At The Car Wash

Nothing is cuter to me than these kids helping wash Daddy's car.  They love the water and the soap and the sun.  And Matt loves a clean car!

 

Carnival

For the past three months, a lot of my time was spent on the planning committee for the 4th annual Crater Carnival and Auction....Erika's school carnival.  Last Saturday the big event took place and was a huge success!  Food, games, bounce house, auction prizes.....I loved it!  I am glad it is over, it was a lot of work planning, setting up, and tearing down, but I am planning on helping again next year!

 

The biggest hit with the girls was Club Dippety-Do, a station where they could get their hair done and princess crowns.  

   

 

Lots of carnival games such as Go Fish with little prizes that they thought were amazing!

 

 

And, an ice cream cone for the walk home!

 

Levi and Matt joined us at the carnival, but Levi was still not feeling great and was a little grumpy so he didn't stay long.  The biggest surprise of the night was when my name was called as the winner for a raffle item.  I won a party pack from Evergreen Wings and Waves Water Park....a new indoor water park about 15 minutes away.  We can't wait to use it!  And I love being a winner!

Pump It Up

Aunt Sarah took the girls to Pump It Up a few weeks ago.  Levi was sick so he got to stay home with me and nap.  Lucky boy.  The report I received was the girls jumped, slid, and ran around the entire two hours they were there!  We are definitely going back and hopefully next time Levi and I can join in on the fun!

 

 

 

And, they got Sonic slushes for a treat on the way home.

Outdoors

We have been blessed with spring weather lately!  I love it and the kids are obsessed with being outside after a long winter.  So, our non-school, non-sleep hours are spent riding bikes, meeting friends and the park, and playing in our yard.  Here are some of our outside pictures.  Enjoy the weekend!

 

Fun with Grandma

A couple of weeks ago, Erika had a couple days off from school so we headed to the zoo with Grandma Parnell!  We are so lucky that my mom is now retired and lives so close to us....we do so many fun outings together.  And, I use her as my babysitter quite often...thanks Mom!

 

It was a perfect day for the zoo.  Not too chilly, not raining, but cool enough to keep most people away.  We had the place mainly to ourselves!

The Oregon Zoo has a baby elephant that is adorable!  We spent quite a bit of time watching her with her family.

And then ate elephant ears!

My favorite zoo exhibit is the lion exhibit.  Clearly, Laurel was unimpressed.  Or throwing a little fit.

 

We also spent some time at Grandma's place.  Of course, Grandma lets the kids do things that I do not let them so they take full advantage of things like playing with makeup.

Grandma got a makeover.

So did the girls!

Babies

We were lucky enough to visit our family in Corvallis to celebrate human babies and animal babies!  My sister-in-law, Elisabeth, is due to bless us with another adorable nephew at the end of this month.  We got to help her celebrate at her baby shower this past weekend.  And, Grandpa and Grandma have baby chicks so we also got to see them as well. 

 

Laurel held the chick for about two seconds and then it started moving its wings so she was done.

 

 

Erika held out a little bit longer, but then was afraid it was going to peck at her so she put it back in the box.  Levi wasn't allowed to hold the chicks since he demonstrated just how rough he could be at petting them.  Holding them probably would have been worse.

 

Laurel and I attended the baby shower while Erika and Levi stayed at Grandpa's house to watch the chicks and play.  Laurel was such a sweetheart, helping get the presents for Auntie Beth and generally being cute. 

 

And eating mini cupcakes.  And graham crackers with frosting.

 

I cannot wait to hold the new baby!  And then give him back to his mommy when I am done!  Hooray!

Slumbering

My three little angels.  Sleeping so soundly.  I love peeking in on them before I go to sleep.  This is how they normally look.

 

 

And, yet, sometimes, our acrobatic sleeper, Erika, occasionally looks like this.

 

Timber

When we moved into our house in late August, one of the major improvement projects we knew we were going to tackle was removing two, huge cottonwood trees in the back yard.  This past weekend, the trees finally came down!  The project began Thursday night with a two man crew beginning the project of cutting down the tree limbs.  Saturday, the bulk of the trees came down.  It was a very impressive process to watch, but also quite terrifying with the men up 100+ feet on the tippy top of the trees.  I took the kids to Sarah's house on Saturday because I was too nervous!  It was very loud when the branches dropped to the ground and, although the crew did a great job of keeping everything safe, it looked like the limbs had the possibility of crashing through the window!  So I decided watching the whole process was not good for my mental health!  But, the trees are gone and we won't have to deal with cotton flying around the back yard making me sneeze this late spring...hooray!  Now, the fun of clearing the yard of tree limbs and trunks begins!

 

Day one: Taking down the limbs

 

The end of the first day.  They cleared about 2/3 of the way up the tree.

 

On Saturday, the brave tree men climbed to the top to remove the rest of the trees.

 

 

The end result!  And what our backyard still pretty much looks like.  Free wood for anyone who wants to come take it!

 

 

The kids get a kick out of climbing on the big logs.

 

 

Except Laurel.  Who was cold.