Arkansas and Branson for Memorial Day Fun

So this last weekend we very last minute decided to make a trip to Arkansas and Branson along with the rest of Nick's family for Memorial Day. Nick actually had a 5 day weekend, which was really nice as it was his four day weekend to begin with (what he usually has before the week he has to take call) and then he got an extra day off with Memorial Day being this last weekend. We originally were going to just take a trip to the Temple and then stay at home, but everyone in Nick's familiy was going to Silver Dollar City on Monday so we decided to join in on the fun since we would be the only ones not going if we didn't go. So we started out on Saturday heading to Arkansas to Shannon's house for Addison's 2nd birthday party. We actually stopped in Joplin and looked at some of the damage by the tornado, but weren't able to see all of it as the traffic was horrendous! Then we made it to Centerton for the party. It was fun with all the cousins there and some of Addison's friends. Can you tell they all had fun helping Addison open her presents? Needless to say Shannon was probably a little bit cramped!!
She also had all the kids made their own candy necklace. Kayley and Ashlyn were really the only ones who had the most patience for this kind of craft as all the other kids only strung a few pieces of candy and then just wanted to eat the rest.

Then the rest of the weekend we spent hanging out at the house that Michelle, Quentin, and Arlaine had all rented, so it was fun to have a place big enough for the kids to play and be themselves as well as the adults being able to visit with each other. Then church on Sunday, Sunday dinner, fun in the park in the evening, and then a ride from you know where to Branson!

I have vowed that I will never ever ever drive from Centerton to Branson again in my life! I'm not really sure why Shannon even does it? She must really love us!! First of all, Nick always likes to think that he knows a better way than the way other people try to tell him to go...so the way Shannon told him to go, he didn't go of course. He decided to go a different way thanks to the GPS's route. I've never been on a more windier, narrower route in my life! It took us on turns that made you feel like you were on a roller coaster. Then we also got to see my worst nightmare, a bridge that was under water, which was supposed to be our route, so we had to turn around and figure out how to calm my blood pressure down. Then the sort of normal route we found took us through Eureka Springs...I thought Missouri had some hicks...wow is all I need to say! I also got to learn what a "slide" is on a road. The road was actually crumbling beneath us down to a very steep cliff! Luckily we made it across! Then Nick swore to me that the rest of the route was going to be bigger roads, etc. Not so much. We continued on one lane, very narrow roads and even more sharp turns in the middle of no where, with no civilization in sight! Nick kept giving me scenarios of "What if our car breaks down or a tire goes flat, etc" What would you do, would you stay with the kids by yourself...it's pitch black by the way! My blood pressure has always been low naturally, but not this night, I felt it boiling! Then come to find out that Nick could have taken a route with much bigger roads from Eureka Springs but he decided to take the windier route just to get a rise out of me! I had to remind myself why I loved him, but this wasn't one of them!

We finally made it to Branson and hooked up with Ann and Jared who was waiting for us at the Condos. The condos air conditioning of course was not working and it was 10:30 at night so no one could come fix it. They tried to see if we wanted to switch rooms, but we had already gotten a lot of the kids down to sleep, so that was out of the question. It was a long and hot night, but we all made it.

The next morning we went to Silver Dollar City and eventually met up with everyone in Nick's family. All his siblings and his mom and dad were all there as well as Ann and Jared and their two kids. We were quite the show, especially when the adults wanted to ride the big kid rides. Only Mom, Shannon, Natalie, and Randy were left watching 11 kids, 4 of which were babies. They made us promise to never leave them alone with that many kids again! But no one got lost..that was a plus!

I honestly didn't take that many pictures only because there are only so many pictures of the kids on the rides you can have in a collection and Rex cries the whole time on any of them so I only took pictures of Rex enjoying himself like crazy in the ball room. He was in 7th heaven. He loves balls and this is an area that is filled with these soft cushiony balls you can throw and put into little guns to shoot places and there's this huge conveyor belt that takes them up to the top...it's a blast for kids as you can see from the pictures. I love some of his expressions!

On the right are the guns the girls were playing with. Notice Kayley who is shooting with one hand and holding her finger in her ear with the other..it's kind of a loud gun. She used to not get anywhere near these, so this is a huge step for her to be this close!

