Easter Prep and Denial

We had a four day weekend for Easter.  It was just what we needed! Sometimes life gets too crazy and we spend all our time running from thing to thing and we don't spend enough time just hanging out together.  The Friday before Easter I woke up early to the  sound of pouring rain.  I was ecstatic! This meant that I not only had nothing on my agenda for my kids day off but they wouldn't be sneaking out the door to play since the weather was awful! After a morning grumbling about doing jobs, I loaded them up and took them to see the Disney Nature Bears movie.  They all loved it minus Hagen but he loved that we had the whole movie theatre to ourselves and he could run wild.  Afterwards we colored Easter Eggs and just chilled. 

That was the Easter Prep part, now for the denial part:  

My sister comes to my house and exercises with me most mornings.  She and I are brutally honest with each other and I am grateful to have her.  She points out all my best and worst qualities and calls me out on them.  A couple weeks ago I gave her my very last tote of baby/toddler girl clothes.  She mocked me as I ceremoniously laid out each outfit for her, coaching her which leggings went with which skirt and how to tuck in this shirt with those pants.  I coaxed her two year old into trying on and modeling some of my most favorite pieces.  My heart was a little sad as I could remember events or outings with my best girl in each outfit.  As I almost reverently sealed the lid back on that tote of clothes, Chelsey pointed out my strange behavior.  

I don't think I consciously realized how sad I was that I would never have a baby girl again.  Kallie is thinking she is all grown up these days.  She wants older looking clothes and hairdos.  She would rather hang with her friends than me and she isn't into princesses and pink stuff anymore.  After discussing my sadness with Kallie, she agreed to be my little girl one last day. ( I think I was freaking her out a little with my drama.) She sweetly humored me by letting me do my all time favorite "little Kallie" hair do on her.  Messy Piggies with a headband! I promised her we wouldn't see any over her friends and she would never have to let me do it again.  

Hagen needed a picture with his mamma too, which I was happy to oblige!

As much as I am going to miss seeing this quick and easy little girl hairdo and pink manicured nails, I am proud of the young lady Kallie is growing up to be.  I guess I can handle neon orange nails that aren't quite as perfectly done as I would like, just as long as my girl continues to give me that dashing smile and remind me that she is still herself.  Just growing up way too fast for my liking!

Army Ant

Cole had his school play.  He was pretty excited about it.  He practiced his part for weeks and was pretty stressed out about his costume.  The program was adorable, but you would've never guessed he was having fun or had looked so forward to this day.  He never cracked a smile the whole time.  He acted like he was being completely tortured! Maybe that's because the sole reason adults make kids do things like this is so we can laugh at them! At least he can watch the video later in life and laugh at himself.  (Or more importantly laugh at the boy in the front row that incessantly picked his nose through the whole thing!) I love everything about grade school plays!

I Might Have a Little Crush

I CAN NOT get enough of my little chunk! Seriously I could brag all day long about what a happy fun baby Hayes is.  Hayes had his six month check up this week and while I can't document his exact numbers due to my paper blowing away in the horrendous wind, I can say he is healthy and growing! Hayes weighed 17 pounds and was in the 33rd percentile for both weight and height. I was pretty surprised that his percentile wasn't higher than that.  This kid is a lug! He was even compared to 40 week gestation babies this time around.   His 75% for head circumference however wasn't too surprising.  There is a Crapo trait for ya!

Hayes has been happy to be lazy but has now figured out how to roll over.  He thinks that is a pretty cool trick but I wasn't too thrilled with it.  It just means that he is growing up.  It also meant that the inevitable happened and I was forced to move him to the crib from the bassinet.  Both Weston and I struggled with this and even contemplated moving the crib into our room.  As much as I wanted to do just that, I refuse to coddle him too much.  I want him to stay my baby forever, but I realize that that isn't possible and I would like to raise a productive human being. Not a mommy coddled reject.  The crib is literally five feet away from my bed in the next room, so he's just fine and still sleeping through the night.  

We also introduced Hayes to the jumper.  He hasn't figured out just how much fun it really is yet, but that is because he is so chill and happy.  He doesn't even know there is such thing as "happier"! I love those fluffy cheeks and dark eyes! This boy is complete joy. 

Branding Day

Somedays I hate that reality forces Weston to have a town job.  I mean I realize that the bills need paid and we are so blessed to have a great job where Weston receives a steady paycheck and I am able to stay home with the kids.  I'm also very grateful that we can double dip a bit and Weston can do farm work in the evenings and our kids can work along side him then, but some days I long for my kids to have what I had as a child.  

Growing up it was "The Family Farm".  If we didn't do the work, it simply didn't get done.  The pipe moving, hay baling, cattle feeding and milking and all other farm jobs were "the whole family's" responsibility.  At a young age we were driving pickup trucks and riding horses to move cattle.  I remember being 12 or 13 and being terrified of a blow snake that was right next to a pipe that I had to pick up.  I was certain that picking raspberries was the worst punishment ever and bottle feeding calves was in no way exciting. I didn't have many of the material things that my kids enjoy today but I had so much more.  

For these reasons I was sad when branding day came along and Weston had a busy day at work to attend to.  Cole was dying to go out and help and I couldn't resist the urge to take him out of school and let him help.  He had a blast and worked all day.  When I picked him up at four to go to baseball practice, he was tired, dirty and hungry but had a huge grin on his face.  Right after practice he insisted that he needed to get back out there and finish the job.  Skyler begged him to stay and play but I was proud of Cole when he told him that it felt good to work and he wanted to go out and finish.   It may have been that Nate is Cole's idol and he was still out there but nonetheless, out he went!

