Potluck Pics

Get ready for some randomness of photos in no particular order over the last month and not at all relating to one another! Just wanted to get them on here for document sake :)

Andrew and Cousin Jacob spent Good Friday swimming and putting together a massive K'Nex roller coaster. I caught the finished product!

That same day the girls (Lexie, Avery, Brenna, Grace, Ava and Ari) had a fashion show. Only Avery let me get her in character!

Apparently Avery is now our family dog!

After dentist appts a few weeks ago, the kids and I enjoyed lunch with Jared at Firehouse Subs.

Avery has been watching too much Enchanted lately. She claimed one day that she ate a poison apple and fell in a deep sleep until her prince comes to kiss her...haha!

Andrew and Lexie made Avery and Aidan a ship out of a plastic bin, complete with a multi-colored flag and took them sailing :)

My little fashionista Avery is picking out her own color trend combos and dressing herself! She saw herself in the mirror one day and said "Look mom, there is three Rie's!" Haha...silly girl :)

Whenever they get the chance, I have shopping cart driving buddies :)

Totally Got Talent!

We are so proud of our Andrew! He tried out for the school talent show yesterday which is a big feat for such a shy kid! I was very surprised he wanted to do it, to put himself out there and audition...all by himself! We couldn't help but support his coming out of his shell :) Andrew played the part of "Color Me Wonder," the artsy jokester and he got to display his favorite free-hand drawings. He is so good at drawing, his teacher was all for Andrew trying out for the show and nudged him in the right direction. Only a limited number of kids will get into the hour show, so we hope Andrew's act was different and fun enough to get him in there. He got quite the laughs during the audition he told us and didn't stumble :) Most other kids are dancing, singing or playing instruments. We are dying to know if Artistic Andrew made it in...Friday morning can't come soon enough!

Update 5/4: We got the great news we wanted to hear today. Andrew made it into the talent show! He was recognized as a participant at flag ceremony this morning in front of the whole school and received a certificate for trying out. When the finalists names were read, Andrew was the second one called! He was very excited :) Andrew will get to perform his act two more times. Once for the actual talent show in a few weeks and another time for the whole school to see it. We are so happy for Andrew!

Big Boy!

Our baby boy is growing up :( We just put him into a big boy car seat and he is just loving being able to look around and to see us! Aidan is exploring the world of real food and cautiously partaking in it. Hopefully he will be a bit more interested soon. Aidan will not leave his diaper on for anything anymore! After a bath or a diaper change it is a race to get his pants back on before we see a little baby behind running away! Silly stinker :P It is so fun to see all the new things Aidan is learning and the fun personality he has with a contagious smile, but we aren't ready for him to be a toddler yet. We need more baby bonding!

Simply Sprinklers

I'm glad the simplest of things can entertain my kids! I bought them a geyser sprinkler a few weeks ago and they are just loving running through it several times a week. They come up with a whole imagination of things while they are out back playing! I must say...having a landscaped backyard has got to be one of the best perks of our current house! We so did not know what we were missing before with a dead-to-us backyard! Lexie even discovered that our plastic pirate ship that we have had forever has it's own sprinkler on it so now we have even more sprinkler splashing. The kids are pretty much outside every single day enjoying the play space, grass and now the water wonderland! Aidan just lights up when the back door is opened for him. He definitely is a backyard boy! We don't have a pool, but simple sprinklers are the next best thing to us :)

Totally Twinsies

It is fun to dress your girls alike every now and then! It usually isn't planned, through hand-me-downs and things we buy at different times we occasionally discover that Lexie and Avery have the same stuff. When being dressed the same happens, it is always my chance to get a photo in of my totally twinsies! This time it was some Hello Kitty Cuteness :)

Flexie Lexie

Apparently doing some dance, tumbling and gymnastics classes have made Lexie quite limber. She has become our "Flexie Lexie!" Foot over her head, feet touching her head, almost splits...where did this flexible kid come from? Looks quite ouchie to me!

Soccer Siblings

Andrew and Lexie are in the middle of their soccer season playing on the same team for the Barn. Despite their teams hardships of winning games (they have many new-to-the-sport players), they are both having a blast playing and improving their own soccer skills. It is hard at times for them to not come out with a win, especially for Lexie who came from an undeated team, but they are respectful of their team mates and have good sportsmanship :) Poor Andrew had a bit of a mishap in one game when he got his feet kicked out from under him and he landed on his forehead and bent back one of his pinkie fingers. That made me hold my breath for sure...not fun to watch! Thankfully he was okay with no broken arm, just a scraped bump on the head and a bruised pinkie. Andrew fought back the tears and kept on playing, keeping up his will to play well. I was afraid he would hold back to not want to risk the chance of getting hurt again, but he got in there and pulled through...atta boy :) Andrew and Lex make us proud every game when they give it their all and they are the two main players to get the ball down to the other team's goal. Andrew scored the team's only goal a few weeks ago and Lexie always gets so close every game. Andrew is right there too! I love seeing them enjoying playing a sport so much, it looks like we will be in soccer for the long haul!

Super Student!

Andrew was picked as the March Student Of The Month for his sixth grade class. He was excited to finally be picked in his last year at BFCS. He was recognized at the morning flag ceremony in front of the whole school and was individually doted upon by his teacher as being her "Wonder" student for his writing and artistic abilities. Andrew got a certificate, bumper sticker and a "Wonder" note that Ms. Boyer had written about him. He was beaming from ear to ear! We are so proud :)

Egg-Cellent Easter 2012

We had a wonderful Easter this year, full of fun activities and spiritual devotionals. My thanks to Pinterest for making this year's holiday our best yet!

The week of Easter we had several FHE activities focused on Christ's life, atonement and resurrection. I felt so strongly about having an Easter centered on Christ and I think I accomplished that :) We did our annual Resurrection eggs lesson, added a new lesson about Christ's life through a "Find It" basket, watched the Lamb Of God and even made Resurrection rolls on Easter morning and read scriptures. I felt the spirit so much this season and I think the kiddos did as well! They were asking to do FHE nightly :)

For the fun stuff, we dyed Easter eggs-the girls made marble eggs and Andrew dyed and painted Angry Birds eggs, we had a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt with egg filled compliments, and two egg hunts with grandmas for candy treats. Then of course we had a visit from the Easter Bunny...well for Avery and Aidan. Andrew and Lexie have finally wised up to the fact that there really isn't a magical bunny running about sneaking in goodies! Glad they are okay that it's just good ole mom that does the holiday hopping :)

Aidan seemed to enjoy running around with all the other kids in his first year of egg hunts. He put a few eggs in his basket, dumped it back out, sucked on a few, then repeated the cycle all over again! Oh well...it really isn't about the candy for a barely one year old anyway. It's all about the experience! He has only gotten a few tastes here and there of the candy goodness. Aidan was much more in tune with the Goldfish, Teddy Grahams, cookie sticks and play remote he got in his Easter morning basket. Right up his little alley :)

The kids were thrilled with their Easter baskets, gifts, sweet treats and all the egg hunts equalling to a definite candy overload! Good thing there is a mom and a dad around here that will steal a candy or two...haha! We treated ourselves to a little Easter basket too. When you are the Easter Bunny, you do what you want!

Easter FHE

Dying Eggs







Glow-In-The-Dark Egg Hunt











Aidan's First Egg Hunts




Kids Egg Hunting






Easter Morning





Resurrection rolls