Happy Easter

We thoroughly enjoyed our Easter weekend. We were able to hit two different Easter egg hunts, went swimming at the local warm springs in Thermopolis, church on sunday and a little four-wheeling that afternoon. The kids were worn out come Sunday evening they didn't even make a sound after we put them to bed.
The local college put on an Easter egg hunt on Thursday night but due to some lack of planning on time and not being familiar with the area we ended up getting there after they let the kids go so we got the overlooked candy and eggs. I didn't mind them not getting much considering I knew the Easter bunny would be visiting and they didn't need to load up on candy previous to his visit.

Friday morning we went over to my friend Amy's and dyed eggs with her two little girls Trystan and Aubrey. (Amy lives in the same RV park as we do.) Our kids love playing together and since we both are on the road a lot we know how hard it is to make friends and let our kids have friends. The kids enjoyed dying eggs and even more fun playing afterwards.

Poor Madison did get to help dye eggs but at the moment she had to wait for a chair and an adult to help her, considering we were busy trying to keep the older kids from making a mess.

Saturday morning we met Amy, Trystan, and Aubrey at the local kids park where the community holds a giant Easter Egg hunt for the kids. They were divided up into age groups and Madison was clear on the far side so Blair went with her and I took the older two.

Cassidy, Trystan, and Statton all excited after finding all their eggs. Side note: The egg hunt didn't start until 10 that morning so while I got ready to go Blair was "practicing" with the kids how to hunt for the eggs. He would hide the plastic eggs from our egg hunt on Thursday around the trailer and then have the kids run around picking them up. The kids thought it was the funnest game ever! Blair's word of advice to his children in the car before the egg hunt started. "Remember to use your elbows and go for the eyes and shins." Best dad ever award right here!

The kids after the Easter egg hunt was over. They had a fun time running and gathering the eggs. Statton got right into it. I had to pull Cassidy along for the first little bit but then she got going and getting the eggs. Blair said he just let Madison walk along and pick up the candy and eggs at her own pace. He didn't care for the parent's who were picking up all the eggs for their kids so he just pointed things out to her and she was happy to get them herself.

Statton and Madison were the first to wake up Sunday morning and find their Easter egg baskets. Cassidy joined them about 10 minutes later when she heard all the commotion. At that point they had already dived into their candy as you can tell from Madison's filled mouth.

We really did enjoy our Easter weekend and I loved spending it with my cute little family!

Happy 4th Birthday Cassidy and Statton!

Happy Birthday Cassidy! Happy Birthday Statton! Today you turn 4 years old!

Today my twins turned 4 years old and I wonder where time has gone. I can't believe how grown up they are getting. I wanted a picture in front of the cupboard right here because I have an older picture when they were about 2 1/2 and their heads fit under that little lip of counter. It just shows me how much they have grown.

We celebrated their Birthdays in Riverton,wy where we are currently working. We took the kids out for pizza for their Birthdays.

It's been awhile since I've had a picture of all my children with me together. I then wanted to have a picture of Blair with all the kids, just for memory sake.

After pizza we took the kids to DQ and let them pick out an ice cream cake. This is what they settled on together. Plus the selection was pretty poor so this was the only Birthday-ish themed cake they had. We brought it home and let it de-thaw a little bit and let the kids open their gifts.

Cassidy got her barbie with a horse that she had asked for.

I have been wanting to get Statton some sort of a farming play rug for quite some time and finally broke down and ordered this cute tractor shaped rug for him to drive his tractors on. Blair felt bad that he was getting a rug for his birthday so he stopped at the local tractor dealership and picked him up a new tractor with baler.

We then sat down and enjoyed our ice cream cake. Well Madison enjoyed hers anyway. The kids wanted to play with their new toys they only ate a few bites and were done.

We certainly feel blessed to have such cute kids in our lives to teach us patience and unconditional love. They are sweet kids and I'm so glad to be called their mother.

Cassidy- Loves Barbies, anything pink, jewelry, barbie movies, singing (she breaks out into barbie songs all the time) She makes sure to come get me every morning and tell me that Madison is awake and I need to go get her. She loves to color and play with stickers. Likes to help me cook dinner.She still puts her shoes on the wrong feet but I think she likes them that way. Always wants to pick out her own clothes and shoes. She's fairly easy going and really loves her siblings. She's usually pretty shy but gets pretty attached once she gets to know you.