Rex was Nick's little buddy during the day, which was great for me! In fact during the time of the ball pit, Nick left and I kept Rex in the balls, which he loves and he cried like crazy for Dad and calmed down as soon as I took him out to Nick again. I was soaking that up like crazy!! He wiped out on the train!

And I almost can never get a picture of these four together with everyone looking and with everyone making a decent smiling face. I think I sort of suceeding while they were all strapped into the train! It was a great fun day!

Fashion Show, Graduates, and Tornadoes

Earlier this month Sarah and the girls came up for a visit and Kayley and Audrey realized they had the same PJ's and were absolutely thrilled. They probably have a lot more matching clothes than they realize as my big sister supplies both Sarah and I with a lot of girl clothes thanks to her two girls Caroline and Julia and like any mother, who wouldn't want to match their girls in outfits as much as possible? So now when we visit Audrey, Kayley has to have her Audrey PJ's. Cora and Lauren don't match but they wanted their picture taken together anyway.
While they were here, our Young Women had a great fashion show! The MiaMaid girls did the fashion show as one of their Personal Progress projects. It was great as so many girls participated. I struggled trying to figure out which category to enter as I didn't feel like I had anything nor could I make anything work for any category. So I entered the princess category and of course my girls and Audrey and Lauren wanted to participate. It was great!

Then we had Kayley's preschool graduation. I have to admit, I cried a little...never thought I was one of those mom's, but when Mrs. Porter started talking about Kayley going to kindergarten and growing so much this year, etc...I teared up a little bit. It was fun with all their songs they sang and the little presentation from Mrs. Porter. Then afterward we all got to share a cookie and lemonade with them. Cora was in heaven being at Kayley's school, (can you see her in the bottom right standing on the chair to get the best view?) she is still begging to go to school. Oh...and the boy next to Kayley is one of her best friends, Marshall...she talks about him all the time. There is only one other girl in her class this last year and they were polar opposites so she connected most with Marshall. He is going to Kindergarten next year, but I'm not sure if they'll be in the same school or not. Oh and what was cute about Kayley realizing she had graduated, she had also heard me talking to family on the phone earlier that week about Ashlyn graduating from her preschool program as well as Cassie having a graduation ceremony for her Associates program. Kayley then thought that we should get a graduation cake for all three to celebrate. I thought it was a great excuse to eat cake!

Then, one morning Rex was so tired that when I went in to wake him up, I was able to take two or three pictures of him sleeping, can you say he was tired!?!

He also now knows when I'm taking pictures so it's cute to see him strike a pose. This is him striking a pose while drinking his bottle.

Then two weeks ago we had a crazy Tuesday as we got some tornadoes coming through. Of course everyone was extra cautious with everything happening only a few days before with Joplin's tornado. So we spent the noon hour or so in the basement during the warnings. Nick even got evacuated to the interior hallway of the hospital for about an hour. The kids were in heaven as they just played downstairs with toys. Rex of course got to preview one of his birthday presents and I think he liked it! It was cute as Kayley kept wondering what the upstairs was going to look like when we went up. She and Cora had both watched some of the footage of everything that had happened in Joplin after their horrible tornado and they were expecting our house to be the same. When I told them it was time to go upstairs, Kayley yells down to me, "Mom it's all the same up here! Oh wait, I need to check my room!" She goes to check it and says, "Yep, it's all here!" Then I found Cora checking the pantry and saying, "Yep, it's all here!" Then she checks the fridge, "Yep, it's all here too!" It was cute to see them react to the tornado, I was just very grateful that everything was there and that we were spared any damage of course!

My kids are growing...way too fast!

