Charlotte's 7th birthday, etc.

Today I'm just going to highlight the main things that have been happening the last couple of weeks. Curtis finally got his PE (Professional Engineer) exam taken last Thursday after 6 months of studying. Thankfully I was babysitting that day also so it helped keep my mind off of it and not be so anxious. The test took all day. He feels like he did well enough to pass although the 2nd half of the test was more difficult than the 1st half.  Unfortunately we have to wait about a month to get the results back but at least now Curtis can do other things now besides studying! And he'll actually be home on Saturdays!

A few weeks ago we received an unexpected call from my Aunt Cori. They had just put an offer on a house and she found out from my mother in law (they are lifelong best friends) that the house is near where we live. It's so near that I can see the house from my front door and it's the same street! She said not to say anything yet until they knew for sure. Well, I got another call from her on Thursday the 15th saying that they got the house and was asking for help from the Elder's quorum for unloading the moving truck that would have stuff from their storage unit. Her kids and friends helped bring everything else over throughout the day on Wednesday and Thursday. My kids (minus Nikki) and I walked down and helped unload the truck Wednesday night along with my cousin Sally and her husband, a few men from the Elder's quorum and even Nikki's friend Logan. Uncle Ken was working out of town during the week while everything was being moved but came home on the weekend.  I am excited to have them living on our street and in our ward. Charlotte and Alice have already been asking if they can go over to Aunt Cori's. Our whole family went over yesterday to take them cookies and visit. Ken, Cori, Brad and Courtney were there. Alisha showed up later. I was visiting with Cori while Curtis visited with Ken. Cori whispered to me while they were talking that this is the happiest Ken has been in awhile and the most he's let anyone in for a long time (assuming from my dad's family). Maybe this is a step in the right direction for mending extended family relationships with my dad's family and Ken's family. We hadn't seen any of them since Grandpa Norton's funeral in 2018. It's made me sad that we've been distanced for so long.

Charlotte turns 7 today and we had two parties for her over the weekend. One with her friends and one with family. She had been talking about her birthday ever since Christmas. It was fun but I'm glad it's done now. It was raining on Saturday for the friends party so we had to do all of it inside and the pinata in the garage. They played Twister, freeze dance and did a treasure hunt....where the treasure was the pinata. They also ate pizza, chocolate cupcakes with cherry frosting and either ice cream sandwiches or popsicles. Then they watched her open the gifts they brought for her. The party went from 1-3pm but of course the 3 neighbor kids ended up staying about 1 1/2 hrs longer. I finally had to tell them that I was ready for some quiet time and they needed to go home. Only her friend from school didn't make it to the party. She invited 6 friends.

She loves horses so I was happy when I found this pinata at Zurchers. She loved it!

All ready for her friends party. Alice loves being with her big sister.

They played a few rounds of Twister.

Pizza time!

Alice picked out a sparkly pink hat after Charlotte had picked out a sparkly purple birthday hat. Charlotte also picked out sparkly white candles for her cupcake.

The two taller girls are friends from church. The other 3 kids are neighbor friends. Bryson (or Bryston...not sure lol), Alice, Tessley, Eli, Charlotte, Elie, and Brooklyn.

They found the treasure! Pinata time in the garage since it's raining. They did about 5 or 6 rounds of hitting before it finally got knocked open and we did not even blind fold them.

Yesterday after our visit with Uncle Ken and Aunt Cori we had Curtis's parents come over early so that we could play some games with them before Charlotte's family birthday party. We taught them how to play a card game called Slide, which I think they gave to Garrett for his birthday last year. Then we played Blurt! until my parents and grandma showed up. We sang happy birthday again and then she finally got to open her gifts. I wrapped most of her gifts on Wednesday so she's been looking at them the rest of the week just dying to open them. I only let her open one gift from mom and dad at her friends party, which was her toy cell phone.

This time she wanted the #7 which I had previously bought for Nikki's birthday but didn't use.

One of the things she saw at the store and asked for her birthday. It's nice that there's two bows and two sets of arrows so she can play with a friend.

The traditional birthday snack and Jack picked out a purple ball for her. Purple is her favorite color.

This was also something she asked for when she saw it at the store.

