Just some cute photos...

Cowgirl day at school

Mr. B LOVES the bath!!

All settled in for movie night at home

Mother's Day

It's been a great weekend to celebrate. We kicked off the festivities yesterday with brunch out with Jon's folks. Today, the 4 of us went to church and then picked out a new tree (a blue spruce) for the backyard. The kids surprised me with a massage appointment this afternoon so I was able to enjoy a workout at the gym and then have a quiet hour at the spa - fabulous all the way around! I am so blessed to be a mom to these kids and a wife to their dad - God is good!

Spring Soccer is here!

Maddie kicked off her soccer career a few weeks ago with the Hatrix team. She's in a 4 and under program that is 5 weeks of clinic-style teaching. The kids are in a few different groups and they are learning a bunch of basic skills while playing fun games like "Mr. Fox" and "Sleepy Pirates" - you'll have to ask Maddie for the details of these!!! She has loved playing and definitely enjoys all the different drills and games. Brogan has come along each week and loves to run around the field kicking or throwing balls (soccer, baseball, etc). We think he's definitely got sports in his future, too!

Madeline's AWANA Awards Night

Madeline has participated in our church's AWANA program all year; she has gone just about every Tuesday night to learn Bible lessons, play games, sing songs, do crafts, and generally enjoy being a pre-schooler. We've worked on learning a verse each week and she was fabulous at committing those little nuggets to memory! Last week was the Awards Night, during which each kid received a certificate and got to perform with their class. It was such fun to see Maddie relishing in all the "glory". Here are some pics of her and her friends, as well as a video of her singing. You'll notice that she sees me with the camera toward the end of the video and starts to really give off the extra cheesy grin - too funny!

Maddie, Rachel, Luke, and Josiah

Our little Cubbie!



Singing with her class

Home Improvement Fun!

As it always seems to this time of year, the home improvement bug bit me and I decided the best "cure" was to tackle our main floor powder room. It was going to be a quick and easy weekend project - some new paint and chair rail. Well, I was a bit overly confident as the chair rail part of the project nearly killed us! The painting was no problem as I've done more rooms than I can count in the past 9 years, but the chair rail was a first for both Jon and me. It probably wouldn't have been too bad if not for the random 5" curved corner wall that the builder decided was necessary - since when is putting in 4 square walls such a bad idea?!?!? Anyway, with the help of Uncle Dave's miter saw and our neighbor Pete's handiness, we got the job done and it turned out pretty well. I forgot to take "before" pictures but trust me, the peachy/pink walls are nothing to be missed! And of course the pictures below aren't a totally honest representation of the work - the bottom section of the walls are chocolate brown and the top sections are a warm khaki color. Light blue accents finish the "look".

Easter

I was very remiss about capturing the Easter festivities on the actual day, so the photos below will have to do. I didn't even manage to get the kids with their baskets - oh well! We enjoyed a wonderful service at church (joined by Jon's parents, Sandy, and Dave) and then spent the afternoon/evening at San and Dave's. The weather was cold and rainy so we did an indoor egg hunt for the kids - they didn't seem to mind as it was a means to an end - a very candy filled end, at that!

Maddie and B all gussied up for Easter


Some of the eggs we dyed

Decorating the Easter cookies

It snowed - finally!

Yay for snow! Since we had just about NO snow for 2 months in February and most of March, it was actually wonderful to get a big dump of the white stuff at the end of the month. Brogan had a horrible fear of the snow back in January (the last time it really snowed!) but seemed to do much better this time around. We built a ramp in the front yard and all the neighbor kids took turns riding down it on the inner tube - it was fun! We also built a huge snowman but of course I forgot to take a picture of it. Oh well...

Jon and little B in the backyard

Our Snow Angel!

B is none to pleased at this point, but he did end up having fun, I promise!

The backyard at the end of the big storm


The neighbor girls enjoying the ramp - Madeleine B., Caroline, Kate, Madelyn B., and our Madeline. Yep, that's right, 3 Maddies right in our little cluster of houses - too funny!