Insta Joys

happy monday!

we had a full weekend and we are in the home stretch to the end of the school year.

only 3 week of school left until summer break!

i put together the last lesson plans for the year 

it feels great to see the light at the end of the tunnel

just a little warning... this is a big photo dump from my phone over the last few months

just a little glimpse of our life this spring

landon and our neighbor amiah celebrated their birthdays with dinner at texas roadhouse

they were excited to for the waiters and waitresses to sing to them

while i get my gray covered, my kiddos chill in the kiddie area, eat snacks, and watch a movie

they pretty much take over the area

stretch out and get comfy

they love it!

i've been eyeing these chairs from pier 1 ever since i saw one in my friends house

i totally fell in love with them

when i saw them on clearance i snagged them for our front room which has been an empty space for far too long

i know this will be a new favorite spot for me to read and enjoy the afternoon sunshine

morgan and i put together these goodie bags for her team at their state meet

i had marta make the little buckets

we threw in some candy, a headband, and a magnet that we made from these cut outs

i love how the goodie bags turned out!

we took a field trip to one of lance's clients dairy

as we were touring the nursery we found a calf that had just been born

welcome to the world baby calf!

this little girl LOVES ice cream

i think she would eat it every single day

this is how she likes to roll with her ice cream

straight from the container

i was watching the video for the esther bible study i am working through

mauryn wanted to watch it with me

she got out her bible, pencil, and made herself a booklet to take notes

so cute!

draw something... new game addiction in this house

i can NOT draw

i feel for my friends i am playing against

but

its so much fun!

to help my draw something game playing, i used my blow money to buy a stylus

i am pretty convinced it helps... or at least i tell myself it helps :o)

mauryn always wants to help in the kitchen

she knows there will be spoons, spatulas, beaters, and bowls to lick

this is serious business

she is not going to miss anything left in the bowl

somewhere in this mess of kids in mauryn

for weeks she had talking about the bucket of eggs hanging over the pool at our rec center

she wanted to go do the egg hunt at the pool

we got there early and it was crowded

as the time for the egg hunt approached it got even more crowded

it was total chaos

when they dumped the eggs i could feel a little panic rise as kids were scrambling everywhere to get eggs as they feel into the pool

mauryn popped out with her bag full of eggs

she loved every minute of the chaos

me, not so much

on easter eve we finally sat down to decorate eggs

this year i tried kool aid colored eggs i saw on pinterest

the colors were bright and it smelled great!

there were some colors that worked better than others but it was fun to try something new

baseball season is in full swing

after a long, very trying day with my 5 year old drama queen

i treated myself to a hot fudge sundae

i did make it with frozen yogurt so it was semi healthy, right?

the spy party activities continue

landon was working on creating messages in secret code for morgan

we went to breakfast on our last morning of spring break

we headed to our local airport so we could watch the airplanes and have plane cakes

thank you sonic!

the only reason to smile after tax day.

landon has been rollerblading every day

he loves cruising around on our path

mauryn inherited a pair of skates from some friends

she loves them and tries very hard to keep up with her brother

my morning drink line up:

hot tea to warm up {mint medley most often... yum!}

smoothie for breakfast

water to rehydrate after a workout

the kids wanted to make a fort the other day

i was in project mode and it was raining outside so i let my OCD slide and let them build

they ended up moving and turning the couches upside down

they loved it!

they got really creative and used the hole in the couch as a bunk bed for the babies

we have had a friend of ours staying with us while she does an internship with lance's practice

we decided to drive up into the mountains a bit to show her other parts of idaho

we went to a little town we have never been to before but is only about 1 1/2 hours from here

as we were walking through town we came upon two horses tied up, with riffles on them, in the designated horse parking area

not something you see everyday

the day we were in the mountains it was warm

we got the kids ice cream before we headed for home

mauryn finished her ice cream and then helped landon finish his off too

i told you this girl LOVES ice cream

amy had posted about cookie butter from trader joe's

it looked so yummy!

we don't have a trader joe's

amy mentioned i might be able to find it at world market

our world market did not have cookie butter but we had biscoff spread which is cookie butters twin sister

the first jar didn't even last a week

my kids would eat it out of the jar with a spoon

its so yummy!

last week, i found it in my grocery store. i was so excited!

my plan this week is to try it in a smoothie.

can't wait!

the sunshine was calling my boys name last week

he still wasn't finished with his school work so he convinced me that he could focus outside in the empty pool sitting on a lawn chair

he did pretty well!

 mauryn's bear came along with us while we ran errands

the center console became its car seat

it was perfect!

 over spring break i took my littles to see mirror mirror {it was pretty cute}

on our way out of the theater mauryn wanted to sit in the red queen chair in the lobby

it was a perfect fit for my drama queen

we had two thunderstorms last week

that is unheard of in april

we get rain but rarely ever thunder and lightning

it was a rare treat

how was your week?

linking up with jeannett for insta friday

Secret Agent Spy Party

for about six months, landon has been talking about having a spy party.

i had grand plans of creating some cute invitations but then 2012 starting kicking my rear and the invitations were not coming together like i had hoped.

so i searched etsy and found spy party invitations.

they were perfect!

the decorations were simple.

i used the circles from the party pack and glued them on sticks.  i put them in stemless wine glasses filled with shredded paper.

along the table i used black and red shredded paper topped with leftover goodie bag items {magnifying glasses and black and red spy glass} as well as leftover cupcake toppers.

i hung some bigger circles attached to card stock from the light above the table.

of course our secret agents needed a disguise while having cupcakes and drinks so we had little mustaches on their straws.

