Don tried to bribe Macie with a unicorn helmet and some nutritional shakes if she would swim in a race. It was a tough sell and in the end, she was not swayed. Maybe one day the promise of this unicorn helmet will be enough to nudge her back in the waters of victory.

 Spring Break was the week of March 14th. We had some great adventures. We went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It was warmer than I had anticipated and less shady than I remembered. So wearing black jeans was not the best idea I have ever had. The kids did an outstanding job hiking. It was a long hike for little kids. Heck it was a long hike for me! Two funny things happened. First off, we noticed that kids are not exactly welcomed guests at this place. They should be, but there are far too many grumpy senior citizens there who don't want their tranquil nature walk disturbed by unpredictable little people. We had been walking awhile in the heat and sun and the kids came across a Gazebo to rest their weary feet. They all sat down and were taking a break. And along comes a gaggle of ahem, seasoned citizens, with their crotchety tour guide, who promptly informs us that we would need to give up our seats because essentially there were more important people coming down the trail who needed to rest. I thought little children and older people were about equal in their physical capabilities. Kids might have more energy, but they have to exert a lot more of it to travel very far. Their legs are a third the size of a grown adult! Oh well. It was rudely amusing. Then, not too much later, we were walking down a path when I noticed the stares of another crotchety senior citizen , mouth gaping over, tapping her 2 friends on the shoulder to turn around and look at the crime of 2 women with 6 children in tow. I thought this was hilarious. This woman was blatantly disgusted. And here I am, always thinking that I have somehow failed for not having 5 children at my age! And this woman thought I was crazy! I took it as a compliment. She thinks I have TOO many children! Ha! The kids were blissfully unaware of the rude adults. And really, we had a splendid day together. And the best news of all was it just so happened to be free ice cream at Dairy Queen day so I got a free ice cream cone.

 this has nothing to do with Spring Break, but I love this drawing Chloe did.

 And Macie always wants to sit on these red balls and make me take a picture.

 On Wednesday evening we drove down to St. David to visit Don's parents. And Macie received the best news of her whole life, that very day a batch of kittens had been born. For the next 2 days, the only thing she could do was eat and sleep kittens. The mom cat was pretty nice, she let us take her kittens without too much of a fight, but she got sick of it after a day of it, and by the next morning she had moved the kittens to an undisclosed location. Macie was devastated.

 she named her favorite kitten "Blondie."

 Chloe is now old enough to drive the Pro Hauler herself. She spent a lot of her time driving it around the farm, feeling like a grown up.

 Oscar loved being outside and was his typical angelic self.

 Friday afternoon we took a short trip down to the dusty Ghost town of Tombstone. Our whole goal was to find some cheap ice cream cones. We failed. Everything closed really early. And the only places open, were not selling cheap ice cream. And we couldn't bring ourselves to spend 6 bucks on a single scoop of ice cream so we left empty handed. We found a gas station though and got our ice cream. We bought some Cow Girl hats for the girls, which they have worn for probably a total of 10 minutes.

 Cousin Dylan was visiting too and he bought some baby chics. They were cute too. They softenedf the blow of the missing kittens, but Macie was still disheartened.

 But how cute are they?? We also took the girls quad riding out in the desert and they loved that too.

 Chloe is always coming up with these funny things to play. She created a photo studio for her barbies where you could change out the backdrop, dresses, accessories and props to pose with. I love her imagination.

Let's see if I forgot anything?
March 22nd was voting day in Arizona. I waited in line for 3 hours to vote. Trump still won. Boo. I met a lot of nice people in line. And there were a couple different guys who came around and handed out water and energy bars just to be nice. It really renewed my faith in humanity. Some guys asked me where I was from. He said he thought I had an accent. I think he said an Icelandic accent. That was weird. I must have a weird way of speaking and I don't even realize it.

Chelsey's birthday was 3 days ago. We went and had cake over at my Dad's house. She was not in a great mood, but she was not yelling or screaming, so that is a definite improvement for Chelsey. We played some musical chairs and pin the mustache on Chelsey. She tried to pretend like she was not having any fun, but she can't fool me! I saw a glimmer of a smile at least once.

Oscar knows when we are going to say our bedtime prayers now and he will just rest his head down on the bed. have I mentioned how adorable he is?

On April Fool's Day I was driving Chloe to school and Chloe told me that I looked really bad. And I did, I mean, I can't be offended, it was the truth. My biggest fear is not getting in an accident on the way to school, it's having to get out of the car, if I got in an accident. I mean what would I do? I literally am wearing a bath robe without a tie to close it shut. Anyway, I said, "Oh you are just saying that because it is April Fools!"  And she laughed. a couple minutes later she hops out of the car and says, "Mom you look really pretty today! April fools!" I laughed for a solid minute. She's getting pretty funny.

The interesting and not so interesting happenings around here the last month...

