Valentines

Look at all those children dressed up for the day of hearts!

And yep, we still love each other.

Ellie wanted to make chocolate covered strawberries.

Not so sure they looked like hearts.....

4th of July!

I love the 4th of July.  This year we did a parade. (Not as good as East Millcreek.  Lots of cars, and not very many floats or bands.  But they did throw candy, which made the kids happy.) Then we had a BBQ with some friends. (Thanks Moons and Wilsons for inviting us!)  And then, we crashed.... no fireworks for us.  Maybe someday we won't get so high on sugar and so low on energy that we just need to go to sleep at 8:00.  Justin and I watched the fireworks out our window while the kids snoozed.  (To my credit, I did try to wake Ellie up and invite her but she was so sound asleep that she didn't move when I shook her.)

Stop Growing Up!!!

Lucky Lilacs

This year we had official glasses for Lucky Lilacs.  We also had friends over.  Ellie told me she liked it better because it seemed more like Grandma Becky's, but that she still liked Grandma Becky's best.  I apparently missed getting a picture of Meg on my lap, and Spencer apparently finds Lucky Lilacs to be quite suspicious.

Because I find these amusing:

Before I took the photos with my phone that I posted earlier this week, I tried to take these photos with my real camera.  Spencer was NOT in the mood.  I think the photos are hilarious.  Just be glad I didn't post a bazillion more.  Eventually Justin started acting like a monkey... at which point Spencer looks more pleasant and the older kids stop looking at me entirely:

Girls Only:

(I skipped the boys only picture since Spencer was obviously soooo interested in the whole thing.)

And yes, our kids have parents:

Easter Morning

This year the Easter Bunny almost forgot to come to our house.  For.  Real.  Apparently she had prepared everything for the baskets, but then she almost went to sleep instead of putting everything out!!!  Luckily, at 10:15 she realized what was going on and went and enlisted the help of her Easter Bunny helper.  So no distressed tears Easter morning.  Oh, except when we made Spencer pose for a picture: 

Spencer liked shoving his eggs down the elephant trunk:

Actual Easter Egg Dying

I posted phone photos, but these are with the real camera, so you can actually see the kids' faces.  I decided to do Easter Eggs when Ellie was home sick one day.  We only had 9 eggs in the house, but the kids were good sports about only having three each to decorate.  Grant liked dipping his, so his eggs mostly turned out brown.  Spencer wandered around screeching because he knew we were doing something fun, and that he couldn't see it at all.  Traumatic to be the youngest!

Making Valentines for School

I love that Ellie enjoys creating things.  Usually she comes up with way cooler stuff than I could think up on my own.  Here she is making her valentines for school:

Actually, this turned out much tamer than her usual projects, which is probably good since they needed to be mass-produced.

Christmas in Vegas

This year we headed to Vegas for Christmas to see Justin's family.  It was a busy week and a half and I was sicker than I've been in years so much of it is a blur, but the kids had a great time seeing all their grandmas and grandpas and their cousins and aunts and uncles.  

Swimming with the fam:  (I didn't get in, surprise surprise.)

Christmas Pageant:

Dove and Cow:  (Grant was starting to get sick here.)

Ellie got to be Mary this year:

Meg got to be an angel:

I'm not sure what they're looking at, but these intent angels look so cute to me.

This basket had a real baby in it.  Cutest little baby ever.

Waiting to check out what Santa brought:

Parents waiting to watch their kids:

Bowling:

Piano Concert:  (Ellie wrote her own song for this one.)

Seeing our friend Kainoa:  (and, of course, his parents.)

Watching a movie at Grandma Duck's: