Currently . . . and Easter Weekend

Casey's now had two track meets. The middles school teams are doing well in their meets. (The boys have won both!) Practices have been hit and miss on weather, so on bad days they just end up indoors doing what they can. They have two more meets (this week and next week) at home; however the forecast calls for rain both days so the kids and I most likely won't be going out for support. They'll have districts in a few weeks at Filer to end their season. With the end of school in sight Casey's trying to condense and cram in what he needs to before school finishes. With so many snow days this year he's had to shave off units and condense things to make it all fit in.
Kendal is doing well. She got good grades in her third quarter at school. Her teachers enjoy having her. She only needs to work on her writing. She does well on spelling tests (good at memorizing) but when she's just writing stories or on worksheets her spelling gets creative and she tries to put every rule she's learned into what she's writing. so she adds extra comas, apostrophes, and changes up letters by the way they sound in her head instead of what she knows them to be.  She has nothing but love for school she enjoys learning so much and can't get enough. She does her homework quickly so she can play, but some days reading is tough because she has to read certain books and she'd rather pick and choose. She even told me this week that she'll be sad when school gets out, because summer is just so boring. Kendal is learning to master the cartwheel right now. It's still kind of a tumble, but she's getting there. She likes to draw lately and we've been really impressed with her drawings and pictures from art class. She can copy things very well, then she'll do her own version that makes us smile.
Peter is good as well.  Peter loves Alice; he can get big smiles from her, and loves talking to her and being with her; however he is definitely lacking in the being gentle with a baby aspect of brotherhood. I'm working on a new mantra with him - Respect her face, respect her space. He gets very handsy with his sister and she doesn't really love it. Peter is still creative as ever and amazes me with his Lego creations, his imagination, and his humor. When Peter hasn't let out his energy for the day or is short on sleep he can be a bit much near dinner time. He gets very active and chooses that time to bug his sisters. Peter got to play with just Becca this past week. Their bond is very sweet and I love listening to their play and imaginations. We make our way to story time at the library each week also. He has good weeks at the library where he'll participate, and the occasional off week where he just isn't into it and tunes out. He's still got his strong stubborn streak in him that lately gets him a fair share of time outs when he's not in the mood to listen. He's more than ready for Kindergarten this fall! I just know he'll love being around all of the kids, learning (which he does way better for other's than for mommy), and getting some new freedoms and experiences.
Alice turned three months on Saturday. Casey has nicknamed her bubbles because she blows bubbles a lot and is starting to get a bubbly personality. Her tummy issues are less frequent so she's becoming more content. She has her moments of being fussy, but they're not often. She gets really into her bath lately and just loves to kick and splash around. She still hates getting dressed after, but she puts up less of an argument than she used to. We've got a decent routine going with eating and sleeping. She has two really good stretches of sleep at night (11 ish to 5 ish then 5-6ish to 9ish) While I don't get to sleep much in the second part I'll take what I can get. She's decent about going down on her own, but I still like to rock / put her down, and occasionally she needs Casey or I to help put her to sleep. Alice is generally a happy baby. She gives her best smiles and cooes to me (which is awesome, but it's just cause I'm around her 24 /7 ; )

This little lady actually looks at the camera, gives me real smiles, 

and can't run away so she has the most pictures lately ; )

Easter weekend:
Friday night after dinner Kendal and Peter dyed eggs with Casey. We attempted a tye-dye look with food coloring and paper towels. It was a bit messy for Casey's liking, but he made it work. I had the kids wear gloves because I didn't need multicolored kids for the weekend; unfortunately the gloves I have are latex so Peter was stuck with the big yellow cleaning gloves. He wasn't happy about using them so he ended up dotting the colors on while Casey held the messy eggs.

Saturday morning we had errands to run in town. Peter really didn't want to go but both Casey and I had to do's so he trudged along. Kendal got her face painted like a bunny in the mall (Peter declined having others touch him). Peter's attitude unfortunately carried into the afternoon. After lunch we went to a play (The Tortoise and the Hare) that the school put on and cousin David was apart of. (Mom fail - Kendal wanted to do the play but they initially said it would be a week long five hours a day commitment after school so I said no. The lesser parts {aka younger kids} didn't end up doing more than two hours a day. Soooo next time the opportunity comes along I'll make sure Kendal gets her chance.) The play was good and David played his part as a bunny very well. (When we walked in to buy tickets and he just stood in front of us hopping and "boinging" to us : D) I made a plethora (6 dozen) rolls Saturday afternoon. Kendal and Peter played outside and then helped me finished shaping rolls. We watched James that night while Vanessa was at the Easter Cantata.
Sunday morning Alice slept till 6:20 - Longest stretch ever!! However Kendal and Peter were up at 6:30. We ushered them back to their room, and "ignored" them for a while. When we were finally pried out of bed a while later they already knew where their hidden Easter baskets and some of their hidden eggs were. Kendal and Peter got new swimsuits (for upcoming swim lessons!), sunglasses, koosh balls, and kickstands (they've been begging for a while for kickstands for their bikes). They also got perler beads to share. They happily played and ate candy for a bit. We all had some of the hard boiled Easter eggs for breakfast. (I regretted that decision a while later when my stomach wasn't handling them well, I'm not an egg eater for a reason : /  After breakfast the kids had had enough candy so I took it away. Peter was upset and wasn't thrilled getting ready for church so his attitude carried into sacrament meeting with us. (Let's just say he lost his candy privileges for the rest of the day.) I had the opportunity to teach in relief society about Christ's life. It was a wonderful lesson to give. I have a very strong testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ.  I've had many experiences over the years that have brought me closer to my Savior and I'm so grateful to have his influence and presence in my life. I am blessed to know that through my Savior I can be made whole again, be with my Heavenly Father again, and have my family together for Eternity! I felt bad reading a lot out of the manual for this lesson, but some words are better from the book than my own scattered thoughts sometimes. It was a very spiritual lesson and I was honored to give it. Kendal also gave a talk in primary. She quoted the song I'm trying to be like Jesus then talked about ways she is and wants to be like Jesus. Casey said she did a wonderful job!

 Easter Goodies

Best pictures I could get of the kids : /

After church we quickly changed so we could head out to Raft River for some Darrington fun. Grandma had loads of goodies that the kids got to hunt for outside. We had all of the current grandkids there to enjoy the fun! (Cody and Mia found out this week they're having a boy!! Due late September!) After the candy hunt the kids played an active game with Grandma and then just enjoyed playing games out in the yard. Peter was unhappy his candy was in time out and Kendal snuck too much candy and ended up with a sour tummy later. We enjoyed a yummy dinner of peas and potatoes with fluff salad. We skyped Cody for a bit during dinner as well. The kids enjoyed the traditional bunny cake afterwards and played a bit longer before we all dispersed. Lack of sleep and sweet emotional Kendal was pretty distraught leaving Grandma and Grandpa's house. She "just loves them so very very much!" I agree family time is wonderful and we love them so much!

Tres blessed

We had the opportunity to have Alice blessed this past weekend along with her cousin James!

My parents and sister came up Friday Afternoon. Peter and Kendal loved the surprise of having them come early. They even brought up Rouge One that Casey and I haven't seen that we watched that night. The kids got their bellies filled with treats and their evening filled with fun! Saturday was spent relaxing around the house. My Dad has had it rough lately with a load of health issues so we had an easy day. The kids got lots of play time in (Kendal and Peter learned how to play Rack-o with Grandma, Grandpa, and Katherine). David, Anica, and Elliot joined us that afternoon. The kids happily played around. Andy, Campbell, Kimberly, Jacob, Noah, and Hailey joined us around dinner time. We went to Culvers to eat out. Peter rode with David and Anica. Both he and Elliot fell asleep in the car. Peter didn't touch his dinner probably because he'd been at his friend Elijah's party earlier. Afterwards everyone came back to hang out at our house for a bit.
Sunday morning was busy getting ready food / kids / self. We made it to church early, and were surrounded by family before long. We were lucky to have everyone (minus Cody and Mia) come to the blessing. Alice had one full group of amazing men that love her and helped in the blessing. Casey gave a very sweet blessing. I'm so grateful for the priesthood power which he upholds! I got up and gave a testimony (shaky voice / full of nerves / not a public speaker : /,. I don't share often but I feel it's important on events such as blessings to share with my loved ones my testimony. After the meeting we grabbed a couple of quick pictures and then the crew scattered. The Loosle's went to see the falls, and have some chill time and the Darrington's rushed over to the Birch street church for James' blessing. I quick fed Alice at home and handed her off (along with a grumpy Peter) to my family to watch while Casey, Kendal, and I went to the blessing. It was another great blessing surrounded by wonderful men and family. After church we all gathered at Brett and Vanessa's for a luncheon. The food was good, the company was large (near fifty of us between the three families : ), and the afternoon was wonderful.

