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.

Soccer

Abby started soccer classes at the Rec Center today. She had so much fun. We've been looking forward to this for weeks! She got a new ball and soccer shorts and decided to sport her BYU Football shirt (yes, we're training her young...in fact, we've been working on the Fight Song for several weeks now!). Here's Abby in all her soccer glory!

Quotable Quotes from the Week

Today during lunch, I was explaining to Abby that my cousin's husband was coming over for dinner. He's in DC going to school, but his family is still in CA. I told her that he missed his kids so she needed to remind him how fun it was to have kids at home. She responded that she would be fun for him and then added, "I'm the cutest kid in town."

Five minutes later Roy looked over at the bottomless pit of the family still shoveling food from tray to mouth and said, "I think you are seriously gaining weight." I thought Roy was talking to me for a minute. Don't worry, it was Sam who was the subject of the weight-gain comment.

Sam and Abby enjoying the swings at Busch Gardens. I promise Sam had fun too!

I found one of my old necklaces with Orange Blossom from Strawberry Shortcake. Abby wore it to church today. We asked her if her friends were excited about her necklace and she said didn't share it with them. Of course we jumped right on it and reminded her it was good to share with friends. She clarified that she showed her friends for a minute "but then I got so tired."

Sam is starting to talk more and more. His favorite thing to do with me is come barreling into the kitchen and say, "Mama. AH!" My job is to act surprised. We play it every time I do the dishes. Even though we play it three times a day with multiple rounds each time, it melts my heart every time I hear his sweet "mama" and see the huge, delighted smile as I act surprised.

Today in church someone made a comment that made everyone laugh. Sam is just starting to laugh because other people are laughing and today was no exception. But today he just couldn't stop laughing for close to two minutes. He just kept laughing and looking at me. I'm glad he enjoys church so much.

Frumpies

A conversation from an hour ago shortly after talking about the word sibling. Abby frequently requests that 5 babies come the next time we have a baby. One at a time is quite enough for me! Note to my parental unit and sibuwings, this is not an announcement.

Abby: Mom, when I have 5 brothers and sisters, I won't call them siblings. I will call them frumpies.

My thought: Nope, that's what you're going to call me.