Sophia's Last Day of Preschool

Thursday the 17th was Sophia's preschool "graduation". She will be in the older class next fall, so she didn't actually graduate from the school, but they have a little program for the parents to come to and the kids get a graduation certificate.  The program wasn't long, we watched a slide show of the kids over the school year and then they sang a few songs they have learned, the certificates were handed out and then there were refreshments.

Teacher Christy and Teacher Valerie

Sophia loved preschool!  I think the only thing that makes it okay that she doesn't have class anymore is that the swimming pool is about to open and she can't wait to go swimming every day!

Spring Sports

The weather has been beautiful recently and we are glad to get out and enjoy it.  Richie started soccer this week. He has played two games and his team lost the first game but won the second.  Richie is doing great this year!  He has a much better attitude and he is playing really well, he is especially good defensively.  It makes a big difference that he played last year.  He is wearing the number 1.

The elementary school had their annual fun run on Friday.  We were so proud of him!  Dad got to run with him and Richie paced himself through the whole race and came in 9th in his class.

Happy Easter!

I took lots and lots of pictures this Easter and I just couldn't narrow it down because I like so many of them, so get ready for a lot of collages.

Last week was the kid's spring break and we went down to Blanding for a visit.  I spent most of the week sewing the girl's Easter dresses so I didn't get the camera out until the last day we were there and the kids dyed some eggs.  The Barton girls joined in the egg dying fun!

Grace watched the older kids color their eggs and then we let her try one at the end.  She thought it was snack time and took a big swallow of vinegar/dye solution, and tried to take a bite out of the egg shell. Then she got really upset when the egg was taken out of the dye because she thought we were taking it away from her.

We went to church in Logan and then drove to Burley for a few hours for dinner and an egg hunt.  The girls dresses turned out so cute, I am really happy with them.  Like I said before, I took LOTS of pictures, I just couldn't resist!  I got some really good group shots of the three kids because Dad was doing something behind me that made them all laugh and smile.  I have no idea what he was doing, but it really worked!

Grandma asked Richie to decorate the bunny cake and he basically frosted the whole thing by himself.  He did such a great job, and I was really proud of him.  I helped him put the face on at the end, but other than that, it was all his great work.

Grace spent most of the afternoon on this little slide.  She had SO MUCH FUN!

The confetti egg hunt was lots of fun.  Richie was most excited about "getting Anson" and Sophia was excited to be on Brianna's team.  Sophia hit so hard that it was more like she was cracking heads with eggs, rather than the other way around.  Poor Dad got the worst of it, I think.

Even Grace got in on the fun!

April Fools Day Birthday Party for Daddy

For some reason it is always really difficult for me to get a birthday cake made for Dad on his birthday. At some point in the first couple years of our marriage Richie decided that his birthday would last until I finally made his cake, so sometimes his birthday continues for a few days, or a couple weeks, and sometimes a month. This year I still hadn't made his birthday cake at the end of March. I don't think I have ever gone that long before finally making his cake, although Richie claims I went a whole year once, but I don't think that is true.

The last week in March I was at the grocery store with Sophia and she said, "You know, it's still Dad's birthday.  We need to make him a cake."  Then she helped me pick out a cake and frosting for him.  I think she was just looking for an excuse to have cake and ice cream, but according to our tradition, she was right, it was still his birthday.

It was a busy week so we didn't actually make the cake until April 1st, but I think it is appropriate that we finally had Dad's birthday party on April Fool's Day.  Later that evening Sophia said she didn't feel very good and climbed into Dad's lap and fell asleep.  She hardly ever goes to sleep early, and she is not much of a cuddler, so this was a nice little "birthday present" for him.

Happy Birthday Daddy!  It was only four months late this year.

Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice

I was hoping to even up the score, but the boys will be even more outnumbered come August.  That's right, Call baby number four is a GIRL!  Most of us are excited, but little Richie seemed a little disappointed.  He has really been hoping for a little brother, but he loves his baby sisters and I am sure this one will not be an exception.  I told him that maybe we could get a boy dog for him instead and name it Dragon because that was one of his baby name suggestions if we had a boy.  He said, "We're not getting a dog."

And I said, "Maybe we will, some day."

Then he responded, (very sarcastically) "Yeah, right. When?  Like when I'm 31?"

Maybe I shouldn't have even mentioned the dog idea, that is a lot of disappointment to deal with in one day.

I have entered the "high risk" category for this pregnancy because of my age, so I have been pretty anxious about the development and health of the baby and was relieved when the ultrasound technician said everything looks really good.  I don't know all the technical stuff they look for, but everything looked perfect, as far as I could tell.

Here is a 4-D view of her face and arm.

A good shot of the little foot.  Look at those adorable toes!

Here is a shot of her legs.  She has her ankles crossed.

After the ultrasound we were waiting to meet with my doctor and Richie said, "I was thinking, 'Well, that means one less mission to save for.'  And then I realized that it's another wedding to save for!"  If all the girls are anything like Sophia (who told me today that she wants to be a princess when she grows up), those will be some spectacular weddings!

Snow Angels

Winter has finally made an appearance in Logan. It is only a few months late, but I'm actually not complaining about the lack of snow up until this point.  Some people this winter have been upset that it hasn't snowed much, but I have not.  I think new snow is pretty to look at, but I don't like driving in it, and without all the snow on the ground the inversion wasn't so bad.  The kids, on the other hand, have felt like they were missing out because they haven't been able to play in the snow and make snowmen or go sledding.  So, the other day when we had a pretty good snowfall, the kids got all bundled up and went out to play.

This was Grace's first experience playing in the snow.  Her mittens got soaked and then came off and then she came back inside, but she had fun while it lasted.  I did not get any outside shots, because that would have required  me getting all bundled up, and I did not feel like going through all that work.  I also didn't get any pictures of Richie because he was already outside playing by the time the camera came out.

The snow has already mostly melted and I am looking forward to spring!  It is Logan, though, so I am sure we will have a few more snow storms before summer.

Little Girl Gracie

Baby Grace will be nineteen months old in a couple days! She isn't really a baby any more.  Grace is such a fun, happy, sweet little thing and we love having her around.  She is learning more words every day. Here is a list of some of her most used words:

mom
daddy
baby
hugs
uh-oh
bonk
owee
bye
go!
no
yay!
walla (water)
appoh (apple)
cookie
hair
hi
peese (please)
more
nigh-nigh (night night)
mine!
yeah
bite
wusat (what's that)
heeyago (here you go).

Yesterday she said "Sissy" for the first time, and that made her Aunt Giselle, who is staying with us for a little while, super happy.

Today I put her hair in pig tails and she really looked all grown-up.