One day Noah stripped down to his diaper and got a little chilly so my mom put one of her shirts on him which he thought was hilarious.
But then he found a bike helmet and decided to put that on which he thought was even more hilarious. He kept that helmet on for a couple hours.
Noah was a bit fussy during the first part of church a couple weeks ago. Fritz ended up taking him and getting his noise reducing headphones (which Noah had ripped off his head a few minutes before) on him right and within minutes Noah was sound asleep. He stayed asleep being moved to my dad’s arms after Sacrament Meeting and then later to my mom’s arms and kept sleeping all the way to the end of church.
Saturday night my mom, Ani, Haley, and I went to see Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. It was so good! They were pretty faithful to the book and the casting was excellent. The little girl who played Margaret was absolutely perfect. Definitely recommend this movie!
The little guys love to “help” my dad working outside.
We went to our school district’s last annual used book sale last weekend. We got so many books and DVDs. Since it was the last one they are doing we all were kind of like if it sounds at all interesting just get it.
We got there a half hour before they opened and the line was already quite long. We we happy to stand in the sprinkling rain, though, for books.
My mom came prepared for the occasion wearing her cute Little Women book cover earrings.
Just over two hours later we were done shopping with several big bags stuffed full of books and DVDs.
My parents spent almost $50 and got all these books!
We spent just over $100 and got all these books.
And all these DVDs.
We went back the last day of the sale because they give you bags and the first one is $15 and each additional one is $10 so we ended up spending $35 for all these books, DVDs, and CDs! I’m so sad this was the last one they are going to do, but I certainly got enough books to last me quite a while.
On St. Patrick’s Day I decided it would be fun for the little ones to make Leprechaun Snacks while Zeke and Mayci were at basketball camp.
The boys mixed popcorn, sprinkles, mint M&Ms, colorful marshmallows, Lucky Charms, and Smarties in Ziploc baggies.
Their favorite part was the Mint M&Ms. They couldn’t get enough of those! Second favorite was the colorful mini marshmallows.
They had a really great time filling up their baggies. They loved the colors and the sugar overload. So much fun!
As soon as they filled up their baggies they set right in to eat their Leprechaun Snacks. Anthony thought they are super delicious.
Nicholas liked all the colors. He had a great time shaking his baggie to mix everything up. He was so excited with how his snack turned out.
Joel had just woken up from a nap so wasn’t super into making his snack, but he liked how it turned out and how it tasted.
Noah and Joel talked all about what they made and how tasty they were. Leprechaun Snacks were a huge hit!
Joel loves to “go to work” with his Dada. To hear Joel tell it, he’s done the cinderblock walls in the backyard and pretty much put up the new fan in our living room. Every morning he asks my father if they are going to work today. I’m not sure who is going to miss the other more in August when Joel starts Pre-K: Joel or my dad.
The other day Anthony’s backpack seemed a lot heavier than it should have. Turned out he had a bunch of good sized rocks in there that he got from the playground at school. He said he brought them home to add to Dada’s rock pile in the backyard (because, obviously, he doesn’t have enough that’s he’s pulled out of the ground).
You know you have a big family when this is how your order at Torchy’s is given to you. (Side note: Torchy’s Tacos seriously has the best queso and chips in the world.)
We got the kids (plus Haley and Ani) annual passes to the zoo this year (my parents got passes too). They were on a great sale making them totally worth it.
We figure Haley, Ani, and my parents can take a kid or two at a time so it won’t always be all of us going together (which can be kind of crazy). I suspect Joel will be making a lot of zoo trips between now and when school lets out.
The last time we went to the zoo was while the kids were still in foster care after their good-bye visit with their bio mom. They were just 19 months to 5 years old then!
We used our new passes to the zoo on New Year’s Eve for the Zoo Lights celebration (no jackets even after dark… gotta love winter in Texas). Six kids in the dark in a place we’ve only been a couple times before is super nuts even with four adults and one marginally helpful teen.
They ran around, they danced, they climbed on the lions. They had so much fun. Even when it’s hard to take all of them places and we’re constantly counting to six just to be sure they are all where we expect them to be, it’s totally worth it to see happy their faces and making memories with them.
Smaller on the Outside 