I love being a mom!

My kids have discovered the seeds that fall from the trees like a helicopter.  They spent hours outside throwing the seeds up in the air and watching them fall.  It was so fun to watch.  Stokelie took it a little farther to discover what was inside and she planted many new seeds in our back yard:)  Tonight we were getting ready to have dinner and Stokelie was looking out the front window and she started saying "ducks mommy, ducks," I had no clue what she was talking about so I went to look and sure enough a mommy duck and about twelve little ducklings were waddling over our front step.  We went outside and watched them walk away.  It was so cute because the little ducks were trying to jump over the rain gutter extension.  It took several tries for some of them!  It was neat to listen to the mom call her little ones along and to watch her stop and wait for them all to catch up before she went too far.  The kids talked about the ducks for the rest of the night.  Just a couple of those things that put a smile on your face no matter how hectic the day may have been.  I love my kids!

Beauty everywhere!

So it is still a little chilly here in Michigan, but we are starting our rainy season and it is turning everything green.  I love it.  I feel like I have finally gotten back on track since our trip to Utah and am enjoying getting back into the swing of things.  I'm not sure if I am excited for summer break or not.  It is nice to have Stokelie at school for the day, because it seems like when she is home her and Caleb fight all the time.  I love them to death but I am ready to be able to send them outside everyday.  We haven't been seeing too much of John lately.  He has been on an easy rotation, however, he is trying to get all of his stuff together so he can moonlight in July!!  Hopefully all will work out with that.  Even though that means we will be seeing even less of him it is a nice thought to be able to stop using credit cards and hopefully chip away at them a little at a time.  Here's to hoping.

So we made it home from Utah okay.  I feel like I can't get back on my feet from the trip.  I will hopefully recover soon so that my house will feel like home again.  Our trip was great.  It was nice to see family and friends again.  I was a little angry when it was snowing while we were there and here in Michigan it was 74 degrees.  Oh well, what do you do?  The kids traveled great.  However, they both got sick while we were there.  Stokelie decided to throw-up just outside the bathroom doors at my sisters graduation at BYU.  I was really disappointed with everyone around me.  Here we are in happy valley, and at BYU none the less.  Anyway, not one person offered to help me as she was throwing-up all over the floor.  They just kept walking by and staring.  I finally had to ask this old lady to stand with Stokelie while I went and found my sister to help me.  I didn't want to just walk away from the mess, it was in a high traffic area and I didn't want people to step in it.  Anyway long story short only one person offered to help and we asked for someone to come cleanup twice and nobody came, so yes, we left it.  GROSS!!!  We really didn't do to much while we were there.  We went up to Idaho to see Tami. (Hang in their girl).  That was a lot of fun.  Stokelie and her kids love to play together and they missed each other.  The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins.  And seeing their aunts and uncles again.  Caleb and my dad became pretty good buddies while we were there.  It was cute to see Caleb go up to dad and plop himself down right next to him on the couch.  The plane ride home was less that fun.  The kids were great.  It was so bumpy.  We had a layover in Denver but we were on the same plane so we didn't get off because Caleb was asleep.  As everyone was boarding this lady came up and told me that Caleb was in her seat.  She demanded to see my ticket and we both were given the same seat.  She was kind of mean.  She asked if Caleb's seat was payed for.  I told her yes.  Anyway, the flight attendant came and told her to wait in the back of the plane.  Well, two more people came and said I was in their seat.  The flight attendant came up and told me that I had been moved to row 3 and asked if I would move.  In a matter of words I told her no because my child was sleeping and all my stuff was were it needed to be.  She gave me a look and told the other three to go sit in row 3.  While waiting for our luggage I heard our name called over the intercom.  Yes, they lost our luggage.  While waiting to sort everything out the time clicked by and we didn't get home until 3:30 in the morning.  A few days later our two suitcases came but the car seats were nowhere to be found.  A couple of days later they came and all is well again.  Despite everything that happened I would do it again because it was so good to see everyone.  

We are finally starting to warm up here.  We have been able to spend a few days outside working on our yard and it is nice to see it looking semi great.  Stokelie is glad to be back in school with her friends.  She missed the routine I think.  On the flight home I had some pez for the kids and I bought about 15 refills.  I think my kids are addicted to pez.  They both carry the dispensers around asking for pez.  I just gave Caleb the last one so we will see what happens when they find out it is gone.