Emily's Day!

Happy Birthday Monkey Girl!
Hot Tub Party!!!
Make a Wish!

Happy Birthday to my little monkey, Emily! And Hallelujah, it's finally over! I'm going to drop tonight after all of the festivities of the last week and a half! It was a lot of fun. Emily wanted a monkey party. So basically, we just let her and a couple of friends act like monkeys, threw in a few crafts, and a super easy to make monkey cake, and we had nearly total success--other than a little sisterly jealousy. The highlight of the party was the hot tub--empty-- filled with a Love Sac--balloons and a half a dozen girls. Never before (nor hopefully again) have I heard such squeals and laughter! Thankfully, the hot tub room has a sliding glass door! I just shut the door and watched from the kitchen!

Emily, My wish for you is to find JOY in all things in your life! I love you!

Happy Easter Everyone

Hoping that you will know of the true meaning of Easter and have gratitude in your hearts for all that the Savior has done for each of us.

Blessings to you!

Easter Egg Hunting!

Well, it's been somewhat balmy here, up to the high 30s and maybe even the low 40s. We've even had some rain to help melt away a little of the snow. So, I was excited to wake up early this morning to get the kids ready for Rigby's, annual Easter Egg Hunt! I immediately ran to check the outside thermometer. It was 19 Degrees!!! AAAHHGGHGHHH! "Okay, Kids, put on your snow pants, hats, ear muffs, gloves, boots, and scarves and grab those Easter baskets! Oh, yeah, let's not forget the HOT CHOCOLATE!" It felt like we were headed for a day on the slopes! I was informed that since the park was still under several feet of snow, they would be handing out candy to the kids standing in line. Wow, what fun. We drove to the park 30 min early so that we didn't have to wait in line. We got out among the other Idahoan's and headed to our line. Okay, you know a true Idahoan when it's 19 degrees out and they are in shorts--just defying the weather. It IS spring, after all! Most people only had on sweatshirts! You could tell we were new-comers! There was excitement in the air, and candy scattered across the ground around the piles of snow! Apparently there was just enough ground exposed to have a successful hunt. The whistle blew and the kids were off. Hunter came limping back to me when it was all finished complaining that his back was sore! He really worked hard on that hunt! He had more candy than Emily and Connor combined. Alex came along to give the boys some illegal Easter Egg Hunt Bullying techniques! All in all, we really had a lot of fun. Once the sun started shining, my ears thawed and I felt fine (inside of my down, fur-lined coat). Next year, we're hoping for another Easter in APRIL!

Birthdays in the House!!!

It's birthday week for the Moore family, and it couldn't be crazier! But what fun we're having! Alex decided on Thurs night that he wanted to have some friends over for a party Fri night. That almost put me in panic mode, but I decided to chill out and order pizza and buy a bunch of junk food. I think it turned out well, and the kids had a fun time. They ended up listening to Alex play his guitar, playing Guitar Hero, and watching Blast. An interesting combination. He ended up inviting a bunch of kids over tonight (it being Spring Break) to watch August Rush. They also went over to the playground for a while. I secretly watched them through binoculars. They tried to see how many people they could get into the twisty slide at the same time. It was all very innocent and quite funny.

Hannah decided on Thur that she wanted to have an Ice Skating party on Sat. Okay, panic mode again! Emily had a volleyball game at the same time, so I had to recruit James to do the party so I could go to Em's game. It all worked out well. I think everyone had a fun time skating, and Emily won all but 1/2 of her last game.

Thankfully, they are over having mom make elaborate birthday cakes. Alex asked for a simple Giant chocolate chip cookie, and Hannah just wanted donuts! The cookie didn't turn out as simply as planned. I wanted to make it thick so it would be soft, but using my pizza stone wasn't the best solution for that! Most of the cookie ended up in the bottom of the oven! It was a mess and I had to scrape all of that cookie out of the oven! Now every time I bake, it smells like burnt cookies! Time to use that self-cleaning feature.

(Deep breath) Okay, so now we just have to make it through Easter, and then Emily's birthday on Monday. Thankfully her party is the same day as her actual birthday! She's having a Monkey party.

It's now after midnight on Thur, and the party is Mon! Here we go. . . Panic mode, again!!!

Scrappin' Again!

I have finally taken time to start scrapping again. It is so much fun and amazingly healing for my soul! I just received 250 photos of Connor from snapfish. I am going to do his entire album. I hadn't done any of his yet, so I have my work cut out for me. I'm glad he's only 4! I am at least that far behind on the other 4 kids. At least I'll be making a small dent.

ALEX IS BACK!!!

Yeah, Alex! We've got our boy home and it feels so good! Alex Graduated on Leap Day. A day to remember. His ceremony was short, casual, and very nice. There are a lot of good people in that school! The guys in his room said a lot of nice things about him as well as his seminary teacher and school counselor. It warmed my heart how sad they all were to see him go.

There has been an adjustment period. We're trying to get him used to us and all of our family's rules, and we're trying to get used to having a teenage boy in the house! The TV, Game Cube, and computer time have dramatically increased! The other kids just kind of hang around him and whatever he's doing. Everyone is happy to have him home!

Welcome Home Alex!