Happy Mother's Day

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

                                                                           -Abraham Lincoln

Ray spoke in church today, here is his talk on honoring motherhood.

6 Out of 7 Ain't Bad...

Every Thursday Grace's school starts a half hour late.  I usually ALWAYS forget this until we are almost to the bus stop and I see no one else there.  Today was no exception.  

Grace: (laughing) You always forget late day, mom!

Me: I know, I don't know why.

Grace: You are the smartest mom in the world, EXCEPT for Thursdays!

Boys...

My friend Misty made this video of her son and Elliot at her house the other day (for those of you who didn't see it on Facebook).  She is so creative, this video is hilarious!

Naomi, my parenting inadequacies, and random pics...

My sister pointed out how few pictures of Naomi I have on my blog, so I went through my pictures and realized, to my chagrin, that I don't have hardly any pictures of her!!  So we took this video today.  She is now laughing and starting to babble.  She also likes to blow bubbles.  We tried to capture some of it in the video, and I have resolved to take more pictures of my youngest beauty!!

Naomi, Easter

Maggie loves to dress up in anything she can get her hands on.  This is Naomi's Easter dress (bloomers included), Grace's socks, and Naomi's onesie around her neck :)

She even likes to dress up in tupperware :)

Elliot and his bff Gabe...awww cute :)

Keep scrolling for more posts, I'm playing catch up...

6 Years Old...

I can't believe my baby is 6 years old. Gracie had a birthday last Sunday when we were in Pocatello. She came in our room that morning and said, "I'm 6 now, look how tall I am!". She is getting to be so grown up and sometimes I forget how old and grown up she is. Sometimes I don't realize that she doesn't need me as much as she used to, which she is always happy to remind me of. On the other hand, sometimes I forget that she is not so grown up that she doesn't need my snuggles and loves anymore, which she is also good to remind me of. Gracie is such a happy, smart girl. She is such a big helper with her brothers and sisters. She is naturally very maternal and is so good with baby Naomi. Every day she says, "I can't believe how cute Naomi is!!". Gracie is now reading very well for her age and just started playing on a soccer team. She is all about having fun and has such an infectious laugh. I am so happy Grace is a part of our family. Our life would be much less bright without her in it. She is so special. I love you, Gracie! Happy Birthday!

(Ray took all these pics without a flash, nice...)

Grandma made this special frosting for Grace, it is called "fluffy white (we made pink) frosting".  Grace raved over it!

Skip around the room!  Skip around the room!  We won't stop 'till you skip around the room!

(she did it, she really skipped around the room!)

Grandma turns 80...

Last weekend we went to Pocatello for my Grandma Christensen's 80th surprise birthday party. We had so much fun. The best part was that she was truly surprised!! It was so great. There were tons of people there, which is a testament to how much grandma is loved by everyone. She is such a wonderful, spunky, fireball of a woman. (I mean, seriously, look how cute her outfit is!) No one is a stranger to her. I got to see lots of my cousins and their kids, lots of aunts and uncles, and my sister Leslie was there. The kids all ran around in a pack for 3 hours and slept like logs that night! We always have a good time visiting grandma and grandpa!

Okay, I am officially a bad mom, this is the only picture I got of Naomi the whole time we were there!!

Maggie and my cousin Hillary's little girl Hallie.  They are about the same age.  They hugged when they first met...so cute!!

Leslie and Maggie.  Maggie loves Leslie, she went right up to her and gave her a hug even though she hasn't seen her for almost a year!

Jumping on grandma and grandpa's trampoline,  always a highlight!

Easters

The Easter Bunny did not disappoint...he managed to find some Wii games for super cheap at Shopko.



Of course, Elliot separated all the chocolate and jelly beans into neat piles and put all the eggs back together in the basket :)

I just wanted one picture of all the kids smiling...MUCH easier said than done!!