Ally's birthday party

While we were visiting Travis' parents over spring break, we celebrated Ally's birthday. Since we're not that close to any family, it was fun to celebrate with them!

Here's a shot of her cake. It's the first cake that any of the kids have had that my mom or I didn't make. I thought it turned out pretty cute, but it always amazes me how expensive they are!

Make a wish! She actually blew out the candles!
Here Ally is holding up 2 fingers to show how old she is. We learned with Maddy that 2 yr. olds can't show 2 fingers on 1 hand very well at first. This is the easiest way for them to do it.
Here she is looking at the sounds and pop-up book that Maddy gave her.
Here are the cute outfits she got.

She loved the vacuum from Grandma and Grandpa! She still has fun with it. In fact when I was vacuuming yesterday, she followed me all around the house with her little vacuum. Too bad that cleaning enthusiasm doesn't last!

Now she has her very own jump rope and will quit taking the older kids'. She's really cute when she jump ropes. She holds the handles and moves her arms up and down and jumps a bunch of times. I tried to get it on video it, but kept missing it.

She also got a farm play-dough set. She loves play-dough!

Here she is in her new dress from Grandma on her actual birthday.

It's hard to believe she's already 2! It seems like she was just born - but on the other hand, I can hardly remember life without her. She is so cute and fun! We all love her so much!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Ally!

We can't believe you're 2 already! You've grown up so fast. We sure love having you in our family silly girl!

What a cutie!!!

Crazy Hair Day

Friday was Crazy hair day at school. My kids always want to get as crazy as possible.

Here is Maddy's bun-hawk. I got the idea here. She liked it and got a lot of compliments on it.

Jacob would LOVE to have a Mohawk, but his hair absolutely will NOT say up no matter what I put in it. His hair was way too short this time anyway. We settle for painting his head. Yep, you heard right, paint. I just use washable poster paint and it comes right out in the shower.

Crazy hair day was another success!

Missing friends

This has been the year of best friends moving away from us. :( All three of my kids lost their best friend. Good thing Ally doesn't have a best friend yet or they'd probably move too!

Maddy and Payton have been best friends since preschool 6 years ago! Here are a couple of pictures of them through the years. They look so little here! It was taken in Jan. 2005. (Obviously we didn't have as good of a camera back then!)

September 2006
September 2008
Payton moved the day after Halloween, so she got to come Trick-or-Treating with us and then had to move the next day. Maddy really misses her. At least they can call each other, play together on Webkinz and we'll get to visit her when we go to visit my mom this summer.
Jacob's best friend Kyle moved the day after Thanksgiving. He just lived down the street and they would play and ride bikes together all the time. Here they are at Jacob's birthday party in 2007.

They've even been in the same class at school for the last 2 years. Here they are on the first day this year.

They were also on the same soccer team. They sure had a good time! It was also great that Kyle's mom and I could carpool and didn't have to drive as much!

Halloween 2008

Bryson's best friend Jillian just moved. Unfortunately since he'd seen the other kids' best friends move, he knew what it meant. They were so cute together! They would hold hands while walking in the halls at church and loved to play together. They would totally look forward to seeing each other at the park at playgroup every Fri.! When ever you would take their picture, Bryson would automatically put his arm around her.

We will definitely keep in touch, so maybe Melinda and I will have to set them up when Bryson gets home from his mission. ;) They could use this picture along w/ their engagement photo! ;)

We sure miss our friends! Unfortunately, when the kids' best friends moved, their moms moved too and I lost 3 good friends as well! At least we can all keep in touch through blogging!

Polar Bear Swim ;)

Polar Bear swim - isn't that what you call swimming in the winter? Well, it sure doesn't feel like winter around here this past week so I took the kids swimming on Sat. It helps that one of our community pools is heated. :)

Here is Bryson diving for an alligator diving stick. He has a hard time getting all the way down to the bottom (it was 3 1/2 feet), so he used the hand rails to push himself down.
Success!

Jacob was having fun jumping in over and over. I had to remind him a few times that you aren't allowed to dive. Here he is not quite diving and not quite jumping. I think "belly flop" is the more accurate term. ;)

Who says you can't walk on water? Jacob is pretty fast. Maybe he's as fast as Dash from the Incredibles!

Here Maddy is practicing her handstands.

Cannonball! Good thing you can't get splashed through the screen! ;)

We had a fun time in the pool, but probably won't be heading back for at least a little while. The forecast shows us going back into the 70s instead of our unusually warm 80s. It was a fun break from the norm though.