March was quite the month with lots of family in town. Friday, March 6th, my parents arrived with Maisy. They spent the evening with us before flying out to Costa Rica. We ordered pizza and had a little early birthday party for Cal and I. Then celebrated with dessert!
Presents from Gram and Papa:
We kept Maisy for the week mom and dad were gone. I'm definitely not a dog person, but I sure loved how excited the kids were to take her on walks. Madi was up early every morning and wanting to run to school with Maisy. Then Cal and I walked with Maisy to pick up the girls from school.
Mom and Dad flew back in Friday night the 13th, then Clark, Jo, and their triplets arrived Saturday morning. Spence left Elle's t-ball game a little early to go pick them all up and let our weekend of fun begin! After arriving in Camarillo, we packed up lunches and headed to the beach!
We spent a glorious afternoon in the sun, then came home to take showers, BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs, and have some fun with our butterflies!
Clark is a big kid at heart and kept the kids entertained all weekend! Playing games at the park, setting"traps" at home, ninja moves, and stories in the car - I was amazed at his energy. Clark's such an awesome dad and I loved watching him in action with all our kids!
It was such a treat for me to have mom, dad, Clark, Jo, Leah, Caleb, and Zachary all come to church with us. Usually guests always have to leave Sunday morning so we rarely have visitors. It was a great Sunday for them to be there too - Madi sang a solo of "Gethsemane" in sacrament meeting and I was conducting in primary. Elle wanted the triplets to come to her primary class, but her teacher was out sick so with Clark and mom's permission, I let the scheduled sub off the hook and had them teach instead. What a treat for Elle - to not only having her 3 cousins in her class, but also to have Uncle Clark and Gram for teachers! Madi was asked to sing her song again in Relief Society so I had dad relieve mom at the end of 3rd hour so we could go to RS together. I feel so blessed to have the family I do and am amazed by their talent. Not only did Clark basically volunteer to take on a class with 8 kids, but he dealt with our hardest primary kid all through 2nd hour (the kid who makes me want to pull my hair out). Clark held him on his lap, got him to sit still, listen, and even participate! My mom is always the hugest help with the difficult primary kids. I love how she always jumps right in to help every time she comes to visit. Jo was there ready and willing to play the piano in primary and even in relief society. And dad jumped right in to help when mom headed off to RS. My heart was full that Sunday. Wish I'd gotten a picture with everyone all dressed up together to remember the day even more.
We got home from church and while Spence and I got the pulled pork sandwiches and salad ready to serve, mom entertained all the kids with story after story.
We didn't have much time after dinner, but we really wanted to take Clark and Jo to the sandhill (one of our favorite things to do with company). Mom and dad have done the sandhill a few times, so they stayed home with Madi (who wanted to get some alone time with Gram and Papa).
Such a blast! So glad we did it!
We got home, got kids off to bed and then enjoyed Spencer's homemade apple pie and ice cream for dessert!
Monday morning, mom and dad took off with Clark, Jo, and the kids for some southern California fun- Anaheim on Monday and Legoland on Tuesday. They got back to our house late Tuesday night so that they could spend one more morning with our kids before heading up to Brentwood. Our kids were thrilled to find their cousins there in the morning!
Papa and I drove Madi to school at 8am and then everyone walked Elle to school at 9am.
What a lucky girl to have such a huge fan club drop her off and swarm her with hugs!
Then we all said our goodbyes and they were off! So sad to see them all go, but makes me even more excited about our family reunion this summer!
Papa stayed behind because he had work the next day just a couple hours away. So he spent the afternoon making phone calls and working from our house. Cal had joy school, I worked in Elle's classroom and then at noon Cal and I took dad to pick up his rental car. Dad had originally planned on leaving by 2pm but after having lunch with Spencer he came back to the house to say good-bye and Elle talked him into staying for her t-ball practice at 4pm. Of course Dad couldn't say no and he ended up staying for the entire t-ball practice. He got to warm up with Elle, then while she was with her team dad has his own little practice with Madi. They threw the ball and even did some hitting. He also spent some time on the playground with Cal. I was in heaven watching my kids loving having their Papa there with them.
By the time we got home it was after 5pm, so we talked Papa into joining us for a quick dinner. What a treat it was to have Papa stay the whole day!
And what a fun visit with family! Sure wish they all lived closer!
1 comment:
The perfect post as always, Anie! The butterfly pic is amazing! Dad says if we lived any closer, he would probably have to quit his job, since it's always so hard to leave!! Love you kids to the moon and back! xoxoxomom
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