mom's b-day.

My family is so big and blended, but these are all of the kids that my Mom actually birthed ;) We got together for her birthday, always a pleasure with these crazies. Love them all. No five kids could be so different, that's for sure. 

thirty.

Turning thirty was my favorite birthday yet. I always feel so thankful for such nice people in my life and this year was another reminder of how lucky I am. I decided since you only turn 30 once, I wanted to get a little spoiled, and so I booked a massage for the morning of. Also a pedicure, lunch dates, dinner dates, family time, jer time, friends luncheon, shopping, food, amazing homemade cupcakes that I could have died eating, drop bys from friends, treats at the door, heart warming cards, texts, and phone calls. Gosh, I just love getting old. Can't wait for next year! Oh and I must say, after seeing the excitement Kosty had for Jer on his birthday, I wondered how he would be on mine. Lets just say, I got nothin...except for a "oh, its your birthday today?" no card, no hug, no love at all. I was kind of hassling him all day about it. At the end of the day, he pulled a present from the table that I hadn't even noticed had been sitting there all day. It was wrapped in plain white paper and taped up with plenty of scotch tape. Inside was this beautiful Lego heart. Sweet boy. It was sitting there for who knows how long while he endured lots of hassle from me, and he never even mentioned it. This boy teaches me lots of lessons in patience. 

easter.

Kosty now refuses to take any pictures! sad.

woke up to these faces standing over my bed Easter morning after they found their baskets. 

cousins at Nana and Pappy's. 

playing a rather dangerous game that ended in tears with Uncle Zach.

Easter was not the typical. Jer woke up with a migraine, and so it was just me and the kids. No cute family photo or even any pics of anyone dressed in Sunday best. Actually on Easter Sunday, it was so hectic that I didn't even get any pics of the boys dressed up until two weeks after. Nice. And you can see how awesome those turned out. I had to include the progression so you see how they were at odds from the start because Kosty refused to smile or look at the camera. Then Brayden, noticing my dismay, and being the pleaser he is, tried to force him so that I could get one shot. All downhill from there. I realized I had to let go of my priority of a decent Easter picture for my blurb book. It just wasn't happening. Other than that, it was a good Easter. As always, we enjoyed the Easter pageant, dying eggs, and time with all three family houses we visit after church. Oh, I forgot one other flop ;) .... our neighborhood always does an Easter egg hunt in the park by our house. This year, thanks to Pinterest (:/) she switched it to a glow in the dark hunt. So yep after spending an hour or more trying to jam glow sticks into tiny plastic eggs plus the candy, they kept popping open, we took our eggs to the park and everyone decided to go ahead even though it WASN'T EVEN CLOSE TO DARK. It was full daylight people. With hundreds of "glowing" eggs. And all that time spent jabbing those sticks in there for absolutely nothing! It was actually pretty funny when all the kids started bringing back eggs that had glowsticks crack inside. They had to throw them all away and the candy too. Good times. Just in case anyone out there saw it on Pinterest too, you've been warned. 

Brayden was the only one who would cooperate during conference for a couple of pictures. It makes me so happy that these boys get EXCITED for conference. Like, really excited. They love the breakfast, the reverence tent, and of course not going to church, and playing candy bingo. 

We were discussing babies, and Brayden was trying to understand how Daddy has a part in it. 


He said, "Sooooo....Daddy downloads his DNA by kissing you?" 

Brayden has always wanted a perfect attendance award. He finally got his wish. He also got the Top Runner award, which he had no idea he would get. He ran the most miles during the running club season out of the whole 3rd grade. 42.25 miles. Pretty cool. 

warm dinner.

Kosty never ceases to be strange. But we love him anyway. He brings this blowdryer everywhere lately. Even to dinner so he can be "warm".