Fun on the Farm...

On Saturday we woke up bright and early to have our yard sale. This was the first Saturday in a long time that I have had the husband home. Dan's been so busy with school/clinicals down in the valley. Only a couple more weeks left until he graduates and we are good to go! We sold out on almost everything by about 10 am. So we decided to do something fun after the babies naps. We packed up the car with all the bbq-ing goods and headed for my dad's farm. It is so beautiful and peaceful there. There is a Mesa with a bbq grill and ramada that overlooks a large pond. We took our cameras, wanting to get some pictures of the kiddos with us. We had so much fun and it was probably the most fun weekend we have had in a long time. We sure love hanging out with each other. I hope it stays that way. :)

Making Laundry Soap...

Hey just a quick bit of info for those of you trying to save a little here and there. I found this website and it has all the instructions on how to make your own laundry soap. It is so easy and fun. I did the math and it came out to about $1.08 for a bucket of soap that washes 64 loads. That's about $0.02 per load. Pretty cheap and it gets my clothes clean and smelling good. I did add about a 1/2 cup of OxyClean just to add a little boost for stain fighting. This is also nice for a year supply because the ingredients you buy will be enough to make multiple batches. Have fun with it!

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm

Happy Easters!

Today was so much fun. This morning the girls woke up to baskets full of candy and we even saw some bunny tracks from the back door leading to the kitchen. Gracie loved it and the babies enjoyed their baskets too. Mostly the grass. :) After daddy's yummy orange danishes we decorated eggs and made them sparkly just for Gracie. Church was especially nice. My nieces Callie and Lillie wanted to take care of the babies during sacrament meeting. It was so awesome to be able to actually listen and get something out of church for once. I think they were better for them then they are for us. I guess we are not entertaining enough for them. :) After church we had our easter egg hunt. Dan was gone for clinicals on Friday and Saturday so we did all of our celebrating today. Later we enjoyed a delicious dinner and just chilled for the rest of the evening. We made sure that the previous FHE's we talked a lot about why we celebrate Easter. When I was explaining Christ's death and resurrection to Gracie, she would finish most of the sentences before I had the chance. I think they were learning about it in primary the previous weeks. She is a sponge and soaks up everything! She is my smart, smart, little girl. We sure love all our kids. Hope everyone's easter was just as fun.




Violet would make this face when the flash would go off.









See the drool? :)



Gracie made a haul with all the money filled eggs.

Phoenix Zoo

This last Wednesday we headed down to Mesa for a couple of things. Dan had clinicals that weekend and on Thursday we had an appointment for Reece with a pediatric neurologist. When I was pregnant with the twins her head was so far down there and also Violet was sitting on it. So... her head was a little squished and lopsided. It's been shaping up but at their last Dr.'s appt. a few months ago, her pediatrician suggested that we meet with a specialist just to be sure everything is shaping up as it should and make sure she doesn't need a helmet or something like that. Her appt. went really well and the doctor said that she was just fine and should continue to improve as she needs to. We headed out for lunch at Costco but ended up eating in the car because the babies fell asleep. Then it was off to the Phoenix Zoo. We had such a blast. I hadn't been to a zoo since I was about 4 or 5 years old. They kinda freak me out because I don't really like animals that much and I've always been afraid of falling into an animal's cage and getting eaten by crocodiles. True story. That's really how I feel. But it turned out to be really fun for all of us. The babies love stroller rides so it was perfect for them. We got to see most of the animals and Gracie even played in one of the splash pads they have there. Her favorite animal was the orangutang. She watched them for about 15 minutes before she was ready to go onto the next one. We even enjoyed snow cones and tried to do the merry-go-round on our way out but she was wet from the splash pad and kids have to be dry and sand free to ride. Next time we'll get it. And of course after we unloaded our car the night before, I forgot to put our video and regular camera back in before we headed off to Reece's appt. Here are some pictures from Dan's cell phone. They aren't the best quality but they work. We had so much fun. We are definitely going back the next chance we get.

