stuff...

making a surprise visit to see van, while he still thinks it's cool to have his mom eat lunch with him at school.

don't even ask. it didn't make a difference anyway

Easter egg hunt/primary activity

books books books

big girl sitting up in the grocery cart

getting lots of teefusses

doing her "wounded soldier crawl"

preserving a memory...

9 a.m. church, the aroma of roast in the crockpot for dinner, quiet time/naps, together all day...ahhhhh, sundays.

ihop and the arcade

we couldn't resist a breakfast trip to ihop over spring break weekend. the kids loaded up on pancakes and french toast and went to town.

mia took a little longer perusing the menu, and finally decided on milk.

later on we stopped by the arcade to play a little skeeball,

race motorcycles,

and waste money on those claw things that always drop the toy at the last minute. (jasmine has a hard time staying away from those)

van spanked me at air hockey

and held his own shooting bad guys with dad

and mia didn't mind being along for the ride looking cute.

towering already

k i know i'm short (5'4 and 3/4) but seriously? she's twelve. how am i going to get any respect when she can literally look down on her mother?!
van can't comprehend how jasmine can be taller if she's 12 and i'm 37. his little 6 year old brain is having a hard time processing that one. he just thinks i'm a freak of nature or something.
don't say it.

grassy the snowman

is it really the first day of spring?
in texas?!!
with snow covered lawns and temperatures in the 30's we couldn't believe it either (this was yesterday)

but we were actually kind of excited because the last time it snowed we didn't get around to building a snowman.

we couldn't pass up the opportunity this time, so the boys got to work making "grassy" (ya know, because he wasn't a "clean" snowman, he was all "grassy")

good thing we can always count on texas weather to be unpredictable. not even 24 hours later...sunny and 66 degrees.
so goodbye grassy, we'll miss you, but not really.

laughing at big bro...

all in one day...

picnic


park



easter crafts

scavenger hunt

whoopi cushion

basketball and cookies

when the weather's nice we like to go outside and watch dad shoot around. treats make it even better.

brock's birthday party

this is van having what he said was "the best day of his life" at "pump it up" (the hugest bounce house establishment i've ever seen)

two straight hours of jumping, bouncing, climbing, sliding, sweating, and laughing- topped off with pizza and cake! van was in heaven.

funny side note: van thinks his friend brock has the same name as the President.

jasmine's new hobby

yesterday jasmine decided that she wanted to be a photographer. no time better than the present to get started, so she brought the camera along to the park with us. i was pretty impressed with the great shots she got and her creative eye. she also did an awesome job with the editing, looks like she's a natural!

spring break (free labor) weekend

i always tease the kids when they have school off that they get to be my slaves while they're home. this time i wasn't kidding. weeds, laundry, toilets, and a long list of other things that will last all week.

we even roped them into cleaning the church on saturday morning.

actually, it was all part of our master plan as parents. we made a list of fun things that they could do for spring break, on the condition that they help us work around the house (and have a good attitude about it). they were gems.

they actually get to earn a few extra bucks if they finish all their work this week (van got a penny for each weed he pulled), and we rested from our labors on sunday and decorated a spring cake.

van the good citizen

we frequent the elementary school quite a bit. this time it was to watch van receive the "citizenship award" for his class.

he was nervous to be up there in front of all those people

but we could tell from that little smile, that he was diggin it:)


good job buddy, we're so proud of you!