Alex and Cooper got to spend the afternoon at school with Chloe. That meant a full day at school for Alex, but Cooper was so excited to be there. Especially since they got to eat cupcakes too.
Chloe got to take her birthday bag off the wall and sit with Ms. Bonnie to see what treasures she got.
We did something a little unusual for us, we woke up early on a holiday and headed to the park for a game of baseball. With just my family we almost had enough for two teams, so a couple of friends came and joined us. It was Jeremy, Juli, Ben, Jenny, Ashton, Jordan, and Amber against me, Nick, Josh, Amber, my dad, Katie, and Matt. (In a couple more years all the kids will be old enough to play too and we will have full teams!) Not that the score really matters, but I think my team got beat! I let the kids go play at the park before we headed off to lunch with Chris who had to work all morning. And then we spent the rest of the day swimming and BBQing at my mom's house. Fun times!!
I am glad she got to celebrate her birthday with grandpa! It was extra special that he turned 50 when she turned 5! They had yummy bundt cakes and enjoyed licking all the frosting of their candles! Happy Birthday Dad and Chloe!!
My tiny little girl!
And of course you and your baby!
Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!
And he still has a smile on his face!!
For most of the time Cooper had the glove and went after the ball whenever anybody hit the ball.
I was trying to teach Alex to stand correctly to hit the ball. Not that I really know how, but I do know that he wasn't! A couple more years and he can do t-ball. Alot of fun times at the ball field for us!!
I know he was nervous giving her a blessing, trying to pronounce her Hawaiian middle name, but also because he knows that this sweet little baby most likely won't grow up in the church. Chris did a great job and I think that his mom is happy now that all her grandchildren have been blessed in the church.
Considering we had two sacrament meetings right in a row the kids did really well. I only had to take Cooper out once! The rest of the time I held the baby, fed her, and rocked her to sleep. I think Chris is a bit baby hungry himself, he asked to hold her first, and then he could sense that I was and handed her off to me for the rest of the hour!
Chris was outside cutting up some old units. When Alex saw him outside he immediately ran upstairs to grab his sawzall so he could "help dad". I am amazed at how interested he has always been in working and tools, and really how much he already knows.
Chris is the "worker" in his family. He knows how to work and works hard. Alex looks like Chris, acts like Chris, and I think he is going to be a worker just like Chris.
I sent Chris with my camera and told him that he had to have at least one picture of them all together, and since they had the camera I didn't get any of our girl's night. As soon as the boys took off, we packed our bags and went to pick up P.F. Changs for dinner and Cheesecake Factory for dessert and headed over to my mom's (it was their wards Father/Son too). We ate until we couldn't eat anymore and then enjoyed a movie together. I think only my mom and Amber made it all the way through, Jenny, Katie, Chloe, Hailey and I were party poopers! We had planned to go out the next morning because Chloe had her heart set on IHOP, but Chris got called into work and our plans were ruined. She settled for Einstein's and we spent the rest of the day in the pool while dad was hard at work. We love you!!
This morning Chloe and I started making her birthday invitations. More me than her, but we were having a good time. She was writing all her guest's names on the envelopes while I cut and glued. We were only part way done when we had to push it aside to go get Alex. I knew we had a busy afternoon, so I figured we would finish them tomorrow morning. So after I pick the kids up from school I set the three older ones at the table with homework to do. Nick knows what to do and Chloe and Alex's is just coloring so I go upstairs to get ready. When I come down I find that Chloe has gotten scissors out and finished her invitations by herself. I was furious! At first I couldn't even yell at her. And then I let her have it. I slowly got over it and we finished adressing her envelopes...
And right after I got my tile with the cute poem I noticed a full, dirty hand print on the wall going up the stairs. So I left it there a little longer because I know I will miss those someday!
Chris got me a spa package which I am very excited to use! And we enjoyed a nice dinner at my mom and dad's.
Most days there is yelling, tears, fighting, and utter madness, but I wouldn't trade any of it to not be a mother. I am so thankful that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with four sweet spirits.
At the beginning of March . We grabbed lunch and went and hung out at the park all afternoon. Without me even asking Nick, Chloe and Alex started posing on the rocks for me. Cooper on the other hand, is a different story. He won't even look at the camera.
Chloe started dance at the beginning of March. She had been asking for months, but I wanted to make sure she really wanted to do it first. She is a lot like me when I was little. She enjoys doing different activities, but doesn't want to be tied down to something that takes away time from her baby! In the last two months I have only had to fight her once. I decided that I really don't want her to be like me in that aspect. She will regret it later, so we are doing dance!! While she is there she has a great time and she has already improved so much. 
Just another day at the park! The kids love to go to the park at Town Square.
And of course we celebrated St. Patrick's Day! I love holidays that we can all get dressed up for. Chloe had dance that morning and really wanted to wear a green bow so that she didn't get pinched. I helped in Nick's class that afternoon and then we went home for green enchiladas for dinner. We all had green place settings and all our food was green. I love to make the little holidays special for my kids. I even bought Chris a green shirt (we are trying to incorporate a little color!) and he wore it! We didn't get a family picture because after dinner it seems that one by one all the kids began to have nervous break downs, so off to bed, but a fun green day pretending we are Irish!
Chloe and Alex finished off zoo week at school with Zebra Day. Chloe always wants me to volunteer in her class since I go every week to Nick's so I decided that this was a great oppportunity. I found myself a zebra shirt and zebra bracelts so I could be an official part of the group. Chloe also wanted to bring cookies really bad for St. Patrick's day, but her teacher requested healthy green snacks, so we traded in the shamrock for zebra cookies. 
Since Chloe and Alex were both bringing zebra cookies for their classes Nick wanted to bring some too. After I got about half of them cut out, I asked him if we could please do a differnt shape. The zebra's legs were so skinny they kept breaking off and I was pretty frustrated. So we settled on hands, since his class was working on the 5 senses that week. He was pretty happy with that and chose to make them yellow.
This morning our stake sponsored a 5k and a track meet. Each ward was a different color. Desert View was green.We started off with the 5k. Chris had his dad come watch the kids because they were still sleeping, and he had been practicing so he wanted to run it. I on the other hand partly wanted the kids there to be my excuse and the other part of me thought I could run it no problem. I am not exactly sure why I thought this. I haven't ran more than a couple of minutes in the last 4 months. Chris started off next to me, but ditched me after a couple of minutes because I was slowing him down. He finished in about 26 minutes (I think!) and I mostly walked and finished in about 37 minutes. The whole time I was thinking that I need to get back into shape, I really can't handle Chris beating me. Running was probably one of the few things that I was better at than him, and I need it to be that way again!
Today was Nick's field day at school. He was really nervous. I guess I made him that way. I loves to be first and was very concerned that some of the other kids might beat him. But to my surprise kindergarten field day wasn't anything like I remembered of my field days long ago when I was in elementary school. There was one like race, running against each other, of course nobody kept track of who won, but the rest of the events everybody just got a turn, no winners just having fun.
My niece, Hailey and Nick are in the same class, so Juli and I held down the bean bag toss all afternoon. Luckily we got to stay in the shade because Will was there. Hot day! The kids had a great time and got to end their day with popsicles.
