Guess This Toy is Boring?

There have been many times I put Ella Jane under her little toy mobile and come back a little while later to find her ASLEEP!!

Guess this toy isn't as entertaining as I thought it would be.  Either that or it's so entertaining it wears her out!  Regardless of this toy she sure is a good, fun baby!

Not saying she isn't a ton of work, but she brings so much joy to our whole family!

Seriously??

Logan lost another tooth!  He let Hunter pull it out.  I think Hunter should be a dentist when he grows up!!  Tonight as Logan was going to bed and preparing his tooth for the Tooth Fairy he showed me his note for the Tooth Fairy.

Seriously, he must be confusing the Tooth Fairy with Santa!

A BIKE?

This kids makes me laugh......he woke up happy to find $5 even if there wasn't a note leading to a new bike.

Fishin' @ Cluff Pond's #3

The kids were looking forward to fishing with Uncle Quincy all Spring Break.  But it didn't work out for Quincy to come fishing so Justin was a good dad and took the kids anyway.

We even had two extra boys with us and Justin took them any way!

Logan and Jack

Kiersten..........she handles all these boys so well!

Carsen Harmon was spending the day with us.  He is such a fun kid!

Ella and I went out for a little bit, but it got too windy and Ella was ready for a nap so we came home.  She took a 3 hour nap and I had a quiet, peaceful house!  What a treat!

Hunter was sure bummed he wasn't going to spend the day with Uncle Quincy.

Even though they didn't catch anything they had a fun time.  Of course it's always more fun when you catch fish or even just get a bite!

Grant caught a dead fish and thought that was amazing.  So I guess I shouldn't say they didn't catch anything :)

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Justin agreed to take a day off during Spring Break and take us to do something fun.  We didn't really want to travel all the way to Mesa for just the day so Justin picked going to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior.

It was a gorgeous day to be outside!

Here is a dead saguaro Cactus.  It was pretty neat to see.

There were so many beautiful plants....we even saw some beautiful birds on our little hike as well.

Hunter loved this lizard bench!

Ella wasn't too down with being pushed in the stroller..........the bright sun could have played a factor in that.  But she LOVED being held by her daddy!  And since she has him wrapped around his finger this is where she was except for when she was napping.

So fun to see Justin loving on his baby girl!  He is so good with babies!

The kids liked the arboretum but since we had just went hiking two days earlier it wasn't exactly what they wanted to do.  After some complaining they realized they could be pulling weeds all day so they should be grateful they were even getting to do anything.  And that they should be enjoying the time they have with their workaholic father!!!

Love these kids!

I'll take any day with them, even if it's full of complaints, over a day without them!

We thought these ball cactus were so cool looking..........they probably have a real name but that's what we called them!

It really is a beautiful place to go hiking!  Tons of gorgeous plants, flowers and trees. 

Of course what do the Cluff boys find?

A Lizard!  They catch lizards where ever they go.

All in all it was a fun time!  I loved that Justin took a little time away from his super busy work life to put us first.  It means a lot to me that he when he does take a day off, which rarely happens, it's always to spend time with us!  He is a wonderful dad and a great husband!

We followed up our day with bowling in Safford.

Ella sure loved the noisy busy bowling alley........it was funny!

I think I might take Grant and a friend to bowl one afternoon just cause Ella seemed to love it so much.  She got so excited when the pins would crash and she even took a nap in the mists of all that noise.

Chiricahua National Monument

So after a couple of months of being cooped up in the house with a newborn I decided we had to get out of the house.  I've been out of the house a little, church meetings, Walmart and visiting my mom.  But never with all 5 kids.  We've been keeping Ella home from church to hopefully get past the flu and RSV season without her getting sick.  So I was going stir crazy to say the least.  It was Spring Break and I wanted to do something outside with the kids.  I decided I needed to prove to myself that I could indeed take all 5 kids, by myself to do something.

I decided to take the kids hiking at the Chiricahua's.  They are only about an hour and a half drive away.  Since Ella doesn't totally love the car that's about as far as I wanted to go.  She ended up doing really good and slept on the ride there and back thank goodness! 

The kids had never been here and they were thrilled to see these amazing rock formations.  They didn't really know what to expect so they were surprised!

Grant was quite the hiker and didn't complain much until the very end.  But after hiking about 2 miles when you're 4 you deserve to complain a little.  He soon stopped once he knew there was no possibility that I was going to carry him.