So this post is a collection of things that my kids have done lately that I've found to be cute and proof that they are growing and way too fast than I want them to sometimes. I'll start with Rex. He is now 10 1/2 months old. I can't believe we will be celebrating his 1 year birthday in about a month. This time last year I was in so much pain with his pregnancy and now he is such a delight to have in our home! He now has 5 teeth, 3 on top and 2 on bottom, which is weird because both girls have always gotten their teeth in groups so this third one on top is the odd man out. He sleeps great, still a consistent 8-9 hours a night, except when he's cutting teeth and even then his sleeping pattern isn't that difficult. He knows how to play peek-a-boo, woof like a doggie, pretend bonk his head (with his hand), and he has now mastered pulling up on furniture. He's not cruising on the furniture yet, but I have seen him take a few steps along the furniture. He is super fast at crawling now, especially when I enter the room (it's really cute to see him book it to get to me!) He is so sweet and such a happy baby. I thought we were lucky to have the girls being as happy as they were when they were babies, he is even happier! He's very content just playing and entertaining himself very easily (which is a big help to me!) Showing how happy he is playing by himself I usually have to go find where he has taken off to. This time I found him playing in our room by Daddy's stuff. It was cute. He now knows what to do for a camera and will willingly give me a smile, but it's short lived so I have to make sure I catch it quick.
Cora is such a loving little girl as seen by this picture below. We have a rule (I may have mentioned this earlier) but they can only sleep in the same bed on the weekends so they aren't up late talking on school nights. Cora is constantly asking if it's a school night so she knows if Kayley gets to sleep with her or not. When they do sleep together I find them like this. I asked Cora why she likes Kayley to sleep with her so much and she says "because I like to hug her." Then the other thing is the girls have to make their beds everyday for a week and if they do at the end of the week they get a dollar. Well, Kayley was really working hard to earn money for a Tangled book at Target. This last weekend she had finally gotten just enough money and wanted to go straight to Target to buy it. We weren't going until later that day and we went to some garage sales. Cora brings her money and likes to spend it at garage sales. We were at one garage sale and she found a baby that was a quarter. Kayley also found a 101 dalmation dog that was a quarter and kept begging me to buy it. I told her she would have to use her own money and she started to get upset. Cora then said without hesitation that she would buy it for her. It was only a quarter, but to a kid who only gets a dollar a week, that is a lot of her money. I was really impressed with her unselfishness towards her sister.

Also earlier in the week she had found some sunglasses at a garage sale and was showing Kayley them when she got home from school. Cora was pretty excited and told Kayley to put them on because you could see the whole world through the sunglasses. Kayley responded with a "no you can't, you can only see the inside of our house!" It was funny!

Kayley has also said some pretty funny and mature things lately. The other day her cousins were visiting and they were running around. Kayley tells Audrey, "be careful so you don't run into me, when you run into me, I loose teeth!" (this is because of her getting two teeth knocked out by running into people...both were already loose to start with.)

Kayley is also getting really good at learning how to read. It's been sort of a slow process as she would get frustrated and then close off completely in wanting to even try, so I wouldn't push it. Now she loves to do reading lessons when we get a chance (it's kind of crazy fitting it in with her school sometimes, so we are looking forward to going full-fledged in the summer in a week) and she will willingly come to me and tell me if she thinks she knows what a word says. She will also willingly try to sound words out as I help her a bit. She loves to rhyme words together and loves to point out words she remembers and recognizes. It's been amazing to watch her grow and finally get something that I know she will cherish immensely as she has always loved to be read to and loves books like crazy! She actually just graduated preschool today (pictures to come soon) and I have to admit, I actually got teary eyed!

Also about a week ago she really made me a proud momma. I was doing a family home evening lesson on faith. We went through a song out of the children's songbook and explained the words and it's meanings, etc and read the scriptures that went along with the song. As I was explaining ways that our faith grows I also starting talking about how the Holy Ghost can help us feel if something is right or not when we hear or read it (aka the scriptures or what the prophet says, etc). I told her that the Holy Ghost will feel kind of like a warm blanket so that we feel warm inside. Kayley then bolts out with, "Like right now, I feel warm inside!" She was so excited to make that realization and she repeated it over and over. I was so elated that she was beginning to acknowledge this feeling and recognize what it is. It really made me a proud Momma, I was beaming!

Here are some other pictures from when Audrey, Lauren, & Ruby visited. Cora wanted to hold Ruby as Rex won't hold still long enough for her to hold her anymore and he's almost too big for her now. Ruby is still young enough that she can hold her and she ate it up.

And Rex just loves his baths and I wanted to get a picture of it during his bath. Once again he cheesed for me and then went about his merry way to playing in the bath tub. I think he just might be a swimmer!!

