Merril's 36th birthday!

Merril turned 36 on his birthday this year!  We don't feel old but somehow when I say, "We've been married almost 14 years, have 5 kids, and are 34 and 36 years old," it just sounds old.  

I made a killer toffee caramel cheesecake for Merril's birthday!  Pieces of toffee in the crust, caramel cheesecake, more toffee toppings, drizzled with more caramel and whipped cream!  Wow!  It was amazing!

Happy Birthday Merril!

Family Home Rock Climbing...

For Family Home Evening, we went to an easy rock climb near our house.  It was an easy climb and so the kids had fun!  

Mikayla just meandered.  In her church shoes.  Whatevs.

The only bummer were the weeds growing everywhere that snagged into your socks and poked our feet repeatedly.  Other than that, it was a nice little climb by the river.

Easter 2014...

It was Easter time again!  The Winchester egg hunt was a smash, as always, everyone receiving tons of candy and prizes.

Mikayla was one of 5 kids in her age group.  Last year she only picked up 4 eggs, because she was 1, slow, and didn't really get what was going on.  This year, she killed it, filling her entire bucket.

Jack won this humongous bunny!!  It's about as tall as he is!  Good times!

At our house, there was kind of a lot of yelling as we started out because the older 3 kept trying to steal eggs from the much slower, Mikayla girl.  Ok, not Maxine, she's old enough to hold back when Mikayla is going for an egg. But Jack and Juliet kept smashing Mikayla in order to get an egg that she was making a move towards.  Then Julie tripped outside and landed in the rocks (ouch) and ran inside crying.  We stopped the egg hunt until she calmed down and came back outside.   

Look at her eyeing the other kids as if to say, "Back off buddy, these are mine."

 This year, I decided to try for a little less candy in the buckets and filled plastic eggs with teddy grahams and cheddar bunny crackers.  Everyone said it was way better than candy.  Totally doing it again next year.

Science Fair 2014!

All 3 kids wanted to enter the science fair this year.  Oi.  I'm a huge fan of science experiments and having the kids develop a hypothesis and then try it out.  I just hate putting together boards.  I'm not a scrapbooker and I want the kids to do as much of the board as possible with it still being legible.  We planned ahead and got to work and finished in the afternoon the day before the fair!  I've been known to be up at 10:00 p.m., still taping stuff to the board but not this year!!

Juliet tested whether white or wheat bread molds faster.  (It's white, btw.)  She won 3rd place in her grade!

Maxine tested old-fashioned fire methods and which one works best.  (Flint and steel, rubbing sticks together, etc.)  She won 1st in her grade and it going to district.  She also did the entire board by herself, typing and all!  I just printed the pictures.

Jack tested hot and cold water and which one freezes the fastest.  He taped everything on his board and cut it out.  He won 3rd in his grade!

I'm pleased with all their hard effort and it's nice when they get to win too.

This last picture is Juliet releasing her butterfly that she's raised from a caterpillar.  It was fun.

Walk-a-thon for school...

This year the walk-a-thon at the school was a lot less work because we signed up with a fund-raising company.  I'm not sure if we made more money but it was definitely a lot less work.  I was able to get a shirt for Mikayla and she was able to run laps with the kids.  

Jack ran at the very end of the day and I forgot to snap a picture of him.  He ran the most laps of all my kids and capped out at 35 laps.  Julie ran 22 and Maxine ran 26.  Mikayla even ran 10 laps with her little legs.

Mikayla was kind of in a bad mood because she fell down and bit her tongue at the very start of the day.  Merril ended up picking her up and taking her home for a nap.  Mark napped and hung out in the stroller for the day.

Speaking of Mark, check out the bumbo I found on the side of the freeway.  It was about 15 feet from the road, upside down and kind of under a bush.  I spotted it and pulled over to investigate.  It's in really good shape, with only a little crack on the inside by one of the buckles.  He's been sitting in it a lot!  Wahoo!  They're like $40 but I wasn't going to buy one because he's my last kid and I already got rid of the bumbo we had a long time ago.  Total score!

Mark cut 2 teeth...

Mark is 5 1/2 months old and such a sweetie!  He seemed to be chewing on everything and cut 2 teeth this week.  He wasn't hardly fussy, just seemed intent on chewing something all the time.  

During conference, I snapped a few pics of him on the hardwood floor.  I'm debating on just printing them for a new portrait or trying again outside.

I've been so pleased with him.  He's such an easy-going baby and makes my life easier.  With so many things going on with all the kids, it's wonderful that he just tags along happily.  He keeps cracking me up with so many looks that remind me of my Dad.  I love this little boy!