Saturday, March 28, 2015

Flat Stanley - The Musical Adventures

We got the big kids tickets to see The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley at a theater an hour+ away from home.  Mia stayed with Gma and Papa for the evening while we had a "big kid date" and we had such a good time!
The musical was wonderful and the time spent with the kids was even better!!

"Natalee, show me how excited you are for the musical..."
  
Autographs and a photo with Flat Stanley!
We're going to a Berenstein Bears musical this month and are super excited!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

In a Week...

I haven't blogged for a week.

In a week's time we have:

Gone out to Great Grandpa Bryce's to check out his hay bale fire...

Tried to get Xavier to eat and keep up with the sumo eater, Mia...
 she also started standing more all alone

 (Natalee always eats and never complains!)

Tried to keep up with the growing and apparently taller (and hungry!) Ameliya...
 But isn't she precious?

We did a little science experimenting...

Daddy got in some babywearing...
 look at her look at her daddy ^

We ended Friday with a front yard weenie roast that Mike planned, shopped for and carried out all on his own, which was really perfect...

On Saturday we celebrated Aunt Kea's 30th birthday and Mia got some Great-Grandma Betty snuggles...

At some point in the weekend we taught Mia to tackle her brother...


And then the kids played "church" and Xavier baptized Natalee...
As you can see, it was a very well rounded week.  From over-indulging in yogurt to floor baptisms and school projects we got a LOT of living in!

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Sand Box Kids

We've been soaking in a lot of outdoor time the last several days.  The big kids invited Mia into the sand box on Friday so I plopped her down to see what she would do.
She wasn't sure at first and poked around, pushing her bare feet through the sand and getting adjusted.
She drew confidence from the big kids being with her and watched them to see what the fun was supposed to be all about.
 After she warmed up she started taking big fistfuls of sand and rubbing them in her hands.
Then she found shovel and went to town!
My big kids don't know what to do in tiny little sand turtle type sandboxes - we love our big sandbox.  It's probably the favorite backyard play item and we have a lot of fun stuff in our backyard!
After watching brother and sis, Mia kept exploring even when they got out - she crawled around until she found herself a pot to go with her shovel so she could scoop and stir - smarty girl!
I hear other parents say they don't allow sand because it's messy.  My big kids do have a "jump it off" rule - after the sandbox they have to go to the trampoline to jump the sand on them loose.  However, even if we didn't have trampoline we'd still have the sandbox.  When my kids are out there - imagining for hours and digging to China, I'm ever so grateful for that big 'ole box of dirt.  I respect others who don't love the sand box life, but for us it's just the perfect way to play!