around around and around

Tristan had his birthday party at the Children’s Museum today and invited the entire family.  We let our membership expire so we hadn’t been in a while.  The kids had so much fun there, they didn’t want to leave.  I was getting sick just watching them spin around on this.

picnic time

Sam loves having picnics outside.  I really wanted Hunter to sit down and eat.  Last time we all ate outside Hunter just ran around not eating his lunch.  So Hunter and I ate inside at the table, but Sam really wanted to eat outside.  I got her a blanket and made her a lunch. She had a ball having a picnic all by herself. 

beach preschool

This is my last week of teaching preschool for this year.  This was such a great group.  I had so much fun with them.  This week our theme was ocean and beach.  On Tuesday we went the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay for a field trip and today we made beach in a bottle with seashells I picked up last summer in Mississippi.  Even Hunter joined in and helped the kids put shells in their bottles.

coloring eggs

Because we were gone over Easter weekend we didn’t have a chance to color eggs so we decided to do it tonight, which was great because I bought the coloring kit for a quarter at Wal-Mart on clearance.   I used these tall glasses this year and it turned out disastrous.  Kye, Sam and I each tipped over a cup of color, it was everywhere!  Trevor came home and said the kitchen smelled like vinegar.

new hair accessory

On the bottom of the Kung Zhu toys there is a warning that reads:

CAUTION: To prevent entanglement, keep hair away from wheels.

I always thought this was referring to hair on the carpet.  Implying the toy would work better on tile than on carpet. DUH!!!  Well today Sam comes up to me with the hamster stuck in her hair.  She said she put it on her head and pushed the button.  Sure enough her hair wound around the wheels.  I had to cut her hair to get it out.  I never thought I would have to cut a hamster out of my daughter’s hair!

SCARY

We left Utah this morning.  I got up early, said goodbye to my sister and headed out, we were on the road by 7.  We made pretty good time and got home early afternoon.  While I was unloading the car I received a phone call from Erika saying they had been in a rollover accident, their car was totaled, but everyone was OK.  I have never received a scarier phone call.  She texted me right after I hung up with her.  They are really blessed they all walked away. 

Easter

Today after church we had an Easter egg hunt.  Sam didn’t want to come back with all the boys so she spent the night with her cousin Claire.  This year for our hunt we gave each of the boys an egg color and they had to look for only that color.  It was great because Max’s were harder to fine, while Hunter’s were thrown on the grass all near each other.  Hunter picked up three eggs and was done.  He wanted to play.

name badges

Sam loves to draw, color and doodle.  She made everyone name badges today.  She told me they are “just like dad’s” work badge. 

fun fun and more fun

It is always a fun time to go to Granny Nanny’s house!  We went out back, built a fire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows.  The kids had so much fun. 

Kye won the messiest award, but he loved every bite!

Tonight we were all sitting at the table talking and Hunter was on my lap playing.  He dropped his toy and clear as day said, “Uh Oh”.  I would consider this to be Hunter’s third word.  The only other thing he says is “Hot” when he touches the outside of the oven.  Except he doesn’t quite get the “t” sound out.  And he says “Hi”.  Hunter mostly grunts, but it is working for him because we know exactly what he wants and he gets it.

easter pictures

I need to get copies from him to post.

My father-in-law was nice enough to pull out all his photography gear for a quick photo shoot of my kiddos.  They turned out great! 

jumping fun

We took the kids to a place that was full of bouncy houses.  This was actually the second time we took them this week.  When we asked the kids what they wanted to do today they said they wanted to go back.  Hunter didn’t like jumping he just wanted to run all over the place.  I forgot to bring my camera inside, so this was the best picture I could get.

That night at dinner Hunter just wanted to hold my arm and lean on me.  He was exhausted from playing all day with his cousins.

evil kitty

Elise has two cats living at her house.  One is all black, Ebony, and we never see him when we come to visit.  He is always hiding from everyone.  The other cat, Ivory aka “Babykins” or as I call him “Evil Kitty”, lounges around all day on the couches and chairs.  Hunter and Sam are always trying to pet him and get close to him, and the cat is constantly hissing at them.  Elise said he wouldn’t bite, but that turned out to not be true.  He bit Sam, not very hard but still a bite, on the arm.  I didn’t want Hunter near him.
Today I was calling to Kye to come and he kept telling me he couldn’t because the cat was on him.  I don’t know what Kye was doing, but the cat REALLY liked him.