G&G Butterfield gave her the horse and doll she's holding.

G&G Norton gave her this big squishmallow. I think she loves it more than the horse! GG gave her some money which she's excited about.

So today on her actual birthday I woke Charlotte up to different birthday music I found on YouTube and played it on my phone. She asked for pancakes for breakfast so I whipped up a small batch. Thank goodness for pancake mix! She enjoyed playing with some of her toys before going to school and she wore a new shirt she got from her friend Brooklyn. She wanted to share donuts with her class so Alice and I had to make a special trip to the store to get some donuts and other grocery items and then dropped the donuts off with some napkins to the school. I didn't get to ask Charlotte what she would like for dinner tonight but Alice was sure she would like hot dogs, so we picked some up at the store while there and some buns. It's been a fun birthday for her I think. So glad she was able to have her friends party since Covid ruined it last year. Happy 7th birthday Char Char!

Easter Day

Each year it gets more difficult for the Easter Bunny to figure out what to bring the older kids. And this year I was mostly on my own for figuring it out because Curtis has been so busy with work and studying for his PE exam (Professional Engineer). I ended up going to the store 3 times in two days. I have learned also that it is not wise to wait until the weekend of to do the Easter shopping. Usually I try to avoid that but it didn't happen this year. I was able to get everything we needed for the girls on my own and I picked out a couple things for the older kids but Saturday night after Curtis got home from studying all day and we ate dinner I told him I needed his help so we both went to Walmart. Some of my problems with decision making were that I didn't want the kids to get tons of candy but I still wanted to do an egg hunt. So what could I fill the eggs with besides just candy? Then it was how many eggs? What colors? What candy can they eat with their braces? etc. Well, it wasn't easy but we finally came up with some basket goodies for the kids.

We like to allow one of the older kids to be either Santa's Helper or Easter Bunny Helper. This time we decided it was Nikki's turn. I don't think she had done it in awhile but she also was not really wanting to help....so of course we made her. I think she did enjoy helping put the baskets together and hiding most of them. Of course she didn't do her own. Jack told me that this year he wanted us to hide his basket in an impossible place to find. Garrett got the great idea to hide it INSIDE his big bass drum. I went ahead and let him do it. He was so excited about that spot but then Jack woke up at like 5 or 5:30am and did his searching while everyone else was sleeping, except for Curtis who had also woke up early to do some studying. I guess it took about 30 min of searching but Jack found it in the drum. I couldn't believe he actually found it! He had also found Charlotte's, Alice's and Garrett's baskets. Funny enough he couldn't find Nikki's basket, which I hid above the refrigerator behind my big picture that has kitchen conversions on it that was being held up by my empty vases. 

Garrett was SO upset when he woke up around 6 or 6:30 (I think Jack woke him up) to find that Jack had already found his basket and was working to unscrew the drum to get it out. Garrett really wanted to watch Jack look for his basket. He was so upset that he was crying on the couch, which is what got me out of bed. I told Jack he should have waited until everybody was up to search for baskets. We decided that we would re-hide Jack's basket. To teach Jack a lesson we put it out in the playhouse. Jack couldn't find it and we finally told him where it was. He was NOT happy. 

Well, with that little drama out of the way, the little girls really enjoyed looking for and finding their baskets and all the goodies inside.

A frisbee, umbrella, dress, nice sandals, unicorn swim mask, chocolate bunny and candy jewelry.

Charlotte got the same as Alice just different colors, except the mask which are matching.

Charlotte had said she really wanted a chocolate bunny this year and the Easter bunny knew!

The girls didn't eat very healthy on Sunday. They ate their bunnies for breakfast and other candy later for lunch after the egg hunt. I did finally make them eat a corn dog at least.

The older kids weren't quite as excited for the things they got in their baskets. Nikki however had told me not to bother getting her anything because she's too old for that now but we got her some stuff anyway. She said I did really good and that she liked the things she got in her basket. Yay, a win!

Nice sandals, shorts, frisbee disc golf set (Curtis's idea), chocolate bunny and M&M's.

Garrett got the same as Jack except different colors and Reese's instead of M&M's. Curtis wants these boys to play disc golf with us, ha ha.

