Family 5k

We had the chance to participate in our old stakes Family Fitness Day back in April.  Kyle and I both ran a 5k.  It was my first post baby and I feel like I did really well without having trained at all for it (really I ran sporadically in the weeks up to this so you couldn't even begin to call it training).

The kids were super thrilled to be up early on a Saturday morning (6am) to go to Bountiful Baskets and then on to the race.  Can't you tell...

We borrowed a stroller from our friends so we could have all three kids ride with us while we ran.  

 I finished first so I got to come back and watch Kyle and the two older kids race to the finish. 

 It was a little chilly for Houston so Liz stayed in her seat bundled up where she could stay warm.

 After the run, the kids wanted to stand in line to get their faces painted.  We couldn't really say no to them since they were so patient with us while we were running.  Plus the face painter was Gabbie's Sunbeam teacher from our old ward.  

Here's our beautiful girl waiting so patiently for her turn.

 Her choice...A rainbow butterfly.

 The big reveal.  She was super excited.

 Noah wasn't feeling very well so he didn't get too excited until the very final reveal...

 A blue tiger

 The two cutest kids.  This was the most intense face painting I had ever seen.  They turned out fabulously.  Too bad Gabs started crying when we got in the car and hers was destroyed within a matter of minutes.  Seriously!  She destroys things like none other.  Hopefully she will grow out of it soon because it makes me crazy!

Thank you to all those who put in so much work to make this a great time for all.  We can't wait for next year.

Creating with Daddy

For Kyle's calling as the Cub Scouts Den Leader in our ward, he had to create a rocket launcher for the Blue and Gold Banquet.  We stopped at Home Depot on a Friday night after our dinner date and got all the supplies so he and the kids could play. 

Noah took a nap while Gabbie got to stay up and help Daddy build it.

 Then of course we had to do a few trial runs to make sure it would work the way it needed to.  Gabbie ended up with her entire pants legs soaking wet.

 Noah doesn't like to do anything right after he has woken up.  And if you wake him up instead of letting him get up on his own, oh boy is he in a fowl mood.  So he didn't really care what Daddy was doing when he first came outside. 

 Woah this is actually pretty cool.

 They got a little over-exuberant about it and shot the rocket over the brick wall in the back so Kyle had to climb over it and retrieve the rocket a few times.

We were lucky enough to have one of Kyle's Fridays off where he didn't have a ton of homework to do or a lot of other things to take care of.  We decided to make 'buitars' with the kids because Noah is in love with them.  Kyle eyeballed the guitar base and then we kind of just created the rest of it as we went.

My husband is so creative and talented.  The kids and I treasure these kind of days because with his 10 hour work days and one hour commute both ways he doesn't have a lot of energy when he gets home.  Then on top of that he has to fit in homework somewhere.  It's a trial for our family but I'm hoping that I can take these next few years of his schooling and learn from it what I am supposed to and become a better mom and wife.

We finally got to paint something!

Ever since we got married, we lived in someone else's house.  This meant no painting.  I have always wanted the option of painting my walls whatever color I wanted, whenever I wanted without getting permission from the owner of the house we were renting.  So back in March, we were at Ace Hardware and got this free quart of Clark and Kensington paint.  We chose this color below for the little alcove in the kitchen and set to work on making our kitchen more us.

  

 

 We promised Gabs that she could help paint so after we put Bubs down for a nap we painted a square on the wall for her and told her she could paint anywhere she wanted to, inside the square.

 We had to banish her from the kitchen shortly after we got the bottom half of the wall painted because she kept adding more and more paint to the same spot and dripping it all over the floor and her body.  She had it all over her hands and feet but had so much fun it was totally worth it.

February

Little Bit at 2 months old.

 I saw this floating around Facebook in February and decided it would be fun to do with  the kids.  Especially since the two of them could down a whole package of hot dogs all by themselves if we let them. 

 

It was fun but the kids weren't too interested in eating it once we cooked them up.

 Kyle's cousin Craig, who is one of the drivers for Maximum Destruction, came to Houston in February for a Monster Jam show.  We weren't able to make it to the show so we went down the night before to talk with him and take him out to dinner.

The kids were in love with the 'monster' as Noah calls them now. 

 Gabbie asked Craig how he drove the monster truck and he let the kids get up on the inside to see for themselves. 

 Gabbie fell in love with Cousin Craig!  She had to sit by him at dinner and held onto that picture he signed for all she was worth (at least for as long as a four year old can stay focused on one thing).

 We love our Sunday afternoons.  We come home from church, eat lunch and take a nap.  Then we'll have dinner and watch a family movie together.  It's our favorite day of the week.

I had to...

 Gabbie gave us this awesome picture on her blessing day four and a half years ago.  When I got a picture of Little Bit with her eyes crossed as well, I knew the instant I took it that I would be posting this blog.  I love it!