So long April!

End of April already?! This month just flew by! We started it off with Porter finishing his Itty Bitty Ball class.  He really enjoyed soccer and Tball the best. On the last day of class, the coach (who is in my ward) pulled me aside and said, "I'm so glad Blake was able to come with you to most of the classes." Basically, the days when it was just me and Porter (and poor Grant in the front pack), I spent the class chasing after him or Porter laying on the floor refusing to participate. We had several time outs and a few times we even left class early. The days that Blake was in class with us Porter was perfect. Why is that?

 Their faces when I told them we were going to storytime at the library (we go practically every week, so I don't know why it was so exciting)

  Apparently my boys were super tired one day:

 Whenever we get out new baby items for Grant, my kids go crazy for them and think they're the greatest thing ever.

 Brooke's journal for school--she had to write about a time when someone taught her something. She chose to write about Blake's mom (Honey) teaching her how to paint: "Honey taught me how to paint. Honey taught me to not spill the paint. Honey taught me how to wash the brush.

 Brooke hasn't only been writing on paper. I find Brooke's name written on everything. I found this written on her chalkboard. I had to take a picture before I cleaned it off: "Brooke had stitches."

 Porter loves his stool. He brings it into our bedroom all the time so he can look out the window.

 More of Brooke's writing: "I love my mom because she makes me pancakes."

 Picture of me and the pancake:

 Finally, we ended April with Brooke starting outdoor soccer. There were a couple weeks where Porter's itty bitty ball and Brooke's soccer practice/game were on the same days. How do parents do it? I can't imagine having more than one child in multiple activities. Those days were crazy for me!

 

 Something else really exciting happened to us in April too, but I'm not going to tell until I can take a picture of it..and NO, I'm not pregnant! I just want to leave the (very) few readers of my blog hanging!

This is what a REAL family vacation looks like

Friday after Brooke's school program, Blake surprised our family with a trip to Glenwood Springs. We loved it there. Blake and I first went there on our first wedding anniversary. We swam in the gigantic hotsprings pool, ate at a French restaurant and wandered around the streets, window shopping. Well, almost 11 years and 3 kids later, our trip this time was very different.

We were serenaded on the almost 3 hour drive by Grant crying nonstop. When we finally pulled into Glenwood, it was pouring rain and since the hotsprings are outside and in fact HOT, the air was cold and windy and I was worried about the baby being out in the weather, so we checked into our hotel instead. Luckily, Blake booked the hotel with most kid-friendly indoor pool ever! We changed into our suits and got some wiggles out.

 

Excuse my scary looking appearance...I had just gone down the water-slide

 Mr. G's first time in the pool

 It was hard to get pictures of the older kids. Brooke told me, "Mom, I'll just be hanging out with my friends" meaning some girls she met at the pool. And Porter was non-stop on the go. He went down the water-slide by himself and wasn't afraid of jumping in the pool at all. I attempted to take some pictures of Blake playing with the kids.

 That blurry blob is Blake and Porter coming down the slide

 Blake and I took turns holding Grant while one of us was in the water with the other two. So while we were on vacation together, it was rare for us to actually be, well, together.

After the pool we went back to the room where I discovered in my hasty packing job, I forgot to pack a change of clothes for Brooke and a hairbrush for me. Brooke had to wear the same outfit and was distraught by it and I had to use Brooke's hairbrush (I was not distraught by that.)

We went to dinner and paid a ridiculous amount of money on kid food. Surprisingly all 3 kids were well behaved during dinner (I think the pool wore them out too much to misbehave). We went on a drive after dinner and of course I forgot my camera to take pictures of the truly stunning scenery.

Sleeping in the same hotel room together is always interesting. Brooke was snoring keeping Blake awake. Grant was being his baby-self keeping me awake. The next morning we ate breakfast and hit the pool again. After, we somehow managed to lose Brooke and I's only hairbrush. The whole rest of the day I had to go around with stringy, unbrushed hair and I was super irritated with Brooke for losing the brush. It was also raining again so our plans for going on a family hike were cancelled. We drove home (cue Grant crying again) and Blake and I collapsed exhausted in our bed at 7:30.

Family time together is always needed and Blake's surprise trip was very sweet and endearing, but Blake and I both came to the same conclusion: we drove 3 hours and paid all that money bascially to go swimming, which we could have done here at our rec center for a lot cheaper and all slept better in our own beds.

But you can't put a price on those memories!

Brooke {hearts} the USA!

On Friday, the 24th, Brooke had her kindergarten program at school. It was a patriotic program and Brooke did such a good job! The kids sang songs like "It's a Grand Old Flag", "My Country Tis of Thee", "Yankee Doodle", and "This land is my land". Brooke also had a speaking part during the USA ABCs... her part was "B is the Liberty Bell. It rang for freedom." It was so fun to go and watch her perform. Afterwards, Porter ran up to Brooke and gave her a huge hug and said, "Good job, Brooke!" We are so proud of what she's learned in Kindergarten this year. I can't believe the school year is almost over.

Spring Minis

My favorite photographer in town offers spring mini sessions and I jumped at the chance to take part in them this year. Ever since Grant joined our family I have been trying (and failing) to get one good photo of all three of my kids looking in the general direction of the camera with a somewhat happy expression on their face. I told the photographer my main goal was to get one decent shot that I could frame.

The weather had been perfect all week long and of course the day of our appointment it was windy and cold and even snowed a little bit on our way over. Porter was grumpy and I didn't have any faith we'd get a good shot, but this is why this lady is our favorite! She works miracles and I love how they turned out.