Brace yourself this is a long one!

Spring is in full swing around here and I am having major summer fever!!!  I am so ready to be outside without jackets.  Haylee started soccer for the first time and is loving it!  She has a perfect team for her first time playing and so far they have won all their games.  It's so cute to watch her with her team and we are seeing a new side of her for sure. ;)  She's got a little fire in her and though she's little, she's a tough cookie.

Paige loves to be outside for any occasion and luckily the weather has held so she can play, play, play.

                                      

Grace will be starting softball in May so that's another new thing for our family to be looking forward to.  We like to change it up around here.  Gavin will not be doing T ball until next year so we might have to try karate or something in the meantime.

I am excited to watch softball and I hope she enjoys playing too.  Justin has been out helping her and she takes the help well and learns from it so that's been nice to see.  It's cute to see him getting excited about it since he loves baseball!!  Makes for good bonding time. ;)

 This girl is getting so big she's almost running now!! Over night she started walking and hasn't looked back.  It makes me sad sometimes to think of the milestones we have already surpassed and knowing it won't happen again makes it even more bitter sweet.

I love our mornings together with the other kids gone and she even still naps in the morning so that's been great! She's my little side kick getting ready or getting things done around the house as long as she can see me she's good.
                                      

Just try and look at those faces and not smile. :)

She is a pill though too sometimes and she loves to scream!  That is something I will be glad to grow out of. She just asks for something and then is screaming if it's not instant reaction.  The car seat has always been a source of contention for us she really has never liked being in the car since she was tiny.  We are one of those cars at the stop light with windows down and the baby screaming in the back seat.......fun times!

This was another fun time had by all. ;)

Most meals are prepared like this:

                                                

  She loves being outside as I'm pretty sure all of my kids did about this age when they knew what it meant.  And there lies another reason i am ready for summer because one day we play outside and it's beautiful then the next it's rainy, windy, freezing cold.  She doesn't get that part so it's just melt down when she hears "no" and it makes for reeeealy looong days!

She likes the sun just like her Mama. :)

Days spent inside being silly. :)

This boy is my saving grace with her in the afternoons, they play so cute it makes my heart happy to hear and see them together. He finally gets the chance to be the older one who is helping and teaching he loves it!

Not gonna lie all the kids think she's pretty great and we wonder what we would have done without her????

Spring break this year Justin took Grace and Gavin to Boise with him to get some work done for Mike and Bonnie so the kids wanted to spend as much time with her as they could.  Luckily our weather was awesome and we got out to do a few fun things at the beginning of the week before they headed out.  Haylee had play dates planned and her first soccer game so she opted to stay back with Paige and me.  Mike is going through chemo right now so if we have all the germ filled kids around it makes me a little nervous that we would pass something along.  Paige has had a few fever/rash viruses this spring and that is not something we need to share.

Haylee had the neighbors come stay for a sleep over and I took them skating.

We did some shopping, crafting, playing, eating, movies, swimming, and I finally managed to finish my downstairs bathroom.  Hallelujah!!!!

The family all returned safe and sound, they had a great time and Justin got a lot of the projects completed that they needed done.  Easter came fast after that and it's been busy so we had to sort of cram it all into one weekend.

I put the egg stuff out and told the kids to "go to town I have things to do". ;)

They managed very well and had fun doing it.  

We did some egg hunts with the neighbors.

 And later on Easter day we went out to the lake for some cousin and Granny time. (photos all courtesy of Kristen)

 Kids all ready to hunt.

                                                
                        Justin's Aunt Vicki with three of her daughters Stacey, Kelley, and Kristin.

                                                              Justin and his cousin John

The kids out finding eggs.

These two are pretty cute, they got along really great and I'm sure had all sorts of middle school drama to talk about. ;)

Grace and Kameron

Ailey and Haylee, two little peas in a pod.

Counting all their loot.

Poor Tyler had to play fetch after my attempt at throwing failed miserably. :(  Gavin was the first to try after bribes of ice cream but he slipped and went in faster than he wanted and realized all too quickly the water was COLD!!  So Ty had to man up and get it done, which he succeeded so thank you Tyler and when the weather is nice I am happy to retrieve anything you might need in the lake. ;0)

Easter morning.

She was so cute. :)

Resurrection rolls for breakfast that we have done for the last two years. My kids really enjoy it.

All looking lovely in their new Easter best. :)

 Later that evening we had my brother Caleb, his wife Kristen and their sweet little girl Genevieve come in to town from Boise to stay a couple nights.  Paige is just a month younger and it was pretty cute to watch them together.  Genevieve was sticking to her Mama and Papa pretty closely and wasn't so sure about Paige.

                                      
 Snack time on separate sides. ;)

We went out to dinner while they were here and tried a delicious brewery called No Li in downtown Spokane.  Not one thing we ordered disappointed including the beer so we were happy.

                                                 
                                               
As quickly as they came though it was over and they were heading up to Coeur D'Alene for the remainder of the week for work.  It's always nice to have company here because we get to spend more time actually talking and getting to know them and their kids so much better.  It was very fun.

It's getting time to think about yard and garden projects coming up and we have already had to weed the garden a few times this Spring. Ugh!  Justin brought some raspberries back from his Grandma's and we have them in the ground.  I am so excited to have our own this year I hope they do well.
                                        
                                        

I just realized how long this post was sheesh!  A lot to catch up on I guess.  Happy Spring!!!!