My Mother's Day

So I just have to say that I know (and hope) that most mothers feel blessed to be a mother and wife, what a great blessing and privilege we have to be intrusted with our children. But I have to say that I just felt very blessed yesterday for Mother's Day. And not only yesterday but all last week. Kayley was so excited about Mother's Day and started talking about it the Sunday before. She came home from church and said they were singing Mother's Day songs and then she came home and started writing out a Mother's Day song on paper for me and put it on the refrigerator. She then went to school later in the week and came home so excited to talk to me about the card she was making me for Mother's Day. She brought the card home on Thursday. Then we went to dinner on Saturday night at Ruby Tuesdays and afterward got in the car to go to the store. Kayley says to Nick that we should go to Walmart, pick out a Mother's Day card for Mommy, sign it and then put it underneath her pillow and she could give it to me in the morning (all while I'm in the car) and he tells her that is a good idea but I just heard her plan. She then says, "oh man!" But she was so insitent that Nick got a card for me. Nick had already secretly gotten me one by the way, she just didn't know it yet. So later that night I put the girls to bed while Nick put Rex to bed. Nick had gone in there to kiss them goodnight and I followed to make sure they went to bed and Kayley tells me, "Mom you will never guess what Dad just told me, but I can't tell you, it's a secret." Then the next morning I got up to give Rex a bottle then started getting ready for church and Kayley (who is usually the hardest one to get up in the morning) comes bolting in to give me my card and a big hug with a "Happy Mother's Day." Then about two seconds later, Cora comes rushing in (all sleepy eyed, but still dying to come in) and wishes me a Happy 'Moders' Day! Then we went to church like normal and came home. Nick made me lunch (and cleaned the kitchen) and I went to change and the girls told me to not come out until they told me to. When they were ready Kayley guided me to the living room where they were so proud of cleaning the living room and kitchen all by themselves. Nick later told me that once they cleaned the living room she came and asked him what else they could clean to make me happy. Then we all got to take a good long nap! Then the rest of the day was spent with the girls giving me lots of hugs and kisses and our usual Sunday walk around the block. Then when I put the girls to bed that night, Kayley says to me, "Mom I wish Mother's Day could be all year!" And their favorite thing to tell me at night now is "Mom I love you thousands!" So altogether I had a really good and relaxing low key Mother's Day! Oh and I also get to go shopping for some new clothes soon! So like I said, I am very blessed to have such great kids that love me so much and a husband that loves and cares for me no matter what. I sure hope that all mothers felt as loved as I did yesterday!

April and Easter Festivities

Ok...I've mentioned before that my blog does this funny thing that I have to upload my pictures in backwards order and can't insert a picture in the middle anywhere...this is one of those times I wanted to scream out loud as I accidentally deleted one of the middle pictures and had to re-insert it at the beginning. Anyway this is from the Kansas City Temple Run kids run. We were worried about putting in the kids because we hadn't registered them and then the run was for kids 5 and older which would only include Kayley. But we were encouraged to just do it anyway and we were glad we did. They had a blast! I don't know if you can tell who is who: Kayley is in front in the purple shirt (and jeans and dorothy shoes), Ashlyn is right behind her on her left in orange, then Preston is in the back by Michelle in the dark shirt and white hat (Preston is on her right), and Cora is by Nick is in the white shirt by Michelle (Cora is in front in flip flops). Nick said that Cora about wiped out twice, but they all had a blast. They all four got medals and wore them proudly for about a week!
And then here is the original beginning of the post....So this is a post with a lot of pictures! April was a fairly busy month for us...at least in regards to pictures! Here is Kayley's class picture they took at the beginning of the month. She has really enjoyed school this year. She loves her teachers and she actually enjoys (finally) being one of the only girls in her classroom. She says she is the fastest runner on the playground when they all play mario kart. (that's my girl!) School has been great for her and she is really looking forward to going to Kindergarten this next year.

Then what is Easter without dying Easter Eggs? The girls loved dying them and watching them change colors.

Rex loved being the audience...it was late and he was getting really tired!!

Intense at work...

