March clean up

 Guitar Girl, Addy is loving Doug's guitar, or Bitar as she calls it, she spends a lot of time playing it and singing her songs. March flew by, I can't believe it is the last day already, I don't know where the time goes, But here are some pictures from some of what we have been up to, I am trying to get caught up but it is not all that easy to do.

 We went to a friends birthday party where the kids were able to go horseback riding, they both loved it, and can't wait to do it again. Addy is wanting to do lessons again and as we have hit kind of a plateau with her progress in some area's we may look into it to try and get her going again. We will see. Right now they are in Swim lessons and are doing so good, although the pool is indoors and Jim asks every week even if we are putting on snow boots and hats to go to the pool if we will be going to Kelsie's pool outside, he really misses his summer swim teacher and the outdoor pool, who doesn't though lets be honest.

 We made a weekend trip to Utah to visit Doug's family Our oldest nephew came home from his mission in Argentina and Our Oldest Niece is engaged and they were kind enough and organized enough to have her bridal shower while a lot of family was in town, which was so nice of them to do. I am so sad I didn't have my camera with me, it was such a lovely time. We are so thankful for the great example the Older Cousins are setting for our little ones, they adore their cousins, to the point of lately the game of choice is Utah State College which is where the three oldest Cousins will be attending in the Fall, it warms my heart to hear the kids with such desire to go there as well, lets hope that one sticks around!  We also got to see a lot of his other siblings and their kids that live in Utah as well, we love how well the cousins include our kiddos even though we are not there all the time, they still make them feel loved and a part of the group. The crazy thing though was while we were gone a leprechaun snuck into our house and made a mess, he left chocolate all over the floor, little piles of gold treats for all of us, and apparently he went to the bathroom, and has not been trained to clean up after himself, did you know leprechauns had green pee? Very Interesting that sneaky Leprechaun it was so fun for him to visit.

Another year Older, I had a birthday, it was a good day, Doug took me out to lunch, just me him and a sleeping Audryn, and then he took care of dinner for me and got me a cake, it was so nice. My parents joined the fun too, which is always a joy for us. I cannot believe the friends that called and sent love my way for my birthday, I truly felt so loved. I think I was on the phone most of the day I never do that, it was so nice to hear from everyone and chat with those I caught, and the ones I missed I loved the messages. It encouraged me to be better about others birthdays I use to be really good about that but have kind of gotten lazy.

 Pinata! The kids and Doug Made pinatas they had a blast hitting them and breaking them open which freed me from batting practice for the day, you think I am kidding but I am not, this kid bats nearly everyday usually while I am feeding dryn I can throw the ball and he can practice hitting.

 More matchy matchy squared, the girls were precious in pink even though you can't really see dryns dress, it was cute. More things we don't have pictures of, we were asked to join a kid swap/ date night group, it has been so fun. I love having the kids over and the date nights so it is a win win for us. So far on our hosting nights we have done glow stick hide and go seek with fry bread tacos for dinner and brownie for treat, and we did a tent movie Rio getting ready for rio 2 to come out, we had pizza rolls or rollino it's proper name and cookie brownies for treat. The families we swap with are awesome we love having the kids together and the friendships they are forming. For Date nights we did a double one night with one of the other couples for dinner and then did a pinewood derby Date for Elders Quorum and we did a deep clean on our house the next time which may seem lame but I love any time I get with Doug even the working time and it needed to be done, he did feed me first.

And I even have managed to get a little crafting done, I have had this almost done for awhile now but I have been trying to finish my almost done pile so now it looks like I have been really productive because the pile is getting smaller and smaller. This is Addy's red dress picture with her Grandma Addy is so Happy with the way it turned out and so am I. I have been trying some new things and so far have been pretty happy with how they have turned out. Addy Audryn and I had a couple of girls nights where we had friends come over and join us for some girly fun, Addy is really into Highschool musical which is so stinkin funny to me, she loves that Troy Bolton so we have made it fun for her and her little girl friends which is fun for me and my friends too.  I think that pretty much wraps up March, it is cold and snowing here this morning, but we have had a few nice days to which we have been so thankful, the kids have been outside loving that they are not bundled up like stay-puff marshmallows. They are eagerly awaiting baseball camp to start here soon and for Summer the countdown has begun spring doesn't even have a chance.

Spring Finally!

 Ok even though the weather here is not cooperating we are moving forward with spring in our house. The kids all wore their very spring like attire to church and just looked adorable, it is hard to get a good picture of the three of them together, so much personality, but they were adorable. Addy is really into her and Dryn matching she always wants to match her, which is very hard to do, Addy is hard to dress in the first place, but then to try and find attire that matches the baby, well we are jumping for joy when we do.

