Spring Break / Easter

Last week we had the kids paint Easter eggs. Both had fun, and both ended up with hands as colorful as their eggs.


We did some spring cleaning Monday. Later that day we went to eat with the Welches. Our kids are similar ages and they loved playing together. After a dentist appointment for Casey Tuesday morning we headed down to Logan. We wanted to do some new things with the kids but the weather wasn't great so we did what we could. Our first "new activity" was roller skating. It was a pretty shaky start. Both kids had a hard time with balance and moving smoothly. My mom was so awesome and worked with the kids on the carpet to help them get better. Kendal progressed well and enjoyed herself. Peter had a few good moments but overall he wasn't loving roller skating so he stubbornly sat or layed down to make his point clear to the world.

We found parts of each day that we either embraced the chill or it was decent enough for the kids to play outside.

Wednesday Aunt Katherine played hooky from work to spend the day with us. We colored pictures in the morning and Kendal finished one to turn into a local greenhouse for a free plant. She chose a cute pink one to take and give to Nana. We picked up lunch and spent some time at Nana's that afternoon. The kids pulled out all of the vintage toys from the 50s / 60s. My dad and Katherine later took the kids to see the baby animals at Cal Ranch. My parents and Katherine were awesome and watched the kids while Casey and I went on a much needed rare date. I joked that Casey was so romantic and bought out the theater for us because we were the only two there. The kids got to have a movie night of their own and enjoyed popcorn and the Peanuts movie.
Thursday we grabbed a lunch and set off to find a new park in town. We ended up at Ryan's park which is a lot like the Castle park the kids love but has many differences. We didn't last too long because it was chilly, but we had fun nevertheless. Thursday night My Dad treated us plus David and Anica to a game of bowling. The kids enjoyed themselves and Peter did better than most of us. Friday we enjoyed the morning at my parents. We lunched at chick fill a before heading out.
(Thanks for the stay Mom and Dad!)

After Logan we made our way to Raft River. The kids got grandma to play a slew of games with them and Casey took them out to find Grandpa and ride in the tractor with him.
Saturday morning they went out again to see the cows being milked and find the calves. Around lunch more cousins and family rolled in. Grandma had fun activities for the kids. They made bunnies with marshmallows, played a game, and then they listened to a cute Easter story. Afterwards they headed out to hunt for candy. Grandma spoiled the kids and they were happy with their loot and spent lots of time eating sweets and enjoying more cousin time. Peter attached himself to Cody's girlfriend Mia. She was sweet with all of the kids and even sat through games with our crazy crew. We had a delicious dinner and relaxed afterwards watching the women's session. We ended our fun day celebrating Ashley's birthday and enjoying some bunny cake.

We ended up walking the kids this morning to hunt for their baskets and eggs. Each had to be helped along because we had to get ready for church. Their reactions were priceless and so cute. Kendal loved getting a golden egg and Peter was thrilled and surprised by everything.  Peter ate more candy than breakfast but that's not surprising. Both the kids got a new kite and a movie (Cinderella and Toy Story 2). Peter got some little dinosaurs and Kendal got new sunglasses. Each got bunny crackers, jelly beans, and a couple of chocolate Bunny's.
Here is us after church. Kendal and Peter are wearing their Papa's shirt creations. Kendal loved helping to make it and I love that they have a piece of their great Grandpa to Enjoy.

  Before and After!

The power of a life savor

Who knew the power of a life savor. Today I told Peter he could have a life savor to give him super powers to ride his bike on his own. He happily accepted the treat and headed out in the road with Daddy. He was off and on his own within minutes. He did so well and we're surprised at how fast he was riding well all by himself. At one point he stopped and said "My super powers are working! I'm doing great cuz I got my life savor!" All we had to do was get him off on the right foot and he did the rest riding around our road for an hour. He was so proud of himself and we are too!

Let's Play

Last week it was Idaho's turn to vote in the primary elections. Casey and I felt it our duty to go and vote. Casey got off work and voted before coming home (no line, in and out) I decided to go after dinner was done and cleaned up. Big mistake. I went there and the line was out to the parking lot, then within a minute of standing in line they said they had ran out of voting sheets. I ended up spending over an hour waiting in line; listening to political talk and chatting with a few other people I knew.  Took quite a while to get one simple vote in, but it matters. Casey and I are so puzzled at how much America is backing Mr. Trump it boggles the mind why people want him to run our country with the nonsense that comes out of his mouth. We cringe as results continue to come in and hope our vote this November isn't between Trump and Hilllary because I consider that a no win situation.
By the end of the month Casey will have had four dentist appointments. Poor guy has suffered quite a bit over his tooth resulting in a root canal. Luckily he's doing better and the rest of his mouth checks out just fine. He's just finished round two of his antibiotics to fight the infection and is happy to get off the medication. He also started track last week. This week on Monday and Tuesday the kids got to go out in hail and rain, and every other day has been sunny but with cold winds. Personally running is just crazy to me so all of these kids willingly doing it in an Idaho spring is beyond me. Good luck with this season!
We took the kids to the Kimberly park Saturday. Kendal's been begging to practice tennis and it was a sunny day (windy but sunny). Peter lost interest quickly and opted to play on the playground.