Then the next day we went to the Blue Springs Family Fun Day. Michelle and Kendall joined us and the kids were so excited. It was supposed to be a day of inflatables, games, free food, and a huge Easter Egg Hunt. It was our first time going and let's just say it was different than what we expected. I expected more of a traditional type setting and it was more of a Christian based setting. There were TONS of people there so the lines were insane! We got all the kids in on one inflatable after being in the wrong line for two different lines. Then once they were done with that, the huge inflatable (that they really wanted to do) the line was horribly long so we did not do that and instead decided to go get some lunch before the Easter Egg hunt. That's when things started going down hill. They closed all the games, closed all the inflatables, and said for everyone to take their seat in the bleachers (it was held at the High school)...we raced out to get in line for the food only to find they were closing these lines too....only at 11am mind you...for lunch!! We decided to ditch this Easter egg hunt and head to trusty old McDonald's and Bass Pro. Bass Pro had a limit of 5 eggs per kid but it was more of a hunt as they had to walk around the store and actually look for them, versus most Easter Egg Hunts no a days that just throw all the eggs in a big squared off area and it's a big free for all. They loved being able to hunt for them and didn't even seem to mind that they only got 5 each. Then of course Bass Pro came through and had fun crafts for them to do, the Easter Bunny was there to take pictures, and then the kids got to all play in the boats together. They had a blast and we all thought maybe we should have started off with this idea in the first place!

All taking turns on the one inflatable they got to play on...

Rex & Garrett got to just hang out in their strollers...

A week before these events we were also at Bass Pro (because you know Nick) and Kayley refused to take a picture with the Easter Bunny...

But she changed her mind and I finally convinced her to take her picture when we were with Ashlyn and Preston...so I finally got one with all three kids in it....

The craft...I tried and always try to get a picture of all four looking at the same time...never happens!

Then our Easter Sunday got a little scrambled. Nick got up early to go to his meetings as always and I was running late to getting ready as I completely forgot about making cupcakes for YW (oops!) So I had it all played out in my head on how I was still going to get to church on time when Cora came into the bathroom and told me, "There's something all over my pillow in my bed." Sure enough I look over at her and she has throw up all in her hair, all over her PJ's, and of course all over her bed and floor in her room! It was a lot!! So I tried to get a hold of Nick who finally texts me and says he had gotten called in and had thrown up as well that morning quite a bit (he was on call at St. Luke's and he almost never gets called in there, but the one and only time is when he's sick...go figure!) So we stayed home from church and the Easter Bunny had to come after everyone had taken a nap and felt a little bit better. Luckily the sickness was very short-lived and we got to do our Easter Egg Hunt with cousins the next day.

This is how the girls sleep on the weekends. We finally had to make a rule that they could only sleep together on nights that Kayley didn't have school the next day because they were staying up way too late talking and playing and then were very cranky the next day. Cora asks everyday if Kayley has school the next day as she especially loves to have her sister sleep with her!

Our little Rex has learned how to pull up on things...he is so proud of himself. He is just now pulling up to his feet more often. I'm not pushing it too much as I know he just gets faster from there on walking!! But he's learning very quickly on his own as it is! Here he is begging the girls for food like he often does. Sadly they were eating eggs and strawberries, both of which he can't have for another two months.

Did I mention he LOVES to play with Nick!?! Right before this picture he was actually laying his head on Nick's shoulder...he really does just love Nick. My favorite thing to watch is how excited he gets to see him in church. I don't know what it is about church that makes Rex want Nick so much, but I don't complain. As soon as I get there he pretty much launches from my arms to his! It's cute!

And the Temple Run...oh what fun that was!! It was so much fun to do it with all my family that was there and it was fun to do it with all the young women and leaders and the rest of the people in our ward that participated. We really had a ton of people from our ward there it was great!! I ended up finishing 13th in the category of boys (I was put in the wrong category on the results) and then when they changed it I was actually bumped to 16th in my category...so I have my work cut out for me next year cause there were some pretty fast girls in my category. But in my defense I hadn't ran for about 3 weeks because of a hip injury...so I wasn't running at my best. This is right at the finish line taken by my Mom who so willingly watched our kids so we didn't have to use the jogger stroller! Can you see Otto almost immediately behind me? He's in the gray shirt, blact shorts, and white hat on my left. We literally finished one second apart from each other! It was great! Oh...and in case you were wondering...I smoked Nick! He kept bragging about how he hadn't practiced at all for the race and was going to beat me and I'm here to testify that this is our 2nd race to run in (we are cheap so we only race in ones that are free!) and I've beat him in both races!!

