A Trip to the Farm

What's better than a trip to the farm to visit the baby animals in the spring? We went with a group of friends about a month ago. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea. But, honestly, for having a completely filled parking lot, and losing my brightly-dressed Abby a few times for a moment in the crowds, it didn't feel too full. We will definitely be going back again soon!

It was a lot of fun to see my kids enjoying the farm and being so interested in the baby animals. For those who have seen Abby's reaction to any animal who is within oh, about 10 feet of her, you will understand that the fact that Abby voluntarily pet a goat's head is a really big deal. Sam, my brave boy who isn't afraid of anything (which I highly regret every time he acts like King Kong at the top of the slide), started shaking and screaming when I had him attempt to touch the goat.

Visitors

One of the perks of living in DC is that the chances of getting fun visitors is increased from just any other random place. We love playing host home to friends and family who come to do sight-seeing, attend events, or just come see us (those are our favorite visits). This month, we had my aunt, uncle, and cousin's family come visit. My kids loved being with their second cousins and having other adults to talk to. Roy and I loved having people to talk to and play games with. I especially loved beating (no, not just beating, but completely smashing) Roy in our Ticket to Ride game. Since my aunt and uncle were on CA time, they would come in around our bedtime and one night after we went to bed. Roy, being the good host, went downstairs to check in on them and was welcomed with a "Hi Dad" from my uncle. So funny! Thanks for graduating, Curt, so we had the excuse to see family!

All 4 kids

Abby and "the funniest boy in the world"

Sam taking advantage of a smaller guy. He just can't stop hugging little ones! Actually, I love all the hugs and kisses he distributes.

Sam with his birthday buddy, my cousin Leslie.

Aunt Linda, Uncle Chris, and Sam.

(Are you jealous, Mom?)

Busch Gardens, Easter, and the Zoo

We are catching up on the last two weeks. I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

Roy

passed the Bar!!! We are beyond thrilled!

Family Picture

The wards that meet in our building had a church open house last weekend to help the community understand the programs of the church and let people come in the building. It was really well organized and a fun thing to take our kids to and explain some of the things they have to look forward to at church. Each of the auxiliaries had a display and people explaining what we do on Sundays and week days. There was also a room for families to take pictures. So since it's been since Christmas since the 4 of us have had a picture together, we decided to take advantage and prove that yes, we all four do still exist--it's not just the kids. Enjoy the spring!

Tangled

We had a "Tangled" viewing party today at our house. Roy is in Seattle this week so we are trying to do cool things to make him jealous. Not that he would have wanted to be in our estrogen-filled house this morning...but we had a lot of fun! Plus, I'm trying to win points in our continuing "best parent ever" battle. Gotta take advantage of Roy being out of town!

All the girls have little brothers so the boys were entertained with cars, chasing, and hugging their moms while the girls watched "Tangled", played with princesses, attempted to share the doll house, and painted fingernails. It was really cute. The movie was more of an excuse to get together and enjoy mini cupcakes, cookies, and other goodies. It's interesting to already see the difference between my girl and my boy. Wow, are the two genders different! This morning was definitely a study in gender difference. I love it!

Check out the purple fingernails!

The girls!

Weekly Update

One of our favorite things to do recently is to take a walk after dinner. We just do a big walk around our neighborhood and it's so nice. The weather has mostly been agreeable. Most of the time, the kids end up wanting to ride in the strollers so Roy and I get a little exercise. Really I think they just want to ride in the stroller because we end the walk going down a big hill and if they are in the stroller we run. After several weeks of racing down the hill pushing Sam, Roy finally got him to crack a smile the other day. The other times Sam was so focused on what was happening that he forgot to smile. Here are the kids all decked out and ready for a walk:

Abby is still enjoying soccer class. She was so tired after the last class! Sam was tired too and fell asleep on the way home. I just laid him down on the floor while I made lunch and came back to this:

We were in the Dollar Tree the other day and a little girl came up to Abby and started speaking Spanish. Abby responded in what can only be called Abbese (completely made up words). They talked together for several minutes in their respective languages and then both happily said goodbye. I could only shake my head and laugh.

Sam is saying new words every few days. It's so much fun (and can be so frustrating) as we learn to communicate with each other. He gets really excited every time he sees a dog and will occasionally answer "woof" if you ask what a dog says. He was really sad when Roy walked out of the classroom at church today and ran to the door calling "da da!" Sam has also turned into our bottomless pit of hunger. It feels like he is constantly eating. And if he doesn't have food in his mouth then he is going into the kitchen to grab food, bring it to us, and pat his belly. And of course he knows how to employ great charm and can talk us into some more food.

Abby and Sam have a fantastic friendship. We're not sure who copies the other more often. This time was definitely sister copying brother, though.