A Couple of Birthdays and an Iris Garden

Macie and Julia celebrated their birthdays together because they have them so close to each other. Macie is the 27th of April and Julia is the 8th of May so we decided to have a birthday brunch on May 2nd to celebrate. What a fun way to celebrate. Everyone that came were able to still have most of the day to do their thing and accomplish Saturday work. Julia was absolutely thrilled as was Macie, of course she recieved most of her gifts on her actual b-day, but happy none the less. We ate and then had gifts. Macie recieved an MP3 player from Grandma and Pa, and a knifty knitting kit from Auntie and Uncle. She went right to work and made a couple of hats before Sunday. Julia go a new talking dollie from her beloved Hunkins crew and a lite bright from Grandma and Pa. We gave her a new bigger bike.


Today (May 9, 2009) Grandma and Pa picked me up to go to an Iris Farm/Garden near us in Loomis. It is a beautiful farm with lots of flowers in bloom everywhere. You can go and wander the gardens and sit among the flowers and just be. Grandma got here and suggested we take Julia May with us. She was delighted and quickly went in the house and changed clothes. Nobody else really wanted to go because they were too busy exploring under the house. We have had a bathroom crisis. For Mother's Day I decided I wanted to update the shower/tub fixtures. Tom started with what appeared to be a very easy project. Let's just say we now need someone to come here and fix a pipe that has been busted. No showers or baths here in the kids bathroom for a while. So Julia was really the only one jazzed to go with me. It was beautiful and I got to escape the chaos of the bad plumbing at the Hay House.

My little Swim Team in the making

Yesterday was the day that Julia tried out for our local recreation swim team. Macie and Thomas have been on the team for a few years and now Julia has decided she wanted to join the team. She did a great job at her tryouts and she did infact make the team. With her special needs the team was a little hesitant in having her on the team, but I told them she really wanted to do this and that I would let the coach know what to expect from her. She will get scared, but what 6 year old isn't a little afraid of the big pool. Just wait until those coaches get to know her and she does what they ask and she tries her best at all times, they will fall in love with her. Just wait until she smiles at them and hugs them just because. This is going to be terrific for her if nothing else because she will be just like her older siblings and just like any other child her age. When we told her she had made the team she just beamed and said "Yesssss". We almost have a full relay. Matthew will be our next swimmer in the Hay family, but that will have to wait until he actually likes the water. :) Congrats to our Julia, well done you!


I made the team !!!!!!

Easter Day

The gang woke us up at 6:15 to have the annual Easter Egg hunt and find the baskets the Easter Bunny brought. Everyone found eggs and the bigs helped the littles find their baskets. That Bunny can be very clever in his hiding abilities. We did manage to find every single egg so no leftover stinkers for the Hay Gang this year. :) We go to church at 12:30 p.m. this year so we were able to make it on time without having any problems. We spent our time at church learning about our Savior and his Resurrection. Then we were onto Grandma's for a terrific ham dinner and some more egg hunting and candy. Emily, Ali and Pa colored eggs for us to find and they even filled plastic eggs with candy to have more fun with. We got home stuffed, happy and spiritually fed. Everyone in the Hay Gang has one more day off from school except Matthew he gets to go to school today. Now to get some laundry done. Will this ever end? Somehow I'm not so sure. :)

A Snow Day

No, it didn't snow here in Rocklin. We are on Spring Break so I thought wouldn't it be great to go play and sled in the snow. Now, Tom works so this little family memory making outing was up to me to pull off alone. Or was it? Pa decided he wanted to go with us. We went through all the snow gear last night and low and behold we had enough stuff to clothe everyone for the snow. The only item we were missing was a pair of snow boots for Macie. We quickly borrowed them from some friends and our trip was on. Today I made a picnic lunch and packed drinks and snacks and loaded up the van and off we went. Pa drove and I managed the gang in the back. We drove and drove and drove finally finding enough clean snow to sled in up near Donner Lake. (Next year we plan on going up in January :) ) The kids had a great time playing in the snow, throwing snowballs, and sledding. Then we changed clothes and headed back home. We stopped along the road and ate the lunch. I would say many happy memories were made today. Henry really had a ball after all, it was his first time seeing snow. Macie was terrific with him today and helped him up and down the little sledding hill. As I sit here writing this it is raining outside so I'm sure it is raining or snowing up the mountain. I didn't get any sledding pictures because of all the help the kids needed. Pa pushed them down the hill and I took care of getting the sleds up the hill.
What is this cold icy stuff?
Macie and Julia building a snowman.
Pa could you help me with my gloves?
Is this a snowball fight? :)
Thomas found himself a fortress.
Matthew spent a lot of time on his backside.
We had a great roadside lunch. It was very windy.

A beautiful Sunday

Today was General Conference for our church. The Prophet of our church speaks to us at General Conference. The Prophet and Apostles speak to us from Utah and we watch it via satellite either in our homes or at our church buildings. We watch from home in our PJ's. After the 1:00-3:00p.m. session the gang went outside to enjoy the beautiful day. Tom threw the ball around to the kids and then they went out front to look at our fruit trees. The apple tree is in full bloom and as Julia says looks like popcorn popping. During the lookie loo session many bees came to pollinate the tree. The children also enjoyed climbing the fruitless plum (we of course thought it would give us fruit, but found out the hard way that it was fruitless).

