We've had some nice weather, off and on, but occasionally it's rudely interrupted by spring snowstorms. On the nice days, we've been spending time at Angel Street Park Soccer Complex. This was taken Feb. 28th. (Tony's wearing his "hunting" wear because he spent the morning shooting clay pigeons with a buddy from work)





The kids loved getting out and swinging, playing on the playground, and just running around.






Christian even found some mud to play in!

I've just started giving Faith some early beginner piano lessons. Although she's quite stubborn and doesn't like me to correct her, she's a quick study and is picking up some basics!

On March 6th, the kids got to go to thier new dentist's! Christian has had two dentist visits, but this was his first cleaning. Other than refusing to get his dental x-rays, he did wonderfully! He thought that the blue, cookie dough flavored toothpaste was cool and he loved getting a token to put in the "gumball machine" style toy dispenser! Faith had to see the orthadontist there a week later where we found out that she will probably get braces in September--eek!





After the long winter, Buddy needs some practice at putting his sunglasses on by himself :)





Faith couldn't help but follow this awesome new style trend.

Baby Dusty is growing so big, so fast! He's a little mischief man and better never do this when I'm not looking!!! He had a big day on March 16th when he went to the Vet's for neutering & declawing. We didn't know he'd have to spend the night, and that morning when we found out that we had to wait until the next day to pick him up, Faith started to cry :(


On March 11th, I watched Sierra and Lily while Joy got her house ready to be shown. (Update--they accepted an offer this week and now have to hurry to find a new house!!) I thought it was so cute that Lily enjoyed teasing Dusty with his green boa on a stick. It was much later, when she started to get mad, that I realized that Lily actually wanted to play with that toy by herself and was upset that the cat kept pouncing on it!

On the 13th, Natalie came over with her darling girls for a St. Patty's party. Unfortunately, Ann couldn't make it because Brody didn't feel well :( Nat brought over this cute craft as well as leprechaun hat cookies made from an upside down striped shortbread cookie, mini Reese's peanut butter cup on top, and green icing buckle.

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Immediately after the party, I took Faith & Christian over to Braegger's where they were having a sleepover with Zach. Tammy gave them new jammies as a surprise, then they got to eat Chinese take-out and chocolate fondue! The next day, she made them green pancakes & green scrambled eggs for breakfast, then took them indoor miniature golfing at Fat Cat's. They had so much fun! And Christian actually slept over this time instead of coming home at 11:30 pm!!!!!!

On the 14th, Tony shaved his beard that he'd been growing out for a week or so into a "Hulk Hogan" mustache and goatee. I told him that it looked absolutely ridiculous and that thing just had to go, so he went in to shave it. (He was halfway done whent this picture was taken, so you can't get the full effect of the craziness) Faith thought it was so funny that she immediately grabbed some paper, tape, and her markers and made herself and her brother some crazy mustaches! (I love how Buddy put his on upside down!!)

Faith then decided that they just weren't big enough, so she made a couple more.

March 15th was Zach's 10th birthday, so we went over to his house to celebrate. He got a Wii Fit and some awesome golf clubs!

When Tony got off work a little earlier than usual on the 16th and it was windy in Salt Lake, he took us out to fly kites when he got home.

Too bad that it wasn't windy at all in Kaysville! We still had a lot of fun trying to get the kites up.

Then the kids enjoyed the park for awhile until we started getting eaten by mosquitoes. I thought it would be too early in the season for those little buggers!
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Here are Faith and Christian in their green on St. Patrick's day getting in some "Elefun" after picking Dusty up from the vet.

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I love how well the kids get along together!

That night I made a special dinner of corned beef, cabbage, mashed potatoes, green rolls (from Bowmans-they have a great bakery) and green milk. We had a lot of fun with St. Patty's this year!

Although I love "American Idol," I rarely do the phone voting. For one thing, I never watch the show live (only on Tivo), and for another, I don't think my few little calls have much power against the tweens and teens who call 87,000,000 times for their fav. But this week, I not only voted, I voted for FOUR different contestants!

Pause the blog music over on the right --> and check out my picks. Here was my favorite, I've nicknamed him "Cutie Pie":
(the performance is from 1:10 to 2:54)



Click here for a surprisingly sexy Anoop Desai ("Anoop Dawg"), then scroll down to the black rectangle & click the play button.

I also loved this performance by the one I call "J.T" (because his looks, especially his hair, remind me of Justin Timberlake):
(1:05 to 3:00)




I didn't include the performance by "Salt Lake" (Megan Joy Corkrey) because I couldn't find it, and she didn't sound very good because she was so sick. But I still had to vote for her because I like her voice, her quirkiness, and because she's our hometown girl!

I think I even showed some restraint because I also love "Teacher/Widower" (Danny Gokey) and "Broadway" (Adam Lambert). Just so you know, I always have to give "Idol" contestants nicknames because I'm TERRIBLE with names! I'll finally start to remember my favorites' names when they're down to the top four or five :D

Family Pictures

At the end of December, just in time to be Christmas gifts for the grandparents, we got some family and individual pictures taken at Target. Tony & I both hate having our pictures taken, so our parents know that this is truly an act of love for them :) They didn't turn out too bad, and we used a coupon that made each photo sheet just $3.99:

February

I've finally made it to February!!! Some doubted that it would happen before May, but here I am--nearly caught up!

