Ice Cream

Rachael got the kids some ice cream. They loved it! 

There are tons of new photos in our public picasa album. Click the link on the right of the blog to see them. There are so many good ones that I haven't blogged about very many.

Here are the kids right after church. I guess they were exhausted, too. =)

One of my favorite pictures. I count myself very lucky when my kids let me hold them. I'll let them stay up past bedtime, even, if they let me hold them. =) This is one of my favorite parts of having kids. I love it when they fall asleep while I'm holding them. Jordan NEVER does this, though, just Lizzy occasionally. When I see other babies I always want to hold the baby, too. It doesn't even matter whose baby it is. If it were socially acceptable I would hold any baby I ever saw. haha!

Dewey

Julie is staying with us until her internship starts in June. Jordan has always especially loved Julie. He will come up to her and hug her for a long time! The other morning he woke up calling "Dewey! Dewey! Dewey!"  He has said her name more often than "mommy" or "daddy."

Just now Jordan started searching through the house calling for Julie. Unfortunately Julie is not here at the moment. It's really cute, though.

Rachael came to stay with us and it was so fun to have her! She is gone now and I ache in my heart that she is so far away. I love this awesome friend.

Jordan says "oh no!" A lot. There is this cute clip online of "hickory dickory dock." Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperSimpleSongs
(scroll down to see the clock and the elephant)
There are several little animals that go up the clock, but the last one is a big elephant. The big elephant breaks the big clock because he is too big for it. Jordan and Lizzy get very upset by this. Jordan says, "Oh no!" He used to get scared and climb on my lap and hold on to me. Lizzy used to say, "Oh no it's broken! Don't worry we'll fix it." For some reason this clip is very disturbing for my kids. hehe

Poplar Tree

A poplar tree looks like this:

Apparently a poplar tree lives a short life. Around 20 years. When the tree starts dying then the roots rot and you get HUGE MUSHROOMS in your backyard. This explains the gigantic mushrooms that grew around that tree stump when we first moved in. Morgan took out the rotted stump with a shovel and the mushrooms didn't come back.

So our poplar tree died. We had to get someone to come take it down and haul it away. It filled up a huge truck! It was a very tall tree, the tallest around our house. It gave fantastic shade. I am sad that it is gone. Morgan is glad it is gone.

We got a plumb tree from Cherie and bought a WILLOW TREE and a PEACH TREE to make up for the lack of shade in our yard. Right now each of those trees is nothing more than a TWIG. We have several years to go until we get any shade. =/  But I'm looking forward to it! (That's hope for ya.)

I found a coupon for a free strawberry plant, so I got a strawberry plant. And a raspberry bush on sale - it's just a twig right now, too.  I've been watering all of our new plant life and I hope it all grows and lives!

Remember those amazingly beautiful tulips that our house had last year? Well… they are growing again! I'm so excited for them to bloom. Last year they bloomed on Easter, but I'm afraid they may not be ready to bloom by tomorrow.

Lizzy's pretty red dress is the one that my mom and I made for her while my mom was visiting. It was really hard! And needless to say it would not have been made if my mom didn't do most of it. =) 

Mother's Day at Preschool

Lizzy's Mini-3's class at preschool did a little something for Mother's Day. They sang us some songs with actions and sang us Skiddamerink a dink as an "I Love You" song. =)

Lizzy did a fantastic job! She did all the actions very well and sang all the songs with a smile on her face. She seems to be the tallest one, too. 

Then the best surprise came! They made these cute little paper purses for their moms. Their teacher read them out loud so we could all hear the cuteness. Lizzy's says "You are special to me because 1. you give me hugs and kisses, 2. you make me cupcakes, 3. you give me the doggie and the bear when I go to bed."  

Lizzy could obviously tell that this was a special day for mom. She brought me the purse and gave me a hug and said, "happy birthday, Mommy."  

Personally I think she is the cutest and smartest in her class. =) Ryler, next to her, is very cute too. A close runner up. =)

Sad day

Lizzy: Can I have a diaper?
Me: No.
Lizzy: Can I have underwear?
Me: No.
Lizzy puts her head down in her hands and begins to sob.
Lizzy: My bum is so cold!!

But it worked. She's potty trained! =) And she wasn't really cold, she was wrapped up in a blanket cuddling her mommy. =) And she got treats for using the potty. I wasn't being as mean as it sounds. =)