Spring break 2010!

I love spring break! I love having all my kids home during the day. I wanted spring break to be fun. I didn't want us to sit home all week, bored, and stir crazy. So I planned some super fun activities, and some good down time at home, and it turned out to be a fabulous time!


Lily and Carter's cool fort. At first it was a bus. Carter loved that! Then Lily wanted it to be a house. Carter insisted it was a bus. So Lily determined it was a broken bus house. Carter loved the idea and agreed. Voila the broken bus house!

On St. Patrick's day we dressed in green and went to the park for a picnic and playtime with some friends. I wish I had lined up all the kiddos and gotten a picture. It would have included 12 kids...all dressed in green!

Generally, we try to go to get the kids to bed early. We thought it would be fun to have a "late night" out for a change. We got the kids in their jammies and went to Paradise Bakery where we ate cookies and played a game we brought from home. The kids thought it was really cool to be out late (we were home by 8:00!). We got a lot of bang for our buck...it only cost $2.50 and we had so much fun!

We took a long drive down to the Shamrock Farm Dairy for a tour of their 10,000 cow dairy. We loved playing with friends there and eating the yummy ice cream made by Roxie the cow.

The train park was so great! The weather was perfect and the kids loved riding a train, a carousel, playing in a yellow caboose, and eating ice cream (yes, again!) with friends. It was so great!!

Lily said she was the princess and Cole was the prince.

Hazy enjoyed her time at the park too. She rode in the stroller and in our awesome new baby carrier. I love that carrier and am so glad to have it! You can see it pictured above on my girlfriend, holding her baby girl who is nine days older than Hazel. Those two will be little pals!

We tried to get a line-up of the five big kids for a photo. I could not pull Carter away from the big old train engine. But if you look closely between Cole and Ava, you can see him in his orange shirt, gazing at the train!

Congratulations, Julie and Kurt!

Congratulations, you guys! Welcome to the family, Kurt!

Lily turned 6!

Lily girl is so fantastic. My first baby girl is no longer a baby. She has grown so much and is a wonderful girl. She is helpful, fun, clever, and smart.

Run

I ran today, for the first time in a long time. It felt sooo good. I ran 2 miles. I was slow, especially on the hills, especially pushing 55 pounds of cute kids and jogger in front of me. But it felt so good.

Smile

Here's one more from yesterday. Last week Hazel started trying to smile and talk to me. We've had several little conversations that melt my heart. I love how she sweetly coos. She's not smiling consistently yet, but when she pops one out it makes me smile right back at her. I can't wait for her to smile all the time!!

Sweetness.

Precious.

Darling.

I love this soft blankie. It was mine when I was a baby.

I couldn't stop thinking about my sister, Jen, today. When I kissed Hazel's feet during diaper-changing time, I thought of Jen. When I looked at Hazel's sweet soft cheeks in these pictures, I thought of her again. She loves babies fresh from heaven. I wish she was here to meet Hazel and snuggle and kiss her. Really, I wish that of all my family members.

While I took those photos of Hazy this afternoon, my other jewels were doing this:

Lily was watching a movie after school.

Carter was sleeping peacefully.

I'm a happy mama.