Backyard Fun

My kids love to be outside!  In fact, the last two days we have played outside all day.  Seriously, ALL day.  I do appreciate the tan that I am getting, but playing outside all day wears this momma out! 
I am personally not a big fan of sand.  I don't like to play in it, I don't like how it feels under my feet (unless I'm at the beach), and I most definitely don't like the mess it makes in my house (and I wonder why Kaden has sensory issues).  Grandma Sue has the mother of all sand piles at her house, and the kiddos love to play in it.  Especially Parker.  All four of them will spend hours playing in the sand, it must be the best form of entertainment for them.  Last summer we got a wooden play structure for our backyard.  When we got it, we (okay, I) decided not to put sand in the bottom of it for the above reasons.  Well, the past couple of weeks my kiddos have decided it would be fun to play in a pile of dirt in our backyard.  We have this spot in the yard that doesn't have any grass since it's where the pool always sits.  Our wonderful dog, Molly, decided she needed to dig a hole right in that spot.  The other day Lee filled the hole in and then the kids decided to play in the dirt he had just put in there.  Lee was at work, and it was one of those days where I just didn't care what they did, as long as they were happy, so I let them play to their hearts content.  A few days ago, they were pretty much out of loose dirt when Brett found the new buckets I had bought.  So, I had Lee go get 2 more buckets of dirt for them to play in, and they were four happy little people.  I figure clothes wash and so do little bodies, so why not let them play? 

You can see how small the pile of dirt is, but they played so good together!  They don't always play this nice when they are that close together, so that made it all even more worth it! 

This is their cousin Grace pointing out a worm to them.  Parker of course would have nothing to do with it, Kaden and Cooper wanted to look at it, and Brett picked up every worm he could find.  In fact, I found a couple worms in a different spot in the yard yesterday and showed them to Brett who picked them up and carried them over to the pile of dirt.  He's also the one that kills bugs and spiders for Parker and I.  LOL!

Cooper looking for worms

Brett (still wearing his coat even though it was warm out)

Kaden watching the dirt fall from his shovel to the bucket.  The kid likes to figure out how everything works!

Parker checking for worms in her shovel.  She found a couple and told Brett to "git em, Brett!"

I finally gave in and got some sand for our sandbox!  Needless to say, they were very happy!  Their smiles made it all worth it!  They spent 8 hours outside yesterday and 6 today playing, and most of that time was in the sand.  I had to MAKE them go in to eat!  I have swept my floors about 100 times in the last 2 days, but it is SO worth it!!!!

Drinking lemonade in their sandbox
Brett, Cooper, Kaden and Parker

Mmmmmm......Good!

Brett hanging out on the steps drinking his lemonade

This smile is why I am so happy I finally gave in and got them sand!

I even got sneaky enough to get a grin out of Parker!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture!  Cooper has developed a huge love for basketball the last few days.  He makes about half his shots and is so proud of himself!  I am too! 

Happy Kids!

Kaden has been sporting some rockin' outfits the last couple of days!  Yesterday he went from jeans and  a t-shirt to a t-shirt, underwear and his snow boots.  I didn't get the camera out soon enough to take a picture, so I was happy when he did the same thing today.  At some point yesterday, all four kids were outside with just t-shirts and underwear/diapers.  I guess they got hot, and I didn't feel like doing any more laundry so I just let it go.  We were just in our backyard, so it didn't really matter.

Striking his best handsome man pose for the camera.  He's such a stud!

I'm sure we have many more days of playing outside and digging in the sand ahead of us.  It will be interesting to see how much sand ends up in our pool this summer! 

Easter Eggs

We dyed Easter Eggs yesterday.  I didn't know how many to buy for them to color since I didn't know how many they would want to do, so I got 1 dozen for each of them.  I should have gotten more since everybody but Kaden wanted to do more.  They had a great time, and so did Lee and I! 
They all had a good lesson on patience, since Lee and I each did one egg with one kid at a time.  I wasn't up for cleaning up huge messes, so they just had to sit and watch when it wasn't their turn.  They did really good about waiting.  I was really proud of how good they did with the whole thing! 

Waiting for Mommy to bring out the eggs! 
Cooper, Parker, Kaden and Brett



Parker working hard on her egg.  She didn't like to put the whole thing in the dye. She just wanted to dip it.



Cooper waiting for his egg to be done.




