Snow Day

So this week things are finally *sort of* coming along with moving. The relocation adviser finally got in touch with us. We found out that the movers will pack our stuff and GM will ship our cars there. These are steps in the right direction. I also found out that I needed to book my own trip to Michigan for house hunting purposes, so that is done. 

This week we will go and look at all 2 houses that I was able to find online (there were more, but either too expensive, too far away or too small). Super. It seems we are either going to have to settle for a very small space (1400 square feet) or settle for an expensive rent ($1400/mnth). Tis the lot of having a large family. Maybe I'll get lucky and the real estate agent they set us up with will prove helpful or maybe one of the property management companies will call me back and have some awesome homes for us. Fingers crossed!

And though my major planner aheader self continues to feel stressed about all the unknowns that I can do nothing about, I was able to have some fun with the kids. We went with Oliver & Mikey Dude to a bank's way awesome Snow Day! They didn't advertise the event as well this year which was AWESOME for us, no waiting and no crowds equals lots of fun. The kid's pigged out on doughnuts, sat in a firetruck, and got balloon swords. Steven once again loved the Bounce House and Bounce Obstacle Course. And then of course there was the snow:

And we got to see a way better looking and nicer Santa than Bass Pro Shop for absolutely NO wait!!!

Oh and let me end with a "tender mercy" moment. I was having one of those mornings where I was feeling overwhelmed with everything. One of the things on my to do list for the day was to check second hand stores for winter clothing for Lucy, she was still really lacking but I was dreading spending more money that I didn't have. And wouldn't you know that as I was thinking of when I was going to be able to shop for these clothes I got a text from my visiting teacher asking if I needed any winter clothes for Lucy, she had a whole bin of some that her daughter had outgrown. Tender mercy! Now I have a ton of clothing for Lucy and it was all the stuff I needed. Just another reminder that my Heavenly Father loves and looks out for me. We are truly so blessed! 

The 4th of July

The whole week before the 4th of July I was miserable. I always like to misdiagnosis myself so I thought maybe I had the flu--- I had a sore throat, achy body, fever, I would get hot & cold, no appetite, queasy, tired-- but a physician friend told me it was probably something else. Whatever it was, it was no fun. Thankfully Tyler was able to take off work early one day, and ditch his class another day to help out. My mom and dad also took the boys for a couple mornings. And now  (a whole week later) I am finally starting to feel normal- thank heavens!

Anyways, back to the 4th of July. I was feeling yucky that day but I couldn't miss out on the celebrations so I still went with my family to my parent's house. We had a BBQ, the boys splashed around in a kiddie pool and then we had some birthday cake to celebrate my dad's birthday (which was the next day). My mom was sweet enough to let Steven decorate my dad's cake. He did such a fabulous job ;) :

And when the sun went down it was time for fireworks. We kept with tradition and watched a nearby fireworks show at the park by my parent's house. We can't hear the music, and the booms aren't ear splitting and sometimes the lower fireworks hide behind a tree but I love it! We don't have to save a spot hours in advance and wait in the heat, we don't have to fight crowds and we don't have to endure awful exit traffic. It's perfect for us! 

This is Steven striking his "cool" pose 

Ben was so proud of himself for not being scared of the fireworks. He kept saying, "See mom. I'm not scared anymore! " And then he would run off by himself. At one point him & Steven were both running down the street in attempt to "touch" the fireworks. Silly boys!

Lucy was a little nervous at first but by the end she was more interested in the arm of my camping chair than actually watching the fireworks. Silly girl!

Another fun holiday bites the dust :)

May Days

This week...

-Tyler watched the kids while I was tutoring so I didn't have to drive the kids to my mom's house and back, it was wonderful to have that extra time....even if I wasted it on Facebook mostly and on this hilarious blog I discovered- check out this funny post: http://www.itjustgetsstranger.com/2011/12/snuggie-texts.html

- Wednesday I took the kids to a Stake Swim 'n Splash activity. This was held in the Stake RS Pres's backyard which was AmAzInG- every kid's dream! She has a playground, splash pad, pool, water table, bouncy water slide, slip 'n slide and there was food. The kids had a blast and Lucy looked adorable in her bathing suit- I wish I had taken a picture! Her chunky thighs were especially adorable :)

- I am finally feeling like I can bake again (made banana bread) and like I can watch other people's kids without stressing out (watched Colin & Jaylee Thurs morning and then a tid bit later I watched my nephew's Bryson & Boston).

