4.23.10 - pondering art

today we went to a playground across from the art museum. two minutes after arriving, a huge group of upper elementary students came to eat lunch and play on the playground. translation: too many big kids for my three little ones!! so, since the art museum is free, we decided to go explore it for a while and come back to play a little later. here my three are practicing sitting in front of a painting and pondering upon it. :} thankfully we all have about the same attention span for pondering this type of art....

4.22.10 - sideways

little miss giggles here said she wished she could try out the baby swing.

do you tell your kids they're too big for stuff like that? do you tell them to "slide down the slide the right way" and not climb up it? why? if other kids are around, then, yeah, sure they need to play the "right" way so no one gets hurt - and my kids do that on other playgrounds. but when i was little i could never figure out what was so bad about going up the slide if no one else was around and i still kinda think that!...so...since no one is ever at our little playground across the street, we climb all over the slide - even on top of the covered one! and lmg got to try the baby swing - sideways! because why not? :} it is now mr. happy's favorite way to swing - he thinks it's hilarious. :)

4.21.10 - dandelions (and fun with stickers...)

blowing some of the bazillion dandelions across the street.

and playing around with photo stickers... :} just experimenting.

4.20.10 - one

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, LEAH!!!

4.19.10 - brotherly love

we love the church across the street. we play on the playground all the time. today the big grassy field out in front was covered in dandelions so they had a blast blowing them...and then chasing each other for a while. :)

4.18.10 - beautiful view :)

it was too beautiful to sit inside today...and i didn't want to be outside alone. so i grabbed my little sister and we ran up to PF for a few hours...partially to get outside and partially to get some more pics for "flat olivia"...although she isn't in this pic. :)

i Y mountains.

4.17.10 - mystery

this showed up at the house this week. it wasn't wendy's. it wasn't mine. it was a mystery.

mystery finally solved: it's lauren's!

4.16.10 - best friend

shannon and jonathan came to play today! it was great to have some grown-up conversation for once while the kids played! jonathan took a nap while my guy did. he's too cute. :)

i told mr. happy that jonathan was coming and he said, "jonathan?! he's my best friend!!" :)

4.15.10 - bookworm

today we were trapped upstairs for a little while so the cleaning lady could finish the downstairs. i let the girls have "quiet book time" on their beds for a few minutes. little miss sunshine here has taken off with her reading and couldn't put this book (romona the pest) down until she finished it today! i'm so glad she loves to read. :)

4.14.10 - oh good grief :}

this is what happened when i said "smile!"...lol typical. :)

4.13.10 - shopping with mom

today i met mom at the mall. she tried on lots of cool stuff...including a dress i think looked like a lucille ball dress! :) it was way cute...but not the right size. oh well!

4.12.10 - life lesson

my kids had a life lesson today. they had three dogs - one of which (a black lab named bea) was 17 years old! that's well over 100 in dog years! she was getting really old and sick and could hardly get up and walk, poor girl. my kids dad finally had to put her to sleep today. my kids have known for a while that she would probably die soon - and i'm really glad they knew. my middle child, who usually feels everything to the fullest, got a tiny bit teary eyed and had to sit and ponder upon life for a little while after watching daddy dig the hole (above). the other two seemed ok with the whole thing.

i know sometimes some people try to shield their kids from experiencing the death of a pet for fear that it will upset them too much. i just have to say that i would rather my first experience with death have been with a pet...instead of my baby brother.

4.11.10 - awesome

ok, so this is technically from yesterday, but today was so crazy busy and then by the end i was so tired that i didn't get a chance to get my camera out... :}

he LOVES his "lala" (that's what he calls lauren). every day last week after his nap or when he woke up first thing in the morning that i was there he would ask, "is lala here YET??" finally on saturday i was able to say that it was finally the day that he would get to see lala. this picture is of him at her volleyball game. he watched for a few minutes and then said, "WOAH!! kiki, that's AWESOME!!" :)

he also loves his hats and sunglasses. which is good, because so does kiki. :}

4.10.10 - volleyball

this morning i took my kids to watch lauren play volleyball. i was excited to finally get to see her play - and she did great! :) she's the one on the left jumping up to hit the ball.

4.9.10 - sisters

going to the zoo! and getting to ride on the tram...which was probably one of their favorite parts. :) oh...and olivia came with us too. my oldest thought it was just fabulous and carried her around the entire time. :)

4.8.10 - big bubble!

the girls have learned that if you get your hands real soapy with bubble juice, you can blow bubbles through your fingers! very cool.

4.7.10 - funny face

these were a party favor from my oldest's bday party a couple weeks ago. he things they're pretty funny! :)

4.6.10 - heart :)

4.5.10 - flat olivia

this is my little cousin, olivia. well. this is "flat olivia." :) in her 2nd grade class, they recently read the book Flat Stanley. In the book, Stanley gets flattened by a bookcase that falls on him. He realizes that he can do cool things that he couldn't before - like mailing himself to california for a vacation! since olivia can't actually do that herself, she and her classmates made flat versions of themselves and olivia sent herself to me for a "vacation." so i've been taking her with me and showing her our city. then i'll send her home with photos from her "trip." ;)

of course, now my kids want to make flat versions of themselves...! anyone want a visitor? :)

4.4.10 - He is risen!!!

we just had church this morning - no sunday school - so we grabbed SB and then headed down to my new favorite spot - the swings by the river. these are just some random shots taken while we sat there and chatted. m took a couple of them...while i went to grab something from the car. :-p ha. and the ones on the corners were taken in my driveway...and the one on the bottom right was taken from my deck...same river, a couple miles down. :)

HAPPY EASTER!!!

4.3.10 - arrival

going to the airport for an arrival is so much more fun than for a departure. even being the one coming home is a good feeling - familiar people, familiar places, your own bed! such a good feeling! welcome home. :}

4.2.10 - smiley face egg

we dyed easter eggs today. i also found these very cool little cotton swab things - you break the tip of one end and all the color in the tiny tube runs down and soaks the swab at the other end, allowing you to doodle and draw and decorate your egg just the way you want! the yellow smiley face in the middle was done by my toddler. it's the first time i've seen him draw a face! :)

4.1.10 - oreo balls

i volunteered to bring something chocolaty (what else??) to our Bible study dinner tonight and i decided on oreo balls. they are soo easy to make and always get a big reaction from anyone who has never had one. :) this is rebekah's recipe...except she uses the uh-oh oreos and white chocolate. my kids helped me on this project and i added the easter sprinkles on top to make them more "eastery". i did not make the bunny. :) oh, and even the grass is edible! taskes kinda like an apple rice cake. ish. interesting. :)