Easter

We had such a fun Easter weekend! My sister, Melanie, was able to come and visit with her family and so it made it so much fun for the kids to see their cousins. Landon was so excited he begged to spend the night at Nana's house so that he would be there when the Stumpf's showed up late Friday night. Mackenzee was pretty bummed that I didn't let her do it too. :0)
Lucky for her, we went to Nana's house the next morning to greet everyone. My mom's ward was having an Easter Egg Hunt/Luncheon on Saturday afternoon and so we all went to party down over there. Mackenzee was one of the oldest in her age group I think and so she got quite a haul from the hunt in her area. I actually told her to stop picking them up towards the end so that way the littlest kids could have a chance. :0)

Landon got quite a few eggs himself. It helped that there were oodles of eggs and only a few kids in his age category to find all of them. :0) I think it was way more fun that way. The kids were so excited that they had their baskets full of sugary goodness.

Here are the kids showing off their full baskets. Of course, sharing IS caring and so I stole a few for myself. :0)

We were sad to learn that the older kids would not be able to hunt for eggs at the ward party, and since I just so happened to have lots of extra eggs already stuffed with yummy treats, I told Shelby and Jon that I would let them hunt for eggs at my mom's house. Stephen and I hid the eggs the best we could and let them go at it in a race to see who would find the most.

Jon got a little help from a certain 3 year old.....but even so, Shelby ended up with one more egg than him. :0)

After the hunting festivities were over, we broke out the hard boiled eggs and dye to color Easter eggs of our own. I think between the kits that I had bought, my sister bought, and my mom bought we had 5 or 6 different ones going on.

When you have this many people dying eggs, though....it sure makes it easier when there are so many cups of color to share.

We had oodles of beautiful eggs when we were done, but I must say that I was super proud of my sparkly camoflauge egg that I created. Isn't it wicked awesome?

My mom kept the fun going by having the girls help her bake and then frost a bunny cake.

I think the girls ended up eating more frosting than they actually put on the cake. It was rather yummy though.....

Shelby helped to put the finishing touches on the cake.

I thought it turned out pretty good...don't you think? It wasn't until after we took this picture that we realized the bunny was missing it's cute little pink nose......Oh well. The cake sure tasted good!

The Easter Bunny did make it to our house this year. The kids were thrilled to find all the little trinkets that were left for them.

The kids got all foofied up for church on Sunday. Landon looked so handsome in his white shirt and tie and Mackenzee was a doll in her cute little pink sailor dress. She was so in love with that hat and was sure she was just spectacularly amazing when she had it on. :0)

We went to church with my mom on Easter morning. As you can tell by the crooked ties, it was slightly windy outside that day. :0)

After church we went out to Jerome to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Burnham. Grandma had the kids do an Easter egg hunt at her house too.

Jeremy was more content to just sit outside in the sun. {BTW....he turned one last weekend! crazy isn't it?}

Breanna and Whitney.....

Kaden....

Gage.....

Of course, because I am a slacker mother and was trying to run around getting pictures of EVERYONE, I failed to nab an actual picture of Landon hunting for eggs.

Michael didn't quite take the time to grab a bag to hold his eggs. Lucky for him his dad didn't quite take the time to actually HIDE his eggs so he was able to find them all rather easily on the grass in the backyard. :0)

Poor Jordan had her Easter eggs hidden the hardest.....Seriously....just because you are older doesn't mean you have better hunting skills. :0) It took her a while to find all of them.

Apparently Grandma had filled two eggs with a $20 bill in each. One was labeled "Money egg older kids" and the other was "money egg younger kids". The older kids spent most of their time searching for their egg as Grandpa hid it in the middle of a bunch of tall weeds. After a little hinting Meghan ended up finding the older kids egg. The little kids egg was hidden quite a bit easier and it turned out the Mackenzee actually found it on her own. She was so excited!

Anyway, it was a fun-filled weekend full of family and good times. Thanks Nana and Grandma for helping us to whoop it up! :0)

Girl Weekend

This last weekend was for Girls ONLY. Of course this was not really chosen by us, but FOR us as Jaysen was off to Boise for a golf tournamet and Landon was with his dad Jeff. so, Kenzee and I were left home for three days together. What did Kenzee want to do? Puzzles, put on make-up, do stickers, go for a walk, go shopping, ride bikes....you get the idea. We were busy. Lots of fun girl shopping. We each got a new pair of soes for spring. Kenzee got a couple of new jersey skirts

and a couple of sassy new shirts. She was sure she was in heaven. We did go for a walk around the neighborhood on Saturday. Not too far though, her legs got tired kind of quickly and so we had to resort to using piggy back rides to get her home. :0) Puzzles are Mackenzee's new interest. She loves doing puzzles. She can do the 24 piece puzzles easy now, so I bought her a 100 piece cabbage patch kid puzzle to try out. She still has some work to go on that one. :0)

We decided that since Sunday was another fabulously gorgeous day, that we would take advantage of it and go out for a photo shoot after conference got over. Mackenzee loves to have her picture taken, and honestly, I love taking her picture. She's so adorable and I love capturing these moments on film.

