April 2019

Cuddling and watching videos on Daddy's phone

The sky looked beautiful!

Water color painting

My Mom sent this to me. Who knows how old I was... maybe 6 or 7?? Apparently my Dad has held on to it all this time.

"To: Ralph

Form: Cyndi

Pokemon

Dog snake"

Lol.

I love fields of wildflowers. 

Every. Day.

One of our favorite things about General Conference is looking for Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Shauna in the Tabernacle Choir.

I was sitting on the couch with my paper and pen... so she joined me with hers. Haha.

April is the month of the military child. There's a fantastic organization in town called the Warrior's Network. They do so much for the military community. For the last few years they've been putting on this Kid Event. This was our second year going and we had so much fun! They and the other vendors were so generous to put together a night of fun. 

Kayla loved the princesses all around!

There was a whole room of bounce houses just for smaller kids. (there were even more in the main area) 

They were in heaven!!

It was a great night and we look forward to going again next year!

I spy with my little eye...

Your kids need a happy mom, not a perfect mom. I needed this reminder!

Easter egg hunt with friends!!

"Smile and take a picture"

^^Wilson's grumpy face...

"If you take a pretty picture you can eat some of your candy!"

Got him. Obviously I'm not above bribing them ;)

So much fun!

And then we decided to take a quick trip to Bass Pro Shop... because why not!

I think I already mentioned my kids love for this place... the fishes!

(Normally there are alligators out front, but they weren't there this time)

Big window to look at the shark at Joe's Crab shack, the bridge, the birds, the boats, the aquarium on the other side of the river, and of course the river itself. They love this so much. Lol.

Every time we drive over the bridge the kids say "Hi red river! Bye red river!" and my favorite is when they're upset about something and they stop to say it as we go over the bridge and then they've forgotten about being upset. Hahaha!

"Show me your grumpy eyes."

And then he cracks up. Lol.

Sweet girl <3

Since we switched over to Sprint, we now get Hulu for free. Jacob was super excited because Smallville is on Hulu. He watched most of it every week when it was on TV. He got me hooked... and even the kids. Haha.

Cuties! They always love getting the carts that they can drive.

Have I mentioned that I love when my kids actually eat their food? ESPECIALLY this kid... Normally he takes it apart and only eats the bun and fries. *Sometimes* I can convince him to eat the meat with a spoon (this is sloppy joes and French fries)... if I take all the green peppers out. The tiny diced up peppers... But he actually ate the whole thing like normal and it was awesome!!

Found this cute scene in the toy room. Lol.

Some of Kayla's work in her Doc McStuffins book. Copying the picture of the crab. Tracing the letters of the title of the page and then writing a bunch of random letters of her own. Oh, and notice "stop" at the bottom. That's one word she memorized pretty fast from driving around in the car. Haha. I love looking at all of her drawings.

Time for Mommy's check up... just like Doc McStuffins!

Poor kid fell asleep and had funny indentions all over his face. Lol.

Much, much needed outdoor & family time. Jacob gets me. I swear most of the time that he gets me even better than I get me. I was having a hard time. So we took a drive out to Oil City, LA to a little park we've been to once before and it was absolutely perfect! It was a beautiful day, we practically had the place to ourselves, we got some precious family time, and I was able to breath and reset. I love him! And our cute kiddos!

<3

They were all even so sweet and dealt with me taking too many pictures. Lol.

They found little tiny baby flowers. They always have to stop and pick flowers when they see them.

And then cuddles... and probably more Smallville if we're being honest. We've been bingeing....

Still taking advantage of that nice weather before it gets too hot to even breath!

Park fun with friends!!

Sleepy boy <3

Easter eggs

Have you noticed how much of a control freak I am? Lol. The kids got to pick the colors while Jacob and I did the actually egg dying. Bless their hearts for putting up with me.

And then they had free reign to add stickers.

I cringed a little... or a lot, but bit my tongue, with Wilson's sticker stacking. Lol.

Kayla had a much more strategic plan.

And then we did a hunt!

We did the dyed eggs and some plastic ones. The plastic ones have little papers with scriptures that tell the story of easter. We read it when we were all done. You know... as much as a 2 & 4 year old would sit and listen...

Easter weekend we headed up to Oklahoma! We missed an egg hunt with the Hecks... but they hid a few more for Kayla and Wilson to enjoy the fun too.

Cute cousins!

Kayla and Jane are a few months apart. They were so cute together!

Jacob caught a fish

All the flowers. Always.

Easter morning the kids got new church outfits, a treat, and a little gift.

So... I had tried to go shopping for their clothes on my own, but Wilson threw a big fit about me leaving and ended up coming with me. I found him clothes at Old Navy and was ready to leave... but he had found these shoes and started throwing a fit about getting them. I told him no... but decided they were a good deal and I wouldn't mind actually getting them... but put the ones he had back on the shelf. I tried to discreetly grab another pair for him and Kayla... but he saw.... Same thing with Kayla's dress. I took them to another store later and grabbed a few dresses for her. (I love H&Ms dresses and they're always buy 2 get one free!!) She totally saw it and knew she'd be getting it. (oh and like a month later he bit a freaking hole in it... still sitting in the guest room waiting for me to fix that one...) But anyways... the next morning after I had gotten the shoes... (the bags were put away in the guest room) Wilson wakes up first. He WANTED those shoes! So he goes in there. He gets his chair to climb up and grab scissors. Finds the shoes and cuts the tags off of both pairs and proudly comes into my room with his new shoes on and carrying Kayla's shoes for her. Let's just say I did not wake up happy that morning..... And he totally nicked both his and her shoes while cutting the tags off... Plus hers ended up being too small and giving her blisters so I had to go back the next week and get her new ones... GOOD TIMES........

