Callie's Birthday Party

I can't believe Callie is turning 5 next week. Generally speaking I'm not a fan of birthday parties. Early in my parenthood I would almost cringe every time we got a birthday party invite. I have slowly changed my train of thought. I realize now it's really about the kid and making them feel special and seeing their eyes light up. It's not about the ridiculous presents or the extremely loud surroundings. It's about making memories for these little's. I have to admit I had a little too much fun planning this one. Callie loved her kitchen set so much (Christmas present) that I decided it would be fun to do a "Callie's Kitchen theme". (with Callie's permission of course!)
Callie's Birthday Party invite:

 We made pizza, frosted cookies, decorated aprons, and played "Pin the 5 on the Callie"

 "Pin the 5 on Callie"

She has been so excited for this day to come, and has been talking about it for weeks. She helped me with all the details and helped me bake the cookies the night before. I'm really glad it went fairly smooth. LOL I had so many "helper moms" that stayed. So glad that I have such good friends and that Callie had a happy day. She was on cloud nine all day (even crashed on the couch this afternoon). I just love this girl. She has such spunk, attitude and LOVE. She really amazes me with her understanding and her energy.

She crawled up on the couch with her new blanket and new stuffed dog, she was out cold in 30 seconds. I wish bedtime routine was this easy. ;)

Sunday Mornings

Sunday Mornings in our house can be a little crazy to say the least. Ron usually leaves for his bishopric meeting around 7am and I get to get all the kids ready and get to church by 9am. After about a hundred requests Mason and Noah are pretty good about getting themselves ready. Callie obviously dresses herself and once both shoes are found I just have to focus on her hair. Lately I've been experimenting with fun and different hair styles for Callie. I am NOT very good with hair. I can't even do my own hair (which is why I wear it down ALL the time). Today I was particularly impressed with my hair styling skills (thank you to YouTube for their hair demonstration videos) and I snapped a picture to brag to Ron and show Callie. I took this picture of Callie's hair and then hollered at the boys to come in my bathroom so I could fix their hair. (I curled her hair after I took this pic)

I knew their the boys hair would be easy to fix since Ron had just given them hair cuts the night before. When Mason stood in front of me I sprayed it with the spray bottle and started working the gel through his hair... at first I wasn't too sure what I was looking at. My first thought was "No way. Did Ron shave this bad in the back..."

Mason, Mason, Mason had decided to be a little curious George in my shower and experiment with my razor. I'm just happy he didn't cut himself. I'm still laughing at how ridiculous his hair line looked in the back. We haven't had too many scissors-to-hair mishaps in our house (knock on wood) but this one is definitely in the same category. I love that after I took a picture Mason wanted to see it and while I think he was a little embarrassed he was able to just laugh at himself and promise me not to do it again.

I trimmed up his hair line help him out a little. LOL 

Spontaneous Sea World trip

Erin called me up a month ago with a deal on Sea World tickets I could NOT pass up. She knew someone who was offering a group discount deal for $6/ticket. You had to go on a specific day (Weds, March 2) which meant the kids missing some school. We have been studying the book of Mormon as a family for a little over 2 years now and were so close to finishing. I thought this would be the perfect motivation to finish it by March 2. (That gave us less than 30 days fro read about 60 pages in the Book of Mormon.) We finished the last 3 chapters of the Book of Mormon in the car on the drive. Such a great feeling to have completed such a perfect book as a family. I still can't believe I talked Ron into taking this short last min trip but I'm so glad I did. Sea World is so magical to me. I love that it caters to all ages. Something for every child to enjoy. We drove up Tuesday after the kids got home from school, went to Sea World Wednesday morning and enjoyed the park ALL day long. On Weds. evening we headed home. I didn't bring my nice camera and really didn't take too many pics. I was just living in the moment enjoying this fun memory in the making. 