Statton- Loves tractors, cars, 4-wheelers, pirates, and playing outside. Wants to help with everything. Always wants to help me cook dinner, wash dishes, and clean the house. (He'll make some woman very happy someday) Loves to throw balls, shoot fake guns, and play swords. He loves to come and crawl in bed with me every morning and watch cartoons until his sister's wake up. He's such a loveable kid and pretty tenderhearted. He loves to play with anything and anybody. He loves to meet new kids and never has a problem getting involved with new things.

Statton gets staples!

Saturday the 4th of February was such a nice day. It was around the low 60's and the sun was shining. It had snowed thursday night and so we still had some nice snow hanging around. Well we put Madison down for a nap and so Blair and I took the kids out to play in the snow. Theres a small hill that all the Rv's are back up against so there was a free spot just two down from ours so we were letting the kids slide down on the sled. After a while of letting them do it themselves Blair attached a rope and was pulling them around in the parking lot above the slope and then would give them a little pull of force to have a good slide down. We had done this a dozen or so times with the kids going in a straight line when the last run down the sled veered off to the left and ran right into the picnic table that was sitting off to the side. The kids slid between the top and the seat of it and at the last minute Statton raise his head and ended up hitting the edge of the seat. We ran down to them and Statton was screaming. Blair grabbed him and pulled of his hat and blood was gushing out of the side of his head. Blair told me to go get a towel so I ran to the trailer with Blair behind me with Statton in his arms. We put some pressure on the wound for a minute and then Blair told me to look at it and see if we needed to go the hospital. As soon as we took the towel away I could see his scalp was peeled back and I just broke out into tears and nodded my head. Seeing me cry freaked Statton out and he started crying and screaming even harder. That's when I realized I had to pull myself together in order to keep Statton calm. So I grabbed they keys and helped Blair into the pickup with Statton. I yanked Madison out of her bed and hurried and buckled her into her car seat and then got Cassidy into the truck. Statton calmed down on the way to the ER and the bleeding had mostly stopped. I dropped Blair off with Statton at the ER doors and then went and parked the truck, got the girls out, and then went and found Blair and Statton in the ER. The Triage nurse had put a piece of guaze on his head and wrapped some guaze around his head. He was perfectly calm and nodding yes or no to all the nurses questions. The doctor came in and took a look at it and said it tore in kind-of a star pattern. It was torn 3 ways. So they got some things together and came in and wrapped Statton up like a burrito with blanket and laid him on his side. He was so happy and willing to do anything they wanted. Then when the doctor started numbing him up with the lidocaine and needle Statton was crying and screaming and I was standing there with my hand on his shoulder with tears. I felt so bad for what he was going through and felt bad that the incident ever happened. Blair was feeling a little guilty about the whole thing and said he had the thought to move the picnic table but didn't. So as soon as they numbed him up they cleaned out the wound really well and then put the staples in. He got 4 staples! He cried again when they did the staples. The doctor assured me that it was probably the noise and pressure of them going in that was making him cry and not that he was in pain from feeling them. I was able to pick him up and hold him until he was done crying. The nurse offered him a popsicle and then he was all better all the sudden. Go figure! We left the ER and Statton was walking down the halls with his orange popsicle and bloody scalp laceration with staples in place and just looked super happy.

The picture a few runs before the 'incident.' Who knew things would take a turn for the worse.

Statton with his guaze head. He looks perfectly calm and whatever about things. We was asking us when we got done at the doctor if we could go home and go sledding some more. What! Are you kidding me!

Just trying to get a few close-up shots with my camera phone. I think you get the idea.

This was after they shaved his head around the lacertion and put the staples in. Oh my poor guy! I feel terrible that he might have a huge scar for the rest of his life!

I wanted to get a few shots at home with my nicer camera to better see the staples and the wound.

He ran around all night like no big deal and kept telling me about his owie on his head. It's like he's proud of it! His sunbeam teacher at church on Sunday came up to me after church and said that it was the first thing he showed her in class today and Cassidy was the one telling her the story of what happened. We have to go back in a week and get the staples out. I hope the wound heals up nicely and that there is minimal scarring. I love this little boy and was so heartbroken to see something like this happen to him.