But they're so cute, they're forgiven... For every trial and frustration and all of it that they cause me. ...But really that's what we were celebrating that weekend. Jesus Christ made it possible for us to repent of all of our sins. Because of Him, our weaknesses can be made strong. We can be perfected in Him. He literally can lift our burdens. Our ultimate goal is to return with Heavenly Father and Jesus made that possible for us. 

I was feeling all the frustration again with the shoe thing... and then writing about Easter I was reminded of what is most important. I needed that just now. For me, I'm not good about keeping my focus on what's most important. I'm very one track minded. I get caught up in a "problem", or scenario, or whatever situation and can't get over or focus on something else until that's taken care of.  And then especially when it comes to motherhood. I am so easily frustrated with trying to raise up decent human beings, take care of my self, take care of my family, take care of my home, and every other million little thing on my to do list... Every frustration, every weakness, every mistake (or what I many times feel is a failure for myself)... we can try again... and though we are not perfect, Jesus Christ makes up the difference.

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Greg had the most fun swing out back! (The kids always look forward to going to Kathy and Greg's house. They love the toys they have from when their boys were younger. Jacob grew up feeling that same way... that they had the best toys. He still enjoys playing with them now with Kayla and Wilson. Haha.)

My kids LOVE going to Oklahoma and visiting Greg and Kathy. They are always so kind. They welcome us in to their home, and a lot of times they open it up for us to stay there. They take great care of us. And we always have such a great time catching up with them and spending time together! I don't think we could ever repay them for all of the generosity they've extended to us.

JB snapped a few pictures.

Jane and Kayla

<3

Mike McConnell family that was there

The whole group

Aunt Kathy gave the kids some Easter presents. They were thrilled!! 

Wilson was cooling off his car. Lol.

And another Easter egg hunt.

So much fun!!

Trying to get a half decent picture with Jacob....

Also notice my Oklahoma pin. Greg noticed my Texas necklace and told me I needed Oklahoma ;)

After Easter, we headed down to Bryan, TX to spend the week. Jacob and his Dad were going to build me a new TV stand. You know since Jacob needed a new TV and now it barely fits on the stand we have. Plus, Mike is an awesome wood worker. I'm not even mad about this. Lol.

Wilson had fun running to get supplies with us late one night. Kayla was happy to stay back at the house with Grandma.

Wilson got "stuck". So I snapped a pic and then helped him. Lol.

While Jacob and Mike worked for the week... the kids and I played :)

They know they're way around Grandma's house. Kayla always goes straight for the scrap paper and crayons or colored pencils... and we always come home with a stack full of pictures ;)

We got to hang out with Taylor and Jennifer and meet baby Daniel!

Kayla was thrilled to "hold him" ... with Grandma's help :) and then when he was crying she sang to him and we all melted <3

Papa's smoothies are a big deal. ^^Obviously Wilson was ready. Haha.

Smoothie mustaches!

We made a quick trip to Katy to see Grandma Ruske. And we got to have lunch with Bella at school!

<3

And we stopped and played with the Seckingers for a little bit too. Kayla and Wilson were pretty thrilled to play on one of these swings again. BIG HIT. If we had a better tree we would have bought one already. Lol.

Bucees stop on the way back to Grandma and Papa McConnell's house.

More playing with grandma while daddy and papa worked ;)

A friend shared a class picture from elementary school. It was fun to look at again and reconnect with her. Probably hard to see, but I'm in the top row, the 2nd one from the left.

Bowling with Taylor and Jennifer!

Shopping and we found a giant bear!

Just needs stain and finish.

Still....

We took it home like this. Jacob's just had some other projects come up ;)

Cute kiddos!

And yes, we totally went to Gumbys again. Gumbys is always the answer.

I love Kayla's full mouth in this pic. Hahah.

SO STINKING CUTE!!!

Getting an idea of how it will look before we put it in the garage to complete it. Where it's still sitting... I'm hoping by the end of the summer it will be in the house... maybe ;)

Finally getting to play with her new toy from Aunt Kathy. I'm so mean and I make them wait to open new things until we get home. She loved it!!! 

Silly kids!

And Kayla's new shoes that actually fit and don't give her blisters... Poor thing was walking on her tippy toes all week that we were in Bryan. 

Had to rearrange the toy room to fit in the piano we brought back.

A friend was getting rid of it for free. It is SO nice to have a piano in our home again. Even with my limited skills... I feel like there is so much good that comes from it!!

And Wilson finally got to play with his toy from Aunt Kathy. Well... they both enjoyed it ;)