Easter Sunday

Happy Easter!  Time for an updated photo of all my kids.  How did I get so blessed?!  Love them all!

Egg Hunt

We had a great Egg Hunt this year!  We planned it for Grandma and Grandpa FitzSimmons’ house because they have some great hiding places.   We had a ton of eggs and all the kids found plenty.  It was a beautiful morning but by the time we did the hunt in the late afternoon, the wind had picked up and it was a bit cold.  We still enjoyed the fresh spring air that the farm had to offer.  PLUS – I remembered my camera!  The pictures tell it better then I can – so here they are!

The “under 3” area was in the garden.  Timber made out like a bandit because the boys were more interested in the trucks and the sandbox.

It was cold enough that I wrapped Shylee and carried her around.  She loved being outside and, surprisingly, loves to feel the grass.  Who knew?!Jodi and I thought it was funny that Leonard and Kelly were talking and standing the EXACT same way, with the same hat too.  They must be related or something…..

All the kids had an egg with their name on it from Grandma.  They had to hunt and try to find their own named egg.  Inside the eggs were some prizes that Grandma picked out for them.  Miranda got this ring.  They all had a great time.

Sorry for the picture overload, but I thought Uncle Mike in Saudi Arabia would enjoy all of them.  Miss you Uncle Mike! 

Happy Easter to everyone!

6 months

Shylee is now 6 months old.  I am pretty sure that someone is speeding up time.  Things move so much faster now.   Anyway, she is a round, happy, adorable baby.  She loves life and it helps me love life too.  I need to have someone take some pictures of her.  I have a few snapshots over the last week or so but that’s all. 

They aren’t the best pictures of her, but all I have, for now.  She is just starting to sit up!  I love it when babies can sit – but not move much!  I can put her on a blanket with toys and she will play for awhile without going anywhere.  It’s great!   Here’s one of her showing off her new skills.

These pictures were taken with my phone, so the quality isn’t great, as noted by the blurry hands

She LOVES her jumper.  She loves to jump out as far as she can and then swing back.  It’s pretty funny to watch.  I will try to upload a video but I don’t know if it will work. 

She isn’t really interested in food.  She acts like I am trying to kill her every time I put food in her mouth.  She gives a really awesome “awful” face and spits it back out.  We’re working on it, VERY slowly.   She is starting to laugh at her brother and sisters and she doesn’t really like to be left alone for long.  She is so used to having people around that if she is alone in a room by herself, she starts to cry.

She is a pretty good sleeper, but like most of my kiddos, she likes to sleep in her bed.  She doesn’t like to be held and rarely, if ever, does she fall asleep while someone is holding her.  Even at church I still lug around her big car seat because she will sleep in it, but not in my arms. 

We took her in for her 6 month checkup and found out that she had an ear infection.  She had been a little fussy and had one night that I was sure that something was wrong.  She wouldn’t stop crying in the middle of the night – that is not normal for her at all.  She cried and cried for about an hour before Leonard gave her a blessing.  In the middle of the blessing I remember thinking, “She is going to throw up.”  Sure enough, as soon as Len was done, she puked all over me.  We took a quick shower and then she slept in the recliner with me.  She was okay for the next couple days, but did the same thing on the way home from church.  I thought that she might have an ear infection because she cried and rubbed her ears.  Sure enough, the doctor said her right ear was quite red and put her on antibiotics.  He had to do a double take because he couldn’t believe she was so happy with an ear infection.  

For the record, at six months Shylee is 19 pounds and 27.25 inches long which puts her in the 95% for both.  She is a big kid!  We love those rolls, and especially those thighs!! 

Happy 1/2 birthday Shylee!  We love you!

Turkey Season is Open

Every year there is one week that only youth can hunt Turkeys.  This year, Kanyon could hunt.  His dad took him out on opening day and by 8:00 that morning I had a text showing me a picture of his first turkey.  He was pretty excited. 

His dad was too – and took some pretty cool pictures.

Pretty happy kid and dad!

Good Job Buddy!

Spring Break

I failed at Spring Break again this year.  I don’t think I took any pictures.  This will just be a quick rundown post of what we did, since there is nothing to show that we actually did it!

We headed to Idaho Falls on March 28.  We stopped just outside of Salmon to drop Leonard off with Kyle Livingston so they could fish for a couple days and the kids and I headed the rest of the way to Idaho Falls.  It was so great to see everyone again.  Courtney and her family spent a lot of time with us.  We saw Mom and Dad and Paul, of course, at their house and Jackson and Chelsea came over a couple times to visit and play games.  Jake managed to get some time off and head up from Utah with his two little girls – even better.  Jana is expecting a baby soon and had plans with her mom so it worked out for Jake to come see us – though we did miss seeing Jana. 

We didn’t really have big plans, we just let the kiddos play.  They played really well together and I don’t remember breaking up many fights.  Last time we visited we brought our snow clothes and there was not a single snow flake.  This time, we left our snow clothes home and it snowed at least 6 inches on Sunday!  WHAT!  The kids were a little disappointed, the parents were sad that the kids couldn’t be outside but we still had fun.  We went to Leo’s Place, dyed Easter eggs, watched movies, played games, went to dinner, and got caught up on everyone’s lives.  We came home to beautiful, warm, spring weather in Coeur d’Alene on April 2 and then it rained for the next three days.  So much for Spring break!

Thank you for having us, I know we bring chaos wherever we go, but we LOVE to share it with all of you!!!  Maybe next year, I will take some pictures!