End of April

I have a little catching up to do in the next few days so bear with me please. In the last part of April two things stick out in my mind. The first is that Cory is working on an elk fence project in Driggs, ID so he is gone all week long and comes home on the weekends. When he is home we try to do something fun as a family like going for a picnic, or a drive or just play the day away! Our plan was to do a hot dog roast the last Sunday in April but the weather didn't cooperate, so instead we improvised:

My kids absolutely LOVED flying kites. The wind was perfect and they ran everywhere in the field. Elmo and Barbie did well for dollar kites. Sadie and Lexi have been asking every day since when the next kite day will be.

The second thing about the end of April was Cary and Julee's wedding. It wouldn't have been such a stressful event if I hadn't been making their wedding cake for them. This was only the second wedding cake I have made in my life! Make a theme cake, or a birthday cake sure now problem but a wedding cake that 500 people will take a close gander at . . . . . . AAAHHHHH! I was going crazy! With Cory gone, basically my children went on autopilot for three days for me to make this thing. They went outside a lot and played in the yard with the dogs or stayed in the house grounded from the kitchen where the cake making was taking place. It turned out pretty well for my lack of experience with this sort of thing. I used fondant for the first time and it was fun to learn the tricks to shaping it. I do enjoy cake decorating a lot, it just stresses me out before the final product! Here is how the cake left my house; before the glass temple was put on the top and the flower petals were sprinkled around it:

Spring Maybe?

Oh we finally got a day to be outside!!!! Hooray!!!! It was such a nice day- and the kids loved it. We (well mostly I) worked in the yard picking up the garbage that blew our way this winter, picked up the broken branches off our plethora of trees, picked rocks off the yard, and played the rest of the time. The kids went for a bike ride, played in the creek out back -oh I cannot tell you how grateful I am just to have this one day! Look at the cute pictures I took outside today:

Okay they didn't' turn out as good as I thought, I forgot about the time being later and the shadows that the trees make. Oh well I don't claim to be a professional photographer. Hope you all had a great day!!!

Surrounded by Paperwork

Okay, I will admit that my one MAJOR fault is. . . . . . . . . .

I AM NOT ORGANIZED!!!

I would really like to be and I try, but it is a weakness. My paper work suffers the most. Our business requires filing and keeping of every piece of paper imaginable but if you want me to actually find it HA. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Okay maybe not that bad because I have a general vicinity of where the paper may be if you need it.

So I got a notice from the IRS last week stating that they never received my 3rd Quarter tax report from 2008. Are you kidding me? You are just figuring this out now? Like I remember if I filed that report or not! All my tax stuff and papers from 2008 are in a manila envelope marked 2008. It would take me hours to search through it and find all the right reports.

I finally decided enough was enough. I bought a second filing cabinet and have spent the last three days organizing all my files and paperwork. What a joke! Separating all the different pikes of categories I needed I realized, I was surrounded in my paper work. I did this to myself so I have nobody to blame, but I kept my sanity long enough to get things in order. I'm very proud of myself to finish organizing something. I eventually found my quarterly report for the IRS and sent them a copy of the one I already sent them, thank goodness. But my goal is to now not ever let my paper work get the best of me like that. At least now my files are nice and neat. Whew!

That Song In My Head

After the kids were put in bed tonight, Cory and I were enjoying our time just sitting in our chairs watching a little TV when we suddenly hear a thud, thud, thud from the girls' bedroom. Cory got up, ready to pounce our children for the third time becuase they apparently didn't feel like it was time for bed yet. He entered the girls' room to find Lexi sound asleep and Sadie bee-bopping on her bed. When asked what she was bee-bopping for, she replied "I have a Chucky Cheese song in my head that I like and I can't get it out!" Hee, Hee! What a kid!

Get- A-Way

Cory and I decided it was time to go for an overnight date. We have both been stressed out to the max and needed a real break. So we planned a weekend that worked for Cory's parents to babysit all three kids and went. Cory had a dentist appointment on the 9th so we made that our night. I worried a little about Kurt and Jan keeping all three kids all night long. I still don't get a full nights sleep between bad dreams from Lexi, and Haylee waking up hungry. She is finally weened though so we took our chances.
It turned out good. Not major catastrophes except Haylee peeing on Grandpa and Uncle Cody. I blamed it on faulty diaper placement because that hasn't happened with a fresh on put on like that. My kids stayed in their jammies all day with no hair done but they had the time of their lives on Saturday before we came to get them.
Cory and I spent the night at a hotel in IF and didn't even have to go grocery shopping! That in itself was a miracle. We just window shopped, went to dinner, walked around the Greenbelt and did nothing in particular. IT WAS MARVELOUS!!! I had no itinerary, no errands to run (okay so I really did, but I refrained from doing them) we just did as we pleased. We will have to do that more often (yeah right).

Easter Fun!

Okay these pictures are way out of order and I am not importing them again! I'm having technical difficulties lately. Easter weekend was very busy with THREE EASTER EGG HUNTS!!! Yes three. The kids enjoyed every minute of it and I don't want to think of all the cavities we are going to get as a result. Fun was inevitable, and excitement was contagious. These pictures are all out of order so bear with me as the pictures don't match the timeline.
Saturday was the Leadore Easter Egg Hunt where the Easter Bunny made an appearance. Surprisingly my two oldest girls were okay with a picture this year. Notice the snow all over the ground in the picture, like everyone else, we woke up to four inches of snow on the ground that morning. We dressed Haylee up in her bunny costume and took some cute pictures at home that day, I posted my favs. I couldn't post the pictures in their dresses, again with the technical difficulties. They are in their Easter dresses for the sidebar pictures. It was nice to listen to our general authorities on Saturday with my kids. I don't have them sit and listen intently on Saturday, one day of that nearly breaks them. But I listen to it through the day as I prepare for Sunday.
Sunday morning the Easter Bunny left some nice gifts this year, and an EGG HUNT for the kids in the house. They had a BLAST with that, the Easter Bunny hid them kind of hard this time so it took some time to find them! But the big surprise was that Mr. Easter Bunny surprised us all! He left bikes for all three of us girls (Haylee got jipped there). So we are looking forward to the nice sunny days where we can go outside and ride. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Bird's house after the first session of conference to find another EGG HUNT for the kids. It was nicer outside (by nicer I mean the snow was melted, the wind was still blowing us away) and the kids had a race to the finish one more time. I'm hoping we don't keep increasing the number of hunts each year, it seems to be a pattern here. I'm good with one, but what do I know I'm just the mom!

The Easter Bunny made these three girls happy!!!

Haylee was content as can be to play with the empty easter eggs:

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandama's House:

Cory said he needed a picture of his four girls:

My cute chubby bunny!

The not so scary Easter Bunny with Sadie, Lexi and cousin Abbie

Yes We ARE!!!

At first Lexi was adamant that we weren't potty training. She called it "practicing". but now she is officially Potty Trained! She really took to the Princess potty seat and loves sitting there. (Sometimes for fifteen minutes!) It was definitely easier this time around. Lexi is doing fabulous, in two weeks she has only had four accidents all wet ones. she forgets to go before she goes outside and mommy forgets to ask her to come in and go too :( Now the real test will be when we travel somewhere.

April Fools'

How's this for April Fools' Day? My kids were soooo excited that they stayed outside for two hours!!!! Sadie was turning cartwheels in the snow she was so happy. We retreated finally to the house for some hot chocolate and marshmallows. What a fun day!!!!!