Egg Hunting at G'ma & G'pa's

One of the best parts about Easter is the Egg Hunt at Grammy & G'pa's house. They have a BEAUTIFUL yard with so much room for hiding and, of course, there are always an abundance of eggs! This year all the local cousins were there so it was extra special.

And they're off.... (excuse the shadows)

I love this face. He looks a little stressed about the hunt.

Nicole & Me

Zack

Easter Morning

Fun Easter Idea

To help reinforce the real meaning of Easter, I decided to make the kids each a quiet book with pictures for them to look at and put it in their Easter Baskets. I added words and the Articles of Faith for Halle since she reads, but Gavin and Isaac's are just pictures from the church bookstore and pass-a-long cards. They turned out very cute and are perfect for Sacrament time.

Easter Baskets

Egg Dying

Gavin really thought there baby chicks involved in this one... which is a little frightening! Anyway, it was fun. The kids liked it and they complained the eggs smelled and they wouldn't try a cooked one. (Can you tell they're my kids??) We didn't get too many pics, but a few.

Wild Times

We went to the WAM again last Thursday for Spring Break. Our passes are about to expire and we are not sure if we are renewing yet, so we wanted to go one more time. I am so glad we did! They have the Butterfly Jungle exhibit right now and it was so amazing! We did the usual tour and everything, but the butterflies and the baby elephants were the highlights of the day.

so sweet!!

Learning all about tortoises.

Everyone got to "pet" it.

The baby elephants were soooo cute!

Butterflies!! They were everywhere!! BIG, beautiful ones like this Blue Morpho.

They even land on you if you are lucky.

Eric was very lucky! So many butterflies stopped to visit him I stopped taking pictures! They were on his head...

and chest... and arms....

Halle and her Blue Morpho. She was so patient, but no butterflies came. A very nice zookeeper came and put one on her shirt manually. It worked! She was happy and could leave the "jungle".

Boys and their (ummmm.....) Dolls??

Gavin has been asking for a sleepover. A playdate. Anything. "Halle always gets friends over." This is true. So we asked cousin Zack over for a Spring Break sleepover. I was expecting a night full of usual gavin and Zack rowdy play. This usually includes, pirates, cowboys 'n sherrifs, lots and lots of cars, loud running around, chasing and screaming, etc. But this is what they did all night.

Tryin' Something New

Our Jars
(Just mason jars with a homemade tag)

We are bored of behavior/reward charts. Halle has learned all about counting money now and Gavin has a lot to learn still, so we have decided to try a new way to reward the kids. I just decided to give each of the kids a jar. If they are doing something above and beyond what is expected, they get a quarter. But watch out, if they're naughty, they might loose a quarter. We've just been doing it a few days, but so far the kids love it! After 2 weeks (or maybe the whole month... we'll see how the interest is and how much they actually accrue) they can keep what's in their jars and we can start all over. Then, they can put a portion in savings and learn to pay tithing as well.

Softball Opening Ceremonies

It's official: we are in softball season now! Hello busier weeks and tied up Saturdays. It'll be fun. A few pictures from the ceremony. Her team this year is called the Gauchos. What was the league thinking??? That's a horrible name for a team of little girls.

Halle and Chloe are the only blondes on the team. In the field it is hard to tell who is who.

Bowling Balls

We went bowling woth out Mom's Group on Friday. It was fun and the boys loved it, of course!

Sending the ball down the chute.

Watching for a strike.

Waiting for Isaac's ball to make it to the pins!

Just being Isaac.

Cute mini bowling shoes. Wish these were ours!

Student of the Month

Halle has been waiting and waiting and WAITING to be Student of the Month! We kept it hushed and didn't let her know at all. We snuck in the assembly and the look on her face when they called her name was priceless!! She looked like she'd just won the Academy Award. Great work Halle!

One of the cutest pics of my Isaac ever!

Look What I FINALLY Got!

"If you water a mountain will it grow?"

-Gavin, while riding in the car today.

Knee Fix

So it's not news to anyone that I have had knee issues in the past. As a suggestion from one of my friends, I started a glucosamine and chondroitin regimen. I am soo skeptical of these kinds of natural supplements usually. I was desperate to give it a try though. I had heard that it takes a few months to work, but I was still very impatient but kept on going (I had already paid for the pills... may as well take them, right?) Well, let me tell you: IT WORKS!!! I just started noticing little things, it does not hurt to walk up and down the stairs on weeks that I have ran higher mileage. I can bed down and not feel like my knees might break off! I highly recommend this to anyone with a little knee or other joint problem. So, that's all. The infomercial is over!