We have Chicks!

On my quest to a healthy lifestyle over the past years, I have also found a desire to become more self-sufficient. There are the obvious things…such as growing a garden, ect. But for me, it turned into more. The thought of being able to provide for my family without going to the store became exciting. (I sometimes get ideas in my head that are…silly, but I plan and think about them in detail.) Well, I thought about it and decided that we would turn half of our back yard into a garden… (our garden right now is pretty pathetic), that would provide us with vegetables, and we would plant 3 trees, (we already have an orange tree), and maybe a peach tree…that takes care of our fruit, and then a nut tree, perhaps pecan…that would be for our protein. We would be set! Well, not really, but I thought it was a good idea. Well, it’s a few years later and we still just have our little area for our garden (but it has produced a lot of veggies for us) and we still just have our one orange tree. (I am hoping that it gives us more than 2 oranges, like it did last season.) Around that same time that I was having my epiphany of growing as much food as I could on our little ¼ of an acre lot, my friend mentioned getting chickens. I fell in love with the idea! (Okay, I know, I am a little weird.) I have always wanted to live in the country on a farm, and the thought of bringing some farm-ness to my little urban neighborhood was exciting. So, once again, that was a few years ago…BUT it has finally happened. Thanks to Kevin for giving me love and support and for also building the chicken coop! It is taking some time, but it is almost complete. We have had the chicks for a few weeks now, and I know they will be excited to be in their new home instead of crammed in a little box.

Teagan, Maylee, and Livia were so excited to get the chicks. We let them each pick out one that they wanted to take home. There were luckily many to choose from. (We went the week before and the chicks were all sold…it was Easter weekend.)

We let them choose names for their new…pets??? Teagan and Maylee took no time to name theirs. Livia took a little longer. Every name anyone of us suggested, she said “no.” Finally I apparently said a good one, because all the kids said “yeah!”
And the results are…
Teagan- Chirp-ie (“because it chirps a lot”)

Maylee- Beak-ie (“because it has a beak”)

Livia- Brown-ie (me- “because it is a brown color”)

(Oh, that's not Livia holding the chick by the way :) She wasn't too fond of actually touching them for the first day.)

The chicken coop is being built a little bit at a time. Kevin and I looked at pictures of coops online and I liked the ones with a pitched roof, and I told Kevin if it wasn't too hard I would like him to build one. Well, it was for sure a lot harder, but he still did it that way even though I told him he didn't have too. (What a sweet guy.)

Here I am painting away. Maylee and Teagan loved helping with this part. Livia wanted too but, ahh...I made her be in charge of stirring the paint. That seemed to be enough for her so I was glad. I am hoping that by this weekend it will be COMPLETELY done. I might have to post a picture of it then...

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

The other day (Tuesday, I think) it was a really windy day. I was in the middle of making dinner and kind of suddenly, everyone ran outside to fly kites. (Teagan got a kite for Easter and was SO excited about it. He had been wanting another one for a month or so since his last one broke.) It was almost too windy! I was having a hard time taking pictures of the kites, they kept flying all over the place...which I guess is what they are suppose to do. :) I did get a few good shots of them and the kids flying them. Teagan's ended up getting stuck on our roof, but with the help of our neighbor, the boys were able to get it down. The kite flying only lasted about 15 minutes but it was sure fun to watch!

Here is Teagan's Eagle kite. It almost looks real, doesn't it?

It's hard to see in the picture but the string was tangled all over the place.

Maylee has had her kite for quite a few years. She was excited to be able to get it out of the closet.

Here it is. Her famous Strawberry Shortcake kite that I bought who knows how long ago at Wal-Mart for one dollar.

