Spring Time II

As often happens, I am very far behind on blogging. Here is some what we have been up to:

Our Amateur Garden

We (meaning Kent) planted a garden. Last year we tried pumpkins, and harvested two. This year we are being a bit more ambitious. We planted tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, watermelon, and a whole row of raspberries.

These are special raspberries, we were given the starts by some wonderful people I have gotten to know at work. These raspberries bear fruit twice a year, in the spring and in the fall, and they grow quickly. We will have some fruit this fall, in two years we should have lots!

All that was planted at the time this picture was taken were the raspberries. It has been about a month since then. Now everything else has been planted and is off to a great start. This is our second year trying to grow anything, but Kent is doing an amazing job. Our garden doesn't look amateur at all. I think we're going to actually get a good harvest.

Camryn Graduated from Kindergarten

I couldn't get out of work this time, but Kent was able to go, and he got some video for me. The theme was fruits and vegetables. Each child was a vegetable, one that started with the same letter as their name. So Camryn was a carrot.

In the song, Camryn was the only one doing the actions at the same time as the teacher. Everyone else was behind. She's our little performer.

She had a fascination with her diploma? She played with it the whole time.

She finally got it open. Look at her face!

We loved her teacher, Ms. Jacobsen. We are going to miss her. I got misty eyed when picking Camryn up on the last day of school. Camryn cried on the way home. Ms. Jacobsen said Camryn could come visit her classroom whenever she wanted. Camryn said that waiting all summer before she could see her again was too long.

Camryn really had a great year in school. She is reading so well. She loved school.

We are now looking forward to first grade!

Memorial Day Weekend

We went to Blackfoot to visit my family. Nicole and her family were able to visit as well. One day, we took all the kids to the zoo in Idaho Falls.

Corinne and Marley were both the cutest! They both pointed and got so excited at each animal.

Their favorite seemed to be these little monkeys.

We had the most fun watching these two cute girls!

These were my favorite monkeys:

The otters were a favorite as well.

Corinne is already trying to be so independent. She wanted to push the stroller.

At home we see her striving for independence as well. She always wants to feel herself. This day she got to feed herself some yogurt.

She is growing up too fast!

New Bikes
Camryn has outgrown her bike. It is time a new bike, without training wheels.

Kent has been working with her. I tried to help as well, but she tells me, "Daddy does it better. Can I do it with Daddy instead?"

Kendra also got a new bike, Camryn's old bike.

She is happy with this hand-me-down.

Camp Out
Our kids LOVE camping. It may be awhile before we are able to get away on a camping trip, so Kent improvised.

He went camping with our girls in our backyard.

Trampoline

All of our girls have also been loving jumping, or being bounced, on the trampoline.

Corinne decided she wanted a kiss and puckered up.

Daddy was quick to oblige.

Can you guess what happened when Daddy got a kiss from this sweet little ball of static electricity?

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Somebody got shocked.

Her hair almost lays flat again.

Camryn and her BFF

Camryn still says Brayden is her BFF. We are in the same ward. One Sunday morning, Camryn got a little grumpy. I asked her what was wrong. She said she didn't want Brayden to see her like this.

See the three small bruises on her forehead and eye? That is what she was so worried about. I don't think I was able to contain my laugh, which only made it worse. Then I tried to be a good mom and comfort her.

If you ask either of them, they are NOT boyfriend and girlfriend, they are just best friends. They have both been very adamant about that. Things like this kinda tell a different story though.

With school being out, Camryn has missed Brayden and asked to have him over for a playdate. So we invited Brayden and his sister Zoe over.

Brayden brought camryn three letters when he showed up. Here is one.

Camryn told me she wants to say yes. So much for NOT being boyfriend and girlfriend.

Happy Father's Day!

You are the BEST FATHER because...

-even though you know what you are getting, you make the girls think they have totally surprised you. -you love your gift of socks and a homemade card, because you like saving money. -you teach our girls the important stuff, like that we shouldn't have a dirty potty mouth and also that we shouldn't have a dirty potty (and show them how to clean it up). -you are not at all embarrassed to make a complete fool out of yourself in public to get any one of your girls to smile. -you have enough testosterone to live in a house full of women, and love it! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO FOR US!!!!!

Chinese Gender Calendar

Have you heard of this thing? I first heard about it from someone at work, who said she couldn't believe it was accurate for the babies in her family.

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We have been looking into gender things a little bit. We want to have another baby. We want a BABY, boy or girl, we will be thrilled. But if we have a say in the matter, we would like to have a boy. So in our interest in gender, I looked up the Chinese Gender Calendar. Now, I don't really believe something like this could work. I am amazed, though, that it was correct for all 3 of my girls.

