Easter

We had a beautiful Easter day.  The kids woke up to find their baskets, ate candy and tried on swimming suits, went on an egg hunt in the backyard, and then we went to church.  When we came home we had an Easter dinner together.  It was such a nice day.

Five Easter baskets all in a row.

Checkin' out the good stuff.

Mmm...candy!

Beckham was perfectly content sucking on a yellow bunny peep all morning.  He couldn't believe that this chunk of sugar was all his and no one was taking it away.  He also loved holding onto that Reeses Egg.  The rest of the contents of his Easter basket were generously donated to Dada, mashed and melted Reeses Egg and all.

Time for the hunt!

Searching everywhere!

Doing a final count to make sure no eggs were left behind.

Easter Dinner

Our family after church all dressed up.

The best part of all of the family pictures.  So cute!  I didn't realize until I was looking through all the pictures that Coen and Claire were holding hands in every picture.  Sweet!

Claire's Easter Dress

I finished Claire's Easter dress just in time!  It's been a long time since the ol' sewing machine has been out.  It was so fun to make.  I love how it turned out but most of all I love the reaction I got from Claire when she saw it.  In a very high pitched voice she said, "You made this for me, Mommy?!  A beautiful dress?!  You made this?!  Nice!"  She loves it.  So fun!

The front view.  It has three layers that are gathered.

Side View

Cute little neckline and sleeves.  I had to shorten the elastic big time to fit her tiny little birdie wings.  I made little fabric yo-yo's for the neck and hair clips.

Close up of the hair clips.  I just cut out circles, hemmed around the outer edge and then pulled tight to make the yo-yo.  Of course I had to add a little sparkle, too.

Cute Easter dress Clairey Girl!

Wow!  Cute dress...BAD lighting!

I didn't make her a dress last year since Easter landed on General Conference.  The last time I made her an Easter dress was her very first Easter.  Look how cute and tiny she is HERE.

Easter Eggs

The kids always look forward to coloring eggs.  It's so nice now that they are a little older and can do it all by themselves.  And with eggs for only 69 cents at Aldi, the boys each got to do 10 and Claire got 6.  They were in heaven.

Getting Started

Austin

Dallin

Coen

Claire

Pretty blue!

When Nature Calls

Today when I picked up Coen from his preschool co-op group, they were all out in the backyard playing.  One of the little boys had to "go" and so he did.  Right there in the grass.  Not shocking to me at all.  I've got four boys of my own.  But it did remind me of something that happened a couple weeks ago that I should really write down.

If you remember, our family went camping a few weeks ago.  We were not in a campground and so there were not any bathroom facilities.  Of course the boys know how to do their thing out in the wilderness (or in the backyard) but I knew it might be a little tricky teaching Claire how to go outside.  But she got the hang of it and did just fine.

Fast forward a week or two later and our whole family was at Lowe's in the garden center looking at discount plants.  We found what we needed and went up towards the checkout lanes.  Tory and I stopped for a second to discuss something about our yard and make sure we had what we needed when all of a sudden Dallin told us to look at Claire.  Yes, indeed.  Crouched down, bum out, going number one for all the world to see.  Luckily we weren't quite in line but right next to the line.  I don't know if anyone saw since we were all standing there in our group but I quickly ran her to the bathroom where she finished.  I noticed one of the boys grabbed a handful of bark chips to cover her puddle.  Ha, ha!  Wow!  I've had a few public experiences with my boys (and in fact I know Coen has peed in that very garden center back in the tree section) but I never, ever, EVER thought I'd have to worry about this one with my GIRL!  So funny!  Sorry Lowe's!  I guess you just bring out the nature in my kids.

*And speaking of discounts...did you know Lowe's has a great discount section for their plants?  We never buy anything else since there's always a pretty good variety.  You might have to go back a few times to find something good but at at least 50% off it's worth the wait.  Just a little wilted or outgrown their planter is usually the only problem.  AND...I have just discovered in our newly remodeled Wal-mart that they have a huge section of discounted flowers and plants, too!  Yeah!  I don't know if every Wal-mart (or every Lowe's for that matter) does the discounted section but check your store!

