Fieldtrip to the Fire Station

With our neighborhood preschool this year we would do field trips once a month.  One of the favorite ones was a trip to the local fire station.  They were actually on a call when we got there so we had to wait a bit but the kids enjoyed watching a short video and touring the different fire trucks.

Happy Birthday Whitney!

This year for her birthday Whitney had asked for a pedicure, to go to a play, have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and have a surprise birthday party (whose kid is this?). Not all her wishes were granted but she seemed to have a wonderful time nonetheless. We surprised her the night before her birthday by getting a babysitter for Jonas and the rest of us going to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at the Children's Theater downtown. She had been on a field trip earlier in the year to see "Ferdinand the Bull" which she loved so she was excited when we walked up to the theater. She had also recently read "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" so she was excited to see the play. The theater is pretty small and the stage is set to make it very interactive with the audience so the girls both really enjoyed it. The next day after soccer games she invited 7 friends to come over for a baking party. They each got their own apron and chef hat to decorate. We made individual pizzas and they had to follow a recipe to make smoothies for their dinner. We then celebrated with birthday "cake". This year Whitney requested cheesecake so we made a chocolate truffle cheesecake that the girls each got to decorate their slices with their choice of toppings. The girls all had fun but it was a bit hectic for me to manage it all and as such didn't get many pictures of all the fun.

Snowy spring

We've had a really snowy spring this year. These pictures are from our back deck on April 30th. We even had a few skiffs of snow in May including Memorial Day. It makes it real hard to get a garden started with snow so late!

Easter

The kids got to celebrate Easter a few times this month with egg hunts and the Easter bunny coming in Arizona and again at home on the actual day. The Easter bunny was tricky this year and left silly poems about having to find their baskets hidden in the house.




We also had a fun week doing activities all week long learning about the Savior's last week. Hopefully it helped the kids to remember what Easter is really about. Here they are watching "The Testament" with Jim.



We attempted to take some pictures of them in their Sunday clothes but this was as good as we could get and a shot of the girls in their outfits they got from the Easter bunny.

Happy Birthday Jonas!

Little man we love all your crazy antics and glad you keep us on our toes every minute of each day! He loves balls right now so we made him a basketball cake made from cupcakes.

A new kind of Easter egg hunt

All our kids have known up to this point has been great spring weather come Easter time with egg hunts usually taking place in warm weather attire. Well this year was a different story. Our neighbors and myself decided to put on a neighborhood Easter egg hunt this year to get to know more of the kids in the area. We chose to do it two weeks before Easter as Spring Break preceded the week before Easter and many families would be out of town for that. We had planned to do it rain or shine as there really wasn't any other good days to move it to in case of inclement weather. The weather report had shown a chance of snow but with no accumulation.




Well snow it did for three days and it all stuck. There was 6+ inches on the ground and more was falling. We really hadn't planned on the weather being what it was but the kids all enjoyed it nonetheless. They came dressed in their snow clothes, participated in a few activities in the warmth and dry conditions of the garage while waiting for all to arrive, and then it was a mad dash to find the eggs hidden in the adjoining yards.




We did move the 0-2 age group indoors for their initial hunt but the rest were not slowed by the conditions. It made it easy to hide some of the eggs as we'd just drop them in the snow. I'm sure we'll find a few once all the snow melts. We had 40-50 kids show up and I'm sure there would've been more if the weather was better. Maybe it will have to be a new neighborhood tradition.

This is how you get all the marshmallows...

Jonas found that somebody left a box of Lucky Charms out on the table and decided to take advantage of the situation and fix his own breakfast. He did great at pouring it into the bowl but just didn't stop once it was full. I think he thought he hit the jackpot with easy access to so many marshmallows. He was happily picking them out of the mound of cereal when caught.