April: literally everything else

Oh man, we've made it to the final April post, hooray! This post is brought to you by Target... because I love Target. As do my kids! Which is apparently why I took all four of them with me one day. I think it was a Friday afternoon and I really wanted Milano cookies? Carma fell asleep so I carried her through the store... painstakingly slow because I have a certain route I take that ensures I hit up every clearance endcap... anyways, it basically broke my back but oh well. Carma woke up in the check out line and FREAKED OUT until I opened the box of Pepperidge Farm Texas Toast (legit a clearance buy that looked intriguing...) and gave her one. Yes, a piece of frozen garlic toast. She fell in love and continued to savor it on the drive home. Whatev, girl. You do you.

We met my dad over at Lakeview Park on Saturday afternoon between conference sessions to get fresh air and chicken nuggets and all sorts of fun! Grandpa brought bubbles and kits and blow-up shields and food and it was wonderful :).

One FHE found us all piled on the couch staring at Chuck's phone (looking at family history - we are possibly related to like 14th Century royalty, no big deal) so I thought to myself, "PRIME opportunity for a family picture!"

AND IT WAS! What's that - everyone looking? Smiling? Eyes open? Just the right amount of pixelation (possibly not a real word)? Clyde adorably flashing a peace sign as I have awesomely taught him? If we had a mantle this would honestly be framed above it.

In our never-ending quest to become farmers, we planted one peach tree and one apple tree in the front yard and despite some possible overwatering issues, we are holding out hope they will grow and be fruitful and delicious. If they wither away, we will pull them out and never speak of it again. (Remember our cherry tree? Me neither.)

Random outdoor fun. Carma wanted to climb a tree at the church because she's a little Izatt girl like her aunts Melissa and Amanda before her. The tree on the bottom right is because EVERY TIME we saw such a blossoming tree as we drove around town we all sang "Popcorn Popping" much to Jack's delight.

Picture of Clyde Monster before the BSU scrimmage because he's just so cute!

Old school picture of me and my brothers because we were just so cute! April got kind of rough for my tender little sister heart and I spent one night pretty distraught about my inability to fix other people's problems...aka make decisions for them ;). So I found this vintage shot of me and my cute three brothers and used it for my fb picture for a while - and then it turned out the next day was "National Siblings Day". (P.S. I feel like we've talked a lot as a society about Hallmark making up holidays but not enough attention goes to facebook making up holidays - was "National Siblings Day" a thing before fb? I feel like it wasn't...)

Now that Will is 8, he can officially go with Clyde to 'tween' activities at the library, hooray!

Such a supportive wife.

April brought some craigslisting - we sold Carma and Jack's toddler beds and got them twin beds instead! My babies are all grown up. I was pretty psyched, I had envisioned matching white wooden bed frames AND I FOUND THEM. For a super good price. Granted, it was a bit of a drive, but Chuck took care of that, and also they've definitely been well used by kids but as luck would have it, they're just coming here to also be well used by kids so we're good ;).

Jack and Carma both started sleeping better so I'm thrilled. Other random pictures - Jack wearing his Darth Vadar shirt next to Darth Vadar (at Target, because that's my happy place...), Jack looking for letters of the alphabet in the checkout line - obviously I endeavor never to take my kids to the grocery store but when I do, this game is the only way I stay sane. They find the ABCs one by one and it keeps them occupied and (bonus) other shoppers think I'm a good mom haha. Also does anyone else love Fred Meyer for putting out fruit for kids to much on throughout the store? I'm legit obsessed with it AND their 'lunchbox size' apples for 99 cents a pound.

How can a child be SO cute and SO mischievous at the same time? On SO little sleep?????

Quick round of Clue. How cute are Jack's and Chuck's matching hats??

Oh man, one day I was supposed to call Holly but I wasn't ready yet so I sent her this super hot post-plasma, at Costco selfie with a promise to call in like 15 minutes. And then I preserved the picture for posterity because hello, who looks that awesome and wind-blown in the middle of Costco?? ME.

Sometimes you glance into the backyard at just the right moment to catch Chuck's turn at dead man. Best part was that since his eyes were closed he had no idea I took these pictures ;).

I'm probably a bad person but one of my favorite things ever is watching toddlers try to carry stuff. Isn't it just so hilarious? I figure it's payback for how ridiculous I look trying to carry her when she's throwing a tantrum haha.

Random trampoline fun... aka Chuck lobbing balls and trying to hit the bouncing children haha. One little ball got stuck up in the rain gutter and Carma was recruited to retrieve it... which was hilarious in and of itself - she kept locating the ball but leaving it there.

