It's snowing!

Elizabeth came in our room a couple of nights ago and excitedly announced "it's snowing outside!" Never mind it was about 60 degrees. We have three trees that are losing all of the blossoms so the ground is covered in white. Thankfully, no, Elizabeth, it is not snowing. Silly girl!

Fun run

Our local YMCA held a Kid's Fun Run last Saturday at the fairgrounds. It was a mile run and our kids were so excited to participate. Aaron gave Justin a hard time on the way over about not letting a girl beat him because he doesn't like to run. Apparently it worked because he was determined to beat Elizabeth. He came in 3rd place and Elizabeth came in a few behind him. Even little Madelyn ran a lap!

Go Justin!

I ran part of the mile with each of the kids. I am training for a half marathon in June and had just finished my 7.5 mile run that morning before they ran. It was so fun to run with each of them. They all received medals at the end. Will and Bruce have been wearing theirs all week!

I made these!

After being inspired by my friend Ali and all of the cute outfits she makes for her daughter, I decided to give sewing a try. My outfits are not as fancy as hers, but I'm happy to say they are at least done! I think they turned out pretty cute. Having cute girls to model helps them look even better!

If you'd like to see some of Ali's projects, here is a link: www.etsy.com/shop/alisonhaley1 She has so many cute custom shirts. Next time I might try to do something to dress the shirts up. This time I thought the skirts were a pretty big accomplishment for me!

Phase three - it's done!

You may remember that Aaron started this project last year. He wanted to build a tree house/swing set for the kids. The swings were the first phase; then he built the tree house. Well, a couple of weeks ago he built the ladder and he just installed the slide on Monday. The tree house sits 7 feet high and the slide is 14 feet long. It's been so fun to see the kids out playing on it all week.

The girls are still a little timid about going down the slide, but give them a few months and they'll join in the fun. We've had lots of dirt covered kids this week, but it's been so fun to see them enjoying the fresh air and having some fun outside.

Princess Madelyn

Madelyn turned three on Monday. She has been looking forward to her birthday for weeks and was so excited for the day to arrive. I can't believe she's three already.

Our little princess with her Bitty Baby in matching outfits.

She picked out this rainbow cake for me to make. Thank goodness because my cake making skills are pretty limited. She has worked hard learning to hold up three fingers and was so proud to have mastered it that she wanted to do it with both hands!

Madelyn invited over a few girls from church to play dress-ups with. We let her open up this box of Princess dress-ups that morning so they could play with them. The girls were so cute. Madelyn was a true princess and didn't want to share everything with the other girls. She is just starting to get into playing with friends. They were all adorable in their princess outfits!

Madelyn is such a little sweetie. She loves both of her sisters, her brothers, and Mom and Dad. She often walks around telling me everyone she loves. She loves to give hugs. She loves to play babies. She LOVES princesses. She loves to dress-up and Bruce and Will fight over who gets to marry her all the time. As sweet as she is, she has recently developed a little defiant streak that we are trying to get under control. She can be quite stubborn, but thankfully we usually see the sweet side of her! We love our little Madelyn!

Happy Easter!

Madelyn liked putting the wraps on the eggs. Doesn't she look like she's having fun?

The missionaries were at our house for dinner so they stayed to help us color eggs. They were pretty excited to get to participate.

Artistic Elizabeth

Aaron and the kids ready to go find Easter baskets and eggs.

Naomi wasn't too interested in finding eggs, but she managed to snag a few of them.

Will with his Easter basket and eggs

The kids dump out their candy and the bartering begins.

Elizabeth, Jillian, and Madelyn chilling on the bean bag after dinner. They were so cute just laying here and enjoying their girl time. Madelyn loves that Elizabeth always includes her when she is playing with friends.

Dirt, anyone?

Our friends came over for Easter dinner and as soon as dinner was over, the boys headed out to our woods and began working on digging one enormous hole. I think the boys were out for about 4 hours. Justin came in with a blister on his hands, but just put a band-aid and gloves on and went back out.

Aaron calls it their fortress. Justin has offered to babysit the kids. He said he'll just put them in this hole and give them snacks. I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

Here's a picture of the hole they dug under the tree. Not sure what their plans are for the other side. Maybe more holes??