it's always fun when grandpa comes...

we had a lot of fun with grandpa w. as he was able to come during paul's spring break (though he still had to work, it was nice for him to have a LOT more time with us than he would usually have had). we did lots of exciting things, though we didn't seem to take soo many pictures.

we went to the zoo (sorry, i forgot my camera), made homemade ice cream (chocolate mint chocolate chip, sickly green in color, but probably one of the best "recipies" we've ever done in that machine)

as you can tell, malachi had a great time playing with the ice cream maker. all the kids loved snitching the ice, and generally they didn't even care if it was covered with salt--yuck! ;)

one day, afton decided to have curly hair like rayna. they sure look like sisters here, huh?! she slept on sponge rollers, and we took lots of pics that day :) we all liked it so much, i think it will become a fairly regular thing around here!

sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters...

 coincidentally, that same day was the day afton decided to start a roly-poly jar. she LOVES those little bugs (okay, crustaceans), and after checking a book out from the library about them decided she as what it takes to take care of them, so out we went with an old applesauce jar to collect some--i can't believe how many she's found! there are at least 50 in that jar by now, though when this pic was taken (16th) there were probably only half that, we've added to the numbers nearly every day.


ps, i think you can click on the picture to get the up close look of the jar, if you're interested :)

we also had a little outside grilling time in honor of nice temperatures and grandpa visiting. nothing like homemade shish-kabobs! and grandpa even helps eat mushrooms if the girls can sneak them onto his plate ;)


malachi just likes to be outside!

(ps, i think these pictures are out of order, the grilling was the 11th, for those that care about things like that)

the girls thought it was necessary to get their camp chairs out for the true cook-out experience

 rayna was clearly having tons of fun! she was wiped out!

and i can't upload any other pictures right now, so i guess i'll do more in another post.

mardi gras

i think my favorite part of this picture is malachi's face... help!!!

but really, mardi gras is just another excuse for us to dress up... i have great intentions of doing all kinds of cool things (making good ol' creole food, having a parade, making masks, etc), but i don't usually follow though :) in this case it doesn't really bother me either, we're not celebrating lent, so there's not a whole lot of reason for us to celebrate fat tuesday either. we do have lots of beads, so consider us inspired!

(and either way, they're cute!)

things rayna said tonight

i always want to capture the cute things my kids say, but i never write them down, and then i forget before i can write them... tonight though, rayna was hilarious! (remember folks, she's 2)

(okay, maybe just i think so, but heck, i'm supposed to have that bias!)

**note, we decided spur of the moment to go to the arboretum this afternoon for a couple hours because i didn't want to try to clean the bathrooms while the kids were awake (hmm, i should be doing that now!) and just as we arrived there we saw a bride in the parking lot coming to get her bridal photos taken (a FABULOUS idea if there's anyone reading this that's planning a wedding!) we saw her at least twice more before we left, and as we were leaving the girls followed her up the stairs and spoke with her for a minute while i pushed the stroller up the nearby ramp...

in her bedtime prayer she said "thanks for the wedding clothes at the arboretum, and that she said what's your name, and that she said our names, and thanks for the beautiful dress at the arboretum"

i know, that was a long intro note, and you could have figured it all out on your own... i ramble, it's what i do!

then after i kissed her goodnight and left the room, she said

"thank you mommy. thanks for lunch."

where the heck did that come from?!?!

springtime at the arboretum

so these pictures are nearly 2 weeks behind, so i'm catching up nicely (the last few posts have been more like a month behind...). we spent a morning at the arboretum and LOVED the tulips and daffodils, rolling down the GREEN grassy hills, and playing with friends. it was a little brisk, but not too cold, so it made for a perfect day to visit. we're hope to get back again soon to enjoy the tulips again before they're all gone.

free face-painting, one of afton's all-time favorite things! though no one else wanted it this time.



this is how we pose three kids for pictures together ;)



there was also a little petting zoo the day we went. goats, bunnies, sheep, chicks, and a bovine of some sort...

again, three kids don't pose well together, but i LOVE this pic just the same!

they just added some new fairy-tale castles/etc for the kids to play with. this is from the little mermaid. i'm sure i have a link somewhere on my blog from last year where i could link you to last years, if you're curious to see some of what they have here let me know and i'll find it for you :)

LOVE this one of rayna too

i mentioned hill-rolling right? they did that a lot that day!



on the move!



and just one more of malachi :) he's such a good boy!

the last month or so

evidentally i can only blog if i take pictures... and since i haven't uploaded pictures in a while i have no idea what we've done that's blog-worthy :). anyways, these are a few things we have done (mostly pictures of malachi, because he's the one that's growing and changing the most). i'm sure there have been a number of other things/activities/people we should have blogged about, but this is what i have record of:

this one is from a while back, we were watching these good friends while their mom was having a baby one friday, it was freezing and we'd played a little in the snow, but it was too hard for me to keep track of all 5 kids in the cold, so mostly we played inside, this is the locomotion :)
ps, note afton's shirt, it's a favorite, she wears it a lot!

another favorite is inside bubbles. these stacking bubbles are grat because they don't leave a sticky or soapy residue, so you can blow/pop them and chatch and stack them. we got them for christmas, and the girls love 'em!

malachi's a climber (just like his sisters). he likes this little horse, but mostly he likes getting on and off, not rocking or rolling

he's also quite the little pianist. he frequently stretches up so he can reach the keys and plays. he also likes sitting under like this and banging his head backwards against the hollow front... i'm not sure why, but i think it's funny!

i did mention he's a climber, right? he not only climbs onto the couch by himself, he goes right up the back into the window. the sad thing is, it's relatively 'safe,' so i don't even try to stop him anymore... there are too many other places he likes climbing that scare me more!

he still mostly likes eating big people food. even if it's broccoli. for the past two days he's been refusing even to eat his favorites of the baby food, but whatever i give him that he can do himself usually gets at least tasted. this soup was great cause it had a lot of veggies that were soft enough that i didn't have to worry about him choking.

like i said, i'm sure there were lots of other things we've done, but since there weren't pics, i don't know what! we are very busy being a fmaily of 5. three children are a lot more than i ever realized now that they're my own!

valentines day

so there's probably a reason/excuse why i haven't posted anything lately, but it's definately not a good one, so i won't bother :) we'll get some more pics up soon, i promise.

here's some of my valentines!:

afton was very excited about the heart lollipops by her dinner plate



rayna loved her's too :) and yes, she's wearing her shirt backwards... what can i say, at least she dresses herself!



malachi couldn't really care less about what we eat, as long as there's plenty of it :)

valentine's day for us is all about the food... though i guess most everything we do/blog is usually about the food. we had a lovely day with our family, and a nice filling dinner that the girls like to help pick out. they also made the hanging hearts over the table. i liked how they turned out. out table looks rather bare in this picture, though i'm not really sure why, as soon as everyone got up to it, it seemed pretty crowded!

our "fancy" dinner, nearly ready to eat...

 

and THAT'S what valentine's day is all about!