May Daze

So I have been getting really behind on this blogging thing... as in it's almost the end of June and I'm just getting around to blogging about our May events. May was crazy busy with end of school year events and random things. Keeping up with three involved, busy, and active kids is exhausting. Here's a few events I can remember from our May Daze (see what I just did there?)

This is a rare picture... the kids doing the dishes. 

 Grandpa Collard had another birthday, El Rancho style!

 I took the girls with me to run errands one day. They were getting ornery after the 3rd store we went to, so we stopped for a little pick me up lunch at Chick-fil-a.

 We are getting family pictures done next month, so I have spent hours trying to coordinate outfits. Brynnli is the only one who likes to try on her outfits, so we played model one day.

 She loves this dress. She calls it her "princess dress" and refused to take it off.

 Caden had a lot of fun activities for the last month of school. His class was learning about the life cycle. They got to have chicken eggs in an incubator in their class and got to see the eggs hatch. Caden would come home everyday to update us on the progress of the chickens. Then one day we got to go to his class while he showed us the baby chicks and we got to ask him questions.

Makayla had a field trip to the bean museum in Provo and I got to be a chaperone. Makayla and Noelle had fun for about 20 minutes looking at the animals, then they were bored. 

 You can always tell when Brynnli is really tired. She throws massive temper tantrums about nothing and then crashes about 10 seconds into our car ride home. Ughh.... life with a 3 year old.

 Just enjoying our Friday lunch at Costco!

 My bestie Emily is getting married! I threw her a bachelorette party. It was kind of lame, but we had fun anyway. We had a drink station... Mormon style with "Dirty Diet Cokes". We played a few games and Emily opened presents. We ended the night with cheesecake.

 Mother's day was fun this year. The kids and Tyler spoiled me with a Minky blanket. They also let me sleep in and had breakfast ready when I woke up. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of me when I looked put together. My goal is that one Mother's day I can get a picture where I have actually done my hair and makeup, and the kids all cooperate for a picture... a mother can dream, right?

 Caden finished up soccer for the season. He had so much fun playing for coach Addy-poo. Caden really excelled this year and played some great defense.

 It was super rainy and cold this soccer morning, but I will take any chance to snuggle Brynn.

 I promise, he was really having fun behind that scowl. 

 I got in trouble by Coach Addy Poo for making Caden wave for my picture during the game. Good thing we're kinda like family, so Coach Addy-Poo's opinion didn't really matter to me! :)

We're all going to miss Caden playing soccer with this team. Caden really had so much fun playing with all his friends and Coach Adam. I really loved watching Caden grow and learn more about the game. And I especially loved seeing all my family at the games on Saturdays. 

We're thinking of trying karate and baseball this next year to see if Caden likes those. 

All the boys are getting so big! Pretty soon they will cover Grandpa Bill's face.

 Brynnli threw a massive temper tantrum in the store and then fell asleep in the cart. Don't ask me how.

 Makayla had her spring dance recital. She did such a great job and looked so beautiful and graceful on the stage. We love watching our Kay-Bugs dance!

 Tyler and I got tickets to go to the Jordan River Temple for the dedication. It was a beautiful experience to be in the temple when it was dedicated.

 It makes perfect sense to lick the door after a rain storm.

 We have been to the dentist more in the last three months and spent more money on Brynn's fake tooth than I would like to admit.

Brynnli's fake tooth wouldn't stay, so the dentist suggested we make a whole new tooth that would fit on her back teeth. In order to do that they had to take a new impression which required her to be perfectly still, so we had to sedate her. This was probably the worst day. The sedative was supposed to make her sleepy, but some kids have the opposite reaction, and they get super hyper. Yep... Brynn had the opposite reaction. So we were stuck in this tiny little room watching a movie and Brynn kept trying to walk around, but she was dizzy, so she kept falling. She never did completely fall asleep and when they did the impression, she started freaking out. It took three of us to hold her down. I felt so bad because she ended up peeing her pants and was so upset. Both of us left the dentist office in tears. But the good news is that the impression worked, her new fake tooth fits, and it has stayed glued in!

Dentist office visits means Brynn gets her bibi back. It's the only thing we know of to bribe her with to cooperate. Hopefully she doesn't get attached to it again. 

 We headed up to the Land for Memorial Day weekend. Caden read a book to Grandma and Grandpa that put them right to sleep... seems backwards, doesn't it?

 I love this picture. This may be one of the last times we will all fit on here.

