The Takeover

For the next two months swim team will be taking over our lives! The kids have practice every weekday and a day long meet every Saturday until the end of June. Go Eagle Springs Flyers!

And this is not related to the post, but Cici just looked so cute rocking out to her pink ipod nano she got for Christmas.

April Recap

April was a great month! We kicked off General Conference weekend with a family campout in the back yard, which included grilling hot dogs, making yummy smores in the microwave(which are far better than fire burnt ones any day in my opinion : ), playing games and watching the portable dvd player all night long. We were able to survive watching all four sessions of Conference with the kids thanks to a little help from the candy game and activity packets courtesy of sugardoodle.

Cicialy had preschool graduation pictures and looked soooooooo cute!

Easter Sunday was wonderful and relaxed. The kids enjoyed thier baskets filled with books, movies, coloring stuff, flip flops, goggles, swim suits and of course candy! They loved the backyard egg hunt after church. Next year I think we might do the baskets and egg hunt on Saturday so Sunday is filled with the more reverant aspects of the holiday.

After a week of rookie camp, Cicialy made our neighborhood summer league swim team. (She's the one in the blue swimsuit). Cicialy and William now have swim practice every weekday afternoon until school gets out and then every morning until the end of June. They are loving it! Ask them to show your thier flyer flexes.

William did great at his 1st grade play/concert, "Frog and Toad". His class had to all wear yellow shirts and were the featured class for the song, "Cookies". The kids and I can't get all the songs out of our heads : )

The last weekend of the month we attended the school district's fine arts festival at the local Community College. We had been informed that one of William's art pieces had been chosen for display, so we had to go see it. He won a first place ribbon! The festival was amazing. There were hands on art stations all over the place. The kids got to make funny hats, magnets, bags, jewelery, sidewalk chalk art and much more. There was even a dance class every half hour that Cicialy got to participate in.

Family Pictures

Way back in November we had some family pictures taken for Christmas cards. They did not get sent out, but here are a few of my favorite shots.

Texas Pride

I am proud to be a native Texan! In fact, I got all teary eyed last year when William came home from school one day and began singing "The stars at night, are big and bright, (clap clap clap clap), deep in the Heart of Texas!" It makes me happy when the month of March rolls around and in honor of Texas Independence the schools start teaching all about the state I love so much. This even starts in preschool. If you ask her, Cicialy (and of course William) could tell you the following: The Texas State Motto (Friendship), the Texas State Flower (Bluebonnet), the Texas State Tree (Pecan), the Texas State Mammal (small - Armadillo, large- Texas Longhorn), the Texas State Insect (Monarch Butterfly), and the Texas State Bird (Mockingbird). As part of the festivities, Cicialy's preschool held a rodeo parade and concert. Her favorite part was getting to buy a stick pony. The other thing I love about March is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. We look forward to it every year. Dan and I were able to go twice and saw Sugarland and Rascal Flatts (thanks mom and dad!), and then one Saturday we took the kids to the Livestock Show and Carnival. And of course my favorite part is always all the delicious food choices.

Cicialy really enjoyed the soil exhibit where you could plant your own sunflower seed and go digging in the dirt for worms.

The kids favorite exhibit is always the chicks hatching right before your eyes!

Only A Month Late

We went to Utah for Christmas!!! Sorry its taken me until know to write about it, but upon arriving home Dan and I were thrust full force into the final preparations for a 4 stake priest/laurel conference. Now its over, and I've got a little bit of free time (for the moment at least : ). We had lots of fun; so much fun in fact that we forgot to take many pictures. Minus out the two day drive there and the two day drive back (which is always torture), we had a blast building snowmen, sledding, ice skating, sleeping over with cousins, and just spending quality time with Dan's family. Below are the few pictures I did manage to snap:

Cici, William, and Weston in their Christmas pjs right before reading the Christmas story and then going up to see what Santa brought

Weston with his scooter from Santa

William opening his Nintendo DSi (I caved because I wanted to see this face on Christmas morning. He has now earned it being taken away with the slight possibility of it being regiven to him as a gift next Christmas, if his behavior improves).

Cicialy loved the snow. It was so cold that I didn't want to leave the house, but she couldn't get enough of it!

Cicialy and cousin Kenzli being pulled on a sled by Aunt Cari. (While we were there Cicialy found out that Kenzli had gotten her ears pierced and that Aunt Cari had done it. Needless to say, Cici now has her own ears pierced too by Aunt Cari).

Weston and cousin Sophie

Dan's brother Andrew got engaged the morning we arrived, so we are excited to be heading back to Utah this July. We will try to actually visit with all of our friends then.

Witches and Wizards and Superman, oh my!!!

Happy Halloween!!! The kids are sad that today is a Sunday, which equals no trick or treating, but they enjoyed dressing up to go to grandma's trunk or treat Friday night. William didn't even have to think twice about what he wanted to be this year. We've been reading the Harry Potter books since the summer (we are currently on book 5), and he just had to be Harry! Dan whittled his wand from a stick in the backyard, and William helped him stain it just the right color. He insists that he wants to be Harry next year as well (and if he doesn't Cicialy has expressed an interest in being Hermoine so the costume will get some good use : ). It took some convincing, but Cicialy finally agreed to be the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz. She loved having her face painted green and getting her very own pair of ruby slippers. She even perfected the line "I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!" Weston was a whole other story. He said no to every idea we had, refused to keep any costume on, so last minute inspiration struck as I noticed that he was wearing his superman t-shirt on Friday - Clark Kent (I knew he would keep his church clothes on : ). Well, I am off to whip up some witches brew, bats and cobwebs, and monte cristo ghost sandwiches for our Halloween dinner. Hope you all had a great holiday!!!

Crazy

It has been Red Ribbon Week at William's elementary school. They have had pajama day, crazy sock day, and finally the most anticipated day has arrived: Crazy Hair Day!!!

He was one excited boy going off to school today!