Mother's Day

This was the first year Samantha understood the idea of Mother's Day. We had a mother's day "brunch" at her preschool where she and I got to sit down and have some yogurt together. She also painted a canvas bag and gave me a plant. She was SO excited to give them to me and kept telling me, "Mom, I just love you so much. You are the best mom." It was sweet and made me so happy to have her.  Then in primary she drew on a canvas poster that I can hang on my wall. It was so sweet because I could tell how much time and effort she put into both presents. She also wrote me numerous cards and kept telling me that I was the best mom in the UNIVERSE. How could it get any better than that?

My sweet Paul didn't get it at all...However, I knew I was loved because he cried every time he had to leave my side. Oh how I love those two little people!

Samantha and I before our brunch. She REALLY wanted to wear her very, most nicest dress, and wanted me to dress up as well.

Easter

Easter was different this year than we've done in the past. I have always wanted to do Easter baskets, egg hunts, etc. on Saturday and then have Sunday focus on the Savior. Not only does it help us focus on why we actually have the holiday without taking away some of the fun traditions, but it allows for things to be a little more relaxed. This year that didn't work out. It was still pretty low key and we didn't do a lot but we did fit it all in on Sunday. Hopefully next year we won't have such a busy weekend and we can do it the way I planned.

I was pretty proud of my Easter baskets. I have just started couponing and so I was able to do their entire basket for $4 each.  That included bags of M&M's and a stuffed rabbit for Samantha (extra chocolate for Paul). It was a really nice day, although we all commented that it wasn't the same without Mom and Dad around.

Samantha in her new Easter dress (thanks Stacy!)

Paul with his new tie

The best picture I have of them together, you can actually see both of their faces...that is about all it has going for it though.

What the rest of the pictures look like...

Fairy Wings

Paul fell asleep with Samantha's fairy wings on awhile back. He had been wearing them all day and we made him take them off before bed. When we went in to check on him, this is what we found...

Adam figures this will be great bribery in a few years.

Just Because

I thought I'd post a couple cute pictures of the kids. Samantha LOVES wearing skirts or dresses. Every day. It doesn't matter what we're doing or what the weather is like, she wants to be in a skirt. It usually doesn't matter, but if it's freezing or we're going to play somewhere where she'll be climbing and jumping I try to talk her into pants. Usually the only way I'm successful is if I make some type of deal. This is just one day where she was wearing a skirt and wanted me to take her picture. What a cute girl!

Paul is my "tough guy" and likes to show me his muscles. For awhile almost every picture I took had him making these faces. If you look close, you can tell he is trying not to smile. Despite being a boy, he wants to do everything Samantha is doing, but in his own way. If she is playing kitty, he plays too. The only difference is that he'll be tackling you while he is meowing. He doesn't seem to appreciate it going the other way. If you tackle or hit him, he is the first try cry. Adam's trying to teach him to "play with your muscles and not with your feelings."

Baby Girl

I am so late in posting this that I am sure everyone knows that in August a little girl will be joining our family. Samantha is SO excited to have a little sister and even Paul will kiss me and say "love you baby." They have had fun looking through the clothes and Samantha loves it that a lot of the clothes used to be hers. Paul has tried to donate some of his outfits as well, but that won't work quite as well, especially since they are size 3T. When we were looking at the clothes Paul would hold up different dresses and say "Oh, cute baby." We can't wait!

Chicago Part II

Our second week in Chicago was a little busier than the first. We had Adam there and so we went and did a little more. The first stop was the Naperville Children's Museum. The kids and I had been there a couple times over the years visiting Kelle and they had just as much fun this time as they have in the past. I think their favorite part was the water play area, but they all ended up SOAKED. Poor Alyssa was absolutely drenched. My kids spend a fair amount of time playing in the water and being wet after so they weren't too bothered.

Paul in the music area

My sweet girl

It's typical that she found whatever animals were present and turned them into a family.

Paul was pouring water all over himself (like I said, they were soaked)

We were lucky to have a few warm days while we were out there so the kids were able to play outside. One of those days we went to the park and then over to a river to throw rocks. There was a little play thing at the park that was a dolphin. Samantha thought this was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. We have at least 10 pictures that she took of the dolphin. Every time she sees the picture she'll tell me, "remember that dolphin, wasn't it beautiful?" Throwing rocks in the river was a lot of fun for the kids too. The part we stopped at happened to have some shells in the water. Since Kelle and I told the kids they weren't allowed to go into the river they spent the majority of the time trying to fish out the shells with sticks. It proved to be quite the experience. Andrew told us after that he thought the shells meant more because he'd taken the time and effort to fish them out.

