Randomness

 This girl loves her baby sister.  She is constantly taking care of her and prides herself on everything she can do for her all by herself.  I'm so lucky to have a great helper!

 I love this beautiful dress that all four girls have worn from Great Aunt Dicksy!

 Ignore the baby acne, check out those adorable, tiny hands!

 We did a little better this year with the pinewood derby car.  We were not the slowest! Hooray!

 Sleeping soundly in Daddy's arms.

 If you go to Old Navy, you can't leave without a picture on the dog!

 Poor Kate hurt her face, and then made it worse by "picking the road off her face."  It was the scab.  The bandaid helped her remember to let it heal.  She sure didn't like it when Daddy "helped" her take it off :)

 Entertaining each other on the sidelines of the baseball field.  Carston is lucky to have a family who supports all his sports :)

 Sweetest little baby

 After playing out in the dirt that we call the backyard, these cousins needed a shower followed by matching hairdos!

 Using the free Thanksgiving Point Membership-looking for plant ideas for the yard :)

 Driving around in a cart is so much better than walking!

 Hey! We know those guys!

 Need a straw, Macy?

 Kate played photographer again while mom got her new phone set up at the store (she might have dropped it in the toilet.....maybe)

 We love this sweet baby and her beautiful outfit from Grandma Robin.

 Dance Pictures

 Followed by these cuties first soccer game!  Macy was there to score goals, and Kate was there for the treats and the talking.

 Hadley is the best cheerleader for all the games she is forced to attend.

The Little Mermaid: With Cousin Callie

Our cousin Callie was in a production of The Little Mermaid, a perfect occasion to bust out the mermaid tails!

Sister Time!

 Life is good when Heather and Chelsey come into town.  We have to soak up every second we have with them!

 Hadley and Crew

 Carston, Jack, and Crew

 Celebrating Jack's birthday a little early because according to Kate, there is always a reason to have a party.

 Three little sweeties!

 5 weeks apart!

The "Olsen" Girls

Photos By Kate

Carston had lots of soccer games this spring.  Kate found a way to entertain herself with Mommy's camera.

Girls' Weekend 2013

One of the best traditions ever is Girls' Weekend!  Once a year, we get together with sisters, cousins, and aunts and live it up like we have no responsibilities!  Unless of course you have a very new baby, in which case, you just significantly lower your mothering responsibilities for a couple days.  We rent a hotel and squish everyone in.  We have intentions every year of playing games, but never end up doing so because we are too busy talking and laughing.  We shop and eat good food.  The bottom line is that we just enjoy ourselves.

Sweet Hadley was my little addition this year :)

 Heather brought Crew and I was so excited to see him for the first time!

 Chelsey had Jack.  We felt pretty special with our three matching carseat covers :)  People may or may not have thought we were stylish polygamists :)

 It's amazing how much babies change in a year.  Jack, Crew, and Hadley.  Probably the first and only time the three of us will have babies at the same time.  

 Trying to sleep in one hotel room with 4 women and 3 babies was fairly comical.  Luckily, most of us were used to operating on little sleep :) 

 John is always so sweet to take care of the kids when I'm gone.  He is very competent and handles all the kids extremely well.  But he cannot do hair to save his life.  This is what I came home to.  I think it took me an hour to comb out the nest that was Avery's hair, complete with leaves and grass :)

 I'm guessing that Kate picked out her own outfit.  Purple and purple match.

 Macy faired the best of the three girls.

Carston was pretty excited for his baby sister to be back home.

I love my mom and sisters so much.  They are my best friends, biggest cheerleaders, and an amazing support group.  They are one of my most treasured blessings and I'm so grateful for any time that we get to spend together.

