Easter

Easter Sunday pictures. After several tries, this was the best picture we could get.


Our kids were able to be a part of 3 different Easter egg hunts. Of course that meant way more candy than we needed in our home. We only got pictures of the one put on by their older cousins.

The Easter season would not be complete with out last minute Easter Egg coloring. 

Cry Wolf

I just have to start out saying that Brayden is a teaser. He loves to tease his siblings. Julia being right below him seems to take on most of the teasing that Brayden likes to dish out. Julia has decided to cry wolf lately. If he is near her she starts calling "Mooommm, Brayden bothering me." Well today before school the kids were hanging out getting ready to go to school. Brayden was waiting on the stairs talking to Julia. Julia came over to me and in her tattle telling voice said, "Mooommmm, Brayden is talking to me." I guess her tolerance for Brayden is really low.

Wii

We have been trying to teach our children the value of money. Kylee and Brayden get a monthly allowance of their age in dollars. We are also trying to teach the concept of interest, so each month they get one extra dollar for each ten dollars they have saved. They usually like to go and spend their money on dollar stuff (junk) at Target or candy. Matt wanted to help motivate them to save with a goal in mind. He offered to help them save for a Wii. If they could save half the money, we would pay the other half. They have been very excited and stayed focused, encouraging each other to not waste money on little things. After 3 months of hard work and doing extra jobs, Kylee and Brayden paid $55 each and Julia paid $15. The three of them went to Sam's Club with Matt and each handed their wad of cash over to the cashier. They are pretty proud of their purchase and hopefully will take some ownership of it.

Dragon

Kylee's Dragon

Uncle Ryan's visit

The kids were so excited to have Uncle Ryan come and visit. 

They got to show him and his friend Josh how to use the trampoline. 



We all went out to one of their favorite places to eat, Red Robin.

They love getting chocolate milk with their food and a balloon to take home.  We love the unlimited pasta refills for the hole that is in Brayden's stomach and the loud atmosphere to drown out the children.

Ryan handled being Brayden's human jungle gym pretty well.

Julia enjoyed introducing kitty to Uncle Ryan.  Kitty did a lot of licking.

We were all sad to say goodbye to Ryan.  Kylee shows her love with presents, and sent Ryan off with a shell, a marble, and a note.

Blake

Blake has grown up a lot these past few weeks. Here are a few of the things he has been up to.

In the past couple of weeks Blake has discovered a whole new world. He figured out that there are lots of fun things in the kitchen cabinets. He is enjoying getting inside of them and taking all the Tupperware, pans, cutting boards, bowls, plates, and cups out of them.
Blake started exploring the bottom couple of steps about a month ago. He was a little cautious at first and was hesitant to go up. Recently he figured out how fun it is to go all the way up the stairs. Anytime they are in sight he heads straight for them. He looks back knowing that it is not allowed.
Blake also recently has become very picky with baby food. He would only eat sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, and bananas with berries or strawberries. He would gag on anything that he didn't like or also if it was too thick for him. We finally figured that he was becoming picky because he really wanted to eat regular food. He is doing a great job with the new tasty table food that he gets to eat now.
Blake is getting big and starting to look like a little boy and not so much like a baby. He especially looks cute in some jeans and a T-shirt. I enjoy hearing him laugh when the kids are playing with him. It is so cute to see the kids doing silly things to make him laugh really hard.

Monkey anyone?

We have had a couple of crazy weeks. Through the whole process I wished we could find a monkey to rent.