Splishin' and Splashin'

We are LOVING this warm weather. A few days ago we decided to blow up the little pool in our backyard. It probably wasn't quite warm enough to go swimming, but we were willing to try!! The water from the hose was freezing but we still had a great time. Eli kept shivering and doing the sign for "cold", but eventually he got used to it. Ethan loved splashing in the water and even tried out his new diving sticks. I told him they would be more fun in a bigger pool, but he still had plenty of fun with them in our tiny little kiddy pool. Eli kept me totally entertained by his constant tripping over the side of the pool. Every time he tried to step in or out of the pool, he would catch his foot on the edge and fall flat!! It didn't phase him at all and I couldn't stop laughing! I always love to see my boys playing together. They are both little fish and love the water!!!

Ethan's Preschool Field Trip

Well, last Tuesday Ethan got to go on a field trip to Wheeler Farm. I went as a chaperone (I really just wanted to go along for the fun, too!!). He loves Wheeler Farm and especially loved being there with all of his preschool friends. Ethan really enjoys school and is learning so much. He especially loves his teacher, Ambree. There is one "student teacher" assigned to each preschooler, so Ethan gets some great one on one learning and attention. In one picture I was able to catch the moment when Ethan was telling Ambree, " I love you this much!" He is such a cutie! It was a great day and I was so lucky to be able to tag along!!!

Ready, Aim, Fire!!!

We fired marshmellow guns, that is!!! Well, we had a fun Saturday last week. Tim's best friend from childhood, Rob Meyers, came in town for a raquetball tournament and stayed at our house. It was great having him and his friend hang out with us for a few days. Wendy brought over some marshmellow guns and they were the hit of the party. Everyone was involved in this gun fight. Even Eli got the hang of it and tried to blow the marshmellows out of the gun - it didn't work too well, so he just ended up eating most of them. Our dog, Harvey, REALLY enjoyed this game. He was really good at cleaning up all of the dropped marshmellows. It was great to see all of the cousins running around together with their "guns." Rob even drew some targets and bad guys on our backwall with side walk chalk so the kids could have something to shoot. It was a great day to be outside and enjoy eachothers company!!

Easter Sunday!!!

Happy Easter!!! The boys sure enjoyed their Easter baskets and had a great time searching for hidden Easter eggs on Sunday morning. Church was nice; Tim and I sang in the choir and our boys ran the hall with our neighbor Jon! After church, we went over to Jon's house for their annual candy hunt in the backyard. We have done that every year for the past 3 years - Thanks to the Hirschi family. Then we had some nice Sunday naps and then over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter dinner and more egg hunts! We loved all of the candy, egg hunts, family, friends and good food, but most importantly I love Easter because of what it really means. I am so glad we can celebrate the sacrifice and resurrection of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that Christ lives and that His life and gift of eternal life to all of us is the real meaning of Easter!!

Ethan and Eli finding Easter eggs on Sunday morning!!

Easter candy hunt at Jon's house


Easter pictures with Grandma and the cousins: Ethan, Eli, Kaya, Tanner, and Cole

The kids singing "Little Bunny Foo Foo" with their new bunny ears!

Pepperwood Easter Egg Hunt

On Sat. April 11, 2009 I took the kids to the Easter Egg hunt at Pepperwood Park. Grandpa was able to go with us and experience the fun! They had sectioned off the big park into different age groups. Ethan and Eli were in the 0-3 yr. old group where there were probably a couple hundred eggs all over the grass just waiting for the little kids to scoop them up. Ethan had been practicing his Easter egg hunting skills with the numerous egg hunts we have done in our backyard. He performed just as he had practiced - excellently. He left the park with an Easter basket overflowing with eggs. Eli also did well, but he had more of a strategy than most kids. When they opened the area for the young kids to gather eggs, Eli went the other direction to where the eggs were waiting for the older kids' hunt which hadn't happened yet. Eli had his own little private Easter egg hunt. We were pretty impressed with his ingenious plan until someone in charge came over to inform us that those eggs were for the older children. Oops - oh well, we all had a great time. Then we even got to top off the great Easter egg hunt with Krispy Kreme donuts. Pepperwood doesn't do anything half way!! The Easter Bunny even showed up for pictures. I love the picture we got. Mommy is smiling and both kids are looking very wearily at this large Bunny standing next to them. It was a great way to start our Easter weekend.

Swing the Day Away

We have this great tree swing in our backyard (I bought it at a yard sale last year for $3 - yeah for good deals!). The kids love it and so do I. The weather has been finally nice enough to play in the backyard, so I was able to push the kids on the swing for a long time. They just kept taking turns and asking for more underdogs and trying to go so high that they could kick the tree branches with their toes. I love to watch the pure joy on their faces as they swing higher and higher. Eli even started laughing hysterically at one point. How can you resist taking pictures of the simple joy that simple pleasures can bring!?! I sure love my boys and the joy they bring to my life.

Decorating Easter Eggs!!!

So I was really excited to decorate Easter eggs this year. I figured Ethan was old enough to enjoy it so here we go. We had Wendy and the kids over (we really like to hang out with them if you can't tell!!) and the cousins dove into dying Easter eggs. It was fun to be able to share with them some different dying techniques and ways to decorate. I LOVED dying eggs as a kid. I am sure my whole family did it growing up, but I have some special memories of dying eggs with my dad. We could do it for hours I recall. So, it was nice to share my little bits of wisdom - ha ha! Anyway, the kids did a great job dipping eggs in multiple colors to make new colors and holding the egg just right so they could make stripes. I was very proud of them and I think they were proud of their beautiful eggs too! Now we get to use their eggs for an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Sunday!!