As "just" a mom, I have a front row seat to my children's growth and learning, daily little miracles, and the funny things that happen in a marriage. I feel so very blessed to be "just" a mom.
Parker turned 9 at the beginning of the month and we had such a fun time celebrating her! We are so happy she is in our family.
Parker wanted a Minecraft-Among Us birthday theme (she couldn't pick just one haha)
We spent time together making decorations leading up to the party. It was a little tricky to find the time with Leah not napping, but it was also really sweet to have some of that one-on-one time with Parker during this busy season.
Every year, we do a birthday date with the kids in leiu of a big present. This year, Parker wanted to do a cereal party for her birthday date. She stayed up late to watch Leverage and eat cereal with Mom and Dad. We honestly loved the idea (it made things easy with the baby), it was a fun night.
For a treat, we ended up making three--Rylee made rice krispie treats (which were "sand blocks"), Ashtyn made chocolate cake with green frosting (which were "grass blocks), and Parker made brownies (which were "dirt blocks"). They turned out cute and yummy!
I loved the way the decorations turned out this year and so did Parker.
The kids especially had fun making more Among Us with the extra coloring pages we had and coloring Minecraft swords I'd printed.
Opening some presents.
Auntie Hannah made her this adorable stuffie and she couldn't love it more.
Our traditional gift to the kids (because I still want them to have something to open from us) is a book. I love when I can find a book to give them that they are super excited about.
Happy Birthday to Parker!
Parker had such a wonderful day celebrating with family!
We had a beautiful day on Sunday, June 1 blessing Leah. It was also Parker's birthday, so it was a pretty crazy day for us, but we loved being able to celebrate two of our daughters with so much family! The morning of the blessing, Leah woke up around 5:30 to eat and then actually went back to sleep (it's hit and miss on whether she will or not). I was able to shower and get ready before the other kids woke up and put donut dough in the bread machine for Parker's birthday.
After Leah woke up, ate (and we got the other kids ready for church), she went down for her nap and actually slept then too! It felt like a mini miracle to me. While she was sleeping, I was able to make the donuts and I finished them just in time for the kids to eat one before we loaded up for church.
The blessing was beautiful and we survived sacrament meeting with cousins (the kids have a harder time being quiet when we sit with family). My mom took Leah during the second hour and got her to go to sleep.
Sneezes!
I started off with this blanket when we were taking pictures, but we changed it because we didn't like the off-white with the white dress. Of course, that was the only time I got a grin from her ...
May was a great month overall for our family, though we had some tough moments. Leah had started sleeping better at night at the beginning of the month and just got better as the month went on. Her naps struggled a lot all month, so I kept trying to be patient with both her and myself, lowered my expectations of what I could get done, and tried to soak in the snuggles while I could. Leah had a lot of firsts, the kids got to spend a lot of time outside in the beautiful weather, and we got to spend time with family and friends.
Leah likes tummy on my (my knees or my chest), but NOT on the floor at all.
Ashtyn and her cousin Elizabeth love to make water colors out of markers by soaking them in water.
My little apple munchers.
Oliver and Rylee both love eating cut up apples right now.
Oliver has gotten so good on his balance bike.
He's probably ready to learn to ride a pedal bike whenever he wants.
Ashtyn loves coming up with her own patterns for crochet and is also learning to follow other people's patterns.
Ben is such a great Dad. I'm so glad I married a man who works so hard to be there for his kids in all the ways Ben does.
We didn't have a dishwasher for all of the month of May (and part of April and part of June). I will tell you, handwashing all the dishes with a family of 7 and a new baby is no joke. The dishwasher started having water in the bottom of it right before Leah was born (and we had just replaced a part only a couple months before), but it was still technically working, so we just kept using it at first while we survived the initial newborn stage. Then the dishwasher stopped draining all the way so it was reusing the water and we had to stop using it. Ben ended up taking it outside to dump out the gross water and do some tests to see if he could figure out what was wrong. We ordered a hose and a pump and ended up having them delayed and getting the wrong ones and having to return them and all sorts of these throughout the month. (It's June now and we finally have a working dishwasher again and it is SO nice.)
Flowers for Mother's Day.
Mother's Day was a wonderful celebration this year. The kids all had little gifts for me, we all made it to church, and then we had a dinner at Ben's parents' house with his family.
Ashtyn wanted to paint in the backyard, but it was cold and she couldn't find pants, so she wore a jacket as pants 😂
The kids love baking and Parker loved making this cake mix all by herself!
The kids made a band with their cousins and this was their first performance.
Ashtyn's selfie.
Ashtyn got an ear infection when we all got colds and we did our onion poutlice trick and it took away the pain for her right away. I love using the onion poultice, it's literally like magic!
Tiger boy!
Parker loves using her face painting and she's getting better at it.
Oliver is really into super heroes right now and always get super hero books from the library for us to read to him.
Rylee wrote and gave this talk in primary.
When I went to get groceries during Leahs' nap once, I left Ashtyn in charge of watching to see if she woke up while I was gone or not. She took very detailed notes for me 😂
Ashtyn made this poster as an idea to make money (she's realized she needs to practice a little more before doing lawns, but wants to try weeding for money)
One really exciting thing in May was when Grandma Lindi and Grandpa Danny got an above-ground pool. We spent the last week of May helping them get things ready to set it up and then letting the kids swim in it. The kids love it!
The twins were NOT happy that their parents had left 😂
My friend Itzel passed through Vernal with her family as they went to Flaming Gorge and we got to meet up at my favorite place in Vernal, B Fruity. It was nice to catch up before she moves to Japan (we're going to try to get together one more time before she leaves)!
All ready to make truffles for Truffle Day!
This year, I made Oreo, Peanut Butter, Lemon, and Strawberry.
They turned out really yummy and were super fun to make (and I only managed it with the girls' and Ben's help with Leah).
We also made crepes for Crepe Day. The kids really wanted me to make crepes, but I have to admit it was rough with the baby. I washed and cut up the fruit one day (while baby-wearing Leah), made the crepes the next day, and Ben still had to finish cooking the crepes while I fed Leah.
And Apple Pie Day! I was still pregnant on Pi Day this yaer, so I was really excited to make and eat an apple pie. I love the recipe I have and I have a lot of fun whenever I make pie. This one turned out really yummy and Rylee got to be my little helper.
We also did family pictures in May. We had piano lessons that day too and somehow we got through the day and loved the pictures we got!
This is one of my favorite outfits on her, but she doesn't love it (it's not very snuggly).
We also officially moved her from newborn to 0-3 clothes and from newborn to size one diapers and I don't feel quite ready for her to be growing up yet.
Her cousin Kolson has now become interested in Leah and it's so cute. I love how much all the little boys love the baby and how soft they are with her.
We just are loving having a new baby. It's a slower pace and also so busy all at the same time, but the spirit she brings into our home is so precious. I love watching how much all the kids love her and am so grateful for this little family of mine.
