Spring? And Green!

Last week was warm and wonderful!  I just kept thinking, "Really, is spring here?"  We played outside and of course, we had to break out the short sleeves!  I honestly can't believe that they are both smiling and looking at the camera, amazing!

They even got to try out their new spring time pajamas.  When they were getting ready for me to take their picture Aleah said, "Cade, let's do something silly with our hands!"

On Saturday we drove up to Syracuse for my nephew Luke's third birthday party.  We started at the fire station and then headed over to the park for lunch, gifts, cake, and playing.  It was a fun morning.

Saturday night Brad and I got to go out on a date to the last U of U gymnastics meet of the regular season.  It was such a great meet.  It was against Florida who was ranked #2 and U of U was ranked #7.  It was close the whole time, but U of U ended up winning.  We had so much fun!

Our new neighborhood is so awesome.  There are 50 young women in our ward.  So we have lots of babysitters begging us to let them babysit for us.  It is such a change from our last ward where we only had two babysitters.  The girls around here have to advertise.  One girl came over the other day, she wanted to meet us and let us know that she would love to babysit for us.  She gave us a flyer in which she stated all the reason why we should choose her; CPR certified... haha, we love it!

At the breakfast table Sunday morning, St. Patrick's Day, Brad explained the holiday to Aleah and Cade.  When he finished Cade was almost crying and said, "I scared Mom!  I scared!  I no want to be pinched!"  I reassured him that he wouldn't get pinched if he wore green.  Then he was excited to wear green.  Before Brad got dressed I decided that we should have a little fun.  He didn't have any green on so I got the kids to help me get him.  We decided to tickle him instead of pinch.  It was fun and we all had a good laugh.

For our green dinner we had brussels sprouts, zucchini muffins, and pina colada smoothies made green with a little spinach!  It was yummy.

Aleah and Cade got some fun hand-me-down toys from their awesome cousins, Corbin, Sydnee, and Matthew.  They played with their new toys all morning!  I loved watching my cute little girl play with the mermaids.

I loved watching my cute little boy play with the knights and castle that has trap doors and a draw bridge!

After a while they started playing together.  It reminded me of when they were super little and they would play with the little people dollhouse together.  They would play on opposite sides of the house for a few minutes and then one of them would say, "switch" and they would switch sides.  That's exactly what they were doing with the castle.  Every few minutes I would hear, "switch" and it would make me smile.  Oh how I love them!

Cade has started writing his name really well.  He has been able to write his A and his E for a long time, but his C was usually not facing the right way and he really struggled with his D.  I'm amazed at well he can write his name now!

He has also started coloring well.  He is getting more precise about where he colors and which colors he uses.

Aleah is doing really well with her coloring, she almost stays in the lines now.  She has started drawing things besides people.  During quiet time a few days after Disney on Ice she drew a sky with lanterns.  The inside of the lanterns she colored yellow.  When she showed me her picture I know exactly what it was before she told me!  She did this picture in her class at church.  She loves to fold her pictures and put them in her scripture bag and then show us when we get home.

"Is it about time for Rapunzel?"

A few weekends ago we were able to go to a cabin in Heber with Brad's sister and her family.  It was a fun and much needed family vacation.  We had a great time relaxing and visiting.

We went on a little hike to the top of the hill near the cabin.  This hike took us a lot longer than it did back in September when we did it because we would hike a little and then sled a little, and then hike some more and then sled some more.  Toward the end, most of the kids were tired and Brad ended up pulling them in the sled the rest of the way.  He's super strong!

Grandma and Grandpa Godfrey sent Aleah and Cade a Valentine.  It was so sweet!  In their Valentines there was a dollar bill.  We finally found some time the other night to go to the Family Dollar so that they could choose a gift.

Aleah choose stamps.  On the way home she said, "I will share my stamps with Cade because he doesn't have any."  She is so thoughtful that way, always remembering to share with her brother!  When we got home she said, "I'm so thankful that we have stamps, we never had stamps before!"

Cade choose a cute little monkey friend.  He is really in to the color orange.  I got him a new jacket the other day and he also choose the orange one.  It's his favorite color right now.

This last Saturday we got to go on a family date to Disney on Ice!  Aleah and Cade were so excited!  The week leading up to it Cade and I had the same conversation every morning:

Cade: "What day today is?"

Me: "Today is Tuesday!"

