The Countdown

Yesterday I was talking with Zach and Hailey about our baby. We were talking about how the baby was going to be born in just over 6 weeks. I could tell from the looks on their faces that they didn't quite understand what I meant by 6 weeks. We've been saying "6 months," "4 months," "2 months," etc for the past little while and I thought switching to weeks would help them get a better grasp of how long. Unfortunately, that didn't work, so I thought for a little bit yesterday about how I could show the kids something visual about how long it would be before the baby got here.

I tried showing them on the calendar, but when I had to turn multiple pages, I could tell that wasn't helping them understand. So I had the idea of making a countdown chain for the number of days left. We've done this for various other things like Christmas, Easter, or even birthdays and it's been pretty successful. So after church and lunch yesterday, the 3 of us sat down to make a countdown chain for our baby. My first thought was to have each of them choose a color so that if we alternated them on the chain, we would always know who's turn it was to rip a link off (I always seem to forget). Zach chose a dark green and Hailey chose a dark blue - both boy colors, they informed me.

After we cut up the paper and got out the stapler, we were all ready to go. They both were so excited and insisted that they "help" me staple the links together. This took about 3 times longer than it should have, but they were so excited, I just couldn't say no. After we finished the chain, the kids loved it! I couldn't help taking a picture of them holding it - they were so proud!


Once we finished, we hung it up in the kitched where we all could see it every day to remind us how soon our baby will be here. It's a good thing I didn't do this any earlier, the chain is definitely long enough.



Even though Hailey still tells me the baby is taking forever and that our chain is really, really long, I think both her and Zach have a better visual idea of how long it will be until the baby gets here. If not anything else, it gives them something fun to do every day as we get ready for our new little baby boy. As of today, only 44 more days to go!

Let the Countdown Begin!

Run Zach Run!

Last Friday, Zach's Elementary School recently had a walk-a-thon for all the kids. It was to promote good health and give the kids something fun to do outside. They sent home a flyer telling the parents and families of the kids they were welcome to come and watch or even participate.

Unfortunately, being over 8 months pregnant, the walk across the playground was enough for me, so we planned to just watch Zach run. We told him we were coming, but I loved the big smile on his face when he walked outside with his class and saw Hailey and I there to watch him.


The first thing they did was have the kids do some stretching exercises.


After that, they got ready to run. At the last minute, I was asked to help keep track of how many times the kids ran around the course they had set up. I guess they were short on volunteers and were desperate. I agreed, so unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Zach running because I was busy making a mark on the kids' cards each time they ran around the course. But let me say that he was so cute! He would run around and when he got back to where I was standing, he would come running up with a big smile on his face. Here's a picture of him proudly displaying his card showing how many times he ran around the course. He was one of the top finishers in his class - there were only 2 or 3 other kids that made it around more times than he did.


Hailey and I just love going to watch his school activities. He just loves school and is always all smiles!


After the run was finished, each class did a Snow Springs Elementary cheer. Here's Zach's class doing their cheer:



We're so proud of you Zach - you are an excellent runner! Thanks for letting us come and watch you!

Play Time!

A little over a week ago Jeremiah made it home from work early on a Friday. The kids had been begging to go to the park and try out their new kite, so we decided to head over to the park near our house to give it a try. Jeremiah, Zach, and Hailey rode their bikes and I took the car (even a small walk tires me out now-a-days!).

Once we got there, we got the kite out and ready to go in the back of the Pilot. Unfortunately, all it took was one little gust of wind and the straps on the kite ripped and pretty much made it impossible to fly.


The kids were a little disappointed, but quickly recovered when we suggested we go play on the playground instead. I absolutely love the playground at that park. It has some really fun things for the kids to play on. These little platforms are a favorite, especially with Hailey now that she's discovered how to get from one to another without any help.


Zach was brave when he first got on the round swinging monkey bars, but after about a second, he begged for Jeremiah to come over and help him.


Another favorite is the little telephone type thing they have set up. The kids can talk into one end ...


and someone can hear them on the other end at the other side of the playground. They spent a lot of time talking back and forth to each other - most of the time they made absolutely no sense, but both of them would laugh and giggle none-the-less.