For Groundhog's Day, Faith made this little guy in school (the baby bottle she made at home later that afternoon with Pixos)

She proudly showed me that her groundhog had a "bum hole" in the back. I was shocked that a school project would have such an orifice, so I questioned her about it. She told me that the original project didn't even have a tail, so when she added one, she got the idea to cut it out so that it would lift up. After they glued in the lined paper with the poem, she thought that she would color him a bumhole, but that they didn't have a pink crayon so she had to make it red. I was almost afraid to ask if she showed this creative addition to her teacher, but she responded that she only showed it to a few kids in her class that "thought it was really funny"!!!

On February 5th, Christian surprised me when he said that he wanted to "poop potty." I haven't been actively potty training him, but he had done a little bit in the past on the baby potty that we have. I was so proud when he actually did his business on there!!! We made a huge deal out of it, I took pictures and then had him call all of his grandmas & grandpas. He was one proud little boy! He has done this about five times since then--he's definately starting to get the idea! Since he's only 2 & 1/2, I'm not going to push him, but I will ask him from time to time if he wants to try.

We've still been playing tons of Wii games. This is Faith listening to her controller to know when her turn for bowling is up. She's pretty obsessed!

She also has been playing quite a bit on Webkinz. I have to admit that I was a bit crazy about the Pizza Palace game for awhile, and got up to level 14!

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On the 8th after church, Christian played out in the snow while Faith rode her bike. She got the training wheels off, but can't get the hang of riding a two-wheeler. I think the main problem is that her bike is way too small for her, so we will be getting her a new one very soon. Buddy loved digging and slapping the snow with a fly swatter,

and brought in his prize in this pail. We've had some moderate weather, with snow storms in between. I love it when most of the snow stays in the upper elevations!

Later on at mom & dad's, we celebrated Sierra's third birthday with a fairy party. I can't believe she's already 3, these kids are just growing up too fast!

There was "pin the wings on Tinkerbell" and a game like musical chairs where you flit from leaf to leaf. I wish I would have been quicker getting my camera out--a video of Eric acting like a crazy fairy would have been awesome!!

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On mom's mantel were the Valentine's cards that Sarah made for them last year. She is AMAZING at everything artistic and crafty, and these are some good examples of her impeccable work.

Brendon's (on the far left above) had this "Wii" looking remote on the inside, and when you push the button on it, it lights up the seemingly blank screen above so you can read the message, "valentine you score big with me!" Is that crazy cool, or what?

Somehow I missed getting inside pics of Noah's or Celeste's, but the grand piano top of Celeste's opens up with a real hinge and has red fuzzy paper in there.

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Alaura's, here, has a real miror and another adorable picture of her inside. Too fun!!

On the 9th, I made crepes for dinner. Christian is my little helper and LOVES to cook! Lana gave each of the kids a fun apron from Swiss Days for Christmas, and I found the chef's hat in the dollar spot at Target.

Faith has been reading like crazy and even went above and beyond for the read-a-thon this month.

Dusty has been growing like a weed! He's the sweetest little guy and loves having his tummy rubbed (which is so soft it feels like rabbit fur!)

He loves having his picture taken so much that he runs toward the camera every time it's out. That makes it very difficult to get a good shot! This was an easy one, though, he already has the kitty trait of sleeping in crazy positions down pat!

On February 13th, we had over Ann, Natalie and their kids for what's becoming a traditional holiday-time party! This time we made foam Valentine cards and heart clippies. We enjoyed some Chinese Chicken Salad and heart-shaped cupcakes and had lots of fun!

The kids got Valentine cards in the mail from grandma & grandpa Braegger and great-grandma & grandpa Quinn. We also got a bereavement card (about Misty) from our vet as well as a "congrats on your new additon" card.

On the evening of the 13th, Tony finally bowled a perfect game on the Wii. He was obviously ecstatic about it, he's not usually very good about smiling in photos :)

On Valentine's Day, Tony went to the store for bacon & sausage and I made up a bunch of heart shaped pancakes as well as homemade pancake syrup & homemade strawberry syrup. I love big breakfasts!

Monday, the 16th was Lili's first birthday party!!

Christian didn't know about playing with some kids he didn't know, but eventually he got in there and had fun.

I love how cute Buddy is in this hooded towel. He keeps asking when Ho-Ho is coming again (now hopeful instead of fearful about it) and I have to keep telling him that it's a looooooong time until Christmas Eve!

On the 18th, Faith beat her high score in bowling and got a 268. If you can see, she had a perfect game going until the ninth frame! Keep trying, Baby, you'll get 300 one day!!

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On the 22nd I found this stinker-pot in my bathroom cupboard. Check out that wild hair fluffing up on the side!

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Faith created this custom backdrop to photograph her Webkinz. They are (from left): Flikka, Snowball & Spot.

Christian has been loving on his kitty a bunch. Other than trying to pick him up by holding both hands around his neck (!!!!! We're definately working on not having that happen again!), he's very gentle.

Dusty is his buddy and Christian even took this great pic of him the other night. Tony and I look bored because we're staring at the TV (as, apparently, is Dusty!).