Easter

We didn't do Easter in quite the right order. We did celebrate Easter on Sunday, we did have a Family Home Evening lesson about Easter prior to Sunday, and we boiled the eggs and bought the coloring kit, but didn't color the eggs until Tuesday after Easter. The kids had a great time, loved coloring the eggs, and absolutely loved wearing the Easter dresses that Grammy (my mom) made for them.

Spring School Pictures

Taneal and Camie brought these pictures home from school yesterday. Wow! They are growing up!

The Bluebonnets

All growing up I remember my mom taking us out in the spring and getting pictures in the fields of bluebonnets. Last year was my first time to see the bluebonnets in full bloom and have children of my own. I was so disappointed when it was too cold to get the pictures. I promised myself that the following year I would not let that opportunity slip past. It was also funny to me that I cared so much about it. Well, this year we were invited to Troy and Becky's ranch which is out where all the bluebonnets are in bloom. I packed up the girl's Easter dresses (thanks to my mom for making them) and we headed out. I was able to finally get the bluebonnet pictures of my children! Of course Spencer fell asleep on the drive, and did not want to wake up, thus the crying pictures of Spencer.
All the cousins out at the ranch: Tyler, Danielle, Austin, Audrey, Camie, and Taneal (and Spencer not shown in the picture)

Crab Fishing?

Wouldn't it be fun to turn this . . .
into this?

Well, we thought it would be fun trying. So, we headed down to the beach , and tried this . . .





and this is what we caught.



We had a lot of fun. The temperature was in the 60's, but with the 25 mph wind, it was cold. The water was warm, so it was fun to put your feet in, until you had to take your feet out. Then, it was so cold you had to put them right back in again.


Taneal was the only one to catch a crab. We tried crab fishing by tying a chicken leg to the end of some string and throwing it into the water. Everyone had a crab latch on, but the bringing it out into the net was a little harder. Even though it was very cold, we had so much fun. All the kiddos were such a good sport! We ended up just letting the crab go back into the ocean since we had only one.

St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday in our family. We start out the holiday the Eve of St Patrick's by decorating small treasure boxes and putting them outside under the light of the moon. If you do this the leprechauns have to fill your box full of treasures. There was success again this year. When those girls woke up at 6am they acted like it was Christmas. I finally let them go downstairs and see if they had treasures. I could hear the excitement as I stayed in bed and tried to go back to sleep. The leprechauns left them green t-shirts, green lip gloss, green fruit roll-ups, and other small green stuff and some coins.























I didn't notice that Danielle had her eyes crossed in this picture until I put them on my computer today. What a silly little girl!

I started off the menu with green. Here is what we ate for the day. I did no prior shopping so we made due with what was in the house:

breakfast: green malt-o-meal

green milk

lunch: green macaroni and cheese

kiwi

cucumbers

supper: green brown rice

chicken (I thought it might turn out pretty disgusting to color the chicken green)

salad

green beans

green gravy

green Kool-aide

Everyone was a pretty good sport, with a few exceptions. Spencer loves his milk and when he saw me filling up his sippy cup with green milk, he grabbed the lid and ran and said, "want water!" Danielle didn't care so much for the green rice and kept trying to say, "I want white rice." You should try saying "white rice" out loud. It is kind of hard to say.

Is it summer already?

The temperature reached above 80 degrees so Evan decided it was warm enough to get out the little pool and let Danielle and Spencer play in the water. As you can tell from the pictures, they quite agreed. Those two little kids know how to have so much fun. They played and giggled and had the time of their lives and it didn't get old. Wouldn't it be great to have the enthusiasm and vigor of little children? Okay, I could do without the saggy diaper!