 Ronnie lost his hat on the very first ride. LOL 

Noah is such a sweetheart. He is not the most adventurous but pretty brave. I talked him into riding the Manta Ray rollercoaster. As we walked up to the ride he could hear the coaster rushing past us and riders screaming delight. That scared him a little and he wanted to head back. I had to practically force him to get on the ride. It's seriously on of the smoothest fastest roller coasters I've ever been on. I LOVE it. When we got off he said "I'll do that again... in 2 years." Later in the day he rode it like 3 times. I just love this kid. There was literally hardly any lines at Sea World the entire day. It was so nice, no waiting not much crowds. Totally worth the lack of sleep and missing school. Shhhh don't tell his teachers I said that.

Mason is just straight up fearless. He was totally fine riding alone and wanted to ride roller coasters NON-STOP. I love his sense of adventure and thrill seeking personality. Just makes me a little nervous for his future in general. I've become quite the paranoid mom with him... in my defense he only has one good eye.

Callie surprised me the most. She loved touching the manta rays, and petting sharks. I love her little feisty personality and curiosity. She is so inquisitive and smart. She amazes me with her level of understanding and thirst for knowledge.

I was very proud of myself for conquering my fears and touching a shark!!!! 

April of course was a perfect little angel (like she could ever be anything else). She would nap in the stroller when needed and was just so happy all day, she LOVED watching the animals and everything around her. We sat in the soak zone during the Shamu show... She wasn't a huge fan of that. But the boys (aka the brothers as Callie calls them) LOVED the soak zone and moved up to the 2nd row to get more!

Poor Callie was less than 1/2 inch away from riding most of the bigger rollercoasters (you had to be 42 inches tall). She handled that pretty well so we rewarded her with Elmo time at the end of the day. She was in heaven riding those rides!

We drove home after dinner at In-N-Out burger. Mason looks exactly how we all felt. I don't know how Ron stayed awake. I tried really hard but probably napped a good 1.5 hours.

Half-Marathon Run

Exhausting but fabulous Day! I woke up around 4:15am to prep for my half-marathon race. Erin showed up at my door at 4:30am and off we went. Race day is always a little chaotic. We had to park at the finish line and then were bused out to the start. I still can't believe a little less than 8 weeks ago Erin talked me into training for this. I'm really glad she did. I've had some post pregnancy issues that have put me into a little bit of a slump so I needed a kick in the rear to get going. We went online, picked random running schedule, and stuck to it. Some mornings I just couldn't make myself run in the 45 degree weather so I went to the gym and ran on the boring treadmill.

  

My new theme song is "Timber"

When Erin and I managed to meet up for our longer runs we usually ran along the canal. We had quite a few interesting incidents. One of which I ran into a tree branch because we were running in the dark and even with my flashlight I didn't see it coming. My foot was pretty bruised for a couple weeks but thankfully I didn't injure anything else and managed to collect my pride and continue on our 8 mile run for the day.

"It's going down, I'm yelling timber"

That song is now a great inside joke with me and Erin. When it came on during the race we both started laughing.

Race day came and I felt prepared. I have always struggled with finding the right "energy" to consume while I run. So I just don't eat anything. Usually that works fine for me. But at mile 9.5 I hit a wall. So glad that Erin was there to make me push through it. She should have just left me but she didn't. We finished hard and just under our goal. I was never so happy to see a finish line. This race is ridiculous, you can't see the finish line until you are pretty much there. It's not so much fun. So happy I ran it and got to run it with one of my best friends. A much better experience than my marathon.

 Jenessa was so sweet, the night before she brought me this basket. Filled with pre-and post race items.

My friend Lindsey came out and cheered for me. She cracks me up with her "Shelly Huber looks HOT when she runs!" LOL The race course went right by her house. So sweet of her to cheer me on!

 We did it!

