First day of School

It's official all the kids have started school. It has been bitter sweet to see them go, we have had a very long and fun summer and I was a little sad not to have them home. Olivia started 6Th grade, which seem crazy to me because I totally remember what it was like to be in 6Th grade. Cade 3rd grade and he wants to do every thing on his own, I asked him the night before what he wanted to wear to school and he replied Mom, I will randomly pick out something, I don't want to plan it.
My sweet, sweet Halle started Kindergarden, I can't tell you how excited she was to go. Olivia has her lunch at the same time that Halle starts so she waited outside for us to walk her little sister in, WHAT A GREAT BIG SISTER!!! and Last but not least Addison started school yesterday. So, as excited I was to finally have some peace and quiet, I have really missed the chaos that is my life.
There is nothing I treasure more than my little kids.

There was almost a FIRE on Easter

We had quite the exciting morning. The Easter bunny comes to our house and hides all the Easter baskets and he hid Olivia's basket in the oven and can you believe that he did not tell me or leave me a note to where that darn basket was. So, as I got up this morning and was getting breakfast ready I turned ON the oven to make my fabulous Easter breakfast, I ran upstairs to start doing the girl's hair, when I hear my mom yelling "there is a fire in the oven", I ran downstairs and saw her pull Olivia's Easter basket out of the oven all melted and all the gifts that the Easter bunny had thoughtfully picked out burned and destroyed. As, you could imagine I was a little mad at the you know who, But I was quickly reminded that it could of been a lot worse and that the Easter Bunny had big budget and I could replace whatever was damaged.
So my family came up for breakfast and some conference, some games and a little Easter egg hunt that Cade had put together for all the kids. We had such a great time and It's so fun just to hang with such an amazing family. My cute mom got the kids more candy and a basket with cute pajamas, perfume and a basketball hoop for Cade.

Next we were off to Jeff's parents where we ate some more fabulous food and some more Easter egg hunting, Grandma knows that the kids get way too much candy that she fills the eggs with dollar bills and coins. The kids absolutely love it!!! and they ended up with about $25 dollars so they are so excited to spend that money.
Thank you LaRae for all that you do, we truly appreciate you.

Our Staycation

The kids have been off track for the past 5 weeks, So I made Jeff take a week of works so we could go on a vacation but rather than going somewhere super warm and tropical, We decided to stay home and support our local economy.
Monday we went took the girls to color me mine and they painted pottery, it was fun then we went to lunch to Chick Fillet and then we took the kids to Alvin and the Chipmunks, Addison got the stomach flu so I took her home and when I pulled into the garage she started dry heaving, we were home for about two min. before she started barfing (It was awesome!! I don't know how I was the one that got stuck leaving the movie with her)
Tuesday we took the kid's to lunch to one of our favorite restaurants Salsaleedos, Cade was not excited and said he would stay home because he didn't eat crap like that, If is not McDonald's or Chick Fillet, It's crap go figure. Anyway he had a great lunch and to his surprise he found a hot dog on the menu, then we were off to the nickle Arcade, I think Jeff had more fun then the kids cause I couldn't drag him out. Our last stop Hollywood Connection, Addison has been begging to go miniature golfing, we thought she would have so much fun but as soon as we started, she threw her club on the ground and was running all over the place stealing all of our balls, then she was running like a wild child climbing all the props.
Wednesday we went to the movies saw The Spy next door, cute show then we were off to Chuckie Cheese for pizza and games,I got a little sick from eating fist fulls of popcorn, candy, pizza and then cotton candy. After that we took the kids to the Dollar store so they could buy more toys or as I like to call it more crap to through around the house. As you can see for our little staycation it has been a lot of fun. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Merry Christmas

My Pictures are out of order, I can't figure how to drag them down. Sorry!!! Olivia and Alexx taking some random pictures, how cute are they??

Olivia with Sadie

We buy the kids Jammie's and they get to wear them on Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas!! Seems like this year flew by. Our festivities started with breakfast at my house, it also happens to be Alexx birthday so it's fun to get together and celebrate her birthday. That night we were off to the Almond family party, lots of food, fun and games.

In the morning we went to The Almond's for some breakfast, presents and our traditional morning of bingo, It was so much fun. Came home changed, then went to Husi's for Christmas dinner, she outdid herself, the tables looked so cute and festive and her house looked great and they made prime rib, it was so good!!! We love that we have our families so close that we are able to be together and create so many fun memories.

What I'm Thankful for

I know we had Thanksgiving last week but I wanted to acknowledge all that I'm thankful for. I'm so happy that I have the gospel in my life and all the peace it brings to my life, It's so simple. I'm so happy to know that families can be together forever, that no matter when we pass at the end we will be together, how wonderful is that?

Thanksgiving was Papi's favorite Holiday and It was sad not having him at the table and eating his delicious turkey and then 2 days later was his birthday, so this week was extra hard, but we made it and feel so lucky to have each other.

My wonderful family, the opportunity that I have to be a wife and mother, as I look into those little faces, I know what my purpose is. My wonderful mom that has taught me so much about strength and courage and even though we fall we just pick ourselves up and dust off and try again. My sister's and my brother, the dear friends they are to me and I know they would do anything for me as I would for them. I have been blessed with wonderful friends and family and I can go on and on with how thankful I am. I often wonder what my life would have been like if my parents didn't make the journey, here for us. I know that they made that huge sacrifice just for us and I'm so thankful!!!

CADE'S BAPTISM

Our Octobers are always so busy with lots of birthdays and lots of get together's. This year is no exception we got an added bonus, Cade got baptized on Halloween yes, October 31, he will never forget that date. It was a bitter sweet day, we were so happy that Cade was able to be baptized, we were also so sad that we lost our papi and he wasn't front and center like usual. but I know that he was there in spirit and was so proud of Cade.

NEW YORK

Jeff and I had the opportunity to go to New York for five days and we had the best time ever!!! We went with Nikky and Josh. We did so many fun things. We went to 3 Broadway shows, Avenue Q, Phantom of the Opera and Next to Normal, all were fabulous!!! We went to the Rockefeller Square, We went to a Yankees game and it was so fun to see the new stadium, Dave Letterman and we did the City tour on a double Decker bus and Of course a little shopping. We all love to eat, we hit some awesome restaurants. Can't wait to go again. Thanks for all the laughs and good times Nikky and Josh!!!