And I may have grabbed this picture with my super cute husband. Always looking to flesh out that modeling portfolio, ya know?

One day I went into Target (I KNOW, I'M THERE A LOT) and left Chuck and the kids in the van... and came back to this. My instagram caption was "When Mom wants to talk about your new tattoo" hahaha. Oh we love our little expressive artist!

Four little blue-clad siblings on trampoline - we should probably take a moment to appreciate the various hues represented; I thought it was impressive haha.

Oh man. Chuck and I made a midday Walmart run and Carma was not having it - she wanted to carry the bubble bath, she wanted to drop the bubble bath, she wanted to throw the bubble bath, etc. So I grabbed her to head out to the truck while Chuck and Jack finished shopping only to find it locked and myself sans keys... so Carma and I rednecked it up and hung out in the bed of the truck for like a half hour haha. Blessedly I had my phone (and Carma's hijinks) to entertain me and Carma had a booster seat and a box of dirt to entertain her! Collectively I think we provided entertainment for other shoppers as they came and went - is there a Walmart Bingo square for 'weird people camping out in the back of a truck" ??

April concluded with a Saturday afternoon spent at Grandpa's house - started in the backyard checking out all the cool fountains and trying to get Chips the bunny to hang out:

Carma made friends with this little guy. They had a nice talk and ended it with a hug hahahaha.

And then it was time for some fishing! Grandpa's koi all managed to avoid our (non-hook) lures, shockingly ;).

My dad always has the coolest little toys and contraptions - this time it was a helicopter thing that shot up into the air. We had tons of fun chasing that around his culdesac! 

THE END OF APRIL!

April: school! and friends!

So one sunny Saturday evening we were in the backyard and I thought I heard the front door and sure enough, it was the beautiful and amazing Emily! They were in town for a quick visit and she was running around like crazy hugging all of her friends and I'm so glad I was home and got my hug! And holy moly her girls are all crazy grown up! So good to see them.

Chuck and Clyde got some male bonding in the next Saturday when they went to the Boise State spring scrimmage with Andrew, Dan.../Bishop..., Hunter, and Ryan. And because what's male bonding without some red meat, they hit up Big Jud's afterwards for hamburgers the size of their heads. I can't really complain because they brought some home for me!

While they were out partying, I was... in partying! I got to join forces with Janell and Rachel to host a bridal shower for the adorable Allison and it was way fun. Probably my favorite part was Lee and Noah being in charge of the decorations - seriously the sweetest brothers!

I got to have Nicole's kids over one afternoon and these pictures of Myla pushing Carma around KILL ME... mostly because they mirror Nicole's and my relationship perfectly - Nicole is amazing and does so much for me while I sit around and enjoy the ride :).

Speaking of Nicole, here she is with the other amazing attendees (we missed you Nycole!) of girls' night. Fun fact: see how I'm clearly laughing awkwardly hard and trying to maintain composure?? This was SO awkward (and yet another reason I should learn how to use the selfie stick Paulina gave me hahaha) - there wasn't a Shari's employee handy so I asked a couple girls heading to the bathroom if they would take our picture real quick. They kind of laughed and said yes so I handed over my phone to one girl while the other one turned around and went back to her table.... okay? But then she started coming back with a third person and I overheard enough of the conversation to realize that SHE THOUGHT WE WANTED A PICTURE WITH THEM. Apparently they were some kind of pageant queens?? I was dying. I grabbed my phone and made a swift exit to allow her to realize her mistake sans witnesses ;).

And then this happened in the parking lot and Emily may or may not still be my friend when she sees this, but I couldn't resist - Em found a whistle (right?) that like summons Big Foot... with whom Kara is obsessed... and Kara tried it out for us haha (must have been an off night; he didn't appear...). And now I'm weirdly laughing alone in my dark house while everyone's asleep...

April = the beginning of walk/run club at Park Ridge! Carma vacillated between being super into it and running... or hopping... or bear crawling... on her own:

to lying down mid-lap and requiring various children to carry her or hold her hand hahahahaha.

Jack was a superstar - I usually just let him go and he'd end up with at least one more lap than me!

There was a fun assembly one day with players from the BSU football team; they came and talked about hard work and determination and did a great job - the students were all really into it. Will got to be one of the students to ask a question so I sneaked in to watch. They stuck around and took pictures with all of the classes afterwards which was way cool!

