School, birthdays, and more birthdays!

Can't believe next  week is April!  Thought I better catch up on the blog.

In February, Hayden and Lilly participated in the science fair. Lilly experimented on what works best for untangling doll hair and Hayden built stomp rockets and saw which bottles made the rocket go the highest.

 Crazy Hair Day at school!

 Then Mark's birthday...good family night with beef enchiladas and pie

 Then, Grace's birthday... TWO!!  Talking to grandma and grandpa on the  ipad.  She knows how to call them herself!

 Celebrating with her birthday buddy

 YUM!

 Then, we had a fun visit from Aspen and family and got to celebrate with all the little cousins for Grace and Aspen's birthday.   We had a butterfly birthday for them.

 Can you tell Jake is having fun??? Making butterflies

 2 buddies helping each other out.

 Auntie Amy caught Caleb sneaking salami while everyone else was crafting ;)

 Moving the butterfly eggs

 It was intense!

 Caterpillar freeze dance

 Crowned with butterfly wings after going through the cocoon tunnel.

 Cousin shot

 Catching butterflies (before the competitive drama occurred)

 During dinner, Caleb turned green and went to lay down on the couch.  He fell asleep within minutes and slept through the rest of the party, surrounded by all the chaos.  He was fine the next day....I think it was a combo of a busy day, no naps and the craziness of a party that wiped him out!

 Checking out the frog singing card

 Proud with her new sandals and doll.

 Time for cupcakes

 Happy Birthday Aspen and Grace!!!

Fashionable even in her dreams

Snake a River Canyon 1/2

This weekend, I ran my 1st 1/2 marathon!!  It's something I have always wanted to do, so I was a proud finisher.  I started training back in December and couldn't even run 1 mile without stopping to walk and had to focus on not limping. It really helped to get my knee strength back, and I learned that I could push myself harder than I ever have before!!  My goal was to be able to run the whole way (except during water breaks) and I did!!  I was tempted to walk the first part of the last mile, but then I saw my 3 friends from church cheering me on with signs  and a cow bell :)It was a great surprise and helped to get my adrenaline running for the rest of the race!  Especially since mark and the kids weren't able to be there. We had quite the night before the race with Caleb and Grace taking turns throwing up all night.  Our longest bout of sleep was 1 1/2 hours!!  And with high winds and temps in the single digits all night, I wasn't excited to get up and run!! But luckily the winds died down and the temperature warmed up to 20!!  It was a fun run along the  snake river. And we both got a good night sleep that night with healthy kids!!  Now, we're hoping for a snow day tomorrow since it's been snowing all day. 

Before the race with friends. 

New Changes in Our House

 Well, after over a year of trying to find time to build a bunk bed, we finally gave in and went and bought one.  Hayden was counting down the days until it would arrive, and luckily it came just before the weekend!   Hayden couldn't wait to start building.  He helped Mark with every point of the process, from unloading, to carrying up the pieces to his room, to building!  He was a great apprentice!!

 Even got to use the big tools!

 Excited to be up on top!

 Finished product.  Rather than a ladder, there are stairs that lead to the top, which have drawers (which I like) and Grace can easily climb up too (safer than a ladder!)

 And to my surprise, Mark decided we might as well move Grace out of the crib!  NO MORE CRIB after 7 years :(  She has been great though and hasn't had any problems going to bed or staying in bed (so far)!!  Now, on to taking away the binky and potty training!!

 1st night....pretty comfy

 Rise and shine!  Just taking off my pj's!!

Chewbacca

Hayden had to do a "puppet book report" for school.  Of course, he chose a Star Wars book and the character he chose was Chewbacca.  He spent all day gluing on the yarn...here is the final project. I was impressed!!

1st Haircut!

 I was going to wait until she was 2, but figured it was close enough.  Time for a 1st haircut.   It was easy cutting Lilly's curly hair when she was little, because if I cut it uneven, you couldn't tell.  I didn't trust myself with Grace's straight hair, so took her in with Lilly to get their hair cut.

Here is the before:

 During

 A few tears, but not too bad!

After - not a huge change, but at least it doesn't look like a mullet any more!! :)

Ski Trip 2014

 We had another fun weekend on our "annual" ski trip up to Schweitzer this year.  Hayden and Lilly are getting to be quite the skiers, going to the top of the mountain and shreddin' up the slopes!!  We had a great time with Mark's parents, Aunt and Uncle, and Tyler, and kids, and Brian, Jamie and Aspen this year!  Although it was foggy on the main hill, the view was spectacular at the top (unfortunately I never brought my camera outdoors)!  Here are the kids getting all bundled up to head out

Who is this guy?

 Grace stayed entertained in the condo with her Aquadoodle and other fun toys

 Warming up indoors and getting some gummy bear energy to head out again!

 There was a fun window inside the condo that looked down on the living room.  The kids thought it was great!

 The 5 hour game of Risk!!!

 Turkey taught Hayden how to play chess....deep in concentration

 The never end game of ring-around-the-rosie...I think these two are going to be quite the friends!

 Anna and Lilly working on their dance routine :)  Anna and Ryan were great big cousins!

 Kids table!

 Of course, with Anna around, Lilly had to have the same hair-do each day :)  2 beauties!

 Must have been a busy weekend.  Grandma read Caleb to sleep!

 Watching movies on the bed and feeding each other grapes