One of the greatest Christmas gifts ever!

This is a big thank you to Annelise, Lucas, Olivia and Caroline for the butterflies. We had a great time watching them grow from tiny little caterpillars to really quite big and somewhat disturbing caterpillars. It was so cool to wake up one morning and hear the butterflies fluttering around. We did finally decide that their lives would be so much more fulfilling outside and we let them go. Samuel still asks where the butterflies are and then he remembers, "Oh, oh yeah, they're outside."

I found this picture of Jacob dyeing eggs that someone else in our ward took. Also, here is Andrew and Samuel putting together a bag. If you think for a second that all of those DumDums made it into the bag you are sadly mistaken. Samuel LOVES DumDums - any aunt, uncle, grandparent or friend looking to get on Sammy's good side, just come with a pocket full of, what he calls Pops, and you will have a friend for life!

Happy Easter!

So, you should all know that Pioneer Woman's blog is deliciously evil. This is her Strawberry Shortcake Cake and it's fabulous!! Our frosting had a big of a struggle as there was water in the bowl and that messed up the consistency. Nevertheless, this cake was a great addition to our Easter sugar high. At least it had fruit, right?

I looked out on the deck and discovered Sam basking in the sun eating his pretzels. I guess the water table makes a fabulous lounge when it's empty.

Yesterday, our ward had an Easter party yesterday that was really fun. In between sessions of conference we met in front our church building where they had scattered a bunch of eggs for a hunt. As you can see below, our children did well. We also put together some activity bags for a local home that assists children with cancer, decorated eggs, decorated and ate cupcakes and had a good time being outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather. Spring has come very early this year and we are taking full advantage of it. Of course, the way they are predicting it now, our spring break looks to be cold and rainy. Here's to "nice weather faith." (Growing up we used to have "wind faith" whenever we were set to go sailing - it works just about as well as can be expected :-)). Jacob isn't pictured, but he was there. The older boys are harder to get pictures of these days.

SPRING!!

Spring has finally made an appearance here and it's an early one at that. Normally we don't have gorgeous days like we've had this past week until well into April and I must say it's a most welcome irregularity. Andrew and Samuel have spent hours riding their bikes down the sidewalk and then hiking back up to the top. The trampoline is finally cleared of ice and snow and morning work is accomplished with tremendous speed and determination in order to get a few minutes of jump time before school. I'm sure we still have a few more spring surprises ahead, but for right now we are LOVING beautiful weather.

Scrubbing the deck to get rid of moss.

Letters and finally feeling better!

Thanks Aunt Jody!! Aunt Jody shared her Handwriting Without Tears preschool materials with us and Andrew couldn't be more excited. We immediately sat down and started creating letters. The sense of accomplishment just radiated from every ounce of Andrew's body. He loves it! The next morning he came into my room at 7:15 asking if he could work on his letters. Anyway, thanks again Aunt Jody, and thanks to PopPop for packaging it, and thanks to Grandma for the postal run!

Samuel loves it too, and Andrew's okay with it - even when Samuel does it HIS way.

After spending ten days on this chair, in almost this exact position, Jacob is finally feeling better. He got sick on a Sunday night and after a trip to the doctor that resulted in a trip to the ER for re-hydration on Tuesday we thought everything would get better from there. However, he remained one sick guy. Finally, we took him back to the doctor on the following Monday where he was diagnosed with Pneumonia. We're not sure how much we believe that, but the antibiotics have made a world of difference and he is finally feeling better. Whew! Believe it or not Jacob is looking 100% better in this picture than he did all week.

Snow creations and puppies

So, it was almost 40 degrees here on Saturday - a perfect day to send boys out to expend some energy. Plus, the warm temps made the snow ideal for creating. The boys were very excited to be able to finally build a snowman. Although, they weren't so much snowmen as snowaliens.

Destroying said creations is at least 75% of the fun.

Here are the puppies. Since my children are excessively deprived in not having a real dog of their own, they will frequently pretend to be puppies themselves. This particular day finds Andrew in the role of puppy, but they take turns. It's actually really cute to listen to them play. Samuel really gets into the role and unfortunately finds his inner dog at some rather inopportune moments. For example, the time he started barking in the middle of the Sacrament and planted a big, wet slobbery dog kiss on my cheek. The woman behind us laughed right out loud.

Living Room Campout

Nope, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I decided to take advantage of the Valentine holiday to have a pink background. I'm not sure what I think about it - it's a little odd to see pink next to my boys. However, it's only once a year and only for a little while.

Anyway, last night we fulfilled one of Joshua's "life long dreams" - his words, not mine. We had a Living Room Campout. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in the fire place, made s'mores, ate chips and had a great time. The whole night Joshua kept pointing out how this was way better than a real campout because we were warm, dry, and we didn't have to drive anywhere. I would have to agree because I got to sleep in my bed :-). After dinner we hooked up with PopPop, Grandma Johansen, Uncle Ben and his family for a little Mario Kart Wii tournament. Joshua and Jacob were excited to have someone new to beat and they were HORRIFIED when their parents used their Mii to race. The utter humiliation was almost more than they could handle. It was a great night!