Covered in Paint

Dad was in charge of this project...

Big Girl Chair

Lainey climbed up into one of our little folding chairs. She sat there so nicely I wasn't even afraid that she would fall out.

This is how she does Peek-a-Boo.

Milk Messages

This is what we found in Lainey's spilled milk this afternoon. First a B for Ben and now P for Paul. What can I say, our milk just loves us. (And yes, I know I have a dirty floor...)

House Progress: It's DRIVE-ing right along

The driveway is in and they are prepping to paint the interior.

The doors are all painted, ready to hang.

We're always so excited when we go see the house;

we can't help but run around a bit.

Wonderful Visiting Teachers

My visiting teachers are great! What a blessing it has been to have them come and visit and stop by. I've learned a lot from them. They brought me this mix of bulbs so that I could take a little bit of them with me to my new house. Yes, how thoughtful!

These were already on the way out when I snapped the picture.

Klepto Boy

Benjamin loves to put things in his pockets. I have caught on and always say that I will check his pockets when I leave any given place, but I forget. Here's a shot of what he has recently put in his pockets (left to right).

1. Percy magnetic train-taken from a friend's house
2. Two mighty machine trucks-taken from my brother Corey's house
3. Five cars -taken from Grandma Z's house; two in one pocket, three in the other.
4. One magnifying glass-taken to church which his teacher promptly confiscated.
5. One non-important key-taken to church which his teacher promptly confiscated...again.

A real life Easter family picture

Ripping out stumps

This year my help in Mom Z's garden is focused on eliminating work. We're taking plants out and putting in more grass, so there's less weeding. Saturday we took out two rock piles that have ceased to be clean and an improvement to the garden. My nephews worked with my mom on one and hauled the dirt where we needed them to while I was working on the other. I was SO grateful when my brother and sister came to help. Corey took out all the hu-mongoid rocks and Shelly directed the taking out of all the rocks that crumble and cause more pain than beauty.

Then my dad and brother, Corey, helped us rip out the stumps lining the garden, used to be bush/trees but have been chopped way back. We thought we were going to have to saw them down to make them more invisible. Not so! They came right along with tele-handler and chain and ripped them out. Oh, it cut our work in half...maybe more than half.

Taking a break

I have already said just how much Lainey loves her daddy. He had to take a break from what he was working on to snuggle his needy little bug.

Yard Work Surprise

We surprised my mom and went out during the day to help in her garden. Paul loves to use the clippers and he helped us for quite a while cutting everything back.

Story Time

It was bedtime and the kids can always finagle more ways not to go to bed. This time, they just had to have a story.

A kid at heart

We're all just little kids at heart, especially Jason.

"B me!"

Benjamin accidentally spilled a little milk this morning and thought it was so cool that it looked like a B for Benjamin. "B me!" He exclaimed.

Rampin' it up!

Paul loved this. He got pretty good at popping off the top.

Looks like Claire might need a little bit of help with her helmet...Great determination though!

Easter Egg Hunt

We were so excited to go to an early Easter egg hunt at a friend's house. The kids had so much fun and then we had a potluck and hot dog roast. Here's a few pictures of all the fun.






They had this really cool digger. Benjamin was NOT happy when it was time to go, but all the other boys were because that meant they could have a turn.

Busy Bees

We have been busy little bees lately!

*I normally hate bees, always buzz-buzz buzzing around your head, but it was fun to take these shots.

Chore chart in action

Ben had unload today.

Tulips Open: Welcome Spring!

Our landlords did such a great job planting their spring flowers. We are now enjoying such beautiful colors from our front flower beds.



I have been so enthralled with the view of tulips from the inside. I think they are so magnificent. Such a contrast! I love walking along the sidewalk and peering down into the beautiful flowers. If you haven't enjoyed this view yet, go do it right now!

On top of the world...

...well that's what it felt like to them.

This is how Paul started out-

Don't touch me Claire!

Then he loosened up...

Now he's ready to play!

Every girl needs a handbag

We visited Grandma E today and she had been working on some very cute handbags. Emma just thought they were so cool and kept begging Grandma for one. Is it any wonder that both of my girls walked out with both of Grandma's bags that she'd worked so hard on? Claire also requested a rope for her head. I think the word she was looking for was headband, but she can't quite get it right. Now she calls it a rubber band. I snapped a few pictures before we hopped (that's for Easter :) in the car. I had a hard time cropping the pictures because I liked how it looked with Grandpa E's neat and tidy flower bed behind them. He's been working so hard.

These shots of Claire just cracked me up. I'm surprised I even got one good one at all. Emma looks great in all of them, but Claire was being silly.

Claire: I'm just so prim and proper...

yes, very proper indeed.

but don't be fooled!