Steph and Rod's wedding

I just down loaded all the pictures I took yesterday at Steph and Rod's wedding and they were so nice that I couldn't resist adding a few that I thought were really cute. It was a wonderful day, Steph looked beautiful and our new Uncle 'Rico' Rod looked great too. The kids looked super cute in their outfits as well and loved getting all the presents from everyone at the reception. Maddie got to come to the Temple and wait outside with her cousin Whitney so she thought that was great! It really was a fantastic day and everything went so smoothly. Hadley got a fever towards the end of the day which wasn't good and I forgot to get shoes for the girls so we went and got those after the luncheon but it all worked out in the end and we all had a SUPER day. Congratulations Steph and Rod, we love you guys and we're happy that Rod is a part of our family now. Thank you for being such great examples to my children by deciding to get married in the Temple, you guys are going to be so happy together, GOOD LUCK, we love you!!!

Syd's birthday and Easter!

We had a really fun and full Easter weekend! Thursday night would have been the start because Syd was going to go on a date with Uncle Rod, her best pal! They share a birthday so he always takes her out on a date. He picked her up but about 10 minutes later they were back because she had thrown up in the car on the way there, whoops! She was fine after that so it was weird. He said he'll take her again though so it will be okay.

Then on Friday we had Sydney's birthday party. That day was a little nuts and busy but the party ended up being lots of fun. The kids painted these little dinosaurs we had got, then we had a dinosaur egg hunt in the back garden. We played pin the tail on the dinosaur, opened presents and had cake and ice cream. All Syd's friends were so good and cute, I think we had about 12, 5-6 year olds, three 7 year olds, a whinny 3 year old and a fussy little Mommies girl. Syd had a great time though so that was all that mattered. After that we went to pick up Steve from work and then we went out to eat. We always let the kids pick a place to eat for their birthday so Syd picked Chuckarama's which Daddy was happy about! We invited Steve's Mom, Steph, Trish and her kids to come too so it was lots of fun and we all ate way too much, well I did!!!

Saturday was another busy day but it was also lots of fun. Syd woke up early but went back to bed until about 10am so we were able to wrap all her presents up. Once we were all ready she opened her presents that we had got her and also the present from my parents. She loved everything but mostly she loved the walking dog from my parents, she'd been wanting that for a while. After we got done with that we headed over to Steve's parents house to paint eggs which the kids always love to do. After that we went to McDonald's for lunch before heading to the Easter egg hunt over at the fire station. It's so nice to be able to go to the fire station because it's not that crowded and they have the Easter bunny there so the kids can all have pictures with him. The kids found this cool rope swing there this year so they were all playing on that. Thankfully the weather was nice this year because last year there was still snow everywhere and it was freezing. That night Steve took Syd out on her birthday date, she's been talking about that for months. At first she wanted to dress all fancy and had even asked Trudy is she could make her and Steve some fancy clothes, she said "Trudy will do it, she's nice." In the end they didn't get dressed up, they just went to Mongolian grill which is Steve's favourite place so he was happy about that. They also went to the dollar store so they had a great time. I took the other kids on a date too while Steve took Syd so we all had a great night together. We went to Fazoli's, Maddie loves it there, she gets the all you can eat pasta because she loves their fettuccine.

Sunday was another full day, the kids all woke up and were excited to find their eater baskets then it was off to church for 9am. During church I had this HUGE coughing fit, it was crazy but also funny. Of course it would happen on a day I decided to wear a little make up which I never do. Anyway because I was coughing so much I started to cry so I had mascara running down my face, lovely! Trudy gave the girls these really cute dresses for Easter that she made for them, she's so good to us. I'll have to take a picture of them wearing them next week. After church we put up the trampoline which Maddie has been dying to do. I played outside with the kids for a while. Maddie and Spencer were showing me all their tricks on the tramp and I tried to do some too but I'm getting too old and too chicken, it was still fun though. Syd came on with us for a bit but she had more fun playing with the big box the tramp came in, she's such a nerd! We went over to Steve's parents for dinner. Steve's Mom and sister had put together a little Easter egg hunt there too so the kids got to look for more eggs. They all got a kite each too which the kids thought were amazing. It was the perfect weather to fly kites too, the kids had a blast. We had cake and ice cream for Syd with all the family. She blew the candles out before we all got done singing to her though, little nutter!

All in all it was a great weekend and we took lots of pictures so I decided to put them on a slide show instead. My kids are getting so big too fast! While I was playing outside with them yesterday we had so much fun together. I want to have more times like that, where we just have fun together. This weekend really was great, we had so much fun together, it was just so nice to be able to do so many wonderful things as a family. I really love my little family, they're the best.

Busy week!

Last week my friend sent me her new blog she just started about being organised. Her first challenge was spring cleaning which sadly enough I have never done before! I can keep my house pretty clean but I really hate "cleaning." Anyway I thought I would give the spring cleaning a try because she made it sound like I could actually do it. You just have to clean one room a day so I thought I could handle that. I've actually shocked myself and I've been able to do it. It's nice to see each room after I've finished but it will also be interesting to see how long they stay clean, I guess the most important thing is the deep cleaning. I do have to admit that I cheated a little today. I cleaned the kitchen and I didn't empty the cupboards and clean them out, it was enough dusting above the cabinets and behind the fridge, SICK!!! I feel good about what I did do though so that's all that matters, right? By the end of all this I'm going to have a HUGE pile of junk on my bedroom floor though. There's so many papers, little toys and things like that, that I have to go through but I don't want to overwhelm myself even more so I'll do all that another day.

Also on top of all this I've been potty training Spencer again. I started this last year right before the kids got out of school for summer. He was actually doing really well but then we were outside so much it was hard to keep it going so after being so close I gave in. Then I had Hadley and I haven't had the energy or desire to try again. Well that's a lie, I have tried a few times but every time I did he peed everywhere and I wasn't impressed so I just gave in. I was super worried about doing it again but I knew I had too, especially before summer. Anyway I started on Monday and he's doing so well. He has had a few accidents but I'm so proud and sooo glad he's actually doing it. I feel such a sense of relief. We got him some Thomas the train movies as a bribe to get him to go potty but they never worked. He was so happy to finally be able to get to open them today though, he keeps saying he's a big boy like all his friends. I thought I would take a picture of him in his big boy undies which he was happy to do but he had to have the baby stroller in the picture, he said it would be funny. My big boy and his stroller, how could I not be proud, hahaha!!!

Getting BIG

Hadley is getting so big, well bigger meaning learning new things and doing new things, not really getting bigger in size. She's pretty mini but she's doing so many new things lately. The past week and a half she's been crawling. We had to put the gate up on the stairs because she moves around so much. She's also started to love food more and more. She's always tried to grab everything off us when we eat but I gave her some string cheese this week and she absolutely loved it. She just always wants more all the time, I think she would eat all day if she could. Not that you can tell though because she's so tiny, I think she's going to be petite like Sydney. She's had a little cold in her eye this past week too, one day it looked so sad, it was stuck shut, poor thing. She's such a lovely little girl, she's quite the Mommies girl though which I don't mind, it's lovely when she gives me cuddles. I feel so blessed to have this little princess as a part of our family. We all love her so much, some times too much when it comes to the kids attacking her but I guess it's better than them hating her and being mean. All my other kids have walked when they were 9-10 months so we'll see if she does the same, that's only a month a half away so I can't imagine it, I guess we'll see though. Anyway I just can't believe how much time has gone by since she was born and when I got pregnant. Looking back to when I had my miscarriage, it's amazing to think we have this little blessing with us now.