Nice sandals, a phone lanyard that protects from water (for the beach, etc), sterling silver ball shape earrings because that's what she likes, chocolate bunny and robin eggs.

Before the morning session of conference started I decided last minute to do a short little lesson about why we celebrate Easter to remind those who were excited or those who might have been disappointed with what they received from the Easter bunny.  I pulled out some pictures from my gospel art kit to show them pictures of Christ suffering, dying and then being resurrected. I'm glad I did this because it was a good way to get their minds thinking about Christ and what Easter is about right before listening to our church leaders. I know I felt the spirit while I was talking to them as I got chills while I was talking.

During the morning session of conference I decided to fill the eggs to get ready for the egg hunt later. I ended up filling them with mini chocolate bars, jolly rancher jelly beans, chapstick (I found on the party aisle a pack of 7), and balloons. Some were rocket balloons where you pump them full of air but instead of tying it off you release it and it zooms around the room, sometimes making noise with it. Then there were a few punch balloons that have the string attached. Nikki and Garrett were in charge of hiding the eggs. Jack hid a special egg though that was golden colored and it had money in it that he donated. Alice found that one!

Garrett carried Alice's basket for her.

She found an egg up high in the playhouse!

Alice is holding up the special golden egg.

Jack pumping up a rocket balloon. He launched his first one outside in the front yard and it went right up onto the roof. Oops!

Since we hadn't colored eggs yet I decided we better do it after lunch and try to get it done before the last session of conference. Fortunately I did get the eggs boiled the day before so they were ready. The boys did not want to color eggs though so it was just the girls. 

We ate a nice dinner of steelhead salmon, fresh green beans cooked with bacon, and chicken flavored rice pilaf. The 3 youngest kids don't like fish so they ate chicken nuggets. Then we were excited to watch the live showing of the 1st episode of The Chosen season 2. We love that show and were not disappointed in this episode! Then we immediately watched the next episode of Relative Race. I love that show too, especially when they unite with their birth parents or siblings. It makes me cry almost every episode. Family is everything! It was an overall great Easter day even though we didn't go anywhere this year. Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny came....literally!

 As soon as my friend Ashlie told me that the bunnies were ready to leave their mama last week I was on the hunt for a rabbit cage so we could bring it home as soon as possible. I had found a good used one on craigslist that was in Boise. Fortunately, Ashlie started looking for me also and found one on Facebook Marketplace that was located in Nampa and $10 cheaper. It was a little dirty and some small parts of wire look a little rusted but it was still in good shape so I bought it. I picked it up on Friday and also went to Petco to get some bedding and a litter box. I honestly did not know that bunnies can be litter box trained. I'm not sure if we'll get it to work but I'm going to try. After Charlotte got home she helped clean out the cage since Curtis said this was going to be her bunny (well, hers and Alice's). She was so excited!

As soon as we got the cage cleaned up and everything set up inside we just had to wait for Ashlie to return home so that Charlotte could go get her bunny. Ashlie had been gone most of the day and I didn't find out until later that she had been gone because she had her gallbladder removed. Other than being tired and sore she is doing well.

And finally the bunny came home! There were 5 bunnies to choose from but she already knew which one she wanted. We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet but we have just kind of decided that it's a boy until we know for sure, lol. Charlotte first named it Marshmallow but then after a couple of days I mentioned how fluffy he was looking and said that Fluffy would be a good name so she changed it to Fluffy. I wasn't sure if she was sure about changing the name so I asked her on another day what the bunny's name is. She said Fluffy Marshmallow Butterfield. So I guess that's his name for now unless she changes it again.

Watching Saturday morning conference with the bunny. The girls had conference packets to do that they received from primary. They did the maze early but then had to watch when the apostles and prophets spoke to color the tie the same color on their paper.

Trying out some lettuce. He's eaten lettuce and strawberries so far for fresh foods.

I wanted to weigh him and I couldn't believe he is so light, just over half a pound!

I love snuggling with him too. He's so cute!

I read that some cats can learn to get along with bunnies so I have been letting the cats come and look at him through the cage and even let the bunny run around the family room with Sage sitting there. Sometimes it seems as though Sage is scared of the bunny. I think I'm more comfortable with Sage around the bunny at this point. Cocoa pawed at the cage and so I'm not so sure about him.

