Monday

1. This is my last week driving the kindergarten carpool this school year!

I cannot believe all of our little kinders will be moving on to first grade.

The carpool has been fantastic! What a great idea someone had....I can't remember if it was Crissa, Johanna, or Betsy....but whoever it was......awesome idea!

2. I introduced my kids to peanut butter balls.

I mixed peanut butter, oat bran, ground flax seed, and honey together. I chopped up a dark chocolate bar that was studded with crunchy edamame and added all of that to the peanut butter mixture. They turned out fabulous. Mia and Zoey are both quite fond of them. I don't know what it is about girls and peanut butter. At least in this family we cannot get enough.

3. I was really hoping the kids would be done getting homework for the year. I was so sad when Mia came home with a full week's worth. Maybe this will be the last week! Fingers crossed ;)

4. I have been participating in the Tone it Up Bikini Series.

I love the website. They post new workouts each week and during this series there are special challenges for each week. This week's challenge was to eat more greens. Today I had a kale salad with avocado. Lots of green! 

5. The kids are all signed up for swimming lessons starting the week after school gets out. Mia still needs a new bathing suit. I had her try on her suit from last year and it basically cut her in two. That little girl has grown! 

Happy Monday!

Mia's room and complications

I have been working in Mia's room today.

Her room is very busy and very pink.

 I divided her closet into 2 parts. One side for clothes, toys, and stuffed animals and one side for a special little reading nook :)

 The little canopy is supposed to hang from the ceiling, but we haven't been able to get a hook yet so for now we are using the closet.

Mia has many little purses and bags. 

They needed somewhere to hang out.

 also....Mia's room is completely overun with My Little Ponies.

I created a pony station to keep everything together.

Speaking of Bedrooms:

Right now we have Zoey sleeping in her crib in the laundry room. We have 3 bedrooms, apart from ours, upstairs. Zack, Mia, and Max each have their own room. The guest room is downstairs and I am trying to decided whether to move Max into that room, give Zoey her own room upstairs, and keep everyone in separate rooms. Or.....should I put Zoey in with Mia and keep the boys in their own rooms, and keep everyone upstairs with us. Or....should I put the boys together and let Mia and Zoey each have their own rooms and keep everyone upstairs.

So many possibilities!!!!

I will need to make a decision eventually. Zoey cannot live in the laundry room forever.

Weekend Wrap-Up

1. After we put the kids to bed on Friday night, Ty and I stayed up to watch

What to Expect When You're Expecting

I did not expect to enjoy it, but I loved it!

It's a good one :)

2. On Saturday we took the kids to the farmer's market. We tried some locally made olive oil on locally grown tomatoes. It was amazing and then I bought a bottle. 

We also got a bunch of kale, (I want to try making my own kale chips.) and a great big box of strawberries.

3. We were invited to a big get-together on Saturday night. Mia had a dance rehearsal early on in the evening (Her big recital is next week!!! Can't wait for it to be over!) and the plan was to head on over to the party after that. I had been feeling a little "off" for a few days and finally decided to send Ty to the party with the older kids. I stayed home with Zoey and it turned out to be a great decision.

I needed a little quiet and a little detox. I felt so much better this morning.

4. I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but after being released several months ago as the primary chorister I do have a new calling in my ward. I will be teaching relief society starting in June! It has been a few years since I have taught and I am excited to start again.

5. Zackary gave the opening prayer in primary today! He did great. He has improved so much just from the beginning of the year. He had to give a talk in January and didn't say a word. Today he tried really hard and repeated most of the prayer that I whispered into his ear. I am so proud of him!

 

6. We are enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon at home. My parents are coming for dinner tonight and the kids have been crafting away in the kitchen. Max and Zackary taped all of our markers to a canister of Clorox wipes. It kept them busy and quiet so I just let them be.

Check out this adorable kid's art station

I would love to put something like this together as soon as Zoey can be trusted a little bit better with art supplies!

 

7. We dove into our strawberry stash after church and ate them with nutella and some chocolate almond butter. It was the perfect thing!

Weekends are so nice. Back to the real world in the morning. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Impromptu Pizza Party

 We had planned on getting a pizza and having a movie night.

Our friends were getting pizza too so we decided to have a pizza party.

 I loved that all of the kids sat themselves around this tiny table.

 Zoey was the most happy of all. She loves to party!

We love Friday nights and unexpected dinner parties with friends :)

Toothless

Max lost another tooth today.

I didn't even know it was loose.

I am starting to get worried that he won't be able to eat anything!

It's going to be smoothies and milkshakes all summer for Max.

Smile! It's Friday!

