Family game night

We started Friday night family game night.  We've taken turns picking a game for us all to play and making fun desserts to go with it.  This week was Colin's turn and he picked 'I Got This' and oreo cake, as a trial cake for his birthday.

Nothing to do with game nights, but it always makes me chuckle when I find Maya laying in some random spot.  She has chosen the outside rug a lot lately and will just stare at me while I cook.  I think it's the best of both her worlds; she can be on patrol for anything that might scurry in the yard AND keep watch if I happen to drop something that she needs to come eat.  We love you Maya...life would be so boring without you.

 

Mother's Day

I'm pretty sure Eli has grown since this picture was taken...

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year.  Every meal was cooked for me,

and we went to church and then Alison and I went to the mall for a little bit.  We haven't been to the mall in well over a year!  We came home to charcuterie and games.

 

What a blessing it is to me the mama of these three!  I love them more than they will ever know.

Trip to Yuma

The kids and I had a trip to Yuma planned a while back, but then had to cancel last minute due to someone getting sick (ahem, Tolson) and rescheduled for the end of April.  I'm glad we went when we did, because the next weekend was in the 100's!

First stop, the girls went to Walmart...with no masks!  Arizona just had their mask mandate lifted and it felt amazing to be mask free.

The heat and the drive was completely worth it to see these boys together.

 

We went to Get Air...again, excited to be able to do this activity mask free.  Our trampoline park just re-opened but I can't imagine trying to play with a mask on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We went to Chili Peppers for lunch!  Don't worry, I brought home a cooler full of burritos for Ben.

 

 

 

 

 

The Baker's had us all over for a BBQ and the kids played some games.  Guess I forgot to take a picture of the adults, but kids are cuter anyway.

 

 

Movies and ice cream happened every night :)

We went to church and fellowship meal!  Simple things are exciting in 2021.  It was a short trip, but so worth it to spend some time with sweet friends.

Eli's 11th birthday!

We started the day off with cinnamon rolls from the bakery.  Well, Colin had potato latkas.

 Then he opened presents.  He remarked that he must be getting older because the presents get smaller and more expensive.

 

 

We did what Eli loves best on his birthday; we played video games the rest of the day :)

And picked up KFC for lunch.

Poppy and Madisyn left that afternoon (Wyatt had left the day before).

 

And it's not an Eli birthday until you've built Legos and eaten cheesecake.

 

In the evening, Ben, Alison and Eli watched a scary movie with pizza.  Eli wanted it to be super scary and Alison also loves those kind of movies...Colin and I were perfectly happy with a fun movie in my room.

That time...

 

 Colin bribed his siblings to go to the beach...

One Saturday, Colin REALLY wanted to go to the harbor.  Ben was hiking, so I told him that he would have to convince Alison and Eli to go too.  So he bribed them; he paid Eli in Robux and told Alison he would buy her ice cream at our favorite shop at the harbor.  They both agreed and then Colin loaded up the car all by himself.  When we got to the harbor, he informed Alison and Eli that since he paid for them to come, that that also meant they could not just sit, but the had to play with him.  He made Eli boogie board with him and walked with Alison to look for sea glass. 

Eli came with me on my trail run.

Hearing a little boy squeal with delight is one of the absolute best sounds.  Pure joy was coming from this boy as he off roaded.

Alison scored a really cute dress at a thrift shop in San Diego.  It was a little too big, but she had the perfect fix for that.  She is getting REALLY good at this thrift shopping.