Easter Weekend

Our Easter fun began on Friday. We went over to my mom and dad's so the kids could color some eggs, an Easter tradition. It was Teagan, Maylee, Livia and Isabella. They sat outside at the little picnic table and colored a few dozen eggs. (no pictures, I know, I am a loser for not taking my camera.) Almost every egg Maylee colored was pink, Teagan switched colors almost every time and Livia just dumped her egg in whatever color was in front of her. After the kids were done we headed over to the temple to see the Easter pageant, another tradition...I think we have gone every year since Kevin and I have been married. We got there about 5:45, which I thought would be plenty early and yet we still had a hard time finding a spot. (We always bring blankets and sit in the grass.) Me and the kids stayed and Kevin went to find us dinner. I think this was the first time that I didn't pack a picnic dinner for us. I was planning on it but...well, it's a long story. So, Kevin came back with Subway. It was a good night and the kids really liked watching the pageant. Livia enjoyed every time she saw an animal of some kind.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of rain. I looked outside and it was pretty wet and I thought, "there goes most of our plans for today." It was suppose to be a busy day filled with egg hunts and projects outside. I spent most of the day getting inside chores done and we went to one egg hunt. Oh, and during the middle of breakfast I realized that Peaches (our cat) was probably wet since there are no places outside to keep him dry. I was feeling really bad while I was washing the breakfast dishes so I stopped and grabbed an umbrella and large towel and headed outside. I found a cozy spot for him in the corner of the yard. I bunched the blanket kinda in a ball on the ground and positioned the umbrella over it. When Kevin realized what I was doing he started laughing.

Anyways, back to Easter. We got the kids ready and headed to Kevin's parents for our annual egg hunt. It was pretty chilly outside but for some reason I didn't dress the kids real warm. I don't know, I think of Easter as short and t-shirt kinda weather.

Here we are on our way...the kids insisted on wearing sunglasses, even though the sky was covered in clouds.

The poor baby doll in the middle of the girls looks like it is in serious pain!




Okay, so the race was on...and here is Livia just looking at the ground. At least she has a few eggs in her basket already. (She is not always fond of getting her picture taken.)



After a long night of eating and egg hunting...(Ryan was the big winner this year. I think my family, Kev, me and the kids, made out with about 10 bucks total) we headed home. The Easter bunny visited that night and left the kids their trails. Teagan woke up first and was begging to wake the girls up. I just hate interrupting their precious sleeping time...but hey, it was Easter. So the girls woke up and I grabbed the camera and headed out to see what the Bunny left in their trails. Livia was a little unsure of how to go about this, but she got the hang of it in no time.




They found all sorts of fun stuff:
Maylee got a bunny pen that lights up when you write...


They all got a container of bubbles...

Easter eggs filled with trail mix...




and of course peanuts! It wouldn't be Easter without them.


At the end of the trail they each found a movie. Teagan was pretty excited...he loves movies!

American Legends, Sword in the Stone, Barney

It was a little bit of a crazy day. You would think that having church at 2pm would give us plenty of time to get ready. Well, it being Easter and Kevin had a few meetings and I was preparing some food to take to my mom's for Easter dinner and trying to get all of us ready...we were late to church. The first time in a long time. I was pretty sad, especially since it was Easter. I didn't even have time to take pictures of the kids before church. So as soon as I got to my parents I pulled out the camera for a little picture taking.

After we ate a wonderful Easter meal we had our egg hunt. First the kids went and then we had our hunt where it's a race to find our name in the egg. I didn't do so good. I found mine last...actually, I had Kevin finally tell me since everyone else had found theirs. But it was still fun.

Suns Game, General Conference and Family Home Evening

Now, as most of you can tell...I am no writer. I wish I was, but I am not. So here are just a few pictures of Livia to start this post with. I wish I had a cute little story to go with them. But all I can say is that she got out the curlers so I put some in her hair and then she got out her favorite game, Old MacDonald. She was playing so good all by herself for awhile. It was great!

Last weekend we ended up having 2 tickets to the Suns game. It was kinda last minute (too late to find a babysitter) so I told Kevin to take Teagan. The girls were a little bummed that they didn't get to go (even though they had no clue where the boys were going, they just knew that Teagan was going somewhere and they weren't) but I told them I would make popcorn and we could watch a movie. Teagan was excited about going...he loves having one on one time with just me or Kevin. They sat pretty far up, but still had a good time.




On one of their bathroom runs they ran into the Gorilla and took a quick picture with him.


Teagan said this was his favorite part of going to the game. I don't even know how to describe this. I've seen something similar to it in a Las Vegas hotel. It's like a digital screen on the floor that moves or changes when you step on it...I don't know. Anyways, it's pretty cool.




This past weekend was General Conference. One of our family's um, I guess traditions, is to update our 72-hour kits. So while we are watching conference we get out each backpack and eat a snack or two from it and put something new inside. And make sure toys, clothes, etc. is updated. It's probably my kids favorite part of watching conference. :) Although I did give them each a bag of stuff to keep them busy, which they seemed to enjoy. Pictures to color, church books to look at, conference crosswords, that kind of stuff. After the Sunday afternoon session we got ready and headed to Chris and Bill's for FHE. (Our family tradition every 1st Sunday of the month. Well we rotate.)