We finished our 13.26 miles in 1 hr 49 mins 27 sec.; 8:22/mile pace Hallelujah!!! Next time I'm going to shoot for a sub 8 min/mile pace... ;) 

Jenessa was watching my kids so Ron could go help a family move in our ward and THEN go help clean the church. (Poor Ron, he's so good) Jenessa was crazy enough to surprise me at the finish with my kids. So fun to see them! I'm so happy she killed herself getting them all there (crazy girl!)! I have good friends and my life is blessed.
Both Mason and Noah had championship basketball games at noon and 3, and we finished the day off with some sand volleyball with friends at the park.

Pinewood Derby Success!

I just love cub scouts! Mostly because I love little boys. I don't understand why anyone would not want to work with these happy crazy kiddos. Boys are so much fun and have such sweet, crazy, and wild spirits. Mason is undefeated with his pinewood derby cars. 2nd year in a row taking 1st place. Next year should be interesting when Mason and Noah are racing in the same derby! I look forward to that.

 THIS is what Cub Scouts is all about! Teaching these boys important morals and values. Helping them gain a quiet reverence for the American Flag. I love what this program does for these young men. Cub Scouting is more than just something for them to do. It's all about the boys they are now and the men they will become

 I need a pic of Mason and Ron

Me and my Crew

Today I had to take my kids to the store and then to help at Activity Days at the church. I have recently been called to Primary Presidency and loving it so far. One of my responsibilities is Activity Days. As I loaded up all 4 of my kids headed to the store for some folders they needed I remember thinking how fortunate I am. I'm blessed with 4 healthy children, all of which are relatively well behaved. I like to think of them as my buddies (motherhood can be a little lonely at times). They all get along fairly well and play pretty well together. Honestly that's one of my favorite things in the world, to watch them play and work together. Ron has been working a lot lately and I'm really proud of how I have handled it this go around. I still wish he could be around more but I'm very thankful he has a job and is able to provide so well for us.

Callie on the other hand has NOT handled it so well. She has had a really hard time with Ron's absence. Ron is everything to this little firecracker and she misses him constantly. I tried recording her sad whining one night when she was chanting over and over "Tomorrow he has work, and the next day... All day he has just work. I want Daddy." It's really sweet but heartbreaking to watch and I wish there was more I could do for her but we get Ron home in the mornings until about 8:30 and that's a huge blessing.

I've mentioned this before but Callie really prefers if Ron lays by her at night until she falls asleep. Ridiculous I know but... oh well. We cater to the ridiculous if it gets our kids to sleep. Well, Ron wasn't home so usually I am up for the job. Noah being the sweetheart he is volunteered. I didn't think it would work but when I went to check on them a little while later I found this. I LOVE sleeping pics so I couldn't resist. I know they won't stay this little forever and I want to remember the good times so I HAVE to document it.

April is 8 months old

She has started to vigorously wave when people say "Hi!"
If you ask her "Give me five" she will slap your hand a few times. I love it!
I swear she has said "Mmmmomma" a couple times. probably just adorable baby babble but I will take it!

LOVES bath time 

She gets into EVERYTHING!!!!! Pushes buttons, opens cabinets, LOVES the washing machine, she loves legos almost as much as her brothers!!!! Makes me nervous.

In November she was really sick. Woke up middle of the night with Stridor (labored breathing) I took her to the ER and was there from about 1-4am. They were really fast to get us back check her out, administered a steroid inhaler mist thing and gave her some meds. We stayed in the ER for a couple hours while they monitored her. They finally let us go home with instructions to watch her Croup and follow up with her doctor. Even through all of this she was an incredibly happy baby at the hospital. Last month I took all 4 kids into get the flu shot. Starting with Mason and going down the line of kids. The nurse was amazed not one of my kids INCLUDING April cried or fussed. She said she has never seen that before. I wasn't surprised at all. My kids are really tough and I am very thankful the doctor isn't a scary place for them.

 Everyone dotes on her and fights for time with April.

  

Her personality is so pleasant and happy all the time. I love her sweet gentle cuddly and loving personality. I can't imagine life or our family with out her. I can't believe she's almost 9 months old.