The girls had spring break the week of the 14th, but I will get to that later. The day after we got back from Spring break, I went with Chloe on her field trip. We went to Mesa Arts Center to see "Frindle." This is Chloe and her best friend Olivia. Thankfully Chloe let me sit with her this year. Last year she made me sit elsewhere since there wasn't enough room on the bench for her and her friends plus me. She I was kicked off. It's nice being second string. This morning she told me I needed to do something with my hair because it was looking crazy. My self esteem is high these days. The last time I went in to her school to do Art Masterpiece, a 2nd grader asked me why I was so pale. And then Olivia, when discussing a 451 year old painting,remarked "it's even older than you!" It's always nice to get an honest opinion about your looks from the mouths of kids who don't know better. And I find there are a lot of kids who don't know better at Chloe's school. Some kid told Olivia after hearing that Chloe and Olivia had made the talent show, that they were "terrible" and shouldn't have made it. Nice. Although this was the same kid who kept asking me for my lunch when I ate lunch with Chloe at their school BBQ. So manners are obviously not her strong point.Thankfully Chloe doesn't put too much stock into what she says. Anyway, the field trip was fun. I was very grateful it was inside and I got to sit down because it was a very warm day. Chloe really liked the play.

 Here are some random pictures of my kid's creations. Some of these are old, but I didn't have the heart to just throw them away. Chloe made us fire drill instructions for our home last year. I think they must have learned about fire safety in school that week.

 

 Grandpa Rey gave Chloe a piece of scrap wood when we were St. David over Spring Break. She made this out of it. I love it so much.

Chloe drew this flamingo and then she made a copy of it for Macie to color. I love that Macie put hair on hers.

 This is from last year, one of Chloe's classmates picked Chloe as her subject for who she thought should be President.

 Chloe drew this picture of Jesus and John the Baptist. I think it is pretty awesome.

 A note from Macie...

 Another note from Macie. She likes putting eyelashes on things.

 Don bribes the girls with these "milkshakes." They hold them in high regard. They get them for participating in sports events of Don's choosing. we have been unable to bribe Macie to participate in swim team though. We signed her up for a swim meet a few weeks ago and she refused to even swim in the warm up. She just held onto the lane divider and looked horrified to be there. We are baffled. She loved swim meets just a few months ago. I think she will get back in it during the summer, but for some reason she absolutely refuses to do it right now. So she is doing T-Ball instead. And she loves it.

 Easter was really early this year, March 27th. We had the most wonderful Easter Sunday. The kids were too excited to go to sleep because they were excited for the Easter Bunny to come. The Easter Bunny was really tired and had to make a last minute pit stop at Target for Easter Baskets. The pickings were slim on baskets. But the Baskets were filled with a lot of candy. The kids also found the Easter Bunny had left eggs in the front yard.

 We had some time before church, so we dyed our Easter Eggs. Oscar was old enough to be involved this year. And when I say involved, I mean spilling dye and making messes faster than I could clean.  They did enjoy themselves, and that is the only reason I continue with this nail biting tradition.

 And then we went to church. I got pictures of the kids, Don was nowhere to be found. They all looked so fresh and delectable.

 After church we went to Julie's house. And my phone died so I didn't get very many pictures. But the usual things happened: ate a lot of really delicious food, visited with family, and the kids hunted for eggs. Somehow they managed to get an egg on top of that stop sign.

 It was pretty much a perfect day.

Chloe made this crayon box, it made me laugh. 

 Macie drew a picture of her playing t-ball.

 Another Macie masterpiece.

 chloe went to a birthday party and they made Fairy Gardens.

 Macie's easter egg.

 Macie was using this enema as a pacifier for her little toys.  

 Chloe made us these house rules. Unfortunately we haven't been doing a great job following these house rules. It lasted for about a half day. We are super good at making goals. Noooooot so great at follow through, My favorite is the misspelled "practice your special abilities" and "be happy and don't complain." We could really use some work on that one.

 We bought some chalk at the annual neighborhood yard sale. The yard sale in which we sold 1 thing. And I spent 40 bucks for the girls to earn about 12 bucks selling lemonade. Please remind me blog not to participate next year. The girls drew us some parking spots for our vehicles. I like that Don's spot has footballs. Mine has hearts and stars.

 The yard sale was the same weekend as General Conference. The girls had packets given to them by the primary. Macie's were pretty great.

 I asked Macie what those red dots were, and she told me they were the red dots on his head.

 Macie is obsessed with little things. I find scenes like this  various places in my house. She loves these weird little toys called Shopkins. She turns her doll house into a store with alll the shopkins and little figures standing waiting in line to check out. and she likes to make forts like this behind by chairs in the living room. I have just accepted that my house is always scattered with random nic nacs.

I love Oscar. He is perfection. His new trick is catching balls with his velcro mit. It made Dad laugh so hard he was crying.

Also, Macie was climbing over the middle seat in the car last week and I overheard her say, "Man, I am so out of shape."