-Tyler's aunt went through the temple for the first time (at last!!!) and we got to go! It has been almost a year since Tyler was in the temple so it was nice for us to be there together. I do love the temple and lately I have been able to go once a month by myself but there is something even better about going there with your spouse.

-We also got to go to dinner with his entire family and lots of extended family afterwards, it was nice. They are always entertaining.And as always (or so it seems) there was talk about boobs...So spiritual! But it wouldn't be a Hatch function if the conversation didn't go that way right!?

-Saturday night Tyler went out with the boys to do some last minute shopping for my Mother's Day gift. Despite his last minuteness, he did good. He got me a cute Maxi skirt, Steven picked out some excellent bright orange nail polish for me, Ben picked out some pretty pink roses for me, PLUS I got a box of caramel chocolates (my fav) and Tyler made me some strawberry crepes for breakfast Sunday morning(also my fav). Though I didn't get to sleep in and the boys were not quite on their best behavior it was still a good Mother's Day and there was the added bonus of getting to Skype with Tyler's sister Mariah who is on her mission- she is such a sweet, positive, loving person!

Here are my mother's day pictures---take by Steven :)

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Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday I was awoken by Steven- "Mom the Easter Bunny came & he left us notes!" He was SO excited to see what the bunny had brought him so after being nagged for about 10 minutes to come downstairs, I finally dragged myself out of bed and went with him to find his basket.

The note read:" You will find your basket where mommy keeps her cooking supplies." After looking through many cupboards, Steven finally found his basket inside one! Inside his basket: a Transformer's toothbrush, bubble bath, bubbles, candy necklaces, bubble gum, a chocolate bunny, a grabber, and a lion that grows grass hair. Yes he was spoiled!

When Ben finally woke up Steven was overjoyed- he couldn't wait to go see what Ben got from the bunny (he was more excited about it than Ben). Ben's note read: "You will find your basket where mommy goes to work." He found his quickly, it was on the floor in my office. Inside his basket: jello-beans (aka jelly beans), chocolate bunny, bubbles, pirate  toothbrush, toothpaste, a small magna doodle. and a monkey that will grow grass hair. Another spoiled boy:

And the last person awake was Lucy. Her note read, "You will find your basket where people wash their hands." Both boys were more than happy to go find the basket for her. It was in the bathroom sink. Inside her basket: purple bunny ears, a ball and a teething necklace.

Tyler & I also got baskets. Mine was hidden in the fireplace and full of candy. Tyler's was hidden in a cupboard in the hallway, his had the shirt he's wearing in the picture below and some candy`. 

Later on it was time for church and I failed to get a family picture. But I did snap a photo of Lucy before she headed out. The dress looks all white in the picture but it is white on top with light blue gingham on the bottom. I love the big bow but Tyler kept saying she looked like Aunt Jemima- so rude!

After church we went to the Hatch home for a delicious Easter dinner and our traditional Easter Egg Hunt. I was of course the lame mom who forgot their Easter baskets so they had to use really pretty grocery bags. This Easter Egg Hunt was a lot more challenging than the Ward one. The eggs were actually hidden and both boys needed help finding their eggs. But with help they each got their eggs and were on a nice sugar high for the rest of the night.

Busy Easter Saturday

The Saturday before Easter was filled with all sorts of Easter fun! We started it off with our Ward Easter Party in the park by our neighborhood. We go every year and the kids love it! Tyler was even able to join us for part of it before leaving for a hike with the Scouts.

First we had a yummy breakfast and then they had something new- a train ride! The "train" was made from dollies and water barrels and was pulled by an ATV. All the kids loved it and it was a constant fight to get on it- here are the boys with one of the girls in the Ward:

After the train did a few rounds it was time for the "hat" parade. Some women in the Ward had on some nice Easter bonnets,and then lots of the kids joined in by putting their Easter baskets on their heads. Of course my boys are followers and did this too:

Then it was time for the Easter lesson:

And then off the kids went to get their 10 allotted eggs. This year Ben was not shy about getting eggs at all and he found 10 no problem (not hard when they are all strewn about in a field):

 Here's Steven with his bestest friend, Colin:

After the Easter egg hunt it was time to dye Easter eggs and this year the boys made monster Easter eggs. It was a fun change for them. (And please excuse Ben's gross shirt, he seems to think that a shirt makes a good tissue):

Then Ben decided to make some Easter Bunnies. (Steven had made some with me a few days earlier while Ben was napping so he wasn't interested in making anymore). I love that Ben kept putting the pants on the bunnies' heads :)

And after eating lunch we decorated some Easter/Spring cookies. Ben is still way more about eating the frosting and cookies rather than actually decorating and Steven is still into squirting piles of gel icing onto the cookies. But fun and tastiness was had by all:

Moments

Before going to church Sunday Ben fell down a few steps- it was quite tragic. As I was fixing my hair I overheard Steven say to Ben: "Were you mean!? Is that why mommy pushed you down the stairs!?" Thankfully Benny stuck up for me & responded: "No, I pushed myself down the stairs."