 We went for a 4 wheeler ride up the mountain with Kenzee.

 Both Makayla and Caden received the Falcon Leader Award at school this year and we are so proud of both of them! They both worked so hard this year and totally deserve this special recognition!

 Brynnli felt left out that she didn't get any pictures of her taken, so we had to take a few of her too.

 I couldn't find these two one day and walked into Caden's room to see they had stolen the ipad and were watching shows. I let them keep watching tv because how could you not when they were sitting like this?

 Caden had a special end of the year program at school. His class sang some really cute songs and each kid had a special speaking part. Caden did so well. His teacher, Mrs. Comte, gave him the "Working Wolf" award because he was always on task and worked hard on all of his assignments.

 Daddy was out of town that day, but we recorded the whole thing so he could watch it when he got home. Grandma and Grandpa came to support our little Buddy!

 I am so proud of Caden! He really worked so hard this year. I remember how scared he was at the beginning of the year and how we would spend hours working on his homework and sight words. But he kept doing his best and by the end of the year he knew all of his sight words and was reading so well! I just love everything about this boy!

Oh and this is definitely true... wish me luck the next ten weeks!!

Caden is the Sweetest Boy!

Caden stayed at Grandma Terry's one day and decided to make Tyler, Craig, and Bill pictures. They really don't get any sweeter than our Caden! He drew pictures of everything they like and worte them a little note. Caden's favorite thing to do lately is to "argue" with Grandpa Craig and tell him, "No, I'm William" then Grandpa says, "But I'm William!" and go back and forth until Caden is laughing. 

*Dear Dad, I am William! I like that you are my Dad. I drew some pictures. You'll see them below. You can see them, right? Yea, you do. You're the best dad in the world! Love, Caden 6

Dear Grandpa Bill, Did you know I say this to Dad and Grandpa Craig, "I'm William!" I like that Dad and you and Grandpa Craig and me are Williams. 

Dear Grandpa, I like saying this to you: "I'm William!" And I like being here at your house. I also like seeing you. 

April Showers Bring May Flowers

April flew by fast this year. Here are some highlights from this month: 

The kids love our new fire pit and have had a lot of fun roasting marshmallows. 

Makayla has been begging us for a few months to get her ears pierced because she's, "like the only first grader without ears pierced." We made sure she understood that it was a big responsibility and that she would need to take care of her ears. She promised us she would, and we knew she would follow through.

We picked Daddy up from work and headed over to the mall. There was a girl in front of her getting her ears pierced, so Makayla watched to help prepare her... then it was her turn. She proudly climbed up on the chair and picked out her flower earrings.

They pierced both ears at the same time. I just love this picture of Makayla. She was closing her eyes so tight and holding on to her bunny.

After they pierced her ears she cried just a little bit, but was so excited and went to pick out some other earrings.

If it's even possible, Makayla looks cuter with her earrings and we have been so impressed with how responsible she has been to make sure she cleans them everyday. 

Ninja Caden showed off some ninja moves before bed.

Looks like Daddy was really into the Jazz game. #takenap

Well it's not just the Jazz game that puts Tyler to sleep. Just about anything will send him into a snooze... especially books. 

We went to the open house for the Jordan River Temple that is right by our house. It was fun to show the kids the inside of the temple. We made sure we showed them the Celestial room and tried to explain what would happen when our family gets sealed.

As we were driving home we asked the kids what was their favorite part of the temple and Caden told us the bus ride. I think he missed the significance of the night. 

Tammy got our whole family free tickets to the Bees game! The kids had so much fun doing everything but watching the game. They went on the train and ate a lot of snacks.

This pretty much sums up our dinner conversations every night.

And my response to just about every question the kids ask me.

Caden wanted to spend some of his birthday money on some new Legos. They didn't have them in the store so we had to order them online. Caden asked me just about every single day when his Legos would arrive and when they did he couldn't open the box fast enough. 

Spring is officially here and I just love the colors on this tree. It is the weirdest shaped tree, but we love it.

Our kids are so lucky to have such cool parents. Can't you tell from their expressions?

Soccer season is in full swing again. Caden is playing with the same team and with Coach Adam (or Addy-Poo as we like to call him). The team is really working together and Caden is learning a lot about defense and assists. He has really improved this year and we are so proud of our soccer dude!

Oh these two. One day I will have to do a blog post about these two and their love/hate relationship. This particular day was a love day. On Fridays we usually pick Caden up from school and then run to Costco. They always ask if they can get pizza for lunch, and I usually agree because it is the cheapest and easiest lunch.

