I did my hair!

Mostly I don't do my hair, but today I did.
 I could not decide how to do it though.
 It was looking stupid no matter what I did. 
I finally did this and I liked it! 

Candy truck.

I saw this truck today and it made my mouth water. 

Signs of the season.

One of the things I look for as winter comes to and end and spring emerges is the buds/seeds on the quaking aspen trees.  In the morning when the sunlight hits them just right they glow and I know that warm weather and green plants are just around the corner.  I made it one more winter... Woohoo!

Tiny shopping cart.

James was thrilled to be able to have his own little cart while shopping today.  He kept saying. "That goes in my cart!" for everything.  I liked it almost as much as he did.

More light in my day.

This picture was taken at almost 7 PM!  Can I just say that having the sun stay up longer each day makes me VERY happy. 

Helicopter

Dave brought James a toy helicopter from China.  They both love it!

Kindergarten and Dave home!

Today was a two picture day. 

James had his kindergarten orientation (can he be that big already?!)

This afternoon Dave got home from China... and we were SO glad to have him home.  Ella made him the cutest banner.  Dave said he had never had a welcome home banner so he was really excited.

Big Helper.

We went to see our little cousins "N" and "C" in their school play tonight.  Afterwards they asked for help putting chairs away.  James was eager to help, I love that he is a hard worker. 

My dinner.

I was so excited to eat my dinner tonight that I decided to take its picture.

Sunrise behind me.

Driving home from Colorado this morning I saw the most beautiful sunrise in my rearview and side mirrors.  Wow.

Aquarium.

We voted on what to do today for our last day in Colorado.  The kids all voted for the Denver Aquarium. We had so much fun! 

Horsey Rides.

Horsey rides are especially fun when all the little cowboys and cowgirls try to ride at the same time.

P.S. Please notice James using "J's" hair as reigns.

Beautiful.

Beautiful day.  Beautiful hike.  Beautiful kids.

Colorado Cousins!

We arrived in Colorado safe and sound and I don't think I will be able to talk the kids into leaving on Tuesday! 

  

Oopsie.

I am dropping Dave off at the airport at 4:50 AM tomorrow.  4:50 AM!!!  Right after I drop him off the kids and I are driving strait to Colorado to visit "J", "M" and kids.  We are so sad that we won't see Dave for about 10 days but we are really excited to see our Colorado cousins.  Since we are all parting early tomorrow we decided to go to dinner tonight and have some family time.  As I was walking through the parking lot to Pizza Factory I looked down and noticed that I was not wearing shoes.  I was wearing my fuzzy house slippers.  It made me giggle.... at least my feet were comfy. 

P.S. My feet look like chubby baby feet in the picture... and I am ok with that.

A pleasant surprise.

Today on my way home from lunch with the girls I realized that I was WAY over due for an oil change.  I planned to do it tomorrow since the kids and I leave for Colorado on Friday morning, but I realized that it needed to be done NOW!  (The oil light was flashing and blinking at me and I'm sure it would have yelled at me If it could have.)  I got to my favorite lube place "The Grease Monkey" as soon as I could.  They were so awesome!  I asked for a discount since I didn't have time to look for a coupon and they gave me $8 off.  They were so fast and then when I paid the manager reached down and plucked a carnation out of a bucket behind the counter and handed it to me with a thank you.  What a smart idea!  What girl doesn't like a flower?  I know it is silly but little surprise touches like that totally make me a loyal customer! (Plus they do a good job... which doesn't hurt.)

Outside

Today we were able to enjoy being outside on the swing set in the sun.  It was great!  Also I got 2 mosquito bites... the upside of which means that summer is inching ever closer!

Talent

Tonight for FHE (family home evening) Ella was in charge of talent.  She was so excited and I was excited to see what talent she would do.  The kids usually do songs, dances, tumbling, jokes etc. for their talents.  So I was delighted when Ella said her talent tonight was going to be to drawing Mom's portrait.  I had to hold very still and it took about 5 minutes, but it was worth the wait!  What a cute little artist she is. 

James gave the lesson and we let him do it all by himself.  He even chose the subject matter... this was how it went:

"Satan is a reawwy reawwy bad guy and he wants you to do da bad stuff.  Jesus wants us to do da good stuff.  When we do bad fings den doze fings are good fings for Satan.  We DON'T want to fowwow Satan."
 Apparently they learned about Satan in primary this week.
He and his lesson were beyond adorable. 

For FHE treats we met "A" and the boys at our favorite Togoyogo. YUM!

Wax flower.

Remember when I said I planned to use this creamer as a flower vase in my kitchen?  Well it is even cuter than I imagined, especially when it is holding my favorite filler flower (you know the ones like baby's breath etc. that they stick in with the bigger ones to fill in the spaces).  This is called wax flower and I love it!  The blooms are so tiny and pretty and they last a long time. The best part though is they smell like lemons!

A little bit of sunshine in a peel.

Fresh fruit rocks.

FHM's

Family Home Movies!!! 

These cute cousins had a blast watching old videos of themselves tonight.  I had a blast watching them laugh at themselves. 

How to choose?

How do I even begin to choose a favorite picture on a day like today? 

It was so warm and the kids had so much fun playing.  Ella had her class program.  We went for a walk and had "K" over.  Ella and her little friends made books and sold them door to door along with painted pine cones (I have wonderfully kind neighbors!)  

In the end I settled on this picture:

The kids ran ahead of me on our walk home from the school.  When I got home they were waiting for me on the snow pile in front of our house (the spot where the snow plows push all the snow) snowballs in hand.  They were pretty pleased with themselves.  Now if only that dirty, gross snow pile would melt! 

Close ups!

I got out my macro lens and my magnifying filters today and played with my camera.  It was really fun.



Spectacular morning.

The sun was shining on the beautiful new snow and everything seem so shimmery.

Now please melt.

A blizzard and frozen yogurt.

Tonight for FHE we went to the new frozen yogurt place here in town.  Yogotogo is awesome!  Even though it was a blizzard outside we still enjoyed a frozen treat. 

I love my Boys!

They are such good buddies and that makes me happy.  James woke up with a nightmare tonight so we let him cuddle with us.  Dave let him play with his phone for a bit and they cuddled in its glow.



Babysitting!

We got to tend "K" tonight.  She is such a darling bundle of smiles and giggles.  I could have cuddled and squeezed her all night.

Extra Extra!

Today called for an extra post... it couldn't be helped.

Dave and I went on a Date tonight and my sister Mary tended... Thanks Mary!  We decided to let the kids sleep out in the living room.  When we got home this is how we found them. 

L.  O.  V.  E.

I wonder which one got scared and wanted to share a sleeping bag?

Is that you...

S P R I N G ?

I sure hope so!

I skipped St. Patrick's Day...

... and went straight to the Easter Decorations.

I don't feel bad about it at all. 

Warm fuzzies.

Today the sun was shining for just a moment on our warm fuzzy jar.  It was beautiful!  Not just the colors but thinking about all of the nice sweet things my kids did to earn each one of those little fuzzies. 

Spring like day.

It was a great day for a walk/bike ride...

so we went on one!

Doesn't spring weather put a smile on your face too?!