By accident the kids were all matching in brown...so of course I had to get my camera.
You know, people ask me alot if Teagan and Maylee are twins. I always thought they were crazy. Hello! They are 2 years apart. But...looking at this picture I am thinking that they are about the same size and they do look alot alike. Huh.





The Girls...

FHE was fun. Bill made us some dutch oven stew with biscuits and some divine looking cinnamon rolls. After we ate and the kids played for awhile Madison gave a great Easter lesson and we got to color our own cards for a matching game.


Teagan loves to go to Aunt Chris's house so he can play with Calvin and Taylor. Here he is demonstrating his Jedi skills against the dark Sith, Darth Calvin. Right before we left I had the kids get their PJ's on. Teagan had his "Clone Wars" pajama's and they turned on the soundtrack from "Episode one" the fighting scene. Teagan was in heaven...oh and Chris turned off the lights while they fought too!



Kev and me...not much more to say :)



Sitting around the campfire, or backyard fire, or um, the fire pit?
Mom, Taylor, Izzy, Livia and Madi.



Maylee Moo finishing off the fruit.

It was a fun weekend. It's always good to spend time with family.

5 a Day

You might have seen the commercial or heard the saying, "5 a Day, the healthy way," teaching kids to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Well, a few years ago I started a chart with Maylee and Teagan. We used dry erase markers on their sheets and they got to put an 'X' on for every serving they eat, just a fun way for them to keep track. It lasted...I don't know how long, but eventually I wasn't able to wipe off the markers and I got frustrated and I guess a little lazy and we stopped doing the chart although we continued to eat healthy.

A few months ago (after I became pregnant) my healthy eating almost went down the drain. I was so sick and not wanting to cook anything and craving things I hadn't eaten in years...i.e. fast food and sugar, that our family kind of got off the healthy eating track. Now that I am feeling better I am trying to get my kids back to normal, or I guess I should say "my normal."

I came up with a new system of the '5 a day' chart with stickers and a real treat at the end (if their chart is completely full) Last week was our first attempt and it seems to work good so far. The kids get so excited after they eat a apple or a handful of carrots and they get to put a sticker on the chart.

I have a small container full of little stickers that the kids can choose from. (I think that is their favorite part) Here is the finished chart:

So Saturday after the chart is full they can choose what treat they want...which generally means going out since they are rarely treats in the house. It worked out nice because Teagan and Maylee had Primary Activity day at the church. I assumed they would get a treat there and they sure did! Build your own ice cream sundaes. That was definitely a treat for them. But since Livia is not in primary and could not attend the activity she was able to choose a treat later that night. An Easter cookie with pink sprinkles. Yum! And she sure loved it, by the time I got the camera and came back to take her picture she only had a few bites left.

Spring Break

The kids didn't have school for the week of Spring Break (and no babysitting for me) so we decided that each day we should do something fun. I was going to be organized and have each of the kids come up with one or two things they wanted to do and then have a little chart or something with each day of our break and what we would do...but All the sudden, it was Spring Break! Although I didn't have an organized chart with our plans for the week, we still had a good time. We didn't do something too exciting everyday but I think it was a good break for us to not be on a schedule.

Monday- I had a doctor's appointment early morning (I was the first one in the building, the door was still locked when I got there) so the kids were able to play at a new house while I was gone. They spent the morning at the Luker's and seemed to really enjoy it...so we said that that was the fun thing for that day. They have 3 kids almost the same age as mine so it worked out nice. The rest of the day was pretty lazy, just getting stuff done around the house, making bread, the usual.

Tuesday- Once again, nothing too exciting. In the afternoon we walked over to the park after Kevin got off work, but we didn't stay long. We were there about five minutes when Maylee walked over to us and asked what the fuzzy thing was that was buried in the sand. After a few minutes of us not checking it out, we decided to have a look since she wouldn't stop asking us. Kevin got up and looked and then walked right back over to me..."umm, I think it's a cat." "What, where?" was my response. "A cat...in the sand...dead" "okay, time to go" So, needless to say, we headed home right then. So we didn't really count "going to the park for 5 minutes and then leaving because there was a dead cat somewhat buried in the sand" our fun thing for the day.

