mothers day

I was talking with a friend recently about some things I’ve been struggling with lately and I was reminded how much my kids need me and I need them. And that if I throw myself into mothering them with all my heart I will find great purpose and so much joy. 

Women who nurture, care, support, and encourage are mothering. I am grateful I get the chance to be mother to these amazing five. It brings me deep joy. And I’m grateful to all the women around me who mother me by their examples and friendship and love. 

My kids made me feel loved with all of their cards and gifts on Mother’s Day morning. And then they indulged me with a dance party in the evening. They are the best kids I could ever dream of. 

Marvel marathon

We were all a little excited for Marvel’s Endgame to come out. About two weeks before it was released Kyler and I decided it would be fun to rewatch all of the previous 21 movies in chronological order before we went to see Endgame. That would be 59 hours of movie watching. Ha!

We made the list of movies (this is it after two weeks of laying on our counter and getting spilt on and ripped) and gathered and borrowed the ones we couldn’t find on amazon prime or Netflix from friends.

Then for two weeks straight we had a Marvel movie on at our house pretty much constantly (when Kyler was home). Let me just tell you that Perry loved this! By the end of two weeks I was over having the tv on and ready to just go watch Endgame already, even though we didn’t quite make it through all of them. We got close but we skipped Guardians and a few others (like Antman and Wasp) that we had seen in the theaters most recently. I was pretty amazed that we watched 15 of them at home.

I’m not sure I’d ever want to do it again, but it was a blast to plow through them one after another. And a good reminder of all the details that led up to Endgame so I’m glad we did it.

The boys had youth conference the weekend the movie came out and Eric was out of town. But the boys and I decided to hit the movie theater Saturday at 10 o’clock at night right after I picked them up from YC. We gathered up some other teenage boys, too, and watched Endgame until 1am. We loved it!

outside in may

We have had such beautiful weather here this month. I keep expecting it to be hot and miserable, but the nights are perfect and even many of our days have been cloudy, windy and cool. So we take advantage of this as much as we can.

And sometimes that means putting on brother’s batting helmet to ride a bike in the afternoon. (Thank you, Layla)

Most mornings Brinns and I go park hopping. I run and walk with her to different parks in the neighborhood. We play for a few minutes and then run to the next one.

Kacin is back to weekly allergy shots. We always choose to sit outside in the courtyard while we wait. It’s a pretty little place. Brinna loves the rocks and Layla loves bringing snacks when she comes.

Kyler came with me this week when the girls in the back seat had music theater class.

The weather was perfect and windy and so we walked the nearby nature preserve. (Though Kyler only lasted 15 minutes with me before he begged to sit at the library to look at his yearbook. I’ll take what I can get.)

I went hiking with a friend one morning.

Layla spends much of her evenings in the backyard looking for bugs. I came across this grave she made. “No stepping on it. Caterpillar dead. From Layla. Please!”

It’s been warm enough to jump into the pool a couple of times, but I’m really just so grateful for every chance we get to still be outside before it becomes unbearable in the summer.

He went Hulk on me

I want to be careful here because Perry is an amazing, sweet, incredibly special kid and I want to make sure he knows that always. But I also want to be real and stuff like this happens every single day and requires a lot of energy, time, flexibility, dividing and conquering, and planning on our family’s part. The triggers aren’t always the same and are probably a combination of a lot of different things so life is unpredictable. Eric has been traveling a lot lately and that feels like it throws things off a bit. So Perry’s daily tantrums are a bit bigger than normal and result in me removing him to his room. At this point, the only things he has in his room are a bed, blankets, pillow, and some clothes.

I find it quite comparable to Hulk when he loses it. While his self control is developing and the tantrums aren’t as long as they used to be, when he loses it there is no reasoning with him and everything in his path is at risk. Including his shirts. Which we go through like disposable goods. 

And then just as quickly as he appeared, the Hulk leaves and Perry is the sweetest little boy ever. He gives me the best cuddles and talks about movies and friends at school. He loves to play Uno and go swimming. He has the cutest vocabulary and surprises us with new words all the time. He is happy and gentle with his baby sister.

saguaro lake

I was itching to get out and go on an adventure. Thank goodness for beautiful places like this nearby.

 

And I’m even more grateful for these wonderful ladies who could get away to come with me for the day. They are the best!

After some struggle with tie down straps (we learned we have much to learn about using those things-ha!) we found a way to put three kid kayaks and a floating mat inside a mini van. Then we were off to Saguaro lake. We kayaked over to the rock for jumping. I couldn’t leave without making the jump at least once. So I did. 

Then we spent the rest of our time eating lunch, talking, and swimming in the water.








I love this beautiful world we live in and my heart loved every second of that day to get away and breathe it in with these good friends. (Hopefully I’ll get my family here soon, too.)

Easter

Easter weekend began with an egg hunt at the park with cousins.

Brinnie quickly learned that candy was inside those eggs.

We had some fun with confetti eggs, too.

And these girlies did some crafts.

That afternoon we dyed our Easter eggs. 

Perry went to town on those eggs and would’ve dyed every single one himself if we didn’t guard, protect, and fight him for the ones we did for the other kids to use.

B wasn’t sure about this activity in which she couldn’t climb on the table.

E calmed her down with a magic trick. He put the egg down her shirt and then would sneak it into his hand when it fell out and then pretend to pull it from her ear. She wanted him to do it again and again.

Sunday morning we stopped at the top of the stairs and watched an Easter video before heading down to look at the Easter baskets.

Then we went outside for a quick egg hunt before church.

I’m kind of regretting that I didn’t brush her hair before we went outside. Wild and free, I guess. Or just a ragamuffin.

This was on purpose. A fun game for any almost two year old.

She cleaned up nicely for church.

We had the missionaries over for dinner and we were grateful they shared with us their stories of how they developed their testimonies. And then it was time for everyone’s favorite Easter tradition—the egg smash.

We went to the park across the street to toss and smash those eggs to bits.

Happy Easter!