oh happy day

Livi Loo

This little girl is so much fun and full of personality. Whenever I get my camera out she jumps right in front of it and starts to pose. I have SO many pictures of her I don't know what to do with them all. She is just too cute!

She wanted to pose with her cute pink Eiffel Tower :)

Her best attempt at a sad face. She can't help but smile all the time. And of course I had to take a picture of her adorable red curls!

Easter Hat Parade

One thing I love about the British schools is that they celebrate Christmas and Easter and are not afraid to teach about Jesus. For Easter the kids put on the most adorable Easter Choir program. They sang several songs about Jesus and his resurrection. I loved every minute of it. I totally teared up as I listened to the whole school sing about our Savior.

They also had an Easter hat parade. All the kids designed an Easter bonnet and then had a parade. Avery and Andrew had a fun time creating their hats!

and a little evidence that Spring is really here!!

A day at the park

The sun is shining! Hooray! We headed to the park to enjoy it while it lasts!

Livi and I also had a little fun jumping on the trampoline :)

polka dot blankie

Drew left his polka dot blanket in the middle of the floor this morning. On any other day, I would have picked it up and threw it on his bed. But today was different. Today I paused and looked at the blanket and longed for the cute, loud, chatter box that often accompanies this blanket. Tears filled my eyes and I lost it. I miss him. You see, Drew started school today. He is SO beyond ready to be in school all day long. He is smart, loves to learn, and loves social interaction. But I'm not ready for my shadow (more like my third leg because he is always right on top of me) to be gone. He is seriously such a good-natured, sweet-hearted little boy. I need to look into his big blue eyes right now and feel his cute lips on my cheek. I love that boy so much. I am sad today but excited for the next chapter in his life. We just found out yesterday that he could start school today. He jumped for joy and couldn't stop smiling all day. He couldn't wait to show everyone his new book bag. Especially his big sister. When we picked Avery up from school yesterday, he showed her the bag and then said "I get to go to school with you tomorrow." Avery's face lit up almost as bright as Drew's and they hugged each other and jumped up and down with excitement. Then, for the rest of the day and all this morning Avery told Drew all about how things work at school and what he would be doing. She is one proud big sister. Watching them interact with such excitement over school has been one of my favorite things. We went shopping for his uniform last night and picked out some special British snacks to pack in their lunches today. Drew was beaming. Avery was beaming. As Drew was eating his breakfast this morning he screamed and then shouted "this is going to be the best day ever!!!" . He did not hesitate for a minute when I walked him into class. The Head teacher told him that he looked smart. And boy did he ever look "smart" in his uniform. He couldn't wait to meet his new classmates. He couldn't wipe that smile off of his face. Such a bitter sweet day. So if you see me carrying around a polka dot blanket with tears in my eyes, now you know why. LOVE YOU DREW-BER!!

On the Go!

Sometime in January Andrew decided that he wanted to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. He was determined. When this kids gets an idea in his head, there is no stopping him. He begged and begged for us to take him out to ride. Only problem was that the sidewalks were covered in snow and it was freezing outside. Finally in February it warmed up a bit and the snow melted away. I took him outside, gave him a little pep talk, he jumped on his bike and took off!! He did it first try! I was so proud of him. Especially because I thought it might take him a few tries and I didn't want him to get discouraged. But, his mind was made up. He was going to ride without training wheels, and he did! So proud of him!

Drew is 5

My sweet happy boy turned 5!!

We had a bowling party to celebrate with the Jones' and his friend Hunter. THe kids all had a great time!

Can you tell that he is excited for his present? A new Scooter!

Happy Birthday Bud! We love you!

Bath and Stonehenge

We took a little trip to Bath and Stonehenge in December and had a great time. It was freezing, but nonetheless amazing to see all of these historical sights. We think that we are so advanced today, but when you see these amazing things that they built hundreds of years ago without all the modern technology, it really makes you think about who is "more" advanced. It makes me think that we are just lazy. They did it all the hard way, with their own bare hands, and their creations are breathtaking!

My camera started acting up on this trip and I was lucky to get the pictures I did. RIP my camera :(

I thought this bird hanging out at the top of one of the stones was kind of cool

Christmas 2011

Christmas eve

The kids in their new jammies

Christmas morning on the stairs waiting to go down and see what Santa brought

Avery must have been a really good girl. Santa brought her her very own pink camera! Sje was so excited!

Drew opened his present and said "Look mom, Santa brought me a flippin' car".The way he said it was so funny.

Grandma Cindi gave Livi an American girl doll baby. She names her Baby Grace and LOVES her so much.

Off to church on Christmas morning

Look Whooo's Seven!!

Avery turned seven in December and I can not believe it! Seven seems SO old because now she is almost eight which means she will be getting baptized! I know I am jumping the gun a little, but it seems so weird that I will have a kid old enough to be baptized. When did that happen? It makes ME feel old! Anyways, back to the birthday girl. Here are 7 facts about my baby girl:

1. She is ALL girl. She comes home from school every day and puts on my high heels and wears them the rest of the day. She loves to do makeup, paint her nails, and dress up. Everything she owns MUST be PINK and glittery! :)

2. She is a home body. She is taking ballet and piano (which she loves) but says that she doesn't like either of them because she can't stay home after school and has to go to her lessons. She would be happy playing school all day long in her room and never leave if she didn't have to.

3. She picked French Dip sandwiches and squishy squash (zucchini) for her favorite birthday meal

4. She loves Barbie movies

5. Avery is a really good big sister and plays house with Alivia all the time. She also begs to have Alivia sleep in her room every night. They giggle in bed and read stories together. It is so sweet!

6. Avery adores her daddy and loves to go on dates

7. Avery wants to be an artist, ballerina, and teacher when she grows up

Seven is Heaven! We sure love you Avery Jane!

We had a night owl pajama party for Avery and it was SO much fun. The girls were a blast and acted just like girls should at a PJ party :) We danced, sang, giggled, ate, and had a blast!

Avery helped me make the invites

I made each of the girls an owl. This was my favorite part of the party. Once I got the hang of it, I had so much fun making these guys. When my mom came to visit she brought me some fabrics scraps and look what we were able to create! I kind of had a hard time giving them away because I spent so much time on them and loved them with all their quirks and imperfections :)

Each girl was given an adoption card with their owl and named it. The names that they came up with were really cute. Avery named hers Blossom and some of the others I remember were Delilah, Chocolate, and Pinkie Pie.

opening presents from her grandmas. An american girl doll from Grandma Cindi which she adores and names Emily, an owl towel (can you just hear her saying "hooo hooo"), and a Barbie fairy secret doll (she loves this movie). We are so lucky to have such awesome grandmas!

Happy Birthday!

rochester castle

We were So lucky to have my mom (aka Gramley) come and stay with us for a few weeks around thanksgiving time. We planned a trip to the London temple and on the way there we decided to look for a nearby castle. We ended up in Rochester which was, for many years, the favorite place of Charles Dickens. He based many of his novels on this area (including the beloved story "A Christmas Carol"). The town was very quaint. I loved it! The town holds several festivals during the year to celebrate Dickens. They were setting up for the Christmas market while we were there. It looked like so much fun. We will for sure have to go back during one of them and take in more of the amazing history of this town!

The 2 main attractions that we saw were the Rochester Castle and the Cathedral. Both were spectacular.

Here is the Cathedral