Bring your Kid to Work Day

Brayden was thrilled to be finally old enough to go to ConAgras "Take your kid to work day."  The night before he even asked to go shopping for an outfit to match his dad.  He had a blast doing the fun activities they had planned and meeting all of his dads coworkers.  He had breakfast, made gummy bears, did some sensory testing, made ice cream in ziploc bags and designed some kid cuisine meals.  It was a great day for him.

18 Month Emmitt Update

 Yesterday was the big exciting day we have been counting down.... Emmitt went to nursery!!!  He cried pretty hard for a few minutes when we left but he recovered and did great the rest of the time.  It was nice to enjoy our classes at church instead of roaming the halls.  I am realizing that while he did well in nursery it was traumatic for him.  Last night he wouldnt sleep.  He could not bear to be left alone.  I hope that was coincidence and not directly related to nursery but hopefully he will adjust.  Here is his first church "artwork."  Though I am skeptical that he was the one that actually colored it- he was definitely the one to carry it out, so we'll take it!

In other developmental developments...
-He has just now finally transistioned to one nap a day 90% of the time.  It seemed to take forever and everyday would be different but I think I can plan on him being a one napper now most of the time.  He sleeps through the night most nights but is an inherently early riser no matter what time we put him to bed.
-He has 8 teeth- which also seemed to take forever and I think teethwise he is still way behind average but I am just happy he has got what he's got.  Teething has been painful (for all of us :)
-He is learning words slowly but surely.  His first word was "uh-oh" at about 12 months.  Now he says many things like fishy, doggy, daddy, birdy, etc though they all come out sounding like "dee-dee"
-He's a cutie patootie still and loves to entertain us all.  He has the best expressions- especially his "O" surprise face.  He keeps us smiling all the time.

Curb Appeal

So Kevin and I decided to try our hand at a little landscaping.  Our front yard is already landscaped but we decided to have some curbing put in.  We also put in new mulch.  We are mostly happy with how it turned out.  On the left side of the house we created a new flower bed and got experimental at the garden center and bought a dark knight butterfly bush and two peony plants.  We are excited to see what they grow into.

Lambies Birthday!

Brielle is at that "obsessed with Birthdays" stage.  She is often wishing it was her birthday.  Last Thursday morning she excitedly told me that it was "Lambies" Birthday.  Lambie, also known sometimes as sheepie or Lampie was once owned by Grandma, then stolen by Makenna and now most often played with by Brielle.  She has been well loved, so if any of our stuffed animals deserve a birthday, I suppose she would be the one.  In the morning, Brielle wrapped up all sorts of toys in blankets as presents and lined them up on the fireplace.  One of her presents was a Cinderella dress that Lambie immediately wanted to wear of course.  After she had played that for a while she came to me and asked how to make a birthday cake.  Luckily I was able to avoid that mess since I had a small cake in my freezer that was needing to be used.  The kids had a great time decorating the cake and we all sang "Happy Birthday."  What a lucky lamb!

Kansas City

Last weekend we went to Kansas city and had an amazing time.  We planned the trip because of the Kansas City temple Open House and we were joined by our dear friends the Thomas' and the Owens- which made it much much more fun.

The Hotel:
We stayed at the Fairfield Inn by the airport.  It was on the outskirts of town which may not have made it the best location but it was great for our needs.  The hotel staff was amazingly kind and patient with our 11 rambunctious, super excited kids who were at times a bit out of control.  They were thrilled to be together and in a hotel and they loved the pool and the rooms and the lobby and the breakfast and all of that hotel stuff.

The Temple:

Our whole Crew (not necessarily organized by family).

waiting in line

 

 The Temple experience was Marvelous!  It is a beautiful temple in its very visible location close to the freeway and set in such a way that like many temples it almost looks like its raised above ground level.  When we arrived we waited outside the nearby church building for just a short time, before being ushered into a room to see a short video about the temple.  Then we met our tour guides and began our walk to the temple grounds.  Before entering, some youth put shoe covers on our feet to keep the temple clean.  Inside the temple was beautiful and peaceful and rich with the presence of the Spirit.  To be able to show it to our children and be there together was just such a blessing.  It was very meaningful to us and we both fought the tears back the whole time.

 Afterwards there was cookies and punch in the churches gymnasium.  The were the best snicker-doodles we ever had and definitely Emmit's favorite part :)

Kansas City:

Unfortunately my pictures from the afternoon were taken on my phone because I forgot my camera.  They are not good at all.  Anyways, we drove downtown Kansas City to the Crown Center where we ate at a fun restaurant called Fritz's where trains line the ceilings and deliver your food.  The kids loved it, as you can imagine.  We then went to a fun place called Kaleidoscope where they kids can go crazy with some great art projects.  Then on to the Hallmark museum and then for dinner some yummy Kansas City BBQ!  What a day!

Liberty Jail:
On Sunday morning we had just enough time before leaving to see Liberty Jail.  It was really neat to see and a great experience.  I learned a lot and think the kids did too.

Its hard to see with the bad lighting but the Jail has been recreated and then a dome built around it.  The dimensions are almost exact and even some of the original stone was used.  The prisoners were kept in the basement.  Seeing it made the circumstances much more real feeling.

A replica of the gold plates.

Inside the visitors center and chatting with the Sister Missionaries.

The weekend was a blast.  We had such a great time as a family and with our wonderful friends. 

An Easter visit from Oma and Opa

We were fortunate to have Oma with us for most of our Spring Break week.  The kids had a great time with her and it was fun to spend more time with their cousin Aurora too.  Unfortunately, a few days in, Emmitt got miserably sick, and he was not quite the party animal we all know and love.  He was a fussy wussy kept only content if being held and rocked while watching his "BabyTV."

 

When the big Easter weekend arrived, Opa joined us and the Easter Festivities begun.  We dyed the eggs and went off to the hill our our Annual Easter Egg Roll.

Emmitt never felt great over Easter but he did get into the spirit of the egg roll!

This years winner and her winning egg.

 

 Other Easter Weekend events included, an Easter Egg Hunt with the Roblyers, a Easter Egg Hunt in Bellevue, an Easter Egg hunt at home, cupcake decorating, a delicious ham dinner and lots of precious family time.  It was a great weekend!