Super Landon!

I have been having "one of those days" for a couple of weeks now. Life gets so crazy and hectic that it seems like I will never get caught up. Instead, my frustrations have overwhelmed me to the point where I just want to go to bed for a month and sleep it all off. You know?

Today was going to be a busy day. I hadn't been in to work for a week and I knew that my work was piling up on my desk {literally}. On top of that today was payroll and 1st quarter taxes needed to be taken care of. So, top of the list....log in some hours at work.

As today is the first day of the new month, it also means that it is the first day of the April menu. {don't ask....}I do my major grocery shopping at the beginning of each month and then fill in with the last minute items about once a week. Grocery shopping had to get done today because my cupboards were looking bare from using up everything last month. So, after work....off to the grocery store.

What? It's already 2:00 in the afternoon? I still have to put ALL of the groceries away, maybe I should eat some lunch, I should probably try to squeeze in a shower at this point too. Landon gets off the bus at 4:00. The Intermountain Gas guy apparently knocks on the door WHILE I am in the shower. Mackenzee apparently climbed IN the front windowsill to wave at him WHILE I was in the shower. Hurry through shower so that my daughter does not end up opening up the door for the strange man who apparently needs to talk to me. Run outside to find that he is marking the lawn with yellow paint for the guy who is installing the sprinkler system for us tomorrow.

Landon is home already? Grab the piano books, hop in the car....off to piano lessons we go. Halfway there Landon reminds me that we forgot to grab the videos we rented last week that are due TODAY. Sigh.

Run home, cook dinner, inhale dinner.....grab the movies so I can take them to the video store. Figure while I am out I should probably stop at Target to find the bday presents I will need for this weekend. Friend party...family party. Grab Landon to go with me so he can pick out the present for his friend.

Drive to Target first...oops! I meant to go the other way to drop the movies off first. Will have to take the long way home now. Get to Target...tell Landon we have to hurry so we can make it back home for bedtime. Grab the cart.....Landon says...

"MMmmmm....smells like popcorn." :0) And he giggles. I ask him if he wants some. He stops and looks at me shocked and wants to know if I'm serious.

SCREECH! What? Wait a minute. My son is with me at Target. He is actually ENJOYING going to the store with ME. AND...he knew that we were not going to be buying something for him. He was still happy....and he was giggling....and smiling....and he wanted to hang out with ME.

Of course we got some popcorn. AND a sprite. AND...I slowed down.

Why am I always in such a hurry? Why am I always looking ahead to the next item on my list of things to do? This morning as I was sitting at my work computer filing taxes {blech!} and feeling uber stressed one of my favorite songs came on. I listen to my playlist off of my blog at work, so I guess most of the songs I listen to are on my favorites list. BUT! The first song on the list is "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing". Anyway, the words, "Here's my heart....." made me stop for a minute. My other blog has recently referenced to my need for "water" but for some reason I was finding it difficult to find a source. I have felt tapped out and dried up offering my water to others.

ANYWAY....so tonight....my most amazing son and I....we have a most marvelous time. At Target. :0) We chatted about Bakugan, and Star Wars....Video Games, and honestly....even burps. I impersonated Darth Vader. Landon was impressed. :0) Did you know there is a new kind of Bakugan now that is a two in one? They are twice as powerful! AND....Target just happened to have two of them! One for Landon's friend and one for Landon. Lucky kid him! We wandered up and down the aisles looking at cute mom clothes and shoes, toddler toys, toothpaste, and even toilet paper. He did not complain once about shopping for the boring stuff and even suggested that I purchase a facial rejuvenator that he was sure would do wonders for me {because the commercial said so}. Just so you know....I splurged and bought it and my face feels wicked awesome. Landon even made sure we picked out some Dora toothpaste for Mackenzee because they were out of kid toothpaste. Did you also know that when people turn 16 they move out of their parents house and buy their own? I didn't know that. But apparently Landon has big plans to do this so that he can get away from Mackenzee. :0) Apparently it's a love/hate relationship.

After we dropped the movie off we stopped off at Artic Circle and went through the drive-thru window and go some ice cream. Did you know that you can make a killer ice cream mustache on your face if you smoosh your lips on the ice cream cone really hard? It's very rugged looking. :0)

We got home after bedtime. :0) But the best part of the whole evening was when he came to give me a hug goodnight and said, "Mom, thanks for EVERYTHING tonight."

You know Landon, it was all you. Thanks for wanting to hang with me. Thanks for giggling with me over the "Birthday POTTY" card. {get it?} Noah will love it. Thanks for helping me to find a present for baby Jeremy. Your vote of approval made it so much easier for me to decide. Thanks for thinking of your sister even while you had me all to yourself.

