april showers

We are actually enjoying a rather dry spring here in the Northwet (oops, I meant Northwest). We have enjoyed many warm days and had to pull out the shorts a bit earlier then planned.

Here are a few pictures of the latest happenings in and around our house!

Look closely at that face! Wow.  Not a good morning.

He loves to swing and Olivia enjoys pushing!

They are playing really well together lately. A few hiccups here and there, but overall I am enjoying a little break from being referee. Even if last for only a few days, I will take it!

Splish Splash! I secretly love puddle jumping and sprinkler running, so I often have to remind myself that I have to be the responsible adult now and hold back every once in awhile!

 

Even warm enough for the sprinkler?

Astronaut in training

Mega castle for the princesses, which was followed by

"Mom, can we please go visit the REAL castle?"

Classic dinner table fort

His face indicates she might be squeezing to tightly! (Which she does regularly.)

Ahh teething biscuits...a love/hate relationship.  Only one sharp little tooth has made it through so far. 

sparkles

Nothing is more intimidating than cheering "Go Sparkles" from the sidelines, right? Olivia is enjoying her first season of outdoor soccer- She enjoys the competition and loves practicing in the yard, and let's not forget about the snacks at the end of the game! The other night her prayer request was that 'she score lots of goals in the game!'  I will admit I was unsure how she would take to the sport and although I have mixed emotions over the whole thing, I enjoy watching her play a game that holds special memories for me.

 

 

Easter

We are so blessed to have the majority of our family living within a few miles of us. That being said, it makes for very busy holiday seasons. The girls participated in 3 Easter egg hunts! We now have more candy in our house then all the other holidays combined! We hosted brunch at our house on Saturday and spent the afternoon at the McCuistions after church! I have included some of the photos but somehow misplaced those from the church hunt and our time celebrating at our house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eagle Crest

We try to make it down to visit our dear friends at least twice a year, once in the winter and again for a summer time visit! Lucky for us, we can usually find an affordable price at Eagle Crest (thanks MOM). It was a bit more challenging coordinating winter weather events around a 5 month old, but we made it work! Realizing that the uninterrupted conversations, competitive game playing, and relaxing mornings with coffee and cinnamon rolls are pretty much non existent when you each have three kids!

Corinne and Olivia taking a little break in the sunshine!

The sledding hill provided to be very fast, like scary fast. Luckily I only had to ride it once and then I held this handsome little man down at the bottom for the rest of the time!

The first time ice skating, even for JJ! Talk about a learning curve!



He doesn't look so happy!

The older girls ready for some hot chocolate!

THE MITTEN

Ellinor was especially excited about her birthday this year. We decided to use one of her favorite book as the theme. She would have me read this book every.single.night. What I love most about this is the character traits that are common in the animals hiding in the mitten are the same ones she will portray throughout any given day! What a blessing she is.  Due to the fact that we celebrated during a weekday this year, unfortunately there were several people who couldn't join us! We had a few games (which turned out to be flops), had some good food, enjoyed some cake and then crashed at nap time!

What could be better then breakfast in your undies and a birthday candle in your oatmeal?

The neighbors had both just cut down trees, so we were able to use some of their remnants for the party!

It takes so much more energy to blow out three candles!

 

February

Such a short month to accomplish so many fun things....

SHARING A LITTLE LOVE

AND THIS LITTLE PIGGY CRIED WAH, WAH, WAAAAH...

Poor little Ellinor was enjoying some very structured play with a bean bag. She crawled out and said to me in a very calm but serious voice "mommy, my toe's not really working right!"

ENJOYING A FAMILY PLAY DAY IN THE SNOW
(which ended with 3 crying kids!)

HENRY HANGING OUT ON OUR SNOW DAY...SURROUNDED BY BLANKETS! WHO KNEW THAT CAR SEATS MAKE THE BEST SLEDS!

 

RELAXING IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK AS WE PREPARED TO TAKE THE GIRLS SKIING!

WE SPLURGED ON GENTLY USED SKIS FOR THE GIRLS TO SHARE THIS YEAR. ALTHOUGH WE ONLY MADE IT UP TO THE SLOPES ONE TIME THE GIRLS REALLY HAD A BLAST. HENRY AND I HUNG OUT IN THE LODGE AS JJ ALTERNATED TAKING THE GIRLS FOR RUNS. THEY DID THE BUNNY HILL ONCE THEN DADDY HAD ENOUGH CONFIDENCE TO TAKE THEM DOWN AN EASY ADULT RUN! JJ REALLY ENJOYED TEACHING THEM AND THEY LOVED THE CHAIR LIFT!