April!

What a month we had! Lots of fun days, and visitors too!

We started the month off with a pile of pillows on a baby. He enjoyed that.

We have a crayon thing that is for playing with in the bathtub. I kind of hate it, but I bought it, so I have to deal with it sometimes. Maya asked to use it and then Brianna drew all over Maya's face! They were both absolutely cracking up. She didn't think it was quite so funny when I couldn't get it all off. "My friends at school will laugh at me!" Sweet thing.

Dallin was having a couple of rough days in the car, but if I reached back and held his hand he wouldn't cry. It was the sweetest thing! It did make driving kind of difficult because it changed my point of view from the left to the middle, and it made it oddly harder to really know where the car was in the lanes. 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear is one of Dallin's favorite books.

I did hair a few times! 

We went to visit the Browning family the second weekend in April. On the way there Dallin was having a good time talking to his bottle before he drank it.

The day we got there we went to Steak 'n Shake for dinner. After dinner we went home and put the kids to bed, and then the adults stayed up way late playing a board game. I love that we all love playing games!

Dallin woke up at 6 AM that morning. It would have been fine any other day, especially since he slept all night, but after being awake until 1 AM I wasn't super thrilled. He and I had about 90 minutes together before anybody else woke up. Needless to say, I took a nap at the same time he went down for his morning nap. After that I was bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Baby cousin time!

After lunch and afternoon naps we went to a fun park. It was pretty chilly so we didn't stay super long, but it was nice to get the kids out to burn off some energy. We drove back home that evening when it was time for kids to go to bed. It was a great couple of days!

After church one day I got this cute picture. Sad that Brianna is crying, but I still love it.

More hair dos!

I went to Costco. I bought some strawberries. This mutant was among them. Truly a Costco strawberry!

The weather has this really fun tradition of blowing ridiculous amounts of air around on the days we have trash and/or recycle pick-up. The way our house is positioned, it creates a catch-all for papers and other trash. This day was particularly bad because some lovely neighbor didn't bag their trash (all this paper happened on only a trash day - they didn't even recycle all of this). The girls were a great help and went outside and gathered it all. There was a lot all over our yard. 

One night at dinner Maya was complaining about it hurting to chew on one side of her mouth. I looked inside and whoa! A little volcano of gum was about to erupt a new molar! She's pretty proud that she's already getting her 6-year molars.

Haaaair.

Maya had western day at school and made a pretty cute cowgirl!

The day after Ryan got back from China we had some last minute guests. The Techeras were in Boulder for an event at CU and asked to stay with us Saturday night before driving home on Sunday. We were so happy to get to see them again so soon!

Maya is learning to ride her two-wheeler. It's been a process. She's a little scared, but she's improving.

Mary walking with the sweet babes on a beautiful day!

Brianna had a good time with Ulises. He's great with the kids!

Goofball games before they drove home Sunday night! They were able to stay with us until about 8/8:30 PM. I was glad they could stay all day before heading back to Grand Junction.

A couple more hairstyles for this month.

We had a visit from our friends Chris and Katrina Johnson. They brought their baby, Randall! He is the same age as Dallin but WAY bigger.

When the Techeras came they brought us these lovely tulips. They are supposed to live for several weeks because they're still on the bulbs. I think I may try to plant them outside once they die so we can have tulips next year! And the next! And the next!

The girls' school is having an art show this week. Each kid painted a water color picture and had their portrait taken. These creations are FOR SALE at their school. For $25!!! Like, what?!?! Just give me my child's art! I took a picture of their artistry for us. Because I'm sorry, but $25. I'll have them recreate it at home.

Grandpa Kent came to visit! We love having him here. 

Maya had a flower sale for bees. I'm not sure how much cash she brought in, but the effort was A+.

Ryan built us a planter box! The garden will be planted in a couple of weeks. Broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, and green beans. I'm so excited and I hope it is successful!

The girls spent a couple of hours playing outside in their playhouse. I love how close they are.

That was our April! So much fun! Tomorrow...it's gonna be May!

Ryan went to China

A couple of weeks ago Ryan was told he was going to go to China for work. And he did - two days later! He was gone for six days, and I did my best to keep the days full and busy with the kids so that we wouldn't have too much down time and end up bored and cranky.

Saturday: Kids had some play time in the morning.

We went grocery shopping. Maya and Brianna both had babies in their doll carriers.

This pony is not my favorite thing. For a long time it was broken so there wasn't even an option to get to ride it. After spending 45 minutes grocery shopping, all I want to do is get back to the car and go home. To make matters worse, the rides on this horse take like two minutes. Doesn't sound long, but when you're standing there waiting for the thing, it's eternal. One time Maya threw a monster sized fit when I told her she couldn't ride it, so there was a rule implemented that the only time they get to ride the pony is if Daddy takes them grocery shopping alone. That's happened like once in their lifetime. However! I couldn't say no this time when Maya said, "Can we please ride? Daddy is gone, and we were so good the whole time." It was well worth the four minutes and two cents.

When we got home I stuck some frozen pizza in the oven (when I told Maya we were having frozen pizza for dinner she said, "What?! I don't want it to be frozen!") and we plopped down in the front of the TV and watched Captain Underpants. High quality food while watching a high quality movie. Only when Daddy is gone.

After the movie I bathed the kids, wrapped the girls' hair in headbands, and put them to bed.

Sunday: We got up and started getting ready for church. The headband wrapping produced lovely beach waves on Brianna and tight curls on Maya.

After church we hung out at home for a few hours and then went to our friends', the Parkers, house to hang out and have dinner. 

Monday: Sibling play time in the morning!

It was a nice day so after school we went to the Twin Silo park for a little while before dinner. One of Brianna's classmates happened to be there, so all three girls played together and I got to know Ella's nanny (thought it was her mom. Nope.).

After the park we went over to Papa and Nana's house for dinner. Then home and bed!

Tuesday: We planned a play date with my friend Julie and her two little boys, Landon and Ryker. We met at a park for a couple of hours and it was WIIIIIINDY. It even blew part of my earring away! 

Nursing. So glam.

After the park and Dallin's nap we went to Princess Paradise. Maya had been chosen to be used as a model in their catalog! She was SO excited. 

Thankfully Brianna and Dallin were super well behaved for the hour and a half we were there. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. The reflector leaning on the wall did fall on Dallin once though. He didn't like that, but we quickly rescued him from the round predator.

That evening we had Papa and Nana over at our house for dinner, and after the kids went to bed we played Rummikub for a while.

 Wednesday: Maya worked on some reading class homework after breakfast. She's getting so good!

After school we hit up the library for about an hour.

The girls' preschool was having a fundraiser at Chipotle that day so we stopped there on the way home and picked up dinner. Then we went home and watched Charlotte's Web while eating dinner.

Thursday: More playing with doll stuff. On Thursday Maya had her reading lesson in the morning, we hung out for a bit, and then the girls had dance class that afternoon. 

That evening the kids had a bath and went to bed!

Friday: Girls had school, I ran a quick trip to the store (we go through produce so fast these days), and that evening we went to the ward BBQ party for dinner. We got back home at 7 PM, at the same moment Ryan was pulling into the driveway! The week went by so quickly. The kids and I had a fun time. I'm starting to think I should fill our days with such fun all the time, not just when Daddy is out of town!