Cream Puffs!

One of my favorite memories as a kid is when my mom would make cream puffs.  I loved watching her mix the eggs in one at a time and then filling them with whipped cream and strawberries.  I loved eating as many as possible and having cream and strawberries ooze out onto my fingers... yum!

 It has been a long time since I've made them, so I decided to make them for a treat tonight.  The kids were pretty intrigued with the whole process.  Ben loved them and ate lots.

 Emma had one... and then asked if she could just have whipped cream and strawberries by itself.

Oh well, you win some and you lose some.  I thoroughly enjoyed them!

Easter Baskets

We decided to have the Easter bunny come visit this morning so that Easter Sunday can be about the real reason we celebrate Easter.  (And I have Ward Council at 7:30am Sunday!)

Emma was so excited that she was up nice and early (to Lennard's dismay).  The kids raced into the living room and while Emma headed to her basket, Ben noticed eggs hidden around the room and started gathering!  He was grabbing eggs as fast as he could and Emma just tried to keep up!

 The Easter bunny was pretty tricky this year and they kept finding eggs throughout the day!  It was so fun!

 Emma loved her chocolate bunny and had it's ears for breakfast!

Progress Update

We built a wing rack this morning and then headed out to the airport.  Lennard was SO excited to see the wings go in the rack.  We had to make a few minor adjustments to the rack, but it works great.

 We finished the other wing and got it all ready to go in the rack too.

 We are one step closer to an inspection!  Now to start work on the fuselage.

I Love My Kids!

It has taken a long time for us to get Ben to even pick up a crayon, let alone enjoy coloring - but it's finally happened!  He chose some coloring pages that I printed off the computer and has been coloring all morning!  And doing an amazing job too!

I love how proud he was to show us his finished page.  

Emma's day was made when she got to go outside and play in the snow.  She spent so long outside that when she finally came inside she was soaked!  She had a blast though!

Restaurants, Play Dates and Art Class

I was asked to help in Emma's class today for their Rabbit & Racoon Restaurant.  Since I didn't want Ben to come with me (and see what he'll be doing next year), I dropped him off at my friend Shannon's home.  I then drove Emma and Izzy to school.  As they were walking in to school I snapped a few pictures because I couldn't help but smile at how cute they are.  I love that they are good friends.

Jen and I got the food ready for the restaurant and then we brought it into the classrooms and served the kids.  Half the class took turns getting the other kids orders and serving them and then they switched.

Ben had fun playing with Auri and was more than happy to hang out while I visited with Shannon until it was time to get the girls.

This afternoon was Emma's art class again.  She loves going and would paint all the time if I could handle the mess!  Good thing for paying for classes... the mess stays there! 

Easter Fun

Both kids got to bring home Easter 'baskets' today.  Ben loves green, so I wasn't surprised to see a bunny with green eyes!

 Emma was very proud of her hard boiled egg that she decorated.  It's so nice when they do these kinds of crafts at home (so I don't have the mess at home!)

Sunday Afternoon Walk

It was such a beautiful day that when the kids asked to go for a walk around the temple, we gladly agreed!

 They were so funny!  They raced around the lawn and rolled down the little bit of hill.

 Ben was so goofy that he kept us laughing.

 We stopped at a bench and took a quick selfie... and then the kids wanted in on the action!

 Of course, we had to do one with silly faces too!

 We ended up interrupting a few church classes that were meeting on the temple lawn, so we didn't stay too long, but the kids had a blast.

Emma is quite the little poser! (ha! ha!)

Easter Egg Hunt

The kids were so excited when we pulled into the parking lot at the Remington Center and they realized what we were going to do.  We didn't have very long to wait and the kids were off! Emma was grabbing armfuls of chocolate eggs and took off in the other direction, so I didn't see him collecting eggs.  There were so many kids and not huge amounts of eggs, so it was done within a few minutes.  Some kids didn't get any eggs at all, so Emma was kind and gave some of hers to them.

I finally found Ben in the chaos and he was excited to show off the eggs he managed to get.

We stopped and got a picture with the Easter bunny.  Ben didn't want anything to do with him, so Lennard had to go stand with him.

As we were leaving, there was a wagon going by.  The kids were talking with us and wondered when they could go for a ride.  I guess the drivers overheard us and stopped and asked if the kids wanted to go for a ride! They were so excited, especially when they got to sit with the drivers!

 It was a great way to spend a morning together.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was a big day for the kids.  They were SO excited to wear their green shirts and go to school.  Ben had a big carnival type party at preschool.  I attempted to get a good picture of Ben, but as soon as the camera comes out he goofs off more! 

 Emma, on the other hand, poses!  Too fun!

 Emma wanted a picture with her Care Bear too.  She loves it so much that she sleeps with it every night and would take it everywhere with her if we let her!

 This is Ben as 'Spiderman' when I picked him up from preschool.  He was pretty proud of his face paint... although it was a little interesting getting it all cleaned off his face later on!

Last Day of Gymnastics

 It has been so nice that the kids have had almost the same kids in their gymnastics class this year as they did last year.  Part way through there was another boy join the group, so Ben was overjoyed!

They have really enjoyed going to gymnastics and, although I haven't seen them do a whole lot of new things, they are a lot more confident in what they are doing now.  They passed off everything that they were supposed to for this level, so they will go in to a Burgundy class next year.

Ali, Emma, Briley, Avery, Jamari, Ben, Anika

 

Ben and Coach Kormos

 

Emma and Coach Kormos

Take Note

The kids love their piano lessons, and this week they got to start learning the notes on the treble clef.  We did flash cards and learned sayings like - 'Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips' for the notes on the lines and 'FACE' in the space.  Then I had a brain wave and put some masking tape down on the floor.  We cut some circles for notes and the kids put them on the correct line or space.  Then, I let the kids be the notes!  They had to jump to the correct line or space.  It was amazing how quickly they learned the notes... and had fun doing it!