Week In Review

We made a fun bouquet of flowers for Grandma for Mother's Day.  It's just flowers cut out of cardstock, and I let the kids fingerpaint on them (it was supposed to be finger prints for the petals, but Mara was just making them her own), a button for the center, and we used green pipecleaners as stems and a painted styrofoam ball as the dirt.  The kids had alot of fun making them for their Grandmas.

I had seen this on my friend Natalie's blog (who got it from her sister's blog here) so I decided to try it out. Instead of using sponge rollers or fabric, you roll up the hair in socks!!  It was really easy to do, but I think her hair was too wet, so by morning it was just wavy and not the spiral curls I was hoping for. But Mara didn't really like them in her hair all that much, so it might be awhile before I try it again.

My mom took an afternoon off and spent some time out in the garden. So of course, Mara had to be her helper. She got out gloves and a shovel and was ready to work.  She just loves Mana so much and is ALWAYS her shadow and is wanting to help her in any way.  That afternoon it was really nice because I was able to get a much needed nap while Xander was at school :)

Nielson's Grove Park

Last Thursday, the 6th, we went to Nielson's Grove Park for a little bit before Xander had to go to school.  It was a really windy day, so we had to bundle up in our jackets. We made sure to take a little bit of bread with us for the ducks.

Pat found a duck that was camped out under a large rock. She was sitting on a nest of eggs!! She even ate from Pats hand, it was cool!

There was even a bird that would eat from your hand too!

I was trying to get a snapshot of Mara, but she noticed the camera and made this pose!

Oh how I love her!

We even saw a Mommy Duck with her ducklings out in the pond. They were so cute and fluffy!

Pat noticed a bunch of ducks by some bushes, so he and Xander went to investigate.  They found 4 nests, but only 2 had ducks on them.

This nest had 12 eggs!!!  So crazy!

It's such hard work having babies!

I love this pic!

I think this duck had too many eggs to sit on so they were coming out the sides!

Aww, spring!  It's always fun to see baby animals :)

Boondocks Revisited

Just the other day (April 27th) we were able to go to Boondocks in Draper for the RC Willey family day. The weather was really really windy so we got to the mini golf asap.

I had to take a pic of myself just to prove that I was there too.

Mara was cute trying to golf on her own and she did pretty good towards the end.

We were on the Lizard course and at the end there was a huge lizard for the 18th hole. So we played around with it :)

After the golfing Pat took Xander on the race cars and they had a great time.

I stayed in line with Mara, so Pat could switch kids easier. She waited sooo patiently for her turn.

After dinner Mara was able to play with Livvy Greer for most of the evening. These two love seeing each other, too bad we don't get together very often.

Pat & Xander went around and played games to get tickets. After getting extra tickets from a co-worker, we ended up having over 300 tickets!!

Here are the kids with their treasures!  Bouncy balls, suckers, a frog and an inflatable sword!

Gotta love Boondocks!

Playing Catch Up

I hate getting behind in my blogging, but it seems like it inevitably happens.

To start out, Pat sprained his ankle the Friday before Mara's birthday (to be nice to everyone, I won't post pictures, it's kinda gross)

But the pictures that I do have:  Pat found a moth at work on a really rainy day and was able to bring it home and show the kids. When he showed the moth to the kids Mara said, "Lets call him Bee" and Pat said, "No its a moth" and Mara replied, "Then lets call him Efferson!"  ????? Where'd she come up with that one!

On the 15th, we spent time outside in the nice weather. Xander and Pat played baseball for a bit, then Mara wanted to play too.  I think this was her first time trying to play and it was so cute!

This is my favorite picture! I had to blow it up to see the cute look on her face. She was just so happy to be playing with Daddy.

What a happy girl!

Friday the 16th, we were able to go to my nephew Noah's birthday party. He turned 9 and had about THE BEST party ever!!!! 

 The company GAMIN' RIDE came to his house and inside is a Video Game Theater!!

It has 4 screens and 16 chairs and a ton of different games to play!

It was there for 2 hours so all the kids were able to play a bunch of different ones.

Xander was able to play a few games with his cousins: Alex, Cody, & Noah.

Mara had to be a part of it all, if only for a few minutes.

Mara's Birthday Celebration

Grandma Tolman was gone for Mara's birthday, so she came over about a week before and gave Mara her gifts. She got a way fun Princess book that came with a playmat and figures, and some new clothes.

The night before her birthday we gave her a new nightgown. It was one that I had bought at a craftshow and had forgotten about. I'm just glad that it fits her.

For breakfast she requested pancakes.

Then it was time to open gifts from us.

Xander picked out the Princess & The Frog Polly set for her. Which she loved!!

She also got a few new dresses, a tableware set of Princess & The Frog and a 'Snow White Baby'.

I even did a 'princess' hair style for her for church!

I forgot to get a picture of the kids before church when they wore their Easter clothes, so I made sure to get one before we left.

After church, Aunt Karri was here decorating Mara's cake and she had to give her 2 cents about it.

The finished product!

After a yummy dinner and playing outside with cousins it was time to open presents!

She was very spoiled and got a bunch of fun stuff.

This movie from JD & Chris (Barbie: The Princess & The Pauper)  made her scream so high that only dogs could hear!  We had rented it a few months ago and she love, love, loved it, so she was overly excited that we now own it!  She also got a Barbie: Mermaidia movie too :)

A new Beauty & the Beast playset from Mana!

My mom is working hard this year to make pillowcases for all the grandkids for their birthdays. It's been really fun for her to use the Cricut in a whole new way.  She uses my machine WAY more than I do!

New Barbie and Ken from Aunt Karri, along with a carrying case!  So cool!

Barbie clothes from Mana!

A Prince Eric doll from Grandma Joan!

And it's official: Mara has WAY TOO MANY BARBIES!!! 

Lisa (my sis in law) and I have been discussing the fact that our girls have way too many barbie dolls and 90% of them have come from Grandma Joan!  She just can't pass up a great deal and LOVES to give gifts to the grandkids, so mostly it's a new barbie for the girls.  It's getting really tiring having so many dolls lying around. Ultimately, I would love for Mara to have maybe 3-4 dolls and just keep the clothes from the others and only buy new clothes for them. We have both told Grandma 'no more barbies', but she's still trying to give them, so we'll see what happens in the future. But for now, Mara likes playing with them and I just need to figure out which ones are her favs and then get rid of the rest.

That night was a combined celebration of all the April birthdays in the family. Mara's bday is the 11th, my mom's is the 14th, and my niece Sawyer's is the 19th. We've been lucky to celebrate them all together, but might need to have them separate in the future, you know, girls and their jealousy.

This picture makes me laugh. We've got our 3 birthday girls and then Conli had to jump into the picture! She was so funny all night and had to be in the middle of everything, even though her birthday was barely a month ago!  We might just need to change her birthday from March to April so she can feel included in the festivities! But I love that it's Mana & her 3 girls :)

Happy Birthday Girls!!