One of my favorite things they have at the playground is a spider-web type thing for the kids to climb on. I was lucky to be able to snap this shot of both of them holding still for 3 seconds.


And of course, we couldn't leave out a picture of the slides - they have 3 different types at the playground and a lot of the time was spent going down them over and over again.



It was a little chilly (hence the hats and gloves on the kids), but they had a blast and were NOT happy when we told them it was time to go. We're now enjoying much nicer weather and have been back to the park a few times since these pictures were taken. Thank goodness for spring!

Easter Sunday

After a really fun day at Nana and Papas, we headed home late and got the kids right to bed. Luckily we set out the easter baskets and eggs for the easter bunny to fill and hide that night. With some advanced planning, we're sure the easter bunny wasn't up too late getting things set out and eggs hidden.

Despite the late hour we got them to bed, Zach was still up at 7am on the dot and had a hard time waiting for his sister to wake up. We finally gave in to his complaining around 8am and woke her up to head downstairs to see what the easter bunny had left.

Zach was delighted with his new set of legos and easter basket full of a book, movie, socks, mp3 player, and lots of candy!



Hailey was all smiles at her new doll stroller (she literally wore her old one out!) and easter basket full of the same things as Zach, all pink and girl-themed of course!



Jeremiah and I didn't want the easter bunny to have all the fun, so we bought the kids a few things too. A hula hoop and packet of $5 McDonald's gift certificates were also a hit. Here are the kids with their hula hoops.


They absolutely loved them! Who would have thought a hula hoop from the dollar store would have been such a hit? They both immediately started hula hooping around - Zach had the right idea and go better and better with each try. As for Hailey, she really tried hard, but did more of a body shake while holding on to the hula hoop. It was really cute, so I got them both to do it together while I took a quick video, so that I could post it for you all to see.



After some pretty heavy hula hooping, the kids finally noticed the easter eggs scattered around the family room. So they grabbed their easter baskets and started gathering up the eggs the easter bunny left them. We left out sports eggs for Zach and eggs with flowers, squiggles, and stripes for Hailey, so they were easy to keep separate.

They ran around the room giggling as they found eggs is random places. Here's Hailey showing me an egg she found by the computer desk.


And here's Zach showing me an egg he found over on the bookshelf.


Zach thought he made quite the haul with his 16 eggs - he remembered from last year that the easter bunny puts candy in the eggs, so he was quick to share this with his sister and began opening up his eggs to discover all the candy.


After finding all 16 eggs, Hailey was more than happy. She got even more excited when she found out from her brother that each egg had candy in it!


Between all the candy and treats from the previous days Easter Party and with what the easter bunny left them, we have candy coming out our ears! But the kids are enjoying it all. We sure had a fun easter and can't wait for the holiday to come around again!

Hope you all had a very HAPPY EASTER!

Easter Party

This year to celebrate Easter, Nana and Papa had a big Easter Party at their house on Saturday. With all the grandkids (and their parents), it was a full house, but a really fun time. Nana had all sorts of activities planned for the kids.

After lunch, we started out the festivities with breaking a pinata. Here are all the kids eagerly awaiting their turn to have a whack at the egg pinata.


It was decided that it would be best to take turns youngest to oldest, to make sure everyone got a turn. Here's Hailey taking her turn - I have to admit that this girls got good aim - she hit the egg time and time again as she swung the bat around.


Here's Zach on his turn. He had that thing spinning and was whacking the egg so hard that I was sure he was going to break it before the last grandchild had a turn. We had to stop him fairly quickly as we saw cracks start to become visible on the outside. Another whack or two and he would have opened it up - a few years of recreation baseball really makes a difference!


As predicted, a few whacks from the oldest grandkid and the egg burst open showering the ground with a whole TON of candy. The kids were all giggling as they raced to pick it all up and put it into their easter basekts.


After the pinata activity, the kids headed out back to find easter eggs. Nana had certain eggs for each child to find, so I was busy trying to help Hailey find her specific eggs and didn't get a chance to get any pictures. After 4 special eggs that were turned into prizes and 14 other eggs filled with candy, they made quite the haul.

