Chocolate Milk

Sara loves chocolate milk and the other day she kept asking me to make her some chocolate milk. Because I was in the middle of something I asked her to give me a minute. Well, my minute must have been too long because she took matters into her own hands and made her own version of chocolate milk. Can you guess what she used for the chocolate? Could that be black pepper?

Saguaro National Park

A while back Bryan bought a park pass to Saguaro National Park. Sara and I have really enjoyed using it! On our most recent visit, Sara and I saw a rattlesnake crossing the road and a gila monster making a mad dash across the trail. So cool!

Sara taking a little rest.
Of course, she asked for her picture to be taken!

Because of all the rain, the desert is in full bloom. Isn't it pretty?

the princess wanted yet another picture before we climbed back in the car

Lava Lamps

Daniel read about how to make lava lamps on the Family Fun website. It looked pretty easy so we decided to give it a try. It made for a pretty fun afternoon.

lamp #1

this one was Daniel's favorite, go here for instructions

lamp #2 this one was Jared's favorite, instructions found here

brothers and budding scientists

Sunday Sillies

Sometimes our Sunday afternoons can get a little silly

our handsome Jared, wearing dad's shoes

Faithful Home Teacher

We are grateful for a diligent home teacher,
especially one that our children adore!

Phil Simon with Jared, Daniel, & Sara

Fred

Daniel, Jared, Sara & Fred

Coloring Easter Eggs

The kids had a lot of fun decorating their eggs.

Easter Egg Hunt

Due to the craziness we call life we didn't host our usual Easter Egg Hunt & BBQ. Instead, we did the hunt with just our little family.
It was great fun!

the participants

color assignments

taking a break for a photo op

Daniel helping Sara

taking stock of their finds

Um, yeah, did I mention that we didn't get around to making our usual bunny baskets out of milk jugs this year. Instead we used our Halloween buckets for Easter baskets. I tried talking the kids into at least dressing their buckets to look like bunny rabbits but they didn't care for the idea. Oh well, there's always next year! ;-)

Easter Breakfast

Bryan woke up very early and surprised us all with a delicious breakfast. Of course, the kids wanted a picture of their beeeaauuutiiifuuul pancake creations. ♥

Visit from Aunt Chris, Cami, & Gwen

One of the highlights of Aunt Chris, Cami & Gwen's visit was a little jot
through Saguaro National Park. It was a wonderful visit!

The princess

Timeline Project

I really enjoyed working with Jared to do his timeline project for social studies. It was a wonderful stroll down memory lane as we talked about the memories around each of his pictures. I really love being his mom!

Pickles!

At the end of January a friend called and asked if I'd be interested splitting case of cucumbers and getting together to make pickles.

Oh yea baby!!!  
Here's my portion of our canning.

  Yum!!

Daddy's little helper

Sara helping Bryan assemble the new desk.

Love that smile!

Our little fishermen

Daniel's catch

Jared patiently waiting for a bite

Sara learning to cast

Sara reeling it in

During the school break we did a little urban fishing with some friends.  Good times!

Pinewood Derby

Once again Daniel did a fantastic job building his car!!

He really enjoyed the one-on-one time with Bryan.

Daniel with his car

The Black Bullet

Waiting for awards

Way to go Daniel!!!

Happy Birthday

Sara had a little party for her 3rd birthday. She and her friends, danced, sang, ate, played, danced some more and had a jolly good time. Thanks Eliza, Celeste, Sophie & Perry for sharing in the fun!

The princess is 3!!

Fred

Meet our gnome friend, Fred

Vail Pride Day Displays

Every year our little community & school district host what is known as Vail Pride Day. It's an event held at the fair grounds that brings the community together for food, fun, and some great student showcase. In spite of the torrential downpour, we braved the wind and rain in order to see the boys' displays. Daniel also volunteered at his robotics club booth.

Jared's famous American project on Abraham Lincoln

Daniel's ABC's of recycling project

Daniel's art projects
sadly we didn't find Jared's art project in time to get a pic

Blue & Gold Banquet

Each boy had to make and decorate a cake for this year's blue & gold banquet. Daniel is quite handy in the kitchen so he had no problems with the assignment. After doing some research on the family fun website he went to work with minimal help from mom. It was a real blessing that we had gingerbread cookies in the freezer to serve as part of his design.

the frosted cake

the mock up

the finished project

waiting for the judging

Award for Most Creative

Way to Go Daniel!!!