Wow, that was a quick week!

We had a nice Easter this year, and the weather cooperated, at least for one day!   Jason was unhappy about the bright sunlight, so this was the best we could do of the littles in their Easter duds.

A rare guest appearance by one of the teenagers, with food in his mouth (of course).   Didn't manage to get a shot of all of us this year.   Kids are hard to wrangle when they are hungry.  ;)

We had a fun spring break.  We love the beach, and often go during spring break, but we decided to do a closer, shorter trip this year to save some money.  

So, our road trip this year was to Southern Utah.  We stayed at a condo in St. George and did some sight seeing.  

These photos are not from Bryce Canyon or Zion National Park.   These were taken in Snow Canyon State Park.  I would highly recommend it if you are in the area.  Snow Canyon was like a "mini Zion Park."  Much smaller, much easier to navigate, and still had some very cool things to see and do.  

 The red sand was awesome. 

We had heard that the sand dunes at Snow Canyon are amazing and lots of fun for the kids.  They did not disappoint.

 They stretched on and on...

And of course, the older boys thought it would be great fun to bury each other in the sand.  

Sarah also insisted on being buried in the sand.  (this is her new
"camera smile", which ends up looking like she's mad or in pain!  Sigh ;) 

We also visited several really fun parks...

and a dinosaur track museum (these tracks were found in 2004-- very cool!) Another great "camera smile" from Miss Sarah!  ;)


So we're home again, safe and sound.  And I spent several hours today cleaning and vacuuming our van.  That "awesome red dirt" was everywhere.  It has a very fine texture-- finer than beach sand. I'm still finding it in the bath tub (from the kids' hair!) and in my dryer lint catcher!  
It's the souvenir that keeps on giving.  ;)
Hope you all had a great spring break!

Birthday bash!

Five is a big deal.  Sarah has been talking about her birthday, and her party.... for weeks.  How many more days?  Can we go get the invitations today?  When can we get the pinata?  When can we deliver the invitations?  You get the idea.  

She has been really into Mulan lately, and can sing all the songs from the movies.  So a Mulan cake was in order.  I have a talented friend who makes amazing cakes, and this one definitely did not disappoint.  It was beautiful.  

Sarah was thrilled with her cake.  She also couldn't help noticing that Mulan has "kind of a big butt."  (the child has four older brothers and is ever observant-- sometimes at the most awkward moments.  Sigh.)

 My not-so-shy child being a little bashful during the "Happy birthday" song.

Grandma and Grandpa W came to help us celebrate.  It was a good day!
On Saturday we had a friend party.   We don't do "friend parties" for every child every year-- and this was Sarah's first.  We rented out our city center's gym (it's an old school) and I'm so glad we did.  We were able to invite a lot of kids and use all facilities.  The kids loved the parachute (I'm trying not to show a lot of group shots for privacy reasons).

 And the pinata...

And the best part-- the bouncy slide and castle.  Lots of fun.

 Happy birthday, Sarah!  Five sure looks good on you!  :)

March madness

We've had a short "sports reprieve" lately.  Basketball has finished up, and I think there was a week or two where we weren't running one of the boys to a practice or a game.  But it didn't last long.   

Justin is playing varsity soccer this year (Woo hoo!  Go Lions!) and the games have already started.  Evan is playing J.V. tennis, and Logan's spring soccer season is starting soon.   Aaaack!  

Oh, well.  I do love to watch them play.  Let's just say I feel like I've had a successful day if I get everyone where they need to be and/or don't forget to pick anyone up!  haha  Fortunately Justin drives and can sometimes help with the taxi service.  

In all honesty, I've been feeling a bit uninspired lately.  We're busy, but there's just not much that is "blog worthy."  And we've been struggling with some winter blahs at home.  The kids have been increasingly "on edge" and downright ornery with each other (and with mom and dad at times, too).  

We felt like we needed to "up the ante" a little bit with a new reward system.  (I've noticed some other bloggers that I follow have been doing similar things.  Must be a March thing.)  Anyway, so I have instituted (and tweaked) one of my tried and true teacher techniques-- the marble jar.   The three younger kids each picked out a special cup to fill up with pom poms (aka warm fuzzies).  They get to add a warm fuzzy to their cups when they are obedient, helpful, or kind.  

{Insert "angelic chorus"}  This has been helping a lot.  I decided that the cups were a little large, so we put smaller clear cups inside so it won't take quite as long to fill them up.  I told the kids they could have a special surprise when their cups were filled.  The special surprise will most likely entail a trip to the Dollar Store.  ;)

Now if I could only find something that was this quick, easy, and motivating with my teen boys!!   But that's a whole other ball of wax.  ;)