We were the talk of the trails.  There were very few people who didn't comment on me and my 5 kids out hiking.  I guess taking 5 kids, including a 2 month old is rare and deems you as being "brave" and "amazing."  It got quite comical because so many people mentioned it to us.  Everyone was nice about it of course but so many people commented.  Even the kids were asking me why are people acting like it's crazy to see us hiking.  Mostly I think it was the fact that I had a 2 month old and that I didn't have my husband with me that really surprised people.  

Don't know if I am "brave" or "amazing" but crazy yes I am!

We went to the Grottos at Echo Canyon.

The kids LOVED exploring the Grottos!

Had a great day getting some exercise.  It felt so good to be out of the house for most of the day.  

Love my kids!

Kiersten took this picture.  There was a little cave in the rock that had a lookout.  This is the view looking out.  Turned out really cool!  It is such a beautiful place!

Such great hikers these kids were.  We already started talking about making another trip back with Justin when Ella is a little older and can ride in the hiking backpack.  The kids would like to go on a longer hike!

Little Ella Jane was an angel and slept the entire time.  What a sweet face to look down on during the hike!

Kiersten rewarded Grant for being such a great hiker by giving him a piggy back ride that last little ways to the van.  It was a great day!  Beautiful day for a hike!  I felt accomplished after venturing out  with all 5 kids and it being such a success!

Pulling Weeds Pay Off....

The kids, along with Justin and myself, pulled weeds for a good 3 hours on the first Saturday of Spring Break.  As a reward for working so hard and getting the front yard looking so nice we decided to have a FROZEN party the day the movie was released, which was Tuesday of Spring Break.

The kids invited some of the neighbors over for the party. The kids played for about an hour outside before we started anything structured.

We had FROZEN blueberry waffles and bacon for lunch.  The kids all liked that!

Every kid enjoyed having breakfast food for lunch!  Who doesn't like syrup for lunch right!

Then it was on to watching the Disney movie FROZEN!  It is s great movie with great songs in it!  Everyone was excited to see it!  Even little Miss Ella liked it on the big screen!

Following the movie we had an Arizona snowball fight!

Thanks to Justin for all his scrap paper from the office.........we got great use out of it!

We ran through the basement throwing paper balls at each other (Snowballs).  And yes I meant we.........I couldn't pass up the chance to throw things at kids :)

This was a HUGE hit with everyone!!!

So fun to let them be so rambunctious in the house!

The kids all kept ganging up on me it seemed!  Grant was pretty good at hitting me!

We ended the fun with FROZEN snow cones!

It was a fun afternoon with friends.  Hunter said "next time we need to tell all the friends that if they want to come to the party they have to help pull weeds too!"  Smart thinking Hunter! 

St. Patty's Day Fun

We all look forward every year to Lem the Leprechaun coming to visit us on St. Patrick's Day.

After cleaning up the house.........Leprechauns only come visit a clean house of course, the kids made little notes and love messages for Lem.

This was from Logan.....how sweet is that!

I love how the kids use their imagination when making things for the Leprechaun.  

Hunter did a amazing job making this trap to catch the Leprechaun.

He put real gold dollars in this black pot and covered it with paper so that once the Leprechaun fell in he couldn't get out!  Wow I think that might actually catch the little guy!

The Leprechaun destroyed our house...

And left green foot prints all over!

He also left a few treats and many 5 dollar bills laying around in the mess.  Perfect for the beginning of Spring Break.  Looks like we now have a little money to do something fun over the break.....kids are thinking bowling!

Great way to start Spring Break.....except now we have a house to clean up!

We Love Debbie

Debbie is more than just our house keeper that comes weekly to clean bathrooms and floors.  Although she does make my life easier, knowing each week these mundane task will be done, she is a bright light in our lives.

Grant looks forward to every Thursday knowing Debbie and Christy will come and entertain him in some way for a couple of hours.  He usually grabs a rag and helps them clean but today he was spoiled!

This particular day Grant had a little kite that he made while at preschool before Debbie arrived.  The kite would not work so Debbie helped Grant to make a different kite.  The spring time is always windy here in Pima.  It gives me a headache but it is good for one thing........kite flying!

She took Grant and the kite outside.....  Grant was in heaven!!!

As you can see, Debbie is not a typical house cleaner.  She is a true friend to us!  The kite they made didn't work too well either so Debbie took Grant home with her and they made a new kite at her house.  I picked him up later that day.  What a blessing Debbie and Christy have been in our lives.  We sure love them!