A stroll with Angel and Angels in the park

We have a bike trail near our house and one of our favorite things to do as a family is to take a bike ride and end up at this little park with a picnic dinner. I can't guarantee that the kids eat a great dinner with the playground in full view, but we all have fun, that's for sure!

Ashlyn taking Angel (her Bitty Baby) for a stroll around the neighborhood.

Mother's Tea

Ashlyn's preschool had a Mother's Tea the week before Mother's Day. We spent time coloring pictures in the classroom, received our handmade gifts, had our snack and tea, went to chapel, and the kids performed a song for us. It was so sweet!



Here are the kids singing their song for the moms. They sang it to the tune of B-I-N-G-O!

I have a very special friend and Mommy is her Name-O!
M-O-M-M-Y
M-O-M-M-Y
M-O-M-M-Y
And Mommy is her Name-O!
(I have video of it, but I'm still behind the times and can't figure out how to upload videos!)

Garbage Trucks and Mismatched Footwear

My kids have developed supersonic ears for certain truck sounds. One has probably been fostered by my own love of the mail truck. I love getting mail! I can be upstairs on the opposite side of the house and be able to hear the mail truck! We also have a very sweet mail carrier--Margaret. The kids love to wave to her and they get especially excited (as do I!) when we get a package. Another truck sound is, I'm sure, near and dear to most kids' hearts--the ice cream truck! When I take Maguire with me to the grocery store (I typically go after they're in bed so I can shop in peace) I "bribe" him with a HotWheels car for $0.97. He gets to pick one out at the beginning of the trip, but he can't open it. If he's good--we buy it. If he's not--we don't. Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit I use bribes! Anyway, the last time we went to Meijer for groceries he picked out an ice cream truck Hot Wheel! Who knew they even made ice cream trucks?! And this brings me to the last exciting truck sound--the GARBAGE TRUCK! Both kids just LOVE to watch the garbage truck pick up our big trash can on wheels, hook it to the "thing" (very technical term, I know) and watch it get lifted up to dump all our garbage out. Maguire always reminds me that the garbage truck takes away his "wee-wee". Yes, yes Maguire...thank GOODNESS the garbage truck takes away your stinky diapers! But don't you think the nice garbage man would really appreciate it if you would get potty trained so he didn't have to take away your yucky stinkies?? {sigh} I didn't think so...

Maguire is fully entrenched in expressing his independence these days. He knows that he needs to have shoes on to go outside and he LOVES to be outside. Don't even try to help him find shoes that actually match! Sometimes I think he gets mismatched shoes on purpose! He basically rejects any shoes I try to give him. Maybe it's time to try some reverse psychology in him (being that I have a MA in psychology, you'd think I'd have thought of that already!). Oh, and nevermind the fact that he doesn't have any pants on! Shoes...that's the only requirement, right? ;)

More birthday fun

Since Ashlyn and her cousin, Blaze, are just 2 days apart, we always celebrate their birthdays together. This year we had the party at Kyle's sister's house--Yummy food, fun games, family, presents and cake. What more could two four-year-olds ask for?!

Ashlyn's "big" gift (in addition to the other gifts from our generous family members) was an American Girl Bitty Baby doll. Ashlyn was way more excited than I expected her to be! She named her doll Angel and does a great job changing her clothes and including Angel in many of her daily activities. We're so excited about visiting American Girl Place when we go to Chicago for Christmas!

Hugs for her Papa!

Ashlyn and cousin Eliani

Maguire enjoying his seven-layer Jell-O "cake"

My cute parents :)

The "Twins"

Ashlyn and Blaze blowing out their candles

My little beauty

Ash and Mimia!

Cupcakes and Cutie-Pies!

Happy 4th birthday, Ashlyn! It's been quite a year for you--you got potty trained, you had a scary pool experience, you started preschool, you started dance class, you've learned so much about numbers/letters/colors, and you've learned so much about Jesus! We couldn't be more proud of you and love you more than we do now!

Ashlyn had a cupcake-themed birthday party with 5 of her little girlfriends. They decorated cupcakes to eat and take home, they played "pin the cherry on the cupcake", opened presents and then played with all the Barbies Ashlyn received :) It was so cute to watch them all together!

In order on the couch: Isabelle, Kiersten, Peyton, Ellyott, Ashlyn, Elizabeth. They were so cute on the couch together--they posed so nicely for all the pics and sang all kinds of songs for the video camera. Such precious girls!

Preschool Easter Party

At Ashlyn's preschool Easter party, the kids made a beaded cross necklace, decorated Easter cookies, listened to the Resurrection Eggs book, went on a "parade" around the school and then had an Easter Egg hunt. So much fun!

Happy Easter!

We spent Easter Saturday with my side of the family. The first part of the day was spent having an egg hunt at my parents' and then we had dinner at my aunt and uncle's house where the kids had another egg hunt.

The girls (some, at least)--Me, Ashlyn, Brittany (sister-in-law), Gretchen (cousin)

On Easter Sunday we went to Kyle's parents' after church. We had a delicious meal and then another egg hunt--the kids got really good at finding eggs!

Thank you, Jesus, for what you did for us!
1 Corinthians 15:3-5
³For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
Pastor Jeff gave a fantastic sermon (capping a 4-part series) on this passage. Listen to it here.

Finally!

Maguire has been itching to get outside for months and now it's finally "warm" enough that the neighborhood is "waking up" :)
**Yes, I'm trying to catch up here...these pics are from the end of MARCH!!

Maguire knows that he has to have shoes and "gubs" (gloves/mittens) on in order to go outside. Hello Kitty slippers count as shoes, right?! Ha ha!