Just keep Walk'n

I have been getting some exercise lately... walking the neighborhood with the girls. It's been nice to have great weather and just 2 kids... I can walk again! I used to walk with the boys when they were little, but then Sandra joined the family and it just never worked out well after that (3 don't fit well in the stroller and 1 always gets tired walking).


Part of the joy in walking is I live close to some great ladies that walk with me! I get some fun mommy time chatting plus the much needed exercise!

These are just 2 of the strollers... we usually have 3 and take up most of the street :).



Today it was so sweet one of our little friends shared her snack with Mhari while they were strollering close to each other. This is pretty special because the other little girl doesn't share food (from what her mommy told me).



We have so much fun! I love the ladies we walk with and it has been great motivation to get my body moving again! I also feel like it's a great start to the day!
So what gets you moving in the mornings?

Big Girls wear Heals!

The kids like to pretend vacuum with our Kirby when it is out. Sandra was going to help put it away the other day after I had vacuumed, but first she needed her turn. The best part was the shoes! She can do house work and look great doing it - what a great mommy she'll be someday :)!


I liked the lighting in this one - kind of an action shot too :)


I'm sure glad we have 2 pair of dress up shoes! Now I have 2 girls that LOVE to wear them. Sandra prefers the blue ones so she usually has to find the pink ones to trade Mhari (since Mhari will usually find the blue ones to put on first).
Such funny girls! This is one morning before our walk. It is a good thing they both sit in the stroller. I don't think they'd make it too far down the street in those things!


Mhari has now joined us at the table! She is getting so big! She loves to feed herself and really enjoys being included with everyone else at the table.

They grow up so fast! We just love our big girls!

Sprouts and Sillies!

At the end of the season last year I neglected my garden. When it came time to do something with it this spring it still had dead plants and weeds from last season. After weeding it we found a little garden miracle! Our lettuce plants had reseeded themselves and little lettuce sprouts were clumped together growing all on their own! Aren't they cute! They've gotten big enough to start picking and they taste great too!


We planted potatoes this year. I was surprised when they finally started to sprout! I was getting worried. They are about twice this size now!! We also have carrot and zucchini sprouts!


Grant is our silly boy! He is our most creative kid and thinks of the craziest things before our others kids do. This time he has figured out many different ways to swing. Talmage copies his example so then there are two of them being crazy swingers! I get nervous and hope they don't fall!

Here he is doing his upside down swing!


He just loves it! He has flipped over onto his feet once and that was a little scary, but nothing else traumatic yet.

The main problem with Grant's silly things is his example. Sure Talmage is learning new things from his younger brother, but so are the girls. Well, Sandra is mostly scared of anything Grant is doing, thankfully, and she won't swing by him when he does this...

But then there's Mhari...

Already trying to copy her big brother! Now this is truly scary! She holds on really well and also hasn't fall yet! The only good part to her doing this is that it keeps her swing moving and if she keeps it up maybe she'll figure out how to swing by herself without us pushing her. She thinks she's so big and cute when she does it! It's going to drive me crazy I'm sure!

Happy Easter!

For Easter this year I really wanted it to be more focused on Christ. Easter morning the kids received a picture of Jesus in their baskets (no candy). It was wonderful to hear them so excited to get a picture of Jesus - and no complaining about no candy (probably since they don't know any better yet).
I wanted to wake up early and make them pancakes for breakfast. Well, let's just say I didn't wake up in time... so it became dinner instead.

I was trying to get the kids to remember the rock that rolled away from the tomb with the pancakes. After some coaxing the kids caught on. I think they look like rocks, and I even put apples and cinnamon in them to help them seem more like rocks - they tasted yummy too!

I was going to take the analogy further with the strawberries being like the blood... but seeing how they were just understanding the "rocks" I didn't want to get too gory (I'm also not sure that would be a great food analogy though, however if you added whipped cream on top then you would have the white - like when our sins are washed away because of the atonement!) I'm sure that's another lesson for when they grow a little bit, but feel free to use it if you think that's a good idea (not sure Jeff thought it was a good idea :)).

That night we did the Easter Eggs with the symbols of the atonement and resurrection. The kids loved it and it went over the scriptures about all the symbols (nails, cloth, purple robe, etc). By the time we got to the last egg and it was empty the kids were so excited! Christ was risen and the tomb (egg) was empty. It was such a joy to teach that to my kids!
As part of Easter Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Whitmer send Easter packages! The kids loved that a lot! They got a stuffed bunny, candy, little canvas bags with candy, games (go fish), pencils, and eggs. Thank You to the grandparents!!!
With the eggs we did a family egg hung for FHE on Monday night.

Happy Easter Egg Hunt!

We had a great time doing an Easter Egg hunt this year!  Here are some fun photos of the highlights of the fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Cute!

My two girls are just too cute!

Mhari is getting more girly everyday! She is wearing Sandra's dress up skirt and Mommy's shoes.


Sometimes it's hard to keep those big shoes on, but it's good practice for when her feet are that big in a few years!


The other night we had chili with dinner. Mhari loves chili! She used her spoon for a little bit, but it wasn't working well enough. It was time to go in with the hands! She had three bowls of it and I had to take her away or she would've eaten more! Good thing it was bath night!



Last week I remembered Easter was coming up... hmmm, no dresses. I figured I could make something and went foraging through my material and patterns. I wanted them to have matching dresses, but there wasn't enough of one material. Oh well. They turned out pretty good considering I didn't have to purchase anything for it (already had pattern, material, zipper, and thread!)

Sandra loves when I make her a new dress! This one is especially fun because the skirt is so flowy! She can do great twirls in it! That night when she was getting on her pj's she said she wants to wear that dress every day! I think she meant every Sunday, but still cute!

I'm also glad they are so long! Finding dresses that are long is so rare these days! With my handy sewing machine I was able to get the dresses done in 2 days (working randomly on them). I also added sleeves to the dresses, since the pattern I was using didn't have sleeves. I just stole a sleeve pattern from a different dress and used it. I think overall they turned out well! I will have more Easter updates soon :).

Don't push your luck!

This is a cute Mhari story from today...

Every day the kids get to go out and collect our hen eggs. (In case anyone was curious; we still have them and they are doing well). Talmage usually gets his later - after homework and snack, since he gets home later.
Today Grant and Sandra collected their eggs and left one for Talmage. They played and eventually went inside to play. Meanwhile I decided to water the garden. Maybe there will be sprouts soon!?!

While watering I saw Mhari playing... she had been outside the whole time playing with the kids. She was walking toward me and acting really happy.



That's when I notice she had an egg in her hands. She LOVES the hens and has watched the other kids help long enough that she figured it was her turn to help too. It was very cute and she was so pleased with herself. I helped her take it inside. Surprisingly it survived with no cracks whatsoever. I asked Grant to go put another egg out in the hen house so Talmage could still help get an egg, since Mhari had helped with his egg.




Grant ran out with the egg, deposited it, and went back inside to play. I finished the yard stuff and soon noticed Mhari walking away from the hen house again smiling and coming toward me with the new egg. I had to laugh. She is one smart little girl. So I helped her bring it inside again. Again, no cracks whatsoever. What a sweet little punkin! I put it on the towel on the counter and then I decided that she was just too cute and I needed a picture. Seriously I should have known better.

I tried to give her the egg again, but by this time she was playing with Grant's shoes and didn't want the egg. I finally got her to take it and got a picture. She is playing "peek-a-boo" in case you were wondering :). I was wanting the two hands holding the egg "too cute" picture, but I settled for the one I got.

Once she was done she put the egg up on the kitchen table...



And that was just too much for the poor egg. The third time was the charm and the egg was cracked good. I guess I deserve it for not just being grateful that she hadn't harmed the first two eggs. We'll see how many eggs survive the little helper! I guess it could've been worse - broken egg on the floor, on the carpet, on the baby, etc. One cracked egg isn't a huge deal. It just meant that we got eggs for dinner :)!

Kid Accomplishments!

Here are some of the exciting kid happenings in our home over the last week :)

The other day Sandra pointed to my hair and said "I want one of those." Then I saw she was pointing to my ponytail! Poor thing. I just recently trimmed her hair to help it look more uniform as it grows out. It is looking tons better, but not quite long enough for a ponytail. She broke my heart and I had to try....


This is the first day with just the ponytail and clips. The next time we did water and gel and that worked a lot better. Let's just say it takes a lot of clips, but it works. She is happy to feel more like a girl :). One day it really will be long enough!


I looked outside at the kids playing yesterday and saw Grant and Sandra swinging together. It was so cute I had to take a photo. I must say Sandra is probably quite smooshed under there! By the end of it she said Grant was smushing her. It was too funny. Maybe next time she'll get to be the one on top, not getting squished.



Mhari loves the swing! Seriously loves it! She will scream if the kids take "her" swing. Then it takes forever to get her off. The reasons to get off would be to slide, play with hens, or throw the ball, I guess food would go in that category as well. I think she prefers swinging the most though. She does really well on the big swing and hasn't fallen off yet. I wonder how old she'll be when she figures out she can do it herself!

Our last accomplishment is typing! Mhari also loves the computer! I think she sees me on it enough that it must be fun... right?! I move the mouse so she can't get it, but recently she has started getting the keyboard. It's an adventure to see what is on the screen after I get her down!

I guess in going along with typing, she can also climb up onto chairs on her own now. This makes the typing that much cuter :). Jeff just saw it today so I decided I should take pictures, even though it will encourage her to keep doing it.

Kids are learning so many skills so young these days :). It's amazing what older siblings (and a mommy that likes the computer) can do for your education!