Crazy

Brooklyn had Crazy Day at Preschool last week and this is what we came up with.  We both thought she looked pretty crazy:) 

You may be wondering why  there are so many crazy pictures and I 'll tell you.  It's because Brooklyn has some sort of innate pull towards posing/modeling/beauty pagent queen.  I don't know how or why but it's there.  I simply asked for a picture and this is what I got.  Five minutes of Brooklyn poses.  One right after the other.  And don't let this fool you - I've got lots more.  This is just the tip of the iceberg.  But I'll spare you the rest.

Call me crazy, but I think she's fabulous!

Easter Pictures

These are meant to be our "Easter Pictures" but really they're just us in our Easter clothes two weeks late.  In fact, I don't even really remember what I wore on Easter but I don't think it was the outfit you're seeing.  Colby was asleep before church on Easter Sunday and again when we got home from church.  So I snapped a few of the other 3 that day and my camera battery died leaving me with less than desirable results!  Anyway, this was two weeks after the fact but at least we captured the moment (although it wasn't really "the moment" because it wasn't really Easter but whatever - you get the picture:).

(I'm just going to say it - I cannot get a picture that has both Abby and Jace in it that results in both Abby and Jace with their eyes open - unless I have time to take A LOT of photos!  I think they take after their father....)

Happy

Like I promised, more pictures of my littlest man!  Isn't he cute?  I don't have many pictures of Colby smiling because everytime I pull out my big, black camera Colby loses his sense of humor. But here he is cooperating for us and I think he looks adorable! 

Easter in an Eggshell

get it? "Egg"shell?Hahaha!

Happy Easter! We were lucky this year to do lots of of Easter egg hunts. This just happens to be the only one I took pictures of! We also had a hunt and bbq with a group of friends one night and then headed over to the park for our traditional City egg hunt on Sat. morning.

This one is at my parents house on Easter day before dinner. For some reason I tell my girls to smile and this is what I get - swinging Easter baskets, plastered smiles and made up dance poses!




Here we are hunting for this particular egg. If you don't know what I'm talking about look closely:)



Abby finally got it!



Jace had a great time - for the most part! He was very competitive in this situation and even though we had tons of eggs (laying in plain sight) all he could think about was the amount his sisters were picking up without him!

Hence the reason for this face.



Brooklyn managed to stuff her basket full.



Which is a good thing since the city egg hunt didn't go nearly as well for us this year. I wasn't even able to go since Colby fell asleep right before we left and I wasn't willing to give up a good nap on account of the egg hunt! At any rate, the rest of the kids went. Jace came home with a big basket of eggs, Brooklyn came home with 3 eggs, and Abby came home with an egg. As in one. That's right, uno egg.

I like to chalk it up as a learning experience in disappointment. Abby didn't really see eye to eye with me on that one.

And we can't forget Colby! More pics of him later!

Happy Easter!

Country Living

Darren likes guns. A lot. In fact, I think it's safe to say that Darren loves guns. He has a bunch of them. He keeps them locked up in my basement. I don't share Darren's love of guns with him. And yet I have one of my own. He bought me one. A handgun. For self-defense. Locked up in a safe downstairs. That I don't know the code to. Which defeats the purpose of me defending myself with a gun.
Which is really beside the point because I also don't know how to use the gun. Haven't really even seen it. Except maybe once. Have never shot it. Wouldn't know what kind of bullet to put in it. Or where the bullet goes. The list goes on.
What I'm trying to say is that Darren loves guns. And he really wants some back-up in case of an emergency.

Enter Abby.



Yep, that's Abby behind that barrel. And that's me on the other end of it (please don't fret, I may not know how to work a gun but I'm no dummy - the gun wasn't loaded:) Anyway, we headed out to the country to see some friends who are real cowboys. And we got the real cowboy experience.




Shooting pop bottles was just one of the cowboy things we did. The kids are checking out their accuracy here. See what I mean about real cowboys - he's there with my girls.

He also taught my girls how to lasso. I was all for my kids learning the cowboy ropes (my family roots are cowboyan after all) until I realized where the aim was. Nobody else was fazed that our kids's lassos became nooses.(That's right. Aim for the head, hope it bypasses the neck, and pull tight at the shoulders. It works in theory. ) I suppose that's the cowboy way so I bucked up and acted like I wasn't bothered by it either. (It helped that no one's aim was very good - except for that little cowboy up in the picture above. I just asked him not to pull tight.)

Needless to say I breathed easier when that teaching session was over and everyone headed outside. Until I caught wind of what they were doing. Cutting down a tree. With an axe. A real one. I asked just to be sure.
Brooklyn wasn't allowed to try out the axe. Abby made sure of that. She was just being safe. Brooklyn is too little for that kind of stuff. Of course.




Brooklyn doing what Brooklyn does best - posing.

See, Darren is smart. He not only got his 5 and 7 year old girls a gun, he made sure he got pink. Abby was so excited she even gave him a hug.



All of the excitement put Colby to sleep. And Jace was around too. He rode the 4-wheelers, shot the pink gun, and entertained the babies. He really loves being a big brother. I'd have to say our cowboy weekend was a huge success (if not a little nerve-wracking)!

Valentines

Brooklyn's first ever Valentine's rose. From a boy. Named Romeo.

I'm not sure I'm on board. Why is my preschooler getting flowers from another preschooler? Shouldn't they be cutting out crooked hearts and overgluing them to pretty construction paper? Or taking turns on the tee-teeter totter? Or sharing lint from their pockets? Or something else.

I think Brooklyn thought it was kind of neat but kind of embarrassing. Romeo apparently couldn't afford to get flowers for the whole class. She did thank him but later I heard her confide to Grandma Lu that Romeo was a bit of a "drip" (Grandma gave her two options "cool" or "drip". I guess "drip" suited him better;) All I know is that at that age I was weeding through the conversation hearts making sure that no boy misunderstood my Valentines to them.

Although I do remember getting my first piece of jewelry from a boy. It was 5th grade. And totally unexpected. And I found out it was stolen. From his sisters jewelry box. How romantic. Happy Valentines Day!

Colby's Blessing

Colby's baby blessing was on Sunday and I hate to say it out loud, but he was a perfect angel. During his blessing that is. Last night was another story .....But we won't go into that. I'd rather reminisce about the precious moments when I look back, not the pull my hair out moments:)



After church we made a mad dash outside for a quick snap (it was cold - and I didn't have shoes on!) because I couldn't figure out a good place for us all to sit. I'm not sure why Brooklyn is holding on for dear life but she is!



Abby, Jace and Brooklyn - before we entered Colby in to the mix. Notice the bribery candy in Jace's hand! You gotta do what you gotta do.

Poor Jace is lucky he got a little brother. He just has to put up with his sisters until Colby gets big enough to play!

And here we have added Colby. Everyone had to have a turn getting a picture taken while holding him and you can't see his face on any of them!

But you get the idea. Darren's parents were able to come out for the blessing and stayed for a few days and it was nice to have the extra help. After the blessing we came home for sandwiches and salad with everyone and then spent the afternoon playing cards with the kids and eating chocolate chip cookies. It was a perfect blessing day!