Spring Break

Last week (or rather week before last, as it has taken me all week to finish this post!) was Spring Break for Riley and Kaiya. I started teaching again at Austin Community College this semester (just one night class) and it was spring break for me too. We didn't attempt a big family vacation, but we did try to do something fun every day. Here is a run down of the week:

Monday

Riley and Kaiya each made their own loaf of banana bread. They both love to cook and banana bread (no nuts) is one of their favorites. We always use applesauce instead of the shortening the recipe calls for, to make it a little bit healthier. Monday we also had a "High School Musical 3" movie night.

Happy Chefs: Kaiya and Riley

The finished product--yum!

Tuesday

Tuesday was St. Patrick's day. Riley and Kaiya insisted on having green eggs and ham for breakfast. We also had green rice, green jello, green broccoli and four-leaf clover rolls for dinner.

Green eggs and ham look very unappetizing to me, but Riley and Kaiya like them. They would eat them in a house and they would eat them with a mouse, they do so like green eggs and ham...

The thought of green eggs kind of turns my stomach, but green rice I have no problems with :-)

Kassidy

Kaydence

Rustin

Kyndall

Ryder

Wednesday

Virginia and another friend, Chris, came over to watch the babies so I could run errands with Riley and Kaiya. We met Jayson for lunch at Chili's and had an exciting visit to Costco :-)

Ryder, Kyndall and Rustin play in the boxes from Costco. Sometimes I wonder why we ever BUY them toys, when they get such joy out of free things!

Thursday

Thursday was our big outing for the week. We decided to take everyone to the Waco Zoo. My friend, Tammy, came along with her 12-year old twin boys Jackson and Jamison. We also took my friend Brenda's kids Joe and Luvinia, so in all there were 2 adults and 11 kids in our group. When we got to the zoo, we realized that everyone else in central Texas had the same brilliant idea to go to the zoo for spring break. It was pretty crowded, but we still had a great time.

The whole crew: Back: Riley, Luvinia, Jamison, Tammy, Jackson, Joe, Front: Kaiya, Kassidy, Ryder, Kaydence, Kyndall, Rustin. The parking lot was full, so we had to park in a grassy field nearby.

Checking out the elephants

Kaiya with the buffalo

Riley with the snakes

The Rhino was nice enough to pose for our picture

Rustin, Kyndall, Kassidy and Kaydence. The zoo has a little playground with a treehouse and slide that the kids all loved.

Joe with Rustin

Jackson with Kassidy

Kaiya

Riley and Kaydence

Luvinia and Kyndall

Ryder and Jackson

Tammy, Ryder and Jackson. Tammy's family has "adopted" Ryder. They always take him for me during church and they even come and get him for playdates! With his olive skin and dark hair, I think Ryder fits right in with their family! It is wonderful to have other people love your children almost as much as you do.

By the end of the day, Kassidy was worn out!

Riley and Kaiya pose by the waterfall.

Friday

On Friday, Riley, Kaiya, Kassidy and Kaydence went over to play at our friends, the Woods, house. They jumped on the trampoline and played with the puppies (the Woods breed labradoodles). Friday night Jayson and Riley went on a fathers and sons camping trip with some other families in the neighborhood. Riley had a great time, and I think Jayson did too. Kaiya and I took care of the babies and had some "girl time".

Kaydence makes friends with one of the puppies.

Kassidy and Kaydence jump on the trampoline.

Riley getting ready for his camping adventure

Riley on the campout

When I wasn't looking, Kassidy smeared her blackberries all over her head---except for the smile, she looked like she could have stepped out of a horror film!

Pre-Spring Break

I must admit that I started my spring break a little early by going to a David Archuleta concert in San Antonio. I went with my friend Natalie and her two daughters Holly and Andrea. The concert was awesome and we had lots of fun!

Rachelle, Holly, Natalie, and Andrea. Doesn't this picture make you want to sing, "One of these things is not like the other...."?

David Archuleta

Spring Break

Princess Kaiya Turns 6!

Friday was Kaiya’s 6th birthday! We celebrated with several parties. We started by taking treats to Kaiya’s Kindergarten class. Most of the other kids bring cupcakes for their birthdays, but Kaiya decided she wanted to be a little bit different and bring ice cream sandwiches. Kaiya also wanted the babies to be there, so we all went over with the stroller.

Kaiya's class lined up along the wall outside to eat their ice cream sandwiches.

Kaiya with a few of her friends

Rustin, Ryder, Kyndall, Kassidy and Kaydence. The babies were fascinated with Kaiya's class. They hardly made a peep the whole time we were there.

As soon as everyone finished their treats, they all swarmed the babies. There were two red-heads in Kaiya's class and they were delighted to see that Rustin had red hair too.

Mrs. Hunt's Kindergarten class poses for a picture

After school we had a "friend" party for Kaiya. At our house, we only do friend parties every other year. This time we did a princess-themed party and it was so much fun! My friend Virginia took all the babies to her house for the afternoon so my mom and I could decorate and get ready for the party. She is superwoman! She took all the pack-n-plays to her house and tried to give the babies a nap, but they didn't sleep very well in the new environment. She played with them all afternoon and brought them back after the party was over. My other friend, Cassaundra, went over around 5:00 pm to help feed and take care of the babies too. These women are amazing!! I could have never pulled off this party without them!

The princesses arrived around 4:00 pm and we took a quick "before" picture before sending them upstairs for makeovers.

"Before": Emma, Kaiya, Molly, Mikayla and Ryley (Princess Vivian arrived fashionably late and didn't make it into the before picture)

At the first make-over station, the girls had their nails done by me.

After nails, the princesses had their hair and make-up done by some "seasoned" princesses---Kayla (above) and Holly (below).

Following the make-overs, headed downstairs for their "Glamour Shots"

Back: Emma, Vivian, Kaiya, Front: Molly, Mikayla, Ryley.

Princess Kaiya

Front to Back: Princess Ryley, Princess Kaiya, Princess Emma, Princess Molly, Princess Mikayla and Princess Vivian

Following the photo shoot, the girls played games while I quickly printed off some of the pictures to use as table decorations, then we had a Princess "Tea Party" (minus the tea--we had pink soda instead).

The Cake. Kaiya has been insisting for months that she wanted a tiered cake for her birthday. I have never made a tiered cake before and this one didn't turn out the way I pictured it in my mind, but in the end I think it still turned out pretty cute!

The table (still missing a few frames)

The place setting. We served flower-shaped peanut butter sandwiches, fruit kabobs and jello-cups. I was so excited when I found the crown frames on clearance for 50 cents a couple weeks ago. My mom and I painted them pink and put the girls names on them with sparkly letters and they looked great!

Time flies when you're having fun, and it was 6:00 pm before we knew it! The parents were arriving to pick up their daughters and we still hadn't done the cake! The girls insisted that we could not skip that part, so we sang Happy Birthday and Kaiya blew out the candles.

Following the "friend" party, we had our "family" party. The term "family" was interpreted a little more loosely---we invited Virginia and her family, Cassaundra and her family and our friends the Woods. At the princess party, we were careful to cut the cake in the back, so no one could even tell from the front that there were pieces taken out and it still looked great for the "family" party.

Kaiya with her presents

The whole "family"

All in all, I think Kaiya had a great day!

Princess Kaiya Turns 6!

18 Month Check-Ups

The babies had their 18-month check-up this week, and everybody looked great! I am still amazed by how blessed we are to have five babies with no major health issues! All of them are doing exactly what they should be at this age. Here are the stats from their visit:

Kassidy

Height: 31.75 inches (50th percentile!)

Weight: 21.12 lbs (10-25th percentile)

(Note: I think 50th percentile for height is higher than any of my kids, or me or Jayson for that matter, have made it up the height chart---I guess Kassidy is going to be the "tall" one in the family :-) )

Kaydence
Height: 30.5 inches (5th percentile)
Weight: 19.15 lbs (less than 5th percentile)
(Note: Kaydence was less than happy to be at the doctors office and was crying and wiggling through all the measurements, so we think the measurements may be a bit off. The doctor want her to come back in a month or so to re-measure)

Rustin
Height: 31.5 inches (25th percentile)
Weight: 22.7 lbs (5-10th percentile)

Kyndall
Height: 29.75 inches (5th percentile)
Weight: 17.1 lbs (less than 5th percentile)
(Note: even though she is not on the charts, she is following her own growth curve and the doctor thinks she is doing fine)

Ryder
Height: 31.75 inches (25-50th percentile)
Weight: 22.5 lbs (5-10th percentile)

More Fun February Pictures:

Going for a walk: Kassidy, Ryder, Kyndall, Kaydence and Rustin

Riley

Kaiya

The boys finally got a much needed haircut! This is their third one. Virginia held Ryder the whole time and my friend Cassaundra did the cutting.

Ryder's "after" picture

Rustin had over an inch taken off. He looks so grown up now!

Rachelle & Rustin "After"

Riley and Kaiya. For Valentines Day, our church does secret Valentine Families. We decided not to sign up this year, but someone in the ward appointed themselves to be our secret Valentine's anyway. This is the cookie we got on the last day---YUM!

Kaydence, Rustin, Kyndall, Ryder and Kassidy dressed in red for Valentine's Day.

Jayson's parents were in Texas for President's day weekend. They spent most of the time with Jayson's brother, Joel, who lives in Killeen, but we did manage to meet up with them for dinner at Rudy's. (Pictured: Jayson, Ryder, Kaydence, Kevin, Kyndall, Rustin, Sylvia and Kassidy)

Kyndall, Kaydence, Kassidy, Ryder and Kassidy

We bought a new playscape for the kids and Jayson has been working on it every spare moment! The day we got it, a friend came over and the two of them worked for about 4 hours and they made it all the way to step #13....out of 103!!

After another full Saturday spent on the playscape, Jayson (with Riley and Kaiya's help) made it to step #70!

Ryder, Kaydence, Rustin and Kassidy with Virginia. I have mentioned before that Virginia (also known as GG) is one of my personal angels! I don't know what I would have done without her! She has helped our family so much and we consider her to be part of the family. The babies adore her---the second she walks in the door, they all attack her. Everyone wants their loves from GG!

Riley and Kaiya at the District Reflections Contest Awards Ceremony where they each won an Award of Merit for their entries. Way to go, Riley and Kaiya!!

Ryder, Kaydence and Rustin. I was trying to get some things ready for dinner and these three went and found some books and then sat down in the kitchen to watch me. It was so cute!

Kyndall, Rustin and Kaydence at the mall playplace

Kaydence, Kyndall, Rachelle, Kassidy, Ryder and Rustin eating lunch in the Food Court.

Super-Mimi pushing Kaydence, Kassidy, Kyndall, Rustin and Ryder into Costco!

18 Month Check-Ups