Catching Up!

It's been awhile since I posted so I thought I would do a post to catch you up a bit.

This morning I hosted a baby shower for my friend Kate. She is expecting her third - their second girl. The theme was "Flowers in her hair..flowers everywhere..." from part of a lovely 60s song by the Cowsills. So it was a little Boho, a little hippie, and lots of flowers. We all wore flower headbands. The food was delicious and we had a nice get together.

My friend Cecilia who is my partner in party planning crime. And Kate, the lovely mommy to be. 

 Sharan, Samantha, Natalie, and Janie (the new Bishop's wife).

 Strawberry mint infused water with my favorite colorful glasses.

 Mini carrot cake pancake stacks with cream cheese frosting. We served them with real maple syrup and they were divine. Next time we need more!

 Sharan made a great breakfast casserole!

Going backwards... to Passover. Where cousin Flat Ryan came to join us!

Adah was so patient sitting in her high chair for all of Passover. It's quite long and we even skipped some! As long as I kept feeding her little bits of food she was happy. 

Sister Glick (who was raised Jewish) was our guest along with Brother Colby (who has been wanting to come to our Passover for awhile). 

The Seder Plate.

Just a few shots from Jacob's birthday party. We just had our family this year and didn't invite anyone else.

Jacob and Nathan set up a bunch of Cars cars for a World Grand Prix race right on our table. I made a road with a black shelf liner and white tape. 

During the morning on his birthday, we went with his best friend Ezra to a fun museum near Southwest's Love Field. It was great fun. They got to see vintage airplanes, sit in a helicopter, and get strapped into an old pilot's seat (and both were nervous as the volunteer was showing them the ejector seat button!).

We have been doing softball... Esther is on the Teal Warriors. It's been an interesting experience to say the best. Her coaches are disorganized and not very positive. Daron was recruited into helping out and that has helped a little. Esther enjoys it for the most part but has decided this is her last year. I am thinking thank goodness! It's not her best sport but I'm glad she's been learning and sticking to it despite the problems.

And baseball... Nathan is on the Mustangs this year. Though Jacob keeps shouting "Go Tornadoes!" like we were the last two years. It is coach pitch this year which Nathan is struggling with. His team is full of pretty good hitters and they have won every game based on that strength. So Nathan feels pretty bad as he is still working on his own hitting. But he making improvements. And Daron was recruited into helping with his team, too!

We've had several games rained out already but still not as many as were rained out last year. Our weeknights have been crazy with at least one game or practice nearly every night. Some nights they are both scheduled!! I can't wait for the season to be over!

 Random cute pictures. We were trying on Esther's old pioneer hat.

 Adah loves her new chair almost as much as she loves Jacob.

 A fun block creation Jacob and I built. He loves when I sit down and play with him. We call it Special Time.

 I Photoshopped these of Flat Ryan. (P.S. When we went to mail him back, Jacob asked where Bump Ryan was!)

 Nathan's class had a Poetry Slam. Jacob and Adah and I attended it. Nathan read a Tongue Twister about robots. In fact, every poem in his book was about robots. He is a little obsessed right now.

Speaking of robots, I took the kids to University of Texas Arlington in April where they had a robotics open house at their robotics research center. They met Baxter, one of the robots that Nathan has read about in his books. They were fascinated with all the information. Nathan really wants to be a robotics engineer.

 Jacob is so silly.

Trying on glasses at Target Optical when we went to pick up Esther's new frames. He thought this pair made him look like a superhero. 

Fighting Darth Vader at Target. 

Bluebonnets

On Easter Sunday we drove to a recommended hill in Irving to take pictures in the bluebonnets. We have lived here for about eight and a half years and this was our first time participating in this Texas tradition. I must say the flowers up close are quite lovely and have a bit of a pretty scent to them. We tried not to stomp on any of the flowers and stay to the spots that had already been trampled.

Esther asked if she could pick one and we told her that it was illegal. Probably not, but considering they are the state flower, it's most likely discouraged. She and Nathan found one at the bottom of the hill that had been picked and Nathan grabbed it. The moment he did, we heard police sirens in the distance. Daron teasingly told Nathan that the police were coming for him and Nathan dropped the stem like a hot potato. Poor kid.

The kids were hungry as I wanted to take pictures before anyone messed up their nice clothes. Maybe that was a bad idea. It was really windy, too. And with the sun glaring on my DSL screen, I couldn't tell if everyone was in focus or who had weird smiles, etc. And the hillside and trying not to step on flowers made it difficult for moving around. So we did the best we could. I think overall we got some cute shots. I just wish I had gotten a better one with all of the kids together. At least I got some cute ones of them individually. Anyway, prepare yourself for a deluge of my kids swimming in a sea of purple blossoms.

Nathan wanted a turn at the camera so Daron and I posed half heartedly right at the end. My hair was not cooperating in the wind and I was trying to balance just squatting down. Not pleasant but for posterity sake and all. 

Right as we were leaving, a big train came by. Jacob was so excited! 

When we got home, we started dinner preparations and the kids finally got to see their Easter baskets.

Dinner preparations were a bit rushed and Daron took the brunt of it, for which I'm grateful. He and the kids made an apple pie. For dinner we had roasted rack of lamb, baby potatoes, green beans, and a veggie tray. We invited Brother Colby over and we had a great visit eating delicious food and telling fun childhood stories. Jacob fell asleep as dinner was coming to a close so we put him and Adah to bed. Daron and Brother Colby and the big kids cleaned the kitchen then went to visit a brother that Daron home teaches who now lives in a nursing home. The kids really enjoy doing that service. I'm glad that they enjoy helping others. I just wish it would translate better to helping out at home!