World's Greatest Teacher (and Dad/Grampa)

This is my Dad. He has been a teacher forever, and he's a great one! He had double knee replacement surgery a few weeks ago so his kids through him a party before he left. We were lucky enough to be in Utah and able to go to celebrate. The theme was obviously a luau.


My dad is not a fan of being the center of attention, but he was a great sport. He even kept the shells on... long enough for a picture. Then they were GONE.

They made him try to guess which student was who while he was blindfolded. It didn't work so well...

This was the fancy gift they picked out for him- a shell toilet seat. Gotta love 6th graders ;)
Cole and Hayden had a great time with the leis and balloons. Hayden was too busy for any picture taking.

I'm so glad we got to be there to celebrate my Dad! He really is the greatest and should be celebrated more often!

*Hopefully he doesn't kill me for posting these pictures....

Guitar Hero

Ryan is the "Guitar Hero" in our house. The kids love to sit and listen to him play. A lot of times they try to play too. But it's so cute to see them just sit mesmerized by their Daddy's skills :)

Easter

We started out our Easter festivities with playgroup. We met at the park for a luncheon and let the kids play. Then we decorated eggs, which Hayden LOVES to do.

Cole just hung out and enjoyed being outside!

The Saturday before Easter was a busy day. First, we headed to our townships egg hunt. It started at 9am and was over when we got there at 9:03. Crazy. The Easter bunny was still there so we got the kids pictures taken with him.
Hayden obviously loved it...... she was terrified. This was the closest I could get her to him and she was still freaking out.

Cole on the other hand, thought the Easter bunny was pretty cool ;)

Later that afternoon, we went to our friends the Cottrels for an egg hunt. Lacey made a fun game out of it where the kids had to find an egg with a specific thing on it, like a triangle. Then they all went back to the patio to find out what to find next. It made the hunt last longer and was such a fun idea.

It turned out to be a really great day.

Then Easter morning the kids got to find their Easter baskets.
We spent the rest of the day watching General Conference. We had Easter dinner with my brothers family and Deja family. It was a great day and a great chance to think of the miracle of Jesus Christ and all that Easter really means!

Spring Outfits

So, "Kelley the great" as I've deemed her, has been giving me sewing lessons recently. I bought a sewing machine at a yard sale 4 years ago and never got it out. I didn't even know if it worked until Kelley came and helped me.
My first project was a skirt for myself, which is completely done, except for the clasp. It's been sitting on my counter for about a month waiting for me to put the stinkin clasp on it. Someday....

My second project was a spring dress for Hayden. It turned out pretty cute and Kelley even helped me make the adorable matching hair clip. My beautiful girl!

I had been looking for something for Cole to wear but didn't find anything great. Well Kelley teaches a do-it-yourself class every other month (I told you she's great) and taught us how to make the tie onesies (and the shamrock shirts they wore for St. Paddys). Since I like the matchey matchey thing for my kids (to a point), I made the matching onesie for Cole.
As a side note, notice Cole sits up by himself now!! And on another side note, I love it when he smiles with his binky in! So cute!

Have I bragged about how cute my kids are in this post yet? Aren't they so cute?!

Busy Busy

Life has been busy around here the last couple of weeks. Ryan went on a business trip to China for 10 days and had to be at work extra hours this last week when he got home. So, the kids and I have been doing lots of playing.

We went with friends to the Kohl Children's Museum, which Hayden loves!

It was even nice enough to venture outside for a bit while we were there. Hayden tried out the maze. If you notice, her cheeks are painted. The museum has a do it yourself face painting center. I originally painted a heart for her, but then she wanted to do it herself. Hence the scribbles ;)

Cole did so well just riding in the stroller watching all the crazy kids running around everywhere.

The weather was so nice a few days and we headed to the park as often as we could.

For St.Patricks day I made the kids little shamrock shirts. My sis in law made us corned beef and cabbage (Yum, I love it!) for dinner. That's about as festive as we got this year.

We made another trip back to the children's museum with even more friends. I didn't pull out my camera until the end so I didn't get shots of everyone. The kids made sandwiches (fake, of course). Then they sat down to enjoy them ;)
These are Hayden's best buds in the world- her cousin Lochlan and bff Avery.

This museum is so fun. They have everything from a vet to a grocery store to a pizza place. They also have a water room and music room and so much more. This time we were there for over 4hours and didn't even get to everything. It's a lot of fun but we were SO ready to go by the time we left!
Obviously that other kid has a problem with Hayden. Look at that face...
Aren't they so cute...

Poor Cole spent a lot of the last 2 weeks in the stroller. He looks happy in this picture but he is actually revving up to throw a fit. He had had enough.

And I couldn't leave out the picture of me being the dork that I am :)

I know this is already a long post but I wanted to share a story. The other day Hayden was riding in her toy car. She said it was her rocket ship. She put a headband over her eyes and said they were her "rocket eyes." Then she informed me she was taking a rocket ship ride to China. She comes up with some funny stuff...

6 Month Stats

Cole had his 6 month check up on the 5th. He is finally healthy! No more ear infections, coughing or colds. Finally. He is also growing like a weed.
His stats are-

weight- 17lbs 7oz- 50th percentile
height- 28in- 90th percentile

He's our long skinny little guy and looks like such a big boy these days.

A guy at church came up to us today and said hi to Cole. Cole gave him a huge smile and the guy said "That just made my whole day!" That's how I feel everyday. We're so blessed to have this little cutie in our family.

Here are some pictures of Cole Bear-

Shopping trip from you know where!!

Oh what a day it has been! Hayden has had a major case of the terrible twos today. Which is no fun by itself, but combine that with a trip to Target with both children and I quickly became miserable. I try my hardest not to go grocery shopping with both kids but decided to brave it. We got to Target and I loaded a few things in the cart. Then Hayden had to go to the bathroom. So, I unloaded the cart and took her to the bathroom. We went back and put the stuff I had before back in my cart, only to realize I had left my wallet in the car! Oh crap. Cole was in his carseat hooked onto the cart so instead of hauling him out, I decided to unload the cart AGAIN and run out to the car for my wallet. We came back in and I reloaded the stuff from earlier and continued shopping. Hayden was sitting in the back of the cart and was getting smooshed by all of the stuff. So, I let her get out. She started running away from me, knocking things off the shelves, and trying to throw stuff in the cart. I grabbed her hand to keep her by me and she started screaming "No hold my hand." After a while of this, I put her in time out. Naturally, she starts screaming "No time out" over and over. I finally just gave in and we headed to the check out. I had a coupon for $5 off 10 frozen dinners. So, I counted them as I unloaded them and I realized I only had 8. Oh crap AGAIN! I ran, literally, with the cart and kids to get the other 2 (they're in the back of the store, of course) while the checker holds my transaction. I grabbed them and ran back to the check out and finally made it out of the store. We got home and I went to the bathroom to wash off the grocery store grime, and I noticed I have Cole's lunch (peaches) all over my shirt. Classy. Then I unloaded the groceries and noticed I have 12 frozen dinners! Yes, 12. Which means, I did have the 10 I needed in the first place and ran through the store like a fool for no reason! Wow. A day in the life.....