This week we decided to throw together a little family talent show. The chairs are lined up and everyone's waiting for their name to be called to the stage...

No suprise that Hailey choose to dance and sing. Hailey has a beautiful voice actually- I have no idea where she got it from but it wasn't me

Scott couldn't decide on just one thing, so he showed us several talents (including spinning a top spin) and ended with some guitar playing

And what's Ari's talent? Oh only something she LOVES and does every day- summersalts. She sticks her head on the floor and puts her bum in the air until someone tips her over, and as soon as you roll her over be prepared to do it 20 more times....she doesn't even get up from the last roll, she keeps her head on the floor. Check out big brother Scott holding out his protective hand.

Afterwards Hailey talked her Dad into dancing with her for much longer than I'm sure he expected, but of course did happily. It turned out to be a fun night. We are already planning one for the summer that's a bit more planned than this one, the kids LOVED it!

Fun in the tub

 A few weeks ago Hailey talked Scott into playing her salon with her...so cute

Tumbling is meant to get energy out, right?

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Spring Break started off cold and snowy, but by the middle of the week it was in the 70's and for us that meant going to the zoo

I'm so excited because we got a year pass so now we can go anytime we want! My kids love animals, so it's going to be a fun summer. They even had a little petting zoo

Here's a video of a goat and donkey getting a little too close to Ari (don't worry, I sanitized the stroller after)

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It was just me with the three kiddos, and Hailey got tired (and hungry...after lunch she was a happy girl at the zoo)

I ended up giving her a piggy back ride for 3/4th the time

Luckily Scott takes his roll as big brother very seriously and was thrilled to stroll Ari around

 The next excitement was that the circus was in town, so Dad got off work early on Friday so we could all go. What a night for sure! (these pics are with my phone so they're kinda blurry)

On Saturday Kevin dropped me off at the outlets in Branson for some mom time while he took the three kids fishing. He got them their own fishing poles and the whole bit...such a great dad (and husband!)

They loved it so much that Scott begged us to do it again, so we did on Monday

Hailey isn't as big of a fishing fan as Scott, lets just put it that way. She kept saying, "I'm BORING!" It was a crackup. I told her I was coming this time and her and I could do fun things and she said, "Oh..and Scott and Dad will do the boring things?"

Scott loves it. He has a lot of patience for a 5 year old- he just really enjoys it

The only fish of the night was caught by Ari and me. But to be fair our pole was in the longest because Kevin was dealing with the other two every time it would get stuck or tangled. I told him that's how it was with my dad and 4 girls...he was always getting someone out of trouble and never really got to fish.

The rest of the week we spent playing together, flying kites and just hanging out
Sweet little Ari

and trouble maker Ari...

Ari has been walking "officially" for a few weeks now but every time I try to get it on video she wants the camera so bad she knows crawling is the quickest method. This is the best I could get


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sweet girl

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Hailey never ends up in the pajamas we put her in to go to bed. Two nights ago when we checked on her she was in her swimsuit, and this morning she had on a different shirt. She said to me, "Mom, are you wondering how I can get dressed in the dark?" I said, "Sure Hailey how do you do it?" She said this

"Well I sneak out of my bed and I look both ways for monsters and run into the closet and close the door"

If you didn't already know, Ari is very stubborn. She has known how to walk for at least a month now, she just has chosen not to because we want her to. Finally this weekend she's been walking a lot more. She now takes about 6 steps before getting down to crawl.

Starting with breakfast, I'm going to break her stubborn habits. All last week I didn't give her any milk when she woke up. I sat her in her chair and gave her pieces of fruit and cereal. I don't give her sippy until I know it's not going to be a fight to get her to eat. It took a few days of crying, but finally she now loves banana, apple and peach pieces. (Before she would only eat applsauce!)
I love these pictures because they show how curious Ari is about everything- just soaking up all she can

She's also talking! Well...in her own way :)

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Hailey started a tumbling class last week and loves it. I'm still trying to decide how to take pictures because there are mirrors all around and only 4 kids in the class- I don't want to be that annoying proud mom :)

Last week we had the missionaries over for dinner and she was so cute with them telling them all about how she wants to go to Disneyland this summer and is so excited. Then she was bringing them all kinds of foods from her kitchen and after dinner we went into the living room to chat and she brought out her big pink chest and said, "And NOW it's dressup time!" Her favorite thing to dress up as- a skunk. She puts on the skunk costume and goes around sticking her bum out making spray noises. She told the missionaries, "Are you going to laugh when I STINK you!?" Oh Hailey- LOL

She's also getting really good on her bike. She's so proud of herself

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Scott has been craving the Springtime I can tell. For one thing, he asked me to bring me his swim goggles at bathtime and swam in the tub for an hour before I forced him out.

Check out the goggle eyes

Then after his soccer practice he put his shorts on and was driving around in the yard with one leg out squeeling.

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This week Scott has Spring Break. If we can get some good weather out we might be able to do some fun things. Today he said, "Today it's Monday...a nice and relaxing day" (For him. For me it's cleaning day :)

Is Springtime ever going to visit us? We have things we want to do!

Arianna always has this concerned look on her face- just like Scott did as a baby

 Ari reached the age to take rides with Scott on his John Deer 

He drives in slow gear and check out his concentration....These girls are SO lucky to have a brother like him!

Scott and Hailey snuck back outside last night after dinner wearing Kevin's shoes...pretty cute

 Speaking of shoes, I find them all over the house because of this little rascal right here. Her favorite thing to do is walk her hands with shoes on them- silly girl

Scott has a chart to help him get ready in the mornings with wash face, brush teeth, get dressed, make bed, put shoes on. He always protests making his bed- he just hates it. Today I firmly told him again that he needed to make his bed and I left the room and heard a "UGH!" I came back 3 minutes later to see that not only did he not make his bed, but he's standing next to his chart pointing at the bed square with a mad face on.

I couldn't help but laugh because that's pretty good. He didn't want to say no to my face so he just wrote a protest instead. Funny kid.