Scott started soccer this past month. Soccer is really the only sport Scott loves and is excited to play, other than riding his bike and swimming.

 Somehow I ended up being the assistant coach. The coach was gone for a week and I had to handle this all boys soccer team for a practice and a game. by myself.  7-8 year old boys. 11 of them. Need I say more? lol I did have a ton of fun though, despite the boys climbing ontop of each others heads, running 2 miles away and wrestling each other to the ground.

 They played really good and won the first two games (not that anyone keeps score), but this past Saturday was another story. You could tell the boys on the other had played together a few years. The boys were chest bumping after each goal! After 10 or so goals their coach put all the forwards on defense and they were all mad....but still managed to score 5 more points with no forwards. So the game was 3 to 15. Horrible. Scott got his treat and hopped into the car and said, "That was a GREAT game!" lol

 As long as they are having fun right? :)

I know macaroni and cheese from the box isn't exactly organic or wholesome, but that didn't stop me from doing back flips when Ari finally decided to try some. She's 3 and has never tried one bite until now...and she LOVES it!

I am hopeful Jay doesn't have the same feeding woes Ari had. This kid hasn't tried anything yet he doesn't love. He gets ticked and wants more and more. He can eat an entire mango in one sitting. And still be mad he can't have more. 

Just after bath...such a sweetie

Just a funny picture of Ari. I have a white beaded necklace that she loves to wear, but she wears it as a headband. It's hilarious.

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday! We had a soccer game and then we came home and played outside and let the kids run around in the sprinklers.We decided to head up to the mountains for dinner and a fire. We grilled hamburgers, hung out by the fire and had smores of course.

It was a little dirty

 So nice to be back to the mountains! I'm going to try to get up to the mountains with the kids every week this summer. There are tons of hikes and places to wander around. That's the goal at least :) We'll see

I love Hailey. Last week I told Hailey if she heard Jay get up she could go ahead and go in there because it was time for him to be up. So I walk into the living room and Hailey says, "Jay got up so I had to stop everything I was doing and get him, and he pooped so I changed his diaper but I can't get the new one on right"

Huh? I looked over and there was Jay laying on the rug, dirty diaper and wipes laying off to the side with a new diaper on and big smile on his face.  And his parts were completely clean and an adult couldn't have done it better....Hailey is so funny! Often times she will get him out of his bed and change him out of his pajamas and into an outfit and sit him in his little chair. I will go to get him and there he will be, fully dressed playing with some toys. I trust her completely and she's only 5. I've never seen anything like it. Jay loves her. He stares at her constantly just waiting for her to look at him so he can smile at her. She also digs into the baby clothes and doll bin and has every stuffed animal she owns in a cute little cozy outfit and carries them around like they are her babies. She just has that nurturing side in her innate. It's absolutely amazing. 

I love Scott. He's growing up. He started soccer and their first practice was when Kevin and I both were going to be gone, but I still wanted him to be able to go to meet his team. After a  discussion between Scott, Kevin and I we decided he was responsible enough to ride his bike. I rode my bike over with him to his practice at his elementary school which is just 3/4 a mile from our house and then I left him there with his bike. I had that nasty pit in my stomach the whole time and it stayed until I got the text from the sitter that he had just walked in the door 5 minutes after practice. He loved it. He wants to ride to every practice and school too. I'm not there yet. I told Kevin it's really hard to differentiate as a mother if you are getting that feeling because it's a prompting of danger, or because you are just not quite ready to let go. I'm working on it. He is growing up. 

Funny story: We were talking the other day about how he needs to be just as obedient with us as he is his teacher and how he would always do everything his teacher said and never tell her no. He said, "Yeah but there is one time I can't. When I tell Ms. Jensen I have to go to the bathroom and she says, 'Hurry back' if it's number 2 I can't hurry.'"  He actually felt bad he didn't listen to her and took a long time. We had to tell him that was okay in that situation. :) lol

I love Arianna. She is at that perfect age right now where everything is magical in her little head. She has such an imagination and just makes us laugh at some of the things she says.  She got this book in her Easter basket about the alphabet going to bed. The capital letters are the parents and the lower case are the kids who don't want to go to bed...like "b still has to take a bath" "t needs his teady bear" etc. Every time we get to the page about h standing on his head and j jumping on the bed she gets a huge grin on her face and looks over at me serious as can be and says, "I wish they could come to my house....I wish J could come to MY house." It is so sweet. 

I love Jay. The poor kid has to put up with me giving him at least 10,000 kisses a day...so I feel bad about that. I just can't help it he is the cutest thing on the planet. He's not saying silly things yet, but he just got his 2 teeth so I know it's just a matter of time. :)

Cutie pie Jay 

I love these jammies. I made them for Scott when I was in a children's sewing class and they fit so tight and adorable. Just as cute on Jay as they were on Scott.

I never saw babies just lay in the tub (without a seat or something) until my sister Brooke did it, but if you put just a little bit of water in the bottom they can lay by themselves and kick and splash. Jay had the best time! He did NOT want to get out!

