a couple videos

both girls are extremely ticklish, this was at the end of the day, and the end of the tickles, i didn't get the camera out early ehough to capture the major giggles, but it still makes me smile :)

this one is self-explainatory, but it still makes me laugh too... notice the end when that darn shoe pops back off? hehehe...

new clothes... or a new way of wearing them at least

so they're awfully cute aren't they? rayna didn't get to pick out her whole outfit, but she definately embellished it :) afton's is completely her design, from her blue "daddy shirt" down to her red "frog socks" and new pink shoes :)

this is afton's new green skirt, it's "fouffy" meaning it has great spin-ability, she's only allowed to wear it twice/week, and not if it gets too dirty before mama can wash it :)

the first day of spring, 2010

we were told flurries of snow, with a possibility of up to a half inch accumulation:

on the first day of spring time the good lord gave to me, a snow-cover for my popcorn tree!

in case you can't see it well, that's 4 1/2 inches (that stuck, who knows how much came before it got cold enough to stick?)

new table

we just got this brand new (to us) table! now we have plenty of room to feed all our friends and family, feel free to stop by :)

hooray for friends that want to pass on furniture!

camping

well, for a minor picture overload, here's some of our camping trip last weekend. it was paul's spring break, though he still had to work long hours almost every day, he did manage to take friday off so we could go camping with our good friends. we had a blast, trying out a new state park (new to us). it's rather small and has a nice little lake, called Meridian SP. it was nice, and although we were rather close to the highway, there was also a little creek running just behind our campsite, so the noise balanced out.

here's a picture of my personal favorite part of camping:

manly men making dinner for everyone

(yes mike, we girls love to be pampered)--fabulous baby back ribs (paul's specialty), almost done potatoes, and grilled asparagus, fancy feast!

another big favorite for everyone was our "hike" we didn't go very far, but the kids all made it, and we had a great time and saw some beautiful scenery:

though the kids favorite part of the hike was stopping to throw rocks in the creek :)

this picture also cracks me up... what, if you can imagine, could possibly keep four children between 18 months and 3 1/2 totally enthralled to the point that they drag their chairs across camp and SIT STILL for up to TEN minutes at a time to watch???

yep... that's right

horseshoes...

and i think mike beat paul every single game :)

a traditional favorite part of any campout:

roasting marshmellows

for smores... YUM!

and for lunch time on saturday we weren't planning on building the fire back up, but afton really wanted a fire, so she gathered the sticks herself and mr. michael helped her get her big bonfire going. she LOVED it!

we spent a bit of time "boating" on the fishing pier, which was a floating pier and rocked just enough to feel it :) (the kids were looking for fish and alligators, but i don't think anyone found any)

who is this dirty, dirty child?

and last but not least... the ride home was very peaceful i think camping was a success!

picnic

last week we went on a great picnic with some friends. we played at the park, grilled yummy hamburgers and hot dogs, and played croquet... kinda. i forgot to take many pictures, but i have a few, so here's some of the favorites: (in random order)

lots of ladders and really tall slides!

paul caught the run-aways

(that was a tomato)

dinner... YUM!

does that give you an idea how tall those slides were?

afton's big girl bed

this week afton earned her big girl bed (by keeping dry all night long for a given period of time) we put it together as a family on wednesday evening, (this was VERY exciting and TONS OF FUN!)and the girls LOVED it! (those are even afton's new sheets, which she picked out all by herself)until it was time for bed, when afton decided she'd rather sleep here: where it wasn't so scary... (though it did have a mattress on it when she went to bed, i guess that didn't make the picture for some reason)

oh well, maybe in a few more weeks we'll talk her into trying the bunk.

the girl who cried wolf/poop

today while the girls were in the bath rayna started practicing her new favorite word

"POOP!"

she cried out patting her bum... so i jumped her out of the tub and onto the toilet, holding tightly lest her slippery little body fell in. moments later she informed me she was done, and wanted back in the tub... no problem.

a few minutes later i heard again:

"POOP!"

this time i asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty, to which she said "NO" (another favorite word, but since it was accompianied by the shaking of the head, which usually really means 'no' i took her at her word, and figured she was just having fun yelling "poop," and she didn't want to stop)

the girls continued playing while i ran to get their clothes ready for after the bath, when i heard a third time:

"POOP!"

then i heard the dreaded follow-up, in afton's voice:

"MOMMY, RAYNA POOPED IN THE TUB!!!"