Fun stuff

I am so happy that we've been enjoying nice weather... in between the rain and snow storms. The kids live outside, and I love it. I will love it even more after we get the rest of our fence up so that Carly can run wild.

Carly has mastered the swing set. She'll climb all the way to the top and go down the slide all by herself.

Luke said he misses the snow a little, because it was fun to play in. He must be like his Dad and love winter activities.

Abigail loves going out more often now that it's warm... she's definitely her Mom's girl. I really don't like winter.

Carly has decided that it's time for a toddler bed. We've had a vacant one in her room since Abigail went to the bunk bed, but Carly still slept in the crib. She has known how to get out of her crib for a while, but she only did it when she woke up. One night she kept getting out so Ben went and told her to get back in... she jumped right into the big girl bed and smiled. She's really good to stay in, but now she wakes up earlier than she used to.

One night she ended up asleep with her head under her crib. It looked so uncomfortable, I don't know how she got to sleep.
Carly has sure figured things out early... she taught Luke and Abigail how to open doors with those plastic childproof things over the handles. She makes sure the rubber circle is on top of the knob and then pulls down, opening the door. She climbs up Luke's bunk bed and runs around... I do actually make her get down, it scares me when she gets up there. I just don't remember Luke and Ab getting into this much trouble so soon. I feel like I can't let her out of my sight for a second.

And here I am with eight weeks to go and I feel like I've got a million things to do.
1. paint Carly and the baby's room
2. paint my room
3. paint dressers
4. paint the downstairs foyer (I'm actually waiting for paint to dry so I can continue)
(Don't worry I paint with my Dr.'s ok, a mask, and a well ventilated area, no brain dead baby here)
5. sew a matching quilt for Carly's bed, and curtains
6. fix our yard... we had some people come and take some of our landscaping rocks, which left gaping holes... so now we need to figure out what to do with the yard. Which I guess since I can't do anything but stand around being useless it falls to Ben... but I do want to get flowers planted.
7. pick a name for the babe... which most likely will happen last minute in the hospital with the birth certificate lady breathing down our necks.

I put these things on here so that maybe it will give me more pressure to get them done.

glow in the dark Easter egg hunt

Tonight we had another hunt... this time with the Dawsons. We waited until it was dark and had the kids use flashlights and glow sticks to find their goodies. I thought it would be too cold, but apparently when there's candy the kids don't care.

She couldn't fit everything in her basket... I think she got a few eggs that didn't belong to her :)

Luke with his buddy, Fisher. Since they moved away, we don't see them as much, but Luke talks about his best friend all the time.

I think Carly had the best time out of anyone. She ran and giggled the whole time. It was like she had been released into the wild for the first time.

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's

My parents invited us over today for lunch and an egg hunt with the kids. They had a great time, I was surprised to see the three little kids go after the eggs so fast.

The kids with their loot

Abby loved all the pink eggs and jewelry.

Carly didn't care about the eggs as much as having her two baskets on her arms at all times.

Luke had better things to do than smile for pictures. He found his eggs and then started helping the little ones find some too.

Luke's 5!

Luke turned 5 on Tuesday. I think it was a pretty good day for him. For preschool, he got to take special birthday treats and have a little party. Then he chose where we went to lunch, and luckily, Ben had the day off work so we all went to Chick-fil-a. Luke doesn't like Chick-fil-a for the food, just the play area.

Later, we had his Grandparents and the bachelor uncles over for cake and ice cream. He was so spoiled and received some great gifts. We had a surprise guest at the party... my brother Luke was in town for the day, it was good to see him for a couple hours before he had to turn around and drive home. I took so many pictures of everyone, but I must have had my camera on a weird setting because only a few turned out :(

I think Luke's favorite part of any birthday is the cake. Not eating the cake, but making sure it's decorated just how the birthday person wants it. He was so particular this year about what he wanted. When he told me he wanted little plastic dinos on his cake, I was way excited. So easy, and he loved it.

blueberry pancakes

Last week was so much fun. Jed came into town, so we all got together for game night (I actually won a game... that never happens (well, I tied with Jess)). Then Luke and Lisa came down from Montana. It was so good to see my whole family during the week. By Sunday, everyone had gone back home and it felt a little empty at dinner.
Lisa is the best cook. She always has the best recipes. Saturday morning they made us pancakes.... so delicious! Here's just a few pictures from Saturday.

Most of these pictures are for Jed, I got a lot of Beau. He's the only one that would smile for me, and I knew he would enjoy seeing his cute family.