Back to my regular job

Tax season has officially come to an end. I finished my last day of work on Tuesday and am so ready to get back into the routine of just being a Mom!  I love working but I also love work coming to an end ;)

Yesterday I took all 3 kids for dentist appointments and it went great! I am pleased to say we have NO CAVITIES YAY!   They were good patients for their Aunt Lindsay.  On the downside it looks like Kaeden will be needing braces in the future. Not sure how we're gonna finance that expense! :-o I also got to meet the expecting Mommy of a newborn I am going to photograph :) So excited to do that!  I've got lots of props, now I just hope to rock the photo shoot!

Today I have wanted to do nothing..... but having good friends over for coffee this morning has motivated me YAY.  Thanks ladies ;)  After this blog is updated I shall clean clean clean and pack pack pack.  We're heading out of town to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's tomorrow morning for Easter Weekend. It's been awhile since everyone has got together there so I'm super excited! Good times :)

Still fighting with my weightloss journey :(  I think I need something to "click" in some important points of my life. Before the end of this year I have big plans and I really want them to all come together nicely!  Weightloss, Quit Smoking, and Photography are my 3 big goals. However in between those major things I am forever working on being a better mother, girlfriend/wife/fiance whatever I am, homemaker, relationship with God etc.  These are all things I want to make amazing in my life, but when you start adding them all together I begin to feel so overwhelmed!  All in good time I suppose.

Mom came up last weekend to do a "prop" delivery. She brought me some amazing props and I cannot wait to make her proud and incorporate them into my photos!  Thank you Mom! You are truly the best!  While she was here we were busy busy!  Sat morning the boys went with Steven to the fishing derby.  Gramma went and took pics :) Thanks Mom!  Then Lindsay, Syd, Mom, Kinleigh and I headed to Moses Lake to photograph the girls at their dog show. How neat to see them look so grown up and professional!  After the dog show we did some shopping and Mom bought me another prop for my birthday present. I promise to do my best to make an amazing photo with that basket!  Can't wait to play with it.  We then drove around scouting photography locations to kill some time and visited with Grandma Bea while waiting for Mikey's birthday party to start. I must say that Kangaroo Bounce House is a neat place for kids birthday parties! The kids just love it.  Craziness that he is 4yrs old now!  It kinda sucks the way life flies by when you start making babies and watching them grow up!

Sunday before Mom left we snapped some pics of Kinleigh wearing my shirt that says Skinny Minny 2.. Gramma crossed out the 2 and put a 3 on there for her.  I must say she's definitely not a skinny minny LOL but it was cute and taking pics of her was fun.

Time to check on my Ebay auction and close up the laptop for some serious housework! The joys of being a Stay At Home Mom rather then a working mom again ;)!

Had a Rocking Early Easter Weekend at Uncle Joel's house

This weekend the family loaded up in the minivan and headed to Uncle Joel's for an early Easter celebration Mexican style :)  It was our weekend with the girls so we had a full load in the van :) Grandpa Lauro and Grandma Lupe headed up as well.  It's always such a great time at Joel's house.

Friday evening was spent with kids running around like crazy. Playing kickball. And just having fun. The grown ups spent the evening around the campfire. Nothing like all the fun of camping but all the comforts of sleeping and peeing inside a house LOL Kinleigh Kai and I pooped out earlier then everyone else. Those two needed to go to bed so around midnight we crashed while everyone else hung out til around 2am.

Sat morning we were up and about around 9ish. Joel put coffee on and made yummy egg breakfast burritos and french toast.  He's been eating eggs for weeks to save the egg shells for the egg hunt. The thought of this was really confusing to me but it ended up being super cool :)  So after breakfast was cleaned up we got out the shells and set the kids up in the kitchen to color the shells. I was sure they'd end up smashed in tiny pieces but was pleasantly surprised to find the kids did great with this!  While the shells dried the kids headed back out for more "camping" fun outside and Lupe and I went to a couple yard sales. Found some great deals on blankets/backgrounds for newborn pics.