 1. I love seasonal fruits and vegetables. I get all nostalgic in the fall over apples and squash. In the winter I am all about the citrus and avocados. In summer fresh corn and melon are staples. Right now we are in the middle of spring berry season! The kids and I cannot get enough. There are strawberries and blackberries everywhere. Paired with some of THIS Chocolate Almond Spread.....it's better than cupcakes :)

2. This is kind of a lengthy video, but if you are a Jimmy Fallon or John Krasinski fan (both of whom I love!) It is a must watch!

3. It is career day at the kid's school. Max left this morning dressed as a nurse anesthetist......I told him just to tell everyone that he was a doctor to make it easier on himself. People seem to have a tough time pronouncing Ty's career of choice. I try to keep it simple and use the abbreviated version, CRNA, whenever possible.

4. I adore this desk/office space

Poor Ty. He was the one that wanted to get the big computer. It was so important to him to have a nice office space and I have completely taken over. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy having an office space or how much I would enjoy decorating it :)

5. May is half over....that means we are practically to June and half way through the 2013 year!!!! Wasn't it just barely New Year's and now we are supposed to be getting ready for Father's Day???

6. It's Friday! Yay :)

Thursday Things

1. I love this little thought/message.

2. I finally found a yogurt that I enjoy. Noosa brand yoghurt.

It is Australian style yoghurt. Really thick and creamy, but not terrible like greek yogurt....that's just my opinion. Yay for yogurt :) I have been eating it with nuts and berries for days!

3. Today I am craving peanut butter. I am trying to decide between two recipes.

These Peanut Butter Cookies

or

These Peanut Butter Brownies

Decisions, decisions.....

4. Maybe tomorrow, in celebration of Friday, we will make this:

Strawberry Pecan Tart from The Fresh Exchange Blog.

5. Ty just filled in the remaining dirt patches in our yard with fresh green sod!

I am trying to keep it well hydrated. It looks great! 

6. I have been working on a few organization projects inside the house as well as in the garage. Making a house a home is a constant work in progress, but I am never bored. Thank you pinterest for constantly filling my mind with new ideas!

Happy Thursday!

Pastries with Max

Max's school hosted a "Pastries with Parents" event for the second graders this morning.

My mom came out to watch Zack and Zoey so that I could go and spend a little one on one time with Max.

 It was a rare treat!

My friend, Johanna, was there. Her son, Ian, is Max's best friend!

We all sat together.

 These boys love donuts :)

It was fun to spend a little time with just Max. He is growing up so fast!

3 more weeks and he will be a 3rd grader!

I love Max. He is extremely independent, an amazing student, and a wonderful help at home. His younger siblings love and admire him. I do too!

A Stay at Home Day

It is not quite 11:00 and so far today we have;

made granola

created with play-doh

watched Max and Ruby

cleaned bedrooms

cleaned the kitchen

read stories

folded laundry

jumped on the trampoline

completed some school work with Zackary

made chocolate tofu smoothies

melted giant ice cubes in the backyard

watched Dora

and changed several diapers :)

A day spent at home with small children can be completely full and busy even if we go nowhere and manage to accomplish very little.

The plan for the rest of our stay at home day;

dancing with bubbles

 napping

and a little cookie making

(No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites, because it is time to start avoiding the oven!)

At some point Max and Mia will come home and we will do homework. I will need to make dinner and try to end the day with a scripture or two and a prayer.

Never a dull moment. I am a lucky mom.

Monday Things

1. We ended up having to take my car to the dealership. There is something wrong with a sensor inside the transmission. It will take a few days and several hundreds of dollars to fix, but by Wednesday I should have a reliable car to drive my kids around in again!

2. Due to the car being in the shop I will be spending all of Tuesday at home without a vehicle. I have arranged rides for the kids to get to and from school and I am planning a day of water and ice play for Zack and Zoey. (It is suddenly summer here. I am not complaining, but it does seem to switch from heater to air conditioning awful fast around here.)

3. I want to make these cookies for Zoey.

Soft and Chewy Banana Nut Butter Cookies

She struggles with textures and I think she would love these!

4. My workout clothes are definitely my "fun" clothes. I look forward to exercise because I get to wear my favorite outfits! 

5. I LOVE this dessert idea for summer.

Watermelon Sherbet Pie

Mia would love it especially.

6. Ty got me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day.

 He went to an actual florist and put the arrangement together. We were both surprised by how amazing they smell compared to flowers bought at the grocery store or ordered online.

My house smells delightful :)

7. Check out some of the amazing organization ideas on this site.

I love them all.

Have a glorious week!