Kian had his last day of preschool on the same day as Niamh's dance recital. His preschool teachers are awesome. I would highly recommend them to anyone! For the kids last day Jana threw a pirate party at her home. The kids had a blast. Kian was soooo excited and he was the cutest pirate I have ever seen. 
Niamh's dance recital was on May 20th. She looked so beautiful and grown up. I don't know where my baby girl has gone. I do know that her Dad is in big trouble when she is a teenager!! 
Earlier today it was a little windy but nothing out of the ordinary for Idaho. About 4p.m. Scott had to run into work and do some stuff. About 3 minutes after he left I heard this huge noise and Niamh and Kian came running out of Niamh's room scared. A huge storm had hit all of a sudden and it sounded like a freight train. The next thing I knew, our trampoline was flying through the air outside the living room window.
The wind had lifted it about 20ft into the air and was tossing it about like it was a piece of paper. It was pretty scary to watch. So our huge, heavy trampoline that looked like this last summer
now looks like this!!! 
Crazy or what?? The wind carried it about 200 yards and dumped it in the middle of the lot that the Charter School sits on. It is an absolute miracle that no-one was hurt. The car park of the school was full of cars and people and I watched, with my heart in my mouth, as the trampoline was tossed in the wind praying that it wouldn't hit anyone or anything. Unfortunately we weren't that lucky and Jeff & April's poor gazebo now looks like this! We are sooo sorry guys!!!
What a blessing that the only things hurt by the freak storm that passed through were material possessions that can be replaced. It was a huge reminder to me today how things can change in the blink of an eye. I am so grateful that my kids weren't playing on that trampoline and that nobody else was hurt.
Sunday 26th was my handsome hubby's 30th birthday. We went out to celebrate on Saturday night. We started out with dinner at Bubba's and then we went to the Second Chance Prom hosted by Classy 97. It's a free dance that they host once a year. They played all the old classic 80's and 90's songs. We went with our good friends, Kris & Jaime. It was soooo much fun to get dressed up and go out. I LOVED spending a few hours dancing and chatting with my handsome husband and not having to worry about what the kids were getting into or anything else. It was so much fun and it made me remember all over again why I fell in love with him. 
We are already planning on going next year, anyone who wants to go with us, the more the merrier. I would definitely recommend it as the best free date I have ever been on.
Scott, I hope you had a fabulous birthday. You certainly deserve it. Thanks for being you, for loving me unconditionally and for being a fabulous Dad to our kids. Thank you for working hard so I can stay at home and raise our children. Thank you for being a worthy Priesthood holder and taking me to the Temple. I am so blessed to be able to share eternity with you. I love you so much! Happy Birthday Baby xxx
Easter weekend was so much fun. On Saturday morning we took the kids to an Easter egg hunt. They had a great time finding eggs. Liam figured it out pretty quickly, once he did there was no stopping him! 
After the egg hunt we took the kids out for a fun lunch, then we came home and dyed eggs. Ronan LOVED it. He just wanted to put all of the eggs in every colour dye. His eggs were beautiful by the time he was done!! 
The kids all got new church clothes for Easter. They all looked gorgeous. I loved the boys in their suits, they were sooo handsome. (I know I'm biased, but look how cute they are!)
I made the most of getting Niamh into a pretty dress this year. Those days are coming to an end sooner than I would like, but at least she humoured me for one more year. 
Not the best shot of all 4 of them, but we take whatever we can get around here. 
I am so grateful for the Easter season that we were able to celebrate together as a family. I had a lot of time to reflect on the true meaning of Easter. We decided to simplify things this year, the kids didn't get a lot, but they didn't care. They were so happy with what they did get.
I am so grateful for my Saviour, for the sacrifice that he made for me. That he loved me enough to lay down his life for me. I am so grateful for the resurrection and for the knowledge it gives me that I will live again. That I will be blessed with the opportunity to live with my family eternally. Nothing will bring me greater joy than to return home and see ALL of my family there with me. It isn't easy, but it will definately be worth it!!
The first week of April, the sun came out for a few days. One day was so nice (about 65*) that I decided to take the boys to the park for a picnic. We had so much fun. The boys loved playing on the slides. We were the only ones there for about an hour. 
Liam was so funny, he kept hiding behind the big tree that was by the playground and making the funniest faces when he popped round the corner. I managed to catch one of his cute expressions.
On Good Friday I left for 10 minutes to go and pick Niamh up from school. When I came back, this is what I found....
Earlier that morning I had mentioned in passing to Scott, that we needed to take Kian to get his haircut that afternoon. Kian decided that since it was 2:30pm and we still hadn't taken him, he would do it himself. ARGH!!!! I was sooooo mad. We took him to get it "fixed" and the hairdresser did a pretty good job, considering what she had to work with!! We just have to spike it to camouflage the parts that he cut down to the scalp. 
