Playing at Grandma's House

Isn't this the most adorable play house? My dad made it in their backyard for the grandkids. They love to play in it. Inside there is a table and chairs, a little kitchen, and my dad added a sink (a bowl) that we fill with water so the dishes can be washed.

There's the sink next to Elizabeth. (I think she had just finished crying in this picture but it was the only one of the inside I had!)

One of the other favorite things to do at Grandma's in the spring is look at the baby ducks.

They let us get so close this year.

That turtle is the reason there are no more baby ducks now. In the pond are probably 20 or 30 turtles. The mama duck started with 9 babies, we saw 7 on the second day they were there, and by the weekend they were all gone.

You can't see them here but the turtles were just following the mama duck and her babies all through the pond. Thank goodness we didn't see one go under!

This is what we saw when we drove into the neighborhood. They were going on a walk I guess! Too bad the mama didn't keep them out of the water for longer, maybe one would be left!

Last Days

Elizabeth and Ben had their last day of gymnastics and dance last Wednesday. Elizabeth practiced her tap and ballet dances - she had a recital for all of us on Saturday.
She kept checking to make sure I was watching :)

She always does such a great job listening to her teacher and following directions. I love watching her do her dance!

Ben had gymnastics - he got to show off all his skills :)

So strong!

He's bear walking backwards.

Cooper and Ben had a little more of a difficult time following directions. If one of them scooted, the other one would scoot. If they weren't sitting by each other, they would move so that they were. It was very funny to watch (but I will admit that teacher part of me inside was saying, "Ben, sit still and listen to your teacher!!" We aren't supposed to step in during the lesson and it was really hard not to!)
This is so typical Ben. He was running to the line to get his stamp and he tripped and fell. It was funny that I got a picture of it.
He recovered quickly and was able to get his stamp. I thought he also did a great job during his class (and so did Cooper).

We signed the kids up for a fun ocean class this summer so I'll actually have different pictures next time!

Baby Jena

My friend, Joanne, came over last week with her brand new baby girl, Jena, and her oldest daughter, Jane. Joanne and I had a great time just hanging on the couch, holding Jena, while the bigger kids played.

Me with Jena - she is so precious!

The kids were upstairs playing dress up. Jane and Elizabeth were princess fairies and Ben was the dragon. We kept hearing screams, I think Ben was trying to "eat" the girls.

The beautiful fairies.

We had a great visit. I'm excited for the end of the school year so we can do this more often!

Elizabeth's Field Trip

Elizabeth's class went to the Bob Jones Nature Center for a field trip. It was a very neat experience. The nature center is all about preserving the natural landscape of the area - they also focus on composting, natural energy, things like that. The kids had a lesson on ladybugs.

They did a few fingerplays

and a few art projects - like designing their own ladybug.

We then went to release ladybugs and go on a nature walk.

They each had their own ladybug to release, and the teacher let about 150 ladybugs go.

Elizabeth's searching for a ladybug. We really had to watch where we were walking - they were everywhere!!

It was a great field trip - and I had a great time accompanying the class. Only 3 more days of school left!

Happy Mother's Day

This Mother's Day weekend Tom was out of town so the kids and I got lots of quality time together. Earlier in the week Elizabeth asked if we could have the grandmothers over for tea so we decided to make it a tea for Mother's Day.

We made a few different treats.

We were trying to wait patiently for the guests to arrive :)

The kids did all the work. They made the treats and set the table (I used my china, which I hardly ever use, so we went ahead and used all the different sized plates, just for fun. I let the kids set the table so when I came back into the room they had all the plates lined up around the edge of the table, and they couldn't understand why I had given them 15 plates when there were only going to be 5 of us!)

Ben sat down immediately when our guests arrived to eat. Elizabeth wanted to help so she passed out all the food and drinks.

I think she felt very grown-up hosting her own tea!

Ben really enjoyed all the yummy food.

Elizabeth and Grandma B

Grandma H and the kids.

Afterwards we played in the playroom. Elizabeth finally let me do her hair!

Teacher Elizabeth!

Mother's Day morning we woke up and the kids brought me my presents they had hidden with Tom earlier in the week.

Elizabeth made me this cute wind chime at school - too bad we don't have a tree to hang it up in.

My new mother's day shoes.

We went to brunch at Jessica's house and had a great time eating and playing.

My dad and Ben.

We haven't done pictures with the grandparents lately so we had some photo shoots.

Grandma and Grandpa with all the kids.

Then Jessica tried to get a picture of her kids so Ben was dancing around trying to get them to smile. I think all he succeded in doing was making Cooper and Jackson look at him and not the camera.

Jessica, my mom, and me.

We had a great Mother's Day and hope you did too!

Which One?

I found this website where you can order a canvas for free - you just pay shipping. I am trying to decide which photo to use. I am going to try to take a few more of my kids together (I can always get great ones of them apart but not so much when they are together) but of these I need some help deciding which one to pick.
Here are the options.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

I really want a natural one of them so I think I am leaning towards the last one. I love Ben in it -it's not as natural of Elizabeth.
So if you have an opinion let me know! Thanks for your help!