Sledding

During our Christmas break we decided to take the kids sledding and got to go with some of Blair's family. We went up by Pomerelle to the snowmobile lodge. We got there and there wasn't that much snow so we were a little concerned we wouldn't be able to sled. Well there was just enough where the sleds and tubes run down the hill and it was just enough for the kids.

Here is Mckay and Lyann pulling some sleds up with Rhianna riding in the sled and Cameron pulling up the rear.

Cameron taking his first ride down.

Statton and Rhianna being pulled around the parking lot. I think us adults were still trying to get our gear on so the kids were waiting patiently.

What a good dad to make the effort to take us all sledding and pull his kids around on the sled. Madison enjoying the ride. It's his idea every year to go and he gets everything ready including finding all my winter gear as well. I kind of drag my feet about going but once I'm there I enjoy myself.

Good ole Uncle Mckay taking his niece and nephew down the hill. Rhianna kinda got slumped down in the sled and didn't enjoy that so much. You can't see it but Statton has the biggest grin on his face.

Blair taking his girls down the hill. The picture doesn't show it but Madison enjoyed the sledding even though she would sometimes get pouty she would still walk over and try to climb in the sled signaling to us that she was ready to go again. Cassidy's enjoyment is obvious.

Madison enjoying the snow. She's looks so cute all bundled up.

Here is Rhianna giving me a wave.

I believe this is Cassidy giving me a smile. She sometimes gives me the weirdest faces when I'm trying to take her picture.

Statton showing his usual enthusiasm. He always gives me the greatest faces!

Grandpa and Grandma with Rhianna trying to keep the fire going so we can stay warm inside the lodge. We had a great day and were all worn out by the time we were done. If I recall though not one of my kids passed out on the way home. I thought they would be exhausted but they laughed and chattered the whole way home. I found this trip funny because at one point Statton came inside and hung out for awhile saying he was cold while Cassidy stayed outside and kept going down the hill. This was so weird because usually Cassidy would wimp out and be inside while Statton is usually the die hard one who would be outside playing. It's was an interesting switch for them. Also, Blair had started sending the kids down in sleds by themselves and would have someone stand at the bottom to catch them just in case. I don't know if it was lack of snow or just the kids lack of weight but they would slow way down before the bottom so it was safe for them. Even though the first time I saw Blair send one of the kids down I went running over and dove in front of them to catch them midway down. Blair just kept telling me to let em go so I finally did and sure enough they slowed down so I felt safer letting them go by themselves. It was a fun trip.

Merry Christmas!

Well we got to have a week off of work so we headed home to Idaho to spend Christmas with our families. We have done Christmas with my family the past couple of years since that's where we stay when we go home so this year we thought it would be fun to have Christmas morning with Blair's family. We sent a memo to Santa and told him to drop gifts off at Heward's house. Blair's dad wanted to call the kids Christmas morning and tell them that Santa dropped their gifts off there. Blair told him to call about 7:30 and atleast Statton should be awake. Well early the next morning at 6am Blair's phone was ringing and of course woke both of us up. Well it was Lynn wanting to talk to the kids. Since we were all in bed still Blair told his dad to call back in about an hour or so. Well little miss Cassidy had woken up and wandered into our room a little after 7 and Lynn called back. Well the little stinker wouldn't even talk to him. She must have been feeling a little quite and shy and still trying to wake up considering she's usually my one that sleeps later than everybody. So we woke up the other kids put their coats on and loaded them up and drove over to Heward's.

It was so fun to watch the kids open gifts this year because they are started to understand the whole Santa idea and they can dig right into their gifts and really enjoy what they got and be excited about things. Madison even enjoyed pulling strips of wrapping paper off her gifts. I don't think she was as excited as Cassidy and Statton but she seemed to enjoy the going ons of the day.

Grandpa and Grandma Heward were so helpful in helping all the kids open their gifts.

It was fun to open gifts with Blair's family even though it was crazy to haul gifts back and forth. After gifts the kids played with some of their toys while us girls got some things prepped and ready for dinner that afternoon. We then all got ready and went to church. They had a wonderful program of music and it was fun to see some friends and family. It's always nice to have Christmas fall on Sunday because it just sets a nice tone for the day and really puts the whole season into perspective. We then came home finished getting dinner ready and enjoyed a wonderful meal. I believe all of Blair's family was there for dinner except for lyann and her family. Merry Christmas everyone!