We also started the bunny in the girl's room but I keep pulling the cage to different rooms so he can have sunlight and see different things. Bunnies are social animals so it's good for him to be around us during the day.

And of course on Easter morning the girls wanted to pose him for a picture in their small basket that used to be Alice's basket (I bought a new purple basket for Charlotte this year so we gave Alice her old one which is a bigger pink one, square shaped).

I will tell you more about our Easter day in my next post so I don't make this one too long. We are enjoying this little bunny!

Easter Paintings

We've decided that we really like the tradition of getting these little paintings at the dollar store and doing it all together for a Sunday afternoon activity. The last time was around Thanksgiving. Alice and I picked up these Easter paintings about a month ago when I first saw them. She's been anxious to do it ever since. We finally got them done last Sunday so that we can enjoy them for decoration before Easter this coming Sunday. We enjoyed watching Relative Race at the same time on my computer. Although by the time the show came on most of the kids were already done with their paintings. They're a lot faster than mom and dad.

Alice, Charlotte

Jack, Garrett

Nicole, Me, and Curtis. I decided I wanted to outline mine with one of Nikki's markers and then Curtis asked me to do his because he had to go to bed and he thought it looked really good. Nikki and I had the same picture but obviously she gave it her own twist.

This week has been crazy but what's new right? Well, Monday I got everyone off to school and then had to drop my van off at the auto clinic because it had started leaking coolant again after they thought they fixed it, although this time it was on the passenger side. This is the 3rd time they've had to fix the coolant leak. Thankfully they did not charge anything for the 2nd and 3rd time. They were good on their word when we first started using them that all the stuff they fix basically has a 3 year guarantee. Anyway, they ended up replacing the existing clamp on the radiator hose for a better one. So far no leaks!

Jack started tennis this week. It was freezing the first day because of the wind but now it's warming up each day and he's enjoying it. This week is tryouts and they'll determine A and B teams. He's hoping for A team. When Curtis and I have played with him last summer he seemed to be a pretty good player for a beginner so who knows. 

Today I started out by finally sitting down and making a shopping list from the dinner ideas I had come up with yesterday. There are a couple of new recipes that we're going to try. After I got the list pretty much completed I decided to take a break and bake some more mini pumpkin pies. After all, we had half a can of pumpkin and evaporated milk that needed to be used up. By the time I was finished with that it was lunch time and then time to take Garrett to Meridian for a check up on his feet with Dr. Showalter. Fortunately, he has not regressed but his heels are still tighter than the doctor would like so he's really stressing that he do some stretching. He almost wanted to send him to do a few therapy sessions again since he had been stretching and we didn't have the papers anymore that had the stretching techniques on them. I really didn't want to pay for therapy again so I told him we'll call the place he was at before and get copies of the stretches again. I did that after we got home and they emailed them to me. I have printed them out and also made him a calendar to mark off days that he stretches. It doesn't have to be much the doc said, only 10 min every other day would work. He even said to bribe him so we'll see if that works.

This evening the girls took separate baths. I decided Charlotte is getting too old to share with Alice. While Charlotte was in the bath she had Alice go get Cocoa and put him in the bath with her! I was amazed that he was so calm. We have given him a few baths before so I guess it wasn't a big deal for him. He didn't necessarily like it but he just stood there with Charlotte holding on to him. I decided I might as well clean him since he's in there. After I had rinsed him off Charlotte let go of him and he jumped out and ran through the front room into the kitchen leaving a trail of water behind him. I quickly shut the door to the family room so he wouldn't go in there. I caught him after getting him out from under the kitchen table over behind the recliner and towel dried him as much as possible and then put him down. He started licking himself to get dry and it was so cute that Sage came over and started licking him also. She was helping him! I didn't think to take a picture because I was busy drying up wet spots.

Garrett has also been rocking out on his drums a lot today because he got some new music in band this week. It's great to see him practice so much on his own because he wants to do it and I enjoy listening to him. He even cleaned up the "music corner" where he keeps his band stuff in the family room without me telling him. 

Well, it's time to get to bed since it's a school night and I wake up at 5:40am to get the boys up so they have time to get to the bus stop. It's so great to have them back at school 4 days a week!