Spencer and his trike

Spencer has gotten really good at riding his trike. The other day Evan said he was going to go with Spencer to get the mail. Well, I stayed outside because the sun was finally shining and it was a beautiful day. You should have seen Spencer take off on his trike. He took off ahead of Evan and Evan could barely keep up. Spencer was so fast and steered the tricycle so well. I was shocked. The only problem was Spencer can't use the pedals. Either that or he won't use the pedals. Take a close look at the picture of Spencer by himself. Evan finally took some wire and tied Spencer's shoes to the pedals so that Spencer would have to learn to use them. Evan tried to get Spencer to use the pedals and finally tied a jump rope to the handle bars and took Spencer for a walk with his shoes tied to the petals. When they returned Spencer was ready to have his freedom to ride the bike the way he preferred. Evan won't give up. This is his little boy and he is determined to show him how to ride the proper way!

Soccer Season Over

Taneal has her last soccer game Saturday. She loved playing soccer last fall, especially with her Aunt as the coach and her cousin playing on the team. When Becky signed up to coach again, Taneal was so excited and really wanted to play. She played a great season and was even referred to as the "monster" because suddenly she had all this aggression and really went after the ball. I didn't know Taneal had that in her. It was fun to see it come out and watch Taneal have a great time playing the game.

Not only was Becky her coach, but her cousin, Audrey, and her friend from church, Samantha, were also on the team. Hopefully Becky will decide to coach in the fall, but if not maybe Taneal and Audrey can try a different sport. Maybe baseball again or gymnastics.

Time Out

In our family, "time-out" means standing in the corner. Spencer has seen his sisters stand in the corner many times and has recently spent a little time there himself. I took this picture because Spencer did something he knew he wasn't supposed to and put himself in the corner. How cute is that?

Spencer's hair

Spencer's hair has been a battle between Evan and I for a while. I guess it all started with Evan finally getting a son. Spencer's first Easter came and I made dresses for all the girls and was feeling bad because I hadn't made Spencer anything. Evan told me he had let me mess with the girls and dress them up all these year, I was not to mess with his boy. Maybe that comment was from the Easter tie I made for Evan a few years ago that matched the girl's Easter dresses. He wore it to church and didn't complain!

When Spencer finally started to get hair and it was growing too long, I decided to cut it. I have been cutting Evan's hair since before we were married, so I figured I had 12 years of experience and didn't think anything of it. Well, as many of you know, babies do not hold still when the clippers are put to the back of their head. I gave Spencer a quick haircut and thought I did a fine job, considering all the movement Spencer was doing. Evan disagreed.

The next time Spencer needed a haircut, I decided to put the longest guard on the clippers to do the top of his hair. I thought the spikey look would be cute on Spencer, but not quite a buzzed look. I thought the haircut turned out okay,a little shorter then I wanted, but still pretty good. Evan completely disagreed and was not happy. He said I was not to touch Spencer's hair again.

Well, five months passed and Spencer had not had a haircut because Evan wanted to give it to him. My little boy was starting to look like a girl. Evan said the back could use a little trim, but I was not to use clippers. So, I used scissors, wet his hair, and trimmed his neckline. Yah, he looked butchered! If I could have just used the clippers I could have done a fine job, but I was following instructions. Again, Evan was not happy. I agreed to leave Spencer alone. Evan agreed to give him his next haircut.

That haircut lasted three different sessions, each a week or two apart, and Spencer came away majorly butchered and a tongue covered with hair and belly full of hair. Evan agreed that it wasn't as easy as he thought and maybe I had done a decent job.

So, today I decided it was haircut time again, and in five minutes I gave him this hairdo. I think Evan must have traumatized Spencer because as soon as I pulled out the clippers, Spencer started crying and complaining. M&Ms somewhat solved the problem and this picture is the results. Not perfect, but good.

Danielle and Lindsay

I've posted a picture of these two cute girls before, but I never put any kind of explanation. Lindsay is Danielle's super great friend. Lindsay is the daughter of a good friend of mine that lives in the same subdivision with me, giving Danielle and Lindsay a lot of time to play together, especially while older siblings are away at school. I am amazed every time the two get together because they play so well. They rarely fight and play for hours on hours and never want to go home. Their favorite thing to do together is put on make-up and play dress-ups. The two just disappear upstairs and play. My children have had many friends play and after a while it grows old or they start to fight, or it turns into babysitting, especially when they are three years old. We love having Lindsay over. Lindsay is a big part of Danielle's life whether it is at our house or Lindsay's. It is great to find good friends for your children who come from a home with the same standards as ours (And Lindsay's mom is fun to hang out with, too).

