My favorite part about Spring is hearing the birds chirping outside in the mornings. We had to put up our bird feeder to invite some visitors...

When my friend Mel lived here I remember her making these with her kids, so I thought I'd give it a try when we found some really pretty pine cones at the park. Just spread peanut butter around the pine cone and then dip it in bird seed and hang them in the trees. If you live somewhere hot you might want to put them in the freezer for an hour or so so that they don't just melt away.

Hailey just wanted to eat hers....what's new?

Look at these beautiful eyes! Hailey woke up today saying, "It's Sunday! I'm SO excited for church!" (I won't tell you what Scott says Sunday mornings...)

 

 I never put bows on Hailey's head because I thought it was mean, but then she got bigger and refused to wear them- so I figured I better start early this time if I want Ari to wear them later.

What a cutie!

Hailey is such a goof

I don't have a picture of Scott, but oh do I have a story! Friday Scott came into my room at 6:30 am while I was feeding Ari and he was just staring at her. He said, "Mom, Ari isn't as small as she was when she came out of your belly." I agreed. Then he said, "I want another one." After I questioned him a few times to make sure that's really what he was saying he said, "Yeah! And when I get bigger I can start my own family. I'm going to have a thousand babies!"

Haha! So funny!

Today the kids wanted to get ready for church super early and we were bored, so we decided to take a family picture- here it goes

Sibling Fun

Anytime I put Arianna next to Scott she stares at him. I had to keep moving her head forward just to get a picture.

Saturday night we had a picnic at the park. The park we went to had a fun climbing wall for the kids!

Do you know any 2 year olds that can hold up their body weight this good? I think you're right mom- maybe she will be a gymnist!

When they play good they play REALLY good and when they fight, they REALLY fight. On Sunday Hailey was tired in sacrament and Scott laid her head down in his lap and tickled her back...it was pretty sweet.

I was proud of Hailey! She usually steers very clear of the wobbly bridge, but this day she was jumping on it- yeah!

Ari...deep in thought

She's particular about who she gives her smiles to....she rarely gives them to anybody but her brother Scott (he was making goofy noises so I could take this picture)

I wish I could look this cute in a side ponytail- haha!

Warning! Kevin bought me my dream camera for my birthday on Sunday, and I have been having a blast taking pictures. Lots and lots of pictures!

I told you she could smile! My old camera just took 20 seconds to take a darn picture

She loves to be on her tummy and she can hold up her head really good now too

My favorite part of Arianna is her eyelashes. She has super long eyelashes and they curl up...so sweet!

Funny how I always thought Hailey looked so tiny in this stroller. Guess it depends on who she's sitting next to

My smiling girls

Finally it was a nice day today so we took off to the park. Scott has been posing for pictures since he was born...I can never take kandid shots- what a ham!

Hailey is the climber

Ari stayed awake for the entire stroller ride and a few minutes of sun and then took a little snooze

Little picnic outside in the backyard

Grammy we will love you forever for giving this to us! We love it!

This is why Hailey isn't allowed to have chapstick...see the big chunk on her lip?

Somebody has a crush on this little guy...

Sunday we came home from church and Scott says, "There's this girl at church...she's not in my class but she likes me sooooo much! I don't even know why... She's always gaggling on me." I said, "What does that mean?" and he said, "You know...Teasing me! She's always pinching my back and I turn around and say, 'Hey! Whatcha doin!?" he was seriously grinning ear to ear while he's telling us the story. Then I asked him if she told him she liked him or he just thinks she does and he said, "No, her sister just told me"

Ari 2 Months and Baby Animal Days

Arianna is 2 months old already! I can't believe it!

9 pounds 15 ounces and 22 inches long

This face is thanks to Brooke teaching my kids the fish face starting from the moment they are each born...it's way cute though!

This is how Hailey came into our room the other morning and the camera happened to be sitting on the nightstand. She's got a jaguar, bunny, bear, puppy and her new favorite-the lizzard. It's a good thing she's in a big bed now or I don't think there would be room for her to sleep!

Scott came upstairs with this tie, a belt, 2 books and cologne on (thanks to his dad giving him his polo cologne to keep) and said, "Look mom! I'm just like dad!" I guess the books were his scriptures. Pretty cute kid. I have to tell a few funny stories about nursing. We went through the drivethrough the other day for dinner and Scott wanted to know why we weren't all eating inside. I told him I had to get home and feed Ari and he said that I could feed her inside the resturaunt. When I said no he said, "Oh...because you don't want to show off your breasts?" I thought I was going to die laughing. Hey-at least he calls them by their appropriate name!

Then the other night I had my hands full and told him to tell Kevin to come help me and he went up to him and said, "Dad, mom needs you to plug in her milking machine" (my pump) Pretty funny.

I started a new thing this winter because of bordom. I bought a pack of really big popcicle sticks and wrote activities on each one and put them in a clear glass jar. Then when we are bored or if they are being extra good they get to pick something out of the jar. Some things are simple like play candyland or legos, and other things are more fun for the kids like make someone special a card or bake. On Wednesday they drew out the bake stick and I didn't want to make cookies so we cooked this yummy bread. It was so much fun. They helped me make the dough and then they each got a piece to knead, sprayed their little pans, and shaped them. Then they got to watch the dough "grow" and bake. They turned out pretty darn good! (Hailey's wasn't as big because she kept trying to eat the raw dough...silly girl).

On Thursday we went as a family to the annual "Baby Animal Days" This year they even had baby bears! Ari slept the entire time in the carrier.

Scott and Hailey got to ride horses. Hailey loves it so much she just whips her leg around the saddle and hops on. She's a natural...well until her horse sneazed and scared the living daylights out of her. Then she didn't want to ride anymore!

Easter

Our Little Easter Bunny!

Scott came into our room at 3 am just as excited as can be, "The Easter Bunny came mom!" Kevin explained that it wasn't time to get up yet and when he brought him back down to his dark room, they kicked an egg and Scott yelled, "What was that noise!? It was an egg I think!" Oh boy...needless to say they were pretty excited!

The Easter Bunny put gardening stuff in the baskets this year, plus a book for Ari

He even hid eggs all over in our backyard! (Luckily the snow just barely melted!)

Look how cold they look in this picture! We tried to convince them to wait until the sun was up...they waited until they ate breakfast, but it was still before 9 am and a bit cold. They were both wearing their new gardening gloves

Scott was trying to look out the "spotting scope" and kept saying, "Mom move out of the way! You are blocking the way" but really it was an egg- funny!

Here are some good smiling pictures of Arianna! (Good to know even when she's getting smothered by her sibs, she's still smiling)

We ate a yummy dinner with ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, etc. and the kids got to have lemonade in these fun glasses- totally a big deal to them! :)

Hailey after bathtime helping me make strawberry shortcakes for dessert. She loves to help me in the kitchen- it's our tradition.

All in all it was a fun Easter Sunday. It was different getting to listen to amazing conference talks on Easter Sunday- I loved it!

Our kids ate all 42 candy filled eggs (the Easter bunny was frugal though, only about 4 jellybeans in each-haha) by lunchtime and still managed to make it through the day with no sugar meltdowns- amazing! Oh yeah, and this is the FIRST time Scott has eaten m&ms and chocolate. He was pretty excited and even yelled across the street to the neighbors that now he can eat chocolate. Halloween is going to be really fun, I can tell already! No more picking through the candy and letting him have the 2 pieces that aren't chocolate. Fun fun!