April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day. It is a cause that is very close to my heart. Living with a child with autism is very challenging, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Ronan has taught me soooo much. He has taught me lots and lots of patience. =) He has taught me unconditional, Christlike love. That is on his part, not mine. I am working on it, but he is such an example to me. He loves everyone, no matter what. He is so forgiving and eager to help. He is such a sweet, special boy. We are truly blessed to have him as part of our family.
Having said that, there are definitely days when I don't feel that way. There are many days when I cry and ask "Why Ronan, why my child?" Receiving the diagnosis was very hard. Although I already knew that Ronan had issues, having someone confirm it was very difficult. I have sat many times and wondered whether Ronan will ever get married, have children, be able to live on his own. For a long time we wondered whether we would ever hear his sweet voice. If he would ever say "I love you." The first time he said it was AMAZING! Every new word brings great joy, it is something that we work very hard at and some days it breaks my heart to see how frustrated he is when there is something he wants to share with me and he cannot communicate it. It is a daily struggle but every new achievement makes it worthwhile.
Please take a minute to think of someone you know who is affected by Autism. 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with Autism, it is 4 times more likely in boys than girls. That raises the stats for boys to 1 in 94. With odds like that, chances are pretty high that you know and love someone who is living with Autism. I know at our house, we do! We love you Ro, thank you for being YOU!
Niamh has been desperate to loose a tooth for a while now. She is the last one in her class to loose and tooth and was feeling a little sad about it. Her tooth has been wiggly since the beginning of December and she has been giving us a progress report every day.
On Monday when I picked her up from school she said "Hey Mam, there is something back here behind my loose tooth. I think it is my 'permament' tooth"
When we got home I had a look at it and sure enough her permanent tooth was growing in behind the baby tooth. It was pretty far back and I was worried that if it stayed back there she would have to get braces eventually, so I told Scott that he had to pull her baby tooth out. Niamh was so excited that she was going to lose her tooth but as soon as Scott started pulling it and she freaked out!
You can see from this photo that she had been crying, her face was all red but as soon as it was out she stopped and laughed. 
If you look closely at this photo you can see her new tooth growing in behind the hole where her other tooth was.
The tooth fairy came last night and she must have been pretty brave because she left $5, wow it's gone up since I was a kid. I think I got about 50 pence (which is about $1)
So, I have decided that this is the year that I need to get in shape. I no longer have the excuse of being pregnant or just having had a baby. I have to face it, I am just fat.....lol.
Believe it or not (those of you who have seen me lately it would definitely be NOT!), but I used to be really athletic. I ran 800m, 1500m and cross-country. I was captain of my school hockey team. What happened, you ask? Well, I got married and had 4 kids in 5 years....lol.
So this is it. I am bound and determined to lose weight and get fit. By posting it here I am hoping it will make me more accountable. Now that everyone (well the 5 people who read my blog, haha) know about it I have to do it. I am going to lose 15lbs by May. I am also going to run the Community Care Health & Fitness Run on May 16th. It is only a 5k but it is a start and now that I have a date to be ready by I am way more likely to actually do it. My awesome friend Julie is going to do it with me. She totally doesn't need to, she's already cute and skinny, but it will be way more fun doing it together. Anyone else who is interested in running with us, let me know. I'll email you a link to the registration form. It's only $20 and you even get a cool t-shirt, lol.
I'll keep you posted on how our "training" is going.
I know, it has taken me forever to blog, but better late than never, right??
Christmas was so much fun this year. Niamh, Kian and Ronan were so excited on Christmas Eve, I thought they would never sleep. We tracked Santa on the computer all day long and by bedtime the kids were hyper.
I totally expected them to be awake at about 4am, especially considering Niamh and Kian were both awake 3 times each before 10pm. They slept in until 6:30am though so Scott and I were pleasantly surprised.
The kids had a great time and were totally spoiled. They got so much stuff. More than that though, we really enjoyed spending time together as a family.
Here are some of my favourite pictures from Christmas. Scott took over 100 pics so I really had to narrow it down.
Liam has this crazy face that he does when he is excited, as you can tell he LOVED his presents!
He is obsessed with cleaning. He loves sweeping, mopping, vacuuming and dusting. His favourite present without doubt was his vacuum. He plays with it all the time. 
We didn't get many pics of Ronan. He doesn't love getting his picture taken. But this pic of him is one of my favourites. It captures his personality perfectly. See the huge pile of presents on the couch behind him? He couldn't care less about them. Why??? Because he found a $1 bag of chocolate coins and before he could do anything else he had to figure out how to get one out and eat them....lol. 
