Reflections Lake

This morning we had a really great lesson on invertebrates. They were all engaged and enjoying it (which isn't always the case!). We had wanted to go on a nature walk to find some real life examples of invertebrates and see how many we could find. But it was SO windy and cold and I considered just staying home. But we decided to bundle up really well and give it a try. I'm so glad we did because for whatever reason, the 10-15 minute drive to get there made all the difference. It wasn't windy at all, and the sun even came out a little bit off and on. It was a beautiful place, a perfect 1 mile path around the lake. Their favorite part was finding and collecting "sea shells"-- shells of invertebrates we had just been talking about! They brought home a bucket full. It was the perfect supporting activity for our schooling that day. I love when that works out. We can't wait to go back when it's even warmer and bring daddy with us. (Briggs was there with us, I was just wearing him in a baby carrier so he didn't make it in any of the pictures. But he was so good and patient! Love that sweet boy.)

The Week

Kelsey started getting a fever last Sunday night and began a chain reaction (of course) of sickness in our family. It was not fun to have everybody getting sick, especially because we had cousins over here from Tuesday morning to Thursday evening. I felt so bad that they were being constantly exposed to our germs but couldn't do much about it. First Kelsey, then Briggs, then Madison, now Brynlee too. Oh and Kenny also hasn't been feeling well but it doesn't seem to be the same thing as the kids. He never gets quite as sick as everyone else, he sort of has a super-immune system. But anyway, it was a pretty crazy week with everyone here and being up at all hours of the night (literally). But I think Kels and Briggs are getting better now. They're still coughing a little and have cruddy noses, but at least no more fevers!

Tuesday night all the kids were out on the trampoline and Briggs was sleeping so I took advantage of it and decided to grill some chicken for dinner. I noticed a big storm cloud and told the kids it was going to rain! But I figured I still had time. Seriously within a few minutes it starts hailing like crazy!! They all ran in and I had to finish dinner, which was interesting haha. It only lasted about an hour, maybe less. But it was pretty crazy. We also got to hear thunder!! I think that's the second time since we've lived here that we've heard thunder.

Wednesday, April 29th was our 9 year anniversary!! It's fun to look back on 9 years and think about all the things we've experienced together. What a very blessed life we have with 5 beautiful children. We obviously weren't able to celebrate that day with it being a weekday and having 8 kids in our home, but we had gone on a date the weekend before, and hello! We just went to France! So we're feeling like that definitely counts :). I did make a chocolate cake and we blew out 9 candles in honor of our family being 9 years old. Then I left with Tyler and went to Scouts while Kenny put all the kids to bed.

 Madison and Jeremy are so dang cute together. They're such good buddies. On this morning Madison had said, "Jeremy, let's go get married!" So she led him into this room and tried to dance with him. It was hilarious. Apparently, getting married means you slow dance! ;)

She even went for the spin! She was most definitely leading haha.

They got to help me make the cake and so they each got a beater to lick! :) 

Cute little Kate still won't look me in the eye after a year of living here, but I know we're still buds ;). Here we were all enjoying a little picnic snack.

This weekend was extra nice having Kenny home on Fri. and Sat. We got quite a bit done. I started doing my 6-month purge this week. I obviously didn't get it all finished as I had scheduled because of everything that happened but I still got a few closets and rooms done and it feels good to make progress. I don't know why, but having organized and de-junked closets FEELS SO GOOD. We got to the garage on Friday which was a huge checkmark on my list. I also went to the temple on Friday night which was a nice get-away. Saturday morning I went on a 7.5 mile run with my friend, Kary Hafen. I'm doing the half-marathon and she's doing the full, and has for several years in a row. So it was really nice to run with her and have her get me excited about the race and tell me what to expect, some advice, etc.

I had really gotten off track with my training schedule because I was sick and just not doing well. A couple weeks ago I felt like my body was just crashing down on me. I was seriously fatigued all the time and just had no energy, no motivation, some days just depressed. My hair is still falling out like crazy and I was cold all the time and my muscles were really achy and sore, even though I wasn't running from not feeling well. I was pretty confident I was either anemic or having low thyroid (both things that have come up during pregnancies, but I swear I'm not pregnant). But instead of going to the doctor I called my sister, Steph. She's getting her masters in holistic nutrition and just knows a lot. She suggested a bunch of vitamins I can take to help my body balance itself out. So I've been taking Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Selenium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B, and Iron every day and I'm feeling better! haha. That's a lot of pills, I know. But I'm getting back to normal and I'm so grateful for good health. So anyway, I ended up running several days this week and it feels good to get back into it. Plus it's warming up and getting lighter for longer every day which is nice.