 I had purchased some of these confetti eggs at Walmart and couldn't understand why you'd go to all the effort Joel was going to when I got a dozen for 1.97 LOL  I soon found out why Walmart eggs suck and the homemade eggs are so fun!  Joel, Lupe and Grandpa went to work filling eggs with rice, sugar, paper, coins and dollar bills. Then a $20 bill was stuck in one egg. How convenient that there was only one pink egg, so that became the "golden" egg.  To seal the ends up after they are stuffed you just wet some toilet paper, mold it around the egg and let it dry.

While the guys were hiding the eggs for the egg hunt all the older kids went on a bike ride with Gma and Gpa.  I passed Kinleigh off to Steven and went for some quality time with Kai cause he was left out of the bike ride.  We hung out throwing rocks in the river, and then he agreed that he'd pose for pics while I played with my camera if I'd go on a walk with him wherever he wanted to walk to LOL  Sounded like a plan to me!  we walked along the river into town.  It's a super short walk. I believe that's the first time I've personally walked it.  Everyone else has but me.  When we hit the road we spotted a large group of people on bikes.  Found Gma Gpa and all the kids!  Lupe told me there was a yard sale not far away that we hadn't hit earlier so we all headed over to kill some more time.  Ended up finding an antique buggy thing, Kai got some cars.. I think everyone got a little something or other. They were giving stuff up for super cheap so we couldn't pass it up. Worked perfect cause Kai pushed my buggy back while everyone was on their bikes. I think he felt important with that task :)

We got back to Joel's and it was time to hunt! Kai got a 3min head start. Thank goodness cause he was real slow at this hunting stuff!  What is different about these eggs then the eggs I've grown up hunting?  When you find them you smash them over someone else's head to reveal what's inside! People are covered in confetti, and sugar, and rice, and paper and kids are screaming I found a dollar!!!!!! Chaos but so fun!  We also threw candy bars out and about so they found candy with their eggs.  Kinleigh thought this was ok and although timid and quiet she was participating.... Until Lupe showed her how to smash an egg on Grandpa's egg. When that happened Kinleigh developed a fear for the Easter Eggs! LOL  Kaeden ended up smashing the $20 dollar egg and then ran off without seeing the money! Kai found the money!!  They are going to split it :) What great brothers they are.

That evening we bbq'd some burgers and Joel grilled some amazing meat over the fire.  It was much chillier Sat night then it had been Fri night.  Kinleigh crashed on Steven's lap around 10 so not long after I took her in the house to lay in bed and check out my pics of our fun filled day.  She was sacked out big time!  Kids were up well past midnight or 1am once again............

Sunday morning we were spoiled with a great pancake breakfast... We did some clean up and packed up the van and headed out at a decent time!  On the way home we stopped at Snoqualmie to look at the trains.  We've wanted to do this for a long time and I'm glad we did. It was dreary and drizzling but not miserable.  Had some taco bell for late lunch/dinner in Ellensburg and then surprised the kids and pulled off just past Vantage at the Wild Horse Monument.  Put dogs on leashes and Kinleigh in the backpack and headed up to see the horses up close and personal that we have driven past so many times.  I must say I expected the hike to be easy after hiking Beezley hill and Lake Lenore Caves... Ummm nope! not so much!  won't be doing that again! The hike is steep which is not a big deal. The problem is the ground is so loose and slippery! I was so sure I was going to fall on my face and drop the baby or hurt my camera! we all made it up in one piece and got some cool pics of the kids though :D  One more thing to mark off our list of  "To Do's" around Grant county!  When we got home we ran the girls to their house and then came home to unpack.  Put the boys to bed early and they STILL didn't go to sleep right away :p Oh well. I just hope they wake up in good spirits!

I just finished editing a bunch of photos from Saturday and am currently waiting for them to export so I can share them with Gramma Vicki on facebook and here on this blog!