.  :) We had eggs, sausage, toast...and sugar cookies, of course! I did that once a couple of years ago, and the kids never let me forget it.

Lunches were packed with heart sandwiches and treats, red drinks, striped red straws, and love notes...of course. I was really ambitious and made braided hearts in Emma's hair, and she was beside herself with excitement. I was glad I took the extra time to do it--I'm not usually a "fancy" hair mom at 6:30am.  

The boys also got a fun lunch, and they couldn't believe it was just for them. Jack was especially enamored with the whole heart sandwich thing, and he hasn't stopped requesting them since.  :)

That night we decided to make it a family affair (Rick and I went out the next night), and homemade heart pizzas, red slushies, and more cookies.  We snuggled up to watch a movie, and since it was Friday, the kids got to stay up late.  

It was a crazy, busy, fun day, and I'm so happy and grateful for all seven of my valentines!!! 

  

{meet chubbs.}

I was sitting on the couch with Jack a couple of weeks ago, and he turned to look at me and asked "What's the baby's name again?".  Yes, I know. Clearly we like nicknames at our house, and Miss Caroline has a lot!

Meet Chubbs.

A.K.A...

Petey Pie

Petey Pants

 Chubbers

Peaches

Liney Lou

Sister Sue

Sweet Caroline

There are more I'm forgetting about, but these are the most common.  I CANNOT BELIEVE that she is ten months old. Seriously. I'm in denial.  I can't think about her being a year old--maybe if we postpone her birthday party I can pretend that she isn't that old yet.

She has five teeth!  She had the bottom two for several months, and then all of a sudden three on the top all came in at the same time.  This girl can EAT.  We call her Henrietta. ☺  (See...another nickname!)  She has never liked baby food, and hasn't ever eaten it, other than the few spoonfuls that I tried to get her to swallow.  So...table food it is!  She loves meat of any kind, cheese, grapes, yogurt, cold cereal, and pretty much anything except oatmeal.

She has light brown hair, that looks like it will most likely go blond in the summer.  Her eyes are blue, which surprised all of us.  The other five kids all have green eyes, so I suppose I assumed she would too.  Rick is thrilled, because his eyes are blue. I'm sad we don't have any kids with brown eyes like me, but contrary to popular opinion (i.e. the kids), we are NOT going to keep going until we do.

She is always happy---and absolutely loves all of her siblings.  She lights up with her toothy grin when the girls and Ryan come home from school, when she wakes up, or just anytime you look at her and smile.  Likewise, everyone adores her, and she is most definitely the queen bee of the family. I have the sneaking suspicion that it's going to be that way her whole life.

She's been crawling for months--since she was six months old--and has been pulling herself up and walking around the furniture for quite awhile.  I'm hoping she'll wait another couple of months to walk...

In a nutshell, she's an absolute delight. She lights up our home, and I'm loving this age.  

Miss Caroline, Happy Ten Months!!!

{the park, some ducks, and dad}

It was a beautiful day today--in the high 50's/low 60's, and a great excuse to get outside and go to the park. One of our favorite parks is the North Shore Park, because there is lots of green space, a huge playground, and a lake with tons and TONS of ducks. One of the boys' favorite things to do is go feed them enormous amounts of bread, so we gathered a bag for each of them, and off we went!

I called Rick on the way there, and he was going to be driving past the park on his way to another location, so he stopped by to surprise the boys.  Since we are in the full throes of busy season, we rarely see him, even on the weekends, so this was extra special.  

The ducks were a little out of control. There were a million of them, or so it seemed, and they could smell the bread and soon as we got out of the truck. Pretty soon we were surrounded, and Jack was a little unnerved. Henry didn't mind--he headed to the water's edge and stayed there, drawing quite the crowd of ducks and seagulls.  Jack found a safe spot on top of a ledge, and stayed there, on higher ground to feed them.  Rick ran around holding Caroline, and chased the boys, the ducks, and did all the fun dad stuff. :)

After playing on the playground for awhile (we discovered Caroline is NOT a fan of the swings), Rick headed back to work, and I took the boys to Chick-fil-a to pick up lunch for the girls.  We went to their school, and ate lunch with them in the cafeteria, which was an exciting experience for all of them. It was really fun to surprise the girls, it was a great lunch.

Certainly not every day of my life is perfect, and sometimes they are really hard, but this was such a nice day--I'm relishing in it.