Saying goodbye

The kids loved seeing their cousins even if it was for such a short time!

I barely saw them all weekend they were always with each other playing, laughing, and of course a little fighting-but for the most part so much love. I don't even have any pictures of them playing since they were usually outside or at the park behind the house. Topher and Ryken had to stay in a lot since they are escape artists! It's amazing how much these kids get along together even after not seeing each other for so long. Isn't this a sweet picture? We hated saying goodbye, since we just barely said hello a day and a half before!

It was such a short, last minute and surprise visit we didn't go see anyone else, we just stayed at the Ericksons ate some yummy Mona food and let the kids play together. We wish we could have stayed longer and went and saw all of our friends and family there, but I had to get back to work. SO if you live there and we didn't tell you we were there, or didn't see you, don't think we didn't want to-we SO wanted to. It was just too short of a weekend and we were just focusing on spending time with the kids for Easter. We are planning on coming out for longer in June though so we will let you all know about that trip! Loves!

Spring Fashion

Here are the kids styling in their new Easter ensembles complete with shoes. Too cute!

Easter Morning

We did Easter at Scott & Suzanna's house since we were there Sunday morning, it's amazing how happy a basket of candy and a few little toys can make a couple of kids!

Egg Huntin

I know you all have the pictures of your kids hunting for eggs-and here are mine. We had a big Easter egg hunt before the blessing with all the cousins at Scott & Suzanna's house and they each got a pretty great haul-Everyone brought eggs and toys and prizes, so there was plenty for everyone. Topher even got $20 in one of his eggs!

Cool even when he sleeps

Topher loves having sunglasses and hats on-I love that about him! I remember when my little brother was born and we couldn't wait to put hats and stuff on him and he hated them! I am so glad my little boy will keep them on! These pictures were just classic Topher, too cool and too cute!

Sweet Tess. (and other sweet cheeks)

Since we were staying with Suzanna for the weekend she decided to bless sweet Tess while we were there. I didn't get too many pictures of her, but these of her and Topher were so funny, Topher LOVED her. When he was holding her and a couple of her brothers came to talk to her he would slap their hands away and say "My baby!" He got so mad when we took her back, he could have held her and watched her facial expressions all day.

While were there I also got to see my sweet nephew Christian for the first time and my great niece (I think that's right?), Madilyn. All 3 babies were so stinkin cute and loveable, it made me even more baby hungry than I already am! I hated to leave them knowing that they would change so much before I get to see them again!

Weekend Surprise!

We decided to surprise Zachary and Ryeleigh, and Chad's mom this weekend for Easter and drive into town to see them. We stayed with Chad's sister Suzanna and took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo. The kids had a blast, and even Bekah was climbing up and going down the big slides this time! I think she is growing out of that whole scaredy cat phase which I am thrilled with!

We Know...

...what we're having! It's up on the New little Hewlett blog! Woohoo-so excited!

Lucky!

It's Saint Patricks Day today-and its got me reflecting a lot on how LUCKY I am!

I haven't written anything about little Reese because I figured most of my readers already know about her being in the hospital and are probably anxiously checking her blog a couple of times a day like I am for updates on her and her condition. For those of you who don't know her personally-she is a spunky little girl in my ward who is in my nursery class, Christophers age and has always reminded me of Christopher-how she is always getting into stuff and climbing on stuff and is just a curious little rascal. Well last week she got pnemonia and is now in the ICU. She is really sick-but the doctors are now saying she will recover, it will just take time. She has been on drugs that keep her asleep for over a week now and it has been SUCH an eye opener for me, my family and so many of my friends. Her family is doing well, they are feeling the love and prayers that have and continue to be offered in their behalf and know that everything will be okay.

Ever since this has happened I have realized just how fragile my little babies are. How easily they could be taken from me, how easily they could be in the hospital with some life threatening disease.

I have not dwelled on those thoughts though-instead I have dwelled on how precious they are, how wonderful they are and how lucky I am to have them.

I find myself not yelling at them as much-wanting to hold them longer, kiss them more, let them know how much I love them more and spend every minute with them that I can laughing and playing and just enjoying them.

One thing that Penny, Reese's mom, blogged that has really stuck with me, is that she will never say that Reese is driving her crazy again. I know that I say the my kids are driving me crazy at least a dozen times a day. I haven't said it once since-I haven't felt like they have been driving me crazy-I just feel LUCKY to have them....

So nice....

...the weather on Sunday, wasn't it?

