Flowers & Butterflies :)

Oh I love these dear little people and wow, so much has happened in the last 6 months!  All the daily crazies of motherhood I still well know, but goodness, I'm so eternally grateful to have this opportunity to have my little family!!!  They are my very best friends "in the whole woold" as Hailey says.  Here's what we've been doing since I haven't been blogging anymore :).  I decided to do this huge update post on a day like today... when the day has dragged on forever and I'm super tuckered out (I think today we've really been through 8 gogo squeeze applesauces, and at least 6 gogurts, and 3 movies because I have zero energy).  The fridge is leaking some liquid everywhere, the vacuum just broke, and the laundry is piled high.



Feeling overwhelmed with all I want and need to do but just can't. We happened to be carless today and therefore homebound which all mothers know is our greatest doom :).. at least for me!

I really am enjoying these fun stages of my kids right now, but just wanted to post today so you wouldn't think through these fun pictures that our life is all flowers and butterflies :)

We did plant our first little "garden" of sunflowers which has been super fun. And, we're waiting for our butterflies to hatch from their cacoons.  I was so excited when those cute caterpillars arrived in our mailbox.  I felt like I just had another baby.  Did you know you can order caterpillars, lady bugs, and praying mantises?!  Pretty cool.

Oh and we now have 30 ANTS that have joined our family -

And I have to introduce "Freddy the Frog" that showed up on our porch one Sunday.  The kids were in their "sunday best" outfits and the rain started pouring down but of course they wanted to play with this new frog. Good thing this time I wasn't stressing over getting them straight inside because running around in the rain with Freddy is one of my most cherished memories thus far.

Speaking of Sundays, we've started doing "Sunday's Sundaes" I've thought about doing this fun tradition for so long, and we're just now finally doing it :).  I think after surviving 3 hours at church, everyone deserves some whip cream.  

Which reminds me of this day.  They thought they were so funny. 

"Penny Wenny Booka" is just hilarious.  Everytime we go to the zoo's aquarium she does her "fish face."  We love living by the nation's #1 zoo!!

The fish face... with spaghetti all over.

Oh our little Penny.  She's pure happiness and joy and in-to-everything-and-everybody's toys.

Oh and Steve's sisters got married - double back to back weddings!  We love having more awesome brothers!!  Here's some pics from our UT trip...

I love the look of concern on my face.  See below.

And that would be Steve jumping through Grandma's bounce house she got for all the toddlers.

Learning to bake whole wheat yumminess...

Here's some of the fun things we've done this summer here in the cornfields... 
Being 100 degrees and like 100% humidity, we spent a LOT of time in the water.  I think we went through dozens and dozens of dollar store water squirters.  And we love our "beach" a couple blocks away!

Baseball, parades, dressing up like pioneers :)...

And how do you not just throw in a picture like this?!!

 As for an update on my big boy Brayden, he is a creative engineer genius!!  Notice how he loves ORDER.  Everything always in perfect proportions and design.  He got zero help from mommy on this one.  I was literally sitting on the stroller eating a chocolate bar I mysteriously discovered in the bottom of my diaper bag while he made these.

In the morning I find these magnetic "creations" in his room.  Notice how even the animals and cars all have their own spot :)!  Love this boy of mine.

Brayden is ALL boy... jumping, splashing, running, and ramming into everything (including little sisters, whoops!)

First day of preschool!!!

And this boy thrives off routine and knowing what to expect, so this system has really been great for him... I painted a cheap clip board with chalkboard paint and we write with dry-erase crayons what he needs to do each morning.. clean room, read scriptures, pray, brush teeth, and get dressed.  Each week he earns a dollar store prize.  So really what that means is he earns a prize like every 2 weeks - because you know how crazy life gets, it's hit and miss :)

I've also really been liking this new idea for "scripture study."  I got him a cheap used Bible & Book of Mormon and some colored tabs and colored pencils.  Each day he just marks up a verse or two.  It's been really simple and fun for him!  And it has led to some great little chats.  I made sure he highlighted really well "God loveth a cheerful giver" haha

As for an update on Miss Hailey, we love doing "beauty parlor" together.  Glad she got those lips covered.

 She loves to be a big girl and do things ALL BY HERSELF!  She loves to put her pants on backwards so the pockets can hold all her "treasures."

And oh my goodness, my little girl had her first day at dance class :).  

Whew!  What an update!  It had been a while.  And Mom - I love you - you're probably the only one that made it all the way through that long post.  And wow, I sure need to go to bed NOW so that I can hopefully be more patient and alive for my poor little family after a day like today :)

On to the endless laundry and dirty dishes and crazy moments and cute, cute wonderful kids!!!!

Much love,

Mindy