The Greatest Picture in the History of Ever

Just Stuff

Someone got shaved for the summer!  Our guy is great- he doesn't make her look stupid.

EJ had a great end-of-year project. The kids learned all about marketing, manufacturing (cost/profit) and etc. Then they made an item to sell. They had to determine price, create digital and print advertisements.  Then they saw how much profit they made based on the cost for producing.  She came up with the idea to make yarn dolls and did them herself. 

I love that this girl still loves to wear princess dresses. This is her "castle" she put together one day. She and Bear each had "rooms" that they made up.

Happy to say that the produce boxes from Bountiful Baskets are still going strong as the favorite toy in our house with all children of all ages!

Every Party Needs a Snake...

Way back in May, we spent a Saturday whipping our back porch and yard into shape. To celebrate, we invited some friends for dinner and ice cream.  One of my friends has a really tame, awesome snake. EJ was in LOVE.  She is the most patient and cool snake, and my friend wears her all the time.

Bear Stuff

Bear had a lot of fun while the Sissies were in school. He likes to hang out with (and pester) the animals.   But I agree that Ollie is a PERFECT place to store your coinies. He's so old, fat, and lazy that he doesn't move much!

I was very happy that Bear's tendency to scream hysterically at every bug (or shadow, or fuzzy...) was short-lived. We now have a full-fledged bug hunter- even if he is one that won't touch a bug...

He got his very own hunting kit from the Dollar store to help him find bugs.  For all that TX seems like a buggy place, we didn't have much luck on our hunt. I guess we need more practice. Luckily, potato bugs are plentiful and fun to watch!

Mini-Texodus, April 2014- Easter Party Fun

It was so much fun to be able to celebrate a holiday with our Grandma and Grandpa and cousins! The kids got to decorate (and eat!) a LOT of eggs this year. Grandpa is surprisingly serious about his egg-coloring, we learned :)

On Saturday before Easter, we went to the Easter party at Smiths. They close off aisles and scatter candy around and then kids can come and pick it up. It is separated by age group, and Bear totally killed it in the 1-3 category.  He had so much candy he could barely lift the basket :) 

It was a good thing he got so much, because Sam and EJ didn't get much- I don't think they were aggressive enough to push other kids over for some taffy. Bear was happy to share his loot with everyone.  Janie did pretty well, too and was very generous with her bounty.  After donuts and milk at the store, it was time to head back to Grandpa's for an egg hunt!

Aunt Cyndi had the great idea of color-coding the eggs and she was a really good hider. The kids had fun finding them all over the front and back yards. 

Each egg had money, candy, a prize OR a special "pick a prize" paper where they could pick from Grandpa's toys and other cool prizes. Best Easter party ever!

Mini-Texodus, April 2014, Part 3

Grandpa planned a big day of adventure while we were visiting! Aunt Cyndi took her kids out of school for the day and we went to the Tracey Aviary AND the new Aquarium! It was so awesome.

 The aviary is about a million times better than what I remembered from my childhood and really worth a visit! It was fun to just focus on all the different types of birds that you sometimes pass over at a zoo. They have a lot of interactive areas for the kids, too.

This crazy old man picture is just because we inherited my parents Great Horned Owl picture and it is hanging in our library. We have named the owl "Sheldon" after Dad and we dress him up for Halloween (the owl picture, not my Dad...).

After the aviary and a picnic lunch, we all went to the brand-spankin-new aquarium. It was really crowded, but still super-neat and well worth dealing with the crowds- even though some of the tanks weren't occupied yet. 

These pics were taken just before EJ told me that she wanted to explore with just her, Sam and Grandpa. Well, then. Birdy, Janie, Aunt Cyndi and Thomas went off as a group so that is why you don't see any pics of them!

Bear LOVED the jellyfish. We probably spent a good 15-20 min just watching them.

EJ is pointing out one of my favorites- the cuttlefish!

They had a ton of seahorses. They were really interesting to watch.

The "shark tunnel" was really neat. You could see the sharks gliding all around. Bear thought that was pretty cool!

Mini-Texodus, April 2014- Part 2

My favorite part of visiting UT is watching my kids get to hang out with their cousins and get to know their Awesome Aunts and Uncles better. We miss our family so much because we are far away. It is such a treat just to "hang out". As an added treat, my kids got to go eat lunch with their cousins Sam and Thomas at school. Their school lunch is awesome and WAAAYYY better than what my kids get!  The girls thought it was cool to see a different Elementary.

We were all excited that Aunt Cyndi's house was Kittenpalooza!  These babies were so fun to watch and snuggle. I had to seriously remind myself that 3 cats and one doggie are too many furbabies!

Aunt Cyndi really knows how to do holidays. She boiled up a ZILLION eggs for the kids to color and they had a great time together!

Sam wanted to know what it would be like to throw an egg at a house, so cool Aunt Cyndi let all the kids throw a (boiled) egg at the house :)

April- General Confrence is the Best Weekend EVER

 

We love Conference weekend! The kids make their "nests" and we all snuggle down for our spiritual and literal feast! I was so proud of the kids this year. They sat quietly and listened to all 4 sessions.  The fact that they got a candy for every new speaker didn't hurt ;)



The critters love Conference weekend, too. Ollie makes a handy pillow and Rosie thinks the nests the kids build are just for her ;)

 

We ate really well this Conference weekend :O)  I experimented with a couple Kolaches recipes. The second one I tried was a winner! We also had the ultra-addicting Conference crunch and yummy banana bread. I can't wait until October!

Mini-Texodus, April 2014- Part 1

 The kids were so excited to go on a "Big, Big Airplane" for the first time that any of them could remember (EJ and Birdy took flights as babies).  They were so cute rolling their bags through the airport!

Our gate was by a big window where we could watch planes take off and land. It also had a ramp where passengers got off their planes. Bear sat and waved at everyone that got off their planes. It was a fun people-watching opportunity to see who would wave back or smile at the cute kid welcoming them to Dallas :)

Getting ready to go! EJ was lucky because she got her own seat across the aisle!

When we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house, the local Smiths had a petting zoo with tiny week-old baby mini-goats. They were so cute I was trying to figure out how to smuggle one back to TX!

We learned Aunt Jenn is a pro at rainbow loom. She showed both girls some new tricks!

I took the girls to Temple Square in SLC to hear The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Broadcast. It was so cool! It was in the old Tabernacle, so that is always special. They had the orchestra and they sang selections from Handel's Messiah for Easter. It was really neat and the girls enjoyed it in spite of themselves... 

 After the broadcast, we toured the Conference Center. Our guide was great and took time to point out the great artwork throughout. The girls thought it was so cool to see the place where they watched General Conference just a week or two before!

We were so excited to see SNOW when we got back to Grandma's house!

The kids loved helping Grandpa take care of his plants. We helped clean out the garden for spring!

 Grandpa took us on an adventure to see the trains! Birdy was bored, but Bear and EJ thought it was a lot of fun!