We took advantage of the beautiful spring weather and went to our favorite spot to feed the ducks and geese out by my mom's place. Ahhhh-can't wait for summer!

Figuring it out...

I think at this point he started realizing this day was all about him!

We were in the other room talking to Trae and Tabitha who came into town for the weekend-and wouldn't you know the little cutie-found his choo choo cake and started going to town on it! It's alright, I got some pictures of him blowing out the candle and him being excited about it-so I wasn't upset a bit. He got a little spoiled-shock shock! He got a train from Tab and Trae, some books, stuffed animal and a car from Grandma, a play grill from Papa, a movie from Bekah and a basketball hoop from us. He was thinking he was pretty dang cool!

"Cuz it's your birthday mate!"

We went to Safari Sam's for Tophers "birthday party". I figured he is still too little to have an actual friend party, so it was just us and Grandma, Papa and Uncle Tyler. The boys had a blast climbing all over the jungle gym-Bekah was terrified of it-Chad took her up there once and she cried almost the entire time-but you couldn't get Topher off it. Bekah settled for a game of miniature golf which she loved-so I think we all had a good time. I don't think I will be taking her back for her birthday though!

Choo-Choo Cake

This is my attempt at a Train Cake-it was very last minute that I threw it together, but all I cared about was him knowing what it was-when it was all done I set it on the table and showed him-and he said "Wow! Choo Choo Cake".

Success.

Topher wakes up to being 2!

My little baby is 2! He woke up to balloons, crepe paper and Happy Birthday signs. He was most excited about the letter T in the Happy BirThday signs. I don't think he knew what it meant that it was HIS birthday-we have had so many lately-and what it means to him is that there are balloons, fun and cake-so he was stoked!

Say my Name!

My friend Amy COMMANDED that anyone who read her blog do this, so "As you wish.."
(Anyone who reads this is not commanded to do so, but it was fun and it only took a minute, leave me a comment if you are doing it, I want to see what to call you...)


1. )YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: Bandit Uplander (Your first pet/current car)-
2.)YOUR GANGSTA NAME: Cookie dough chocolate chip (fave ice cream/fave cookie)
3.)YOUR FLY GIRL/GUY NAME: T-Hew (first initial of first name/first 3 or 4 letter of last)
4.)YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: Grass Tiger (fave color/fave animal)
5.)SOAP OPERA NAME: Ann Provo (middle name/birth city)
6.)STAR WARS NAME: Hewti (first 3 letter of last name/first 2 of first name)
7.)SUPER HERO NAME: Lime Crangrape (2nd fave color/fave drink)
8.)NASCAR NAME: Boyd Marshall (first names of grandfathers)
9.) WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: Ann Scott (mother and fathers middle names)
10.)TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: Dominguez Damascus (5th grade teachers last name/city that begins with same first initial)
11.)SPY NAME/BOND GIRL NAME: Spring Daisy (fave season/fave flower)
12.)CARTOON NAME: Kiwi Jeansie (fave fruit/something you're wearing plus -ie or -y at the end)
13.)HIPPY NAME: Life Willow (something you ate for breakfast/fave tree)
14.)YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: Scrappin Paint Rain Tour (fave hobby/fave craft/fave weather element + tour)

(and I KNOW Amy has too much time on her hands-but yes it was fun!)

Pinewood Derby for the Big Boys

The Elders Quorum in our ward did a Pinewood Derby on Friday night, Chad made a really cool car for it, spent lots of time, sanding it, priming it, painting it and getting it just right. Unfortunately he did not take as much time on the wheels and axels as he did on making it pretty so it didn't win any races, but it sure looked good!

It was a whole family affair with yummy food and desserts, and a designated area for the kids to ride their little bikes and scooters. We brought our little cars that you see Chad riding below for the kids to play on-but I think the Big kids had more fun on them racing around the gym!Christopher wanted to play with Chad's car so bad all week that he was working on it, but of course he didn't get a chance until after the races were over. He wanted to race too, so he brought some little matchbox cars over to the track and started sending them down, it was so cute-but he didn't get to do it for long, since it was right in the middle of the races.......so he settled for sitting in the crate that the track is stored in! Such a doll isn't he? BTW Thanks Lisa for these great pics of him-I didn't get any, my camera was not around at this point!Here is the winner board-Eric Kunz won this year-he was also the one that organized the event...coincedence? We think not....heee hee, totally kidding-but his wifes, brothers and daughters car all did pretty well too-so maybe...