Olivia's latest obsession....

Getting fingernail decorating ideas from PINTEREST! Maybe I shouldn't have introduced her to this addictive website at such a young age, but what's done is done, and I enjoy this time with her.  She's so sweet :).

Watermelons!

White polka dots :)

 Pink Zebra :)

Our afternoon runneth over!

After school stop 1: Tee Ball Game

 Stop 2: a short cut down a dirt road so Tyler and Olivia could practice their driving skills

 and #3: a picnic in the living room. Hot Dogs and Fritos.... I know, there goes my mother of the year nomination. That big hotdog beside Tyler is a Comdiment holder.  There are 3 sections in there for mustard, ketchup, and relish, and when you press the button to open it, it says "Hot Dogs, Get your Hot Dogs!" and a few other things.  Tyler loves that thing :).

In front of Second Base

Tyler has been playing center field in his last couple of games, but today, he played second base.  I asked him after the game how he liked playing second base. His response "I like playing in front of second base better than behind second base."  He was so funny to watch.  He was striking up conversations with every runner from the other team.  It was too cute :).  We joke that he's running for mayor.

a couple of things...

I made a "stay put" towel! Thank you Pinterest. I have the stuff to make 2 more, just haven't done it yet :-(

 After instructing Tyler to go clean his room, I was surprised at how long he stayed in there without my hearing any cars crashing or him coming back to ask for help. I decided to check on him, and found THIS: (it really reminds me so much of my style of cleaning.... I get easily distracted by the things I find! LOL)

A picnic and a surprise :)

The kids and I stopped on the way home from school for pizza and watermelon :). We decided to have a picnic in the garage since it was raining on the deck and we were waiting on daddy to get home :).

 And what a wonderful surprise!!! Daddy came home with presents... new four wheeler helmets WITH FLAMES (this is a huge deal for Tyler). We wouldn't let the kids get their four wheelers out, so they just rode their bikes to try out the new helmets :).

Later on that night, I guess Tyler was getting on Olivia's nerves, because she came in the living room with a sign sying "NO Tyler in My Room! Olivia's Room".  I let her hang it on her door.... lol

 

Camping

My parents bought a camper a few weeks ago, and decided the whole family should participate in their first camping excursion.  Mom and Dad set up their camper and were at the central location for the weekend :). Junior and I slept in one tent, Olivia and Tyler slept in another tent, and Lindsey and Matt slept in their tent. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, sleeping on an air matress in a tent, so that was a positive. But, the best part was that the kids had a TOTAL BLAST! Tyler was NON STOP from the moment he got out of the car.  He was riding his bike around, playing in the fire, throwing rocks in the lake, you name it! He was in hog heaven being outside for the whole weekend!!! And Olivia was in hog heaven having plenty of grown ups to play uno with her :).  LOVE THAT CHILD!

 We had a great time exploring the campground on bikes :)

 We even found a log over a ditch that the kids walked across (I stood in the ditch to help them across)

 You can sort of see Tyler coming up the trail from the lake :) He went up and down about a million times!

It was a really great weekend :).

Opening Day

Its finally here! Tyler's first ever tee ball game :).  We were very excited :).  There was a parade before the game, which was pretty boring, but the kids enjoyed it and it was kind of cute :).

Waiting for the parade to start :) SO CUTE!!!

 He wanted to save his energy for the game after the parade, so he caught a ride on Daddy's shoulders :)

 Ladies and Gentlemen.... THE REDBIRDS!!!!!!!!

 Batter up! His first official at bat :)

 Two thumbs up for making it all the way around the bases!

Back to the grind

After all the fun we had last week on spring break, it was kind of tough to go straight back to the school/work - home - bed routine, so we stopped by the house to start dinner, and headed to the park for a few while it cooked.

Tyler enjoyed a ride on his 2 wheeler around the tennis courts (they are no longer in use)

 Olivia and I sat and read a Dr. Seuss book while we enjoyed the weather...