Jay got his first tooth on April 8th and his second tooth on the 11th...both on the bottom :)

 

The 11th was also my 29th birthday. One more year and I will be in the 30s with Kevin....and then I can no longer make fun of him so it will be a sad day lol

I had a wonderful birthday and Kevin really went out of his way to make it a special day for me!

He took off work so that I could go to lunch with a friend and go get a massage :) He also got a babysitter and we went out to dinner and then came back to do cake and presents with the kids.

Since this has been a surprise to my sisters, just know that Kevin makes my birthday cakes every year and this year I wanted him to make my favorite- texas sheet cake :)

One funny little story though our first year of marriage...so we would have been married 2 months is all and Kevin was working 2 jobs and in school. He told me he was going to make me a cake but obviously didn't have time. I had a break and came home and walked into my apartment to catch his best friend Tim red handed putting a birthday cake on the table. lol He talked Tim into making it for me and gave him the key to sneak it into our apartment, but he got caught. That story makes me smile. He went through a lot of effort to get me a homemade cake and has ever since :)

Ever since we moved into this house and the kids and I have a craft/sewing room I have had the idea of doing a pegboard to hang ribbon, wrapping paper, sewing supplies, etc. on. So Kevin made me one for my birthday! When he was bringing it in I said, "I don't remember us talking about it being that big..." He said, "Well it's my present so I will do it how I want to" :)

My work has just begun with it and now I need to decide what all I want to be hung on it...but I've already got some baskets and hooks and I'm ready to get to work as soon as I have a free minute. I picked out this fun bright blue and Kevin painted the frame for me, so I will post a picture when its all done. I'm secretly happy he made it twice the size I said and I'm super excited!

I really just had the best birthday ever!

 I had to add this cute picture Hailey drew of our family. I love it. She left me little notes all over the house as she is known for

 

We had spring break last week and Kevin even took the week off to play with us and get some house and truck projects done. We decided to go down to Salt Lake City and spend a few days. Wednesday we headed down to Lehi to the dinosaur museum.

The kids loved it, but I was pretty impressed myself! They have 60 complete dinosaur bones which is more than any museum in the WORLD! I was amazed. Coolest place!

They also had this shark and I told Ari to scream and act scared that the shark was going to eat her. This is the face she does....not going to scare off any sharks that's for sure! She's just too sweet :)

 We ate at Inn n Out burger, went to Ikea and just had a blast hanging out around Lehi, Sandy area and then we spent the night at a hotel in Sandy and swam that night in the indoor pool.

We got up Thursday morning and went to Denny's for breakfast and then headed to the Hogle Zoo. (Along with every other family in Utah apparently). We saw the long lines and paid parking and wanted to change our minds, but the kids were already sooooo excited to go, so we had to follow through.

 It really was worse than Disneyland....a line to see each animal. We miss our zoo we had in Springfield- so much fun and never crowded.

 Hailey just wanted to see the giraffes. They were her favorite for sure. She took my camera and was taking pictures of them.

 There was even this cute baby giraffe. Ari just told me the giraffe was her favorite "amimal" too :)

 Scott just wanted to see the snakes. He is crazy over snakes! Almost every book he brings home from school is about snakes. If only his Mom would get him one for a pet....now that would take some major persuasion right there!

We stayed til about 2:30 or so and went up to "this is the place" monument but the kids were pretty wiped and so were we. We went and got some treats at the gas station and headed home, of course stopping by Target on the way. 

It was a fun few days. We spent the rest of Spring Break playing outside, riding bikes, doing yard work, and Kevin doing the brakes and rotors on the Toyota.

Then today we woke up to snow. Wonderful.

Everybody has outgrown their bikes...

Scott got his first mountain bike! He is obsessed and wants to ride constantly. Over spring break we rode to the grocery store and to the library and it's just been really fun to ride with him!

 My boy is growing up!

 Dad let them pick out their own bikes, so of course Hailey wanted this pink barbie one.

It has a little backpack that she takes off the bike and puts on to collect things, then hops on her bike and puts it back on the handle bars.

 And Ari has outgrown her trike and got Hailey's hand-me down bike...and a new bike horn to go with it :)

 So happy

They pretty much ride every day. We live so close to everything it's going to be really fun in the summertime running all our errands via bike :)

This little guy is 6 months old already!

 25 3/8 inches tall and

15 pounds 8 ounces

Last week we went to a park and he got to go in the swing for the first time. I was barely pushing him, but he was still giggling and loving it! 

He also got his first sippy cup. I always introduced it with the others at 6 months because it takes a while to get the hang of, but not with Jay. He grabbed it out of my hand and started chugging lol. I have been giving him 2 oz prune juice each day to help him with his digestive problems.

Kevin thought this picture was funny because he said it's classic Jay...screaming all the time. That's not true though. He's a pretty happy boy, he just likes to eat solid food and isn't very patient. 

Aunt Brooke bought this sweater for Scott when he was a baby and it looks equally adorable on Jay :)

LOVE this sweet boy!

 Other happenings at 6 months: 

Eating solids 2-3 times a day....sometimes he's too tired for dinner

Mastered sitting up

Rolls over and loves to sleep on his side with his hands clasped together

Jay loves his siblings, especially his second mommy aka Hailey

He also loves bath time/splashing around, being outside/taking walks, and reading books (and eating them)