April Showers of Love

 April is the perfect time to spend the morning in the hammock. Still slightly chilly, but warm sunshine to balance it out. It was vary rare for me to wake up on the weekends and find the kids not in the hammock. It was certainly a favorite spot for one and all!

 Lots of relaxing. Lots of giggles. Lots of swinging. So much swinging, that the hammock eventually gave out. Bummer!

Another way we like to welcome Spring is to spend the afternoons at the pool!

 We love being able to walk over and enjoy our time in the sunshine and water.

I love seeing all the projects come home from school!

 I can only get the kids to tell me so much, so seeing their creativity and talents is a special treat.

Speaking of creativity and talent...

 We have so much fun playing with magnets! It is fun to see what shapes and creations the kids can build. But who are we kidding? Bryan and I play with them just as much as the kids.

A few new favorites have been dinosaurs.

 Zeb loves learning about dinosaurs and teaching us what he learns. He used the magnets to add that extra bit to his learning. Fun, Fun, FUN!!

HAPPY EASTER!!
We love celebrating Easter. We love any excuse/reason to spend extra time studying about the Savior, His life and ministry. It is so comforting to know that we have a Savior and as we strive to be like Him, He is there to be our helpmate. We also love looking our best. It helps us to be our best.
A favorite tradition that we have is new Easter outfits.

 What a handsome young man! Zeb is growing like crazy. He likes to measure on a very regular basis to see if he is as tall as me yet. Not quite, but he's not too far off. He is growing into such a strong young man. Strong physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He is a wonderful big brother and good example to all.

 Beautiful Margaret has such a sweet soul! She has an amazing capacity for love and is very quick to share that love with everyone. She is a precocious young lady and keeps us on our toes. She loves learning and playing, usually doing both at the same time.

 Oh Elizabeth. Such a large personality in her tiny package. She is blossoming into such a fun little girl. Her giggle is the best around and gets anyone within earshot smiling (if not laughing themselves!). She is talking more and more each day and can be quite surprising with what she decides to say.

Oliver, Oliver, Oliver. This little man is just content being little. He is growing developmentally, just not much physically. We all love his wonderful snuggles and smiles. At 8 months old he crawls all over the house and even attempts the stairs (but only going up...he absolutely refuses to slide down the stairs). He doesn't have teeth just yet, but some seem to be on the way soon. We are so blessed to have him in our family. 

 Abigail is our little diva. She loves all things sparkle and "girl". She is constantly asking to wear makeup, finding new ways to fix hair, can't wait to wear high heels and earrings (what's the rush girlie!?) and just loves being feminine. She makes our hearts warm with her sensitivity and thoughtfulness. She is definitely a firecracker and can be pretty feisty at times...but she is at least equally, if not more so, sweet and helpful when she wants to be. She loves to help in the kitchen and really enjoys helping with Oliver.

 I'm surrounded by handsome men! Our family is lead by the best of the best. Bryan is teaching our boys to become men in every sense of the word. Respectful, kind, serving, strong, brave, spiritual, emotional (at times), funny...the list could go on and on.

 Lovely ladies! I had so much fun making the girls dresses this year and they turned out better than I had hoped for.

 All the smiles after attending church!

There is nothing like church with the whole family. It can be super difficult to make it through the entire 3 hours with everyone smiling and paying attention to anything in the meetings, but most definitely worth it! Even if the only thing we get from the day is a slight influx of spiritual feelings, it is enough to recharge our batteries for the next week. All the feels on this special Easter Sunday.