If you happen to run into Ben, you should ask him to sing Taylor Swifts "We are never getting back together." I randomly overheard him singing it the other day- totally cute! I had no idea he was paying such close attention to the words.

Valentine's was this week and though I didn't make pink, heart shaped pancakes for breakfast or cut my sons' sandwiches into hearts- I did buy them a little fountain and a little box of candy both of which they loved so kudos to me! 

Preschool was at my house this week. It was lots of fun! We played "Don't Eat Pete", BINGO, made Valentine Bags & Heart Monsters & decorated heart sugar cookies.  When it was over on Wednesday and one of Steven's friends was leaving, Steven grabbed a Coke bottle (Tyler had left them sitting by the door) & said, "Here, you can have this" That gesture was not appreciated by the child's mother.

I was laying down with Ben at nap time and Steven, who doesn't take naps but doesn't want to be left alone, suddenly cracked open the door and started to make whistling sounds through the crack. It seemed he wanted me to come out.

And this week we have been blessed to have Brian, Pattie, Leia & Brice staying with us. When I asked the boys who was going to marry Leia, Steven said, "I am!" and then Ben said, "No! I am!" And so the fighting over her has begun. But Lucy has it easy since she has no one to compete against for Brice :)

This week Lucy rolled over from her tummy to her back! It may not have happened again yet but it was still exciting! She is also really getting into her toys- it's fun to watch her grab a rattle or a doll and try to control her movements with it. (BTW she nursed a little better this week but we're still not 100% free of fussy nursing)

And I will end with a fun picture of my kids all dressed up for a Brian's sister's wedding reception...

2013 & A Date

This year I was feeling very lame sauce and not entirely excited about ringing in the new year...especially after having a rough day with my kids. A day that included Ben shoving too much food into his mouth & then vomiting it all over himself at Wal-Mart AND it also included a little girl who did not want to nurse. No fun. But I have 2 boys who love to get out and 1 husband who needs to get out so out we went.

We begun our celebrations at my good friend Karen's house where we were served some delicious food and able to socialize with adults. There were a ton of kids there so this was good for me- I got to have adult time while the boys had there kid time. And I got to eat yummy food- all things I like. But by 7:00 or so I was already pooped (isn't that sad) and ready to go home. I was ready to pretend the New Year had arrived, feed Lucy & then sleep- like I said, I was ready to be lame sauce.

However, we still had to go to his parent's house to hang out with his family. I love his family but I was not feeling very social at this point. And Ben made sure that I didn't get any social in. Tyler's dad had bought a bunch of fireworks and Ben was terrified of them! 

Here he is hiding behind Keshia:

I ended up spending most of the night with my scared, little Ben in the house while everyone else lit fire crackers and socialized:

Steven and his daddy, however, had lots of fun:

After awhile I left Ben alone in the house and tried to keep Steven warm outside while everyone drank hot cocoa and talked around the fire pit. About 11:00, we went home, I fed Lucy and then crashed. It was like 11:45 when I went to bed but I couldn't even stay up those extra 15 minutes to greet 2013. I hope this isn't a sign that 2013 is going to be exhausting.,.

On New Year's Day, while Tyler went on a hike with my brother Mike & cousin Fred, I went on a date with Steven. He's been being very naughty lately and I think it's because he's been in need of some attention so my mom was nice enough to watch Ben & Lucy while me and Steven went and saw "Hotel Transylvania" at the cheap theater in the mall. Our tickets were only $1 each which was AwEsOmE for thrifty me! And the movie was surprisingly a good one. I was worried because I hadn't even heard of it but I enjoyed it & Steven was able to sit through the whole thing.

After the movie, Steven & I headed to the food court and had some DQ. Steven asked for the chocolate dipped cone but didn't even eat the cone...apparently he hates cones. But he did love the chocolate. Next time I'm thinking I'll get him a Dilly Bar...  

It was fun to hang out with my little boy (who is growing up much to quickly!) and actually have a long period of time with him where I wasn't yelling at him to stop doing something. It was a much needed date and I really need to get better at having those with him more frequently.