Twice the Fun!

Most everything they do...they do together!

Jude figured out how to move this container and use it as a stool.  Asher teamed up. 

Reading books together (sort of)

Climbing on top of the tables using the chairs.

Playing with the answering machine functions on our phone...that was so much fun for them!  Ohhh!

Trying on mom and dad's shoes.

They have learned to be content in the double stroller...it's a way of life for them (and mom's one tool to survival sometimes). 

Enjoying dad's smoothies are the best shared together!

Student of the Week

This is a special honor...and not everyone gets to be student of the week.  To be chosen for the week, you must demonstrate good citizenship, complete your school work and homework everyday, be kind and helpful in the classroom, and have excellent attendance. 

In her classroom, the student of the week gets to have the "Party Bear" for the weekend. 

There is a journal that accompanies the bear and you get to write what you did with "Party Bear" the entire weekend.  A must is to include pictures!

Since our swingset was new, "Party Bear" got lots of rides on here! 

"Party Bear" made other friends too.

"Party Bear" was dressed for every occasion (including a wedding). 

She wanted to take "Party Bear" share their adventures at school with the class on Monday. 

The line-up

This is a common scene in our home when it comes to snack time.  I had to take all the chairs out of our kitchen so the boys wouldn't climb on top of the table or move it to get on top of the counters. 

So, this is what choice they have left...the floor. 

It's actually such a fun idea for all the kids to be sitting next to each other, enjoying their snack (and the time spent together).

I love that they are all gathered around the piano as Haysannah plays a song. 

This shot Jude is looking...

...this shot Asher is looking.

Shalyce had to create her line-up of all her dolls.  So proud!

Cute Shots of the boys

I took these on St. Patrick's Day and they turned out so cute...so candid! 

Summer is Here!

We started a new tradition on the last day of school.  Shalyce and I made a summer banner to attach in from of the door for the girls to run through to represent starting their summer vacation. 

We surprised Haysannah with silly string in the back yard and they both had lots of fun with that! 

Summer wouldn't be summer without a summer fun list.  (coming soon!)

We came up with a gumball chart to encourage the girls to follow routines and chores before doing anything else.  It's worked pretty well so far.  (coming soon!)

In no particular order...

I finally sat myself down while the boys were sleeping to get a few entries done.  These are relatively in chronological order but not really.  More is on its way. 

5K/Fun Run

This year we participated as a family in our local 5K/Fun Run.  A friend of mine from church was from Chile and organized this run to benefit those that were effected by the earthquake in Chile.  This was a first for our family but a fun activity that would be worth duplicating. 

Shalyce was ready to go.  Haysannah is just to her right. 

Austin decided he would do the 5K. 

I pushed the stroller with the two boys for a mile (we forgot to get a picture of that one). 

Easter Hunting

Asher got into his chocolate almost instantaneously. 

And the hunt begins...

They searched high....

...and low. 

Discovering the True Meaning of Easter:

A few more things we did before Easter was to talk about its real meaning.  We briefly discussed with our children what happened on each day of the week preceeding Christ's resurection.  They liked hearing about Christ's  last week and asked questions along the way.  On Easter, we had the tradtional ham and green beans but topped it off with resurection rolls.  I really liked the resurrection roll idea because it gave them a tangible way to understand how Christ was resurrected (really the marshmallow melted, but they got the point).  Very memorable.  (Follow the links to learn more).

Somewhere over the Rainbow

Every now and then there are beautiful rainbows in the sky.  Sometimes we'll even see a double rainbow!  Here's a few shots:

Do you see the double rainbow in this one?

Look at those vibrant colors!