Kyle's 5th Birthday

 After a week of celebrating Kyle is finally officially 5.  He started his celebrations with a trip to Toys R' Us and Red Robin with Grandma and Grandpa on Friday.  According to him it was awesome.  He got a huge Lego set that we all got to help put together the next morning.

 Sunday we had his family party.  He wanted an Angry Birds party, but we couldn't find Angry Birds wrapping paper, so if you look close you can see that Brandon drew one on all of his gifts.

 We had 3 very excited children for present opening.  He got lots of Angry Birds stuff and Legos which is just what he wanted.

  

 Such a cute boy.  I hate how old he looks though.  I'm not ready to send another kid off to Kindergarten.

  Angry Birds cake courtesy of Daddy.

 Then Angry Birds cupcakes for preschool.  Lucky he has a Dad who can decorate cakes.

 Preschool party on his birthday.  They played games, colored, and had root beer and cupcakes. 

 Showing off his new outfit which apparently makes him super fast.  He has worn it 3 days and slept in it 2 since Sunday.  Today it is in the wash.

It is amazing how much he has grown up in the past year.  He has definitely come out of his shell which has been so fun to watch.  It makes me less nervous to send him off to school.  He has done preschool, soccer, and swimming this year, and he loved soccer enough that he asked to sign up again for summer.  A year ago you couldn't get him on the field without holding somebodies hand and this year he ran right out there and scored 3 goals.  He is starting to read a little which is very exciting too.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings for him, I just wish the time would slow down and I could keep my little boy a bit longer.

Blog Catch-up

 Here is a little of what we've been up to.  We bought a new camera and these two cheesers wanted to pose for it.  They have become the best little buddies lately.  Makes me sad Kyle is going off to school next year.

 We planted our garden.  More on that in a later post.

 We finally decorated this wall in our house.  It isn't totally done or perfect, but such an improvement from the plain wall we had before.

 Evan has continued to pull out his teeth.  The last two he pulled out 2 days apart.  He is currently missing 4.

 Again with my little buddies.  In the afternoon when they are tired the enjoy watching cartoons together, apparently in a somewhat zombie like state.

 I had a birthday and we went out to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory.  It has been my tradition for quite a few years.

 Grace ate her entire meal and and dessert at dinner.  

 31 hasn't been too bad thus far.

 My traditional rice krispie treat cake.

 Fishing season opened.  Grace loved trying to catch them but thought they were scary up close.

 The Spring Fun Fair happened.  Evan's school made a 70 foot long reading dragon that the kids got to help carry.  He earned 20 scales for it and was very proud.  He had to read 100 minutes or write a book report for each one.

We walked in the parade with the dragon, which as usual lulled Kyle to sleep.  How he slept through Grace is beyond me.

Train Ride

The end of April we did an impromptu preschool field trip.  By the time everyone arrived at the train station the train was already there and we were in a panic.  The tickets were twice the price we expected so we broke it to the kids that we wouldn't be going.  The kids were not so happy, but luckily the train conductor (or some train employee) took pity on us and let us on the train free!  Thank you very kind train man, you made 4 little kids day.

 Kyle and Sawyer

 Braden and Hallie

 We just rode 20 minutes south and hung out at the train station for an hour.  We had snacks and then got on the next train back.

A very fun morning and quite an adventure for our little preschoolers.

Easter

 Our attempt at Angry Birds eggs.  

 Waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to come in so they could hunt. I love their little delirious faces.

 Grace caught on to what she was doing this year and collected a lot of eggs, but passed up all candy not already in a plastic egg.  

 We actually hunted the day before Easter so that Easter Sunday we could attend a cousin's mission farewell.  Devan is now in the MTC getting ready to go Brazil.  He is so great to our little guys and I'm sure will be receiving a lot of letters and drawings the next 2 years.  Kyle has already started a stack for him.

 Grace spent the 2 days we were down in Oregon for the farewell jumping on their trampoline.

 Today after church we got pictures of the Easter outfits.

 Kyle was feeling very cooperative and cheesy.

 Evan not so much, but he came around.

 Sweet Grace posing. 

 She comes up with these poses all by herself.  It cracks me up.

Puppy Dog

 Ever since my car accident in December Molly was getting walked less and less since I couldn't do it alone. We couldn't leave her in the yard because of the interest in her from our neighboring dogs.  Out of boredom she started chewing on furniture and we decided it was time for her to find a house where she could get the exercise and attention she wanted and not get in trouble.

 We posted a couple of pictures online, and in 24 hours she was off to a great new home.

  The kids got in a few last tricks before she left.

 We took a family photo with her.

Then sent her off to her new house with this golden retriever named Brandy (I think they renamed Molly to Mandy too).  Their dog was 90 lbs, Molly wasn't quite 50.  She looked tiny next to her.  It was hard to see her go.  She didn't want to get in their trunk so I had to lift her in, and Grace was yelling "Mom, get Molly" "They are taking her."  "Where is Molly going?" (only imagine the Molly as Mahyee).  There were tears, but I think it was for the best.