messy girl.

amazingly, this girl has gone 11 months

without making a mess of her food.

that is, until last night.

she had oatmeal everywhere!

water + dirt = lake powell {and lots of mud}

guess how much fun a huge hole can be when filled with water?

way too much!

cory and the kids filled the hole one night last week after doing the spring sprinkler check. turns out it was way funner than anyone expected. they named our "hole", lake powell {probably in preparation for our trip in a few weeks}. anyways, before long they were both soaked head to toe with water and mud. connor even ended up falling in. not too happy about it at the time as you can see, but ended up playing in the lake for at least 2 hours. before coming in the house, cory did the first round of prep by stripping them down and hosing them off. then i had the second round of a shower for mae and a tubby for connor.

once again, the hole does not disappoint.

a shed for mama's clothes.

{a conversation between connor & cory}

cory: connor, what do you want to give mom for mother's day?

do you want to buy something or make something?

connor: let's build something. how about a secret place.

how about a shed to hang up her clothes.

yep. it melted my heart too.

my mother's day was a wonderful day filled with love, appreciation and family. this is how my "shed" turned out. i didn't get a before picture, but our closet used to have one L- shaped shelf about eye-level. cory carefully took that one off, raised it up a few feet, and then secured it back to the wall. then he built another shelf under that one. it practically doubles our space to hang clothes and is so nice! thanks so much connor {and cory}! mabel was also as precious as they come. after inspecting every ball in target, she found me the best spikey orange squishy ball ever! perfect for bouncing on the tv!

{here's her conversation with cory}

cory: mabel, what should we get mom for mother's day?

mabel: um, a ball. a squishy ball. a squishy ball she can bounce on the tv.

a place to dig.

a few weeks ago we took out all of the flowers in one of the backyard flower beds and dedicated the space to dig. the kids are free to do whatever they want. at first we had a big hole and a small tunnel underneath a wooden drawbridge. and now we have an even bigger hole to play in! the last time we went to the nursery, the kids each picked out a shovel to use in their new space!

i'm not surprised at how much the kids have loved playing in the dirt, but it has surprised me how often they ask and want to go play out there. i'm talking multiple times a day. connor has had many friends come over and help him dig. it's made for kind of a mess, but that's half the fun right?!?

who says tutus are just for dancing?

happy easter.

we had a wonderful easter at our house.

we can now add the easter bunny to the list of things mabel is scared of, along with elves and leprechauns. so following her request, the we left the easter buckets outside the back door for the easter bunny to find, fill and then hide - outside. under no circumstances was the easter bunny allowed to come inside our house. much to the kids excitement, the buckets were filled on easter morning with wonderful treats and surprises.

{empty buckets just waiting to be filled}

{examining the loot}

{easter photos at grandma & grandpa's}

Spring is such a special time of year. i love the renewal that it brings and the promise of wonderful things to come. we had wonderful teaching moments throughout the week talking with the kids about the Savior and His life, sacrifice, death, and resurrection. it's amazing how much the kids remember, even at such a young age. i'm constantly reminded how they are smarter than me. we truly are so blessed.

army crawlin.

{els has quite the scowl}

while we were away on spring break,

elsie began to army crawl.

she also had 2 more teeth come in, for a total of 6.

4 on top, with big gaps in between. {so cute!}

and 2 on the bottom.

today she turns 10 months old.

it's hard to believe she's growing so fast!

we had her well check a few days ago

and here's how big she is these days.

18 lbs 13 oz {40%}

29 3/4" long {>95%, off the charts}

17 3/4" head {70%}

she loves to laugh and watch these 2 hooligans.

{one night in mesquite, notice mae's awesome lipstick job}

let the games begin.

connor started another baseball and soccer season last week.

this year his baseball team is the rangers.

right now baseball is his favorite.

he'd play all day, everyday.

should be a fun few weeks!