We finally did it...

Audrey has been asking for awhile to get her haircut, so since we got a coupon in the mail the other day we decided to go... There are a few curls left at the bottom. We'll see if the rest curls up or if we are slowly saying good-bye to the curls. She was so excited to get her haircut though. Her favorite part was the glitter spray at the end, which you can't see in the picture...

Easter Sunday

The girls were very excited about Easter. When I peeked out at 6:45 am, their light was already on, so they had probably been awake for at least 15 minutes. Crazy girls! And Ian wasn't too far behind on waking up - I guess he didn't want to miss out on any of the festivities. Due to the children waking up early, we decided to take care of the Easter bunny stuff before church.

Ian in his Easter PJs:

Surprises from the Easter bunny:Checking everything out:

Rachel was very excited about her fruit by the foot (something I don't normally buy):

Ian modeling his swimwear for this summer:The girls modeled their swimwear while they hunted for Easter eggs. Only in Texas will you find two cute girls in their backyard looking for eggs in their swimsuits and boots!

Ian enjoyed observing the Easter egg hunt. It's crazy to think that most likely next year he'll be running around looking for eggs with his sisters...After church we took some pictures of everyone in their Easter best. We took pictures in shifts due to Ian deciding to take a 3-hour nap in his car seat. By the time Ian was up and ready to pose for pictures everyone else had changed into comfy clothes. So, here we all are:

Easter Fun

Our Easter fun started the week before Easter at our annual church egg hunt. We invited Chase to join us. All three kids found lots of eggs and enjoyed themselves.

The Thursday before Easter I hosted Joy School at my house. One of the moms donated confetti eggs for the kids to enjoy. So, we went out back and they had a blast. It was Audrey's first time doing confetti eggs and she loved it...
The Saturday before Easter we headed over to the Mackay's to dye Easter eggs. The kids had fun as they decided what colors to do and what designs to draw or have drawn on their eggs. And then after the eggs were somewhat dry, they decorated them with stickers. The girls were definitely excited to take their eggs home and let the Easter bunny hide them...

Showing off their colorful eggs:

3 months

Ian is 3 months old today! He is doing so well. He's been busy the past couple of weeks. He's discovered his feet, is trying to figure out if he wants to suck his thumb, and has figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy. Ian is such a smiley baby and it's so much fun to have him awake more. Today I almost got him laughing - he's so close... The girls are so anxious to have him master laughing! :)

Playing on his play mat while keeping an eye on one of his sisters - he wasn't willing to look at the camera:

One morning he fell asleep in his bouncy chair while Audrey was singing to him. When this boy wants to sleep, he'll sleep wherever - the bouncy chair, car seat, crib, swing, baby carrier, etc... It's nice he's so flexible.

Trying to figure out his thumb... This is the reason he's figured out how to roll as well. He'll work at his fist or his thumb and then eventually he just rolls over.

One of my most favorite things about Ian is that he wakes up happy!!! I just have to walk into the room and he looks at me and gives me the biggest smile. I love it! Here's Ian right after waking up from one of his naps today:

We love our little boy and the excitement and joy he brings to our home.

Froberg Farms

Natalie and I have meant to take the kids to pick strawberries for awhile. Since Rachel had Good Friday off of school and our husbands had to work, we decided to go. And luckily we decided to go first thing in the morning. We found out later that there was an hour wait in the afternoon just to get into the parking lot. We got right in and got right to picking strawberries, which was good since the weather was already heating up.

All smiles with empty buckets on their heads:

Picking away:

Unfortunately you really had to search for good berries. Earlier that week a hail storm had come through and damaged a lot of the berries. We probably spent about 45 minutes picking berries and only got 3.5 pounds between the 3 kids. We'll have to try and time it better next year and maybe we'll be able to get more berries.

Ian hung out in his car seat for awhile and then when he got tired of that he snoozed on my back in the Beco.Some more smiles of the girls (they were ready to be done):

One last photo op before heading home:

The girls had fun. They love eating the strawberries that they picked - we've almost finished them off. It's not necessarily a better deal picking your own strawberries, but it's all about the experience. I bought strawberries at the grocery store yesterday that were 50 cents cheaper per pound... But it was fun to let the girls see where strawberries come from. And it's always fun to get together with Chase, Natalie, and Landon!