We also got the cars all washed, put up some cafe curtains in the kitchen so I'm not blinded while trying to do dishes at night, and a few other things that were on my to-do list. Today Kenny and Tyler were the only ones that went to church. I stayed home and took care of sick children and made crumb-topped apple pie and taco soup. A nice way to break a fast. Of course we had our regular Sunday-night google hangout with my family, which I love so much! This week was particularly cool because the Bakers, (Kim and Caleb and kids) just moved to Cambodia a couple days ago!! They will be there for a year and we've all been praying for them. Tyler even fasted for them today which I thought was so sweet.

Here's a few pictures from the weekend.

The rain has come back and it rains almost every day even for just a few minutes. One night as we were reading books putting the kids to bed, we looked out of their window and saw a double rainbow! Then a bunny hopped across the street in front of our house. It was a fun little moment right before bed.

Can you see the steam rising? Yum!

 I hate to choose favorites, but Kelsey is by far my favorite child to watch interact with the chickens. It's simply adorable.

Other big news is that Briggs officially started crawling this week! He still does his army crawling a lot when he gets worn out, but he's definitely crawling on hands and knees now! It's so cute to watch him. I got a video of him this week with Bryn and he's trying to get to food she has and she keeps scooting back and he keeps crawling after her. It was so funny. Now nothing is safe!! haha.

Family walk today... I love how Kelsey holds on to his forehead.

Kid Updates

Briggs: My intention was to always do a "monthly update" on Brigham individually because babies change so fast. But here he is at 8 1/2 months and I don't think I've done it once. But Briggs is seriously such a delightful baby. He is the best eater in the world, I'm convinced. Lately, he does this hilarious thing in between each bite where he opens his mouth big and huffs and puffs and squints his eyes shut, waiting in great anxiety and anticipation for you to PUT THE NEXT SPOONFUL IN! hahaha He's the funnest kid to feed and I get to do it 3x a day. It's awesome. He loves his pacifier and it's the nicest thing in the world that he'll take it. None of my other kids did. He has 4 teeth (2 top and 2 bottom), and 2 more making their way through. When he gets excited he bounces his body up and down and slaps my chest. He is a little slower physically because of his size, but he's getting there. He's SO close to crawling. He army crawls and scoots and rolls and really gets all over where he wants. But actual crawling hasn't happened. He does a lot of planking and where he's on his hands and toes and has his bum sticking up in the air. We all laugh every time he does it. He can go from the floor to sitting by himself too which is nice. I find it absolutely impossible to keep my floors clean for more than 2.4 seconds so I don't know what we'll do when he is actually crawling and putting everything in his mouth. Thankfully it's a team effort and the kids are good about noticing if he pops something in that's small or gross. He's very content and is so happy to just be on the floor by himself playing with whatever he can reach. He's so patient and is easy to take places. I feel like he's a totally different baby than the first 5 months of his life. Well maybe not totally different, because I would get glimpses of this sweet, happy boy and I knew that was his nature. I could tell that's what he wanted to be and would be if he wasn't hurting or have an upset tummy all the time. But we're there now and just so grateful for the joy and sweetness he's brought with him into our home. He loves all his siblings so much and they're crazy about him too.

Kelsey: Oh Kelsey. My friend at church yesterday saw a little struggle I was having with her as she insisted it was time to go to nursery and sacrament meeting wasn't over yet and got very upset. She told me that they call 3 year olds "three-nager's" now haha. I thought it very appropriate. She went to her first birthday party two days ago, and it was "Sofia the first" themed. She was so excited about that and carried around the beautiful invitation for 2 weeks until the day of the party. She still won't or can't say her "S" sound, which makes some really funny words. Madison is always the interpreter for when I can't figure out what she's saying. I will be having Kels repeat something over and over and trying to guess what she's saying and Madison will just pipe up... "She said _______!!" and be totally right. It's hilarious. Really their whole relationship is hilarious. Madison really likes to be the nurturer and take care of people, that's her personality. and Kelsey really likes to be the baby or the victim and be taken care of. So it works out great for both of them. But sometimes it's problematic. I will get after Kelsey or be trying to make her do something (like clean up or whatever) and she'll just pout and run to Madison for comfort, really thinking that she won't have to do anything with her, since Madi's her second mom and all. When we were gone in France I know that was a hard thing for grandma Weston too. Kelsey wouldn't let her help with anything! Madi helped her get dressed, find shoes, eat, everything. She really is such a ham though and pulls the funniest faces. She likes to make us all laugh and she can get away with almost anything with her daddy. She'll say "I just wanna nuggle you!" Which means "snuggle", and it's so darn cute you have to give in when she says it.

Madison: My big Madi girl is 4 going on 14. She acts very mature for her age and often gets along best with kids that are older than her. She is smart as a whip and continually surprises me at what she already knows. "School" things come very naturally to her, and she's picked up on a lot of things that Brynlee didn't learn all that long ago. She loves to be included in our learning each day. They certainly have different talents and strengths. She is still terrified of the chickens, loves to be my helper in the kitchen more than anyone else. She also has a little speech impediment where she doesn't say her "R's" correctly, and it's adorable. She has the sweetest little voice and a sensitive spirit. Although I must say of all my kids, Madison is hands down the one with the strongest will. Thankfully she's not often very defiant, but when she wants to go against you, she is by far the most stubborn. Always has been. I could give lots of examples but one time, I mentioned in another post that I went on a run with Brynlee as she rode her bike next to me. Well madison wanted to come so badly, but I know she's not at a level of bike riding where we could do that. So I made her stay home with everyone else. She was so disappointed and rode with us down the street and then turned around and went back home. I thought she would just go back inside. Imagine my surprise when 30-40 minutes later we get back and she's STILL outside waiting for us. She hadn't gone in once, even though it was cold and windy outside. I felt awful. So I went on a little run with her just staying in our neighborhood to make her happy. But that's her; she will not forget and she will not let go. Thank goodness for her sweet temperament or we'd be in a world of hurt. (I'm recalling her 1 year old self--yikes!)

Brynlee: Bryn loves to show love for people. She's always making people cards/pictures/creations and giving it to them. She believes she's a great artist, and I certainly agree. All her pictures are so sweet and heartfelt. She loves music and the piano and will just sit down and play it often, trying to pick out songs she hears. She begs me to put her in piano lessons, and I will as soon as our piano teacher allows it. She's pretty strict with their ages and when she'll start kids. The other morning I had put Madi and Kels in the bathtub and was downstairs feeding Briggs breakfast and getting him changed and dressed. When I got back upstairs to finish washing the girls, Brynlee had already done it! She had washed their hair, helped them get out and dry off and get dressed! That's my sweet Bryn. She doesn't have to wait to be told to do something. She's good at helping out when she sees a need. We're still working on getting her to tie her shoes so they don't come apart after 5 seconds, and do her own hair nice and tight too. I'm so grateful that Bryn is right after Tyler, since he doesn't have a brother close by. She can really keep up (and sometimes surpass) him physically. They wrestle and throw each other around on the trampoline and so many times I start to intervene and tell him to be gentle with her. But she's having the best time out there just like he is, so I let it go. She knows that if she's going to play rough with him she can't come crying to me. And she never does. She's pretty tough and quite athletically inclined.

Tyler: Something I'm discovering about Tyler is his love for singing. He sings really loud and proud during the hymns in church each week. We get a lot of people in rows in front of and behind us talking about how they love to hear him. He really does sing well and it's so loud I think people almost think he's joking sometimes haha. I know I have a hard time keeping a straight face sometimes because he just gets so into it. Yesterday the ward choir sang "I Am A Child of God" as a special musical number, but they invited anyone in the congregation to come up and sing with them, and so of course Tyler wanted to go up and he did! I'll have to see if I can get Kenny to stay with him after church for ward choir every week just to expose him to that and develop his love and learning of music. He's still very creative and loves to make things and has all these big ideas. He's been working on composing a piano song. He drew his own grand staff and writes all the notes on it, etc. It's so fun to watch him. He's so sweet and will write me little notes or cards if he can see that I'm upset. He always wants to play "a family game". He absolutely loves Cub Scouts each week and just has a blast with the other boys and doing fun activities. He's the only one that can carry Briggs (Bryn can for only a few seconds haha) and he loves to go get him out of his crib when he wakes up from his naps.

