Spring 2014 Professional Pictures

As mentioned previously, our fabulous photographer here insisted on taking the kids photos after we lost 8 months of their pictures due to our network drive failing.  Leslie really is so so sweet.  We think the pictures turned out great and we are very appreciative of her thoughtfulness.

Pictures of the two of them together just melt our heart.  Trevor had a TMNT tattoo on his hand so Leslie insisted that he hide it :)

Pretty girl!

She just loves rocking!

Ashley was a bit of a diva this session but it's fun to see her many sides!

At times she was a bit coy...

...and sometimes even playful.

These two love each other so much!

Silly kids!  Smiling one minute...

...and sticking their tongues out at each other the next.  This all happened while Mommy was hiding in the other room to see what they would do!  Ha!

Trevor has such a cute little smile!

Big boy!  He's growing too fast!!

We're thankful though he still has these young innocent moments too.

Ashley had a quick wardrobe change and that little stinker was all about climbing on the stool big brother was just sitting on. She wants to be just like him!

We put out some Easter eggs and that little stinker was more into finding M&Ms than anything else.  Well, who can blame her!  Yum!

Look at me!

Too busy eating M&Ms to really smile!

Her dress was a little big but love how the color brings out her big blue eyes and her porcelain skin!

Wait, are those eggs in both hands?  No M&Ms?  Wow!!  Happy Spring everyone! 

School Egg Hunt

Trevor had his Easter egg hunt at school and from the looks and sounds of it, he had a great time!  Mommy and Ashley missed it because of Ashley's nap but we had two people there taking pics for us!  It's almost like we were there :-)

Trevor really gets into these sort of activities and who can blame him?  An egg hunt is right up a four year old's alley!

On your marks!

And 20 seconds later after collecting their five eggs, they are excited to check out their loot!

After that they had a little celebration complete with ice cream and strawberries!

Yum!

Once again we are thankful that we are at a preschool where they can talk about Jesus and Easter because as Trevor reminds us frequently, 'Jesus died on the cross for us' :)

Dinosaurs!

We made the trek down to Mesa to check out the Dinosaur exhibit with one of Trevor's preschool friends and his Mommy and sister.  Although it might have been a little far away, it was so worth the drive.  We were there for over three hours and there were still things we could have done! 

The paleo dig pit was a big hit for all of the kids. 

Even Ashley got a brush to see what she could uncover!

 

Mommy didn't take a lot of pictures while there because her phone sucks but another place that was a hit within the museum was where they could pan for gold!  Trevor thought it was straight out of his Curious George book!!

Popsicles

Daddy and Trevor went to Ikea this past weekend to make Trevor a Lego table and while they were they they found popsicle molds.  That brought Daddy back to his childhood days so he decided they would spend the whopping $2.00 so Trevor could have homemade popsicles.  For our first batch we used up some watermelon and a dash of lime.  At first Trevor thought they were the best thing since sliced bread but after his second one he declared he liked the bomb pops from the store better.  Well, it's a good thing Ashley loves them because we have a lot of them!

Car Pooling

Now that Mommy has a SUV with a third row we can finally car pool to preschool!  Yay!  Although Mommy is a bit picky with who she would car pool with since they would be transporting precious cargo.  Mommy watched quite a few neighbors drive to preschool on the days Trevor went and only a few passed the test of not using their cell phones when driving.  So when Ashley's nap schedule changed and we decided to enroll Trevor in Discovery Time, we asked one of the good drivers whose son Jack attends at the same time if they wanted to car pool and she immediately answered yes!  So meet Jack...our car pool buddy!  And boy are these boys funny together!! 

Easter Egg Hunt

 On Saturday we had the annual egg hunt at our community center.  They always host such nice events and this was no exception.  We started by meeting the Easter Bunny in the parking lot.  And father, like son had to be funny! 

After some donuts the kids were grouped by age.  We went to the 2 and under group so that Ashley wasn't run over by the older kids.  Trevor thought it was great getting so many eggs :)

 Ashley wasn't exactly sure what to do with the eggs!

 But she sure looked cute holding the eggs! 

 Eventually she got a little more daring and reached for eggs but she never really walked around with her Easter basket collecting eggs.

 Trevor though, he really got into it!  And when his basket was full he helped the other little girls and boys fill their baskets!  He has such a good heart!

 When the hunt was complete then Ashley carried around her new Easter basket that Daddy picked out.  A princess carriage for his little princess!

 Let's go!

 We had a lot of fun that morning hanging out with friends, checking out a petting zoo, eating donut after donut and playing at the playground!

 Ashley's friend Grace loves bows just as much as Ashley and these two are a hoot together!

 Hey!  Give that back!!!  Because if Ashley doesn't have a bow in her hair she will find one and bring it to you to put in!

 Trevor loves being a big brother.  Loves!  He especially likes picking her up to bring her places.  And she loves it when he does pick her up! 

 On our way out we got one more pic with the Easter Bunny and wow, look at this...we are all looking and smiling!  Life is good :)

Hodge Podge of Stuff!