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Is it correct for your kids? If you are curious, here is how to figure it out.

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You need your birth date and the date of the babies conception (not due date or birth date).

You can find your conception date here

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Put both dates in the calculator at the bottom of this page http://www.chinesegendercalendar.info/index.html

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Here is a chart http://www.chinesegenderchart.info/pregnancy-chart-gender-selection/gender-chart.html

The chart was easier to see there what we would be looking at with this baby. You use your age at conception (not birth). Basically, there are only 3 months in the next year it says we could conceive a boy, next December and January being the soonest.

Again, I don't believe this could really be right, so we are not going to plan our baby around it, but it is a curious tool. What do you think?

Pass It On

The other day, our family was driving on the freeway. Camryn asked why there was a big sign that said "Magic Valley Mall." I tried to explain advertising to her. That people advertise to get more people to use their business so they can make more money.

Camryn said, "Why do people work so hard to get money? All they do is pass it on."

I asked her what she meant.

She said, "You go to the store and pass it on to someone else."

Spring Time

Spring time brings many things. It has brought lots and lots of rain to Idaho, but has also brought some wonderful fun things.

Spring brings EASTER!
My mom brought Kaydence and Marley to Twin Falls to celebrate Easter with us. They arrived Sunday evening. We got the girls in their pj's, then let them color eggs.
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Camryn had to go to school Monday. While she was gone, we put all the other girls in the tub. They splashed and had all sorts of fun. After a little while, the babies had enough.

Kendra and Kaydence could have stayed in all day.

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Mom with her two youngest granddaughters. My mom is such a good grandmother.
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We got all the girls ready for some Easter pictures in their beautiful dresses. But, of course, it was raining. Bethany still got some pretty good pictures. You can't even tell the weather was so horrible. The only problem was that the girls were NOT happy.


Especially Kaydence and Marley.
Camryn and Kendra tried to look happy. They did a pretty good job.

Corinne was not so easily swayed.

Cute, cute girlie's! Thanks Bethany for the great pictures, against great odds.

We came back home, and did our Easter Egg Hunt. It was still raining, so we had to do our hunt indoors.

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Grandma brought all sorts of treats for our hunt. The favorites were these chocolate bunnies.

It was a wonderful Easter.

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Spring also brings new plants. Camryn's class was invited out to Rock Creek Growers to learn about plants and greenhouses.

Looking at some of the plant food.

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We all learned all sorts of new things. As a review, they asked what the difference was between annuals and perennials. Brayden and Camryn answered correctly, so they got to go up and help.

The flowers were absolutely beautiful and smelled wonderful.

At the end, each child got to pot their own flower to give to someone special. Then they decorated a sign to put in it.

Camryn's says "To Camryn From Camryn"

Brayden's says " Dear Mom I made a flour for you"

It was the best field trip I have been on yet. Thank you Rock Creek Growers!

The following Saturday, Rock Creek Growers was having a family fun day. Since the field trip was so great, I thought our family would try to go. I had to work that afternoon, so we tried to go before then. It turns out we were too early. They had a small playground, so we just played.

Corinne makes some of the most priceless faces. We would like to get some of them photographed. We tried to get a few while she was playing.

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Spring time brings green grass. Which we love!

Well, most of us love anyway.
Except for Kent, because he has to put a lot into making it green and nice.

And Corinne. She can't stand it touching her.

She is even wearing pants, but she has to try to lift everything she can so its not touching the grass.

Don't you dare try to put her so her bare skin is touching it, or you get the wrath of Corinne (and maybe a chuckle =)).

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Spring also brings Mother's Day

I had to work on Mother's Day, which sadly means I didn't get to see my mother.

My family sure made me feel special though. When I got home from work, they had cleaned the house (even the wood floors). That has got to be one of the best gifts you can give a mother.

They picked out the sweetest card, a Tinkerbell card, of course. It even played a song. But the best part was the sweet little notes from my girls, and my hubby.

They got me a nice set of scriptures, and a very large dark chocolate bar. They know how to spoil me.

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Spring also bring finals for those attending school. It was a very busy few weeks for Kent. He studied his bum off.

He finnished with flying colors, then jumped right into the next house project. Our basement.

The plan is to put in an egress window, two bedrooms, and bathroom, and a family room.

Here are a few progress pics. Here is the hole he is making in the concrete for the window.

This is the hole in the floor for the plumbing. He had to cut into the concrete to get to it.

I dont' think the pictures do justice for how much work he has had to put in already, or for how much dirt this has stirred up.

As I have said before in refence to home improvement projects: It will be worth it in the end.

At least for me. Kent might tell a different story.

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