Pics of the kids with Mom; the runners: myself, Nick, & Otto; myself, Nick, & my Mom; and then the little runners below.

So since we were sick on Easter Sunday, the kids got to wear their Easter outfits the next Sunday. Nick was already at his meetings (as always) so it was difficult to get a good picture with just me manning the camera and kids. Rex was not happy as he had just woken up and was ready to eat and we didn't have much time as we needed to head out the door. So this is the best I got...I knew if I waited till after church though someone would get their outfit dirty or be too fussy again or asleep so this is what we got! Notice the girls medals they wore proudly to church!?!

This last week Cora was so proud one morning as she had dressed herself and fixed her hair and everything! Also a few days before this she came to me in the morning while I was getting ready so excited and said, "Mom guess what!?!? I squished an ant all by myself and it did not even bite, sniff, or look at me!!" This is a huge deal as my girls are both the type that if they see an ant by them outside they come running inside, if they see one by them when they are playing inside (yes we do have some ants in the spring come in...so annoying!!) they start screaming. Cora also has to start speech therapy this next school year. She is pretty easy to understand there are just a few sounds that she is not getting that she should already have by now. One of which is the 'ch' sound...so the above thing she said from the ants was actually "touched an ant" not "squished an ant" She later corrected me. I guess I had too high of hopes for her to actually squish an ant!!

Then Rex also learned how to drink out of straw and it was cute. He was actually really good at it and it didn't take him long to figure it out. I guess he really is Nick's son...but luckily this is just water he is drinking not Dr. Pepper...not till he gets older can he have a little bit of that!

Then this is Rex at Bass Pro. He was just being cute and willingly smiling for me when I pulled the camera out. Everytime I showed him the phone to take his picture, he was just smile for me, it was cute! He is such a happy baby and we are so blessed!

Rex is learning fast!!

So these pictures are of Rex sleeping. I love to see him sleeping in the morning. This morning he didn't wake up immediately when I went in to wake him, which he usually does, so I tried to take advantage and get a sleeping shot of him, but I also had to use my flash since the lights were still off and he's squinting, but he's still cute. He's such a great baby still sleeping through the night 7-10 hours on average. I am still nursing him only I'm pumping and feeding it to him through a bottle. I feel like a new woman now that I'm not being bit all the time!! He's doing great with a bottle, always has in fact! He will take it ice cold out of the fridge or luke warm and in any kind of bottle. He'll take it from me, from Nick, from anyone pretty much, and he'll even hold it himself if he needs to. Have I mentioned he's such a good baby!?!
This last week he has learned two new things, waving "hi" and pulling up on his knees to furniture. He loves to pull up on his knees now and will do it any chance he gets. He does it when you are sitting by him too. I caught this shot of him trying to "read" the children's scriptures.

And who can resist this sweet smile!?!? This picture really does show his personality, there is rarely anything that gets him really upset.

The other day we were at Cabella's and the girls were so proud of themselves for figuring out how to do these annoying pop guns. Cora was really cute trying to aim it, I tried to catch a picture of it, but my phone camera isn't as fast as my regular camera, which I didn't have out at the time. They were pretty proud to show their Daddy though when he was done playing with the real guns!

Here's more of Rex pulling up to his knees today. He figured out how to do it on the fireplace and it's like a whole new world up there for him! He could finally reach all the toys I tried to keep out of his reach...I guess I have to find a new "up high" place now! It was cute tonight our little tikes chairs were by his bumbo and he kept going back and forth between the chair and the bumbo, as long as he could be up on his knees was all he was concerned about. The new found freedom he has gained!! It only gets faster from here on how fast he moves! Let the real child-proofing begin!!