Funny Kids

Staying home with these three kiddos everyday certainly can be entertaining!

Here are some of their latest funny things:

I mentioned in an earlier post that Beckham loves soft things and as soon as he finds something soft he instantly puts his thumb in his mouth and tries to get the soft thing by his face.  Here he found a piece of green fuzzy basket filler as I was trying to put away Easter decorations.  He carried that thing around with him all day!  Even in the car as we ran around picking up and dropping off kids.  So cute!

He is also getting really good at taking steps.  He LOVES it!  So exciting to be so big!

And this little girl...oh my goodness!  She's just packed with cuteness.  She loves singing.  She loves Dora and Diego.  Lately her favorite song that she sings around here goes like this, "Follow the prophet, follow the prophet, go Diego, GO!"  Cracks me up!  

(If you're not familiar with  the song "Follow the Prophet" you can listen to it HERE.  Just push play in the top left corner.  It's a song the children learn in Primary at church.)

And Coco Bean.  Funny little guy.  The boys love to play Harry Potter (as in pure imagination, makeshift costumes, magic wands, totally acting it out.)  Coen is usually Ron because...orange (red) hair...hello!  (That's what he says.)  But yesterday after baths he wanted me to slick his hair straight back because he wanted to look like "Mouth Boy".

OK...first of all, the slicked back hair just cracks me up (it was a little "fluffy" by the time I took the picture) and secondly, I think it's so funny that he thinks Malfoy's name is Mouth Boy.  I had him say it at least 8 times just to enjoy it.  What a fun boy!

Texas Bluebonnets

It wouldn't be April in Texas without a few photos in the bluebonnets.  We braved the outrageous winds and went to our usual spot but they had plowed a big old hole and strip of dirt right through the middle of it!  The flowers were still blooming so we just worked around the unsightly landscape.  A couple of the kids fell asleep in the car on the way there and were not in happy picture-taking moods.  Beckham was happy as long as he was as close as possible to Mama and there were no airplanes flying over us.  I forget how close those airplanes get when you're that close to the airport!  We were so used to it when we first moved here and lived right there.  Beckham was terrified!  Poor baby!  We had the camera on timer where it would take 10 shots in a row and one sequence was so funny.  You could see Beckham turn to see a big plane coming over us and quickly turn around and climb up me trying to hide.  So cute!  But even with half our family not thrilled about being there, we got a few good shots.  Such pretty flowers and boy do I love these faces!

The Family

Austin

Dallin

Coen

Claire

Beckham

(See poor Beckham's face?  He doesn't quite look like himself.  He took a really hard fall that morning and busted open his lip, his nose was all swollen, and his bottom toofies bit into his skin behind is upper toofies.  Poor, poor baby!  This picture took a lot of crazy dancing by Dada to get him to smile.  Scary airplanes everywhere!)

Look how we've changed:

2007

2008

(No Bluebonnets that year but we did get some wildflowers.)

2009

2010

Where does the time go?  That's what I'd like to know.  When I look at each one of these posts it seems like it was yesterday.  How can some of those pictures be from 2007?  And why don't my babies still look that little because that's how I think they still look.  Wow...every time I look back through my blog like this I am soooo THANKFUL that I have it!  It is so FUN for me to look through.  Like looking through a photo album with the stories, too.  OK, this has made me want to do better at keeping up my blog.  I've been a slacker lately!

And finally, one more group of Bluebonnet pictures taken BEFORE I had a blog.  This was our first spring in Texas 2005.  I will always remember these pictures because the next day was when I had my miscarriage between Dallin and Coen.  It was such a sad thing but I still love these cute faces of my two boys.