Next the kids headed back out front to play the bunny bean bag toss that Uncle Bubby and Afton had made for them. Zach was really great and got the bean bags through the holes in the cardboard almost every time.


Hailey did pretty good too - I would say she made it more than half the time - not bad for a 4 year old!


While the kids were playing with the bean bag toss, Nana was busy getting stuff ready for cupcake decorating. All it took was one call of all the kids and they ran in from outside to decorate their cupcakes. I think there was more eating of the frosting and candy than there was decorating, but each of the kids came away with at least 2 or 3 cupcakes a piece.



Next they made some candy carrots. They filled carrot shaped bags with candy and tied them off to look like carrots. They turned out really cute. After that, all the kids settled down in the family room to watch a movie while us adults rested a little bit. When the kids got restless, Nana pulled out all of the egg coloring supplies and we all helped the kids color and put stickers on hard boiled eggs. I had meant to get pictures of these last few activities, but my hands were busy almost every second, so I didn't get any to post. But let me tell you, the kids had an absolute BLAST doing all the easter activities and playing with their cousins. It sure was a fun day and they are still talking about how much fun they had!

Thanks Nana and Papa for a really fun Easter Party!

Ridin' Around

The weather has been really warm the last little while and it couldn't have come at a better time. The kids have had cabin fever really bad this year and have been aching to get outside to play and ride their new bikes they got for Christmas. It has been fun to watch them ride up and down the street and into our little cul-de-sac.

Hailey got a new princess bike for Christmas, complete with training wheels (which she doesn't exactly love), pink paint, and the little frillies hanging off the handle bars. She loves to ride around and I'm sure it won't be long before we have those training wheels off - she's just sure that she's old enough and can handle her bike without them.


Zach got a new big boy bike for Christmas and absolutely loves it. Even though he rode his old bike without training wheels, he thinks this new one is really spiffy - he loves the green color and assures me that he goes much faster on this one than his old bike.


The two of them also take time to ride their scooter while they're outside too. Even though they've had them since Christmas of 2008, they still love them.


Zach can ride his scooter much faster than I think anyone his age should, but he's amazed me with how much control and reaction quickness he has.


Hailey of course loves her princess scooter. She just can't get enough of pink! I'm grateful for the 3 wheels on her scooter since she tends to pay more attention to what's going on around her then to where she's going sometimes!


Of course their favorite thing about riding their bikes is when their dad is home and comes out to ride his bike with them.


They usually go for a longer ride down the side street (which I don't let them do when they are by themselves) when Dad goes with them. They are definitely quite the trio to see riding down the street!


And of course I couldn't help but post a few videos of the kids riding their bikes. This first one is of Zach riding his bike super fast to show Uncle Taylor:



And here's one of Hailey - this isn't the best video, but you can see that she really is good at riding her little bike!



It's ironic that I'm finally finding time to post these pictures today - they were actually taken last Saturday - of course today it's snowing and it seems like the winter is never going to end! Hopefully today is one of the last snowstorms of the year because we are all anxious to be outside more and riding around on bikes and scooters!

Best Dressed Kids

I just had to take a picture of Zach in his new suit on Sunday. He was so excited about wearing it. He kept telling us he wanted a suit for his birthday - just like his Dad's. So after searching for the right color and size, we were able to find one. I have to tell you that he looked so sharp! In fact, as soon as we got it on, he wanted to head right over to the church to show his Dad who was in morning church meetings. Luckily, it was only about a 15 minute wait until it was time for us to head over and he ran right to his Dad to show him how he looked.

Doesn't he look sharp? Once he saw himself in the mirror, he said "I look just like a missionary - just like Uncle Taylor!" His uncle is currently serving a mission in Oklahoma City and he thought he looked just like him. I couldn't help but smile.


And Hailey was feeling left out, so we had to take a picture of her too - what a cutie!


And since I promised Nana, here's a picture of her jumper that you wanted to see. This was from the previous Sunday.


I have to say that I have the best looking kids around. Aren't the good looking and cute? I sure think so!