These days it feels like we are constantly playing catch-up and the poor blog suffers but what are we to do!  We are certainly staying busy and loving every minute of our life.  Ashley is moving more to one nap so that is nice so that we have more time to play with her.  She's usually napping from 10:30-1:00 or a little longer and then both kids are in bed by 7:30.  It works nice so that the adults have some time at night to relax! 

Ashley is so independent lately and boy does she understand everything!  When Mommy asked her to mail the letter she headed right down the sidewalk with the letter in hand towards the mailbox!  What a smart girl!

She's started walking with her hands behind her back which Trevor did too.  It sure reminds Sara of her Grandma R.  It's fun to see signs of our Grandparents that are watching over us from Heaven!

One of Trevor's favorite toys...still....is the birthday cake.  He loves putting together a bake shop and then asking if you want a cupcake or cake, what flavor and then serving it up!  Sometimes you even get the birthday song sung.  The kid loves birthdays and cake!  Who can blame him?

The kids play together very well most of the time.  On this day they were all about playing trains and built a long train track together.  They even split up who had what trains and played nicely for close to an hour.  Mommy could hardly believe it!  And then all good things must come to an end.  Trevor wanted to play with Ashley's train and Ashley wasn't letting go without swinging at her brother.  Boy she is feisty!  So the book 'Hands are not for hitting' will now be read at bedtime.

We have two good shoppers on our hands.  When we have to go to the mall both kids happily go and are good!  Probably because they get a treat and their bellies are full.  On this day Trevor wasn't Mexican so we had Chipotle.  Ashley was a big fan!  Ate most of Trevor's food too!

Trevor is very into money these days.  Even will ask to do projects for us in exchange for some coins.  Yes, he asks for coins!  Well after our friends put on a successful lemonade stand with Trevor's help he got paid a commission in dollars...which he was so excited to put in his new wallet courtesy of Bobby, Julie and Remy.  It is made out of duct tape so it's very manly!

Miss Independent loves dropping Trevor off at school on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays because she can walk beside him.  Although she has learned to take a quick detour to the office where she sits like a big girl on the chair that is just her size!  And play with toys of course!

Seriously, the girl loves chairs!  She has now claimed one of the upstairs chairs at Trevor's Lego table so guess we'll have to move the Lego's elsewhere!

Our weekends have been lots of fun lately!  Last weekend we had date night and went out for sushi - thank you Grandma Pauline and Papa John for babysitting - and on Saturday we went over to our friends and neighbor's house for a last minute dinner.  We decided to bring over Sara's famous surprise cupcakes and Trevor was eager to help out.  Our little baker even remembered half way through to put on his apron!  Such a cutie!!! 

Happenings...

 A little of this and a little of that to get the blog caught up :)  First off this little face that Ashley does that is just so cute.  This isn't even it exactly but it is close and will help us remember it.  She does it anytime she's on a mission or after she did something she knows she shouldn't do (like dump out her water cup) or if she wants you to follow her to the pantry for more food.  'O'

With the beautiful weather we are having we try to get out every afternoon and go to the park.  On this particular day we ran into our friends Julie and Remy!!  We aren't sure whose idea it was to hold hands, but they sure were cute together and it was nice to catch up!

 

Another day Sara met her friend Marcy who was in town from MN for dinner.  Daddy had fun spending time with the kids...even taught Ashley how to go down the slide all by herself.  Mommy didn't know that he did this and just thought she learned by herself.  No matter how she learned she is so proud being a big girl!

 

 Ashley is very big into trying on shoes.  As long as they aren't her own.  Sometimes she puts them on by the back door and tries to walk in them.  Other times she brings them over to the stairs to put on (she does this because usually Mommy sits on the stairs when putting on the kids shoes).  She's no dummy!

 

On the weekends we try to have Trevor take a little rest because it's clear that he is so tired from our busy weeks but he usually insists he isn't tired. how funny that once he's in the car...zzzzzzzz!

We are so thankful for our neighbors and friends Becky and Brandon and their three kids (the one who is missing is four months old and is our precious Godson).  We had them over last minute for cheese pizza for Lent and it reminded us of our friends and neighbors in MN that we often did that with.  Then on Saturday afternoon we caught them on the way back from the park.  Such goof balls with their ring pops!

 On Saturday we got to see Papa John and Grandma Pauline twice!  We met for breakfast and then they came over for dinner.  After Ashley went to bed we snuck out for a little date...mini golf at Cracker Jax.  That was fun!  Sara was even winning on the front nine but then blew up one hole and ended up losing by two or three.  Oh well, we had fun!!

 On Sunday both kids napped at the same time so Brian decided to go for his first swim of the season.  The water was a bit chilly for Sara but it was fun watching him enjoy the water!  There will be plenty of time for family swims this summer!  Can't wait!

Trevor's Spring School Pics

Since it's apparent that we love pictures and can't get enough, we sure are lucky that Trevor's school does Spring photos.  Trevor looks a lot less mischievous in this one than he did in the Fall!  Such a nice smile!

He was sick in the Fall for his class photo so we were glad to have him in this one!  Mrs. Mac and Mrs. Webb's mini-4s class at La Casa de Cristo.  Of course, he's right next to Mrs. Webb his pal :)