You are such an awesome kid. This is not the first time that you have somehow known that I needed a little extra boost. You have such a big heart and I am so glad that you have shared it with me. My cup may not be full, but the water you gave me tonight....made a world of difference. You are one of my bestest friends, Landon. You always have been. I hope you always will be.

Love you to the sky.

What do you see?

Landon was angry with me. I caught him and Mackenzee snuggling on the couch together the other day and hurried to grab my camera so that I could capture the moment. Mackenzee had laid out her pillow and her blankets and asked Landon if he would listen while she "read" stories to him. So, he had climbed on the couch and snuggled right up beside her. {PROUD mom moment here.}

However, when he saw my camera he quickly covered his face with the blanket. :0( What happened? All was going so well!

I'm a blogger. He knows it. He knows when I take pictures of him that they normally end up right here for all of you to see. It normally is not a problem. That day it was. Why? He was laying on a pink blanket, tucked under a pink blanket and he was sure that people would think he really LIKED the color pink. {heaven forbid!}

I looked at my oldest child, who holds one of the biggest pieces of my heart, and told him that he was SO wrong. I told him the people would see a picture of a little girl dressed in pink, with her pink pillow, and her pink blanket reading stories to her big brother, who was so awesome for taking the time to sit there with her.

I mean, what do you see?

I see a sister who completely adores her big brother. Who is so glad when he takes the time to be a part of her little world, as girly as it may be.

I see a brother who has such a good heart. Who, no matter how much of a pest she can be, will still let her be a part of his world.

Honestly, though I am quite partial, I think these are THE two cutest kids on the entire planet. Seriously.... :0)

Love you Landon. Thanks for letting me take the picture anyway. You are a sweet kid.

Pinewood Derby

Today was Landon's first EVER pinewood derby. He has been working on his car with his dad for over a month now and we just perfected it last night. :0)

The addition of Spiderman stickers was apparently a MUST. Sorry Perry! :0)

After weigh in, we found out that we were over the limit by .25 ounce. So, the drill came out holes had to be bored into the weights inside the car. Two weighs-ins and five holes later we were spot on and Landon's car was "officially" entered in the races.

Not too intimidating right? Chairs lined up alongside the steep downward slope of the racetrack.... :0)
Here are all of the boys {mostly} impatiently waiting for the races to begin. Cache, Reese, Brady, Landon, Davis, Brody, Paul, and the two new Hunzeker boys that I haven't been able to meet yet.
Thank you INSANELY SO to the cub scout and primary leaders who were brilliant as always. Mackenzee was elated to be able to build her own twinkie derby car and it kept her from freaking out over not having a derby car of her own. {Not that she had already done that several times this morning or anything...}

Landon lost his first race, won his second, and then lost his last race. I am so proud of him for being such a good sport and cheering on his friends as they won instead of pouting over his losses. In fact, all of the boys there were so good about the races and were so excited for their fellow cubs when they did well. Instead of a competition it was more of just a fun, good time for everyone. It was a really good Saturday morning.

Though there were awards for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places, the other boys received some form of award as well no matter if their car won or not. Grandpa Burnham will be proud to hear that Landon won for best overall paint job. All of the boys loved the shiny metallic red paint. :0)

This year's derby is now officially over. I'm sure that next year Jaysen will have plans on making Landon's car run faster down the track. He was already talking about what could have been the problem with this one.....something to with needing more graphite. :0) Whatever....

So glad you had such a fun morning Landon! I love you!

Nurse Mackenzee

I swear I was on my deathbed on Wednesday. I don't remember feeling that horrible in a VERY long time. Landon was at school and Jaysen was at work, which meant is was just me and Kenzee home, as usual. I could barely get out of bed. :0( It was yucky.

THANKFULLY, I had my own nursemaid to help me out. She brought me her Abby Cadabby blanket because she knew I was freezing. She was sure that she needed to bring me the "puke bowl". {For those of you not aware, this is simply a large plastic bowl that goes anywhere the sick-o in the house goes. I make my kids lay in their beds with their bowl. Cleaning up the mess is not fun, so if they take care of business in the bowl....it saves them and me the frustration} Kenzee brought me a bowl. :0) After the phone rang several times she went and got it for me so that I could just have it next to me. There was no way I was able to jump up and get the phone. She went and got me some crackers to eat and brought me a glass of water. She even went and found some story books and read them to me.

I'm telling you. I don't know that she could have done any better at helping me. She was so good all day {with a little help from Dora} and was so patient with her useless mommy.

Kenzee is such a fun, sweet girl. I'm so glad I have days like this to remember because honestly, there are some days when I wonder how I'm still alive as I try to deal with her stubbornness. :0)