Birthday, Treehouse, & Mother's Day

Well I have about 15 minutes to create a blog post then it's off to gymnastics (I'm trying to stay limber in my old age - ok it's really Jessi's class). I am sorry to admit that I gave a wee bit of slack to Brittany for not posting often enough and now I haven't posted in a few weeks, sorry Brittany - you are amazing.

We've been really busy having fun through the last few weeks of school. It was my last big hoorah with PTO last week for Teacher Appreciation. We gave each teacher a beach chair & book signed by their class, a fun music CD, a breakfast, & an assembly where each teacher danced down the aisle for their screaming/cheering class. I'm so grateful this year for PTO Mom's that said they would help . . . AND DID! It made this year so much more fun for me.  (It would be even more fun if one of those fantastic Mom's decided to be the president next year, hint, hint)

 A few weeks ago Joaquin got all the kids outside to "help" put the walls up on our treehouse.  I especially love Quinn's pose, don't you?  He's hoping to finish it this year - I'm hoping for a garage.  Any guesses which will happen first?

Joaquin & I have been drawing our garage/addition for months now and Jessi didn't think ours was big enough.  So she got out the butcher paper and designed an entire house including trap doors that drop into toy rooms.  But my favorite was when she showed Joaquin, "Look Dad, here is your room (pointing to the top right) and here is Quinn's piano all the way over there! (pointing to the lower left corner)"  She's really trying score brownie points, huh?

I just want to squeeze those cheeks, don't you?

Donna celebrated her birthday with us in one of our favorite places, the back yard.  I offered to make a cake but she laughed and said, "I don't need a cake, what sounds good to you?"  Well my personal favorite is Fudge Oatmeal bars so guess what we put candles in?  I really love that woman!

The kids, of course, had to roast marshmallows since we had a campfire.

Lane & Amanda came up from Utah with their boys.  Amanda went to a dance competition most of the day (doesn't that seem wrong - the athletic sports girl goes to the dance competition while Jesalee & I stayed home?)

The Escalade is still the coveted toy.  Ty has already decided he should drive it all the time but hasn't got the steering skills yet - watch out Donna's fence!  That's Jackson riding shotgun and Andrew trying to catch a ride.

And here is the pix of Grandma Donna's present . . . dun da da - A beautiful new bike!  I'm pretty sure I've used it more than Donna (she's really got that sharing thing down).  Everyone teases that she needs to put a dog in the back and be the wicked witch.  Funny story was that on her birthday Jesalee had given Jade a ride in it then parked it in the driveway when she was done.  Donna jumped in her car to go buy batteries and backed into it, sob sob.  The bike has a slightly bent tire, but thankfully Jade had climbed out of the basket & wasn't hurt.

Last but not least is my beautiful Mother's Day collection.  Thank you Christine & all the other mother's in our Primary.  The kids were so excited to give me their pictures and the bags they came in were treasures too.  After my last post Mother's Day was just what I needed.  

From all the comments & calls here's what I came up with.  Are you ready for this revelation?  I just had a new baby - cut myself some slack.  I know it's a shocker huh?  Since daylight savings Jessi has to be in bed even though it's light outside, it's rained or been gloomy for the last few weeks, she's had pressure from school to do well on her ISAT tests, she's trying to learn her gymnastics routine for the year end performance, and as much as it hurts my heart to say this - I haven't been able to spend as much time with her since Halle was born.  I wish I could help her in all of those things, but I just can't.  My goal in life is to raise strong, independent, righteous children.  So teaching them to be independent means letting go too.  Ouch - that hurts.