Easter 2015 Best Dress

We were gone the Sunday before Easter and then Easter Sunday was General Conference but a few weeks after that I finally got the kids in their Easter duds and attempted to take some pictures before church.  Attempted!  They weren't having it.  When I was doing some really minor editing of these I noticed that Seth's socks don't match and Ian is not even wearing any!  Picture overload.

 

 

 

 

Ian Turns 6

Way back on April 14th Ian turned 6!  I've got to be honest, the last few days I haven't been sure if this child was going to live to see his 7th birthday but in general he is such a fun, sweet, crazy kid!  At age 6 Ian loves to be outside exploring.  He tries to catch anything that moves whether it be bug, reptile, etc.  He is a walking encyclopedia of facts he's learned from Kratt Brothers which is his favorite show.  He loves to swing, ride in his Razor, and had lots of fun this spring with soccer and now t ball.  He loves bananas, chocolate milk, chicken with "dip", ice cream, watermelon, corn on the cob, and cheese!  I know he was a bit of a handful but he can be pretty irresistible, so his kindergarten teacher seemed to love him this year.

There are a lot of Ian stories I could tell from the last few months, but here are a few highlights.  The prize winner is that time I had to call 911.  Yep!  Ian disappeared at one of Luke's soccer games in Brigham City back in April.  After searching the field area, the school, the block, etc. with about 30 people eventually helping me for over 45 minutes I counseled with my dad who happened to be there and called the police.  They took forever to show up and I'm not going to lie I was starting to panic.  Ian is just such an easy kid to spot.  You can see his blond hair a mile away.  He's also an extremely friendly, curious, uninhibited kid.  I was starting to play out bad scenarios in my mind.  After the officer finally came and I gave him all my info I heard a murmur in the big crowd we were in and there he was!  I have never been so happy!  It turns out he wandered off to a different soccer field with a strange kid and joined him under a chair under a blanket watching him play his tablet.  He didn't even know he was lost.  It was terrifying!  I can laugh about it now.  This is what he looked like that night when we got home.  Yes, he went missing while carrying a whole rack of carabiners and a homemade bow and arrow.

There was also the time last month where I heard the kids stampeding around in the bonus room above the garage and then Seth runs out in full panic mode saying to come see Ian quick.  I run upstairs and Luke is pressing on Ian's forehead with blood going everywhere all over Ian's head, hair, shirt, etc.  I asked what the crap happened and don't worry it was the result of a "pillow fight."  Pillow fighting actually escalated to whacking each other with these little stuffed armchair things the kids have.  At some point Seth sent Ian flying into the TV stand where he proceeded to cut his head.  I got him downstairs and washed it off to find a pretty deep cut.  After Jer got home we agreed it probably needed stitches.  Don't worry we are kind of inbetween health insurances right now for the first time ever.  (That's a whole other story!  At the end of April Jer finally took the plunge to start his own business.  We are now the proud owners of Burbank Builders, Inc.!  That has been quite the whirlwind and adjustment.)  We could have enacted our COBRA coverage for the low price of $1500/mo but instead our friend Ben Stowers stitched him up at his house and then Jer removed them redneck style at home a few days later.  He's none the worse for the wear.  Hopefully no more whammies until our sweet Obamacare plan kicks in July 1st!  Ian wore those four stitches with pride 

and loved that they looked like a water bug.

                                     

And now some photos from his birthday.  He got to choose a place to eat out for his birthday with cousins and grandparents, and he chose McDonald's!  It was also a blizzard.  We came back to the house after to open presents and eat snake cake.  Friday after kindergarten we headed to SLC with Amy and her kids to go to Hogle Zoo.

 

 

And a few bonus pictures of Ian...notice that furry caterpillar.  He caught three of those over the course of a few days and put them in a container.  They all made cocoons and hatched out like a month later into yellow moths!  I always tell Ian he's growing up too fast and he needs to stop it.  He loves it when I say that, but I mean it.  I'm going to miss this kid next year when he's in school all day and Leah's going to miss her best buddy even more!

Animals Galore

In addition to getting chicks and going to Baby Animal Days, the kids have been getting their animal fix in other ways.  They are also working on that "dog savings" jar, but I am continuing to postpone that until we have grass.  Don't even get me started on the amounts of mud we have around here right now!  We did have the chance to take a visit to Kent's farm to see the baby calves.  FFA might be a good fit for Seth!  He loved it and even got to drive the tractor.  We also went to the zoo for Leah's preschool field trip.  I let Ian sluff kindergarten and come along because he had been begging to go to the "tiny zoo."  He loved it (despite his bored face).

 

 

Spring Break Part II

In addition to our trip to Zion and General Conference/Easter weekend, we managed to squeeze a few other fun things into the kid's week off.  We went to Baby Animal Days (ugh) with cousins and the kids had fun.  Totally took one for the team on that one.  It was cold, crowded...may be our last.  We also headed down to SLC with my mom and went to the Museum of Natural History again.  The kids all loved it and Ian was truly so excited about everything he saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter

We officially became chicken people this year for Easter.  We have been talking for a while about getting chickens to have the eggs and give our kids a chore.  We finally did it.  It's been kind of a big pain but once they're a little older they won't be quite so high maintenance.  Unfortunately they are already bigish, ugly chickens, but they were dang cute for a while!  We celebrated Easter for several weeks running, enjoyed Conference, ate lots of candy, and had good times with family.