Sunday After Church...

 We all enjoyed a relaxing warm spring evening after church.  

Wheelbarrow rides, card games, tossing the football, 1 (or 2) water fights,  yummy food, snuggling our baby Shea, and lots and lots of visiting.  

A little bit of heaven on earth.

Giggles

The boys and I were driving by the Sterling House (an assisted living place) on our way home from the store.

Nathan: "Mom! I'm NEVER letting you go there!"

Me: I was a bit confused. "Where?"

Nathan: "That orphanage for old people!"

Spring Break Down Time

Lots of hanging out took place this spring break.

Creative juices were flowing and we had a blast!  

It was also a very exciting time for our family because we just found out that our offer we put on a house was accepted! 

The Boy Turns NINE!

 Blue birthday streamers dangled from the doorway, red balloons danced on the fireplace hearth, and a few gift bags busted with presents in the living room as we all waited for the birthday boy to wake up.

He cheerfully opened his gifts and went on to light the "congrats" candles on top of his blueberry birthday pancakes -a highlight when you turn 9 apparently.

We celebrated this boy all day.  It happened to be the Friday of Spring Break so Dad was able to take the day off.  We ate lunch at Costa Vida and finished the evening off at Jumpstreet with our family.

The weekend after Spring Break we had a small birthday party with a few of his friends and cousins.  Nathan got to plan the whole thing.

He made a sign for the door that read:

"We are playing football, soccer, and basketball.  Also we are watching a surprise movie.  We are eating pizza and cake"

So guess what?

That is exactly what we did.  Only they played sports the whole time and had no time for the surprise movie.

Nine things we love about this boy:

1.  He is a happy person with such a pleasant personality. He is rarely grumpy- and if you know me, I don't do grumpy!   He wakes up with a smile and goes to bed as if he never wiped it off.

2. His love for life! He has passion.  He does everything 100% and really tries to enjoy it.

3. He tries new things.  Even though they might be scary he at least tries.

4. He takes a stand.  Especially with being a Mormon. He told his entire class what he believes in and recited them the 1st Article of Faith.

5. He enjoys a good meal!

6. He loves to read!

7. He is an amazing brother. "He always looks out for me and plays with me all the time.  He is a great brother." - Kendall age 6

8. He is compassionate.  Thinks about others a lot!

9. He is a great communicator.  We are able to have great conversations with him.  They are deep mixed with a bit of his humor.  A great recipe for some pretty interesting chats!

Hunter, Kendall, Nathan, Austin, Darren, Rion, Russell, Cara, Maddox, Landon, and Cole (not pictured)

Spring Break 2014

I do have to admit, I was terribly ill for this Spring Break but was committed to making it the best I could -which wasn't much.

FRIDAY: Spring Break Kickoff!  Played Tennis at the courts with Dad.  Watched Frozen in Mom and Dad's bed with popcorn!

SATURDAY: The boys wrote messages all over the windows with window markers.  We went house hunting and the boys made snow forts.  Mammy made us all a yummy dinner.  It was heaven.

SUNDAY: Everyone headed to church.  I stayed in bed.  Later that day, Uncle Wes came over to give me a really neat blessing.  I found out that all of our families and extended families had a fast for me.  It was an incredible day.  I could feel the prayers and felt sustained. Felt so grateful. We ended the day by playing a few games and having some "paleo hot chocolate".

MONDAY: The boys helped me clean-really they did most of the cleaning.  We had a dance party during and after they got to play the i phone for 30 minutes.  You would have thought they got a brand new puppy!

TUESDAY: The boys got new Legos.  They played with them for hours! We met Dad for lunch at the park and laid on a blanked enjoying the sunshine.  The boys spent most of this day outside.  It was gorgeous.

WEDNESDAY: Made strawberry crepes with coconut whip cream.  Went to the tennis courts again and had a barbecue.  Ended the night out by the fire pit with s'mores and Mammy and I snuck off to the dollar movies to see Mr. Banks.

THURSDAY: Justin took boys to Chick-fil-a to eat with Grandma and Grandpa and played with sidewalk chalk.  Found our new house and got under contract! MIRACLE!

FRIDAY: Nathan's birthday!  Celebrated him ALL day! Ate at Costa Vida, went to Jump Street, and had a family slumber party where we watched Free Birds.

SATURDAY: Went to Justin's work and got tons of our papers together for the new house.  Went to Lynn for yet another miracle, played outside and dug up carrots, put up tent and slept in in.

SUNDAY: Boys worked on more Articles of Faith, they went to church, had dinner with Todd and Martha and a visit with the best home teachers.

Pinewood Derby Sensation!

The Hillan family's first experience at a Pinewood Derby was nothing short of a great time!

We had no idea what to expect. 

