Sooo

when we got home from church I said to the kids "who wants their picture taken?"  The older 3 say "not me" and run upstairs to change quickly.  Jo comes over to me and says "you can take my picture mommy".  She can be super sweet sometimes and the next she is trying to wrestle with her baby brother.

Friday, legos, pancakes and snow cones

Ben built this for Matt, but he forgot to show him before he left for work.  I told him I couldn't guarantee 2 stinkers wouldn't find it and destroy it so we would take a picture to show daddy.

 We had pancakes for dinner.

Brigham is 8 months old and ate 2 medium sized pancakes.

Oh and the 2nd one had chocolate chips.  And he got a carrot for good measure!

 Ben has had a few rough spots with school, so we've started a reward chart and that seems to be working.  I told him if he could be good for 3 days straight at school, we'd go get snow cones after dinner.  I also made sure to tell his teacher we were doing this so she could remind him when needed.

I'm trying

my hardest to wear these girls out.  Bedtime can be rough for Matt and I if they aren't really tired.  Jo has been taking little naps here and there or on our walk to pick the kids up from school.  So its enough to keep her going until bedtime.  Lucy is done with naps.  She is the first to be done with naps, Ally and Ben still take them when we ask them to.

 They had a blast with play doh after the splash park.

 Brigham is beyond proud of his skills.

We've got some fun kids

And they are completely motivated by ice cream cones.

 This little stinker has learned how to pull the trash can over.  Most days when I remember it is on the counter or around the corner out of his view. 

 He got a cone with a little bit of ice cream in it.  He ate the entire thing.  Although that doesn't surprise us much anymore because he eats a lot.

Play food

Jo and Lu can entertain themselves for an entire morning with the play food.  But if I leave it out longer than 2 days they are bored with it.  They ask to play with it every few days, but I normally bring it out 1-2 times a month so it doesn't get boring.

An angel's birthday and a ninja surprise

Today marks Cosette's 7th birthday.

Matt and I talk about what life would be like if she were here and I definitely think things would be easier in a way. We sure do miss our little girl, but we know she is doing the Lord's work in Heaven. 

 On our way to the cemetery to take balloons Brigham, Josephine and Benson fell asleep.

We told Ally and Lucy we'd be right back.  When we got in the car, Lucy was asleep too.

 2 of my sisters and I went in together and bought a ninja blender for my mom for her birthday.

But she got the blender a few weeks ago, so Matt and I came up with another kinda ninja gift for her.

Ben wasn't quite sure about the whole idea at first, but quickly got the hang of it.

Tashina's ALS ice bucket challenge

lazy evening

Little guy fell asleep bouncing.

Matt's ALS ice bucket challenge

A fun fun day

These 2 pretty girls requested elsa braids.

 Jo is so temperamental.

 Happy boy!

 We had a crazy afternoon once we picked the kids up from school and daddy was at a fantasy football draft, so the kids talked me into chick-fil-a (really it was going to be Ben's prize for being good for his shot, but he didn't end up getting the shot. So technically I shouldn't have taken them out to eat, but I hadn't planned anything for dinner).

After playing at chick-fil-a we came home and played in the sprinkler and got daddys bucket of ice water ready.

 Sorry dude, the bugs think your head is tasty and mommy is tired of seeing bug bites on your cute little head so you get to stay inside the cool house.