That afternoon we went back for another assembly - this time because Will was being recognized for the monthly character trait, specifically... something I would remember if I were a good mom, whoops! Compassion maybe? Just kidding, I remember! Self-disclipline! Whew, #nailedit

After school I tried to take advantage of my BSU-clad children and get a cute picture - I envisioned them all lined up on that slide together - but it did NOT happen haha.

I did find these playground pictures in the Park Ridge hallway though - Clyde was a character trait recognizee (possibly not a real word) twice earlier in the year and these are the other kids from those months... which were... teamwork AND... something else....

Okay, I will admit straight off that I stole these pictures from facebook but come on! Park Ridge staff made an awesome video for the kids to watch before standardized tests hit and Mr. Eilers and Miss Overcast both really got into it haha. Here's the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4f_7cW8xUk  Amazing, right? Have I mentioned lately how much we love our school?

And they must be doing something right because these are Will's crazy high scores from the IRI - Clyde's were the same at this stage. Is there an NFL equivalent for kids who can read aloud really fast?? I'm just looking for a way to retire in style off their talents, is that so wrong?

Finally, this just makes me laugh because back in April I was blogging a ton! Just not actually about April... I was trying to catch up to the end of 2015 to get mint brownies... and here I am, six months later basically in the same boat.

Spoiler alert: I did not get March done by June. I got it done last week. In October. hahahahahaha

April: Grandma Pam and fam!

Have I mentioned lately that living seven minutes away from my mom is pretty great? Like that time she invited us over for FHE treats, aka delicious banana splits, mmmmm. And she has a pretty fantastic playroom for herself, I mean the kids. Besides the few pieces that Sam has stolen, my mom still has most of the original Fisher Price collection of Little People and their buildings and such. They will be mine someday...

One new thing over at her house that the children are VERY excited about and I am NOT at all excited about are some rabbits. They have Harry Potter names (probably in an effort to get me to like them. Won't work.) and the kids are obsessed with them, except Will doesn't like getting scratched. That's my boy.

Grandma Pam comes in very handy as a Sunday afternoon nap buddy when Mom is at choir practice maybe? A board of review? Who knows.

Grandma Pam is also an excellent escort to a princess tea party at the high school! The lovely Janell gave us tickets so I sent them on their way in all of their pink glory and they had a great time :).

Oh man. We're not like bonded and insured or anything, but other than that my mom and I are basically professional packers/movers. In this case it was my mom's old storage unit that was then Cody's storage unit that was then not really necessary but full of treasures that took two different days and two different trips in my truck to empty.

My mom and I have a history of adventures like this - someday we'll write a book! Once our moving business slows down a bit. And our other side venture - the P & J Detective Agency ;).

April brought the return home of two very special people: Larry and Iris! They spent eighteen months in South America serving a mission (fun fact: they met as missionaries serving in Chile... not that long ago ;) ) and it was so fun to watch their children and grandchildren greet them. They were able to have a couple day layover in Arizona with their kids and grandkids down there before coming to Boise so no one was missed!

Loved watching my mama see her brother and sister-in-law again!!

More from the airport - Justin coordinated a beautiful 'welcome home' moment - everyone singing 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing' while he accompanied us on his guitar. I had fun getting to know Sawyer and watch in amazement as he fiddled with that crazy Rubik's cube - I was so sure it was impossible to finish, but he proved me wrong! And I love the picture of Clyde getting to wear Uncle Larry's hat :).

The next day Larry and Iris spoke in church so Carma and I headed over to hear them and it was so strengthening to hear their testimonies and how the Lord works in our lives. Afterwards we loitered in the gym for some second cousin fun!

I grabbed a few of the kids and lined them up for a picture because they're all SO cute!! I don't see Ryan and Steph as much as I should considering how close we live so seeing those gorgeous girls again was amazing and I don't see Janessa's family very often so I loved getting to know her boys - and introducing Carma and Hazel! They're only four months apart but alas, aside from Carma stealing Hazel's little doggie at one point, there was minimal interaction ;).

L to R: Carma, Sawyer, Rachel, Pierce, Kara, Hunter, Hazel.

And on our way out, I made Andrea take a selfie with me. Andrea is an incredibly cool cousin. I was born on her first birthday and she's never been mad at me for making her share it with me :). She's brilliant and gorgeous and funny and thoughtful and I wish I remembered what I said before the first picture to make us laugh that hard hahaha:

So I guess that's yet another reason why I love my mama - because I get to be related to all these cool people on her side of the family! Yay Hunters!