 

landon and i had so much fun coming up with activities for his party!

all our little secret agents went through spy training.

first, they did physical training.  the kids were split into two groups and ran a relay.  they had to do jumping jacks, push ups, up downs, cross the monkey bars, climb the rock wall, down our slide, and race to their next team mate. their was definitely lots of laughter and cheering!

secondly, we kept the kids in their teams and split them up into two stations.  one station was target practice. the kids practice shooting nerf darts at a target.  the other station was decoding secret messages.

after the kids got through those two stations, we all got back together and the kids practiced going through laser beams.  lance did a great job creating a maze of red yarn in our butler's pantry.  my kids loved it so much they played in it for days after the party.

the kids had one final thing to do in training, they had to defuse bombs. i had blown up about 50 black balloons that were the bombs. we let the boys loose in the room to pop the balloons. it was quite loud but the boys loved it.

 after all the spy activities, it was time to fuel up our little secret agents.  

landon choose to have brownie cupcakes for his party.

i just added frosting, sprinkles, and cupcake toppers.

super easy!

i love how his goodie bags turned out.

i ordered the buckets from marta's shop. they were super cute!

the buckets were filled with spy glasses, magnifying glasses, mustaches, mini notebooks, decoder pens, and mini finger lights.

this was such a fun, easy party and perfect for my little secret agent!

hello? hello? anyone out there??

hello poor neglected blog.

i've missed it.  i've missed you.

i am not even sure where to begin with catching up.  i have that overwhelming feeling of being so far behind i don't even know where to begin.  i'll just keep swimming and plugging away to catch up when i get time. 

i am hoping to be able to carve out some time each week to get some posts up.

so far 2012 has been kicking my rear.

our days are busy with school, errands, keeping up with the house, and kids stuff.

you know, the usual.

 in order to take control of 2012, i've started a new morning routine. i had gotten out of the habit of getting up at o'crack of dawn.  i was still getting up around 5:30 or 6:00 but by that time i was starting to run my to do list through my mind.  once my to do list gets going in my head, i go right to the list and don't get a workout in or have time before the kids get up to blog, read blogs, have quiet time etc...

so i've started getting up earlier than o'crack of dawn:

the thing about getting up this early is that i am about half way through my workout before i actually wake up. ha!

it has also given me time in the morning to have some quiet time, catch up on emails, etc... before its time to get the kids up to start school.

i am loving this time.

i am also needing to sneak a nap in about once a week and my bedtime has become as early as my children.

i am amazed at how just this little difference, getting up super early, has made a difference in our day.  our day runs much more smoothly when i have gotten a workout in and had some time to myself before we start our school day.  our mornings aren't rushed which means a more peaceful start to our day.

even though 2012 has kicked my rear a bit {but i am taking back the rest of 2012}, it's been for mostly good reasons that i've been mia.  here's a little look at what we've been up to for the past two months:

at the beginning of february, i flew to seattle with my friends kaylynn and kara.  

we were on a secret mission to surprise our friend janna.

we had been planning and keeping this a secret for 4 months.

more on this trip and the surprise coming soon. i promise!

two weeks later, i flew with morgan to spokane for a gymnastics meet in coeur d'alene.

it's always a favorite meet for the girls.

they look forward to this all year long.

i came back from coeur d'alene with a cold which turned into a sinus infection

after two and a half weeks of not being able to breathe, i finally got some meds.

so thankful for meds.  i felt better in just a few short days.

this cute boy turned 8.

i am sort of in denial that he is 8 and growing up far too fast.

we had a secret agent spy party for his 8th birthday

it was so fun

definitely a post with all the details coming soon!

i went with some girlfriends to the hunger games premiere

it was SOO good

so worth only getting 2 1/2 hours of sleep before morgan's state gymnastics meet

i think the lack of sleep helped me from getting too nervous

 gymnastics competition ended

basketball ended

now we are spending our evenings at the baseball field

this boy has improved so much from last year

he is playing so well

its so much fun!

this was our 6th easter in idaho

every year it is cold and windy or it rains

this year we had fantastic weather

it was sunny and warm

perfect day!

 we took our spring break around easter

one of the things the kids wanted to do was check out a new indoor play center

this indoor center had a high ropes course

the kids loved it

they are so much braver than i am

this mama is not a fan of heights

you can put me on a roller coaster and i will love every minute of it but don't even think about asking me to go on a ferris wheel. no way!

 i've been reading. 

lots and lots of books.

it makes my heart happy to have time to read. its one of my favorite things to do.

this book was a pleasant surprise.

i read the first book and thought it was pretty good. i would give it a 3 on a scale of 1-5.

the sequel, was a 5! so so good. it stinks i have to wait an entire year to read the 3rd book. not fair!

of course there have been plenty of play dates with friends

trips to the park

running through the sprinkler

bike rides

what have you been up to while i've been mia?