 Addy and James both passed off their third article of faith the day these pictures were taken, they are working so hard on memorizing all 13, and so far they are doing great, funny I can get this girl to memorize an article of faith but recognizing the letters of the alphabet well that is a daily work, more proof her eyes are not yet up to par but they are getting there, and she is working so Hard and doing so good, I can't complain, but it is interesting to note.

 Audryn is working so hard on re=organizing her nap time to combine them for longer naps rather then 7 or 8 short naps, She is such a good baby.

 Did someone say personality? I decided it is official I really need to be better about blogging, these kiddos have some of the best lines and make me laugh so darn hard,  but I am not doing them justice recording it for them, they are crazy clever and funny It may be that it is the wee hours of the morning while I am blogging that is the problem, or perhaps both, I think I will go back to a quote book to write down then transfer them over.

This year really has been very busy and a bit trying, but this little face, always brings love and peace, and oodles of happiness whenever I am looking at her. Heavenly Father could not have sent her at a better time, she is my Joy. Especially lately in dealing with the Death of My Grandmother whom Audryn is named after. This year I  have lost both my remaining grandparents, and it is only March, I am hoping that this next funeral will be the Last for awhile, a LONG while....

More Family Home Evenings

 These pictures are about a month old or so, which is crazy to me that we had that much snow, but we did, our winter has been so crazy! Anyways, we have some great family friends we went sledding with for Family home evening, it was so fun. They have 3 boys close in age to our kiddos, We all got to go, Audryn was a trooper and slept in the warm car at the base of the hill, which is the park right across the street from our house, the built in a sledding hill when they put the park in. The kids and Doug have gone several times this winter and just love it. After this sledding fun with our friends, Jim was adamant that next year he wants to learn to snowboard, I thought we were doing good to teach him sledding, YIPES we will see what the year brings.

 The kids had a great time going down with their friends and Doug and I, our friends kids are really kind of reserved when it comes to well sledding, swimming, physical activity I guess, our kids are the opposite, they jump right in and go for it, so together they balance each other out for a nice combo.

 I love snow pictures! My Adventurous James

And  My Daring Thrill seeking Addy Girl

The kids have loved the adventures we have been going on with our Friends and our Family. We have been trying to be more social so we have been inviting people to do stuff with us, to join us for FHE or to come over for playdates or dinner, it is fun, but makes us very busy some times, too, but how we are loving making new friends and spending time with those we just can't get enough of.

Funny

 Yep, someday James will probably be upset about these pictures, but for today I find them adorably funny.  James is in the belief that as Addy no longer needs her belongings or she grows out of them, that he should acquire them, this includes but is not limited to her pink bikes, scooter, clothes, dresses, and recently he asked about her underwear, Just so we are clear I am all about RRR reduce, reuse, recycle, HOWEVER our boy will not be getting big sisters hand me down, underwear, we will save some of her clothes for Audryn but they will be skipping the Handsome middle child, and he is free to ride a pink bike or scooter for as long as he chooses, HAHA, What a funny kid. At any rate, dress up for play is free game, so here he is sporting Addy's Christmas Dress Jacket, while playing the Dwarf game, he likes to be treeskirt, Audryn is Whinny Addy is the beloved Child and I get to be Santa one would think it should be called the elf game as that is what they are playing but, that is not what they call it. So creative and fun!

 Dresses for fun, and lining all the team members out!

Yep love that finger!

Jim's First Gymnastics review

 Addy and James both bumped up in Gymnastics at the beginning of the year, James was so ready for the big kid classes, and he is doing so well! He loves to watch the older boys doing their workouts and asks when he gets to do what they are doing, to which I would tell him to practice, but he would and I would be in trouble, so my answer is always the same, lets just enjoy today for now, not that I don't want them to have goals and to be working towards things, but this kid has a memory and conviction, the other day he was encouraging me to improve my pitching skills, with a bribe of course that he would learn 5 new letters if I would work on my baseball pitching as apparently he has passed my skill set with his daily determination to play baseball, you can see why I am hesitant to push gymnastics, LOL. So Above is Jim sitting as still as one may ever see him sitting, such a good boy and below on the bar doing a flip

 He always says Mom check out my Moves, he loves to dance and his body can't help but bop at a tune, he is such a fun kid I love his joy for life! He does get a little shy and has some stage fright, he is usually good until someone talks to him, then he freaks a bit, so my child. But I was really proud of him for his first Review he did great, even with Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa there

 Addy also did her Review and did just great, it is so hard for her to coordinate her body in space, but she works so hard at it, and was just fun to watch all her progress. Her class is now 15 min longer, and has boys in it, she loves that, she is such a tomboy, it is really different for me, but we are rolling with it.

 Not at the gym, but here is our Daddy superstar who helps the kiddos with their gymnastics and well all kinds of fun things, here they are working on the three legged walk, of course both at the same time, so it's still four legs, but much harder to coordinate. Such a good dad. Doug does all the gymnastics classes with the kids usually and helps them work on it at home as well.