Bluebonnets

We attempted to get some pictures in the bluebonnets a few weekends ago. It didn't go too well... I'm hoping there still might be some out and we can try again maybe this weekend. We will have to see... Out of the 400 or so pictures we took, here are the best:

Rachel (her picture is really cute):

Audrey hiding in the bluebonnets (I think that's the only real smile we got out of her - the majority of the pictures of her she has a very pained expression on her face.):

Rachel's perfect, Audrey's got a fake smile, and Ian can't handle the bright sunshine:

We also got some pictures of the whole family, but I'm not a fan... It was hot, the sun was bright, and everyone got worn out. Ian conked out on my shoulder as soon as we were done:

I think it will be a miracle when and if we ever get a picture of our family of 5 all looking at the camera smiling. I know, I'm expecting a bit much with Ian only being 3 months old. We'll get there one day and when we do I'll make sure to get a canvas print done and hang it up!

April

If you ever need help remembering how to spell April, Rachel has it figured out for you. Here's a little song she came up with today:

A is for Audrey and Andrew
P is for pigs and pants
R is for Rachel and race
I is for Ian and igloo
L is for Laura and last

Rachel was very sweet to comfort me by stating, "It's okay to be last, Mom". We sure do love our creative kindergartener! I wish she would sing the song for me on video, maybe I can convince her tomorrow....

It's not every day...

It's not every day that you get to fly on the corporate jet with the CEO of your employer, but Andy got to do just that. I actually laugh every time I think about it. A few weeks ago Andy mentioned that he should just hitch a ride with Jim Turley up to Utah. He knew Mr. Turley was going to be in Houston for an event on Thursday night and then would be flying up to Utah on Friday for a recruiting event at Sundance. Not thinking it was a reality, Andy and his fellow coworkers all booked flights...

Well, on Thursday he got an email saying Jim Turley was inviting the BYU guys to fly with him to Utah and that they would keep them posted. Well, finally on Friday morning (about 3 hours before his scheduled flight) he received an emailing confirming the plans. So, that afternoon I drove Andy to the little Sugar Land airport for his flight on the corporate jet. We even watched him fly over us as we hung out at a nearby park after dropping Andy off.

This wasn't the first time Andy's met Jim Turley, but it's not like Jim remembers him... :) Andy said he could definitely get used to flying on private jets - very nice, no security, and a lot faster. Plus the commute time to the Sugar Land airport is much better than going all the way up to Bush Intercontinental. Andy did have to fly home on a domestic flight Monday night. I guess Mr. Turley wasn't sticking around for the interviews on Monday and had better things to do than get a bunch of guys back to Houston. This was definitely a unique experience for Andy. And who knows, maybe one day Andy will have a corporate jet at his disposal. You never know what life is going to bring...

He's a mover...

When I went to Ian's last doctor's appointment, the doctor commented that I had to keep an eye on Ian because he was a mover. And she is definitely right! Ian loves doing 360s on his play mat. You set him down and he just circles the whole thing...

Ian also rocks his body side-to-side. Every time he does it the girls get so excited thinking he's going to roll but I don't think that's going to happen for awhile yet... I am also surprised at how he has figured out how to move in his woombie. He must move like a caterpillar. Yesterday morning I could hear him over the monitor for about 15-20 minutes just making noises. I guess he was working hard, because he was totally upside down in his crib:

I guess all this exercise is tiring Ian out. Last night he slept 11 hours straight and I actually had to wake him up because we had a 9 AM appointment... I doubt he'll do that again for a long time, but we definitely enjoyed some good sleep last night! It will be interesting to see if Ian crawls and walks earlier than his sisters. We will have to wait and see...

First Field Trip

Rachel went on her first field trip last Thursday to Bayou Wildlife Park. Since being away from Ian for a 5-hour stretch isn't possible, I wasn't able to go. My very sweet friend Veronica sent me pictures throughout the day of Rachel having fun on her field trip. It looks like she survived without her mom! And there will be other years to go with her....

On a side note, I still remember my mom going with me on a field trip in 9th grade. She purposely volunteered to drive to make sure I was one of the students who was allowed to go - I think only 2 dozen kids could go and it was high school, so I'm sure the teacher had around 120 students total. And I thought it was okay for my mom to go when I was in 9th grade, so hopefully Rachel won't grow out of wanting me to go with her too fast either! :)

Anyhow, Rachel had fun seeing lots of different animals. She LOVED riding on the school bus - I think that was the highlight of the day for her. :) She said she didn't touch the pigs because they were stinky, but she was brave enough to pet the goats. I think she mainly just enjoyed going on an adventure with her classmates. It's too bad learning experiences like these can't happen more often, but there are budgets to be followed. Here are a few pictures of Rachel enjoying her day:

Happy to ride a pony:

I guess this was a picture of a mad rush to get out of the pig area: