Some Recent Happenings

Well, on the 17th, our little Lucy turned two.  It is hard to believe she is already that old.  It seems like it was just a short time ago that we celebrated her first birthday.  Today she had her two year old check up and she is in the 87%ile for height, the 50%ile for weight, and the 75%ile for head circumference.  The doctor told me that she would probably be around 5 ft. 8 in. when she is fully grown.  She is a tall girl, just like her mommy.  For her birthday, we got her a few little presents (which Amy has seemed to claim as hers, that is until Lucy realizes they were really meant for her), and we had a lunch, cake, and ice cream with Alli, Justin, and their two kiddos.  It was a lot of fun for Lucy.  Earlier in the day, Nathan had a Groove Squad performance (yep it is already that time of year again).  We packed everyone up and headed over to the school where there was some fair-type of thing going on.  Nathan danced well and had a lot of fun.  We didn't get any video of it because the battery on our camera was getting low and we were having trouble zooming in well enough because we were at the back of a crowd.  We did try to get a few pictures.  Next weekend he performs again, so hopefully we will be able to get a video to show everyone then.  There was some fun stuff there for the kids, like some bounce houses.  Well, Lucy spent the morning there with us and then we had her party, so by the time that was over she crashed for a long nap.

Amy even had fun in the bounce house.  Luckily, there weren't too many big kids in there and she was able to have some fun.

They also gave out lots of candy and popcorn at the thing.  The big hit was the ringpops.  Steve was a good guy and gave Lucy one.

When we got back home, Lucy decided to play with the markers while we were distracted.  Luckily they were the washable kind, so her white dress was not completely ruined.

Fun Spring Afternoon

Today was a beautiful day. It really seemed perfect. It wasn't too hot (about 81 degrees) and it is not too humid yet (by Texas standards). I have not mowed our backyard in about a week and today I looked back there to see it being overgrown with wildflowers. My girls love this. They like to go out and pick them or bend down to smell them. Nathan also likes to look at them, but more from a scientific viewpoint. He has been studying plants in science at school, so he spent the time back there pointing out which plants had simple leaves and compound leaves. He also tried to name the plants that he knew. Do we have a future botanist on our hands? Who knows... last week he said he was going to be a trombone player like his dad. Before that it was a fireman, then a police officer, then a custodian... He still has a while to decide, so I let him dream and explore.

Nathan showing me some of the leaves he was looking at and telling me about them.

My kids love dandelions when they are at this stage. They call them "wish flowers." Where they got that term from is beyond me, but I think it is cute. They make a wish and try to blow all of the seeds off. Amy has gotten to where she plucks these up wherever she can. She must have a lot of wishes to make.

Thinking of a wish...

Lucy has even gotten in on the action. She finally figured out how to blow the seeds off. The first time Nathan gave her one of the flowers, she stuck it in her mouth. She was not impressed and it was difficult to try to get all of the seeds off of her tongue. Ignore the hair. My girls have gotten to where they will not keep it done. I do brush their hair and make it cute (braids, pigtails, clips, etc.). Sometimes they keep it in, but usually it only lasts a couple of hours.

Nathan observing more of the wildflowers in our backyard. I really do need to mow. Maybe this weekend?

Amy got a scooter for her birthday and she loves to ride it all around our yard. Lucy usually runs after her hoping for a ride.

Nathan showing me some more leaves from a bush back there.

Some iris flowers (these were planted before we moved here). It has been nice each spring to see them bloom. The girls were admiring the flowers and smelling them.

Happenings in Denton

Nathan had district science fair on April 10th. He went and talked with the judges and then the UNT physics team came in and did an awesome presentation for the kids. I was amazed by everything they did. Nathan didn't win, but he did get a pretty big ribbon for making it to district level.

We had a pretty good Easter weekend. On Saturday we dyed eggs. Then later the Easter Bunny came and hid them in our backyard along with some other goodies. Allison and Justin came over with their boys and everyone had fun searching the yard for eggs. Amy and Hyrum were so excited to see the eggs outside of the kids' bedroom window that they climbed out of the window and started grabbing the treats they saw.

Lucy was so excited about the eggs and candy she found. She would get so excited about one thing that she would forget to keep looking through the yard to find more.

Nathan did a great job finding things and letting the littler kids find the easy items. He was happy with his findings.

These were some of the eggs we dyed. Everyone was impressed with Amy's egg (the one in the middle). I am not sure how she made it look that way, but it was really awesome. It looked like a marble egg.

Everyone dying eggs.

During Spring Break, we were not able to go camping. The kids were a bit sad, so Steve set up the tent in their room and let them have a slumber party in there. They had the portable DVD player in there, along with popcorn, and games. I think they may have liked it better than when we actually go camping-- there were no complaints about being too cold.