The thing that turned into "the fun thing" that the kids did on Tuesday was not even planned. :) They took some scrap paper and crumbled it a little and put it on the fan and let it fly. They really enjoyed it and were doing it for awhile. They loved watching how high the paper would go.

Wednesday- This was our really fun day. (Of course the day I forget to bring my camera...I took a few pictures with my phone but have no clue how to get them on the computer, so I am just going to use these pics from the website). Kevin took Wednesday off so I spent an hour or so the night before trying to find somewhere fun, different, and cheap to go to. My first ideas were Sunsplash or the zoo...both too expensive. So, I found this place called Jeepers (used to be jungle jim's playland) in mesa. $5 for unlimited rides. We decided to check it out and the kids really enjoyed it. The first ride they went on was the mini coaster. We sent all 3 kids on and watched as they were buckled, all sharing one buckle, and Kevin leans over to me and says, "is this ride going to be okay for Livia?" I said, "Sure, it's not going to go that fast." As I finished speaking it took off and was going WAY faster than I thought it would. Luckily, Livia didn't scream or fly out of the ride. It was going so fast they were all squished against each other (I really wish I would have had my camera for that). Finally after what seemed like forever it started slowing down (along with my heart) and I started breathing normal again, but just then it...oh you guessed it! Starting going backwards! I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Finally the ride was over and the kids got off and I asked if they had fun...Livia said, "ya, fast." I couldn't agree with her more.

There were a few other rides that the kids liked, Teagan really liked the rocket ride, the train ride, and barrels of monkey. Maylee's favorites were the rocket ride and the "really fast ride" She went on it again later all by herself. Livia's favorite's were the Merry go round and the safari train ride. It just went in a little circle (slowly) and there were different jungle animals to look at.

Jeepers also had games to play (like Peter Piper). The kids earned over 100 tickets and spilt it between the 3 of them. Teagan and Maylee got little parachute men and Livia chose a little looking glass. There was also a very large play area with tunnels and slides. It was pretty fun...not bad for 5 dollars. After 4 hours we were all pretty worn out, including me, even though I didn't do a whole lot except for watching. We decided to call it quits and we headed out. We even went to dinner at a restaurant, something we don't do very often. Kevin and I both wanted mexican and the only place we could find on the way home was Some Burros. So we stopped there.

Thursday- I had discovered a park last week with Livia when we were out running errands. I decided to take the kids to it for our "fun thing" for Thursday. I packed a few toys and snacks and we headed out.
Here's Maylee playing on the ropes..I think she made it across once.

This was Teagan's favorite...the tunnel slide. We had fun playing a game with a ball. I would throw the ball in one of the 3 holes at the top and Teagan would roll it down the slide.

Here is Teagan using his magnifying glass to cook a grape that had fallen on the ground. Kevin had shown him how you can burn things using the glass and the sun. Teagan had a good time seeing what he could burn...including himself. Boys will be boys.

I really don't know what this is and the kids didn't really play on it either, I just thought it was pretty cool looking...

Riding on the Bee

Livia found an empty water bottle in the sand (pretty gross) but she had the best time filling it up with sand and then dumping it back out.

Friday- Friday was a pretty exciting day too. Our kids love seeing movies in the theatre (we take them to the $1 theatre, well $2 actually) so we took them to see "Bolt," which they have been wanting to see for a long time. After the movie we went with my dad (aka Grandpa) :) and ate at Peter Piper Pizza. (I know, I know, eating out twice in one week...wow, that's big for us) Anyway, the kids had fun eating pizza...also something that is not done very often unless it's homemade, and playing games and winning prizes. This time Teagan got a Lizard and spinning top and Maylee got a huge pink diamond ring and another ring, just plain.

Maylee and Livia playing on the play center-

Livia used her last token to ride the Tonka truck...and she loved it!

After we ate, Teagan went home with grandpa for their sleepover party. Just the boys (mom is in Texas visiting my cousin). Teagan was So excited to..." stay up all night and play Wei!" After their sleepover, Grandpa brought him home Saturday early afternoon and Teagan told me all about his fun time.

*He, of course, stayed up all night playing the Wei...4 or 5 different games.

*He had cereal for breakfast, a kind he had never had before, Trix.

*He swam for a little while in the pool.

*He played a little more Wei...

*He and Grandpa went to McDonald's for lunch and he even ate a few of Grandpa's fries!

Wow, did he have a great time!! (No more sleepovers for him...lol) :)