Boys, Boys, and More Boys!

Brandon doing Elaine's funky chicken dance

Ethan and Brandon
Brandon, Ethan, and Benjamin
Benjamin and Brandon

Ethan on the new swings!

Almost Summer Fun!

Little B
Ebone
Summer Fun

Maddie

Benj

Friends---A good thing!

Angie

Daw-Suwan

The boys

More of the Muckdogs!

Hitting the Imaginary Ball with the Imaginary Bat!
Ethan in his uniform!

The Carnival!

Brandon had a school carnival tonight; so we got a babysitter for the other children and took Ethan and Brandon to the carnival. They had a great time as you can see!

Brothers!
Spiderman!
Ethan's Hair Painted!
More of the brothers!

Garage Sale Find!

I am such a garage sale junkie. I was so excited, I hit the jackpot today. I found an outdoor patio set that I have wanted! It is great and perfect for our backyard! We just need to buy an umbrella-luckily Target had them for $50! Now I can relax comfortably and sit as the kids play! Yeah! I love a great deal!

Campfire with Papa!

The children loved wrestling and playing with Papa! After putting the babies to bed, Brandon, Ethan, and us adults enjoyed the campfire and marshmallows! Then the boys put out the fire with their supersoakers! It was a fun evening!
Playing with the Babies!

Roasting Marshmallows!

Waterfight!

Our Own Harry Potter!

Papa lent Ethan his reading glasses. We definately saw a little Harry Potter!

Wednesday Field Trips

Just for anyone who may be interested, a friend and I are starting a Wednesday Field Trip day so that we can get out and let the kids have some fun opportunities! Many times these Field Trips may be to the park or for a picnic; other times we may go to the Zoo, Thanksgiving Point, or other locations. If you have suggested places--please let me know, if you want in, just give me a call or shoot me an email. Everyone is invited---it is an open invitation!

IKEA----5 STARS

I could not be more thrilled. The big blue IKEA warehouse is opening to a location near me SOOOOOOON! It is practically right down the street from me--well sorta'! Besides the fabulous purchase options, great prices, and warehouse fun (which I tend to love--example:costco), they also offer free babysitting for an hour. Wow! I don't think they had families like us in mind when they offered this service. I can see many a date night at the Ikea! An hour is still an hour; and when sanity is at risk--an hour can make all the difference in the world. Ikea might become my new hang out! I may be able to go to their Friends & Family pre-opening! You would think I had won the Olympics at the excitement I feel at this opportunity. Yes, my life clearly is about the small joys of life! In a couple years, I am planning on having more of a life filled with true excitement; so stay tuned; hopefully this won't always be a Mommy Brag Blog! There is hope for the future!

Papa's in Town!

Father and Son

Ethan at his first game!

Benjamin

My Man!

Luckily for our family, Papa is in town on business for a couple days; so we got to spend a little time with him tonight. We went to Ethan's first T-ball game; it was amusing to watch all the kids not really having a clue what to do. Ethan did hit the ball when he was up at bat; so I guess he is gaining some skills. Here is my husband Brandon with his Dad.

Easter Outfits Collage

My Costco Collage

I just tried out this AWESOME program that you can download free from Costco.com (from their photo area)--it gives you templates with which you can place a variety of pics and then print them at home or Costco. I just printed this collage at home. It was easy, fun to use, and fabulous. Just one more reason to love Costco; as if you needed any more reasons! You can just click on the images if you want to see them bigger! Isn't it so great? Just head to Costco.com. I think in the future my life will be photo collages since I am such a photo fiend!

For those who know me well, you know I just cannot resist a deal. My sister-in-law Jennifer, made me aware of the Children's Place deals about a week ago. All the matching sweater vests were found there for $4.99 each. I also got Maddie's precious brown dress for $4.99, matching sweater for $4.99, and her cute little hat was $3.99. With five kids it's all about the deals! It is amazing to find matching sweaters for four boys in such a range of sizes! I guess it paid off to postpone our Easter; due to sickness! All the deals came after Easter of course! I also got 4 matching blazers (seersucker) for the boys (also at $4.99 each) which they will wear at Dylan's temple sealing in about a month. I can hardly wait for that! What fun! It's nice to have things to look forward to.

Maddie Sue

Since we were all so sick over Easter, their cute Easter outfits were delayed. I am just so in love with little girls dresses; and this one was just too cute. Maddie in it? To die for! My little girl is just the cutest, little, petite thing. I love her skin; so beautiful, and her smile; divine! OK, I am a gushing, cheezy Mom! I can live with that!

Bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles!

Upon the commendation of my cousin Kate (from her blog), we also decided to purchase this bubble making machine from Costco. It took us a little while to figure out how to get it to work, but the children and I sure enjoyed the multiplicity of bubbles coming out. I have to say, there is something about bubbles that just makes me feel like a little girl again. Look at the size of some of these bubbles! All the children just loved it; I believe we will be getting a lot of use out of it as the kids just couldn't get enough of it. The hard part of it was trying to keep the kids away long enough to let some of the bubbles "escape" from immediate destruction from their slapping hands.

I see a resemblance-------do you?

These are pics of my Mom as a little girl, and little Brandon. Something in their eyes is the same. I see some major similarities! Isn't it wild? Wasn't my Mom just the cutest, little girl? I think she was just the cutest thing ever. That is why my little Brandon is such a handsome manchild!

Let's get it started!

Joshua

Brandon

Benjamin

Ethan

The Pinata

I loved these funny party shots!

The Party

Simon Says

More Simon Says

Tying up the "bad guy" (My Dad)

About to Eat Cake

Ethan and his Cake!

For Ethan's birthday party; we had the kids participate in Superhero Training; I know you will be happy to know they all "graduated" and are current superheroes! Some of the activities included Simon Says (to check out their super-listening skills), spraying bad guys with silly string, tying up "bad guys", etc. Here are some funny pics I had to post of Ethan's party!