Mother's Day Tea

Ethan's class had a cute little Mother's Day Tea for all the mom's.  They sang a song, served us refreshments and gave us a gift.  It was incredibly cute and sweet.  It's so much fun to be on the other side... as a parent :)  I just love that Ethan smiles and winks at me and gives me hugs when I come to see him at school :)

The gift was a necklace with Ethan's thumprint baked into it.... so very cute :)

Updates in cell phone pictures

Swimming with friends at Grammy's pool.  We went two weeks in a row.  This week it's been far too cold.  Hopefully next week we can go again :)  This was the first year we didn't go to Vegas with the Oates.  We were joking that this was as close as we were going to get... laying out at the East Highland's Ranch pool, lol.

 

 Tea parties at the pool are fun :)

 Daddy left work a little early and joined us one day.

Are my kids the only ones who wear rain boots even when it's hot?  :)

 Alayna got to use a rope swing one week at gymnastics.

I have four new rose bushes in the front yard, this is one of them... George Burns.  By the way, our front yard is finally landscaped!!!!  We finished up all the flower beds :)  Now there's just the massive huge area that covers our slope that is covered in ivy.  We won't be getting to that any time soon.  I'll post pictures soon of the front yard.

 He built a chair out of his Tinkertoys, fun :)

 

 We celebrated Baby Jeffrey's first birthday.

 Ethan's cousins came to his soccer game one week :)  I've yet to blog about soccer, it's because I want to bring my big girl camera to the field first :)

 Uncle Jerrod has made it to every soccer game :)

 She loves flowers.  She's always picking them and smelling them.  I let her pick this huge rose and she stuck it in her bike to enjoy :)

 Swimming again with friends :)

 They were warming up in the sun :)

 Fresh hay anyone?  It's a treat for these two :)

 Daddy/daughter snuggles

 My two little crazies after dinner one night

We had the annual Holland Festival last weekend.  The weather was great.  The day after it turned cold and rainy.  The kids had a blast playing games, eating ollie bollen, and they even lasted through three hours of the live auction!!!!

 She loved these guinea pigs and turtle.  Truth be told it made me miss my piggies.  I think I have enough animals for now, but know that it made me want to get some :)

 Bounce house fun

Instead of a french braid I have mastered this twist.  It is super easy and I've been doing it a lot on Alayna's hair.  Now i need how to do a regular french braid!

Tea Party for Kendall

Alayna got to attend a little tea party celebrate her friend Kendall's birthday this week.  It was so cute and a lot of fun to have just the little girls together.  She had a great time and was so excited to do something that was just for the little girlies.

Our newest Family Member

I had been wanting to get Cupcake a friend for a while, and so this past week I got a new little bunny.  She is a dwarf rabbit.  I was a tad nervous because I didn't know if they would take to each other since they are both female, but it was instant friendship.  I think it helped that the new bunny was a baby, and Cupcake is still young.  They are always together in the cage, snuggling or laying next to each other or eating together.  It's pretty cute.  Cupcake seems happier as well.  We kept with our "sweet C" theme and named her Cocoa since she is darker.  She actually has a super sweet personality, and I think she's more people friendly than Cupcake.   Apparently once bunnies bond, they are bonded for life and really love each other.  I guess everyone needs a friend :)

This was only two hours after bringing her home :)

No Training Wheels

Ethan is now riding his bike without training wheels.  It happened rather spontaneously.

 Last year we took the training wheels off and he freaked out and refused to ever try again, so we put them back on.  Lately he has been riding and not even using the training wheels (which were loose), but balancing so that they weren't touching the ground.  We asked him after dinner the other night if he would like us to take them off again, he said yes, and off we went.  Matt took off the training wheels, and Ethan hopped on and flew around the driveway.  No wobbling at all. He was a maniac.

It was such a fun moment.  One of my favorite parenting moments.  The pure joy on his face, the giggles, the proud feeling... magical.  We all giggled and delighted in his accomplishment. Moments like those will stay in my memory forever :)

Easter Through the Years

A few people asked me to post a picture with our annual family picture on Easter at my mom's.  Here we are, every year since having kids :)  Every year is in front of the same rock, except the first. Kinda fun.

Easter Re-Do

Since the Flores family was in Mexico on a mission's trip for Easter, we did not get to celebrate with them.  We have made it a yearly tradition to celebrate Easter together at my mom's.  We decided to have an "Easter re-do" at our house.  We made some amazing baby back ribs, and had a nice BBQ.  The weather was perfect and we enjoyed being outside all afternoon.  We of course had to have our annual picture with all 8 of us, it's the only time a year we take one!

Johny striking a pose

Jolene made Alayna another super cute dress up dress :)  She loves to wear them.  It's a good thing her Auntie Jolene can sew, because I can't! ;)