big deals

on sunday i called eleanor "ella" which we've done pretty consistently since she was born

and she said, "i not ella-bella mom" oops

 this is one of my favorite dresses

and it used to be my grandma's

 some intense go-fish after church

 olive the lion

 we got ice cream from the ice cream truck

 it was fun to see how excited the kids were about it

and it was surprisingly inexpensive so that was a bonus

 henry enjoying a sandwich on the counter thanks to his dad

 noah showing me his evil genius face

 i can't believe we're done with school in a week and a half! 

so crazy how quick it's gone this year

 we needed groceries bad

but i didn't want to take everyone to costco late at night

so we divided up and michael stayed home with noah, olive and eleanor

and i took hazel and henry with me

i realized it was the most "one on one" time (henry didn't count)

that hazel and i have had in a couple years

which is really sad

and she LOVED it

so we need to do it more often

she did not hate getting her own ice cream

that we normally split 4 ways :) 

 it was raining when we were leaving so i put henry's blanket on his head

just for fun to protect him

and he left it the whole way

it was really cute

he's a ham

 eleanor, henry and i joined olive's pre-school field trip to the zoo

i've never been on a field trip for my kids because i have so many little ones at home

so it was a treat for sure

 henry sat in the stroller and didn't make a peep the whole time

and eleanor loves being included with pre-school 

and did really well considering it was during nap time

 these two are in cahoots more and more these days

 the girls had their last day of ballet this week

 i'm pretty excited for summer

 the other night we'd talked about going to the store and decided not to

but noah didn't hear the second part and came down in new clothes all ready to go

so we went on a date to some stores to get things for hazel's birthday party

and he was such a gentlemen

holding doors open for me, telling me jokes and singing songs to make me laugh

 in reallllly big news

hazel had a peanut butter jelly sandwich for pretty much the first time in her life this week

which is huge

and she loved it and asked for one for her lunch at school the next day

 all thanks to this chart we made for her to try new foods

she finished filling it out this week

and gets to pick a fun date with me as her reward

we might get pedicures or go mini golfing and out to dinner

it's whatever she wants because she earned it!

she has been so picky for so long

but now we haven't made her a separate meal at dinner for months and it's been amazing

i'm so proud of her and her determination

 noah had his first pinewood derby last night!

he moved before the derby in utah last year

and then they'd already done it here when 

so this was his first one

and it was a lot of fun but his car was a little slow

 hazel tried changing henry's diaper for the first time last night

he proved to be a little wiggly but it was sweet of her

she was trying to help me get him ready for bed :) 

then olive and i went out and ran some errands last night

just the two of us

and i feel so much better giving the kids some one on one time with me

for some reason i always prioritize michael getting one on one time with them

but not me

because i'm always here with them

but it felt especially important for them to get time with me and i'm glad to do it

things have been really busy lately and will be for the next month or so

but i'm grateful for this busy, happy life