Silver Dollar City

So for some reason my blog won't let me put pictures in order and I've already typed a bunch of this post and don't want to re-type it. This is supposed to go by the pictures of Kayley and Addison. Anyway, this is the girls riding the train. We had to sit in the very back so that the train horn wasn't as loud. Most people race to get to the front, we all raced to get to the back. The girls loved it and Nick and Shannon loved being able to quote all the jokes since they are the same jokes they've been doing since they were kids. But I have to say, I saw them both chuckle at times to some of the jokes, so apparently they are old as dirt, but still funny! I chuckle a lot, but that doesn't mean much!!
So Silver Dollar City has been open for a few months now and the Bells have officially invaded the park!! We went a couple of weeks ago and had a blast! We got the condos and went down on Thursday night and spent the first night with Arlaine and us. The next morning Shannon and Addison joined us at Silver Dollar City. It was pretty hot, but a little breezy. However with it being Friday it wasn't that packed at all. The lines were pretty much non-existent so on every ride if the kids wanted to ride them a second time they just got to stay on and ride again, it was great! Rex got to join in on the fun this year and ride the frogs and the butterflies for the first time. He didn't seem to mind either way, but was a bit scared I think on the frogs during the jumping part. Every day we were at Silver Dollar City though he didn't nap but only 30 min the whole day as he is such a light sleeper, but he did great! He was very happy the whole time and he even slept through the night at the condos.

Cora turned a new leaf this year too as she is now able to ride the bigger kid rides with an adult. When asked which ride she wanted to ride first after riding the little baby rides she wanted to ride the swings. I was a bit anxious myself mainly because of the fear of my little child falling through, but she loved it and actually rode it two times in a row. She even helped nudge Kayley into riding it too for the first time. Kayley has always been pretty brave to ride rides except for the swings. But she rode them and loved them just as much as Cora. These are pictures of Cora's first time riding it with Nick. It was cute as you can see in the picture on the right that she is clinging to Nick for dear life. Even after riding it a number of times she would get in the seat and immediately put your hand/arm exactly where she wanted it. She also rode Fire in the Hole with me which is a tiny roller coaster, but it's all in the dark and the actual roller coaster part is very small, you are mainly just riding around looking at statues etc for the whole ride and the roller coaster part is at the end. She liked it until the end and and I've never had her hold on to me so tightly! It made me think of riding Space Mountain with my Mom when I was younger. It was dark and scary, but I remember holding onto my Mom so tight and having her tell me to hold on to her so tight. Overall she had a blast being able to ride so many more rides this year.

So, Addison was Kayley's little buddy the whole weekend! Kayley couldn't get enough of her and vice versa with Addison. We decided to stay for the show in the evening since Michelle and Kendall weren't going to get there until later in the day on Friday, Kayley was so good with Addison all day. Cora loves Addison too and keeps telling me that she is cuter than Rex. Cora calls her "Asdisdon" It's cute how much they love her and get so excited to see her!

Then Michelle and Kendall got there in the evening and we went to go ride the kiddie rides again. Once again it was great the lines weren't long making it easy for the kids to ride all the rides multiple times with their cousins. Garrett also got to ride the rides for the first time and of course was all smiles!

Then that night we all fit into the 2 bedroom condos. It was tight but do-able. Michelle and Kendall were in one room with Garrett, Nick and I in the other room with Rex and Addison, and Grandma and Shannon were on the pull-out couch with Kayley, Cora, Ashlyn, & Preston...well for a little bit. Ashlyn was actually the only big grandkid that stuck it out only because she was the first to fall asleep. It didn't take long for Preston to go into bed with his mom and dad and Kayley and Cora either. Then it stormed a bit that night (we didn't hear it over our fan apps on our phones, but everyone else did) and Ashlyn said she woke up to the storms, noticed she was the only one out there and still went right back to sleep instead of getting scared. I was impressed. But they just loved the fact that they all got to sleep under the same roof and had a blast when they all woke up!

Then the next day we got up and did it all over again at Silver Dollar City. The lines were a bit longer, but not that much longer for a Saturday. One time when were riding the kiddie rides, Kayley turns to me and says, "Mom, there's Cade!" (a boy in her CTR 5 class)...I thought she was joking and just saw someone that looked like Cade, but sure enough it was Cade! They were so excited to see each other and they rode the frogs, the ladybugs and the butterflies together.

The rest of the day we finally got to ride some adult rides and thanks to Shannon being pregnant Mooma got some help watching all the kiddos. We (I) was really glad that they were willing to watch them while us adults got to delve into our inner kid selves! We saved Wildfire for last just because of the timing and location of everything and hit it just in time because as soon as we got off I think they rode one more car of people and then shut it down for the night. I was very relieved as this is my favorite ride of all the rides! We had a great trip and can't wait to go again soon!

