Spring is a Wonderful Thing

My big boy turned 6 in February. We had a very fun "Scientist" party for him, complete with blue ice fog, explosions, slime, and other experiments. The kids loved it!

Look at those muscles in action!  We love pinatas at our house! I think we started a birthday tradition when we made one for Sadie.

I have loved helping out in Michael's kindergarten class this year. Here's a snap of our Valentine's party.

Monkey Man --This kid has inherited all the climbing prowess of his father. He loves climbing trees, monkey bars, and anything else he can clamber up on. And he's very proud of himself for doing so. 

This is Joseph enjoying his first "solid" meal at four months. He's come along way since then, and now enjoys a variety of pureed fruits and veggies, and even rice puffs on occasion. 

He loves swinging at the park and doing anything outside.

He loves his siblings, and they love him, as you can see. They never seem to get tired of cuddling him and trying to make him laugh and smile. I love how loving they are!

During Spring Break, my nephew and neice, Cole and Kylie, came for a visit. We did fun stuff every day and had sleepovers at night. (Switching off with my mom, we did boys night or girls night almost every night.)  The picture above is on a boat tour of the Port of Houston.  We also played at parks and went to the rodeo.

One of the funnest things was a tea party at Nana's house. Almost all the girls in the family (sorry Megan and Emma, we missed you :(   ), enjoyed a fancy, frilly, feminine fete.

Nana planned, decorated, and cooked everything, and it was beautiful! The girls loved it!

Ever since we moved into our house, the kids have wanted to have a camp out in the backyard. They also loooove going out on the balcony in the front. So, I let them combine the two and camp out on the balcony. They didn't actually sleep out there; I think they lasted about 20 minutes after I tucked them in. (I didn't plan on them actually staying out there, which is why I let do it.) But they had fun bringing out all their sleeping gear and setting up the "tent." Maybe we'll try it again next year.

I let Joesph join the fun while I set up the tent.

We had a lovely Easter at my cousin Charlotte's house. It was so good to see everybody. This has turned into our annual family reunion.

Our neighbors, the McCanns, brought this Easter cake over for us. --It was sooo cute and sooo yummy!

Sadie is always a delight. Here, I think she looks like pictures of Lisa, Matt's sister, when she was young.  Maybe a little?  And I always love the clothes combinations she comes up with. Very nouveau.

She's always eager to please and help around the house.  Last week she volunteered to clean the windows for me. What a sweetie!

Ada is Ada. 

She is learning to help around the house (she loves peeling cucumbers and potatoes for me)  . . . and is starting to show signs of growing out of the "terrible twos." I was starting to worry if fickleness, flightiness, and fighting-ness was a permanent part of her personality. But I am breathing a sigh of relief in the hopes that she will yet grown into a gentle, empathetic, and rational young girl.

Our ward (church) had a daddy-daughter dance a few weeks ago. The girls loved getting all dressed up for a date with their dad.

Matt is such a wonderful man -a kind husband, loving father, and a whiz at Excell.  We finally bought him a new car last week. After months of careful research and plugging numbers into an Excell spreadsheet, he finally decided on (drum roll please . . . ) a 2012 Honda Civic: dark gray, with leather and a sunroof. And it gets nearly 40 mpg. It's going to cut his gas bill in half.  He loves it!

Our first day at the pool . . .  Here comes summer!

This is our current science project. (I'll spare you the pictures and explanation of our adventure with petri-dishes and household germs.)  We found two caterpillars in our garden and have watched both of them grow from teeny-tiny to long and plump. In the picture, you can see one has already turned into a chrysalis. The other one did as well a week later. We're still waiting for them to emerge as beautiful butterflies. . . .  I hope it actually works.

Michael received this beautiful charm from his Sunday School teacher as a birthday present.  A certain sibling liked it so much she started playing with and, whoops!, lost it in the abyss under our pantry shelves. It's hard to explain how they're set up, but I had a one-inch gap through which to "fish" for this thing laying flat on my belly juggling a flashlight and a little wire hook. It took a while, but I managed to rescue it from 40 years worth of filthy, dust-bunny build-up.  The irony struck me hard. Families are meant to be forever; and they are worth every effort to rescue and preserve.

I am so grateful for my own family. I love them more than words can express.