Spring Break

We just ended probably the best nine days of my life, Marshall's Spring Break.  I was SO sad last night when we were headed to bed and I knew the morning would bring "real" life.  Normally, after vacations or school breaks I am ready to get back to routine, but not this time.  I am still sad about this, 24 hours later. 

 

With Rachel being eight months old I feel like I have finally hit my stride as a mom of three kids.  :)  By five months we had settled into a nice routine, but now, three months later, life is grand.  All three of these kids are at such a fun age.  Marshall and Bridget play so well together, Rachel is adorable, so interactive, and still immobile, and she's the only one in diapers!  We are loving life in this house.  So, with Marshall off of school for a whole week we had a lot of fun and had a GREAT time together. 

 

We spent a morning at Swiss Turners with the McAllisters.  Marshall was the most adventurous he's ever been at one of these places; it was so fun to see.  After a while Marshall ran up to me and said, "Mom, I think my body was made to do cool things!" 

 

Normally he cautiously jumps into the foam pit; this morning he was flying into them!

Rachel practiced some tummy time on the bouncy floor.  She loved it.

Such a thrill seeker!

 

The weather was less than excellent during the week, so quite a bit of time was spent inside playing games.

And snuggling in blankets.  Hello cuteness!  She wrapped herself up like this all by herself.  Darling.

Another morning was spent bowling with the McAllisters.  These four all cheered each other on, no matter who was bowling!

 



The babies hung out on the floor.  I told Karisa she should seriously consider baby modeling for Christian. 

Two good buddies.

We also adopted a pet ant for a morning.  Marshall has been wanting a pet ant since the winter so he was thrilled to discover one in the house this week.  Marshall was so sweet to it.  He gave it some bread to snack on and later put a toy car and football helmet outside the cup so the ant would not feel lonely.  :)  We eventually let the ant free, but it was a sad good-bye.

 

Playgroup was at a new park, but it was FREEZING!  Bridget totally should have been dressed like Catherine;  we were cold!

The only sad part of our week was Marshall's disappointment on Saturday morning when the Easter bunny did not bring him a remote control monster truck!  He moped on the couch for quite a while, but he eventually got over it.  While he was pouting though, Bridget did her Easter egg hunt solo before Richard had to leave for work. 

 



Yes, cold enough for boots and a coat.  Geez!

Sweet Rachel hung out inside.  Such a happy little girl!

Marshall joined in on the fun after breakfast. 

 That afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt and picnic at the Hassell's.  It was great!

Another Hassell Leake romance is blossoming!  

 

We spent an afternoon dying eggs. 

 

And took some naps.  



Oh my!  I really can't get enough of this smile.  She is such a cheeseball and I love it!

 Not pictured are a morning out to see "Rio 2", a playdate with a school friend, lunch with the Hassells, Benson's birthday party, a whole lot of football, basketball, soccer, tag, races, hide-and-go-seek, and my favorite...all three kids in my bed snuggling almost every single morning!



A Few Things Worth Mentioning

We have really come through on Family Home Evening this year.  We made it a new year's resolution and I'm happy to report we haven't missed a week.  The kids are really involved, which helps Richard and I stick with it.  Every week when we sing the song, always a primary song, which we should all know, only half of us are singing.  This means that I am singing, along with one other person.  One child is usually jumping around the room and Richard is trying to wrangle them.  Well, last week Richard was in charge of the song and he chose the Cougar Fight Song.  Surprising?  No.  I was not a fan of this idea, but I let it go.  Well, history was made that night, as everyone sang the entire song.  I could only laugh to myself.  It was such spirited singing.  Go Cougars.

 

Bridget is making Rachel into her little doll.  We'll see how much longer Rachel puts up with it.

 

 

We had our playgroup Easter egg hunt on Friday.  The kids loved it.  Thankfully the weather cooperated!  The warmest day of the year!  Don't worry, tomorrow it will be snowing.

 

 

We might be having too much fun with Rachel's hair and the hair dryer.  She's such a good sport.

 

 

Love this girl!!!  Just look at that smile.

 

 



Rachel Videos...Overload

I was looking through our memory card and realized that while the bulk of my photos are of Marshall and Bridget almost all the videos are of Rachel!  So I guess things are evening themselves out.  :) 

 

At any rate, here are some videos of the little darling for the grandparents.

 

 Not always the greatest view of her face, but some fun interactions between these two.  We have a very loud house at times.
 



 

A little game of peek-a-boo.

 

 



 

A few tears, but also a few good laughs.

 

 

 

And taken just yesterday...my favorite!  Rachel has turned into such a cheeseball.  I really don't think our other kids smiled in such an all encompassing way.  Her entire face lights up and we see about 100 of these a day.  Love it!

 

 

It's About Time

Spring has finally sprung in Milwaukee...for the time being anyway...next week is back in the 40s.  But, for now, we are practically living outside and LOVING it.  For weeks I have been looking at pictures of friends all over the country playing outside and having picnics, now it is finally my turn!  Hooray for spring!

 

Between Richard, Bridget, and I, we've probably played 20 football games outside with Marshall in the last four days.

This girl could run circles in the front yard for hours.