There's Nothing Like a Little Yoga on a Saturday Morning . . .

The Elementary School Carnival

Last week the school had a big PTA fundraising carnival, and it was one of the first very hot days of the year. (Very hot, meaning we broke an uncomfortable sweat.) We went with our friends, Rebecca, Jensen, and Noah. (The husbands were working.) The kids had a good time "fishing" for prizes (twice), getting balloon creations, getting their faces painted and nails stickered, eating snow cones, and riding on this crazy tractor-deal. Madeline is in this yellow tin can creation, and Raleigh is in the first red car. The driver went so fast that Noah fell down inside of his tin can right when it started! He was zooming all over the place- (which made me wish I had joined them.) It was the first thing the kids did when we got there, and probably the most fun. Let's just say that all the kids were crying that night when we put them to sleep because they were just plain worn out from having too much fun!

What a hat!!

Kensington had too much fun and too much sun.

Watching the cloggers and eating snow cones and getting a little grouchy.

The Beautiful View from Our Yard

Memorial Day here is so cool. These tiny little pictures don't begin to portray how beautiful it was today- even in the rain! We walked over to the top of the hill this morning in the rain to pay tribute to the Veterans and enjoy a pancake breakfast in one of the city buildings. Just good small town celebration.

Family Pictures from Dallas' Big Day Off

I'm Just a Smiley Girl with No Teeth!

An Update on the Choobers

Her hair can officially fit in a ribbon on top of her head!!

She pulls herself up to a kneeling position! This picture is actually the first time we saw her do this.

Big girl!!

Devouring a beach ball and watching Sesame Street.
Kensington is the happy little peaceful ball of sweetness that our family needed. She is a smiler and now likes to babble "dadadada," "mamama," "nananana," and do a lot of noisy spitting. The cutest is when she gives us such big happy smiles with her whole face and lets out this happy little noise at the end. She can crawl backwards really well and occasionally her army crawl turns into a couple steps of real crawling forwards. She's a keeper.

Two Little Buddies

Madeline and Jensen have had a lot of fun playing together lately. They do the cutest things and get along so well. The other day Madeline dressed up in her bride costume and came into the room where they had been playing. Jensen looked at her and said, "Is that a WEDDING DRESS?!" Then he said, "Well, I guess I better go upstairs and put on my suit!" They both graduated from preschool this past week, too. They played "Husband and Wife" at our house the other day, and I heard things like, " The mail's here, honey" (from Jensen), and while taking a little "family" photo, he also said to Madeline, "Hold the baby up, she knows how to STAND!" They compromised very well. We're glad to have such good friends for the girls to play with.

Congratumalations Madamaline

Our fun little family. Look at these delightful children.
Ask her to sing some of her songs for you! She did it for the home teachers, and we actually had to tell her "JUST ONE MORE SONG" so they could get outta there!

Sing Your Heart Out- It's Preschool Graduation!!

Madeline graduated from preschool on Friday, and we got such a kick out of her little program. The kids from her class put on a show for the parents and we especially enjoyed the singing. Anyone who has been around Madeline for long can tell that she has an expressive face; we didn't realize how expressive she is on stage! She really gets into the songs and sings her heart out! I guess there are now officially TWO drama queens in the family. (No, Dallas is not one of them.)

The first picture shows Madeline as a pilgrim, then Rudolf, and then a leprechaun. The most impressive song was when the kids got up and sang all of the letters of the alphabet with the corresponding ASL sign. Very cool. We've been impressed with her little education! And we're happy to report that she can read a bit. Too bad she has to graduate from preschool AGAIN next year.

When's the Last Time You Talked to Raleigh?

If you haven't seen Raleigh lately, you should! This girl is a piece of work. We cannot keep up with her! We've decided that she doesn't have ADHD- she's just "gifted." She's got this boundless energy and creativity, and she does everything with so much intensity, that it is hard to keep up! Lately, her thing is to do backwards somersaults everywhere she goes inside the house. She's actually very graceful. She washed her hands to the beat of the music in Olive Garden today, and whenever she eats something, she always does a little role play with her food.


To the twelve chocolate chips:
"Okay, we have twelve apostles here." (eats one)
"Now we have eleven!! We NEED another apostle!"

To her crackers:
"Get IN the shopping cart!"
"But, MOM, I don't WANT to ride in the shopping cart!"

To some other plate of food:
"I need four brethren to come forward, please. Four brethren please."


Looks like we have evidence that our kids have been sufficiently indoctrinated. A few days ago I asked her why she just left the dinner table and went to her room without being excused. "Well, Mom, I guess I just have bad manners today."

AAHHHHHHHHHHhhhhh, Breakfast.

What do you do in the morning when you wake up to find that the Cookies and Cream Pie you made the night before is almost gone? Get out some forks and eat the rest of it before anyone else gets into it!!

Choobs Shares with Orion

A Quote from the Critter

In honor of Mother's Day, Dallas, being the gentlemanly chap that he is, fixed lunch and dinner for all of us girlies. During lunch, the smoke alarm only went off one time, but we did have to open some windows to air everything out. While he was fixing pancakes for dinner, Madeline was in the other room with me, saying her prayers. Hearing him say something about burning one of the pancakes, she added in her prayer, "Please help the food not to get burnt. But my dad accidentally burned it, but I don't care." We have been working on being more thoughtful in our prayers.

Ah, Motherhood.

Sweet, Sweet Kensington, with your tender spirit, contagious smiles, and constant sunshine,

Madeline, with your gift of laughter, intensity of life, and charm,

And Raleigh, with your incredible sensitivity, quiet thoughtfulness, and giving spirit,
you have given me the gift of motherhood. And I love you for it.