Laynie's Easter Dress

How can someone who wakes up looking like this . . .

also look like this?

Amazing! The weather was finally warm enough for Laynie to wear her Easter dress and I thought she looked like a princess, although by the end of church she had her hair undone and every bow on her dress untied. She really hates looking cute! What am I going to do with her?!

Tennis

I am so glad that Jacob did not get his athletic talents from Kelly or I! He really is very athletic and loves to play any sport. He asked for a tennis racket and balls for his birthday (thanks Grandma Judy!) and has enjoyed learning how to play. He just finished tennis lessons in time to start baseball. Always something new!

And, this good boy has even started mowing the lawn. Gotta love him!

Multicultural Night...and Weekend

Our school had a fun Multifcultural Night last weekend. We learned alot about many different countries, tried lots of new food, and watched dancers from Mexico, India, and more. The boys even tried a little dancing themselves! It was a neat experience topped off by dinner at a family in our ward's home on Sunday.

This amazing family takes a trip to Guatemala each year and they invited us over for dinner and a slide show of pictures taken during their trips. Kelly was in heaven! He enjoyed talking about Guatemala with people who love it as much as he does. The boys were far more fascinated with their state of the art home theater (which included recliners, and a popcorn and soda machine!) then anything else, but they did love seeing pictures of where their dad served his mission. And, the food was delicious! We ate plantains with honey, black beans, rice, chicken, grilled corn on the cob, homemade tortillas and licuado (kind of like a fruit smoothie). The boys think I should make this dinner every night!

Most Improved Player

Ryan's soccer team had their end of year party this week. Ryan really loves soccer and was so proud to receive an award for the Most Improved Player. He really does try his hardest and has a lot of fun playing soccer. He is already making plans for his next season of soccer scoring a goal and playing goalie!).

Laynie went to the Doctor today for her one year check up. She now weighs 17.5 lbs (7th percentile)! We were hoping she would be big enough to move into her "big girl" car seat, but it looks like we will have to wait a bit longer. Her doctor was really happy with her development, especially that she is crawling and cruising along the furniture. She did say that if Laynie still does not have teeth by the time she is 15 months old we should bring her in for an x-ray to see if she has teeth (WHAT? Is there really a possibility that she might not have teeth?). Let's pray that does not happen!

The Wildlife Experience

Kelly went with Jacob on a field trip to The Wildlife Experience. Jacob's teacher really wanted Kelly to go along and now we know why. She gave him 5 boys (with lots of energy) to be in charge of! As always, they had a great time together seeing all of the exhibits, eating a picnic lunch and watching a movie in the Extreme Theater.

Laynie is ONE!

Here are a few more pictures from Laynie's birthday party. Truthfully, it wasn't much of a party. I was feeling badly about not doing something special, but Kelly reminded me that when the boys celebrated their first birthdays we lived by family and so we had a built in "party". It's not so easy to plan something spectacular when I am still recovering from the Book Fair (I am really never going to do that again!) and the boys have school, piano, homework, etc. I guess I am writing this so that someday when Laynie asks why Jacob had a scrapbook made just for his first birthday or why Ryan had an adorable pig cake she will know why I slapped a whole can of frosting on top of a circle of cake and found some old hats left over from Emerson's first birthday for the kids to wear to quickly celebrate before we had to move on to the next thing.

Irregardless of how we celebrated her first birthday, I hope Laynie always knows that she has changed our lives in so many ways, and all for the better. We love her to bits and have so much fun trying to make her smile and laugh. She loves to cuddle and give slobbery kisses. She still has no teeth although I have blamed all of her honery moods on teething for the past six months! She thinks Ryan is hilarious and loves to practice the piano with Jacob. We love her so much and think she is seriously the cutest little girl ever!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

This super cute, spunky, lovable baby is ONE today!

More to come . . .