And they wonder why we love Texas

Last week was open house at the elementary school. Of course it was one of the moments where I forgot my camera. I love open house and seeing the excitement in my children as they show me the projects they work on. Evan went with Taneal and I went with Camie. I was so delighted as I saw Camie's projects. They were all about Texas! We went on a scavenger hunt around her classroom and she showed everything to me on her check-list. She showed me the Texas songs they were learning, the Texas craft projects she'd made, the Texas computer programs she'd been working on, the Texas stories she had written, and all the Texas facts she had learned. I was so proud! Although I am not always satisfied with the schools, I was so happy they were helping to teach the love of Texas that I learned growing up in Texas schools.

A Day at the Zoo

I finally got Evan to go to the zoo with me and the kiddos! We have only had one-year zoo passes three different times in the last eight years and he still has managed to not go. In fact, today he said that this was the first time he has ever been to the zoo! When he was on his mission he went to a wildlife park, but that has been it. We had a great day, the weather was great, and the kids were tired by the time we finished seeing all the animals they wanted to see.

Spencer especially enjoyed the elephants and the reptiles. While he was watching the snakes he started moving his tongue like the snake! 1 1/2 is such a great age.

I didn't get great pictures, but the ones I got will do. For some reason when I ask Spencer to smile for the camera, he closes his eyes!

I guess they do pay attention

I always wonder as a mother how much influence I really have on my children and how much they watch me. Well, the other night Spencer suddenly hopped off Evan's lap, ran to the bathroom and pretended to throw up. I missed that one and the three times he did it after that over the next few days. Well, I finally caught it on video. I guess Spencer has seen me throwing-up quite a few time over the last two months and thinks that that is just what you do!

Taneal's Birthday

Taneal turned 8! It is great to be 8! All she wanted for breakfast was donuts, instead of the cinnamon rolls I offered to make. I was grateful for her decision. For lunch she didn't want us to visit her at school because she cries when we leave. So, Evan picked her up early from school and took her to get an ice cream, only she wasn't hungry so she didn't get one. They went and got balloons. That night we had Troy and Becky over for a family party. Taneal wanted enchiladas for supper and she doesn't like icing, so she didn't want me to decorate a cake for her. She wanted her cake frosted with whip cream. I was getting off easy with everything!

For a gift we got her scriptures with her name engraved and a carrying case and a hymn book to match. She was very excited. Becky got Taneal such thoughtful gifts: a card making kit with assessories, a High School Musical shirt to wear while Taneal sings and dances to the movie, and new soccer shin guards. Taneal didn't like the ones she had., so she was very appreciative.

Taneal also was given the option to not have a friend party and just go out with a friend. So, Saturday night she and Bailey (her best friend from school who also had a birthday last week) went to a ceramic art shop and painted. Bailey's mom came because we were also celebrating Bailey's birthday. After two hours of painting, we went out to dinner at Chili's. It was a fun night and a great way to celebrate Taneal's birthday.

President Hinckley

I know many have posted about the passing of our beloved prophet, but I would feel ungrateful to not post it to my blog as well. He was a remarkable man and will be missed. I think it hit me of his passing when I was looking through a picture book that I made with Spencer. In this book was a picture of President Hinckley. I pointed to it to tell Spencer his name, and realized this sweet man is no longer here with us. I knew President Hinckley. He touched my life and helped me be a better person, a better mother, and a better wife. I am so grateful for a living prophet and that even though this great man will be missed, our Heavenly Father will not leave us without guidance and direction. He will give us another prophet who we can follow. And I think of the reunion of President Hinckley and his wife. What a glorious reunion.