THESE ARE THE DAYS OF YOUR LIVES......: April 2009

Monday, April 27, 2009

Just keep reading....

Just keep reading....reading .....reading! There were so many things to share, it was hard to put them in one post, so there are a few posts to read....so, just keep reading!

Baby toes and the "SUPER COOL DANCE"

I love Savannah's toes! She has to cutest chubby legs and they are attatched to the yummiest baby toes! The rest of her is really cute, too! Just take a peek...

If you have ever been around Eleanor for more than about 5 minutes, you will realize she is a unique child! She keeps us on our toes and makes us realize life is too short not to dance! Here are a few shots of her "super cool" dance....

We love you "super cool" Eleanor!!!!

Yeah, so I couldn't resist showing you the cutest baby and her toes one last time....am I in love with this little girl, or what!?!?!?

Haircuts....

We finally got around to giving the boys haricuts....here is Xander before the haircut.....

And after...he wanted to spike his hair - I think we are going to need to cut it a little shorter on the top, but all the girls loved it!

Here's Garrett pre-haircut...

And after..he had girls with their fingers in his hair today! I can't say that I blame them with those green eyes and cute smile...

I can't decide if they look older with their hair shorter or younger. Garrett looks older, for sure. Xander almost looks younger, though he would hate it if he knew I said that! I am so blessed to have such great boys! They are such a blessing in my life! They are so good to their sisters and just wonderful additions to our family!

When the Larsons came to visit....

When the Larsons came to visit I got to see my sister, Anna, and splurge on new hottie mom sunglasses...Rock on sissy!

When the Larsons came to visit, Uncle John and Eleanor bonded with pink headbands, pink brushes, purple cell phones and powers struggles.....

When the Larsons came to visit, Savannah got to meet her darling cousin, Isabella Dawn, and wear cute matching dresses and show off the latest in baby smiles....

And tears....

When the Larsons came to visit, we fell in love with our little cousin, Bella, and had to take picture after picture of her because she melted our hearts....

When the Larsons came to visit, we dressed the girls in matching dresses...just because!

When the Larsons came to visit, we had gorgeous weather and took some really fun pictures of the cousins....

When the Larsons came to visit, we had a great time! We laughed and played and bar-b-qued and took a walk and did haircuts and laughed and played some more. We will miss them in Germany, but they are off to a new adventure! And when the Larsons come to visit again...we can't wait to have more fun!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Spring Break, Jason's Birthday, Easter and Everything else that has happened lately...

This may be the longest blog you've ever read, but I needed to cover a month's worth of pictures and activities for the family... Bear with me - there really are some cute pictures worth looking at...

Xander had his blue and gold banquet and everyone was to bring a cake - I am proud to say, this one will not appear on the Cake Wrecks blog!

Ok, so he is the cutest little Webelo in the world! He would make Grandpa Butler proud with how much he loves scouting...

SPRING BREAK TRIP TO THE CHESAPEAKE BAY.... Since Xander has been studying the Chesapeake Bay in school, we decided to do some studying of our own. We went to Calvert Cliffs State Park and hiked the 2 mile trail. Eleanor was a trooper and Savannah and the stroller even made it. We had just had a fabulous talk in church about reverence and listening to the stillness. We had the children stop at some point and listen to the stillness...it was amazing. I felt like I was back in Oregon. It brought back so many fun memories of hiking with my family. I taught the kids "echo" -a game we used to play with my dad in the woods when we were hiking. We let them go ahead of us on the trail and then I would say, "echo" and they would answer back, "echo" and we would know where they were. They loved it and I cannot tell you the flood of memories that came back as we walked along saying "echo" to each other. Xander had chosen the blue jay for his report of a native animal of our area for school. We didn't see a blue jay, but we saw so many other cool things....

This was a tree that fell over and the roots were exposed. We had to make our own trail in some areas because of fallen trees.

The coolest thing of all was the beaver dam. We saw tree after tree that the beavers had chewed on. There were some that were almost gnawed through.

When we got to the end of the trail, it was so foggy, we could barely see the water. It was so beautiful! There were tide pools and millions of sea shells to find. We skipped rocks and looked for cool shells. It made me miss the Oregon coast and my family! I have the best memories of the coast trips in the tide pools and the fog and the absolute breath taking beauty of the water!

There were parts that were off limits due to the falling rocks and shoreline.

That night, we swam in the pool - it was Savannah's first time swimming and she loved it!

As you know, I have quite a few creative bones in my body - well, Eleanor has definitely inherited my creative side! She makes things and colors and creates all day long. She made these crowns for she and Savannah and insisted on wearing them all day long. Savannah thought it was so great, though she tried and tried to pull it off and she couldn't figure out how to maneuvre her little fingers up to the crown. She finally gave up and just wore it.

SELLING ROCKS - Xander, Garrett and Eleanor went into the back yard the other day and searched for the perfect rocks. the washed and cleaned them and set up a table on the side of the yard and sold them - yes, they actually sold them! Enough to almost pay for ice cream when the ice cream man drove by! It was priceless to see them negotiate and lure people in!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST DAD AND HUSBAND IN THE WORLD!!!!!

For Jason's birthday, I took him away for the evening and we came back to a closet full of balloons. There were signs everywhere from the kids and it showed that the had worked really hard to make their dad's birthday special. He is the most amazing man. When I met Jason, I had no idea the depth of awesomeness this man possessed. Every day I am reminded of how wonderful he is with his talents, abilities and willingness to be a good dad and father. The children love him and so do I! Happy Birthday Jason! We love you!

GARRETT FOUND THE SILVER EGG!

When I was growing up, we had a silver egg that was full of the best stuff - one time it was $10! It was always hidden in the most unusual places. This year, it had rained all morning and so we had to do the spring egg hunt inside.