family pics and sand dunes

this past weekend i talked a friend into helping me get some family pics. i've had a spot picked out for almost a year and it finally came together for me. i got quite a few really good ones of the children as well. we had a lot of fun and are planning a return trip to the pic site to look for toads and bugs; fun! fun!





we also went to the sand dunes last saturday and had a great time with my side of the family. it's wesley's little slice of heaven because he can dig where ever he wants and no one (mostly mom) is telling him to stop or NOT THERE! Fiona and Ian had a great time playing in the sand as well. Fiona is still learning to share with her cousin Malachi (and Milo and brothers and almost everyone else for that matter) but she really enjoyed all the yummy treats that were brought. She is quite the candy fanatic if we aren't watchful. Ian and I tried to hunt for lizards but the little critters were faster than lightning after having warmed up all morning in the sun. Lydia loved it because she was almost constantly held by someone and that is truly her idea of a good time. Mick turned out to be an amazing bug finder as well. He found an antlion, a mole cricket and lots of grubs. I was so excited about the antlion, I've never seen one alive before. so we brought it home and i'm hoping to keep it alive long enough for it to pupate; wish me luck.

joy

these are the beautiful flowers that my boys gave me for mother's day. i am so happy being a mother and feel so LOVED!
I have been so blessed by the wonderful examples of motherhood and womanhood that my mom and mother-in-law are for me. I am excited for the day when my own daughters are able to experience this great joy of motherhood for themselves and i hope that i am a good example for them to look back on. as daughters of God we have such great potential and he has given us the choicest responsibilities. motherhood is joy.

vaulting

we enrolled ian in a vaulting class and he is loving it. he just started a few weeks ago, but has really caught on fast. i am so impressed with his upper body strength, he can pull himself up unassisted onto this towering horse. i couldn't do that. that boy's got muscles!!

hello tooth fairy

wesley has lost his first tooth!! i just can't believe he's getting old enough to lose teeth, sometimes it feels like just last year when he was getting them in. he was pretty excited about it, he tells everyone he pulled it out. we sprinkled the coins from the tooth fairy with 'fairy dust', but he was just excited about the money and that he gets to pay tithing now.

fancy new shoes

Ashley, this post is for you. I just had to post this pic after Fiona picked out these shoes. Like mother, like daughter. I knew you'd get a laugh out of them (there were green ones too, but none in my size. so sad)

lydia

ice cream cones are a new favorite, we haven't filled them with icecream yet and i'm sure that will give us a whole new world of laughs when she experiences that for the first time.

playing outside

these are some of our favorite things to do outside and we are so happy that spring is here.








wesley has a new obsession for worms, centipedes, rolly-pollies and other creepy crawlies found under rocks and in the dirt. he's fascinated with these lovely little creatures and we finally share a common interest so i've been encouraging it as much as possible (as long as he's not digging up the grass or flowers)

our easter

new easter outfits for church: our little ones are going to be such heartbreakers


we played at grandma johna's classroom where the biggest hit was fitting in the cubbies (unfortunately, most of the pics i got of our easter egg hunt at my mom's didn't turn out because of the lighting). earlier, we had a egg hunt at grandpa and grandma denie's house.













coloring eggs with the kids didn't turn out as messy as we had imagined and they turned out so fun.




here's some fun pics of our easter. we had a lot of fun with family, but it wasn't the most spiritual easter and i really regret letting that opportunity pass.

my darlings

these are some new pics i got of the children. it was so fun to sit them all together and watch them interact. everyone loves lydia. fiona is protective of lydia, ian likes to make her laugh and is very good at it, wesley likes to poke her 'fat wittle belly'.