Mother's Day...

I love Mother's Day for four very special reasons...

DILAN

MEGAN
ATWOOD

KENDALL

Growing up, I always wanted to be a mother. I feel so incredibly blessed to have my four healthy, happy, fun-loving children. We have a great time together. I love all four of my kids in a way that I can't put into words. I am so thankful that I was chosen to be their mom (and that my husband chose me to be his wife and mother of his kids).

Mother's Day this year started with a Mother's Day tea with Kendall. I didn't get any pictures, but I was able to go to her preschool and have cookies and punch with her. She gave me this cute hanger for my keys that she had decorated.

Then I was able to have a Mother's Day lunch with Atwood. It was so cute to watch the kids perform their songs. The morning of the lunch, he said "Mom, I know you are going to cry today at Mother's Day lunch". I asked him why and he told me because I cry easily, especially when my kids do something cute.

Of course after his program, he asked me if I cried and I told him that my eyes did get a little teary. Then he said "see Mom, I told you". He was very proud of himself for thinking he made me cry.

Here are my goodies from Atwood.

The next day I was able to have Mother's Day tea with Megan. She made me a cute flowerpot with a Pansy planted in it. Then each group of students performed a poem for all of the mothers.

Here are Megan and her BFF Grace with their clouds for their poem.

After I was done with Megan's Mother's Day tea, I went home, gathered my stuff and was able to go on a little overnighter to Westport with my mom, sisters, Aunt Cathy, and cousins. It was a super fun night. I haven't laughed so hard for a while.

Here we are: My mom, sister Boni, sister Robyn, and me.

Here are the moms...Aunt Cathy and my mom RaeDell.

Here are the daughters...me, Robyn, cousin Kim, Boni, and cousin Kathy.

Since Boni's birthday was on Mother's Day, we decided to sing to her and celebrate with her favorite ice cream cake!

We took a nice walk on the beach Saturday before heading back home.

It was a short trip, but so much fun. We hope to make it a tradition for the future.

When I dropped off my sisters and my mom, Aaron had told me to text him when I was heading home so I did. While I was gone for the night, he had taken the kids to Party City to get stuff to decorate the house. I came home to a house FULL of balloons hanging from the ceiling, flowers, a huge Happy Mother's Day balloon, and a SUPER CLEAN house. All of my kids were very anxious to show me how well they had cleaned their rooms.

Dilan also presented me with the gift he had made me at school. It was a very beautiful tea towel that had flowers painted on it and the words "I love you".

Aaron had to work on Mother's Day, but he had talked to the kids before hand and given them assignments to give me breakfast in bed. They were very excited to bring me Honey Nut Cheerios and chocolate milk. It was very cute.

It was such a great Mother's Day this year. Everything was so heart felt and made me feel like the luckiest mom alive.

I have two more reasons why Mother's Day is so special...

My mom and Aaron's mom

I love my mom and have so many fun memories of my life with her when I lived at home. I am most thankful for her example of being a mother. She is such a great woman and I am proud to call her my friend.

I am forever grateful to Aaron's mom too. I have an amazing husband and for obvious reasons, she is to thank for that.

Birthday fun...

Atwood was very excited for his birthday this year and wanted to have a Pokemon party. He has a fun little group of boys in his Kindergarten class that he plays with and was super happy to have them at his party.

Who would have thought that one kid could be so excited about getting new Pokemon cards? I don't quite understand it, but he loves them.


He opted for cupcakes with a Pokeball on top.

I had planned a couple of games, but the boys had other plans. They are all so "boy" and they ran around the backyard with guns, light sabers, and anything else that could have resembled a weapon playing their little made-up games. It was totally fun to watch.

The next morning, on his actual birthday, he got his presents from our family. All he wanted was a 2-wheeled scooter and a soccer goal.

And that's just what he got!

A few hours later, we had some more family over for birthday doughnuts.

His aunts, uncles, and cousins got him totally set-up for his soccer season complete with jersey, soccer shoes, socks, chin guards, whistle, and a new ball.

He went out into the backyard and was running back and forth playing. Then he noticed Aaron had the camera so he totally stopped and posed for a quick picture.

That afternoon, we got to go celebrate another birthday. Aaron's grandma, Great Grandma Lewis to the kids, turned 90 this year and we had a fun afternoon with family and food. It was good to see the Lewis side of the family and catch up with everyone.

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Lewis!

We're glad we could celebrate with her.

Spring time fun...

What says spring more than a grass friend? In Atwood's Kindergarten class they made grass friends out of socks filled with soil and grass seeds. Atwood was very excited to bring him home and explained that I had to water him every day so he would stay nice and green. Quite a few weeks have gone by and I think there may be some green grass left, but our poor grass friend is now mostly brown. Oops.

During spring break, we got to celebrate Grandpa Kilstrom's birthday. We met Uncle Derek, Aunt Heather and their kids, Aunt Robyn and her kids, and cousins Justin and Tyson at IHOP for breakfast. Grandpa and Grandma Kilstrom rode with Aunt Robyn and Grandpa was surprised to see us all there. After breakfast we went bowling. Everyone had a great time. For the record, I totally beat everyone in the first game.

Here are some of the kids sitting patiently waiting for their turn.

Atwood was so glad that cousin Tyson gave him money to ride the motorcycle.

Here are Brooklyn and Megan. After bowling, we finished off the morning with a trip to McDonalds for french fries and ice cream. Doesn't get much better than that!

Cooper White got to come and stay the night with the boys. Aaron told me to go outside and look at the boys. After this was taken, Dilan climbed up on top of the playset too. I yelled to them to be careful and then realized that boys will be boys and it's just what they do.