Cade: "Oooohhhh, but why?  Why today is Tuesday?  Why today not Saturday?!"

Brad got us excellent seats.  I don't know what it is, but my kids never look at the camera long enough to get the picture.  Sometimes I can catch one of them, but never both!

First they did Tiana, then Cinderella and they finished with Rapunzel.  Aleah and Cade love the movie Tangled and so they were really excited to see Rapunzel and Eugene.  Half way through Cinderella they had intermission.  Aleah was very confused and kept asking, "But why does Cinderella need a break?"  After the intermission she kept asking, "Is it about time for Rapunzel?"

They were right to be excited about Rapunzel, it was by far the best part of the show!  It was amazing to watch Maximus, the horse.  Cade was super excited when he came out.  We loved it!

The snow is all melted and we are now reminded, each day when we look out our windows, that our yard is full of rocks!  We were also reminded of the sand pile!  Yay, we have been having a lot of fun playing in the sand these last few days.

February Recap

I have been busy. busy lately.  So I need to catch up!  

Our shower door did not pass the city inspection.  American Fork City is very picky.  I guess that the opening to our shower was too small and most cities just let it slide, not American Fork!  In the end we are glad that they were picky.  We ended up, seven weeks later, with a free majorly upgraded frameless shower door.  We love it!  It makes our shower look so much better.  Thank you American Fork City Inspector!

Aleah and Cade really wanted to play at the park.  So I bundled them up and we went to the park.  We had so much fun!  It was a great afternoon in the sun.

For our preschool field trip we went to the fire station.  They loved it.  Yep, Aleah is the one and only girl, but she loves all of her friends.  I think that Aleah and Cade's favorite part was the hat.  When they got home they played, "fire truck"  They took turns being the fire truck and the fire fighter and went around putting out fires.

We made hanging heart decorations for our Family Home Evening the week before Valentine's Day.  It was fun to be creative.  Aleah and Cade loved cutting the yarn and wrapping it around their hearts.  Then we hung them from our railing.  It looked really pretty.

For Valentine's Day we made some heart shaped crayons.  Then after our red foods dinner we took them to Aleah and Cade's friends.  The kids loved the heart shaped crayons, but my fingers did not!  It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be to get the paper off the crayons.

Two days after Valentine's Day we got our present.

We love it!  We have been looking to get an bigger vehicle for a while now.  We were trying to decide between a Honda Pilot and an all wheel drive Toyota Siena.  Finally, it came down to two things.  We have absolutely loved our jeep and so we really wanted the same thing but bigger.  And I couldn't see myself with two kids in a minivan!

We got it with only 3 miles on it.  It comes off the truck with 2 miles on it and then the mechanic put on one mile.  So we were the first ones to test drive it.  We got to put the 4th mile on it!

Saying good-bye to our jeep was so very hard!  We sold it to our nephew Bryton, which makes it a little bit easier.  I know that he is going to love it and I can still see it sometimes.  But, yes, I almost cried as he drove it away!

Two months to the day from when we moved in, we got our blinds!  It was a fun and exciting time.  While they were being installed Aleah and Cade had fun popping all the bubble wrap, which echoed through the house.

The weather has been so nice.  We have been enjoying every nice day, outside.  One day Aleah and her cousin Grant decided to "shovel a path for all the people to walk"

Cade can start peddling his bike all by himself every time now.

Grant is tall enough for the Ybike now and is really getting brave.  He can ride it all around the cul-de-sack all by himself.

Braedan is also loving the Ybike and really getting the hang of it fast.

Brad and I had the opportunity to attend the funeral of the son of some of our dearest closest friends.  We love them so much.  They are truly an inspiration to us!  It was a very sweet and spiritual service.  I have been friends with Rachel since we were 12 years old.  I don't know if she fells the same way about me, but she has always been the best friend to me.  She lifts me up, helps me out, inspires me, makes me laugh, comforts me.  I consider her to be part of my family.  I am so thankful for her in my life.  I know that families can be together forever and I'm thankful for that knowledge.  I know that it will be a glorious reunion for them when they see their son again!

We have been getting ready for St. Patrick's Day.  I taught Aleah, Cade, and Braedan about St. Patrick's Day and we looked at some pictures on the internet.  We did a craft where they used their hands as stamps to make shamrocks.  Which eventually turned in to just fingerprinting.

With all the nice days that we have been having, we are happy that it's March and looking forward to more spring weather!