Our Beautiful Tree

One evening we decided to hop outside (the kids in their pajamas) and take a few photos of our flowering ornamental crab apple tree.  It's so beautiful right now!  I took a couple photos of the kids while I was at it.

See Mr. Robin?

I'll have to take a few more photos today, because ALL the blooms are in full flowering mode right now and it's so impressive.  I do like the bright pink start of the flowers before they open though.

Sauer's Mountain

In between our symphony rehearsal and the concert we went on a hike.  Brooke hiked the trail so well!  Oliver did fine, but stopped every few feet to draw maps on the trail with his hiking stick.

Spring Update

Brooke's violin teacher arranged a performance at a local retirement center.  Brooke and Kailani did a great job playing along with the big kids!

Brooke is loving the flowers, and the bees!  She goes to this special rock to "watch the bees".  So far she has not been stung, thank goodness!

Oliver has been enjoyed running the paths in the front garden.  He hops from rock to rock wearing his boots.  He calls himself "Spiderman" and wears his spider boots everyday, everywhere we go.  He likes making these "woosh" sounds and pretends to throw out webs.

Pear trees are in full bloom right now!  Our walks have been so nice.

See the difference with the apple blossoms?  They are pretty in their own way!

Pushing 70 pounds of kids and everything else is a good workout!  I put on some music using my iPad, load up with snacks and if we are lucky, Oliver will take a nap!

Children's Museum

Well, I've got a bit of catching up to do.  I have a new job being the director of a summer music camp, so I have been spending most free minutes working on that.  It's quite a big job!  In March we took a trip down to California to visit my Mom and Dad and enjoy some sunshine.  We took a trip to the Palm Desert Children's Museum.  Here are some photos!

Even Grandpa John learned a few things!

Painting the car green (it was St. Patrick's Day).  Brooke enjoyed it, but Oliver wasn't interested. 

Yum! 

Oliver could "shop" all day.  He proceeded to put four cartons of ice cream in his cart!

Inside Day

Both kids have come down with colds.  First coughs, now runny noses.  We leave for California in six days so I'm seriously trying to get these kids well in time for our vacation!

So I planned an inside crafty day for them.  First was homemade bath paint which was fun.  Followed by lots of bubbles.  There is nothing more fun than a long morning bath!

Oliver loves the bath.  He got a little worried about the "fuzzies" on his hands and feet (wrinkles).

Later on we headed for the dining room table for some necklace making.  Brooke is getting so much better at her fine motor skills.

While Brooke was making a nice piece of jewelry, Oliver filled his cup at the refrigerator dispenser and spilled five times... yeah.

Oh yeah, then we did play-doh and next was crowns!  This is not our average day!

Then painting!  These are so great for beginning painters.  The paint is above each picture and it works pretty well.  It was so much fun to have the energy to enjoy the kids today.  We have been so tired in the evenings that we have been going to bed around 9-9:30 (I'm usually 10:30-11).  What a difference it makes!  The kids are now climbing on the guest bed and I'm enjoying a little break!

Hats!

I've always wanted to make the kids their own Mommy-made hats.  Recently, I bought a book from Amazon that includes patterns and instructions to many different hats.  This is the first one I created.  It ended up being a little big, so I'll be making another... I can't believe how easy they are!

I also had the rosette a little further down than I wanted, so I'll make improvements on the next one.  So far, I can see me having lots of fun sewing my way through the book!  Anyone want a hat?!?

Today we visited Sleeping Lady Resort.  It's a nice place to go for a stroll.  I can't seem to leave without a photo of the sleeping lady...

After the cold walk we stopped by Smallwoods Harvest for a little country fun!

We followed this train home.  It was a windy cold day... so we were thankful we remembered our warm clothes!

With these clear skies there have been some pretty sunsets... at least from what we can see from our back yard!

Spring is on it's way!

I think March is an exciting month.  The temperatures are warmer, the earth begins to wake up, and so do we!  There is still the chance of snow which always mixes things up.  With a high of 62 degrees today, we just had to spend a few hours at the two playgrounds behind our house!  The kids had so much fun with their friend Riley.  Brooke always says (very proudly), "Riley is MY best friend!"

Oliver showed Riley his "secret" way back.  It includes jumping over the drain (at least three times)...

and you can't pass by these without a few seconds of hanging.

The girls had the best time swinging on the tire swing.

Brooke asked Riley to play the "silly game".  The rules are simple... say four random things in a row and then laugh, really loud!

A few small signs of spring in our backyard.  I love this time of year!