Hadley's 8th Birthday

Hadley had her 8th Birthday! She is getting so big. I have always called her my little Hadley. But she isn't seeming so little anymore. Hadley was so excited for her birthday. We packed a lot into her big day. She started with a new outfit from Aunt Momo, blew out a candle on a cinnamon roll, got to go out to lunch with us, had treats in her classroom, ate pizza for dinner, opened presents, and had lemon bars for dessert as requested. Happy Birthday to our feisty, adorable, creative, loving, happy Hadley!

 Grandma Patti came the weekend before her birthday to celebrate and gave Hadley an American Girl doll!!!

Birthday Breakfast

New birthday outfit and a birthday shake at lunch

 Hadley wanted a Sentsy Buddy and they even had a panda, which is her favorite animal. She was pretty excited about it.

Ballet Girls Weekend

Makenna, Hadley, and I got to have a girls weekend with Aunt Kathy. We love staying with Kathy. She is so great with kids and my girls love spending time with her. They also get to spend time with my cousins that are their ages, which works perfect. It's fun seeing these cute girls together because their personalities go together so great. They had fun going to the aviary to see all sorts of birds, playing together, watching a movie,  and having a sleep over.

The big reason we went down was to go to a ballet- the girls' first ballet. We were excited to see Beauty and the Beast. Kathy made sure to read them the original Beauty and the Beast story so they would know the story well for the ballet. She's such a teacher! Then on Sunday we finally got to see the ballet. We got dressed up and found our seats in the beautifully ornate theater. The ballet was perfect. It was geared towards children, so it was shorter with narration to explain the scenes. Makenna and Hadley loved it!

Take More Risks

Makenna is such a goal-oriented person. She set a New Year's resolution this year to take more risks.

We were trying to decide if she was going to try out volleyball this year for the first time on a club team. And she said to me, "Well my goal this year is to take more risks, so let's just do it."  Ha ha. What a cute girl.

And she ended up loving it! She had so much fun with her team. She worked hard to get better at serving and improving her volleyball skills. She even got a volleyball for her birthday so that she could practice.

Easter Fun

We spent Easter in Boise with my family. 

It was so much fun to be with everyone. 

The food was amazing, as always. 

And we got spoiled, as always. 

The kids had a blast. 

It was another Easter success. 

Baskets from the Easter Bunny

I love this picture of the little kids taking off for the egg hunt.

The Easter Bunny even showed up.

Opening the eggs. I love this scene.

 

Our 14th Easter together. 

Connie and Sonjia spoil our kids with such fun Easter baskets. Camden got a Batman doll, which he was so excited about. It looks like Travis was pretty excited about it too.

The three original siblings that tie us all together.

Left to Right. Patti (my mom), Keith, and Connie

 In the kids Easter baskets, the kids got silly string. So a silly string war seemed appropriate.

Snowy Spring Break

We got to spend spring break up at a cabin in Donnelly. It was just what we needed. We got a good amount of snow while we were up there, which was just what we were hoping for. Travis took the kids skiing at Tamarack and Brundage and got fresh snow both days. (I sat it out due to my torn ACL.) It is so cute that the kids can all cruise down the mountain now. They love skiing. Then we spent a day cross-country skiing in Ponderosa State Park, which was such a fun family activity. We played outside at the cabin, ate at the Pancake House, played games, watched fun old movies such as Swiss Family Robinson and Troop Beverly Hills, went to church, ate good food, and relaxed.

We got to spend a week in this winter wonderland.

Cross-country Skiing at Ponderosa State Park

This kid is so cute. He turns everything into a weapon. :)