Camping from the kids' perspective

The kids were begging to take pictures while we were camping. There were just so many important bugs that HAD to be documented. So I gave them the camera and turned them loose. These are the pictures that weren't so blurry as to give you a headache when you looked at them.

A caterpillar on our water spigot.A grasshopper (in the very middle...kinda dark)

A cricket...again in the middle. At least Zach can center the pictures pretty well.

Zach was not loving the bugs so much.

Happy Birthday Savannah!

Savannah's birthday was on Thursday. We let her open a couple of presents before school.The first was a whole box of headbands, bows and flower clips. She had picked out a few fake flowers and then my friend made them into clips for me. She LOVES them with her new hairdo.

The next present was a piece of paper. At first she just tossed it aside. But then I showed her the pictures on the paper and this was her face when I said "This is where we are going camping tomorrow after school for your birthday!"

She has been begging to go camping ever since the last time we went...2 years ago. It makes her so sad when the boys and Dallin go without her for the "boy camp out."

Dallin was home early and we let her open the rest of her presents right after school. She has such nice brothers. They each had something for her. Connor wanted to get her this chocolate rose when we saw it on clearance after Valentine's Day. He said "It will make her SO happy!" Zach made her a homeade purse and Jacob gave her a lego horse to go with her next present...Girl Legos! She was very excited.

Grandma & Grandpa Strong were here not long ago and caught on to how much this girl loves her stuffed animals. We got a large package in the mail...

...that had this dog in it. Instant love.

After presents her friend came over to play. Since he's a boy he didn't get invited to her girly party, so she wanted to have him over to play on her actual birthday.

After a dinner of fish sticks, corn & strawberries (all of Savannah's favorites) we had cake. Savannah got to have an ice cream cake this year. I had a free discount, that made the entire cake only 99 cents. I added some sugar letters to the top. Unfortunately we learned that none of us really love ice cream cake. But it was fun to try. I'm glad we got a small one.

We love you Savannah!

Zach Translations

Zach brought this home from school the other day. He made it during some free time that he had. It's his own special code.

He immediately made this for his bedroom door. You're not allowed to go in his room unless you figure out the password. The problem is that nobody is allowed to look at the translation page, because it's top secret.

I wish I could spend a day inside Zach's head. He is a very unique kid. We love him so much.
(Oh, and the password for April 4th was "King Tut")
He is now writing a book, all in his secret code. I would've posted a picture of the first page, but I haven't had time to translate it yet.

Lovin' that Landon

Landon is at such a fun age. He gets so excited about the littlest things. Like mirrors. He especially loved Grandma's hand mirror.Notice the shirt..."I Dig Grandma"

Landon checking out my friend Erin...

We said good-bye to Grandma on April 4. We already miss her, but know that she has a busy life to get back to. Thanks for the visit Grandma!

Savannah's "Pet Party"

Savannah is turning 6 this week! She had her very first "friend party" while Grandma was here and she was so excited. Savannah loves stuffed animals, so we decided to have a "Pet Party." She had 10 friends from church and school. It was a little crazy, but lots of fun. We made collars for our stuffed animals and had cupcakes.These big puffball things were the decorations for a church activity not long ago. They weren't using them for anything afterward, so I asked if I could take them home. Savannah loved walking in from school to see the house all decorated.

We were so happy that Grandma could be here to help us celebrate!

We played lots of fun animal games. Savannah was in heaven.

She got a Fur Real cat from Grandma & Grandpa that meows and walks.

We made butterfly & bumblebee masks. It seems like every little girl this age loves to color and draw. I think this was by far the most favorite activity.

We played animal charades, and Grandma makes a really great crab face.

Thanks for coming friends! Savannah had a great time!

Locks of Love

Savannah has been begging me for a month now to cut her hair short. At first I was totally against it because I love her long hair. But she didn't change her mind so I gave in. I figured as long as we were going to cut a lot we might as well do it short enough to donate it to Locks of Love, which makes wigs for cancer patients. We went to my friend's house on Wednesday evening and finally did it.

The before...Look at that cute little girl! I was really sad though how grown-up it makes her look.

She loves it and I finally got used to it after a couple of days. We love our sweet Savannah!

Hoppin Hippo

On Wednesday my mom and I took Connor & Landon to Hoppin Hippo. It's a fun place for little kids, I think age 5 and under. Connor LOVED it and could have stayed all day.

Right after this first picture Connor lost one of the lens out of his new glasses. The crazy thing is that none of us noticed. Connor noticed, but didn't tell any of us. He didn't think it was a big deal. I even took his glasses off after we'd been there about an hour and didn't notice the lens was gone when I put them away. I finally noticed when we got home, and the place was already closed. Miraculously, the lady found it under a big blow up thing when she was cleaning. She said there is no way we would have found it had we looked while everything was still up. I was able to go pick it up the next morning. I was so thankful!!!Landon even had a great time. He loved watching all the kids running all around.

It was great that you can bring your own lunch and snacks so that you can stay even longer.

They had a little baby area that Landon pretty much had all to himself. It even had an exersaucer so he had some variety.

Connor up in the "tree house."

Landon's new favorite teething toy is the baby wipes package. It will keep him entertained whenever he gets fussy.

This was the only picture I got of Grandma there! Cheesy face Landon.

Soccer Time

Jacob & Zach had their first soccer game on Saturday. They're learning a lot and having fun. Their team is co-ed, ages 8-10. And most of the kids have never played or only played a little, so it's the perfect league for them. Their coach is one of the dads and great with the kids.

Here is Zach warming up with his coach before the game.

Jacob taking a warm-up kick.

Landon loved watching the action and tried clapping throughout the game. He claps one hand on top of the other. I'm pretty sure he was the cutest cheer leader there.

There was a huge sand pit next to the soccer field that kept Savannah & Connor occupied the whole time. They were both filthy and literally covered from head to toe with a layer of sand. I'm glad they had fun at least.