May Wrap Up

Yard work! Casey made a trommel for his gold panning hobby and it made a fantastic tool for sifting out the rocks for our little strawberry and daisy garden.

Little Taylor sound asleep with her face mask on.  I love when the girls sleep with these things.

I thought it was so weird that Casey cut holes in his gloves.  I asked him if it was so he could take selfies and text while he was working.  He thought that was hilarious, so I started calling them his texting gloves.

WoRmS on our walk home from preschool.

At Discovery elementary the 5th graders have to pick a person (past or present) that has accomplished something great or known for something memorable.  Caleb wanted to be Michael Jackson....um, no.  He mentioned Hitler (I think he was joking), but that was a HARD no.  We settled on Gail Halvorsen, the candy bomber from WW2.  He did awesome on his poster and thanks to Amazon, we were able to find a killer costume and then return in.  Dishonest or resourceful? 

 Casey took to the mountains either on bike or on foot for some exercise during this nice May weather.  Documented it with a selfie or two.  And even found a couple of neat things with his metal detector.

This kid!  I wish he wasn't so hard on himself.  He does amazingly well in the high jump.  He got 3rd place last year and barely missed on getting 3rd place this year.  He gets so frustrated, but what he doesn't realize is he really has to JUMP!  He is so much shorter than his classmates that some of them kind of just step over the pole. I was pretty proud of him.

Geez!  The month of Caleb!  I argued with this kid to enter the yearbook cover contest and he was one of the top 6!  He loves to draw and is so creative and being a mom is hard.  I am glad that the arguing and pushiness from me paid off and that he will remember that MOTHER! Knows best.  His prize was an awesome art set with really nice colored pencils and advanced coloring pages.  And my prize was that giant smile on his face.

For the end of the year field trip Casey escorted Caleb and his group on Front Runner to the Leonard Museum.  The kids were told they could bring phones, tablets, games or snacks for the train.  Caleb BEGGED me to let him take a tablet and I told him to just take a couple of card games and some snacks to share with his friends.  Casey took this picture and it broke my heart for a couple of reason. What. Is. Wrong. With. Some. Parents.  Not saying I am always right - but holy crap.  I hat that they all have their faces buried in their phones.  I hate that my kid probably felt left out.  BUT - they all had a good time at the museum and they even found a little display about Gale Halverson!

There was a green screen at the museum and the boys thought that was pretty awesome.

Taylor & Rylee also had their field trip on the same day & I got to accompany them.  We went to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden and got DRENCHED.  They had a couple of classes indoors and then a booklet of questions that led us on a little scavenger hunt outside...in the pouring rain.  We were all in good spirits until our toes were soaking wet, then all the kids got pretty cranky.  The weather lifted just in time for lunch and the bus ride home!

We headed up Logan Canyon one afternoon to meet some of Mona's extended family.  This cutie has perfected his mallow toasting skills.  Another proud mama moment!

Luke & Alexa

Look at my babies!  Littel preschool graduates!

Oh Lexi - she spotted me looking right at her.  Cutie.

And to think - in 12 short years we will be standing next to our babies as High School graduates.  Oh man.  I hope I make it to that day.  Teenagers sounds so much harder than toddlers.

Their preschool teacher, Miss Kaylee, puts together a bind of a bunch of their schoolwork throughout the year.  After graduation the identicals went to get their preschool binders and they all thumbed through them together.  It was pretty adorable.

Before the older kids were done with school for the summer I wanted to take Luke & Lexi to the zoo.  The other 3 have been several times, and I knew that these 2 would love the one on one attention from Casey & I.

We even took a second to watch one of the bird shows.  It's pretty interesting!

Selfie!

Luke found a ladybug.  He is such a bug lover!  I think this creature was even more entertaining to him than the big animals.

It was a fantastic day with my littles.  They loved carrying around their maps and exploring every inch of the zoo.I enjoyed capturing some cute pictures and spending time with them.  For a souvenir Lexi got a pink and purple red panda stuffed animal and Luke got an alligator.

The bears were on of my favorites this time around.  

Soccer Stars!

The more we got into the soccer season, the better it got!  They never complained about waking up early on Saturday's and getting ready.  I think that all had a fairly good experience and want to sign them up again, but Taylor & Rylee said, "No, Thank you."  Here are some of my favorite shots from their games.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day pedicures!!  I feel like I am always holding the camera!  Even when the group shot isn't my idea....at least I can get the angle right for my chins.  It's funny how we almost always choose the same color for ourselves.  We should start drawing names and choose for each other!

 Taylor & Rylee made some very adorable canvas art at activity days for me!

 This little recipe card from Caleb made me tear up.  Apparently I cook a LOT, try to make him laugh, go shopping and my dance moves have made an impression.

 Casey took the kids shopping and I got a salt lamp which I have been wanting for quite a while and some yummy smelling candles.

From Taylor:  Brittni - pretty, caring, gardening, baking, crostiching, crostitch needle, cake loving, cleaning, cooking, nice, kind mom

From Rylee:  Brittni - smart, lovely, ??, planting, sowing, babysitter, color, brownies, kissing, sleeping, cleaning, snuggly, lucky mother.

We ended Mother's day with quick visit to Grandma Babe and then to my parents house to roast a hot dog.  One of my mom's favorite things!  I asked my dad to snap a picture of my mom with her Fab Five, and he took probably a dozen or so and there is a leaf right in front of Ashely's face in every single one.  Cracked me up!

 And we just can't seem to keep these two apart!  Cuties.

Mother's Day Pictures

Seriously?! These pictures could not be more perfect.  We met Amber at Antelope Island early one evening and magic just happened!  

I wonder how much longer Angela can get Griffen to play this picture game, but when you look like Fabio, why wouldn't you want your picture taken?  And I honestly can't think of much that makes my heart happier more than Blakie's sweet, sincere smile.  These boys have been through so much together and seeing their bond is so heart warming.

This gene pool!  Ashley's kids are the cutest kids ever.  And I'm not biased just because they are family - their eyes, hair, smiles - COME ON!  I've even looked around when we are in crowded places at other children just to make sure I'm not being blinded by our shared DNA, and sorry chums - we win!

These 5!  How dang lucky am I.  They are all so amazing and all so different.  They are so close in age and I am still deciding if that makes things easier or makes things more challenging.  These individual pictures are all perfection.    

And Caleb in this picture?  HA!  Even when he was a baby, being held and snuggled wasn't his thing.  His siblings (and parents) just love him some dang much though!  Get used to the squeezes Mr. Magoo.

 I major highlight of the day was this diva trying to find her smile.  She tried so many!!  Some were better than others.  But the enjoyment scrolling through these was immeasurable! 

Some shots of the boys and some shots of the girls.

The Anderson girls and their littles.  Even though Griff is so dang tall....he is still little Griffy Poo.  I can't help but have a stupid smirk on my face when I look at this picture.  Cute kids, lucky mom's and everyone (almost) looking at the camera!

Putting this post together took F O R E V E R.  So many candid shots and posed shots that it was so hard to choose favorites.  I guess it's good we decided to do these every other year!