Brett drying off one of his many yellow eggs.  (Yellow is his favorite color)




Kaden is very proud of his egg!



Kaden kept tearing the plastic that we had put on the table.  Good thing I put two layers on "just in case"



Parker dipping yet another pink egg!  The only color she really wanted to do was pink.  Such a girl!



Brett being silly



Cooper working hard on scooping out his egg




Brett was pretty proud of all his yellow eggs!




Cooper and all his awesome eggs!




This girl never smiles for pictures, but this time she had a smile ready for me before I even asked her to say cheese!




Kaden looks a little scary in this picture, but he was actually saying cheese!



Brett adding stickers to his eggs



I love the look of deep concentration on Kaden's face!  He always has his tongue sticking out when he is working on something!




Cooper putting stickers on his eggs



Parker working hard on trying to get the stickers to stay



This was probably my most favorite part of the whole afternoon!  Kaden worked in silence until each and every egg had a sticker right on top.  Once each egg had one, he was done.  So cute!!!!








We took the kids to the Easter Egg hunt at the mall this morning.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me ( I know, bad mommy!) My mom and sister did, so hopefully someday I can get pictures from them.  The kids had fun filling their buckets with all the candy that was laying on the floor!  They enjoyed the whole thing until we saw the Easter Bunny!  They didn't want anything to do with him!  We headed the other direction and everything was all good again.  Now all they can talk about is how the Easter Bunny was scary.  Poor kids! I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!





 





One last snow day (I hope)

A couple of weeks ago we were enjoying 70 degree weather, playing outside as much as we could, going for walks, and just plain enjoying a taste of spring.  Turns out, that’s all it was, just a taste.  *Sigh*

The last few days it has been cold and snowing off and on.  Not much, just enough to leave a little white stuff on the grass and make everything all wet and muddy again.  My kids don’t understand why we can’t go outside.  They want to go to the park, they want to swing, slide, and go for a walk.  I hear about it all the time.  Poor kids.  Well, now they have decided they want to play in the snow.  I am fine with playing in the snow, except that this snow is so incredibly wet and sloppy, that it’s not really that fun to play in.  Besides that, there isn’t really that much of it to even have fun in and it is cold outside.  Gosh, I love this Nebraska weather!  (Did you catch the sarcasm in that???)

Well, today was another snowy day.  We went to my mom and dad’s this morning, with the plan of staying most of the day and finding something fun for the kids to do.  After we got there, it started snowing like crazy, and it was actually sticking to the ground…alot.  So, we decided to go get ice cream just to get the kids out of the house for a while and then head back home.  It’s only about a 40 minute drive from my parents to our house, but it was snowing pretty good and the roads were kind of slick, so we decided we needed to get home before it got colder and dark.  That decision made for four very unhappy kids.  They were not happy with Lee and I when we got home, and to make matters worse, they had napped on the way home, so we knew they would be up late tonight.  So, what do you do when you have four kids that want are bored, crabby and have lots of energy on a cold, snowy day?  You go outside and play in the snow, of course! 

It was wet.  It was sloppy.  It was pretty darn cold.   But, the kids didn’t mind a bit!  Evidently they really needed to play outside!  They had a great time and played for almost 45 minutes.  Hopefully, this will be our last snow of the year (please, God, please!). 

                                    

                                               Parker

                                                    Brett                                                       Cooper

                                                Kaden

 

Brett showing me his cold hands.  He hates it when his hands get cold!                              Kaden throwing a snowball at me

                                         

Cooper

                                  Parker refusing to look at me

                             Cooper and Parker hard at work                                  Brett filling up his cup

The same kid that was freaking out about his cold hands five minutes ago, decided to take his coat off!      Parker still refusing to look at the camera, but doesn’t she look cute?     Cooper hanging out on the 4-wheeler We had a great time playing in the snow, but we are so ready for spring!  I am excited for the day when we can go outside without putting on coats, hats, mittens and boots! 

Heaven Is For Real

I just got done reading the book Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. If you haven’t read this book yet, do it!  It is awesome and really makes you think about where you are in your Faith.  In case you haven’t read the book, I am going to include the summary of the book that is written on the back of the book.

”When Colton Burpo made it through an emergency appendectomy, his family was overjoyed at his miraculous survival.  What they weren’t expecting, though, was the stroy that emerged in the months that followed-a story as beautiful as it was extraordinary, detailing their little boy’s trip to heaven and back. 