We took the kids to get ice cream for family night this week. It was a treat in honor of my Papa's birthday that was last week. The kids are always up for ice cream and loved a reason celebrate and get some.
I decided to turn an old church shirt of my Papa's into an Easter outfit for Kendal. She was so excited to help me make it. We even pulled out a few of her old baby clothes and altered them to make a swimsuit, and two dresses for her American doll. She loves learning to sew and was thrilled with the results. (Easter outfit to be pictured later ; )

Pictures - Kendal with her creations she sewed for her doll. - Kendal had out my old dress up and was taking pictures of herself while I cooked dinner. - Kendal cut out the figure and drew this picture on her own. She was pretty proud of her work. (the bright area is fireworks.) The back of the picture says Mad bi Kendal th rtist tuc alot uv wrk (Made by Kendal the artist, took a lot of work.) I love how she's spelling on her own and how some words come out. 

Peter's imagination has no limit. He creates everyday. Sometimes he wants playmates and sometimes he'll go off on his own adventures. Yesterday Peter decided to be a pirate (We watched Peter pan last week and we're going to the play at the high school in a couple of weeks.) He had me put a bandanna on, make him an eye patch, and find his sword. He turned over the chair for his ship and "steered" the bottom as his wheel with his "mateys" in the back. He taught us to sing farmer in the dell, happy birthday, and to say arrrh! Kendal just had to join in the fun when she got home. They got a couple of shoe boxes and rounded up "treasure" around the house to hide. I even let my pirates accompany my to the grocery store in their getup's.

Warming up

The sun has decided to come out and warm things up a bit the past couple of weeks. However the wind still gives the air a nice chill teasing us that winter is still hanging on. The kids have been grateful for melted snow and warmer temperatures to escape the house and play. We're teaching Peter to ride his bike without training wheels; but as with all things that pertain to Peter it's on his terms. So some day's he'll go out and give it a try and other days he'd rather have on his extra wheels so he can zip around faster. We've gone for a few walks and enjoyed the park too. Peter and Kendal have found and brought out all of their outside toys and happily take the bat, balls, and shovels out to play. Kendal has even been helping Peter learn to pump on the swing. I've caught them a few times working together in the back yard and it's so sweet to see them in those moments.

Kendal is loving school and all that it holds. Her only complaint is when it comes to homework she finds it boring. I've added to it to make it fun / varied for her. We do math games, work on grammar, and we've started a journal at home. Kendal has advanced to level two in reading. She sometimes doesn't like that the stories are longer, but she loves having more options and finding books she can read.  Kendal has learned how to yoyo. She wants so badly to master fun tricks, but we keep reminding her as in all things she's got to get the basics down really well to get to the funner stuff.
Peter is doing so well with his letters. He knows them and can do their sounds, but still won't spit them out on demand. He's passed a couple of levels on ABC mouse and is so proud of himself. Peter could play Lego's all day everyday. He enjoys creating and comes up with different machines, trains, or creations daily. He also enjoys his cars and either pulls out the mats to play on, lines them up for play, or has races down his track. We've cut back on naps with Peter in hopes that he'll sleep longer at night. So now on the days I do put him down he either goes out right away or piles books on his bed and goes through them for almost an hour then peeks out to see if he can come out and play.
Casey has started running and doing some weight training to prep for track. He starts this next week with the middle school team. He's also had some sensitive teeth lately and finally decided it needed to be dealt with only to be in tons more pain, and find out he needs a root canal to top it off. He's been in so much pain, this Friday can't come soon enough.

We got to head down to Logan Friday evening into Saturday to celebrate Elliots upcoming birthday. We haven't been down since Christmastime so it was nice to see everyone even if it was a short trip. Elliot will be one on the Eighth. He is getting so big, crawls around, and has a cute personality. The party was at David and Anica's. The kids got to play on the playground and surrounded Elliot while he opened presents. We got a little more planning done on our summer family Disney trip. The kids are over the moon excited to go. (It'll be the first family vacation we've all been together for in 15 years!)