Mommy and Me Day

Last Thursday was "Mommy and Me" day at Libby's preschool.  I was so excited to take time off of work and go spend the morning with my little angel in her class.

 Libby and I working on our craft.

 Showing me some of her number tiles she likes to play with.

Then, the took all of us mothers into the social hall and served lemonade with cake and fruit.  What a fun morning to spend with my little school-loving cutie!

(One main thing I learned from the whole experience - we've got ourselves a talker!  Yep, Libby liked to have a comment for everything the teacher said - all on-topic and cute, but she definitely likes to be heard.  Hmmmm...I wonder where she gets that from! ;)

Swimming Lessons

Libby started swimming lessons this week and she loves it!  She's gone four times (and has four left to go) and is really doing great.  She is jumping in off the side and swimming to her teacher, floating, and diving (from a step, not the side) to find "treasures".  What a cute little fish!

 All set and ready to hit the pool!

 Her teacher, Miss Barb keeps the pool at a nice 90 degrees, so Libby really loves it!

 Zeke and Libby waiting for their class to start (Ian was out that day, but it's the three little buddies all in a class together - so fun!)

 Lexi enjoying the view from the sidelines.  (On Libby's first day, Lexi went for a swim herself - in full clothes, and unintentionally, but she's been better since!)

The eager little beaver and her teacher.

Hoedown Time

As a part of the Stake Primary board, I got to help put on our Stake's annual Daddy-Daughter night.  This year it was a hoedown theme and it turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself!

 Sporting my duds - complete with a real gun and holster, too!  Yep, call me crazy but I brought a real gun to a church activity.  Hey, if this were Texas, that would be totally normal! ;)

 My big project was making the "wanted" posters of the bishops and stake presidency. I went around and took all their pictures in ruffian attire and had them each pick a fun nickname.  It was a fun project and I'm pretty sure the girls loved it!

 My pardners in crime - the Stake Primary Board.

Showing our wild side!

It was a ton of work, and totally exhausting while it was going on (mostly because I was in charge of the "bean bag toss at a stack of cans" game and to spend the whole night on my hands and knees picking up and re-stacking cans - whew!), but a raging success!  So much fun!

Train to an Angel Game

Last Friday we decided to take the train to an Angel game and had a great time.  It was just our little family and the girls had so much fun showing Daddy the ropes on the train!

 Whenever we've taken the train before, Brad has always just met us there, so it was fun to have him as a part of the whole experience.

 The girls did a good job 'cuz he's sold - no traffic to battle, a nice ride with a totally different perspective, no paying for parking, and no gas...not a bad deal, eh?!

 We had cheapo seats, but that's half the fun, right?!

 The weather had been super hot, so tank top dresses were perfect all night long!

 Someone is in cotton-candy heaven! ;)

 Ooohhhh....so is someone else! Gooey, sticky mess - they loved it!

The game was fun, but ended up being a pretty long one.  It wasn't over till 10:30, and the train doesn't leave till a half hour after it's over.  So, by the time we got home, it was almost midnight! And, wouldn't you know it, the girls never fell asleep for a second! They were wired the whole time.  I think Brad's face says it all for how the two of us felt by the end of the night.  Exhausted, but a super fun night!  And, by the end of the game we had the girls straightened out - they had started the night cheering for the Cardinals the whole time (whom we weren't playing, it was just the last baseball game they went to), but they're back to Angels pride now! ;)

Easter

Easter with little ones is the best!  They are so excited over just about everything, it's awesome!  Have I told you lately how much I love being the mom of these two adorable girls?!  Yeah, I'm 100% convinced there's nothing better!

Libby showing off the girls' presents from the Easter Bunny.

 I love candy!

 And we all got awesome hand-made cards from Grandma...with money - woo hoo!

Her cards are seriously amazing!  You have to see them to believe them - they're each a true work of art. And, if you know Diann at all, that should not come as a surprise at all!

 We made a special breakfast of "Resurrection Rolls" to remember that empty tomb and that Jesus lives again!

All dolled up and ready for church! (Lexi, too, but she was busy running around like crazy.

Family Easter photo

 Dinner at the Stewarts - yummy!

Wow!  I love this picture!  Such cute girls with such a gorgeous Grammy!

My parents with all their CA grandkids.

Another post-church family picture. Brad decided to change, but at least he matches, right? ;)



 Then it was the annual money-egg hunt that my parents do...always a big hit with the kids! 

Look at all that dough!  Summer was the big winner this year!

Thanks for a great Easter, everyone!

Brad's Birthday

The day after we got back from our trip was Brad's 35th birthday.  Yeah, he's that old!  As many of you know, planning is not one of my strong suits, so throw in a trip right before and leading up to his birthday, and it's a recipe for one dud of a birthday.  However, some last minute thinking on my feet (and awesome friends and family that are always ready to party) landed him a pretty fun birthday party, if I do say so myself!

 We had everyone over for egg dying and cake and ice cream.  The kids were the first to get in on the action.

 Jen was in heaven holding baby Sean.

 

 Some of the men chilling outside on the patio.

 Lexi got in on the fun with Grammy's help.

 What a fun group of egg dyers!

 The moms and kids.

 I think she's sold on the whole experience!

Yep, that's right - 35!  I didn't have time to make Brad's real favorite - Black Forest cake, so he settled for Funfetti with white frosting.  Not nearly as exciting, but that's what you get for a last-second, thrown together birthday!

 Brad was excited to get some new clothes (and socks! - his favorite).

 After the kids cleared out of the "art center" the men took over and made some pretty cool eggs!  Hard to see, but they ranged from an eyeball to a chick breaking out of the shell to spiderman.  Well done, men!

 Some of the girls showing off our masterpieces. 

That night we got to ditch the girls with my parents and go on a real date night!  Woo hoo!  We grabbed a quick dinner and then went to the luxury movie theatres - Cinepolis.  What a treat!

Easter Egg Hunt

My parents invited the girls to their ward's Easter Egg Hunt the day before Easter and boy were we glad we went - it was GREAT!  The girls had a blast and got all hyped up on sugar - the perfect Easter pairing.

 We started off with a yummy breakfast.

 Then it was hunting time!  Libby all set to go (sporting a sucker that someone dropped in each of the kids' baskets before it even began and made it quite hard for Lexi to focus on anything else!).

 And the "hunt" is on!  I love that little kids don't even need to "hunt" - just pick them up out of the grass and they're as happy as can be! ;)

 What a cute little egg seeker.

 Buckets full and ready to go check out the loot!

 They were each able to get 10 eggs, and wouldn't you know it, Libby decided she had to eat the contents of all 10 eggs before we left the party! ;) (Notice Lexi is still going to town on that sucker and refused to let it out of her hands for even a second!)

 The girls.

 After the kids did their Easter Egg Hunt, the men all did an egg toss competition.   It was pretty fun to see 100 men out there tossing eggs at each other!  Go Pops!  They had a run-an-egg-on-a-spoon game for the women, too, but my mom and I both finished dead last.  Turns out grace is not our gift! ;)

Evidence of Libby's candy devouring escapade!

Thanks for the invite, Grammy and Pops - it was super fun!