The Gerbils

The highlight of spring break was by far the gerbils! We all enjoyed them. This was Emma's happy spot. She loved looking at the gerbils up close. She would reach in to touch them then pull her hand out right before she did touch them.

It was fun to see the babies grow from tiny hairless things to cute fuzzy babies walking around and eating Cheerios. 

Hours of free entertainment were had with these guys! We were sad to take them back to school.

The rest of Spring Break

We stayed in Lubbock the rest of spring break and had a pretty good time (although I admit by the end of the week I was ready for the kids to be back in school!!)

We had the traditional green pancakes and green milk on St. Patrick's day and then went to the museum with friends.

Brooke had a good time hanging out with her kindergarten buds and it was nice they had little brothers for Austin to play with.

 Wednesday

All that playing makes you tired... Austin fell asleep while shopping.

We went to the library to see the miniature train exhibit.

Austin found a lady bug in the backyard.

Thursday

We had a picnic at the park with a group of friends. It was really fun! 

That night was barbecued, roasted marshmallows and the kids camped out in the living room, They were so excited and I got to sleep in my own bed!

Friday we just played at home. It was a colder day so the kids didn't want to play outside, and they were tired. I was really wishing they were in school that day. :)

Spring Break Day One

Spring break day one we headed to Amarillo. We wanted to check out the zoo, a museum and the famous Cadillac ranch. 

We almost didn't go due to sickness. We have all had a cold with an annoying cough. A few of us (Brooke, Emma, Jake and me) also got pink eye. Kaylee, Austin and I also got ear infections. It's been a rough few weeks.

Our friends he Bradshaws and Domans came to the zoo with us. The kids had a blast. I wasn't too impressed with the zoo but it was free so I can't complain.

I thought Emma would enjoy the zoo more. She enjoyed being outside more than seeing the animals.

After a picnic lunch at a park (which the kids said was their favorite part of the whole trip) we headed to a museum. 

Our final stop was Cadillac ranch. These cars have been in the ground since 1974 and have many layers of paint. The kids were sad we didn't bring spray paint for them to use. There were several people painting while we were there.

One the way home Austin and Emma slept while the rest of us listened to Junie B. Jones and enjoyed the west Texas scenery. 

                     

Emma is ONE!!

Time seems to have flown by- my baby is ONE!  I had a little photo shoot of here in preparation for her big day. Prepare for a picture overload.

As I was taking pictures she suddenly just stood up. She'd never done that before. 

Emma loved her cake (a change from Austin who wouldn't touch his cake on his birthday.)

Mouth full...

After she made enough mess I salvaged the rest of the cake and let the rest of the kids have some.

Emma woke up happy on her birthday! She loved the balloons.

She got some fun presents. It's hard to know what to get for her. As the fourth child she doesn't really need toys, but she got some anyway. :)

Her favorite present by far was the wrapping paper. She couldn't get enough of it. Her siblings love the motorcycle. Austin, Brooke, and even Kaylee have been riding it around the house.

In the excitement of her big day Emma started walking.! She's done little steps here and there but never let go of furniture/hands and went off on her own before. She's getting pretty good.

We had our friends the Dormans over for dinner and cake and ice cream. Emma stuffed herself with pizza (she can really pack it in) so when it was time for cake she mostly just smashed it. I'm glad I did her pre-birthday cake pictures.

We sure love this sweet happy baby!

Fancy Date Night

Friday there was an awards banquet for Jake's program (financial planning) at school. We got to dress up and have dinner at the Lubbock Country Club. It's not too often we get all fancy so it was fun.

We sat by our friends the Dormans and enjoyed our expensive dinner. (I was actually disappointed in the food. It looked better than it tasted.) 

TV Free and other updates

A wonderful thing happened this week. We lost the remote control to our TV. Austin thinks it is tragic but I am glad. He really had become obsessed with watching TV. It's all he ever wanted to do. When I told him he couldn't watch TV he would whine, complain and cry about it for the next hour or more. If I needed to get things done I gave in. I gave in far too often.

Now that the remote is lost I just have to tell him he can't watch because we don't have a remote. He knows we can't find it and doesn't cry about it for as long. 

We have been TV free for 4 days now and Austin has been better about playing. He colored with Emma (he doesn't like me to take his picture), we read stories, played with cars, and has been using his imagination more. 

I knew we needed this break from TV and felt it even more as I was reading conference talks again. Tad R Callister shared the story about the mother who made her sons read instead of watching TV and the great influence that had in their lives. I'm happy for our lost remote (although I would like to find it eventually.)

Also this past week we got a keyboard and Kaylee started piano lessons. The kids keep turning on the music and having dance parties. Here is one spontaneous dance party (I think they are dancing to Taylor Swift Shake It Off.) 

Kaylee lost another tooth Thursday morning. Unfortunately the Tooth Fairy seemed to have forgotten to come (again.) When Kaylee checked the mail after school however she found a letter and money from the tooth fairy. 

The tooth fairy tried to come but Kaylee wasn't asleep yet. (She has a really hard time falling asleep at night. She lays there with her eyes open until she can't keep them open any longer, and she rocks back and forth to try and get to sleep.) The tooth fairy did come and pick up her tooth Friday night.

Winter again

We got another snow storm Thursday night. With the snow and ice they cancelled school on Friday. The girls were so excited for a snow day!

With daddy's encouragement Austin even went outside for a little bit.

He really wanted to play with his "ice sword" until he realized how cold it was.

We wanted Emma to play outside too but she had a fever and wasn't feeling well. She didn't want to put warm clothes on anyway.