All the cousins before church

One of our favorite places that we ended up going was to the zoo. The Lincoln Park Zoo is really nice, especially for being free. Adam kept telling me that he thought the animals were actually robots since they were all so active. I have never seen all the big cats move as much as they were. The male lion was pacing right in front of the viewing window. It was really incredible. We also heard the male and female lion roaring at each other. I couldn't believe how loud they were. Paul's favorite animals were the otters. They were super playful and kept doing back flips off the glass. He was AMAZED and thought they were putting on a show just for him. I think he would have stayed all day if we'd let him.

Paul "sleeping" on a play structure at the zoo

Samantha and Grant smiling for their lunch. Kelle told Samantha she actually had to smile and look at the camera (two difficult things for her to manage) if she wanted lunch.

Our family with the Chicago skyline in the background, the sun is in our eyes so Paul wouldn't look.

After the zoo we were able to walk to see Lake Michigan. The kids had never seen it so we wanted to give them the chance. They were only there for a couple minutes when Paul threw a handful of sand in Samantha's eyes. Luckily Adam was there and was able to take her back to the car. She didn't seem too disappointed that she didn't get to spend more time at the lake either which was nice.

He sure does make me laugh

One of the kids' favorite activities was jumping on the trampoline. They were SO excited because one night while Carter and Andrew were gone Adam took the kids out to jump after they were all ready for bed. It was fun to watch them having such a good time together.

On our last day in Chicago we decided to go the "tank park." They had 15 or so tanks that were actually used in battle that the kids can climb all over and see up close. It was really cool. They also had a really neat museum that I would have loved to see without kids. Even with the kids I really enjoyed it. My favorite part was actually on the way home. As we were driving Samantha was trying to talk to Grant and every time she would start talking he would say "I don't care." Kelle tried to tell him not to be rude so he started whispering "I don't care" every time she'd start to talk. We were laughing too hard to get him to stop. The kids noticed we were laughing so Kelle told them that I had told her a funny joke. Of course the kids wanted to know what it was. The only thing I could come up with was, "why did the chicken cross the road? To sit on an egg." Dumb. Now Samantha tells me that joke at least once a day and can never figure out why it's not making me laugh that hard. She will also remind me, "remember how funny that was when you told that joke to Aunt Kelle?" 



Paul listening to one of the presentations. All the kids had to have two phones, one for each ear.

I am so glad we drove out there and can't wait to see everyone again. My kids already ask if we have enough money to go again, and if we have enough, could we go on a plane? 

Chicago Part I

Over spring break the kids and I decided to drive to Chicago. I even asked them if they would rather go to Disney World or Chicago and they chose seeing their cousins. Good thing they didn't choose Disney World since we wouldn't have gone there! Not sure what I was thinking when I brought up that conversation.  Before leaving we had the option of waiting for Adam and only going for 1 week, or leaving earlier but I'd have to drive out by myself. I really wanted to stay longer, but wasn't sure if I could do the entire 16 hours with the kids without any help. Luckily I have a saint for a mother-in-law and she drove out with me and then flew back.  The kids did AWESOME on the drive out and we made it all the way to Iowa City to stay with Kate and Jonathan (13 hours) before stopping for the night.

We started out our trip at the Field Museum.

 Samantha "smiling" - she insisted that she was smiling  and when I showed her the picture she kept saying that I must just be missing it. It wasn't just for this picture either, it was the whole day.

 Paul in front of "Sue" the T-Rex. He still talks about the huge dino bones.

Cute Grant

The rest of the week we let the kids play and then we went down to Kim's house. My kids had such a great time with so many friends to play with. I think their favorite activity both at Kim's and Kelle's was the trampoline. 

 Paul and Blythe

 I love the matching crystal light mustaches

The picture right above is one of my favorites from the whole trip. Kim was nice enough to babysit overnight while Adam surprised me with a date. This was one of the pictures she took while we were gone. I guess Paul had a hard time while we were out and Spencer stepped up and became Paul's buddy. You can tell from the picture how Paul felt about that. The kids are so lucky to have such great cousins. I only wish they all lived closer!!