Makayla had her friend Samantha over to play and they almost dressed alike. They are so cute!

One of my favorite things is when I pick Caden up from school, Makayla is just coming out to recess. She usually stops by the fence to say hi. This particular day she had all of her friends with her. They quickly ran away after I snapped this picture because they had to play, "run away from the boys".

The tramp is up and the kids ask Daddy if he will play crack the egg almost every night. He's such a good daddy!

We ran to Costco one day and Caden was jumping off of the concrete pillars and he slipped and fell flat on his face. A huge goose egg popped up and for a few days after he looked pretty banged up.

When someone would ask him what happened to his face he would reply, "you should see the other guy!"

Weekends are made for treats and we have found a new favorite: chocolate dripped marshmallows and strawberries. Yum!

They are obviously a big hit at our house.

We celebrated my mom's 69th birthday this year with a bar-b-q at our house. Happy Birthday to my mom!

The Terrible Three's Get Better, Right?

Will someone please tell me the Terrible Three's get better? I mean we've raised two other kids besides Brynn and they were no where near as challenging as she is. You would think we know how to raise three year olds, but apparently Brynn is going to keep us on our game. 

The biggest struggle we have with Brynn right now is her temper tantrums and her odd sleeping schedule. Brynnli can throw massive temper tantrums over the silliest things. Take for example last night. She screamed for at least 30 minutes because she "wanted a better bandaid" for her toe... that's not hurt. Or if I let her watch an episode of Doc McStuffins (her favorite show right now) she screams for at least 10 minutes when I turn it off, no mater how many episodes I let her watch.  She asks everyday to go to either the gas station or to Grandma Kathy's and when I tell her no.... you guessed it... more tantrums. She is probably our most persistent child... I think she got that character trait from Tyler. Hopefully one day her persistence will pay off, but right now I'm about ready to pull my hair out. 

The other thing we struggle with is her odd sleeping habits. Brynn will sometimes fall asleep at 4-5 at night and then when it's time to go to bed, she is ready to play for a few more hours. This particular night we were up until at least midnight. 

But as much as she drives us crazy with her temper tantrums, she can melt our hearts the next minute with her cuteness. Brynnli is becoming very inquisitive. She asks us really thoughtful questions like, "how come we don't have to wear a jacket on our legs?" She says the cutest things all the time. When we go to the store she doesn't stop talking. Every thing we walk past she says to me, "Can I get that for my birthday? And also, I want that for my birthday." She loves to put the word "also" into every sentence, and it cracks us up. At first Brynnli was really scared to go to church and I had to stay with her in class, but now she loves it. In fact she loves it so much that we have to play "church" every Sunday. She leads us in singing time and she practices saying the prayer or scripture in the microphone. Brynnli is such a sweetheart too. She told us one day after church that "Mister Beck (Sister Beck) was sick, so she couldn't come to church!" She was so upset about it that she drew her a picture and we ended up taking cookies and hand picked flowers to Sister Beck after church. Just about every night when we try to put her to bed she asks us, "can I sleep in your guys' bed? We tell her no, put her back in her bed, and then she usually comes out a few minutes later to tell us something that makes no sense, or to ask for a drink, or tell us she's hungry. Then she asks us again if she can sleep in our bed. After a few times, we finally give in. For a three year old she is very manipulative, or we have just gotten soft (more likely exhausted) in our parenting with the third kid.

Here's a few pictures of our cutie that make you forget her horrible temper tantrums.

The most frustrating thing happened near the end of April. Brynnli was screaming that something was in her nose. I looked up her nose and saw something white in it. I grabbed the tweezers and tried to get it out, but Brynn was screaming and I couldn't get it. I called Tyler at work and asked him what I should do and while I was talking to him I found a mechanical pencil on the floor with the white eraser missing. I asked Brynn if that is what she put in her nose and she said yes. Tyler suggested I try to suck it out with the central vacuum and a straw. So here I was practically sitting on top of Brynn trying to hold her down with one arm and using my other arm to get the straw/vacuum contraption in her nose while Brynn was screaming bloody murder and saying, "no Mommy, please don't mommy!" After a few failed attempts I just couldn't torture her anymore and called the doctor.  The doctor got us in that day and in about 30 seconds he was able to get the eraser out with a little syringe. Dr Zarbock told me it happens all the time, so I didn't feel like such a horrible parent.

We will survive this phase, right?