April Conference 2013

 I loved conference as a teenager.  Loved it as a college girl.  And loved it as a newly married girl. :)  And then the kids came and I learned that conference would not be the same for a very long time.  It is pretty hard to truly watch/listen to conference with lots of kiddos needing your constant attention :)  Good thing John and I read the talks later or else I don't think I would know half of what was said :)

I am always looking for good ideas to help the kids be excited for conference and listen at least part of the time to what is being said.  We generally pick out some great candy from the bins at Winco beforehand and put it in a big jar.  Depending on the age of the child, they get to pick some at the end of the talk if they can tell us something the speaker said, what the subject of their talk was, their name, or the color of their tie/clothing.  We have done Bingo and Conference packets, but this year I wanted to try a new idea I saw online.  There was a bag for each apostle and each member of the presidency.  Each bag contained an activity for them to do during the talk: build a temple out of legos, make a necklace, write a story showing someone making a good choice, sculpt one of God's creations out of clay, etc....  The kids absolutely loved it.  I know it will be a tradition they ensure continues :)

Lost Myself

Every once in awhile, I will have one of those days.  You know those days where it feels like all you do is clean up the same mess....again.  You vacuum the floor you just swept.  You clean up the juice that spilled on the floor you just mopped.  You wash and fold the clothes....again.  You help the kids with schoolwork and music....one more time.  You explain to your child for the millionth time why they have to go to bed.  You feed the baby.  And then feed her again three hours later.  You remind your 5 year old for the millionth time that she cannot take things from other people.  You make breakfast, lunch, and dinner.....and will make it again tomorrow.  Days like these, I feel like a non-entity.  Doing the same things over and over to meet everyone's needs in the family can make me start to feel like a robot.
So I try to think of things I might like to do so I can feel like "me" still exists.  I want to build a table for the playhouse.  Um..... Let's see.  I would need to go get wood.  Husband is gone for the day and I am home with the three youngest.  Do I think we can swing a trip to the hardware store to buy the wood?  I'm desperate enough at this point to say yes.  But then I remember that husband took the van and the wood won't fit in the car.  So scratch that idea.
What about music?  Playing the piano always seems to lift my spirits.  As soon as I sit down, the baby starts crying and decides the only place she wants to be is in my arms.  That idea isn't going to work either.  It is at this point that I start to feel a quiet desperation. 
Sometimes it feels like everything that use to describe who I am and what interests me is gone.  Academics, singing, woodworking, reading, writing, piano, dancing.....everything has gone by the wayside.  I either don't have the time, the energy, or the ability to be alone long enough to pursue them any longer.  And sometimes that makes me sad.
Today was one of those days.  And try as I might, I could not shake the blues.  Luckily, God helped me out.
I was holding my sweet little baby, just 3 weeks old.  She was just staring at me so intently, and it hit me that she was what mattered.  My kids were what mattered.  There was nothing else I could be doing than raising my sweet children that could be more important.  And if that meant loads of laundry and dishes, repetitive reprimands, and constant cleaning, so be it.
I thought of the scripture, "For whosoever will save his life will lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."  I have "lost" my life, but in the process, I have truly found it.

The Zoo

 Apparently, we went to the zoo soon after Hadley was born.  I would have never recollected it had it not been for the pictures :)

The polar bear exhibit was amazing! The bear was swimming in the water, pushing off the glass, and doing backflips.  I loved it!

 Ahh! The lion ate my children!

 Sweet baby Hadley Robin with Grandma Robin!

 We had to wait a long time to sit on the elephant's trunk....definitely worth it :)

I'm remembering now that it was extremely crowded (possibly Spring Break?), and Macy fell and scraped her leg the minute we entered the park.  The dampened the poor thing's enthusiasm.  It was so fun to have Chelsey and Jack here with us.  

Hadley's Blessing

Dear Hadley,
Today was a very special day.  Sometimes, when events are common, it is easy to think that they lose their special nature.  Sometimes people think that way about baby blessings.  But it isn't true.  Your dad held you in his arms, and the minute he started to speak, the spirit hit both of us very strongly.  There are very few times I have seen your dad get emotional; holding you in his arms and giving you a blessing was one of those times.  You are so special to us Hadley.  You have brought light and love into our home and our hearts.  Everyone is drawn to you.  All the kids want to hold you.  I could take pictures of you all day long because I'm always trying to capture how beautiful and precious you are to me.  Bringing you into this world was not easy, but I cannot imagine our life without you as a part of it.  Every time I look at you, I think, "It was worth it."  We are so grateful for you and love you with every bit of our hearts.  Always remember that.
Love, Mom