Smile:)

Enough with the sad faces. Here are a couple of positive Sunday moments...














One of the girls' favorite games right now is 'visiting teacher'. They go out to the greenhouse and knock at the door. When I come to answer, its my cue to say, "Oh, It's my visiting teachers! Come on in! etc. etc." They never tire of it, and if I don't do my part quite right they are quick to remind me, "We're your visiting teachers!" ...and... I have been informed on more than one occasion that it is not OK to hug and kiss the visiting teachers as they come through the door:)














The kids played so cute all afternoon. As of late the girls are continually having their own 'testimony meetings' so today Bentley got to join in. It was really cute until they started getting a little too silly. They then turned to putting on plays. No worries that we didn't have costumes available, they're very resourceful as you can see.














It started to warm up a little last week, so I thought that hamburgers on the grill sounded good to put on the menu, but, man, was it cold today. Poor Tom was a trooper though and grilled them up anyway. Thanks, Hon.

The dreaded hour

4PM to 5PM has got to be the worst time of the day. We pick up Bentley a little before 4:00, and dinner is scheduled for 5:00. I'm not exaggerating when I say that all three children were either crying, whining, or causing another child to participate in the previously mentioned activities for one solid hour. I'm pretty sure it was a hunger/blood sugar issue, but today I refused to dish out snacks with dinner in the oven. Where as I too was tired and hungry and bordering on nauseous, it was a nightmare. However, it made it even sweeter when just minutes after Tom got home from work, we were all gathered around the table and not one complaint about the food was heard. Everyone ate well, and there was silence for at least a few minutes.

Three generations

Bet you didn't know that you're actually looking at a three generation picture. My Granddaddy used to call my Granny the 'young grandmother', and lately I've become just that. Emma has determined that she is now running the show. She's the mom; Ali is the daughter, so I am now the grandma. Ali has gone along with it, and it keeps them entertained for hours. Emma, who is an excellent mom I might add, is ever watchful of her charge.














While taking the pictures, the girls thought it was so funny to put ranch on their noses and insisted on a picture of that as well. Silly, giggly girls.

If you want the truth...

...ask a child.
Our beautiful spring weather has regressed back to winter. It has been snowing on and off, so we've been inside for the majority of the day. Even though it doesn't feel like spring anymore, I though it would be a good time to do some spring cleaning. I decided to do a clean out of our "paper mess" the financial file, my files, the kids papers, etc... As I was cleaning out all the junk, my mom called. Emma picked up the phone, and Gram asked what we were doing. Emma answered mater of factly, "We're cleaning because we live in squalor... Do you live in squalor?" As I was listening I couldn't help but laugh. Either I throw around some vocabulary too liberally or the cleaning was way over do. Maybe it was a little of both.

First Spring Walk of the Year

It was such a gorgeous day today! For those not living in a high elevation, mountain climate, this may not seem like such a big thing. But for those living with snow still on the ground, to have a day warm enough to venture out without even a jacket was amazing. As dinner was cooking tonight, we took the family on a little walk down the road. The goal was to stay out of the mud, and I think that Tom was the only one to have failed at that. He was helping Emma at the time, so I had to forgive him. Bentley managed to stay out of the mud but found a pile of dog poop to stand in instead, ick! Emma informed me that she could get in the mud because she had her boots on but still managed to comply to the rule. We carried Ali, so she was easy. It was so nice, and even though there's a good chance that we'll see more snow before the winter finally gives way to spring and summer, it was enough to help us not loose hope for the warm weather to come. Spring, we're ready for you!

St. Patrick's Day

The kids have been looking forward to 'eating green food' for the last couple weeks, so we did our best. Breakfast was fun with waffles, pudding, juice, milk, and eggs all in green. Still, the kids made the comment... "Mom, the sausage isn't green!" Oh well, Mom can only do so much;)





















Bentley had fun making a leprechaun trap for school,















and the girls enjoyed sporting their green garb.















Lunch and dinner were a rush, but we did the best we could. It was a busy but fun day.

This and that

Random, I know, but I thought I'd post just a few of the recent activities we've participated in. I've claimed that while living at the "cabin" life has taken on a slower pace. Lately, however this has NOT been the case. I feel like I'm getting back into the mode where we just run, run, run. I look at the schedule and honestly its not that full, but being as it takes at least 15 minutes to get anywhere, just a couple activities in a day fills it up. Still, its fun to have things to do. Here's a sample for the record...

We went to a Literacy Night at the Elementary School. We got to hear from Ronald McDonald himself. The kids seemed to enjoy him except for Emma. She was terrified, however, after the fact she now says that she liked him and is the only one who still talks about him. Whether she does like him or not, he must have made an impression.



















While the boys are away... the girls do play. It has been fun having two cute girls to play with during the day. They both love having their nails done, so of course I have to do mine to match:)











Bentley is loving his basketball league. Its called Itty Bitty Jr. Kitty Basketball. No joke. One night when I was talking about it. (I'm his coach.) It was Itty Bitty Jr. Kitty this and Itty Bitty Jr. Kitty that. He turned to me and said, "Why can't they just call it Jr. Wildcat Basketball or something?" Well put Bentley, well put.

Whatever it is called, he looks forward to it every week.












The girls and Grandma during our visit last week.















We're heading out again tonight, so here is what we were actually doing this morning when I should have been packing... but the girls wanted to paint, and who can say no to those cute faces... and undersides;)