Bryn's Birthday

Brynnie is Six!!

It is nearly impossible to believe that my baby is already six!! Nearly as hard as it is to believe that Reilly is graduating from high school in a few short weeks. Crazy!  At six Bryn is still the cutest, sweetest, and most loving little thing. She still loves to snuggle and cuddle. She is our happy place right now. She is the one child, of our four, who is always happy to see us and thinks we are "The best parents EVER!!" That is gold, right there.

Bryn had a whole day of fun planned for her birthday. It started with donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast. Done! Then she got to open her gifts from Reilly who had to work on Brynnie Johnson's Day o' Fun. She was pretty excited about those fun presents from her big sis.

She got a Princess game and one of those crazy stretchkins. Elle also has a stretchkin and they have been putting on that crazy exercise video after school and going crazy.

After that Bryn decided that she wanted to be like the big kids and go to the mall to pick out some of her birthday gifts. She was so serious and funny about it. She picked out some interesting things. A dress for church and a swimsuit from Gymboree and a seahorse hand sanitizer dispenser with a fruity hand sanitizer that she could hook onto her backpack. She also got a huge ball and some sparkly converse shoes too.

Then it was time for lunch and she wanted to go to her favorite restaurant Red Robin. Even though my kids are vegetarians, they LOVE  Red Robin because they have the biggest and most delicious Boca burgers that I have ever seen. They go crazy for those. Also, Bryn likes that you can get salad as a side on the kids menu because salad is her favorite food...and they have ice cream sundaes!!

Then it was onto Riverfront Park...

Bryn decided that what she REALLY wanted to do was to go on the Skyride which is a gondola over Spokane Falls. This ride is pretty tame for those who have done majestic tram rides but still it is pretty going over the falls especially with the spring run off. We don't normally do this ride because it is a tad bit boring and Ailey...who panics walking across a bridge...would probably have a heart attack on it. She is terrified of heights. But she pulled herself together...sort of...for her little sister and got on eyes closed and clinging to Tyler. We were very proud of her!!

Shaking with fear but still managing to smile...way to go Ailey!!

Ailey got on but would only sit with her back to the downhill slope and Tyler's arm was in a death grip the entire ride.

Bryn is pretty fearless but I got a little bit of the death grip too until it started and then she loved it!!

It was pretty!!

Then it was off to the carousel...

Bryn was super excited!! I don't know where Ailey was.  I am guessing that she was already on a horse.. ..who cares about a stinking picture...good thing we got a bonus kid! :) Ha ha!!

 The holder of every one's crap.

Picture time!!

From another angle...oh don't mind the people smoking WEED behind my precious children. Yay. Thanks Washington voters. AWESOME.

Then it was home for a *delicious* dinner picked by Bryn, Fish sticks and chocolate milk. Yes, I was up at 3 am nearly puking and full of regret. Do not eat that combination. But hey...I emailed my sisters and got some business done. #3ammultitasker

Onto birthday cake and presents...

If you have a six year old you might know the joy that is the Poopsy Pet. We gave one to Elle for her birthday and Bryn could barely part with it. Elle's poopsy pet is a panda that poops bamboo. Bryn received the tiger that poops zebra balls. Disturbing. (The package says they are striped eggs...huh? I think we all know the truth.) The unicorn that poops rainbows was all sold out. How unfortunate.

Her favorite gift...Just Dance 2015. I think we were all pretty darn excited about that!!

Then it was time to burn off some of that cake with a little Just Dance and karaoke. Bryn changed into her new church dress, Ailey put on her new swimsuit (they picked out twin swimsuits), furniture was pushed out of the way, and booyah! Party time!! Who cares that it was 10pm?!

Caramel the stretchkin joined in.

Then we got down to business. Reilly got home at about 10:15pm and the party continued on until after midnight, party animals that we are. It may surprise you to know that in a house full of girls who are all dancers it was  KAMERON who kicked all of our butts. HIDDEN SKILLZ!! Someone has been hiding his candle under a bushel!! No more. Dance Kameron Dance!! 

Happy Birthday Brynnie!!

 You are a pure delight!! 

WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!!

Easter 2015

Easter at the Lake

Easter Sunday fell on General Conference this year. It was nice to get up, do our traditional Easter things, and listen to the morning session of Conference. Then we packed up and headed to the lake. The weather was delightful...sunny and mild...not what had been predicted so it was extra enjoyable. We met my mom, grandma, Stacey and John and their kids including John's mom who was in town from Utah, Kelley and Elle and Elle's sister Kendall who was visiting from Seattle, my cousin Justin and his wife Hannah and their kids. My kids were so excited that Justin and Hannah's kids were going to be there. They have a lot of fun with them. Reilly's boyfriend also joined us. (If you must know the bloom is off the rose in that department...how are Tyler and I ever going to survive sons and daughter-in-laws?!)

The teenagers and the dads did a great job hiding all the eggs. Here are all the little kids lined up youngest to oldest and ready to run!! We had to divide them into two groups just so the little kids could actually get some eggs because some of the older kids are very enthusiastic egg hunters. This year was especially exciting because there were three golden eggs. Golden eggs have money in them!!

Then the hunt was on...

Elle and Bryn

Look how excited Paige is!! It was so much fun to see her running around and talking. She is a little cutie pie and loved by all.

Grace and Kam...how cute are our middle schoolers?! Kameron has a lot of fun hanging out with Grace. They make me laugh.

Look at all the eggs that cute Gavin found!!

The most enthusiastic and intense egg hunter of them all...River!! Get outta her way!!

Reilly had her own little Easter Egg hunt... it was how Justin asked her to Prom.

Haylee and Ailey

Hannah and Justin

John's mom Judy and my cute Mom

The Sykes family and the two grandmas...River was not a happy camper.

Then it was time for dinner. It was fabulous. My mom's ham, baked beans, collard greens, potato salad, rolls, veggies and ranch, jello jigglers, sugar cookies, John's mom's famous Sunshine Cake, and my grandma's green punch. It was delish.

Two of the best guys you will ever know!

After dinner everyone headed back outside for the most anticipated event for the adults...the ol' Easter Egg Toss. Yay!!

Ladies first...

This year was momentous because we were joined by the eldest great-grandchild. Reilly turned 18 this year and was thus deemed old enough to toss!! She was pretty excited about that. Some how I missed taking a picture of the guys. I would say that this year's toss was a success!! No one hit the dock, or small children (although my cousin Justin came close nearly beaning Dane and Gavin off of the long dock...ha ha!!), no one had to go for a swim to retrieve one, and my grandma slept soundly through it all. (She is NOT A FAN of this!!) The danger of Granny's wrath has always added an extra element of fear, excitement, mystery and delight to the toss...it's a magic and irresistible combination to naughty grandkids...even when they are in their 30s and 40s. Believe me she can rouse out of a deep sleep or a dementia stare when the words "throwing eggs in the lake" are uttered at the merest whisper with a "What's going on??!!" This year Reilly won out of the girls and my cousin Justin won out of the guys. Good times!!

The kids played on the beach, waded in the lake (I did too), played with worms, and fished.

It was a gorgeous day, the perfect place, and the perfect way to reflect on the miracle of Easter. We really missed my Aunt Bonnie and our other Ellersick cousins. Easter was especially tender this year. I am so grateful to know that we will see this guy again and that we will laugh and joke and tease once more. I am so grateful to my Savior who has made it possible.

 I miss you...

Happy Easter!!

March

March Madness

Was March long or what? It seems like forever ago that it was Stacey and Kelley's birthdays and St. Patrick's Day. So many activities and events and it will be that way until the end of the school year. Oh, and don't even get me started on actual March Madness...it's all glumsville around here. No one's teams are still in. Boo. Oh wait...not true. Tyler likes Puke...I mean Duke.

Kameron had his scout auction. He and Tyler hit the town getting donations. Kameron gets nervous about calling businesses and going in and talking to managers so it was a great experience for him...and he earned some merit badges helping to put this event together. It was extremely successful and he earned his camp money. He will be going on a week long white water rafting trip this summer. I will try to curb my irritation that the young women never even remotely earn even close to the same amount of money and encounter so many more complaints and obstacles with their fundraisers...but I digress. I will say that while we were out bid on the auction packages that I really wanted...it is totally cut throat in our ward...we did manage to win movie passes, a hotel stay, and dinner for two. Sweet.

There has also been A LOT of performing around here. Two band concerts and two choir concerts. Reilly did a fabulous job!!

Graduation is two months away...

This was my favorite song and it had me in tears. It is called Cain and was written by a composer from WA state. It is the Lord talking to Cain after he has killed Abel and asking him where is his brother and what has he done. The biblical songs really move me. The beautiful soprano that you hear ringing out is Reilly. (Reilly is on the top row, left side, third person.) I love to hear this girl sing. Goosebumps. The video quality is not great...it gets a bit better and more in focus... but you get the idea. There are a lot of quiet parts and a whisper at the end. Trust me, it was beautiful. Many of the kids in that choir are LDS and I heard for weeks how much they loved to sing that song.

We went out for ice cream afterwards to celebrate Reilly's last high school choir concert. She will still have her end of the year music department concert with band and orchestra but this is the last choir concert. :(

Ailey tried out for her 5th grade musical The Wizard of Oz and landed the part of Glenda the Good Witch. She is SUPER excited!! She had several pages of dialogue to memorize and is singing a cute solo. We found a perfect dress that will do double duty as her Glenda costume and as an Easter dress. SCORE!!

The glorious day that Ailey has been waiting for finally arrived. She got her BRACES!! She had to wait until that last stubborn baby tooth fell out. She was a total trooper and has done great with them. Her orthodontist's office is swanky with video games, hot chocolate, gift cards, prizes, online games, and all sorts of awesome swag. SO NOT like Dr. Jorgenson's office when I had my braces on for four long years. His office was dreary and dismal, not even any good magazines. and absolutely NO.SWAG.WHATSOEVER. Straight teeth were your reward.

Rocket the rocking horse finally bit the big one. It was a sad day. I got that rocking horse when I was two and named it after one of my Grandpa McKinnon's horses. Apparently I was such a crazy rocker and bouncer on that thing that my grandpa had to reinforce the foot rests and handles. I wore the factory ones out and he made new ones out of wood. I have many memories of bouncing away like maniac on that horse. When Reilly was born my Grandpa dug it out of storage (somehow it ended up back at his house) and Reilly bounced away for many years on ol' Rocket. This rocking horse was especially large and with his upgrade could bounce much older children. All four of my kids have loved this toy...and Elle too. A week ago Rocket took his last bounce and was never to bounce again. Two broken legs and sheered metal ended the poor horse's life. Bryn was beyond distraught. Those are real tears. I think my grandparents would have loved that that horse brought so much fun to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 40 years of joy. Goodbye old friend.

Such a sad Brynnie

On a happier note...Tyler and I have been having great success finding all kinds of amazing things for Farm Chicks this year. Our travels have taken us all over WA and Idaho. On this particular day we ended up in Newport and had fun seeing this:

The football field for Newport High School is named after a member of my family. Coincidentally just as I was snapping this picture I got an email from his son full of all kinds of Ellersick family genealogy. How crazy was that timing?

Then Elle had her birthday extravaganza and that was a lot of fun!! I can't believe Elle and Bryn are turning six already??!! They are super cute and so much fun. Elle was having a Cinderella family party this year.

They were so excited to go see Cinderella. They got to wear their dress-ups and make-up. Reilly and Justin stopped by Elle's house to eat pizza and to wish Elle a Happy Birthday. Reilly glitzed them up with make-up, glitter, and shimmer. They loved it.

Ailey refused to wear dress-ups but she didn't turn down some make-up and shimmer. Ha ha!!

The girls LOVED the movie and so did Kelley and I!! We were as into it as the girls were.

The only way that Bryn could keep her eyes open with the flash was to do this with her mouth. Ha ha. Maybe she needs to teach this trick to my mother!!

After the movie we headed back to Kelley's house to meet up with more family and for birthday cake.

Ailey and Dane...our cute little brace faces!!

Ailey and River. I LOVE this picture of them. River is getting so tall. She might just pass Ailey up!!

The Birthday Girl and her Mommy

Dane, River, Kameron, Elle, Bryn, and Ailey

That night we went out for Thai food at Linnie's. Stacey's sister-in-law Heidi was in town and it was fun to see her and catch up.

Kelley, Kris, Ty, Mom, Heidi, John and Stacey

This month has had a bunch of fun things going on...a scout camp out, fun times with friends and family, my friend had a cute new baby boy, lots of service opportunities, lots of laughs and parenting "therapy" with friends (so needed these days!!)

We also squeezed in a visit to my Mom's house and dinner at the delicious Trinity restaurant on Lake Pend Oreille.

We also ran around like crazy people barely knowing if we were coming or going. Thank goodness for the big calendar on the wall in our kitchen or we would never know where we were supposed to be and when.

This happened too...

The suburban has been in the shop for the last week. Annoying. Our mechanic is good and cheap but SLOW!!

We've had parent teacher conferences up the ying yang. Thank goodness all were good ones!! Smart and kind kids = happy parents = treats.

Kam being celebrated at Baskin Robbins but too cool for a picture. I tell you, one of the greatest ironies is when my teenagers tell me that they don't want their pictures or things about them posted on social media (my blog usually gets the okay though) because they don't want to be "humiliated" by me. HIL.AR.IOUS. Because nearly every day when I glance at their FB or Instagram accounts I cringe and am either completely horrified, somewhat humiliated, or completely mortified. Good grief...like I said irony...Particularly with 18 year olds in love. Gross. Thankfully after last week, Reilly has blocked me from her FB account and ignorance is bliss!! SHEER BLISS.

Enjoy this little video of Kameron trying to avoid me taking his picture:




I then attempted to capture his newly sprouted mini-moustache. That is definitely picture worthy!! He should be proud, it took his dad until we were engaged to have a mini-moustache like that!! Rage in your manliness, Kameron. Also, his voice has suddenly gotten so deep. He sounds just like Tyler. It freaks me out. He might even end up with a extra deep voice like his Uncle Brett. 14 year old boys are awesome even when they hate having their pictures taken.

Now we are preparing for Easter. What no April Fool's Day fun you ask? No. I guess that it is probably the one holiday that we don't celebrate unless you count me calling Tyler every year at work to say that the car has broken down and him freaking out every year. It never gets old! This year I refrained since our other car was already broken down and I didn't think his heart, even stent enhanced, could handle it. So yeah...nothing.

But onto Easter...we have been following Holy Week starting on Palm Sunday and it has been an amazing experience. We have been reading scriptures, watching videos, and following Christ through His last week of life. I want to do it every year. It has really brought the Spirit into this Easter season in a wonderful way...and it has been a great way to prepare for General Conference.

Happy Easter and Hello April!!