decoration obsession

The older three were always off playing with the cousins, but Hunter loved to play with all the Easter decorations Elise had out.  Especially the table display in the living room.  He wanted the large eggs and the chicks.  I had to keep a constant eye on him.  Here I caught him in the act of trying to get to those eggs.  It wouldn’t have been that big of deal except they are glass.  There is another one behind him that sits on the floor and comes up to his chest.  He tried to pick that one up, but just ended up tipping it over.  I am just glad we made it the week with no broken eggs.

spring break

The kids and I drove to Utah today.  Erika and her family came over from California, so it was a party with the sisters.  I got up early this morning and was on the road before 7:00am.  We got there mid afternoon so it felt like we had a whole day there.  Liz came down with baby Noah, Hunter didn’t know what to think of another baby taking all the attention.

hustling

Sam is having a good time playing soccer this season. Today was a hot day on the soccer fields. Sam told me, “I got tired, but I just kept on running.” She can keep up with all the kids, she just hasn’t figured out how to get the ball from them.

Pinky the whale

We found a big, fat, pink surprise on our doorstep!  Our ward has started passing this enormous stuffed whale from house to house.  The instructions that came with Pinky state that you are supposed to take a picture with Pinky, post it on facebook and pass it on to another family.  We showed him a good time while he was at our house.

egg hunt

Today at preschool we had an egg hunt. Everyone brought 6 eggs with a treats inside and during playtime I hid them in the backyard. They were so excited about the hunt and I kind of felt bad making them wait until the very end to do it. But it was a great motivator!

the three little wolves

Max came home with this picture he had drawn and a story he had written.  It sounds like a story I have already heard before, but I am not sure!  Silly Max!

preschool

It was my turn to teach preschool again.  I wasn’t originally scheduled for this week, but I traded another mom because she couldn’t do it this week.  The theme was Easter and we learned about baby animals, played colored eggs and learned the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty

homemade clothes

Sam loves to color and decided to make her Barbie some new clothes.  She colored every square inch of her paper and then wrapped it around her Barbie.  I helped with the arm holes, those can be very tricky.   It is a very stylish dress, good job Sam!

carwash

I never knew the drive-thru carwash could be so entertaining.  I just sat and watched the kids the entire time and laughed.  Hunter was not sure about the whole thing.  He kept looking side to side with a very worried look on his face.  Max had some comment for every step of the wash.  Kye and Sam were fascinated by everything going on.  They didn’t say much except “cool”. 

bingo

We went and tried something we have never done before… BINGO!  We didn’t leave our house with the plan to play, we just couldn’t think of anything else to do after dinner.  As silly as it was we had a great time, even though none of us won anything.  Thanks Nick for making us walk through those doors and try new things!

finally

Kye lost his tooth back before Thanksgiving last year.  It finally started coming in!  I was started to wonder if he was going to be toothless forever.  Max never had the toothless smile.  His teeth were practically in before his baby teeth ever fell out.  Now I wonder when the other one will come in.

into everything

Hunter makes messes everywhere he goes.  He discovered the pots and pans have lids, he was pretty proud of himself.

friends

Sam has a good friend, Andelyn, from her dance class.  These two play really well together.  I am not sure what they are doing in the picture, they wouldn’t tell me.

diamond poem

Max was learning how to write diamond poems at school.  He is reading “Harry Potter” so he said this was all he could think of.   The librarian at school hung it up on the bulletin board as an example.  Great job Max!

ONE year

I have had my blog for one year now!  I can’t believe a year has gone by.  I made of book of all the pictures from last year and I LOVE it!  The kids love to look at it and remember all the fun times we had.  Since I am horrible about keeping a journal, this is the best family history we are going to get.  I love the digital age.  I get behind on posting pictures, but I love it and someday will be all caught up!

my baby girl

This morning Sam buckled herself in Hunter’s highchair.  I had to laugh because she couldn’t get herself out.  Silly girl!  It wasn’t too long ago that the chair used to be hers.  My kids are growing up way too fast. 

soccer started

Today were the first games of the spring soccer season.  It is going to be an interesting season with three games every Saturday.  We had to split up today.  Trevor stayed and watched the boy’s games and I took Sam to hers.  Kye fell and scraped his knee before the game started, but he played with no complaints.  It wasn’t until that night he wouldn’t straighten his leg out because it hurt.  Then he hopped around for two days.

using a spoon

Hunter started using his spoon this morning!  He has tried in the past, but just couldn’t figure out to get it to work correctly.  He was on a roll but by the end decided his hands were still the better option.  He is growing up too fast.