HIs favourite present was his lightsaber. We have already gone through 3 sets of batteries. 
Kian was like he whirlwind. He was so excited he was shaking and had all of his presents open in about 3 minutes. 
He really loved his remote control 4-wheeler though. He has even been known to sleep with his "controller".
Niamh was so much fun to watch as she opened her gifts. She took her time opening each one carefully and really enjoying it before moving onto the next. I love this sweet pic of her showing Liam her new doll. 
She was so excited about her High School Musical dance mat. Between that and her Hannah Montana guitar she has been spending hours in her room. 
For a couple of months now the kids have been begging for a pet. Scott had a quiet word with Santa and convinced him that the kids needed a fish tank. Not just a little fish tank either, oh no, this is a 20 gallon aquarium!! The kids love it though. I have to admit, I am pleasantly surprised at how pretty it looks in the room.
We set everything up on the Saturday after Christmas and then on the Monday night for FHE we went over to the petstore and let the kids choose their fish. All day long Niamh had been asking if you could get pink fish. Well, imagine her sheer joy when we got there and they did indeed have pink fish! We now have 8 new members of the family. Niamh has Troy and Gabriella (Gabriella is the pink one!) Kian has Mikey and Sully (think Monsters Inc). Ronan has Spiderman and Ironman and Liam has Lightning and Mater. (Yes, Kian and Niamh named them all.) Click on the pic to enlarge it. I promise there is a pink fish in there!
Lastly, here is a pic of the kids all ready for church in their new Christmas outfits. 
As usual Ro didn't want his picture taken so this is about as good as it gets with all 4 of them on.
Last night I had such a special moment with two of my boys. Liam has a cold and wasn't sleeping very well. He was tossing and turning all night and kept whining in his sleep. I finally got up with him at about 3:15am and came out to lay on the couch. He was in a really snugly mood, so I just lay there holding him while he slept on my chest. About 15 minutes later, right as I was dozing off Ronan came into the front room and woke up Liam. ARGH....I was so mad!! I went and put him back in bed and a few seconds later in he came again, with his pillow this time. He climbed up on the couch beside me and put his head on my chest. I had Liam on the right side and Ronan on the left. I had 2 choices, I could get mad at Ro, yell at him and put him back in bed or I could let him be. I decided as long as he was being good I would just let him stay there. I am so glad that I did. They both lay right there and went to sleep.
As I sat there in the dark, listening to their breathing and snuggling my babies, I suddenly got really emotional. My babies are all past the cuddly stage, they are usually fighting to get away. It is those priceless moments that make it all worthwhile. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a Mam. I am not perfect, I have a lot to learn. But I am grateful for my children and the things I learn from them every day. They are so loving and forgiving and love me unconditionally. I get so busy and caught up in the every day things of life that I often miss those sweet, simple moments. I am so grateful that at 3:30am I was able to experience this one.
For FHE the Monday before Halloween we carved pumpkins. The kids were so excited to do it but after about 10 minutes they were bored and poor Scott ended up doing all the work.
Once again, Kian was afraid of the inside of the pumpkin. On this pic you can see him trying to get away from Ro.....who thought it was funny to scare Kian with the guts. Hahaha
Here's the finished product, didn't Scott do a good job. Hahaha
And here they are all lit up on Halloween.
The kids had so much fun this year. Ronan really grasped the concept of trick or treating. He would say "treat, treat, thanks, see ya" all in one breath before grabbing a hand full of sweets and then telling Scott and I to "huyee up" to the next house. LOL. My original plan was to dress the kids as the characters from the Wizard of Oz. As you can see from the pics my plan failed miserably...hahaha.
Kian would not be the tin man....no matter what I tried to bribe him with. Apparantly when you are 5 it is not cool to be the tin man. A black knight (with a sword) is a much better option. 
Ronan has a fab scarecrow costume....unused in the closet. He would not wear it and threw the biggest fit because he wanted to be Mr Incredible.....again!! Yes it is the same costume he wore last year, but for those of you who know Ronan, we take whatever we can get. I have a feeling he may be Mr Incredible every year until he is 10 ;-)
I did manage to get 2 of my kids to humour me though. Niamh was the prettiest Dorothy I have ever seen. Seriously, I know I am biased but isn't she beautiful. I told Scott that night that he is in big trouble when she is a teenager and wearing make-up and stuff. The boys will be breaking down the door.
Liam didn't really have any choice in the matter but he did make an adorable Lion.
We had a lot of fun but I am really, really glad that it is only once a year. I think we may have enough candy to last us till then too.
