What kids really mean...

I'm by no means a great parent, I've got quite a ways to go before I'm winning mother of the year awards (next year I might nominate myself), but I have learned a thing or two from my kids.  Some of this stuff has taken me a while to figure out such as...
1.  When my girls tell me to watch a new dance move, what they really mean is "watch my move the whole time and if you even blink, I'm doing the whole 5 minute routine over again."  I've learned to keep my eyes on the dance until it's over.
2.  The S word is stupid - such as, "Mom, Jake said the S word"
3.  The F word is fart. Thank goodness it's not the real bomb!
4.  When my kids say they brushed their teeth awesome, then that means they need to go rebrush them because they are still an orangeish hue.
5.  When Abby says she cleaned her room, it just means she rearranged all the junk on her floor.
6.  When Hannah says she wants to hold Claire, then that means we only give her to Hannah when she's already crying because that's undoubtedly what is going to happen anyway.  Bless her heart, she tries, but somehow she can't figure out how to hold her still, and Claire doesn't like it one little bit.
7.  When Annie says she's ready to go, then that means we'll arrive at our destination with Annie sans shoes. I've learned that one the hard way not once, but twice this week. I need to go deposit some flip flops in the car.
8.  When my kids say how cute Claire is, they're right!

So here's to me learning and getting one step closer to my MOY award.

Clay Bay

Unbeknownst to Kate Ricedorff, she's given our little Claire Bear a new nickname - ClayBay. I called her Claire Bear when she was at our house and she looked at me and said, "Clay Bay?" That's Claire Bear without the R's. It was cute and she's been ClayBay ever since. I loved all of these pictures and just needed to post them all.

Happy Easter

What a great Easter we enjoyed this year. Last weekend we went down to Mesa for the semi-annual beans and bread tradition between conference sessions. But we added Easter on to the fun because of Mom's surgery the next week. As always it was a real treat getting to hang out with family, listen to the words of our church leaders, eat yummy food and laugh like you only can with family. The kids hunted for eggs and, as become tradition, the little 4 year olds raced.

Then this weekend (the Real Easter weekend), Drew, Cyndi and Koe and Jarred's family came up to have Easter with us. Koe spoiled my girls, the kids played hard and slept little. We went to Watson Lake and hiked a bit, colored eggs, hunted the eggs, ate a ton and visited til we were exhausted.

Sunday morning, I'm happy to announce the Easter Bunny found our house. The kids were up bright and early. Church is at 8:00 am and the kids were not about to miss out on any Easter fun. They got themselves dressed and fed and only then could they look in their baskets. I know I'm mean, but, really, they got themselves ready super fast - genius. As always the Easter bunny brought tons of candy and swimsuits for the girls. Jake announced that he hates getting a swimming suit so he got goggles.

Then it was off to church where the talks and lessons were great and just what I needed. Then it was home to enjoy our afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Platt, nap, eat candy and all things fun on Easter.

It was a wonderful weekend and I'm glad we could share it with family.

Now, I have posted tons of pictures, but they are in opposite chronological order from how I took them. I'm feeling too lazy to re arrange them, so just for today, our brains will be challenged a bit.

Claire in her Easter dress - beauty!

The 5 kids before church

The kids checking out their baskets

Coloring eggs with Oliver and Simon. I was disappointed in their lack of creativity in their coloring. I expect a better effort next year!

The cousins at Watson Lake

Our family at Watson Lake

The 4 year old race. Keelie won hands down (Joe's been training with her for this big run) And according to Hannah, Annie won because Keelie started early. Ya gotta love the competitiveness.

The cousins after the hunt, including Kelli's kids. My kids' candy was devoured within about an hour of the hunt.

So there it is. Happy Easter. I love my Savior and his sacrifice for me, the Atonement and the chance I get to be resurrected and hopefully someday return to live with my Heavenly Father.

Tomboy

Abby has let me know that she's a tomboy, but still a girly girl. She goes through phases where she plays different sports, usually at Jake's begging. She can be found playing football on the tramp, kicking the soccer ball, shooting hoops outside or playing catch. There are the days where she tells me she's the goalie during recess soccer, but then the very next day walking the playground with her friend, Faith (I can picture it perfectly). It's been fun over the years watching Jake and Abby be such great friends and watching as Abby humors Jake and plays everything with him, while he humors her and goes just easy enough on her to get her back the next time.

On that note, this is the game of basketball I came home to last night...

Uh, I think that would be a flagrant foul

"What do you mean flagrant? I was just going after the ball!"

Don't move that back foot or you'll get called for travelling.

Defense is so underrated sometimes. How did you let him past you?

Over the back. I hope you practiced your freethrows.

Isn't that the cutest tomboy you've ever seen?

One more Brag Post

Another shout out to Jake:

1. He went to the district pinewood derby and took Second place in the Webelos division for the Old Capitol District. Now he wants to go on to state, but I think I'm gonna have to nix that one

2. He had his third quarter awards assembly today. He made Honor Roll and also was awarded the Student of the Quarter award.

Quite an honor if you ask me.

Way to go Jake!

Many Thanks

I feel so grateful right now. I have been so blessed with so many great people around, near and far to help me out. So here is a shout out with a huge THANK YOU!

1. Drew and Cyndi took 2 days off from working at the temple to come stay with my kids while I was in the hospital. Not only did they run my home, Cyndi made about 10 loaves of bread, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, pizza dough... for my family. She also showed me her tricks to making yummy bread. They got the kids where they needed to be, did the girls' hair way better than I do it, brought them down to the hospital each day... I knew I didn't have to worry while I was at the hospital.

2. My wonderful ward who brought in meals with enough food to feed the Marine Corps. We're still eating leftovers.

3. Mom, Dad, Matt, Dyan and her kids for making the journey up to PV to see us last Sunday. My kids love getting out of town visitors.

4. Julie and Loren, Joe and Cassie, Dyan and Ryan, and Mom and Dad for taking my kids this week. It has been wonderful getting to relax and rest with Claire. I know you all probably had better ways to spend your spring break, but I know my kids had a ball and we appreciate it with all our hearts. I never worried about them, though it was strangely quiet around here. After having Jake, being a first time mom seemed so hard. Then as I had each additional kid, I thought, "Man if I could go back to having one kid - those days were so easy!" Well this week, I kinda felt like I got to go back and have just one kid to worry over. Claire slept on me, we napped together, we stayed awake at night (not too happy about that one) and we bonded.

5. Cheramie who shared my aches, pains and worries throughout my pregnancy. BTW - I'm so glad she delivered such a beautiful, healthy baby girl this week!

6. My kids who have adored Claire and have kept the arguing over her to a minimum. One day, I dozed on the couch to wake up to a team effort of Jake, Abby and Hannah changing Claire's diaper. It didn't last long because she started to poop and pee and they all scattered. It was pretty funny. But Hannah has since changed her a few times mostly on her own.

7. Jeremy who is the proudest daddy ever. He has taken such great care of me and the family. He gets up with us during the night, swaddles Claire like a champ, finds her paci for her when she loses it at 3:00 am.... He doesn't let me over do things. He even surprised me with a box of Cadbury Eggs last week.

8. My Heavenly Father who has blessed me beyond measure.

More Claire

I love watching little Claire sleep. She smiles all the time in her sleep showing off her cute dimples with her eyes fluttering open and shut. I love it when they are so free that they can sleep with their arms in the "I Surrender" pose. I don't think I could ever do that. So here are few pictures of Claire sleeping, her favorite daytime past time, and certainly not her favorite nighttime activity.

Here are a few pictures of her awake: