Brownie Event at Build A Bear

 As a reward for working hard selling cookies the girls all got to choose a bear and outfit at the Build a Bear store. 

 The girls are waiting patiently for directions.

 Elizabeth found the bear she wanted - it's the GS thin mint bear. 

 Emma

 Loren

 Lara

 The girls were all playing a game while they waited for their turn to stuff their animal. 

 Here's Elizabeth's finished bear with her brownie uniform on.  It's super cute!

 The girls are parading around the store with their animals. 

Our brownie troop 2012-2013

Easter Egg Dyeing

 Ben had a fun egg hunt at school -

 and then we had fun dyeing eggs with Cooper, Jackson and Elizabeth!

 That's Jesus :)

We got a ton of pretty looking eggs-too bad no one in my family eats boiled eggs!  Good thing Grandpa B does!  

Jessica's Shower

 A few months ago my mom and I hosted a shower for Jessica to welcome home Claire.  We did it at my mom's house and had a Chinese red and gold theme.  Elizabeth was so excited to come to the shower. 

 My mom set a beautiful table. 

 Each guest got a bundt cake with a cute fortune cookie on top.

 Here is the other table where Jessica and some of her friends sat. 

 These are the favor I made - cookies of China.  I wish I had taken pictures of all the fabulous food and guests.  My dad was the chef and got all of our Chinese food ready.  It was so good!  Everyone had a really great time.   

 Next up was Tom's birthday.  The kids thought it was so cool that Tom could put his hand through fire :)

 34 years!

 A few days later we had family come visit from Minnesota - Sharon, Jim, and JJ. 

 We had to take our first dip in the hot tub. 

 Elizabeth and Tom also went to their first daddy daughter dance that the church right by us was hosting. 

 Elizabeth had such a fun time doing something special with Tom. 

She even got her own corsage!

Last but not least Ben's class had a fun egg hunt in March searching for sight words.  Man it took a long time to find every sight word for every child!  At least it kept them engaged for a while!

That was February and some of March.  Hopefully I can catch up soon!

Valentines Day

 Valentines Day 2013 

 Ben gets the red Old Navy shirt for his Valentine shirt - he wasn't into the actual Valentine shirts this year. 

 We had to snatch a couple of pictures quickly while we were on our way out the door for school.  We are always in a rush in the mornings!

 We saw this braid online that we wanted to try and for the first time ever we got one of the hair things to work!  Elizabeth has such thick hair that I have a really difficult time making any of those special hairdos- this one was thankfully very simple and she loved wearing it like that to school. 

 Ben had a little party at school.  This year the PTA didn't sponsor a Valentine party so Elizabeth's class just exchanged Valentines and didn't have the parents come watch. 

 Ben's cute class.

 We had our hearts desire dinner and a few little gifts before heading to Elizabeth's basketball practice.  She was pretty bummed they still had practice on Valentines Day. 

 First game of the season!

They won so everyone was really excited.  She learned a lot this season on her team - they are pretty competitive even in the 1st/2nd grade league! 

She had a great time so that's what matters the most. 

(I think some of the other screaming parents on the sidelines would have begged to differ with me - crazy!! :)