My Kids

So with being a mom you are very forgetful, no matter how many kids you have! So I wanted to write these two stories down before I forget as I know there are a lot of stories I'm sure I've forgotten. So the other day we were at Silver Dollar City (another post with pictures to come soon) and we were walking around, A LOT! Cora was walking a lot that day without sitting in the stroller and she turns to me and says, "Mom I know what walking is." me: "what" Cora: "exercising" me: "You're right Cora, you are so smart!" Cora: (She turns to me holding up her fist that has her CTR ring on and says: "Choose the Right!" She is in this phase where she loves her CTR ring and thinks that everything she does that is good is because she is wearing the ring. And of course a couple of days ago apparently she had hit one of her siblings (I was at mutual, so this is through Nick) and he was talking to her about why she hit her sibling. He reminded her about her wearing her CTR ring and choosing the right and how hitting her siblings was not choosing the right. She responds to Nick with: "Well, I wasn't wearing my ring then!" She is quite the cookie! And Kayley the other day says to me, "Mom I think it's going to be Spring soon." I asked her why she knew that and she says, "Well I just know there will be flowers out and baby birds hatching out of eggs soon." I replied with a "you are exactly right and so smart!" She is learning about spring and things that hatch out of eggs in school. They even had scrambled eggs for her snack the other day at school and I asked her if they were baby bird eggs they were eating, she looked at me like I was crazy! So, is it me, or are my kids just the smartest!?!? Rex is also learning how to sort of wave, clap, and of course loves to give kisses now on command even. They are open kisses, but sweet as can be!!

Lil Kickers

So, I grew up doing sports. I did soccer when I was little, didn't like it so much. Then I did T-ball/Softball...it was just ok. Then I started doing basketball and volleyball and loved both of them. These were the sports I stuck with throughout my junior high and high school years. Our family had a 2 sport rule otherwise I think I would have tried to do track as well as I like to run. So, I've never been one to like cheerleading/cheerleaders (no offense to those reading this entry that was/are cheerleaders...it's just not for me!) So, I REALLY don't want my girls to be one and I want them to develop a love of sports as I did. Lately Kayley has been talking about how fast she is at school. She is in a class with all boys and one girl. She has really started to talk about loving their recess time lately. I guess they play Mario Kart and race each other. Kayley tells me that the boys can't ever catch her because she's so much faster than her. She has also started getting her play balls out and showed me how she can kick them with her knee or kick them outside, etc. So, I thought maybe we should try to get her involved in soccer and see if she's interested in the sport (because as most of you know, Kayley has never seemed to be the sport type.) The other day Sports City had an open house for their Lil Kickers program. We decided to try and take Kayley and Cora and see how it went. They had it divided into three age groups 18 months-2 1/2, 3-6 years, and 7-8 year olds. I was glad they would be in the same group however the groups were only divided by a 6 in tall net so there wasn't much separation. Cora just ate it up! She loved being able to run around and kick the ball, etc. Kayley had a hard time with it. She came over to me and started complaining about hitting her hand or something on the ball. I tried to be sympathetic but still wanted her to toughen up a little and still play. That's hard for Kayley as she is definitely a drama queen and very sensitive. Well as I was consoling her, the 7-8 year olds were down at their end trying to score a point and the ball came and hit Kayley in the back. That just set it off completely! Trying to cover my laughs (I know I'm a horrible parent, but come on, what are the odds!?!?) I tried to be silly and took a ball and tried to get her excited about kicking her ball and what happened, I hit her in the head with the ball! Again tried to console her and cover my histerics at this point, it seemed impossible at this point. Luckily their time was over and we could head over to the bounce houses. Kayley continued to fuss about the littlest things so I'm just hoping this incidence was because maybe she was too tired or hungry or something like that. At any rate, how do you toughen up a kid!?! If she doesn't want to do sports, I can handle that, it may just not be her nature, but I don't want her to be a woose? Oh well, I will try to praise her for her character that she does have! She really does have a lot of great qualities and they may just not be the same talents as me and that's the beauty of having children! They share a little bit of you and your spouse, but there is lots more great characteristics about them that you get to learn about! Overall it was a fun experience and maybe she will want to do something else later!