Here's a few more pictures from April I'm going to throw in.

Our Week

Monday night was the end of year celebration for Classical Conversations. Each of the classes did a little demonstration or snippet of some of the things they've been learning this year. It was fun to be there and reflect on what a great year it's been. We are so grateful to be a part of this program and have just met the most wonderful families! Being the awesome, organized mom that I am, I totally forgot to get class pictures. But Kenny got a few shots during their actual presentations so I'll just count that.

 L to R: Anna, Brynlee, Ari, Madison, Riley

L to R: Tyler, Josie, Micah, Zoe, Isabelle

It snowed several times. But the weekend warmed up beautifully and melted it all away. I think it's safe to say we're done with snow for the year now. *Fingers crossed*

These are to try and represent how hilarious Briggs is. He gets excited and flips his arms out and does this Superman thing.

Who dresses this girl anyway? ;) She got a new pair of "running shorts" and wanted to wear them every single day. Most days it wasn't warm enough so she put on her pink thermals underneath. It worked great, don't ya think?

 I have so many pictures of Briggs just like this, all bundled up in his little outfit and sitting in the stroller as his siblings play/climb/etc. He's such a good, patient little buddy.

For several days this week Tyler and Brynlee spent time collecting rocks. There's a huge mound of dirt and rocks that we go to on our walks and we love to play there. They sorted through lots of rocks looking for the very best, shiniest, coolest ones. Of course it's hard not to collect rocks when you're a kid, and I always go home with the little bucket on the back of our stroller full of "the best rocks". Ty got it into his head that if he likes them so much, other kids will too, and therefore they would sell them. :) I certainly don't want to discourage his entrepreneurial spirit. He and Bryn spent time drawing up designs for a selling stand that they wanted to build to sell their rocks. I did draw the line there and told him the card table in the garage would work just fine. Then they took a long time deliberating together on how much each rock was worth. They made teeny tiny little price tags from paper and taped them to the rocks. It was adorable. I told them that maybe we should offer people a free cookie if they bought a rock. Only problem was they couldn't wait for cookies, and I was short on time. Andy and Shalee left for Hawaii this week, so we had their kids come over on Friday morning, and stay the night, and so they were here on Saturday for their big "selling day". They set up the table and organized all the rocks and made a sign. It was adorable. Unfortunately, it was poorly advertised so their only customers were Kenny and I. But they were sure happy and proud of their "rock business".

 The sign says "Rocks for sale. Ther shiny in the sunshine and white in the dark. Plus a free treat." (false advertising lol) That's cousin Skyler in the middle of Ty and Bryn.

We sure had fun with cousins over the weekend. Thankfully the weather was just gorgeous and so the kids were outside a good part of the day on both days. There was all manner of bike and scooter and ball, etc. going on. 

They also collected a lot of bugs for observation. Tyler got some money from his Grandma Weston for his birthday, that he could spend at will. Of course, he chose a cool habitat builder kit thing (from barnes and noble) with different compartments to put bugs, etc. It came with a little bug sucker tool that made it easy to catch them and put them in there. It was a hit!

 And it's fun to let the chickens run around on the grass every now and again. Kelsey crawls after them on her hands and knees, chasing them around the yard.

 Saturday night we got a babysitter for our kids (minus Briggs--he came with us) and drove our nephews and niece to another of their relative's house in Eagle River. We continued on down to Anchorage where we met up with some friends at Ling and Louie's for a "surprise" birthday party for Carmin. It's always so good to spend time with and catch up with our anchorage friends whom we miss so much.
Today, Sunday, has been gorgeous. I taught the lesson in Relief Society. After church we had the Contreras' over for dinner. They're a fun couple. Afterwards Kenny left to go do visits for the rest of the night and I had an almost 2 hour google hangout with my family. It was the last one before Kim moves to Cambodia. Holy cow!