Dyeing Easter Eggs

We dyed Easter eggs tonight and Dad was even home! This is a tradition that our kids love. Andy always thinks I let the kids do way too many, but we usually have pretty good luck with consuming all the hard boiled eggs within a week. It helps that we all like them...except Ian. And it wouldn't be as much fun if they just did 4 each. Growing up I remember my brothers and I each did a dozen; that's 5 dozen eggs. I have a feeling some got chucked at the end of the week, but eggs aren't that expensive... :)

Anyhow, here are the kiddos busy dyeing their eggs:

Being silly:

No more pictures, please!!!

We definitely had fun! Now everyone's very anxious to hunt for the eggs tomorrow morning...

Good Friday Fun

Today was a good day. A busy day, but a good day. Rachel had the day off from school. We drove up to the Houston temple in the morning to have some baptism pictures taken. We're anxious to see how they turned out!!!

And of course, the other two couldn't be left out of getting their pictures taken. Audrey really thought the plants behind this bench were really pretty, so she wanted me to take a picture:

I then I grabbed a picture of Ian as well:

Audrey, Ian, and I wandered around the temple grounds for a bit while Rachel was photographed.

After pictures we met Daddy for lunch and Ian enjoyed his first frosty:

After lunch, we headed home for Ian's nap. The girls were insist on "selling things". So, they got busy drawing pictures and making fortune tellers. Luckily we also had some homemade cookies to sell. We didn't get much business, so there was plenty of time to play... 

 

Luckily a neighborhood friend stopped by and bought all our cookies (thank you!) and then when Daddy got home from work he bought some pictures and fortune tellers:

I'm definitely going to be glad when the idea of "selling things" wears off... Andy decided to mow the lawn since he was home a bit earlier than usual and then we could have our Saturday to play! I love these pictures of Ian and Andy. A picture can say a thousand words. I'll keep it brief, but these pictures say: "I look up to my daddy so much and I'm so lucky to have the daddy I do. He's going to teach me how to be a hard worker and so many other things that I need to know. I want to be just like him some day."

 

Spring Dance Recital

Audrey chose to take another semester of dance classes. Once again, she had Miss Kristen and did ballet and tap. She LOVES Miss Kristen and loves going to dance. I was a bit disappointed this semester with how big her class was, but we just got lucky last time... And then an actual recital with costumes didn't occur, due to some scheduling conflicts at the YMCA. Kind of a bummer. The parents were invited in the last 20 minutes of their last class and they performed the dances they had been working on. Audrey was disappointed about not getting a dance costume, but overall she was fine with it. We'll see if we do dance at the YMCA again. If Audrey wants to, we will, because I want her to have fun and enjoy it. This is for her! She still got to put make up on though, so she was pretty stoked about that. :)

My cute dancer before the performances:

 

Ballet performance:

Tap performance:

Receiving a certificate of completion:

Her entire class:

A picture with Miss Kristen:

Easter Egg Hunt

Our church held their Easter egg hunt a week early this year. Things were done a bit differently than past years. Most of the eggs were empty. Some had trinkets and candy. The kids then all got a bag of candy at the end. It worked. I think my kids would have enjoyed having the candy in their eggs more, but that's just what they're used to. It was still exciting for them, because they did have the anticipation of a trinket possibly being in the egg. This was also the first year Ian really got into (I don't think he was walking quite yet last year), so it was fun to see his excitement. And he definitely gathered the most eggs, since he had the least amount of competition in his age group. Ian quickly figured out that a lot of the eggs were empty. So, he would shake the egg first and if it didn't make any sound, he'd put it back down. :) The kids definitely enjoy this Easter egg hunt every year!

 

 

 

Potty Training Fail

We attempted potty training this past week. I kept on thinking, he's almost there, he's almost there, and then there would be an accident (usually in the afternoon once everyone's home from school and there are lots of distractions). But when it came right down to it, he hasn't been able to grasp how it feels right before he needs to go to the bathroom. So, potty training fail... He'll pee on the toilet any time you sit him on it, but he never tells you he needs to go pee. So, even though the girls were trained by his age, he's going to be different. We'll probably approach it again after the summer has come and gone. And hopefully by then he'll be speaking more, which should help!

Rachel as Franny Farmer

The 2nd grade class puts on a musical play every year at our school. The music teacher does an amazing job working with the children. About a month ago a letter was sent home asking what interest (if any) our child had. Rachel didn't want to be a singer or dancer, so she opted for a speaking part. Well, she ended up being one of the lead characters. She had quite a few lines. Once she found out what she had gotten herself into, she wasn't too sure... There were some tears, some discussions, some fear, but luckily she stuck it out. And she did great! It wasn't anything she couldn't do. They first performed the play for the entire school and then tonight all the parents and siblings were invited to a showing. Rachel did an awesome job and I'm so glad she had the courage to go through with it. She was a pretty amazing Franny Farmer in "How Does Your Garden Groove?"!

Our little performer and her sidekick, Freddy Farmer:

 

 

Such a cute farmer!!!

Rachel with her flowers her daddy brought her:

I love chances like these for my kids to do something out of their comfort zone. In addition to learning her lines, she also knew all the songs and sang along in the chorus. The students all worked very hard on preparing for this performance.

Stack of Books

This little boy loves to read books. Last week he kept on wanting more books and more books read to him before his nap. Yes, it's a bit of a stall technique... And then he wanted them all in his crib with him. I listened for a bit and could tell he was in there thumbing through his books. But eventually he stacked them all up, just so, and fell asleep. Love my book-loving boy!

Time for a shave...

I guess since he was wearing big boy underwear, he figured it was time for a shave as well. Such a smart boy! He took Andy's basket from inside the bathroom drawer, brought it out to the living room, plugged everything in correctly, and luckily did not turn anything on... ;) Since this picture was taken though, he has mastered being able to turn Andy's shaver on. It's one of his favorite things to do!

Dancing Away

How does one survive while her hubby works late night after night after night? Well, she just has fun! And luckily she's got 3 kiddos to make life fun. Here are some videos of the kids dancing away after dinner tonight:

Belt Lover

Ian LOVES belts. He still doesn't have one for himself, but he often borrows one from his sisters. And of course, he likes to play with his daddy's belts, even after being tortured like this: