My Little Model

Emily got her picture published in the Little Rock Kids Directory this month. They came to her class at Gymboree to take pictures for this month's issue summer camps listing.

UGH!

Today is the day. The day that you walk outside and it hits you, like a ton of bricks. Humidity. YUCK! That means it is here, summer and it will be humid all day every day until that glorious day in mid-October, when you walk outside and you once again can take a fresh breath of cool crisp air. Until then all I can say is UGH!

To Do List

We got some of our "to do" list done this week. On Thursday morning Eddie got another truck load of dirt to fix the tire tracks we made hauling dirt into the backyard. He leveled it and then seeded it. Hopefully it will grow. I am glad that project is finished.

Then he spent all day Saturday building the shed that we will use for our food storage. He had two great helpers: Brian helped him in the morning while I took Emily to a birthday party at the zoo, and then I helped him in the afternoon, while watching 6 kids under 6. So we had a busy weekend. Eddie is almost finished building the shed, he just needs to put the doors on. Then he is going to caulk and insulate it. We are also going to light it and put in a window air conditioner.

The finished product...

Emily went Olive's 3rd birthday party at the zoo on Saturday. Olive is in our ward at church, and is in Emily's class at Gymboree. It was a really fun party, and a great idea.

"Hanging Around"

"Just Monkeying Around" These are the hats they got at the zoo.

They got to see a few animals up close and personal.

They got to find candy buried in the pool

The cool zoo cake.

Riding the zoo train.

Girl-Friends

Hultz, ?, Emily, Elle, Olive, Lilly, Teriny, Cannon

So why did I have six kids on Saturday afternoon. Well, on Friday night, Eddie and I went out to dinner and a movie (Red Lobster, Yum! and 17 Again, Fun!) while Jenna watched our kids. Then on Saturday she wanted to go shopping. So that is the reason for the extras. It works out well to swap kids, and saves money too!

Spring Here Yesterday, Gone Today

Well Spring has sprung, and now it is gone. Today it is summer. The high today in Little Rock was 90 degrees (a record). Ugh! I am probably in for a long, hot, sweaty summer. We let the kids put on their swimsuits and play in the sprinklers. The first day of many more to come this year.

Pictures

Brian can fall asleep anywhere, and sleeps like a rock.

My sleeping princess

Two sleeping princesses


Grammie and Danielle


The kids waiting for Grammie at the airport

Who is that baby in the mirror?

I am a cutie pie.

I am a dinosaur.

Emily playing make believe.

Hey, let me see that camera.

A day at the zoo.

Meet The Cousins

Eddie's sister Tracy and her husband Ken and their 4 kids came down to visit for their Easter break. I first met their family when Eddie and I got married in 2002 this is what they looked like.



My kids have never met their cousins. Tracy brought the kids to visit when I was pregnant with Brian. We have seen Ken and Tracy a few times since then but they haven't brought the kids. So my kids have never met their cousins.

Emily has been Kayleen's little tag-a-long, and they both love it. Paul has had a great time entertaining all the kids. He loves just sitting and holding Danielle, rough-housing with Brian, and entertaining Emily. Nathan entertained the kids at the park, and enjoyed playing with Brian's cars and trains. Kendall even got into the action and let Danielle pretend he was her pet and pull his hair. He also helped get my iphone updated, and installed custom ring tones, now I am so cool! It's great having a teenager around to help with a the technology. Someday (hopefully not too soon though) Brian will be doing all that stuff.

The weather was perfect to play in the sunshine, just what the Canadians needed.

Playing Hide and Seek

They won't find us here.

Brian is more interested in watching Aunt Tracy fix the trampoline net.

Brian, Kayleen, Danielle, Emily, Paul & Nathan

7 Months

Maybe my blued-eyed baby?

Wow...with all the excitement surrounding Easter, I just realized that today Danielle is also 7 months old. She is sitting up well, and even catching herself when she starts to fall. She is becoming more verbal, I am sure she has said maaa maaa, and today she was saying daaa daaa. She is becoming more opinionated about things that she wants, and cries if we take something away she can't have. She is also very aware of her mama, and if I am not holding her and she wants me, then she will cry when she sees me. She also has more separation anxiety about being put down, when she would rather be held. But overall she will still play very well independently for quite a long time.

However her most impressive skill is that when she meets someone, and they are saying hi, she will raise her arms to "wave". At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but she did it yesterday at the park, and today when Nana come over. She is so smart!

This is her new dolly that the Easter bunny brought. She loves hair and plays mine all the time, especially while she is nursing. She also thinks it's fun(ny) to pull Emily's hair. We hope this dolly helps. Here she is chewing on it. P.S. Emily would not share any of her dolly's so we had to get Danielle her own.

Happy Easter

We had lots of Easter festivities this year. It started on Friday, when Brian's school class did an egg hunt on the front lawn. Each child got a zip lock bag, and could "find" 5 eggs. I am not sure if Brian was a little overwhelmed or just being polite, because when all the eggs were gone, Brian's bag was empty. Mrs. Odom then collected eggs from other kids that had a hard time counting to just five, and "re-hid" them on the lawn for Brian to get. Fun times! Just for the record, I did not send my son to school in a suit jacket, he had to borrow one from dress-up, because he didn't get to school with a jacket and it was a little chilly outside.

Did they hid any eggs in this planter?

Brian's bag is still empty.

Mrs. Odom saves the day!

After school we went over to our friends house to color eggs with them. We had a great time trying to make camo eggs, using way too much glitter, and accidentally cracking them.

On Saturday, Katelynn, a friend from school had a birthday party at a park. It was the perfect day, warm, sunny, and not windy as it had been the rest of the week. It was a great idea. The kids played on the playground, had cake and ice cream, planted a flower and then did an Easter egg hunt. The whole family enjoyed the day.

Ice cream and cupcakes, with red punch. The best part of a birthday party.

Hunting Easter Eggs

We also took the kids to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D Saturday night. The kids enjoyed the movie, and did really good. We must have worn them out, because when we got home and went to bed, they were asleep almost immediately.

Sunday morning, Brian woke up bright an early and came to our room to announce the Easter Bunny had been to our house. The kids opened their baskets, played with their toys, and ate some of the candy before we even got out of bed. About an hour later Brian looked out in the backyard and noticed that the Easter Bunny had put eggs in the backyard. I haven't seen him and Emily get dressed in such a hurry to go find the eggs. Good thing we did the egg hunt early because it started raining about 9:30am and rained for the rest of the day.

The Easter Bunny left a Hot Wheels Track for Brian, My Little Pony Unicorn for Emily, and a brown hair, blue eyed dolly for Danielle.

Brian spies a blue egg on the swingset.

Emily finds a yellow egg on the trampoline.

Next year, I think we are going to do a Spring Celebration, where we will have candy, egg hunts, egg dyeing, baskets, and bunnies. Then on Easter Sunday we can focus on the religious aspects.

Artichokes

Growing up with parents who were both raised in California, it is not surprising that I learned to eat and like artichokes. I never thought that my ultra picky son would ever in a million years try an artichoke. But in the last year he has begun to expand his eating horizons. He will now eat peanut butter and jelly/honey sandwiches. He orders a chicken sandwich (no pickles) at Chick-fil-a, he mixes spaghetti noodles (no sauce) with the plain hamburger meat. So we are definitely making progress from his early eating years.

But artichokes? Well they look like a prickly cactus plant, and you eat the leaves. Wait maybe that is the draw, it looks like something you shouldn't eat. And you get to dip the leaves in butter, lots of butter! Anyway, he forgets what they are called but he asks for me to buy them. And then he eats the whole thing including the heart. He definitely keeps me on my toes, and keeps surprising me, never a dull moment with Brian around.

Finders Keepers

This weekend was our first camping trip of the year. We went to Crater of Diamonds State Park. We didn't get a chance to go last year, since I was pregnant, and not feeling too well most of the season. So we were a little rusty on our packing skills, and we forgot a few things, but we had the essentials, and we made a list so the next trip will be smoother. I did make a reservation, which was a good thing because the campground was full for the weekend. The campsite was beautiful, the bugs were few, and the weather was perfect. I was cold the first night, but no one else seemed to mind. The food was pretty good. It takes some small adjustments to cooking on a propane Coleman stove, so the bacon was char-grilled the first morning. We also made potatoes, burgers and hot dogs, and of course the kids favorites, smores. Overall, the trip was a success.

Our tent

Brian sitting by the fire

I picked this area because it is located near a diamond field where you can hunt for diamonds and whatever you find you get to keep. The 1.09-carat D-flawless Strawn-Wagner Diamond was found here in 1990. I thought Brian would love to dig in the dirt looking for "rocks". But aparently digging in the dirt looses it's appeal when your parents actually want you to do it. So playing in the mud puddles became the activity of choice. So our diamond hunting adventure was short-lived and unsuccessful.

Eddie even put up a tarp over the dining area

Danielle, it was a little bright outside

Emily enjoying her favorite pastime, eating