Gracie's Birthday

Last week we celebrated her 4th birthday. I can't believe how big she is now. I had so much fun planning her party and getting her presents. We started out the day with a "Huge Pancake Castle" as she called it. Complete with a candle and pink sugar sprinkles. She made sure to get dressed in her "party dress" as she called it. Then we went shopping at the dollar store to get all her party supplies. She was so cute. In her excited-trying-to-convince-me voice she would say things like, "Mommy, look at these things. We need to buy them for sure. All my cousins and friends will loooooooove them." It was so funny to listen to her. The party was that afternoon and was a blast....for the kids anyway. I was totally pooped after that. We started out with playing duck, duck, goose, then it was "pin the crown on the princess." Thanks G-ma Mullenaux for your wonderful artistry. We also had an easter egg hunt since Gracie was our little easter bunny. (Born on Easter Sunday). After that it was a candy filled Dora pinata. Dan bought that one because he said he always wanted to beat the crap out of Dora. I hear ya! Then it was on to presents and cake. Allison helped me make her butterfly cake, requested by Gracie. She loved it. I thought it turned out so cute. I love my little princess and I'm so glad I get to be her mom.


Notice Mariah pouting while everyone else was playing. Her birthday was a couple weeks before Gracie's but she was having a really hard time with it. Girls.









Even the babies got some cake. They loved it.


I sometimes go to check on the babies after they fall asleep and will find Violet like this. Too much partying for her.

Today was such a great day. I can't go without writing it down. The morning and afternoon were filled with fun play time, naptime, and errands. Dan got home around 5 and after dinner we decided to have a music night. Gracie is so in to instruments. She is constantly begging either me or Dan to play the piano, trumpet, guitar, violin, or whatever she comes up with. So Dan decided that we would have music night for FHE. We had a contest where we each chose a song off the ipod and "played" along with it. Whoever did the best performance won the contest. First Dan and Gracie did their rendition of a Coldplay song with Dan on the guitar and Gracie on her violin. It was cute how Gracie got herself all dressed up for the evening.
Then it was my turn and we sang Bubbly while I "played" the guitar, Gracie was my backup dancer and Reece and Violet joined in. By the time the contest was over and Gracie won, we ended up having a big dance party. After putting the babies to bed. It was scripture time. We decided its a little easier for Gracie to learn if we watch a living scriptures video first then talk about it. Those movies always stuck with me when I was younger. Dan made our yummy desert-white chocolate, macadamia nut cookies...with milk. We had such a blast and love hanging out as a family.





Ah, our loverly hair.





The Dancing Queen!


Glad we have vaulted ceilings. :)

I've decided I don't really like blogging. It's so time consuming and who really has time to read them anyway...besides my mom. But this really is for my family so I can journal a little here and there to record certain things. Anyway, here are some of the things that I've been thinking about. I go through my day and realize some of the things that are tiresome and hard but realize I'm going to miss them when they are not there.
-Scraping scotch tape off of every surface in my house.
-Wrestling babies to hold still so I can put their diapers on.
-Trying to cook dinner without stepping on anyone.
-Wiping slobber, hand prints, and slobbery hand prints off of everything.
-Stopping whatever productive thing I'm doing to play a song on the piano so Gracie can sing along.
-Not being able to wear any article of clothing more than once between washes because it is covered in baby food.
-Answering every "Hey mommy" and listening to a "great idea" even though it is so hard to give 100% attention sometimes.
-Trying to smile and laugh it off every time a baby grabs my face, pulls my hair, or nearly bursts an eardrum with their squeals.
-Laughing at myself when I, being dazed and desperate, push the pause or mute button on the remote towards my children thinking that it would really work.
-Not reacting when a baby gets my leg, arm or hand with their sharp, sharp, shaaaa-harp teeth.
-Breaking up fights between Reece and Violet. No eyes, no pulling hair, let go of her shirt!
-Sounding excited and saying "wow" to every pink thing in the store that Gracie wants.
-Patiently answering no to every, "Is it my birthday today?"
-Not getting mad when Reece or Violet knock a spoonful of food all over the place before I can get it to their mouths.
-Fighting to pry open their jaws so I can save them from choking on every imaginable thing that they find and try to eat.

This is just to name a few events during my day. Most moms can relate to these things and it is so true that it's a hard job but if you can find the humor in everyday tasks it makes it that much easier. I love my family so, so much. I'm so glad I have them and that I'm able to share every day with them.

Gracie Roo. I just love her smiles and her goofiness.






Reece's smiles and screams. Really I think I would call it yelling or squawking. She is such a hoot. Notice the pieces of mashed up carrots she has smeared in her hair after ripping her bow out. So lovely! :) That smile makes up for everything.



Then there is Violet. So sweet. She does this new thing when she wants out. I love her little reach, shrug and scrunch she does in my direction whenever I am near her. Her smile gets me every time.


I love my family!