Surprise Party

We headed over to the west side of the state for a Surprise Welcome Home Party for Raymond's Mom, Bobbi. She was super surprised; unfortunately my camera only got blurry pictures of her reaction.

Grami and Poppie were there too and so was Kimmie and Elle...look at how beautiful Elle is! She had the cutest outfit on and was such a little social butterfly...just like her Mommy.

The party was a potluck and there was a ton of good food. There was such a great variety; even Emma found something she liked (Pizza!).

Marcus started off shy and then came out of his shell quickly. He has become a great eater since the whole week of the flu...we can't get him to stop eating now. I think he's put on 5 pounds just in the last week!

We were trying for a family picture but ended up with a few extras. I was going to crop it but decided it's not that great of a family photo anyways and really this tells the story of the night. We do know the little girl beside me and Olivia. That is Addison, Raymond's niece. The little boy beside Marc and Marcus? No idea who he is...I guess he just wanted to be part of the family for a moment :-)

There was even a play area set up for the kids...good thinking! There was a ton of play dough, markers, coloring books, even an huge soft letter mat that was like a large puzzle. The kids LOVED it!

The Starks were even there! They happened to be in the area on vacation and called Raymond out of the blue so he said come on over. That was a nice surprise! There's Miss Elle again with some of the Stark girls (Kylie, Julie and Karissa), making her social rounds. What a good sport...talk about a dream baby; she was at a 1 year old's birthday party prior to this party and I never once saw her get fussy. She's a trooper!

WELCOME HOME BOBBI!!! We are so glad to have you back!

"Hannah Montana"

So, on our way home everyday, we pass by a big house that is for sale and Emma always says we need to buy it because our house is too small. Yesterday on the way home we went by it and here’s how the conversation went:

Emma: “Did I miss our house?”
Me: “Yes, it’s back there.”
Emma: “Is it Nana & Papa’s house?”
Me: “No, Nana and Papa live in Great Falls”
Emma: “I thought they lived in Hannah Montana.”
Me: (laughing), “Nope, Great Falls, MT”
Emma: “hmm…Great Falls MT…”

Honestly we do not watch "Hannah Montana". It's so funny what kids will pick up.

Sickness update

This is a little clip of when the kids weren't feeling well a couple of days ago. It's hard to see kids get sick. They want to keep playing and being normal kids but sometimes it gets the best of them. Marcus spent most of the week trying to play like normal, but every once in a while I'd catch him laying on the floor with his blanket and thumb in his mouth. This video is an example, only this time he wanted to continue to play even though he really wasn't feeling well. Isn't this sweet...poor baby.

I think we are on the mend...hard to say though. This has been the longest flu I've ever experienced. It seems like one minute everyone is fine and the next minute it all goes down hill. Yesterday morning was tough...everyone was sick. Emma was the worst; she woke up with horrible tummy pains and was sick all morning. However, after naps, everyone seemed to perk up (that is when we went to get the chicks). Everyone seemed to have a good night and so far this morning nobody has been sick. Hopefully that is the end of this...I really can't take anymore!

Little Chicks

It's been a while since we've had our little farm. Yesterday we decided to start with chickens. Aren't they cute?


The kids helped pick out the mix of chickens. We got a total of 8 (one was sick and didn't quite make it to this morning though). Three of them have a chance to be roosters though...we won't know until they grow.

The kids are already pros now. They know the baby chicks need to stay warm using a heat lamp..."hot...don't touch!"

They need plenty of water...

And food too.

Our neighbor, Sean, brought over his 4-wheeler yesterday to check out our chickens. Marcus LOVES this 4-wheeler. Every time Sean starts it up Marcus runs outside and screams his name. Sean is so nice, he always brings it over so Marcus can have a ride around our field.

Emma loves it too. She keeps telling Daddy he needs to work more to get money to buy a 4-wheeler. One day she found some change on the counter and said "Hey, maybe we can use this money to buy a 4-wheeler". It was totally out of the blue...when she knows what she wants, she finds a way to get it.

Vacation Anyone?

The kids are SICK. Marcus was only better for a brief period of time after my "Bounce Back" post. We attempted to go to daycare on Weds but I only made it at work for an hour before getting the call that Olivia got sick all over the breakfast table and Marcus' diapers were not good. So, I brought them home and it's been downhill from there. My house is now sparkling clean; all bedding has been washed; everything has been bleached; I'm literally following the kids around with Lysol to make sure every sick germ gets destroyed...I'm done with this sickness!!! It is awful watching all 3 of them so sick...I just wish it would go away. I'd rather use my vacation days on a beach somewhere watching the kids play in the sand; oh well...we'll save that for another day/month/year...

