play ball!

We went to our neighbor, James' baseball game this evening.

The kids enjoyed playing in the school playground while Phil and I watched the game. We made sure to call them over to watch when James was at bat.

AWANA Awards

Last Wednesday night the boys received their awards for working so hard this year in AWANA.

Could this be? Caleb will be in Sparks with his brother next year.

The girls decided to wear their princess dresses so they could cheer for their brothers. They'll both start Cubbies in Septemberl. So, with all four kids in AWANA next year, I'm thinking date night!

more pictures of gramma's visit

I can't even count how many games of checkers she played the boys!

We spent lots of time out in the front yard riding bikes, coloring with sidewalk chalk and playing on the lawn. I'm so thankful we had several sunny days last week!

This is Gracie's invention. She worked very hard on it.

A Special Visit from Gramma

Gramma came to visit us this week! The kids worked on "Welcome Gramma" signs Monday morning, and then we were off to the airport to pick her up. We stopped by Sonic for lunch on the way home and then drove by Phil's school to see if we could find him. We were able to catch him on his lunch break, right as he was going back inside for class.

The kids "helped" Gramma unpack her suitcase, since she mentioned in the car that she had surprises for them. Poor Gramma...she hadn't even taken her coat off before her suitcase was raided. It doesn't look like she minded though.

Lily's New Bike

One of the reasons Gramma came to visit was to purchase a new bike for Lily. She wasn't ready or interested in having one when Gramma and Grampa visited for Thanksgiving. Recently she told us, "Gramma is going to come and buy me a Dora bike." So Gramma came. :) How could she not?

Phil had lots of help putting it together.

We pushed the kitchen table back and let her ride it around the house the first night.

But the next day, she was outside bright and early on her brand new Dora bike!

Polka Dot Pottery

Caleb and I went to Polka Dot Pottery last Sunday afternoon. He chose to paint an alphabet cup. He painted the cup yellow, and then asked me to paint the "C" black. He wants everybody to know that "C" stands for Caleb.

Didn't he do a great job on his cup?

lilac craft

last year's blooms

I keep forgetting to take pictures and post about our Friday Preschool. Here's what I have planned for today:

We'll make paper lilacs using purple paint, straws, green pipe cleaners, green construction paper and white tag board.

You can probably figure this out by looking at my terribly dark photo (sorry). We'll use straws to dab the paint onto the white tag board, which, surprisingly takes awhile. I always love it when kids' crafts last longer than 5 minutes. Sometimes it takes me a very long time to prepare these crafts for my kids and then they finish lickedy-split!

Here are a couple of fun books that feature our very lovely lilac flower.

In Bunny's Noisy Book, I'll have the kids make the sounds that Bunny hears or makes. In Little Green, I'll have the kids use their fingers to imitate what Little Green, the hummingbird, does in the book (flying high and low, zipping, darting, starting, stopping, looping, etc.).

Picnic Dinner

Phil had to miss dinner tonight, so we decided on a quick, easy dinner of BBQ hot dogs, watermelon and chips.

"Mom, I thought you said this was a seedless watermelon!" The kids didn't take a liking to the little white seeds in our seedless watermelon.

Still thinking about those seeds.

Jared prides himself on being able to eat his watermelon down to the rind.

Gracie, too, was not quite sure what to make of the white seeds in our seedless watermelon.

Here's Lily showing off her watermelon "lip gloss."

a new post

Hope you haven't been holding your breath for frequent posts. When we see the sun, we head outdoors and I never seem to remember to take my camera with me. For those of you who are interested, here's what we've been up to:

• All four kids had dentist appointments last Wednesday. Last year the girls had to stay with me in the waiting room while the boys went back to have their teeth cleaned and checked. They were very excited to "go back there," as Gracie calls it. They did great! Both girls chose cookie dough toothpaste for their cleanings. I'd like to know where I can get some of that!

• Yesterday we went to Mobius, our children's museum here in Spokane. I'm proud to say that I parallel parked for the very first time--and without embarrassing myself! When we got back to the car, we had 2 minutes left on the parking meter. All in all, a very good parking day for me. :)

• This morning we headed to the library for our weekly library day. Lily likes to go to Story Time. Before heading to the library, we stopped by the Re-Grand Opening event at a local grocery store whose roof collapsed this winter. We can sympathize. Remember this? Besides amazing deals, they had games, prizes and cake, but no parking or shopping carts. Jared was so sweet--as soon as we pulled into the parking lot and saw the chaos, he prayed for a parking spot and a shopping cart. Right after his little "Amen," someone pulled out of a parking space that was right next to a cart corral!

Until next time...

a little bit of sunshine

Look at my sweet girls with their bright, cheery smiles.

off they go!

It's amazing how quickly our lawn changed from snow-covered to brown and then to green. Hooray for the sunshine! We love being outdoors again. The girls have gotten the hang of pedaling around on their bicycles. It's fun to watch them.

This little one looks like she has places to go!

School Days

Phil started his Spring Quarter this week. This will be his last quarter to complete the didactic portion of his P.A. program. He'll have the summer off, and in the fall he'll begin his year of working rotations in various hospitals and clinics. He's worked so hard...we're all so proud of him!

The kids have been working hard, too, learning to read and write and share, etc. Here's a picture of the boys playing "The Swamp Game." We spread out Phonics cards on the kitchen floor and the boys race to retrieve cards as I call out what we call, "special sounds." If the boys walk on any of the cards, they're automatically out. This is how I keep my cards in good shape.

The girls have Tray Time in the morning. Lily is using Dot Markers to mark eggs with the letter "B." I must mention here that this is Lily's current favorite outfit, which she tries to wear daily. If it's starting to look familiar, now you know why. I just realized she's wearing it in almost every picture I post...just didn't want any of you to think that we're in need of clothing for our children.

Happy Easter

I'm not very good at taking pictures of all four kids at once. This is the only picture I took before they opened their baskets and it's terribly blurry.

Our morning started very early when Jared came into my room and asked, "May I get up early since Mary went to the tomb early on Easter morning?" (I think he saw his basket in the living room).

I'm pretty sure I smiled the whole time I watched the kids open their baskets. The girls' baskets were actually bicycle baskets...so fun!

Lily wanted to try out her new Dora toothbrush. Do you like her new apron? Costplus...$4. She's been asking me for one for about a year now.

We had a quiet Easter this year. O.k., maybe it wasn't really quiet. What I meant to say is that we stayed home and enjoyed the day together as a family. We decorated a bunny cake, had an egg hunt and a candlelight dinner. Another highlight--Jared lost another tooth in Sunday School today. That makes seven.

Hope you all had a blessed Easter!

we can play outside!

No more snow! It's so nice to see our driveway and sidewalks again. We've spent the past three days riding bikes, playing tag, and drawing with chalk.

Lily is so proud of our Dora creation.

Here's our yellow boy coloring with yellow chalk.

And here are a few pictures of my cute little artists...