Julia is a crazy frog

Thursday night brought us to Cobblestone Elementary for Julia's Tony Crane dance. Macie and Thomas had their dance night last October. This year the theme was "Turn the Beat Around". Julia danced to the song "The Crazy Frog". She was so cute in her costume. I was emotional when I saw my little girl up on stage. She was beaming from ear to ear. The children were all so excited and they did a great job. She waved to the crowd as she walked off the stage. I was so proud of her. This seemed especially important to her because her older brother and sister have performed a Tony Crane dance since they were in kindergarten. Now, she has joined the ranks of the school kids. Grandma and Grandpa along with whole Hay Gang were there to cheer her on. It was a happy night.

Saturday is a Special Day

Yes, oh yes, Saturday is a special day, indeed. We all sleep in a little, have breakfast together, and get to work on the Saturday chores. We have a new plan where we make a list Friday night of everything we want to accomplish Saturday. First and foremost the children need to clean their rooms, sweep and vacuum the rooms as well. We always take out the garbage, and refill all the paper towels and toilet paper. So, today was like all the other Saturdays except Macie was wanting to have a lemonade stand with her friend Kyla. All chores have to be done before any privileges can happen. The lemonade stand started around 11:30 and took a break for 1/2 hour while the girls went to Kyla's tennis lesson. It resumed around 2:40 and went until 3:30. Each girl walked away with $9.25 (they made a killing). They paid Thomas 50 cents to clean up the mess, and I paid their helper Julia, who they didn't think was all that helpful. :)
Tom worked with Thomas and the others (if you can call it help) to put in the garden. We now have tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, beets, onions, beans and some herbs. We are going with plants and seeds this year. I hope we will get some good things because last year time ran out on us and we never did put in our garden.
I did a huge amount of laundry today, and cleaned up in the house. I love going to bed on Saturday night knowing that all is well in the house, and that the gang is bathed and happily sleeping in their beds. I also like being ready for Sunday.
Macie, Kyla and Julia putting in an honest day's work.

Our 2009 garden. Tom, you rock!

Henry and Matthew also had a great day!
Matthew, you are looking good. Who dressed you? :)

Today was such a beautiful day. Tom stayed home from work because we were attending a funeral for a friend's mother. This woman loved the outdoors and her service was a graveside service. The grass was green and the flowers were blooming. The sky was blue and the air was still. Many wonderful words were spoken and another friend played the violin. I so enjoyed hearing about Jennie's life and how she touched many people.
I also took Julia to the eye specialists office. Julia sees many specialists to keep her disorder in check. Poor little thing she fell asleep on the way home and woke with a crook in her neck.
I sure liked having Tom home on such a nice day. He played outside with the boys. Henry sure loves being outside. Even as I write this at 7:45 p.m. there are 3 children still playing out in the almost dark. I remember this time of year as a kid. It was so exciting playing out on a Friday night. I remember thinking how great the weekend was going to be. Now, of course I still think that, but it is because I get some help doing the chores. :)
Being a mom to this gang is fun and full of adventure. I never know what to expect minute to minute. After going to the funeral today I have a renewed desire to be the best momma a gang could have. I hope one day my children will stand before their families and friends and remember life with Tom and me as happy and fun. I also desire to raise my children to be respectful, loving, happy, spriitual, life long learners, and prepared to be parents themselves. This is our responsibility and we take it seriously.

Finally a new post!!

Hey, all you Hay Gang fans I am finally getting around to posting. I didn't realize that I hadn't blogged in over a month. Many things have happened to us in this last month. Where to begin. Well Tom and I served our little gang a beautiful candlelight Valentine's Day dinner. The children loved it. Then we were onto the cub scout Blue and Gold dinner. Thomas and Tom had to prepare a father/son cake. The theme was All American. Our pack chose to have each boy focus on a state. Thomas chose Tennessee because that's where Elvis and Antsy McClain come from. The cake was a guitar. It turned out great and won the Most Creative cake. As the month wore on we went to the ER 2 times. One time was for Henry to have stitches in his nose due to a backyard fall (push) off the picnic table. The other time was Matthew being rushed there because he was found unresponsive in his classroom. It appears as if he has had an absence seizure. We keep a very close eye on him. Macie has had to write the 4th grade mission report and project. She also got to sing the national anthem with her school choir at the opening day of Little League yesterday. We also celebrated Thomas' 9th birthday yesterday with his favorite dinner, steak. March brought us another pinewood derby and Thomas built a motor home car. It was a bit bulky and did not win. The motor home won Most Detailed car and Thomas showed great sportsmanship that night. Here are some pictures of the things that we have done this last month. I love them, I hope you will too.
Also, I ran into one of my dearest and oldest friends this last week. This post is for her. She mentioned that I haven't posted in a while, so, Ter here you go. It was great seeing you and I miss all the fun and adventures we used to have. :)