 Our little family of 4

Austin-3 years old

Dallin-16 months old

Our two cute boys. 

My Garden Box

Isn't it lovely? 

And filled with tomatoes, cilantro, basil, zucchini...getting ready for some good pickin'!

Last weekend we spent some quality family time cleaning up our backyard.  Nice and clean and all in bloom.  Our wisteria has finally covered the entire pergola so we have lots of shade to swing on our porch swing and play outside.  Our backyard is one of our favorite places to be.  We just wish it was a tad bigger.  OK...a really BIG tad.

And speaking of lovely...

...my lovely Claire.  Love that halo of blonde curls she has.

What a happy, wonderful, child she is.

And my handsome little red-headed boy Coen.  They like to help water our little garden in the mornings with me.

Pinewood Derby

A couple weeks ago, April 6, was Austin's Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts.  Tory and Austin didn't have a lot of time to work on his car but they got it finished.  Then at the last minute, the front wheels broke!  Tory had to glue them back together.  Plus they didn't even get a chance to put on the decals that they wanted to make it look like a shark.  They were a little disappointed but hoped for the best.

Here is Austin telling everyone about his car.  It was silver with a shark fin on top and was supposed to have shark teeth along the side.  It was pretty snazzy looking though.

And they're off!  Austin's car is the one in the middle.

Watching the races.

The smile soon left poor Austin's face as his car came in last time after time.  Unfortunately, he stayed after and asked his leader in charge of the race what place he got.  I was hoping he wouldn't do that.  Out of 15 cars Austin got 15th.  He was pretty sad.  He still has his dream of winning a trophy.  He wants one sooo bad.  Any trophy...for anything.  He just really wants a trophy.  His leader, whose son actually won 1st place this year, reminded him that last year his son got very last place and this year he won.  So you never know.  Maybe next year will be his year!  

Good job though, Austin!

Random Thoughts Today

--I saw a mom at Sprouts today with four boys and a little girl and it made me happy.  The boys were going all directions picking veggies out and the mom was calling to them and trying to get them to move out of the other shopper's way and I had to smile because that is my life.

--I love how Beckham loves soft things.  When he finds something soft he automatically puts his thumb in his mouth and then tries to put his face up next to whatever the soft thing is.  Sometimes this is quite a challenge.

--It is getting too hot to run errands during the day with the little kids.  93 degrees today.  The problem is our AC in our van doesn't work.  It broke last summer.  Time to break out the wet washcloths.

--Doing lunges up and down a big bridge is a great leg workout.  I've never had my hamstrings burn so!

--I love my planter box that Tory built me for my birthday.  I've got it all filled up with herbs and a few veggies.  Last night I pinched off a few leaves of fresh basil to throw in my soup.  Delicious!

--Tiny little clusters of grapes are forming on our grapevines in our backyard.  They are only about a half inch long.  I hope they grow nice a big and juicy for us!

--I really need to sew Claire's Easter dress.  I have had it cut out for months.  Now for the sewing part.  I'm running out of time.

--I will be so happy when all of this registration is completed for the Scout Camp this summer.  And may I always remember how difficult it is to round up 20 + people's info sheets, checks, etc.

--Tory and I have been working out everyday.  It's so fun to have someone to exercise with who is older than 4 and can last through an entire session.  First time ever!

--I love the two mornings a week when my friend watches my little ones for an hour so I can go out and run alone.  We trade off.  Two days for her and two days for me.  It is so beautiful outside in the mornings but already getting soo hot!

--I love waking up to the sound of all the birds in our yard every morning.  Last night was the first night that it was too hot to leave the windows open at night.  It was still 89 degrees at 11:00 pm!  I missed the birds this morning.

--It is really going to stink to have to wake up three little kids from naps in 5 minutes to go to Austin and Dallin's Running Club.  Did I mention it's 93 degrees right now and we don't have AC in the van?  Thank goodness there's a park to play on.  That will help tame some of the grouchies.