Spring Walks & Swimming Lessons

The weather on Sunday was so lovely we went for a walk around the neighborhood. 

Many families were out enjoying the sunshine. 

Macy and Isaak started swimming lessons this week. It's a two-week, six-lesson course. They were so excited they counted down the days till they could start.

Even Tessa and I sat in the baby/wading pool while they had lessons. She loves the water. :)

We're so happy Spring is here! 

Pirate Princess

elise has amblyopia in her left eye (lazy eye)... so she gets to wear a patch after school for a few months. this will hopefully encourage her left eye to work harder at seeing and correct the issue. so, to help her feel less self-conscious about the patch, she chose a cute kitten eye patch for us to order. we're hoping it will work in the few hours she wears it so she won't have to wear it all day at school. she's still pretty worried about it and doesn't like how difficult it is for her to see without her "good" eye. but she does like having a cute patch to wear instead of a regular eye bandage!

elise dressed tessa up with a bunch of jewelry and stuff the other day. and then tessa rode off into the sunset on her rocking horse! (elise's bangs are in her eyes cause she decided she wants to grow them out. ) :) elise sure does love her baby sister!

Monkeys at the Zoo

Monday was GORGEOUS. We took advantage of it and went to the zoo with Emily, Rachel and Zeke. It was lots of fun and we look forward to many more zoo trips this summer! 

They have a fun new carousel to ride. Mean mom that I am, I made the kids decide whether they wanted to ride the carousel (an extra $1.50 each) or get their allowance for last week. Kaleb and Elise chose the allowance, Macy and Isaak chose the ride. I had already spent $80 on a family pass, so was a little tight that day. Maybe next time I can splurge for them all to ride, since I won't have to pay for tickets. We only stayed for about two hours, but we still had a good time and got some good exercise!

Easter Fun

We had fun decorating eggs on Friday. Here is a fun slideshow with pictures from our Easter dinner with my parents. The silly "Rabbit salads" look more like mice to me. :) I made bunny rice krispy treats for the kids to decorate. Gpa, Rob, and Brandon hid some eggs for the hunt. The kids all got a few pieces of candy as well as a chunk of change (also courtesy of Uncle Brando). They had a lot of fun running around the yard. Gma also had a fun little sack for each of them with a couple of small toys and treats in it.

The kids and I watched "The Testaments" on Sunday. We came home from church early cause Robert had a migraine, so I decided that would be a good way to pass the time. The kids have seen it before, but they asked lots of questions while we watched and it was good to discuss the movie with them. Such an excellently done film. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.

The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd

Lemon Meringue Pie

My sweetheart turned 31 this year. So here are 31 things I love about him: 

sweet - caring - gives the best hugs - devoted father - kisses like Christmas - supports me in my endeavors - encourages me to be a better person - non-judgmental - rational thinker - talented musician - writes beautiful poetry - huge heart - knows how to be silly - hard worker -

loves the Lord - teaches our children - stands up for what is right - makes me laugh - holds me when I cry - serves with love - helps out around the house - will talk to me for hours - has a creative mind - doesn't mind when I talk for hours - has a sweet smile - loves my cooking  - loves our children - has many varied interests - will do anything for me - compassionate and tender hearted - loves me!

Rob likes lemon meringue pie once a year on his birthday. Here he is right before enjoying it. :)

Good thing my dad likes it too. Thank goodness for Marie Callender's... I think Robert had a nice birthday. We love you babe!

Little Miss Roly Poly

This was Tessa about three weeks ago. She had mastered the art of rolling, army crawling, and going from sitting to tummy.

Here is Tessa today. Two days ago she figured out how to do this. That time when I was grabbing the camera she stood up, so here are the pictures of that...

And here are a few more pictures of the cute little stinker. Time to baby-proof the house!!

Cute Kid Stuff

I forgot to post these pictures...

A couple of weeks ago Macy and Isaak were playing "Polly Pockets", and the Polly's decided they were moving... from the bedroom to the living room, apparently. This is how the Polly's roll...

in the Target car-moving semi that Isaak got for Christmas! Every Polly had her own compartment to sleep in on the journey.

Isaak is so cute with Tessa. Every day since Macy has been in Minnesota he plays with Tessa. He even knows what her "favorite song" on our recorded digital piano track is... he says it's "Spring" by Vivaldi.

Kaleb and Elise had Parent/Teacher conferences last week and they are both doing really well in school. Here they are with their teachers. 

Kaleb & Mrs. Hoffman

Elise & Ms. Davis

Elise likes to help with Tessa whenever she can. Here she is trying to feed Tess rice cereal while I make dinner for the rest of us.