 And for some reason, these people wanted to ride in the back on the way home instead of in their seats! (Its literally around the corner and most of it is a dirt road.... if it had been any further, I assure you, they would have been in their seats and buckled)

Hippety Hoppety Easter's on its way!

This morning we went to Church with mom, and had lunch with her afterwards. The kids were with their mother, but we picked them up shortly after lunch to spend some time with them. As soon as we got home, they tore into their presents from the Easter Bunny :). ((s)he was very practical in giving, as always, but did give them a little candy this year).



 My parents, sister and brother in-law, and in-laws came over later in the afternoon for an easter egg hunt, and dinner.  We had a nice time all being together, and the kids were HUGE fans of hunting eggs :).

 I think she's trying to shake one out of the tree...

 "FOUND ONE!!"

Almost a whole week of spring break so far...

Thursday morning, and Easter is coming up Sunday.... how do we celebrate?  Easter Egg Pancakes :)

 After consuming plenty of carbs and sugar for energy, the kids spent the morning riding their four wheelers around the back yard :). They LOVE it!

 And when the pancakes wore off.... SUBWAY to the rescue for a picnic on the deck. (I have no idea why Olivia is making that face.  I couldn't really see her when I was snapping the picture, I just tried to make sure I had 3 heads in the shot.  Maybe I'll pay closer attention next time...lol)

And they think we're just fishing

Its the Wednesday of Spring Break! We had a wonderful Wednesday afternoon of family fun and fishing, starting with a picnic. Yaay for Papa John's $5 hot and ready :)

 Tyler put on the same thing Junior was wearing this morning.  TOO STINKIN' CUTE!!!

 My favorite people :)

 And the day's first catch goes to OLIVIA!!!

I didn't think the kids would make it that long, but they were impressively focused on the fishing :).  It helped once Junior started realing in fish after fish! He found the perfect spot to cast his line into and would have a fish on the line after just a few seconds.  The kids got to take turns pulling them in :).

The Fabulous, the AMAZING, the Wonderful, STACY ROBERTS has been at it again!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE when Stacy takes our family's pictures! She does a phenomenal job! Here are a few of our Easter Pictures :)

Yellow River Game Ranch

My lovely friend Jennifer introduced us to a wonderful place called the Yellow River Game Ranch. She and her sweet Taylor went with the kids and I to check it out :)

 Before we got started feeding the animals, we had to feed the children :).  It was a beautiful day for a picnic :)

 We came prepared with a few snacks for the animals, but as we walked in, there were 2 ladies with several kids that were on their way out and had tons of extra food that they gave to us. It was awesome! and we used every bit :).  Here's Tyler feeding a little goat.

 As it turns out, Tyler's celery also doubles as a sword ;)

 Here's angel face feeding another little goat... she was so brave :). They both were!

 Guess what this boy did when he saw the deer..... yep, you guessed it, his hands turned into guns and he shouted pow pow ;).  Then he decided to pet them when we couldn't shoot them!

 Other interesting animals included a humongus pig that loved graham crackers, deer, and bears!! There was also a horse and a couple of donkeys that ate the carrots and celery.  There was a little quarter machine that dispensed corn to feed them also.  We put the corn in our hands and let the horse lick it out.  It was pretty scary for the kids (Okay, me too, but I had to set the fearless example), but I put their hands in mine, and covered the ends of their fingers, that way, if the horse did bite, it would bite my fingers and not theirs... this seemed to ease their minds, and they both fed the horse several times! I was so proud :).

And of course, our trip would not have been complete without a visit to the playground! They had some pretty unique attractions :)

 This girl is a monkey bar fanatic! She can't get enough of them.  She even has calouses on her hands from playing on them all the time at school and day care!

 And here's one I hadn't seen in a while! I LOVED these things when I was little.  I'm pretty sure it was a good idea to get rid of them at most parks, though, but I'm glad my kids got the chance to enjoy one :).