Bicycle ride in the Park

Last weekend we took the kids to Maidu Park for a bicycle ride and picnic lunch. We borrowed this bike seat from our neighbor to see if Carson would like it. He did like it, but it was a little tricky for me to get the balancing mastered. We may have to give it another try before deciding to buy one of our own.

Eric pulled Tate and Holly in the bike trailer. Tate is too big for the bike seat on my bicycle and Holly is too little, so....they got paired up together in the trailer. They loved it, but it eventually did put Holly to sleep.

Tonight we were all sitting on the couch together watching "Cake Boss" on TV before starting the bedtime routine. The kids think its a cool show because of all of the elaborate cakes that they make and I actually find it fun to watch too.

I love this picture of Holly because it captures the happy expression that she gets on her little face when we talk to her. She is such a happy baby!

Tate lost his very first tooth and was so proud! It was only loose for about a week before it came out. I had just picked him up from school and we had just gotten into the car. He tried to open the Tupperware lid of his lunchbox strawberries with his teeth, and accidentally pried out the loose tooth. The bit of blood scared him at first, then he decided it was cool that the tooth had actually come out. He put the tooth under his pillow and was rewarded with 2 dollars. He usually puts his money in his piggy bank, but this time he was dying to take it to Target to pick out a toy. He picked a Iron Man action figure that rides an ATV (such a boy) and mommy had to chip in a few extra dollars, but it was what he really wanted!

Our artist

Carson now is officially untrustworthy around anything that he can write with. His quest to be "artistic" has led him to draw on the wall with a sharpie, scribble all over daddy's home inspection paperwork, and now draw on himself with mommy's lip liner. I know that taking a photo of him is probably only going to encourage him further, but I just couldn't help it!

Garden day at preschool

Tate and Carson go to a great preschool which hosted this "garden party". The kids and their parents all came to preschool last Friday to plant seeds and starter plants in the school's garden. Then over the summer, they will get to go out each day to see what is growing and pick the ready veggies.

Tate took great care to dig a hold for and water his bean plants.

The boys then went to the next "station" where they could dig in the dirt for worms. Tate and Carson worked together with their spoons and shovels to collect worms on a paper plate. They watched the worms wriggle around for a bit before finding good homes for them in the garden.

I took Tate's picture when he first started preschool last year, so now it is Carson's turn to pose for his "big boy" school picture.

This is the room where the kids do their artwork, playdough, and messy activities. Carson paints everyday, but I'm convinced that he ends up with more paint on himself then on his paper. Thank goodness for washable paint!

Baby bath time

Each night we are so busy with dinner, baths, book reading, teeth brushing and then finally bedtime, that I have not yet(until now) taken any baby bath pictures. So....this is Miss Holly having fun in her bathtub. She likes to watch and try to grab at the spray of water and loves to wiggle in the warm water.

A close up of a clean baby

All wrapped up cozy in her bath towel and ready for pjs.

The kids

My wonderful sister-in-law Dawn was kind enough to take some photos of the kids while she was here visiting this week from Utah. Rah Rah and PaPa who live in Sun City have a great grassy preserve area with beautiful oak trees just up the street from their house. On sunny days, we take the kids for a walk here and go for a picnic. Today, it made for a great background for some family photos.

Holly was very cooperative and very photogenic for all her photos and was happy to smile for the camera.

Tate was also very cooperative for his photos. Uncle Lance tried all his tricks to try to get a "real" smile out of Tate. Tate says "Cheeeeeeeeeese" the entire time his photo is being taken, and doesn't stop saying the word the entire time!

Carson was not at all wanting to have his picture taken and would cry or scowl despite our best efforts to get him to laugh. Finally, the only way to get out a smile was for me to sit with him!

Getting ready for Easter

The kids greeted the Easter bunny out in front of the Nugget grocery store. After lots of hugs, high-fives, and candy....we finally made our way into the store to buy eggs to take back home for coloring.

They were so excited to make their eggs all the colors they could think of. I don't think they have ever eaten hard boiled eggs, so I will be very curious to see if they will like to eat the eggs that they worked so hard to decorate.

We were actually able to get all of the eggs colored with no spills or accidents on the table or clothes...how about that for careful!

Carson loves the color green right now and he would have been completely happy to color each of his eggs all green, green, and more green.

We were lucky enough to have Mimi come over to lend an extra pair of helping hands in the egg coloring event. We have so many eggs now that we will have to have an egg salad sandwich party!

Holly will get her chance to help color eggs next year, but for now she got to watch from her "Bumbo" chair that our neighbor loaned to us. She really likes to sit up in it and watch what is going on around her. Won't be long now before she is sitting up on her own all by herself!!!

Funderland and the park

My mom and I took the boys to Funderland and the park last weekend while Eric was out of town. It was a beautiful day and a great day to spend outside. We've taken the boys to Funderland before, the last time was in August last year and on that visit, I was quite pregnant with Holly. This time, Holly got to go with us, but no pony rides yet for her!! After the pony riding, the kids went on the amusement park rides including a dragon mini rollercoaster at Funderland. Then we had a picnic lunch at the park and were surrounded by millions of tiny white dasies in the grass. The boys kept busy eating their PB&J sandwiches and picking as many flowers as possible.

Carson cried the last time we tried to get him to ride the pony, but this time he loved it! Carson's pony was named Candy!

Tate is an old pro at the pony rides now. This time he rode on this sweet brown pony named Rocky.