We also got to watch Lexis and Dallis for an afternoon. Megan LOVES these girls. She was so excited to have them there and take care of them. It was a fun day for the girls.

Kendall got her big girl DORA bike. She was so happy when Aaron brought it home for her. Our culdesac has a little bit of an incline going one direction so whenever Kendall would get stuck, she would ring her little bell until we came to give her a push. Thankfully, she has worked out those leg muscles and can get around just fine by herself.

Kendall's favorite people...

There's no question that Kendall's three favorite people are her big brothers and sister. Every morning she walks them to the bus. If she doesn't get to say goodbye or give hugs, she gets so sad. She waves to the bus as it drives away. Then about two hours later, she says "Mom, time to go to the bus and get the kids?" Once again she gets sad when I tell her it will be another five hours or so before they will be home.

It really is so cute how much she loves them...and they love her back!

Even when it is first thing in the morning and she wants a hug, the older kids are good sports about it.
I love it when they just sit and play and smile together.

We are so thankful that our four kids get along so well. In the "perfect" world I have in my head, they will be like this forever (even through teenage years). Ok, well maybe not, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

Playing catch up...

I was looking on my friend's blog today and she had a post titled "You mean this blog doesn't write itself???"

I just need to say AMEN SISTER.

Unfortunately with kids, school, swimming, work, church callings, exercise, etc. also comes a shortage of time. Aaron told me to just forget everything that I have missed and start current, but I'm on a mission to get caught up. I still have a ways to go, but I will get there. Stay tuned for more to come, but enjoy this little update for now.

Whose that girl?

Evidentally Kendall knows how to take pictures on my cell phone. We were in Target one day and she wanted to look at pictures so I gave her my phone. The next day I was going through some pictures and found these cute eyes staring back at me.

Snowboarding...

This year Dilan started snowboarding. He took lessons that were every Wednesday for six weeks. He absolutely loves it. He doesn't love sitting in class and learning, he just wants to fly down the mountain. One Friday, Dilan and I went up to the mountain ourselves while Aaron stayed home with the other kids. We had a blast. We got in a bunch of runs and Dilan is fast. I am a little more conservative, but he just strapped on his board, took off and said "see you at the bottom mom". He told me the other day that this was one of his best nights and he can't wait to go next season...

Neither can I!

The nice thing about Aaron's schedule is that he is home during the day sometimes and so he and I can get in some snowboard dating. We would put the three older kids on the bus, take Kendall to Aunt Robyn's and take off up to the mountains. This particular day was absolute HEAVEN. There is nothing better than making fresh tracks in the snow while it is lightly snowing. Seriously, I really think it is a little piece of heaven for me.

Christmas Morning...

I love the magic of Christmas. There is really just excitement in the air. I know it sounds lame, but seriously it makes me want to cry because I love it. I just don't get why the magic can't stick around the other 11 months of the year. Atwood was very excited Christmas Eve night. He was so giddy going to bed.

The next morning, we woke up and came downstairs to open some presents. Santa brought Dilan the video game he had asked for.

Megan was very excited for her hot pink Dsi.

I think the picture shows how Atwood felt about his Dsi from Santa.

Kendall totally loves Princesses and Santa brought her this Princess vanity.

One of the best gifts that Aaron and I got was an adorable card from our little artist Megan.

This was such a cute sister moment. Kendall just sat looking in the mirror of her vanity while Megan brushed her hair. This vanity has proved to be one of the best gifts that anyone in our family has gotten. Everyone that comes to the house ends up playing with it. (Even the 9-year-old friends of Dilan's!)

Although it is totally fun to give and receive gifts, we always make sure our kids know why we celebrate Christmas. We are so thankful for the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and love this time of year that we have to celebrate his birth and his life.

Christmas Activities...

This year we stayed busy with different fun activities and parties to go to at Christmas time. We went up to Snowflake Lane our friends the Penroses. Unfortunately, we ran into some traffic and made it for the last 3 minutes of the performance. We all still had a good time though. The kids got to write letters to Santa Clause.

Kendall asked for Barbie and Dora.

Atwood asked for a Dsi and Legos.

I love pictures of these two together. They are so close in age and are such great friends. I hope they always stay that way.

We caught one of the performers and snapped a quick picture.

Here's my awesome looking family. They are all so fun.

Everyone in Sunday best before church.

Aaron's fire department always has a family Christmas party. It is a ton of fun. The kids have toys to play with. We eat lots of food, play bingo, do a pinata, and of course SANTA gets to come visit and give everyone a gift.

Kendall was not such a huge fan of Santa...

That is until he gave her a gift!

Right before the party at Aaron's work, we were coming home from our family party at Uncle Derek's house and Santa was being pulled by a fire truck through our neighborhood.

Atwood was very excited about his gift. The cousins all draw names and get each other a little something.

Grandma and Grandpa Kilstrom went to Utah this year for Christmas so we got together with them the week before Christmas. Here are the "big girls" enjoying some cake. Grandma and Grandpa got some of the girls these dog purses. Megan LOVES hers. Her cousin Brynn got the same one and they were modeling them all night.

Of course, the "little girls" also got adorable little dog purses. They were all excited because they all got their own lipstick (it was really chapstick) too. I think Kendall used all of hers the first two days she had it.

Dilan giving Grandpa a hug.

We also went up to Grandma and Grandpa Lewis' house for Christmas Eve. Evidentally we didn't take any pictures of that, but we had a great time. It was a smaller group there this year, just one of Aaron's 7 siblings and their families were there. I'm sure you can imagine how crazy and fun it is when all 8 kids and their families come!

We did have an awesome time with everyone this Christmas season. It's all about spending time with those we love.