I think Grandpa is pretty proud of these boys that enjoy doing what he loves.  Cole and Nate are so far the only ones that really love the cows and horses, and it is a great way for them to bond with Grandpa and each other.  

Hagen is a young up and comer.  He would've loved to stay out and help as well, but can't yet be trusted without his mama!

I'm not too sure just how "helpful' these boys are but Cole was on cloud nine for the rest of the weekend.  (Which may be in part to Uncle Brett allowing him to go with the Big Boys to see a late night movie after a long days work)

Everyday Life

Everyone still fights over Hayes a lot.  Cole seems to always win the battle to feed him a bottle.  (They beg me to let him have a bottle so they can feed him) Hayes is really getting too big for them to pack him around much, all except Kallie. She is such great help with him and can do anything from changing diapers to rocking him to sleep.  

Our subscription to our church magazines expired a few months back and instead of renewing it, I was just reading it online.  Kallie has been begging to get the Friend back in our home.  She was so excited the day it finally arrived, she read the whole thing and planned our Family Home Evening with it.  (I think I should note now that she takes FHE VERY seriously.  She always prepares us a lesson, complete with songs, scriptures, assigned prayers, and most importantly a treat) I sure hope she doesn't grow out of that desire any time soon.  She is keeping us on track!

Hayes continues to be the happiest little guy alive! We've nicknamed him Chubsly! He is just so fluffy! (Grandpa Crapo calls him Meatball)

More often than not Chelsey comes to exercise in the mornings.  The kids spend an hour and a half fighting and playing.  It is all or none with them, we have had some wicked fights for sure.  

Like I said before this baby is so HAPPY! No matter where I set him down, he is content for a long stretch of time.  To get him to smile or laugh all you have to do is look at him.  He is pure joy in our home.

Though her visits are much less frequent these days,  Jalyssa is still an important part of our family as are her siblings.  Her and Jaylynn are great with Hagen and he adores them.  Jalyssa endured a hairdo  complete with a blow dry job from Hagen.   

Conference Sunday is always a favorite.  We fatten ourselves up on Sticky Buns and sleep in late.  Well we tried to sleep in late but four little munchkins booted us out of our bed and made sleeping in impossible! 

Hagen thinks he is big.  As big as all the other kids in the neighborhood.  Now that the weather is allowing for a lot more outdoor play and the days are longer, Hagen is in desperate need of sleep.  He insisted on a late night Saturday run to the grocery store with me.  He promised me as I carried him in to the house that he wasn't to tired to eat dinner.  I think that was not quite true! He zonked right there at the table.  Hagen can be the most frustrating kid ever.  I lose my patience with him a lot and want to go crazy! But when that boy closes his eyes, I melt.  He is the sweetest thing in the world!  

Arizona Trip

We just got back a from a little getaway to the BEAUTIFUL Arizona desert.  After years of gift giving failure, I finally succeeded in giving a decent gift.  For Christmas I bought Weston a two day pass to a team roping school in AZ.  He insisted that I come along and of course I obliged.  Mark and Jenny Steiner and Weston's parents joined us as well as baby Hayes.  It was the perfect weekend, with great weather and lots of time to relax.  

This picture is at the front gate of the community we stayed in.  We rented a house that was on a golf course and it was amazing.  I am dying to take my kids there.  They would LOVE it.

Hayes was a perfect gem and I was excited to wear all my cute boy summer clothes on him that he surely will be grown out of by the time our weather is warm enough for them.  He spent his days lazily being pushed in the stroller and sporting his awesome shades.

We walked the Mesa Temple grounds on evening, that was amazing.

Watched some roping...

And spent a lot of time enjoying our private backyard patio and pool.  

Weston performed his best swimming tricks...

We also walked the brand new Gilbert Temple grounds and honestly just enjoyed a whole weekend of perfect weather.  I know I am just weird, but the whole time I kept thinking of how much fun my kids would have had on this trip and wished they were with us.  I am not very good at relaxing when they are away from me.  Next time they will most certainly be joining us! 

A Few March Things

The kids got this sand for Christmas.  Uncle Brett said it was a "must have".  He is always right when it comes to treats and fun.  That guy knows his stuff.  It is kind of like moon sand.  It isn't too messy and provides hours of entertainment.  Hagen will sit in the high chair for literally two hours and play with sand.  He got a fun new motorbike birthday shopping with his Grammy, and has spent the last few weeks making tracks for it out of his sand.  He is pretty creative and  had it going over a nice set of whoops the other day.  

I always love to find a nice piece of artwork in the kids backpacks.  Cole NEVER disappoints me.  Usually I am laughing at funny details that he adds but this time I was just pretty impressed.  I'm certain I still couldn't draw a picture using depth like this, nice job kiddo!

Kallie had her first clogging competition of the year recently.  She has had so much fun doing clogging this year.  She got moved up a class and is about the youngest one (definitely the smallest).  She loves the girls in her class, especially Aysiah Conger, but is really getting to know the others as well.  Her team did well, they had a first on one dance and a second on the other.  Kallie got a 2nd on her individual freestyle.  She was pretty happy with the outcome, and really happy about eating at Sizzler afterwards.  

I couldn't bring myself to drag Hagen and Cole along, but these two were great fans.  The whole day I just kept thinking how grown up Kallie was getting and how she isn't a little girl anymore.  When I uploaded my pictures I was about in tears when I saw the one below.  She looks so OLD!! Each stage my kids enter gets funner and funner, but I wish time would slow down just a little bit, I'm nowhere near ready for teenagers yet!