Climber

This girl is my biggest climber. We have only one tree in our yard and she begs to climb it almost every day. Usually I say no because it wears out her clothes so fast, but Josh told her it was okay today. When I went to check on her, she was about as high as you can get in the tree without the limbs snapping. I remember when she was barely old enough to walk, she would climb on our kitchen chairs and get up on the table all the time. We finally started turning the chairs upside down so she would stop. However, I don't think it discouraged her love for climbing.

Goldie

Today the kids were learning about pets at preschool. Grandma asked Sadie if she would bring Goldie, our goldfish, to show. Sadie was really excited and even got to feed her (the girls insist it's a girl).

We got Goldie about a year ago when someone at Josh's work was giving away free goldfish. Josh thought it would be fun for the girls. I grew up with enough fish that I knew how much work was involved in keeping their tanks clean. Yuck! I insisted that if we were to keep it, Goldie was his responsibility. Needless to say, we kept the fish. And here we are a year later and can't believe how big the fish has gotten and that it hasn't died. Goldfish are a tough breed. Josh was right, though, the girls do love that we have a pet, even if it is just a goldfish.

Easter Sunday

Today turned out to be such a beautiful day. Here are the girls in their Easter dresses. It was a jean theme this year. Everyone kept asking me if I made the dresses. No way, I am not that talented!!! Besides, the Easter Bunny gave them to the girls. Not me.

Easter Egg Hunts

The girls got to take part in two Easter egg hunts today. One for my side of the family and one for Josh's side of the family. They were both a ton of fun.

But I think the highlight was the water barrel at Aunt Krista's house. The thing was so huge that tons of people could be in it at the same time. There were a few hard falls when the adults were in it, including Josh, but the kids went slow enough that everyone survived. I think Kali spent a good 45 minutes in the barrel. Sadie spent most of the time on her hands and knees crawling. I didn't know she could crawl that fast for that long.

Coloring Easter Eggs

Coloring Easter eggs was the highlight of the Easter season for me growing up and is still something I look forward to every year. Josh just has to remind me to calm down and not get so frustrated that the girls want to color 18 eggs in two minutes. After showing Kali some of the cool ways you can dip an egg, she caught the spirit of it. They're holding some of our favorites in this picture. Ashlyn was pretty fascinated with the eggs and just wanted to hold one. She was giving it kisses until she dropped it. The disgusted look on her face is because of the cracks that are now in her "ball".

Praying

Ashlyn recently started folding her arms when we pray. It lasts all of about two seconds and then she just hollers or climbs on people. Josh managed to catch a picture of it and I thought it was priceless.

Climbing

We've hit the climbing stage with Ashlyn. If you're holding your breath while looking at this picture, don't worry, I was too when I found her here. Yes she is on the top rung of the bunk bed ladder. And yes, she thinks she's hilarious. We now have to keep every door in the house closed or else someone is into a lot of mischief.

Cute Picture

I just thought this was such a cute picture of Ashlyn. Josh jokes that she looks like a tablecloth in this outfit.

Field Work

Kali's school does what they call "field work". They're basically field trips, but they focus more on the educational aspect of things. Anyway, her school is always asking for parent volunteers to help out and today I was able to go. They went to The Farms at Thanksgiving Point. It wasn't much more than what they have at Wheeler Farm, but it was fun to be with Kali and see her interact with her school friends. I also had a chance to get to know her best friend from school, Alyssa, and her mom.

Go Crabs!!!

Soccer has begun and Kali started it out with a big bang. She scored two goals in her first game and would have scored three had a little boy from the other team not picked up the ball right before it rolled into the net. Thankfully they got a penalty kick from that spot so there was no missing the goal. She was really hustling and it was fun to watch.

A funny side note, the kids voted on a team name and came up with the crabs. Kali wanted to be called the roses, but some of the boys on the team weren't too fond of that idea. I love the name. Go Crabs!!!

Bears

This little girl has a new obsession. Her uncle gave her a bear for her birthday and it quickly became her best friend. She's hasn't had a favorite blanket like the other two girls, but they've never had a favorite stuffed animal. And not only does she like "Mr. Bear", the dark brown one, but she decided that she has two favorite bears. She sleeps with them, cries when she has to leave them in her crib, and gets giddy when she sees them. She even does a cute imitation of the bear sound.

The Babies

Six babies were born in one year's time in my family. We're missing Abram in this picture because he's in Washington. Ashlyn happens to be the only girl of the bunch, but holds her own with the boys. In one picture it looked like she was punching Blake in the face.

Bowling

Some of my friends got together recently to go bowling and hang out. Sadie hadn't ever been bowling and Kali was so little last time that she has no memory of it. Although you can't tell from their faces in this picture, these two had a blast!!! Kali made me nervous every time she'd pick up a ball. It always looked like she was going to roll it backward or drop it hard on the ground. In the end, she and I had the same score. The score was low enough that I'm embarrassed to share it, but it was good for a kid. Sadie was hilarious!! She would roll the ball so slow, I didn't know if it would ever make it to the end. But as soon as the ball left her hands, she would jump up and down like she had just done something amazing. One time she even got a gutter ball with bumper lanes. I didn't know that was possible, but somehow she managed.

Kite Flying

These two love kite flying and want to do it most days that we're outside. Normally the conditions aren't right or Josh isn't home and it's definitely a two person job. But today we were two for two so we did a little kite flying. It may have been a little too windy, but the girls didn't seem to mind. And the nice thing about having a big front yard is that all we had to do was simply step outside and get the kites in the air. A couple of times the kites got tangled, but they were both able to fly their own kite and their faces say it all. They had the time of their lives.

Conference Center

While watching Conference on Sunday, Sadie told us that she wanted to go to the Conference Center. We decided it was a great idea and took advantage of it as a Family Home Evening activity. The girls loved it, especially standing up in the balcony and, of course, the fountain. The paintings on display are all originals and blew us away. They were so beautiful. I loved the sculptures, especially a small one of the first vision up on the third floor. What a truly inspired and amazing building.