Mothers Day and why I love being a mom!

Yesterday was mothers day. I had a great day. Shane got me beautiful roses, shorts, and a Bocce set. My kids made me some great things they made at school and activity days. They were so excited to give me the things they made. It was so cute! They also gave me some Baskin Robbins peanut butter and chocolate ice cream. How could I not be a happy mom!?!


I had a friend post the reasons she liked being a mom this year on her blog and I thought I would do the same. There are always different things that pop out at you. Here are a few:

1. I love when Jace says "I love you mom." I love you too Jace. "No, I reery(really), reery, reery do."

2. I love that Abbie is so proud to tell everyone I am her best friend.

3. I love that Abbie and Jace are so attached to each other. They always want to be together. Jace will be so sad next year when she is at school, but for now it is a great thing.

4. I love that Natalie is old enough to babysit when we need her. It is life changing to go to the store alone after 10 years. I can get there and back in the same amount of time it used to take to load them all up! It also saves money! No one is begging for every treat they see!

5. I also love that Natalie is so willing to watch kids to let Shane and I go out on our own. She does a great job with them and it is easier to go out the door when I know she is helping willingly.

6. I love Hallie is doing so well with her gymnastics. She is constantly doing things in the living room that she learned.

7. I love hearing my girls sing with Shane at the piano. It is fun to hear them developing their talents and it is fun to see them do something with their dad.

8. I love that my kids are slowly but surely learning to work. We tried to do allowance this year. It has been a little hit or miss. If I really keep up on it we have had a cleaner house and that is always nice.

9. I love that my kids are old enough to watch old movies with me. It is fun to introduce them to some "classics." It is even better that they really enjoy it.

10. I love that I am in a phase of life where we can take our kids almost anywhere and have it be an enjoyable time-no more walking halls with crying or tired kids.

11. I love hearing my kids play quietly together upstairs so that I can sleep in a little-who knew that day would come again!

12. I love seeing the games my kids come up with so they can all play together. When they get along it really brings joy to my heart.

13. I love that my girls have had so many "spa days" together painting nails and stuff. It is considered such a fun time around here that the other day Jace sat on my lap and said,"mom, can we paint nails today?" That gave me a good laugh for sure.

14. I love watching Natalie and Hallie care about how they look and dress. It is so funny to me to see them wanting to go to certain stores and wanting to comb their hair several times before school so they look cute.

15. I love taking my kids to the park, Thanksgiving Point, and many other outings. It is fun to see them learning and exploring new things.

16. I love hearing the garage door open for Shane to come home and hearing Jace run from wherever he is in the house screaming "Best Buddy! Best Buddy!" Until he gets a hug from his dad.

17. I love that my kids fight over whose turn it is to say prayers. (I don't think that will last)

18. I love the times when my kids just want to spend some one on one time talking to me. I hope to keep that tradition alive.

19. I love a good hug from any of my sweet kids.

20. I love when my kids are off track and instead of playing with their friends they just want a "jammies day" where we play a game and watch movies or whatever we feel like.

21. I love that my kids say thank you when I make them dinner or take them somewhere-something must be sinking in!

22. I love to hear my kids read to each other before bed.

23. I love (and sort of feel bad) that my two younger kids want their sisters to tuck them in and sing to them before bed sometimes. I am so glad they love each other so much, but I am seeing that my time with babies is fleeing quickly.

24. I love that my kids think that if we do something fun one time that it is a tradition and that we "always" do it.

25. I love when Abbie tells me she cleaned her room and "decorized" her closet. (she always combines decorate and organize)


These are some of the things I have loved lately about being a mom to my four kids at this stage in our lives. There are more of course but these are some favorites!

Another fun outing to Thanksgiving Point!

Again, several posts at once, but I have had a crazy last few weeks and I got to have a root canal and I have been sick. Natalie and Hallie got to sing at Abravanell Hall Tuesday night and we went to a Real Soccer game last night, but I have no pictures of course because I still forget my camera all the time. Shane said the girls did a great job singing (I was too sick to go) and we had a fun time at the soccer game watching our next door neighbor Andy play.

Anyway, the awesome mom's that my friends and I are, like to plan some fun activities to keep our kids busy while they are off track. This time they were only off for two weeks so we went to the park one week for a picnic, and the next week we hit Thanksgiving Point. A line up of some of the kids waiting to ride a pony!

Natalie

Hallie

Abbie

Jace

We always have fun at Thanksgiving Point. We go a few times a year and love to check out the animals. Jace was loving the horses and the peacocks. This time the male peacocks were putting on a great show for the ladies and it was really fun to watch!

First Day of Soccer 2009

Here are Jace and Abbie flexing their soccer muscles before their first game. They get to play on the same preK team this year. (there are 27 preK teams in Herriman this year in this league alone! Wild!) Jace missed the deadline by 3 days, but I decided to have him play anyway because he would have more fun playing than sitting there. He did such a great job and got a goal in his first game! This is Abbie's second year and she is loving playing for "The Red Dragons!"

Hallie is playing her 5th season of soccer this year and she got a goal in her second game of the season. She was so proud of herself and had to have a milkshake from Chik-fil-A as a reward! She wanted her teams name to be the "banana splits," but three weeks in it sounds like they are changing it to the "Lemon Heads!" I think they are both cute names for an all girl team.

Natalie is in her 7th season of soccer and she loves it, I think I posted a picture of her in the fall. She plays on a different league that has two seasons of play per year, but if I forgot oops! I am just so glad that they have found some fun activities they enjoy. I don't even mind spending most of everyday Saturday watching them. I think it is fun to see them have a good time and learn some skills! Yea, I am a proud soccer mom!

Hair Cuts and Easter Outfits!

My girls wanted to cut off their long locks. They didn't have the patience to grow their hair for "locks of love" like they have in the past. This is a picture just before the hair cut. We went to Arches after, but I hadn't posted a photo of them to show the difference. This is it!LONG HAIR!

SHORT HAIR!

This was the week after Easter and our first Sunday in new Easter clothes. I think we found some cute outfits this year after a lot of searching. I think it shouldn't be so hard to find dresses for girls. I feel like I want to open a store that has affordable cute dresses and kids shoes. I feel like I have a hard time finding things I like in these two categories. Anyone feel the same way? Anyway another season of dress shopping down, many more to go!