 Justin helped Nathan with his car the previous week: carved and painted it, stickered it up, loaded it with weights, and took it to the weigh in. 

I had told Nathan before the derby started to make sure he made the "losers"  feel like they had done a good job and not to be a poor sport if his car didn't do good.

Well.... Nathan's car had its breaks on a bit and lost several rounds.

We did what you can only do in a situation like that.

Laugh.

Laugh our heads off.

He did win one heat which was nice but still funny nonetheless.

After the races were over we congratulated the winners and the boys enjoyed hot fudge sundaes.  We celebrated Nathan's car which had one an award for "Best Flames" and headed home with a great memory.

I love the scouting program.  So many put hours of time and their talent into it and it does not go unnoticed.  The Hillan family appreciates those great scout leaders!

Something's Missing....

 It finally happened.

 The inevitable.

The family caboose lost his two front teeth. Snif, snif.

Just one more sign Mr. Kendall bug is growing up.

I can't stop looking at him.  He makes me happy and brings a whirlwind of joy wherever he goes.

A few days before he lost his other front tooth he was "scootering" down the drive way and didn't make his turn sharp enough.

He plowed into the car and ran into the house dripping with blood.

We cleaned him up and saw that he had a knot with a puncture wound.

We iced and bandaged his head and after ruling out a concussion, Kendall fell asleep on my lap.

 That night after he got out of the bath tub I noticed his knot was now a dent.  Justin and I took him to urgent care where they informed us that he had separated his muscle in his forehead.

After some glue and instructions on how to help his head heal we left feeling grateful it was nothing worse.

It's Treat Time...

 Indulging occasionally on some simple yet amazing treats has always been a favorite thing of mine.  I thought I would document a few that I'm loving right now.

 My Dad introduced me to a darling, quaint candy store in the heart of downtown Littleton called, Sugar Rush.

What was he thinking!?

As I'm biting into my treats I say a little thank you to him every. single. time.

My first favorite:

Milk chocolate sea salt caramels.

I guarantee it'll be the most amazing thing that has ever happened to your mouth- trust me.

Most incredible flavor combination and smooth as silk.

 Peter Cottontails.

Are these for real?

 Yes they are.

White chocolate with coconut wrapped around milk chocolate, nougat and caramel.

I'm hoping my Easter basket is overflowing with these.

 Chocolate suckers from Sees Candy.

This is my "trick" candy.

Whenever I'm craving a high caloric dessert I just pull one of these amazing suckers out of my stash.  It takes about 30 minutes to eat and you feel as though you have just visited the set of Willie Wonka and got your fill of an incredible adventure because your craving has been fulfilled.  Decadent chocolate with a golden wrapper. You might as well be swimming in the chocolate river.

Love taking two of these to the movies.  Your significant other will thank you, I tell ya.

Now on to the drink of the century.

San Pellegrino Blood Orange.

Not going to lie.  It tastes like a mini vacation.

Not too sweet with a hint of orange and lots of bubbles so you get the burn. 

A sparkling beverage perfect to pair with a lounging afternoon out on the deck.

Country Peach Passion Herbal Tea.

There is a glorious twist to this cup of love.

After you steep for 4 minutes you remove the bag and add French Vanilla Creamer.

That's right. French Vanilla Creamer.

You will be transported to England and instantly your British accent comes into full affect as you ask for your buttered sourdough toast to dip.  Then you may or may not think of your husband as Mr. Darcy.

Bradford Birthday Book

When Nathan was in Kindergarten 4 years ago, I gave him some money for his birthday to donate to his school library.

When he turned in his money to the library we had no idea what book he was going to get.

4 years later Kendall came home and told me he checked out a book that was written by Nathan.  I was confused and asked him what he meant.

He pulled out his library book that he checked out and showed me.  Nathan did not write the book but sure enough his name was in the front cover.

Number 1: It's funny to me that his book is a Karate book- a favorite subject of both Nathan and Kendall.

Number 2: Out of thousands of books, Kendall checked out Nathan's birthday book!

The Nut Job

For Christmas 2013 our family watched Christmas for a Dollar and it had such a big impact on us that we decided to draw names and give gifts of the "heart" or gifts of "time" just like in the movie.

I drew Kendall's name and was so excited because I knew just what I was going to do with him.  I was going to take him on a date while Nathan was in school to the dollar movies.

I asked him when he thought we should go and the next thing I knew... he was sad.  Come to find out he really wanted to invite Nathan to come with us and then he asked if Justin could come also.  Before I knew it he had begged for Mammy and Papa to come. 

Our little date turned out to be a date with the whole family!

We had to wait until Saturday when everyone had a day off but boy was it worth the wait!  Mammy made goodie bags with popcorn and sour treats and we all sat in the middle of the movie theater and watched The Nut Job- cute movie!