Colton, not yet four years old, told his parents he left his body druing the surgery-and authenticated that claim by describing exactly what his parents were doing in another part of the hospital while he was being operated on.  He talked of visiting heaven and relayed stories todl to him by people he met there whom he had never met in life, sharing events that happened even before he was born.  He also astonished his parents with descriptions and obscure details about heaven that matched the Bible exactly, though he had not yet learned to read.

With disarming innocence and plainspoken boldness of a child, Colton tells of meeting long-departed family members.  He describes Jesus, the angels, how “really, really big” God is, and how much God loves us.  Retold by his father, but using Colton’s uniquely simple words, Heaven Is for Real offers a glimpse of the world that awaits us, where as Colton says, “Nobody is old and nobody wears glasses.”

Heaven is for Real will forever change the way you think of eternity, offering the chance to see, and believe, like a child.”

One part of the book that has really touched me is when Colton talks about meeting his sister in Heaven.  Colton’s mom lost a baby before he was born.  Colton tells his mom that he met his big sister in Heaven, and even tells her what his sister looks like. He also says that his sister is okay, because God adoped her. His mom is overjoyed to learn that the baby they lost was a girl, and that she is in Heaven waiting for them.  When his mom asks him what his sisters name is, he says she doesn’t have one because they didn’t name her.  They didn’t name her because they didn’t know if the baby was a boy or a girl. 

The relief that this story gave to me was huge.  When I got pregnant with my kids, we started out with 5 babies.  We lost one of our babies around 8 weeks. I’ve always thought that my baby is in Heaven waiting for me, but for me, this book confirmed what I believe.  I have always wondered whether that baby is a boy or girl, what he/she would look like today, what he/she would act like and how our lives would be with another kiddo.  It’s amazing how even though I have never met that baby, I still miss him/her like crazy.  I think about her alot.  I am so excited to go to Heaven someday and meet my baby.  I know he or she is up there waiting with God for me to come and finally give him or her a name.  Lee and I have talked about naming that baby, but I always have a hard time deciding what name I would pick just because I don’t know if the baby was a boy or a girl.  Now I feel like someday I will have the chance to give the baby a name and I have the peace of knowing that until I do get there, my baby has been adopted by God and is happy waiting for me in Heaven.

What a day!

Today has been a challenge for me.  Parker started out the morning by throwing a huge fit over a blanket.  Are you kidding me?  A blanket!!!! The boys and I were playing a game, where they hid under the blanket and I would tickle them and scare them.  They thought it was hilarious!  I went in the kitchen to make myself some breakfast and Parker started melting down.  We’re talking big time melt down.  She was screaming, throwing herself on the floor, and banging her head on the floor (her favorite thing to do when she’s really mad!).  I couldn’t understand a word she was saying for about 10 minutes.  I finally realized she was mad because she wanted to lay on top of the blanket and the boys were underneath the blanket.  Oh my! 

I tried to get her to play with the boys, but she was having none of it.  I tried to get her to use a different blanket, but that didn’t work either.  Then I tried to get her to play other things with me, but she just wanted to lay on top of the darn blanket! 

Then she started hitting, kicking and trying to bite the boys.  So we spent the next 20 minutes in and out of time out, telling the boys “I’m sorry” and then getting mad all over again.  Lee was sleeping this whole time since he has to work tonight, so it was quite the struggle for this mama. 

I tried everything I could think of.  I finally just ignored her because I just couldn’t take it anymore.  After 45 minutes of all of this, I finally decided to wake Lee up so he could give me a break.  And what does the Little Princess do?  She stops throwing a fit!  Lee walked in the room and I sware, she was like, “Oh, daddy’s awake.  All is right in the world!”  That girl knows how to push my buttons!!!!!  I wonder what it will be like it 10 years?

The rest of the day went a little better.  They all four woke up a little earlier than normal, so they were a bit (ok, more than a bit) cranky all day.  At 530 Parker threw yet another fit, for no apparent reason.  I asked her what was wrong and she said, “I just wanna go night night, Mommy!”  Brett chimed in and said, “Me too!”  Poor kids were exhausted! 

I love my kids more than anything in this world, and wouldn’t trade my life for anything, but on days like this, it makes me really want to take a vacation!  Needless to say, we went to bed early, and boy was I happy when they all went to sleep without a fight!

It’s hard to believe that this sweet, angelic little girl can throw some major fits!

Tomorrow will be a better day!