I'm so grateful that we've been lucky / blessed to have a third addition to our family. Alice is a sweet end to our little trio and I count my blessings everyday that I get to have my sweet kids and a wonderful husband in my life. I am so grateful for the families we come from. Their examples, love, support, care, etc. mean the world to us and we are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. I'm grateful for the gospel, for my Heavenly Father and his plan which includes my beloved Savior and makes my earthly family eternal!

The winds of life

Last weekend was Conference. It was a wonderful weekend filled with messages I needed to hear. I'm so grateful I got to listen to those heaven sent messages, and I'm lucky I can go back and re-listen and glean more from those talks.
To try and get some wiggles out in between conference sessions on Sunday the kids and I took the kites out back to fly. We got Kendal's kite going, but it was hit and miss for how well it flew because of the strong inconsistent winds. Our first attempt for Peter got his kite tangled, after fixing it and trying for another attempt the heavy wind just took it and twisted it into a mess. I grabbed another kite for Peter and had it up and running, however it took only minutes for the strong wind to break the kite string and carry the kite off and high into a tree down the street. It was a bummer, but we learned our lesson and gave up for the day. We'll pull them out another day when the wind and tree's won't take away our kites.

Kite flying and Alice being so reverent during conference ! ♥

Monday evening I was getting the kids ready for bed. I heard sirens outside, however they didn't fade away. I opened the door to see smoke billowing into the street. We ran down the stairs and saw that two apartment complex's away from us were engulfed in flames. It was a chaotic scene and I felt sick to my stomach about the families affected and the potential of what else could catch on fire on that windy evening. I looked over to a panicked Kendal and whisked her and Peter back upstairs. It took over an hour to calm the kids down. We had on repeat that the fire fighters were doing their job, Daddy (who was out watching / helping if needed) would come get us if we were in danger, and Heavenly Father was watching over us. The kids just couldn't shake their fear so we talked about how Jesus knows our fears because he has felt them along with our pains, and sorrows. We also talked about the Holy Ghost and how he can comfort us. Kendal gave a sad retort that she hasn't been baptized yet and doesn't have the Holy Ghost. I reassured her that we can still rely on the Holy Ghost no matter our age or ability. After I got the kids to at least stay in their room I had put my words to use on myself. I was nervous about the wind spreading the fire towards us, and I felt sick for those poor families loosing everything. It was a long night to say the least. Casey and I fielded a plethora of calls and texts of concern on our behalf. We're so grateful for those who went out of their way to make sure we were ok. The firemen left around midnight. The next morning I was feeding Alice at five. I heard our neighbors Diesel running and shortly after it left a fire truck came back. I sent Casey out and sure enough the roof had restarted on fire. The crew spent till lunch that morning finishing up. Unfortunately Casey and I knew no one affected by the fire. I gave some clothes / items to one family and our ward donated many things to help out.
There are countless times in my life I get the subtle and not so subtle reminders "Hey Marianne God's in charge. You're on His plan on His timing." I either get to roll with it, deal with it, work with it, or adjust. The simple things like a kite being taken away by a forceful wind or a house close by going up in flames make me know to its time to readjust my focus in the simple and sometimes not so simple ways. I feel it's a recurring theme in my life (probably everyone's) that my path isn't going to be easy, simple, or how I planed it. But with the right outlook, knowing who's in charge (Heavenly Father), who to follow (Christ), and who to rely on (The Godhead / faith / family) I (we) can adjust to the winds of life.