Bounce Back

It's amazing how kids can bounce back so fast. This morning Marcus had a very bad tummy. By this afternoon, he was back. Daddy came home from work and decided he needed to wash his truck. Marcus was right there to help (if you want to call it that...).

I'm gonna get you...

He got Olivia...but she wasn't so innocent; she got him pretty good a few times too!

Little Sluggers

We are home today because Marcus isn't feeling well. So, I thought I'd post more of yesterday's fun. We brought out the t-ball set and let the girls go wild. First Olivia (our little lefty) gave it a try after some coaching from Daddy.

"HOME RUN!"

Next up, Emma! Here's Daddy showing her the way.

"HOME RUN!" I think we've got two naturals! Marcus wasn't feeling well yesterday either so we'll have to catch him at a later date.

A girl & her dog

It's a beautiful day today. We have officially tuckered Tucker out! We started with a walk this morning, then we threw the ball in the field for him (it's a soccer ball...that's what he prefers) and then Emma brought out the bubbles.

Look how tired he is :-) Tucker always goes crazy around sprinklers, hoses, any type of water...and he's crazy for bubbles too...

Even though he was so tired; he wouldn't stop. Emma got such a kick out of it that she didn't want him to stop.

Seeing Green

The big St. Patrick's Day celebration has begun. It started with the Parade downtown today at noon. The kids were so excited. We don't own too much green; thank goodness for the mittens and hats from Auntie Sabrina this Christmas!

Good thing we brought the stroller otherwise Daddy wouldn't have had a place to sit!

We even brought lunch. I had lots of healthy snacks to offer so the candy wouldn't be the only thing available. They all surprised me by asking for carrots and cheese instead of the candy!

OK, so I don't own any green...good thing I'm not Irish :-)

We met up with Maddy and her Mom (KariLynn) and youngest brother (Zak). I know I've said it many times before, but it is always so nice to have Maddy around to help. She loves our kids and they love her!

Marcus was so funny to watch. He waived at everyone, jumped and ran everywhere, clapped and laughed at everything and even found a few mud puddles to jump in (why do boys have to be so dirty all the time?). It was more fun watching him than the actual parade. He loved every moment.

This was little Zak's first parade. He did great! Marcus kept running up to him and telling him what was going on and Zak would just laugh and clap. He watched Marcus every step of the way. Won't be long before those two are running around together.

We left the parade at 2:00 (two hours after it started!) and it was still going! Marcus was very upset; screamed the whole way back to the car...he kept saying "IT'S NOT OVER!". It broke my heart, but we had to try to squeeze in some sort of a nap...he was so exhausted; the minute we got in the car he fell asleep. He slept for 3 hours! Overall it was a great time.

Make Over Party

Maddy had a make over party for her 12th birthday today.

The girls did not start out in these clothes. These are actually Maddy's clothes from childhood. KariLynn (Maddy's Mom) was putting together clothes to donate and came up with the idea of a make over party. All the girls (mainly 12 year olds) dressed up in the clothes and had their hair and nails done. The girls got to keep the clothes too. Emma ended up with this beautiful red velvet dress and Olivia got an adorable shirt and black pants. They even got purses and jewelry! So fun!

Originally it was just the girls and me but when we arrived at the party, Marc called and said he was called out to work. So, I basically dropped the girls off and met Marc to pick up Marcus. I ended up being an hour late to the party and missed the make overs. The girls did very well. I actually asked them if they wanted to come with me and they both said they wanted to stay and party...they have been talking about this party for a while now so I'm glad that worked out. It actually ended up better because I know Marcus would have felt left out if he didn't get to go to a party and have cake today.

She's Got Moves

We watched the movie "Bolt" tonight and the song at the end got Olivia on her feet and groovin'. She did this for a while so of course I had to capture it on video. What a crack up! I love it!!! Marcus is pretty entertaining too...never a dull moment in this household.

They're Back

The bugs (and cow) came back out for some racing fun. They have been in the basement and were rediscovered a couple of nights ago. The girls are wearing their Safari hats that they made at daycare in case you were wondering. So cute! Here they are at the starting line...ready...set...go.

Marcus kept trying to get away from me saying..."no pictures mom"

Emma just kept driving up and down the hallway. I forgot how much fun these bugs are. I'm not sure why they were downstairs but I'm glad they came back up!