St. Patrick's Day!

We have had a fun and busy week! We didn't do many St. Patrick's Day activities because we had a lot going on-one of which was preschool. I taught our preschool group this week and our theme was St. Patrick's Day. Between babysitting and preschool, we had 11 kids here on Tuesday! 

On Tuesday, we made paper plate shamrocks and Thursday we made rainbows and rainbow cupcakes. 

 Daddy had to work overtime on Saturday and Sunday was going to be a busy day for us, so we celebrated St. Patrick's Day on Saturday with some fun food. 

 

For breakfast we had green pancakes. Gwen wasn't so sure about them. 

 Adam and Tessa spent part of the afternoon decorating their box for a Leprechaun to fill. They were hoping to get some treats!

 For lunch we had green pasta, green juice, and rainbow fruit. 

 Before bed on Saturday night, I told the kids the Legend of the Leprechaun. The story goes that if you leave a decorated treasure box under the moon, a Leprechaun will come and fill it with treasure and then hide it. If you find it, you are allowed to keep  the treasure, but if not, the Leprechaun can come back and take what is his. He also leaves a trail of green behind him. 

 The kids woke up early Sunday morning, anxious to see if any sneaky Leprechaun's had come to our house. They were thrilled to see a trail of green string all over our house!! They followed it as best they could until they found their hidden treasure box!

 They were excited to find chocolate gold coins and some fun green treats! We had a very nice Leprechaun!

 This morning, (Sunday) was Uncle Ben's mission farewell. He leaves for Chile in about 3 weeks! He gave a wonderful talk on the Atonement and we were glad to spend some time with him today. 

It takes some time, but Gwen will eventually warm up to her uncles-especially if they have phones for her to play with.

Not only was today St. Patrick's Day and Uncle Ben's farewell, but it was also Ma and Pa's 34th wedding anniversary. Lots of reasons to celebrate and we were thankful for them all!

A Fun Family Night!

Eric has a busy work week and is working Monday-Saturday. To sort of make up for it, his boss let him take a couple hours off on Monday afternoon. We decided to take advantage of some extra time together and go have some fun! We had promised the kids back in December when we finished reading 1st Nephi that we would take them bowling to celebrate. We were glad to finally get to keep our promise. So, we headed up to Cougar Lanes at BYU and had a fun afternoon together! Before Adam was out of school, Eric took Tessa on a Daddy/Daughter date to Nickel Mania (Tessa's favorite place to go with Daddy). They said they had a fun time together-even though they didn't get any jackpots. 

 These kids took the game pretty seriously! 

 I loved watching Tessa! She was elated to get the very first strike!

 Tess practiced her gymnastics on their bowling ramp. 

 Gwen was our score keeper for the first little bit, but then she got bored and was not happy about being there. 

 The swirly chairs finally made her happy. 

Mommy ended up stealing the win from Tessa. We decided to go grab some hamburgers at Red Robin for dinner after we finished bowling. The kids were so well behaved and so polite. I was very proud of them. Gwen had us all laughing through dinner cause she just danced her little heart out to the music playing in the restaurant. She loves the song, "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction and when she heard it, she  was dancing like crazy! She already loves her Boy Bands.

It was nice to spend some time together and have some fun!

Tessa Boo!

Oh, our Tessa! Today was one of those days that I have been dreading since she was born. It's time to realize how big she is and get ready to send her off to school. Today was Kindergarten registration and Tessa was beyond thrilled to get her name on the list! She keeps asking why she can't start school next week. 

 She cracks us up! We love her style and confidence! And we pray that her confidence will be powerful source for all things good in her life and those she becomes friends with. People tell us all the time how funny she is and how smart she is. If we ask her why is she so cute, she says, (in her super high voice) "Because I am so smart." We then ask her why she is so smart, and she says, "Because I am so cute."

Watch out Kindergarten!!

 Tessa had to say goodbye to her beloved Sparkly Pink Boots over the weekend. She has worn them daily for months, and mainly without socks, so they smelled REALLY bad! You know the smell was bad when she willingly threw them away herself. I promised her we would find the most sparkly pair of summer sandals ever! Hopefully I can keep up my end of the deal.

Happy Birthday, Eric!!

On Friday, Eric turned the big 32! It wasn't the most exciting birthday weekend because it was a school weekend. He got to celebrate his birthday by sitting in a 6 hour marketing class. Kind of a bummer! But, we tried to make the most of it while we had him with us. 

Last Sunday, we went to Ma and Pa's house for a birthday party. 

 He got some gift cards, a game for the wii, and a new Jazz hat! 

 Blowing out the candles on his Banana Split Cake.

 The kids were very anxious for him to open his presents, so at 8am Friday morning, before everyone left for school, we opened presents. And I say "we" because they kids had to help him. 

 Tessa got him his favorite candy and some Angry Bird Star Wars stickers. I'm sure those will come in handy someday. It took me a couple of days to talk her out of getting him a pet Chinchilla. She thought that would be the most perfect gift for her Daddy. 

 Adam got him a new Star Wars game for them to play together. (These kids love Star Wars! I have raised them well!)

 Adam and Tessa really wanted to get him Wreck It Ralph, so we did. 

 And from Mommy, a Blu-ray player. We are slowly (very slowly) getting caught up with modern technology. 

 Our camera was not cooperating today, but this morning, we finally made his birthday breakfast that ended up being a birthday brunch since we had to wait until after his Bishopric meetings were over. Then, we spent a lovely evening over at Mamma and Bampa's house to celebrate both Eric and Lisa's birthdays. I made Eric's favorite cheesecake for dessert and we had a nice time visiting with everyone. 

We love you, Eric and hope you have a wonderful year being 32!